THE CATHOLIC QUESTION.
GEORGE IV. 1828—1829
During the discussion on the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, frequent allusion had been made to Catholic emancipation. The opponents of that repeal found an additional argument against it, in the supposition that it was but the first step in a course which was to terminate in Catholic emancipation. On the other hand, those who supported the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts denied that it had any such tendency. The Duke of Wellington remarked, in order to show that he might vote for the measure then before the house, and yet be a determined enemy of the Papists, that there was no person in the house of peers whose feelings and sentiments, after long consideration, were more decided than his with regard to the subject of the Roman Catholic claims; and that until he saw a great change in that question, he certainly should oppose them. Notwithstanding, the repeal of the Test Acts was immediately followed by a motion for removing the Catholic disabilities. On the 8th of May Sir Francis Burdett moved, “That the house do now resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, for the purpose of taking into consideration the state of the laws affecting his majesty’s subjects in Great Britain and Ireland, with a view to such a final and conciliatory adjustment as may be conducive to the peace and strength of the United Kingdom, to the stability of the Protestant establishment, and to the general satisfaction and concord of all classes of his majesty’s subjects.” The debate lasted two nights; but as the speeches were merely repetitions of former arguments, it would be tedious and useless to give even a sketch, of them. The principal speakers in favour of the motion were Messrs. Brougham, Fitzgerald, North, Grant, and Huskisson, and Sirs J. Newport and J. Mackintosh. It was opposed by the attorney-general, Sir R. Inglis, and Messrs. Moore, Foster, Bankes, and Peel. On a division the motion for a committee was carried by a majority of six; and in the committee this resolution was agreed to:—“That it is expedient to consider the state of the laws affecting his majesty’s Roman Catholic subjects, with the view of effecting such a final adjustment of them as may be conducive to the peace and strength of the United Kingdom, the stability of the Protestant establishment, and the general satisfaction and concord of all classes.” Here, however, the commons stopped. Instead of forming resolutions in detail, it was determined to seek a conference with the lords, in order to ascertain whether their sentiments on the subject had changed. This proposal was agreed to by the peers; and a conference was held on the 19th of May, when the resolution of the commons, after being read in the upper house, was ordered to be taken into consideration on the 9th of June. The debate lasted two days; but the proposition of the Marquis of Lansdowne, “that their lordships should concur in that resolution,” was lost by a majority of one hundred and eighty-one against one hundred and thirty-seven. In this debate, however, the Duke of Wellington’s speech was marked by a conciliatory tone; and the friends of emancipation augured from this that their wishes on a future day would meet-with a less obstinate and uncompromising opposition.