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to join the squadron which was to convey the troops from Bourdeaux to the American coast. Ever devoted to his duty, he yielded an instant obedience. On his arrival in the Chesapeake, he was detached to blockade the harbour of Baltimore, and make a diversion in that quarter, by annoying the enemy as much as possible. This he performed in the completest manner. He cut off the communication over the bay, destroyed a depot of stores and several vessels, and kept the country in continual alarm, in spite of the opposition of a superior force. But his bright career was now to come to an end. The Menelaus, in chasing, had been compelled to anchor in an exceedingly dangerous position, among shoals, where she might be suddenly exposed to an attack from two sloops of war, and eleven of the largest gun-boats, seconded by seven hundred men, who were stationed, with five pieces of artillery, on the other side of a wood, not half a mile from the shore, whence they could cannonade the ship, without a possibility of her reaching them by her fire. To avert this danger, he determined to make a night assault on their camp. It was carried into effect with only a hundred and forty men, ou the night of the 30th of August, 1814, and was successful; but success was dearly bought by the loss of the gallant leader, who was mortally wounded, as he was cheering forward his men. He expired in a few minutes; displaying in death the same intrepidity and calmness which had always distinguished him through life.

"The circle of his friends, says his biographer, "was extensive, and throughout the navy he was generally known. He possessed, in a high degree, all the social qualities formed to please, and his heart was moulded to the best affections. To a fine figure, and a handsome countenance, he united manners calculated both to captivate and command.”

By his men he was almost idolized; for while he paid the strictest attention to discipline, he never inflicted punishment when, by using admonition and remonstrance, it could possibly be avoided, and he was always ready to encrease their comforts, and to soften their sufferings, both by personal attentions, and by pecuniary assistance. Firmness and tenderness of heart were happily allied in him, and this enabled him to win affection without the loss of respect.

The Memoir, from which we have abridged these particulars, is a well written composition. It is not deficient in perspicuity, spirit, or neatness.

The

The following lines, on the death of Sir Peter Parker, are from the pen of Lord Byron.

"There is a tear for all that die,

A mourner o'er the humblest grave;
But nations swell the funeral cry,
And triumph weeps above the brave.
"For them is sorrow's purest sigh

O'er ocean's heaving bosom sent:
In vain their bones unburied lie-

All earth becomes their monument!
"A tomb is their's on every page-
An epitaph on every tongue;
The present hour, the future age,
For them bewail-to them belong.

"For them the voice of festal mirth

Grows hush'd-their name the only sound,
While deep remembrance pours to worth
The goblet's tributary round.

"A theme to crowds that knew them not,
Lamented by admiring foes-

Who would not share their glorious lot?
Who would not die the death they chose?

"And, gallant PARKER! thus enshrin'd
Thy life, thy fall, thy fame, shall be ;
And early valour, glowing, find

A model in thy memory.

"But there are breasts that bled with thee,

In woe that glory cannot quell;

And shuddering hear of victory,

When one so dear, so dauntless, fell.

"Where shall they turn to mourn thee less?
When cease to hear thy cherish'd name?
Time cannot teach forgetfulness,

While Grief's full heart is fed by fame.

"Alas! for them-though not for thee.-
They cannot chuse but weep the more:
Deep for the dead the grief must be,
Who ne'er gave cause to mourn before."

ART.

ART. VI. The Substance of a Speech of Sir J. Cox Hippisley, Bart. in the House of Commons, on Tuesday, May 11, 1813, for the Appointment of a Select Committee, on the Subject of the Catholic Claims; with Notes and an Appendix, containing the Pontificial Rescripts of P. Clement IV. and P. Pius VIII. respecting the Abolition and Restoration of the Order of the Jesuits. 8vo.

1815.

pp. 88. Murray.

VII. Historical Enquiry into the Ancient Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Crown; commencing with the Period when Great Britain formed a Part of the Roman Empire. By James Baldwin Browne, Esq. 8vo. pp. 68. 7s. Underwood. 1815.

It must be a source of much satisfaction_to every thinking mind, that the great question of CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION, which has now for so many years agitated and divided the British nation, is no longer a rallying point of political animosity, or a watch-word of contending factions.

