CLARE ELECTION—POWER OF THE CATHOLIC LEADERS.
Gimaz.—" The election in Clare is of importance, as an exhibition of the power which the Catholic leaders of Ireland can wield ; and, therefore, a proof of the extreme impolicy of excluding from the constitution men who possess this power, and who, by their exclusion, are continually tempted to use it to the disquiet of the empire. But it is also of not less importance as an earnest of the manner in which this power will be henceforth exercised. If the experiment in Clare be successful, no man to whom religious liberty is indifferent—no man by whom the question of emancipation is made a secondary question—no man who, under any pretence, joins with a minister who is hostile to it, will be returned by any body of Catholics in Ireland. 'Whatever ulterior steps are to be taken, the exclusion of Mr. V. Fitzgerald, as a pledge of this determination, will be of the greatest consequence. We certainly are surprised that there are Catholics, or any friends of reli- gious liberty, who can doubt of the propriety of this determination. To the Catholic, dishonoured and degraded as he is by the unjust laws which ex- clude him from the common rights of subjects, his emancipation must and ought to be the first of all political questions. His hostility to those who deny to him his rights ought to he (if uot intemperate) marked and uncompro- mising. If he support by his representative such a Minister as the Duke of Wellington, he confirms and increases the disgrace which the law affixes on him. In such a matter the Catholic has no need of the calculations of policy—a proper feeling of self-respect is a sufficient guide; but it is plain to lookers-on that his policy coincides with his moral duty. A body of re- presentatives, such as Ireland, with some honourable exceptions, has sent to the House of Commons, is a disgrace to the Catholics, and an injury to their cause. A body of men ready to job with any Ministers (with some miserable salvo as to direct votes on the Catholic question), never can be of use to reli- gious liberty, or to liberty or good government of any kind ; and if the Catho- lics of the richer sort have jackalls' shares in the corrupt traffic which they authorise, their oppressors must be encouraged, and their friends humiliated. On the other hand, a body of men such as Ireland might send to Parliament-- devoted to the promotion of religious liberty, and standing aloof, as such men should do, from Ministerial intrigues—would not only ensure emanci- pation, but raise the Catholics of Ireland in the opinion of the people of this country. We have studiously fixed attention on the first duty of the Catho- lics to exclude Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald. What should be afterwards done there will be time to consider when that duty is performed. The offer of Mr. O'Connell as a candidate has arisen from circumstances ; and if from the looseness of the penal laws he cannot be prevented from taking his seat, it will bring the Catholic question into discussion in a new and useful form. But taking it for granted that he will be Occluded— whether it will be proper for the Catholics to continue to elect Catholics, to exhibit the spectacle of a forced reception of a great part of the representatives of Ireland, or send efficient members to Parliament, there will be time hereafter to consider. At present their path is plain."
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