“I conclude, Sir, remarks which, upon such a subject, might be carried to almost any extent, with presenting to you a petition to Parliament, and recommending it for the adoption of this meeting.  And upon this petition, I beg leave to say a few words:—­I am the writer of the petition I lay before you; and I have endeavoured to make it as mild and moderate as I possibly could.  If I had consulted my own opinions alone, I should have said, that the disabling laws against the Catholics were a disgrace to the statute-book, and that every principle of justice, prudence, and humanity, called for their immediate repeal; but he who wishes to do any thing useful in this world, must consult the opinions of others as well as his own.  I knew very well if I had proposed such a petition to my excellent friend, the Archdeacon and Mr. William Vernon, it would not have suited the mildness and moderation of their character, that they should accede to it; and I knew very well, that without the authority of their names, I could have done nothing.  The present petition, when proposed to them by me, met, as I expected, with their ready and cheerful compliance.  But though I propose this petition as preferable to the other, I should infinitely prefer that we do nothing, and disperse without coming to any resolution.

“I am sick of these little clerico-political meetings.  They bring a disgrace upon us and upon our profession, and make us hateful in the eyes of the laity.  The best thing we could have done, would have been never to have met at all.  The next best thing we can do (now we are met), is to do nothing.  The third choice is to take my petition.  The fourth, last, and worst, to adopt your own.  The wisest thing I have heard here to-day, is the proposition of Mr. Chaloner, that we should burn both petitions, and ride home.  Here we are, a set of obscure country clergymen, at the ‘Three Tuns,’ at Thirsk, like flies on the chariot-wheel; perched upon a question of which we can neither see the diameter, nor control the motion, nor influence the moving force.  What good can such meetings do?  They emanate from local conceit, advertize local ignorance; make men, who are venerable by their profession, ridiculous by their pretensions, and swell that mass of paper-lumber, which, got up with infinite rural bustle, and read without being heard in Parliament, is speedily consigned to merited contempt."[86]

So ended Sydney Smith’s first political speech; and he took two years’ holiday from the labours of the platform.  On the 11th of April 1825, he returned to the charge.  He had now acquired, in addition to Foston, the Rectory of Londesborough, which he held from 1823 to 1829, as “warming-pan” for his young friend and neighbour, William Howard.[87] As Rector of Londesborough, he attended a meeting of the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of the East Riding, held at Beverley to protest against the Roman Catholic claims.