Archive for the ‘The Catholics’ Category
Monday, June 9th, 2008
Above : Picture Of Lord Mountjoy
The first Catholic Relief Bill of general importance was that introduced into the Commons by Luke Gardiner (afterwards Lord Mountjoy), 1778. The Catholics, since the foundation of the Catholic Committee in 1757, had begun to show more spirit. The Government appears to have realised that concession was necessary, and the introduction of Gardiner’s Bill was not seriously opposed. This Bill proposed the removal of several crying injustices under which the Catholics suffered in regard to the holding of land and to inheritance. It permitted a Catholic to take a lease of 999 years, released him from the necessity of ” gavelling,” or dividing his estate amongst his sons, and withdrew the advantages hitherto conceded to a wife or child who embraced the Reformed faith. The Irish Houses passed the measure by fair majorities, both in Lords and Commons (July, 1778). Less than two years after (March, 1780) the Irish Parliament, mainly in consequence of pressure brought by the Volunteers, abolished the Test, by which all officials were obliged to take the Sacrament according to the rites of the Established Church, thereby admitting the Protestant Dissenters freely to offices. The policy of the Relief Bill of 1778 appears to have been generally approved of in Ireland by both members of the Establishmed Church and Dissenters.
Posted in The Catholics | No Comments »
Saturday, June 7th, 2008
Above : Picture Of Lord Chancellor
The Irish authorities, office-holders and corporations were, as a rule, far more opposed to concession than were the British Ministers. These indeed, inclined to the belief that, considering the dangerous state of affairs on the Continent, where the progress of the French Revolution had become a serious menace to all the neighbouring states, it was absolutely necessary to endeavour, by a conciliatory policy, to secure the tranquillity of Ireland. The Irish Ascendancy Party, further removed from the scene of disturbance and little concerned with foreign politics, clung with considerable obstinacy to its privileges.
Posted in The Catholics | No Comments »
Friday, June 6th, 2008
Above : Portrait Of Prime Minister Pitt
The year 1793 opened under conditions full of menace. The new French Republic, in the first flush of her democratic power, had declared (November 1792) that she would aid all enslaved peoples who desired to rid themselves of their tyrants. War had begun on the Continent; it was certain that soon other nations would be involved in it; England could scarcely hope to remain neutral. It behoved her, as well as the rest of the older governments, to set their own houses in order, and to endeavour to gain the good will of their subjects, lest worse should befall them. The British Ministers, finding the Irish Government and Parliament still blind to the necessities of the situation, absolutely insisted on concession, and when the Houses met (January, 1793), Westmoreland was reluctantly obliged to insert in the speech from the Throne with which Parliament formally opened, a clause in favour of the Catholic claims. In February the Catholic Relief Bill was introduced. It proposed to give to Catholics the Parliamentary and Municipal franchise, the right of sitting on grand juries and becoming magistrates, of holding commissions in the army and navy, and of obtaining University degrees. An amendment permitting them to sit in Parliament was defeated by a large majority, and also they were not to be eligible for the posts of Privy Councillors, Staff Generals, Sheriffs, Fellows of Universities or King’s Councillors. Their exclusion from these, and especially from Membership of Parliament, was a grave mistake. The franchise had been conferred on masses of often uneducated and uncultured voters who were, for the most part, owing to their dependence on their landlords, unable to use it freely, even when qualified to do so intelligently. At the same time the Catholic landowner, the Catholic barrister, the Catholic scholar found himself shut out, owing to his creed, from honours and emoluments freely accorded often to his intellectual inferiors.
Posted in The Catholics | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Above : Painting Of Sir Francis Burdett
There can be no doubt that, amongst the Irish Catholics, it was the almost universal belief that the passing of the Act of Union would practically at once be followed by the removal of their remaining disabilities and their establishment on a footing of all around equality with their fellow-subjects. It is equally certain that it was mainly this belief which prevented them from offering a steady and united opposition to a measure which very few of them really liked.
This is a preview of
General Expectations Of The Catholics & Their Emancipation
.
Read the full post (512 words, 1 image, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)Posted in The Catholics | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
Above : Portrait Of Lord Cornwallis
Pitt, when making his famous defence of the Union project in January 1799, had broadly hinted that, should success in this be achieved, the Catholic disabilities would probably soon be removed. That he really desired that this should be done, and done so quickly as to seem a direct result of the Union, there can be no doubt. He soon, however, realised that he had greatly underestimated the strength of the King’s opposition and the difficulty, perhaps impossibility, of obtaining his consent. This discovery evidently disconcerted and even for a time alarmed him, as any violent display of hostility on the part of the Catholics would be most inconvenient, or possibly, even now, dangerous. His chagrin was shared by Castlereagh and still more by Cornwallis.
Posted in The Catholics | No Comments »