iment was dictated by compassion for the
Jews, it might deserve attention, but as a sneer against the
Catholic, what is it but the language of Shylock transferred from his
daughter's marriage to Catholic emancipation--

"Would any of the tribe of Barabbas
Should have it rather than a Christian."

I presume a Catholic is a Christian, even in the opinion of him whose
taste only can be called in question for his preference of the Jews.

It is a remark often quoted of Dr. Johnson, (whom I take to be almost
as good authority as the gentle apostle of intolerance, Dr.
Duigenan,) that he who could entertain serious apprehensions of
danger to the church in these times, would have "cried fire in the
deluge." This is more than a metaphor; for a remnant of these
antediluvians appear actually to have come down to us, with fire in
their mouths and water in their brains, to disturb and perplex
mankind with their whimsical outcries. And as it is an infallible
symptom of that distressing malady with which I conceive them to be
afflicted (so any doctor will inform your Lordships), for the unhappy
invalids to perceive a flame perpetually flashing before their eyes,
particularly when their eyes are shut (as those of the persons to
whom I allude have long been), it is impossible to convince these
poor creatures, that the fire against which they are perpetually
warning us and themselves is nothing but an _ignis fatuus_ of their
own drivelling imaginations. What rhubarb, senna, or "what purgative
drug can scour that fancy thence?"--It is impossible, they are given
over, theirs is the true

"Caput insanabile tribus Anticyris."

These are your true Protestants. Like Bayle, who protested against
all sects whatsoever, so do they protest against Catholic petitions,
Protestant petitions, all redress, all that reason, humanity, policy,
justice, and common sense, can urge against the delusions of their
absurd delirium. These are the persons who reverse the fable of the
mountain that brought forth a mouse; they are the mice who conceive
themselves in labour with mountains.

To return to the Catholics; suppose the Irish were actually contented
under their disabilities; suppose them capable of such a bull as not
to desire deliverance, ought we not to wish it for ourselves? Have we
nothing to gain by their emancipation? What resources have been
wasted? What talents have been lost by the selfish system of
exclusion? You already know the valu