clauses were inserted in the bill, one forbidding any Roman Catholic Ecclesiastic to assume the style and title of any bishop of the United Church of England and Ireland; in defiance of which, the Roman Catholic prelates have recently assumed the title of nearly every Protestant bishop, and have been left unprosecuted by the Government; and the other imposing the following solemn oath on all Roman Catholic members of Parliament. "I do swear, that I will defend to the utmost of my power, the settlement of property within this realm as established by the laws; and I do hereby disclaim, disavow, and solemnly abjure any intention to subvert the present Church Establishment, as settled by law within this realm; and I do solemnly swear that I never will exercise any privilege to which I am, or may become entitled, to disturb or weaken the Protestant religion, or Protestant Government in this kingdom; and I do solemnly in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare, that I do make this declaration, and every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary sense of the words of this oath, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatever." Such were the circumstances under which the Popish bill passed, and such was the oath on which the friends of the Ecclesiastical Establishments and of Protestanism relied for their protection. What has been the result? We ask every reasonable man if every year since 1829 has not seen the political power of the Roman Catholics increase? And we ask further, if so much has been done in the first nine years after Emancipation, what may not the second nine years witness? In 1833, a bill passed, for which the Papists in the Houses of Parliament, with a very few exceptions, voted, abolishing ten bishoprics in Ireland abolishing church rates in that country and taxing all benefices above £300 a-year. In the same year the grant to the Kildare Place Society, which had for many years carried on an extensive and we believe, very beneficial and not unpopular system of bible education, was withdrawn; and in place of it, the national system of education was established to which fifty thousand pounds is annually granted, and which is conducted by a board consisting of about equal proportions of Papists, Socinians, and nominal Protestants. As might have been expected, the Bible has been excluded from the schools. In lieu of it sundry extracts not taken from the authorized version but translated by this "liberal" board, have been substituted; and in consequence, the Protestants have almost in a body abstained from connection with such a system, and the Papists are therefore left in undisturbed enjoyment of the large Government grant, while the protestants are left without one word of sympathy or encouragement, and without the assistance of a shilling from the public treasury to which they contribute so considerable a proportion. So much for the year 1833, the first opportunity which the public excitement about the Reform bill had allowed for the consideration of general measures. In the following year Mr. O'Connel moved a resolution that tithes should be appropriated to purposes of general public utility; and in 1835 came forth the celebrated appropriation clause, by the operation of which the Protestant ministers were to be withdrawn from 850 parishes in Ireland; and as bythat clause whenever there were less than fifty Protestants in a parish the church should be shut up and the property given-given on the spot, to Popish education under the resident Popish priest, it is evident that there was a direct premium on Protestant extermination in those places where rather more than fifty professors of the truth were found. In 1834 and 1835, too, Mr. O'Connell and others of his party for the first time attended meetings in support of the Voluntary principle, that is agitated for the total destruction of the Church they had solemnly sworn to uphold. Happily both this notable scheme and the spoliation clause miserably failed, and then other measures became requisite. As the Roman Catholics found that they could not grasp the whole, or a large part of the Church property, they determined to introduce at least the narrow edge of the wedge, and to share something, however small as a beginning. Accordingly, last Session, when the Prisons' bill was under discussion, Mr. Langdale introduced a clause, providing that whenever in any prison there shall be upwards of fifty persons of any denomination, there shall there be a chaplain of that denomination paid by the Government. Thus, under cover of "any denomination," the Roman Catholics, who were alone concerned in the success of the trick, contrived to introduce a provision for the payment of some of their clergy; and Mr. Baines, as the organ of the Dissenters, after stating, in terms which we do not hesitate to call false and disgraceful, that there were "no dissenters in prison," supported Mr. Langdale's clause, and carried it. But it