Page:An address to the Roman Catholics of Ireland.djvu/10

8 If you are not to be moved by superior considerations, I would in vain appeal to you for consistency, yet I cannot but remind you that in the year 1795, when the recall of Lord Fitzwilliam snatched your hopes from your grasp, the Catholics of Dublin, in a numerous and most respectable meeting at Francis-Street Chapel, unanimously resolved "that they would not accept of Emancipation upon the terms of an Union."

He who takes the liberty of thus addressing you, is one of that party of Protestants in Ireland, who, (as the Secretary has told you) thinks your exclusion from the Constitution unjust and absurd. He has always thought so. Many years ago, tho' an humble and obscure man, he affected through the press, the justice of your pretensions, even in the infancy of your demands:—He sought no emolumental reward, and denied himself even the pardonable indulgence of reputation. He looks forward steadily to the fame object, and relies confidently for its accomplishment upon the progressive illumination of the human mind. He hopes to see his countrymen of all persuasions, one great, prosperous, happy, and loyal nation, and he trusts that the Catholics of Ireland will not contribute to its becoming a degraded and divided province.

December, 20th, 1798.