It had been generally understood, that, in the event of the union between Great Britain and Ireland taking place, the Catholics might look forward to the removal of all the disabilities under which they still laboured ; their emanci pation, however, not taking place, they resolved to endea vour to bring it about by every peaceable and legal me thod. That they might act with more effect, as well as with less trouble to themselves, a committee was formed ; the deliberations of that of 1809 were always confined to their petition, and the members had declared their resolu tion not to transgress the convention act, by any thing like delegation ; the government of course did not interfere with them. But it was alleged that the committee of 1810 acted upon very different principles : it called an aggre gate meetirk of the Catholics, which came to the resolu tion, that the committee should have the power to manage, not merely the Catholic petition, but the Catholic affairs generally. A committee of grievances was afterwards ap pointed, which met weekly, and imitated all the forms of the House of Commons. Government took the alarm, and even some of the most respectable Catholics thought tha: the committee, by proposing a delegation of ten members from each county, had exceeded its powers. A circular letter from Mr. Wellesley Pole, secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, was addressed to the sheriffs, and the chief magistrates of all the counties in Ireland ; they were re quired, in pursuance of the convention act, to cause to be arrested, and committed to prison, unless bail should be given, all persons within their respective jurisdictions, who might be guilty of having been in any way concerned in issuing notices for such election or appointment, or of having attended meetings for such purpose. Before this letter was written, the opinions of the Lord Chancellor and the Attorney and Solicitor General had been taken ; and the letter itself had been drawn up by the Attorney Gene ral in such a manner as he hoped would bring closely be fore the eyes of the Catholic committee the tendency of their proceedings to violate the convention act. This let ter was dated the I 3th of February, 1811, and, on the 23d, two magistrates of Dublin were directed by the Lord Lieu tenant in council to repair to a house where the Catholic committee assembled. This they accordingly did; and Lord Ffrench, who was in the chair, demanded by what au thority they entered the room ? the answer was, that, order of government, they were come to disperse the meeting, as, being a meeting of the Catholic committee, it was illegal. After some conversation, the particulars of which are differently related, one of the magistrates went to consult Mr. Wellesley Pole ; and, on his return, he said, that as Lord Ffrench had given them an assurance that it was merely a meeting of Catholic gentlemen for the pur pose of signing a petition to parliament, and not a meeting of the Catholic committee, government had given direc tions that it should not be interrupted.
The letter of Mr. Pole was made the subject of some conversation in parliament ; and afterwards motions were made in both Houses for the production of copies of all the dispatches to and from the Lord Lieutenant, relative to this business, which were negatived.
On the 20th of May, the petition which the Catholic committee had drawn up was presented to the House of Commons by Mr. Grattan: on the 31st he moved that it
should be read, and also the votes of the House, conveying thanks to the armies under Lord Wellington and General Graham ; from these he took occasion to point out, with great eloquence and force of argument, the claims of the Irish Catholics—of those men who had contributed so es sentially to achieve those victories, by which the glory Britain had been so highly exalted, and the safety and in dependence of Europe so essentially benefited. On a di vision, there appeared for the motion 83, and against it 146. The Catholic petition was also introduced into the House of Lords by Lord Donoughmore, who moved that it should be referred to a committee. Tnis motion was negatived by 121 to 62.
The Catholics of Ireland were not cast down by the re sult of the motions respecting their petitions ; nor were they intimidated by Mr. Wellesley Pole's letter, and the measures of government thereupon. On the contrary, they resolved to persevere with increased zeal and assiduity in nominating delegates. On the 9th of July, an aggregate meeting was held at Dublin, for the appointment of dele gates to the general committee of Catholics, when five per cons were apprehended by a warrant of the Lord Jus tice, for a breach of the convention act. One of them, Dr. Sheridan, was brought to trial ; but the jury brought in a verdict of not guilty, upon which the Attorney General declined prosecuting the others. The verdict gave great encouragement to the Catholics, as well as great satisfac tion to many Protestants, not only because they were ft mild ly to the claims of their Catholic bruin en, but because an attempt had been made and defeated, of perverting the law to the violation of the liberty of the subject. On the 19th of October, nearly 300 gentlemen, who formed the new com mittee of delegates, held a meeting, at which a petition to parliament was read and approved. The police magis trates did not an ive till the meeting was broken up ; but on the second meeting of this committee, on the 23d of De cember, it was dispersed by a magistrate. On the 26th of the same month, the aggregate meeting was held, when the proceedings of the Irish government were severely censured ; and it was resolved not to submit to them in si lence. The only other circumstance relating to the his tory of Ireland that took place this year, deserving of re cord, was an act passed, to enable the crown to interchange the militias of Great Britain and Ireland. In this act .was a clause, to confer on the Irish Catholics serving in Eng land all the civil, military, and religious exemptions which they enjoyed in Ireland.
Early the session of 1812, the claims of the Irish Ca tholics were again brought under the discussion of both Houses of Parliament. On a subject so frequently exa mined, little or no novelty could be brought forward. It may be mentioned, however, that the Marquis of Welles ley and Mr. Canning, though they professed themselves decidedly convinced that the claims of the Catholics were supported by justice and policy, yet were averse to conced ing them while they were demanded in such a menacing attitude. The motions were lost in both Houses ; but in the House of Commons the majority seemed on the de cline.