was thrown out in the House of Lords, though not it appears to the discouragement of the parties chiefly concerned, for we observe by the "Catholic Magazine," that it is to be renewed next Session; and on Dr. Lingard's suggestion, with the additional provision that it shall extend to all persons confined for debt, as well as those incarcerated for criminal of fences. But this is not the only measure on the part of the Roman Catholics that has signalised the present year. For first, on the 26th February, at a meeting held at the Sabloniere Hotel, a society was instituted for the "Diffusion of Catholic Puhlications," which was at once taken up by many eminent and wealthy individuals. And secondly, at another meeting held more recently, at which the advice and presence of Mr. O'Connell were ob. tained, a formidable kind of association was formed, to be called "The Catholic Institute." Of this body the Earl of Shrewsbury is declared president; and on the 26th July, a circular was published, which we find in the Catholic Magazine of August. The following noblemen and gentlemen therein named as the Vice-Presidents, and others it is said have been ap plied to, though their answers have not yet been received: The Earl of Newburgh. The Hon. Charles Langdale, M.P. A. H. Lynch, Esq., M.P.* Charles Towneley, Esq., of Towneley, Lancashire. Wm. Constable Maxwell, Esq., of Eringham Park, Yorkshire. John Menzies, Esq., of Pitfodels. William Lawson, Esq., of Brough Hall, Yorkshire. Andrew L. Philips, of Garrendon Park, Leicestershire. Philip Jones, Esq., of Llanarth, Monmouthshire. James Wheble, Esq., of Woodley, Berkshire.t Robert Berkely, Fsq., of Spetchley, Worcestershire. Joseph Weld, Esq., of Lullworth Castle, Dorset. Among the objects declared-we say declared, in contradiction to entertained, for we do not expect from Roman Catholics much openness or candour, are the following :-We give them as embodied in the 11th, 12th, and 13th "Resolutions. No. 11." "That the funds of the institute shall be applied by the committee in providing a suitable place of meeting, and in recompensing the secretary, and such officers as they may consider necessary, for the purpose of conducting the affairs, and keeping the accounts of the institute; and that a further portion of the funds shall be applied in printing and circulating such pub Mr. Lynch has recently been appointed to the office of one of the Masters in Chancery, worth four thousand a-year. + This gentleman is at present high-sheriff of Berkshire, and recently took advantage of the occasion to proceed at the head of a procession, and lay the first stone of a new Popish chapel at Reading. Mr. Mornington, another Roman Catholic, being high-sheriff of Herefordshire last year, did the same at Hereford; and in that case, he marched out in very great pomp, and with the militia band playing the grand "Hallelujah chorus" of Handel. The Catholic Directory says two thousand persons were present, "including the Mayor and his family, and several members of the Town Council." In Leicestershire, on laying the foundation of a chapel at Grace Dieu, Mr Ambrose Lisle Phillips "appeared in the dress of a Deputy-Lieutenant of the county, and Sir Charles Wolseley in a court dress." lications as, having the previous sanction of a clergyman duly authorized by the Vicar Apostolic of the London district, may be deemed useful to obviate calumny, to explain Catholic tenets, defend the purity and truth of Catholic doctrines, and circulate useful information on these subjects." No. 12. Resolved, "That the committee shall also undertake the examination of all cases of religious oppression, or of deprivation of rights of conscience of the poorer and less protected classes of Catholics, under any circumstances." ""* No. 13. Resolved, "That the committee shall be authorized to appoint sub-committees of not less than five members out of their own body, for any purposes of the institute, and also to organize local committees, and to solicit aud avail themselves of the cooperation of individuals of different parts of Great Britain and the colo nies." The result of this plan has been an arrangement for the complete organization of the whole Roman Catholic population. Not only are there to be district committees, but also there are to be parish committees, and these again are to be subdivided. This ar rangement, in all its parts, bears evidently the stamp of Mr. O'Connell's authorship. It is precisely like those organizations which he has formed in Ireland-sometimes publicly---sometimes in secret-for the purpose of overbearing the government. We hope then that this will convince the Protestants of Great Britain, if every thing else fails to excite them, that Popery is preparing for greater movements than have hitherto been made. It seems that now the Roman Catholics deem themselves strong enough to follow the course of their Irish brethren, and are preparing to consummate their intrigues by intimidation. Such was the