and that, such being the sentiments of the petitioners, they have witnessed with pleasure the amelioration in the condition of our Roman Catholic fellow subjects, which has been imparted to them in the mild spirit of toleration, during the present reign; and the petitioners hail with satisfaction the prospect of that period when still greater immunities may be granted to them, under those safeguards, which, as Protestants, we are bound to require, and which their warmest advocates admit to be of vital importance for the security of our constitution; and that the petitioners have understood it, however, to have been declared by the heads of the Roman Catholic clergy in Ireland, that they cannot assent to any safeguard that may be deemed essential for the protection of our Protestant establishment, for want of that free access to the Pope, which it is impossible for them to have during his present state of duress, and therefore the petitioners most strongly deprecate the agitation of a question which can only tend to irritate and inflame, and the object of which cannot, as the petitioners conceive, under these considerations, be conceded; and that they deeply lament that the Roman Catholics have resolved to urge their request at so Inauspicious a Crisis, but, as they learn that it will shortly be submitted to the consideration of the House, they feel it a duty that they owe to their country, to themselves, and their posterity, to appear before the House as petitioners against claims which are so injudiciously intended to be preferred under such circumstances, and they rely 415 with confidence that the collective wisdom of the legislature will adopt such measures of internal regulation and provision as may be calculated to increase the comforts of our fellow subjects in Ireland, and enable them to participate to the utmost extent in the blessings which in England we enjoy".