In his great speech introducing Catholic Emancipation in
1829, he told Parliament it had but two courses to follow--to advance or
to recede; to advance by conceding the Catholic claims, or to recede by
reimposing those portions of the penal laws already repealed. Dwelling
on the impossibility and insanity of the latter course, he said: "We
cannot replace the Roman Catholics in the position in which we found
them, when the system of relaxation and indulgence began. We have given
them the opportunity of acquiring education, wealth, and power. We have
removed with our own hands the seal from the vessel in which a mighty
spirit was enclosed; but it will not, like the genius in the fable,
return within its narrow confines to gratify our curiosity, and to
enable us to cast it back into the obscurity from which we evoked it."
Here is another specimen from his speech on the Reform Bill of 1832. He
opposed that Bill with all his energy, as is well known. Lord Durham, a
very advanced reformer for his time, and son-in-law to Earl Grey, the
Prime Minister, was known to have influenced that nobleman in retaining
the most liberal clauses of the bill. For his years he was a very
juvenile looking man, which gave point to Sir Robert Peel's words when
he said so happily: "It would appear as if the reins of the State had
been confided to some youthful and inexperienced hands; and who, left
without any guiding principle, or any controlling sense of duty, were
rushing on with headlong violence which wiser men could neither moderate
nor restrain.
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