policy adopted in Ireland. At first, nothing was heard but professions of loyalty, nothing but promises of peace; but when the time came to speak out, first for emanci pation, then against tithes, and afterwards for repeal, all cloaks and coverings were cast aside, and the tremendous machinery so long preparing was suddenly unveiled to view. Nor let it be supposed, that those appliances and means which in the sister island have given Popery such victories, are here wanted. Every element of strength in one place is enjoyed in the other. The priests are equally diligent; the public press at least in London, to a very great extent is in the hands of the Roman Catho lics; the Government are disposed to assist in any 66 heavy blow or great discouragement to Protestanism." These are all most important matters. The moment is propitious. In our Church has sprung up a new school of semi-Popish divinity, recommended by the virtues and talents of its professors, eating its way to the very core of the Protestant system of theology. Modern Liberalism, infidelity, ultra high Church doctrines, the principles of political expediency—all these things have joined to help Popery forward in its prosperous and triumphant career. No secret is made by many, of their indifference to its rise, no sufficient impediment is offered to its plans; and we regret to add, that the non-conformists those whose ancestors were boldest in their hostility to the then rampant heresy-are too generally either passive spectators of its progress, or active auxiliaries of its political designs. Public opinion, which formerly always evinced more or less of a Protestant spirit, now indicates no symptoms of that healthful and necessary characteristic. Bulwark after bulwark of our constitution and of our religion, has been lost through perfidy, apathy, or defeat; and at the present time, this nation, once renowned for the integrity of her counsellors, and the Christian principles of her parliament, is at the mercy of a profligate demagogue, intent on the introduction of a grovelling superstition, and a humiliating foreign despotism. We can no longer look for The first fruits of this resolution was the clause in the prison's bill to which we have alluded. It was introduced immediately after the formation of the institute. +We allude to those unfortunate and deeply to be regretted publications "Tracts for the Times," "Froude's Remains," and Palmer's "Church of Christ," "Newman's Sermons," &c. &c. The time has gone by when those works can be passed over without notice, and the hope that their influence would fail is now dead. that providential care which for ages was the guide and guardian of us as a Frotestant people; we are no longer, as even in Cromwell's days, the acknowledged safeguard of the Protestants of Europe. All is changed; our power is weakened, our prosperity has decayed, and the prospects presented to our contemplation are such as in the days of old would have aroused the population as one man, to manful exertions to the preservation of their freedom and their faith. Too long, alas! have we been deluded by the vain idea that the enlightenment of this generation was proof against the assaults of Popery. Bitter experience now calls on every preacher to warn his people with the solemn mandate "let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." To that warning we add our feeble counsel, and bid every man who pretends to patriotic feelings, to look around on the portent ous signs of the times, and fearlessly to do his duty to his country and himself. We all have now a common enemy thundering at the gates, and he is a traitor who refuses to repel the danger; doubly then is that man a foe to the land in which he now enjoys ancestral blessings that his children may claim to have handed down unimpaired, who gives up a single post he was bound to guard, or meanly sells his birthright for honours, or places, or from base sectarian ambition. In concluding our glance at this question, we have only to proceed as we have proposed, to call for vigorous and united exertions in the protestant cause. We do so from a most deep, and painful, and conscientious conviction of the important consequences to which resistance or assistance to Popery under present circumstances must surely lead. We do so from a knowledge of the necessity of immediate efforts, and with a hope that our appeal will not be entirely in vain. Little has yet been done by the friends, and much, very much, by the enemies of the Constitution. There never was a time before in this county, not even during the reign of the last infatuated monarch of the Stuart dynasty, when evils more terrible threatened the land. At that period, memorable in the history of this country which was then marvellously saved, memorable in the history of Europe which has often since owed its rescue from oppression or Popery to the contagious spirit of this emancipated island-at that period our Universities, our