CHAP. IV. sanctioned Bills of Discovery, and confiscations of Catholic property, and consequently formed The generosity of the Irish Bar. the most lucrative branch of professional practice, the Bar of Ireland not only did not oppose or retard the measure, but with manly and memorable zeal stood forward in its support, and cordially contributed to its success. Indeed, the Members of this honourable profession possess claims of peculiar strength and justice upon the affection and esteem of the Irish People of every description. The Catholics especially, as the most exposed to oppression and injustice, have derived from them the most essential support: and have invariably found a bulwark of protection, almost their only one, in the generous and intrepid advocacy of the Irish Bar. To the Anti-Catholic code of Laws, therefore, not to any illiberal spirit of monopoly in the Members of this profession, is attributable the class of Exclusion, which we are now to consider, and which comprehends almost every desirable Office in the Profession, or the AdEnumeration of ministration, of the Laws. The Offices of this Law Off es, &c. description, which the Catholics are forbidden interdicted to Catholics. to aspire to, by the express letter of the Statutes, are the following, viz. Recorders of Cities and Towns, about 60 224 Law Offices interdicted to 4 1 2 of Bankruptcy Barristers 31. To this number may be added 25 Commis-Commissioners sioners of Bankruptcy, and 31 Assistant Bar-25-Assistant risters, or Chairmen of county Sessions: for, although the Catholics are not, by the express CHAP. IV. Letter of the Law, disabled from holding these Offices, yet in practice they are excluded, with scarcely a single exception. Cases of Interdiction. diction of eccle There are, moreover, several other Offices of great power and effect in the Administration of the Laws, which, though commonly termed Ecclesiastical offices, yet are vested with exTemporal Juris- tensive Jurisdiction, in temporal matters, over siastical Officers. the persons and properties of the Catholics. Of this nature are those which decide upon questions of Wills of personal property; Marriage, Tythes, and other incidental subjects of moment. Such are the Offices of Vicars General of the 26 dioceses of Ireland, the Court of Delegates, Prerogative Court, Metropolitan Court, Consistorial Court, &c. Case of Doctor M. Lynch, From all offices in these courts, probably 50 1804 coram in number, the Catholics are excluded; nay, Dr. Duigenan. they are prohibited from practising in them, Advocates. as Advocates. Proctors. Public Notaries. The Proctors in these courts are, apparently, subject to the same regulation. Their number in Dublin amounts to nine, and, in the country, they may be estimated at forty. Public Notaries are marked by the like proscription. The exclusion of Catholics from this office, or faculty, (notwithstanding the Statute of 1793) was indirectly effected in the Public Notaries Case of John year 1800. Certain novel regulations for that CHAP. IV. purpose were framed, by the procurement of Doctor Patrick Duigenan, who is the chosen deputy of Doctor William Stuart, Archbishop of Callaghan, in Armagh, and Primate of all Ireland; and, as 1803-7. such worthy deputy, holds the office of "Master of the Faculties," pursuant to the Statute of 25 Hen. 8. The Public Notaries in Ireland amount to about 56 in number. Chancery, Offices 1000. The consequential operation of the exclusion Subordinate of the Catholics from all these offices reaches, naturally and necessarily, to all the beneficial subordinate situations. Such are those of Registers to Judges, and to Vicars general: Secretaries, Deputies, Court officers, Clerks of the Crown, Clerks of the Peace, Assistants in the various Law offices, Solicitors and Treasurers to numerous public Boards and establishments, agents, clerks to great public officers, &c. Of all these subordinate, but lucrative, offices we may reasonably estimate the actual number, as exceeding 1000. 1500 Offices Thus there appears to be a total number of Total number nearly 1500 offices, connected with the pro- the Law. fession and Administration of the Laws, which are interdicted to the Catholics, either by the express Letter, or by the necessary operation of the present Penal Code. CHAP. IV. Injury of this exclusion. 160 Offices OF the injury and degradation which this interdiction inflicts upon the Catholic Body, we need not offer any stronger evidence, than the fact of the interdiction itself. One hundred and sixty legal offices, of honour and of emolument, Catholic Burris- are inaccessible to Catholic Barristers, and open 1500 Offices in- to Protestants. Fifteen hundred offices are tholic Attornies, reserved solely for the ruling class, to the exclerks, students, clusion of Catholic students, solicitors, attornies, clerks, &c. &c. interdicted to ters. terdicted to Ca &c. Testimony of ley. Mor, and Polit. Philos, vol. 2. ch. 10. 1804. Can it be doubted, that this exclusion must aggrieve the Catholic community at large?—that it intercepts the fair rewards of diligence, and the earnings of cultivated talent-that it circuniscribes the opportunities of providing for the children of Catholic families, abridges the means of subsistence, obstructs the paths of Catholic industry, and the hopes of occupation? That all this is unjustifiable, nay almost ridiculous, the soundest Statesmen have repeatedly pronounced. We shall conclude this Article with the testimony of a Protestant political philosopher, Arch-deacon Paley. "It has been asserted," says he, "that discordancy of Religions is enough to render men unfit to act together, in public stations. "But upon what argument, or upon what |