The irritation, the clamour, and the virulence which formerly attended its discussion, have in a great measure subsided, and the day is now arrived, when it can be debated upon with a larger share of that patience and moderation, which its importance so clearly demands. Upon the various causes which have led to this change, it is not within our present purpose to enter. It is remarkable, however, as those who had studied the question, always foresaw, that as the spirit of party violence has gradually died away, difficulties have arisen, which amidst the jarring of discordant interests, and the heat of infuriated declamation, were either wholly neglected, or considered unworthy of any serious attention. It was never for one moment calmly considered either what could be granted with safety, or what would be received with gratitude. It was never considered what was the state and number of the Roman Catholic Clergy, what were their institutions, and what their intercourse with the See of Rome, or how far they would suffer this intercourse with a foreign court to be regulated or abridged. It was never enquired what was the practice even of Roman Catholics countries on this important point, or above all, what was the power which the State possesses in the nomination, in the approval, or in the rejection of those appointed to the vacant sees. These, and many other questions of a similar import, were never thought worthy of a calm and serious enquiry; and consequently at the very time (May, 1813,) when Mr. Grattan's bill, with Mr. Canning's amendment, was expected to have been carried through the

House

House with a triumphant majority, the prelates of Ireland held a general meeting, May 27th, in which they resolved unanimously,

"That having seriously examined the copy of the bill (which they then conceived was passing through Parliament) they felt themselves bound to declare, that the Ecclesiastical clauses, or securities, are utterly incompatible with the discipline of the Roman Catholic Church, and with the free exercise of their religion:" and in their next resolution, they speak of "their consternation and dismay at the consequences which these regulations must, if enforced, naturally produce."

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These resolutions were confirmed, May 29, at the Catholic Board, by a very great majority.

The celebrated speech of Dr. Dromgoole, on Dec. 8, in the same year, is fresh in the memory of our readers, in which he designates this very bill as a ridiculous bill, so full" of shameful exaction, so subversive of religion, and so injurious to general liberty, that our ancestors would have rejected it in the darkest night of the penal code." This speech was cheered on all sides of the meeting, and various resolutions were passed without a division, in which, all and every sort of interference, on the part of the Crown, in the appointment or approval of their prelates, was positively declared inadmissible. The whole conduct of the Catholic board, since that period, has presented an appearance much more of rebellion than of conciliation. In the mean time, the warmest and most steady advocates of their cause, have been loaded with a severer share of invective, than had ever before been exercised even on their most determined opponents.

Among those who have been singled out as the most prominent objects of attack, is the honourable Baronet, whose speech is now before us. From Dr. Milner, from Mr. Plowden, and from the whole host of Irish Catholics, he has met with the severest censure and the most unqualified abuse. If any additional argument were wanting to persuade us of the utter hopelessness of any attempt to conciliate the Irish hierarchy, and their numerous supporters, it would be the marked ingratitude which they have evinced towards a man, who has dedicated his time, his abilities, and his influence to their service. The labours of many years have been exerted in their cause, nor is there any man, not even Mr. Grattan excepted, to whom the Catholics of Ireland owe a larger debt of gratitude and respect, than to Sir John Cox Hippisley. There is no man who has so effectually smoothed the way to the reception of their cause, or who has brought so clear and extended a knowledge of the

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subject to its support. The only return that he has met with for the anxious exertions of a whole life, is obloquy and abuse. Illa est agricolæ messis iniqua suæ. If this is their mode of treating their friends, what mercy are their opponents to expect?

The crime which the worthy Baronet bas committed is simply this. He would exact the same securities against the interference of the Papal jurisdiction, and the same controul over the appointment of their prelates, which every Roman Catholic country in Europe uniformly exercises; nor would he concede without a deliberate investigation of the grounds on which a concession is to be granted, and the qualifications with which it is to be accompanied. In this line of conduct he has uniformly persisted, from the very first day in which the Catholic petitions were presented to the House, down to the present moment; to whatever therefore of his ulterior views we may enter our objection, to his consistency at least we are bound to pay our tribute of merited respect.

The speech before us, though published only in the course of the last year, was delivered in 1813, under those peculiar circumstances which we would recal to the recollection of the public. The House of Commons having pledged themselves early in the Session, to take the Catholic claims into consideration, on the 11th of May, Sir J. Hippisley moved for the appointment of a select committee, to enter into those enquiries and to investigate those details, to which a committee of the whole House could have neither time nor patience to attend. The following were the resolutions proposed.

"That a select committee be appointed to examine and report the state of the laws affecting his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects within the realm: the state and number of the Roman Catholic clergy, their religious institutions, and their intercourse with the See of Rome, or other foreign jurisdictions: the state of the laws and regulations affecting his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects in the several colonies of the united kingdom: the regulations of foreign states as far as they can be substantiated by evidence, respecting the nomination, collation, or institution of the episcopal order of the Roman Catholic clergy, and the regulations of their intercourse with the See of Rome." If this be conceded, I propose to move that the committee do consist of twenty-one, and that the following members be of the said committee, namely, Lord Viscount Castlereagh, Mr. Ponsonby, Mr. Yorke, Mr. Grattan, Mr. Ryder, Mr. Canning, Mr. Bathurst, Mr. Tierney, Sir William Scott, Sir John Newport, Sir John Nicholl, Mr. M. Fitzgerald, Mr. Peel, Mr. Plunkett, Mr. Bankes, Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Barry, Mr. Brogden, Sir Samuel Romilly, and Mr. Barham; that they meet to-morrow morning, in the Speaker's chamber, M m and

VOL. V. MAY, 1816.

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