Legislature, our executive Government in England and in Ireland, our corporations, and our Court were for a time in the grasp of the popish tyrant, and were content to impose on the people the scornfully rejected thraldom of apostate Rome. But by the providence of God, the Protestants of Ireland rallied round the banner of their faith, and drove even their proud_foreign invaders from the shore. Popery then called all its energies, and throwing forth its whole force on the stubborn and awakened population, broke itself on the rock they had erected, in stead of sweeping every vestige of its strength from the surface of the land it protected. Like the heroic Dutchmen, when they conquered the power of Spain and expelled the Inquisition, the people exclaimed "Turks rather than Papists." Thus Popery fell prostrate before the determined spirit of a Christian nation, that knew and could value its privileges. We ask our fellow-countrymen why the same agency should not overcome the same evil now? Away with the petty jealousies which prevent men from cooperating together, which give the country and its interests a secondary place in the hearts of all who have a crotchet to prate of, or a paltry prejų. dice to display. Away with all maudlin sentimentality about "the religious have-nothing-to-do with politics," at the time when all the means of disseminating Christianity in the country are assailed through the instrumentality of political partisans. We do not ask any to become party men, we ask only for justice and for consistency. To the dissenters we say “You declare yourselves against endowments, behold Popery endowed both at home and in the colonies." To the Whig who still affects to act on the principles which distinguished his ancestors and placed the family of Brunswick on the throne, we say, "Enquire if Government is now carried on with the objects the Whigs of 1688 professed to have steadily in view." If a man call himself a friend of freedom, we ask him if he hopes for that blessing, when the iron hoof of the Papacy is crushing the land, and the poisonous falsehoods of her superstition are corroding the hearts of the people? No matter what we enjoy are dear, to acquit themselves any one avows himself, Dissenter, of a solemn duty now resting on every Whig, Liberal, or Conservative, one who has the slightest influence and Churchman or Patriot, we appeal to the smallest power. Every thing worth him to deceive himself no longer, to preserving is at stake; policy and believe, ere it be too late, the facts each higher obligation unite to excite which it is impossible to deny, that us to exertion; the means of usefulPopery, the same now as when the ness are possessed by all; the evils of whole western population groaned in delay increase and accumulate; we bondage, is gaining ground by crafty have experience of the past to guide devices and open violence, is coming us, and hopes of the future to excite forth from the dungeons of persecution us, and above all, the noblest cause and the cells of bigotry, once more to that ever yet animated the spirits of prostitute Christianity, once more to freeborn men. The choice is between conquer and to enthral. To the sim- the system enthroned in the passions pleton who talks of Popery being of corrupted nature, that has cursed changed, we retort, with the evidence every land on which it has trampled, of Dens' Theology, the assumption of the master-contrivance of priestcraft infallibility, and the recent instances and fraud, which has dignified the inof violated oaths; and if the Papist solence of pride and monopolised the himself impudently takes up this con- presumption of power, which has paltemptible jargon, we know of no an- liated crime, indulged depravity, and swer but to laugh him to scorn. A restored idolatry, which for centuries very short time will prove who is right, has warred against the temporal and and will show whether our statements eternal happiness of man, and deroare as fanciful and our fears as absurd gated from the honour of God; and, as some will pretend to believe them. on the other hand, that mild benignant To the verdict Time will give, we re- sway that inculcates piety and profer all who are too ignorant to know motes peace, succouring the afflicted, the truth and too idle at once to seek protecting the oppressed, giving freeit; but this we beg them to remember, dom to the enslaved, that shines on that each increase of danger increases the spirit of human-kind with beams the responsibilities of those who being reflected from the clear refulgency warned neglected to avert it; and fur- of heaven. It is the cause for which ther, as dangers and responsibilities martyrs have perished, for which our augment, so also do difficulties, pari purest patriots have courted peril, and passu. We therefore once more ear- which now affords to all classes of the nestly call on all who value Protes- people the promise of liberty and tanism, on all to whom the blessings knowledge. |