ics generally.
It was impossible to admit the interpretation put upon this provision
by the opponents of the Catholic claims, as if its benefits had been
limited to the persons besieged in Limerick; for strange, indeed, would
it be, if those who held out longest in arms, and therefore did the
greatest extent of mischief to the ruling powers, should yet be held to
have been entitled to public favour. It was monstrous to suppose that
this treaty related solely to the garrison of Limerick; for what said
the 9th article?--'The oath to be administered to such Roman Catholics
as submit to their majesties' government shall be the oath aforesaid and
no other.' The oath referred to was the 'oath of allegiance,' and no
other; and the article comprehended all submitting Catholics generally.
But how had faith been kept with them? when it was by the exaction of
new oaths, and nothing else, that they had ever since been excluded from
the enjoyment of their proper privileges? But even if the interpretation
that the men in arms alone were included were conceded, then their
descendants (and they must have some) were, though Catholics, invested
with these privileges. There necessarily must be some Catholics in the
kingdom who were not excluded with the rest of their brethren: and
where were they? But such a construction was trifling, contrary to all
rules of logic, and all fair modes of reasoning. So far as the treaty
of Limerick went, the case was conclusive: faith had been pledged, and
faith had been broken." The treaty of Limerick thus brought forward by
Sir Francis Burdett became the grand argument in the debate; and it was
relied on both by those who favoured and those who opposed emancipation.
In supporting the motion, Mr. Plunkett, the attorney-general for
Ireland, said that it certainly did appear to him that at the time of
signing the articles of the treaty of Limerick, the Roman Catholics of
Ireland possessed certain important privileges; and amongst others the
right of admission into parliament. The first article fully recognised
their privileges, for it did not refer merely to the exercise of
religious rights, but also to the enjoyment of such political privileges
as they had exercised in the reign of Charles II., one of which was
eligibility to sit in the Irish parliament. It was argued, he said, that
this provision extended only to persons who were in the garrison;
but the words of the article, which mentioned generally, and