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Catholic question was passed, all property in Ireland would rise 20 per

cent.

Protestants admit that there are sectaries sitting in Parliament, who differ from the Church of England as much as the Catholics; but it is forgotten that, according to the doctrine of the Church of England, the Unitarians are considered as condemned to eternal punishment in another world-and that many such have seats in Parliament. And can anything be more preposterous (as far as doctrine has any influence in these matters) than that men, whom we believe to be singled out as objects of God's eternal vengeance, should have a seat in our national councils; and that Catholics, whom we believe may be saved, should not?

The only argument which has any appearance of weight, is the question of divided allegiance; and, generally speaking, we should say it is the argument which produces the greatest effect in the country at large. England, in this respect, is in the same state, at least, as the whole of Catholic Europe. Is not the allegiance of every French, every Spanish, and every Italian Catholic (who is not a Roman) divided? His king is in Paris, or Madrid, or Naples, while his high priest is at Rome. We speak of it as an anomaly in politics; whereas, it is the state and condition of almost the whole of Europe. The danger of this divided allegiance they admit is nothing as long as it is confined to purely spiritual concerns; but it may extend itself to temporal matters, and so endanger the safety of the State. This danger, however, is greater in a Catholic than in a Protestant country; not only on account of the greater majority upon whom it might act; but because there are objects in a Catholic country much more desirable, and attainable, than in a country like England, where Popery does not exist, or Ireland, where it is humbled, and impoverished. Take, for instance, the freedom of the Gallican Church. What eternal disputes did this object give birth to! What a temptation to the Pope to infringe in rich Catholic countries! How is it possible his Holiness can keep his hands from picking and stealing? It must not be imagined that Catholicism has been any defence against the hostility and aggres sion of the Pope; he has cursed and excommunicated every Catholic State in Europe, in their turns. Let that eminent Protestant, Lord Bathurst, state any one instance where, for the last century, the Pope has interfered with the temporal concerns of Great Britain. We can mention, and his lordship will remember, innumerable instances where he might have done so, if such were the modern habit and policy of the Court of Rome. But the fact is there is no Court of Rome, and no Pope. There is a wax-work Pope and a wax-work Court of Rome. But Popes of flesh and blood have long since disappeared; and in the same way, those great giants of the city exist no more, but their truculent images are at Guildhall. We doubt if there is in the Treasury of the Pope change for a guinea-we are sure there is not in his armoury one gun which will go off. We believe, if he attempted to bless anybody whom Dr. Doyle cursed, or to curse anybody whom Dr. Doyle blessed, that his blessings and curses would be as powerless as his artillery. Dr. Doyle* is the Pope of Ireland; and the ablest ecclesiastic of that country will always be its Pope-and that Lord Bathurst ought to know-and most likely does know. But what a waste of life and time, to combat such arguments! Can my Lord Bathurst be ignorant?-can any man, who has the slightest knowledge of Ireland, be

*"Of this I can with great truth assure you; and my testimony, if not entitled to respect, should not be utterly disregarded, that Papal influence will never induce the Catholics of this country either to continue tranquil or to be disturbed, either to aid or to oppose the Government; and that your Lordship can contribute much more than the Pope to secure their allegiance, or to render them disaffected."-Dr. Doyle's Letter to Lord Liverpool, 115.

ignorant, that the portmanteau which sets out every quarter for Rome, and returns from it, is a heap of ecclesiastical matters, which have no more to do with the safety of the country than they have to do with the safety of the moon-and which, but for the respect to individual feelings, might all be published at Charing Cross? Mrs. Flanagan, intimidated by stomach complaints, wants a dispensation for eating flesh. Cornelius Oh Bowel has intermarried by accident with his grandmother; and, finding that she is really his grandmother, his conscience is uneasy. Mr. Mac Tooley, the priest, is discovered to be married, and to have two sons, Castor and Pollux Mac Tooley. Three or four schools-full of little boys have been cursed for going to hear a Methodist preacher. Bargains for shirts and toe-nails of deceased saints-surplices and trencher-caps blessed by the Pope. These are the fruits of double allegiance-the objects of our incredible fear, and the cause of our incredible folly. There is not a syllable which goes to or comes from the Court of Rome, which, by a judicious expenditure of sixpence by the year, would not be open to the examination of every Member of the Cabinet. Those who use such arguments know the answer to them as well as we do. The real evil they dread is the destruction of the Church of Ireland, and, through that, of the Church of England. To which we reply, that such danger must proceed from the regular proceedings of Parliament, or be effected by insurrection and rebellion. The Catholics, restored to civil functions, would, we believe, be more likely to cling to the Church than to Dissenters. If not, both Catholics and Dissenters must be utterly powerless against the overwhelming English interest and feelings in the House. Men are less inclined to run into rebellion, in proportion as they have less to complain of; and, of all other dangers, the greatest to the Irish and English Church establishments, and to the Protestant faith throughout Europe, is to leave Ireland in its present state of discontent.

If the intention is to wait to the last, before concession is made, till the French or Americans have landed, and the Holy standard has been unfurled, we ought to be sure of the terms which can be obtained at such a crisis. This game was played in America. Commissioners were sent in one year to offer and to press what would have been most thankfully received the year before; but they were always too late. The rapid concessions of England were outstripped by the more rapid exactions of the colonies; and the commissioners returned with the melancholy history, that they had humbled themselves before the rebels in vain. If you ever mean to concede at all, do it when every concession will be received as a favour. To wait till you are forced to treat, is as mean in principle as it is dangerous in effect.

Then, how many thousand Protestant Dissenters are there who pay a double allegiance to the King, and to the head of their Church, who is not the King? Is not Mr. William Smith, member for Norwich, the head of the Unitarian Church? Is not Mr. Wilberforce the head of the Clapham Church? Are there not twenty preachers at Leeds, who regulate all the proceedings of the Methodists? The gentlemen we have mentioned are eminent, and most excellent men; but if anything at all is to be apprehended from this divided allegiance, we should be infinitely more afraid of some Jacobinical fanatic at the head of Protestant votaries-some man of such character as Lord George Gordon-than we should of all the efforts of the Pope.

As so much evil is supposed to proceed from not obeying the King as head of the Church, it might be supposed to be a very active office-that the King was perpetually interfering with the affairs of the Church-and that orders were in a course of emanation from the Throne which regulated the fervour, and arranged the devotion of all the members of the Church of England.

But we really do not know what orders are ever given by the King to the Church, except the appointment of a fast-day once in three or four years;— nor can we conceive (for appointment to Bishoprics is out of the question) what duties there would be to perform, if this allegiance were paid, instead of being withholden. Supremacy appears to us to be a mere name, without exercise of power-and allegiance to be a duty, without any performance annexed. If any one will say what ought to be done which is not done, on account of this divided allegiance, we shall better understand the magnitude of the evil. Till then, we shall consider it as a lucky Protestant phrase, good to look at, like the mottoes and ornaments on cake, but not fit to be eaten.

Nothing can be more unfair than to expect, in an ancient church like that of the Catholics, the same uniformity as in churches which have not existed for more than two or three centuries. The coats and waistcoats of the reign of Henry VIII. bear some resemblance to the same garments of the present day; but, as you recede, you get to the skins of wild beasts, or the fleeces of sheep, for the garments of savages. In the same way it is extremely difficult for a church, which has to do with the counsels of barbarous ages, not to be detected in some discrepancy of opinion; while in younger churches, everything is fair and fresh, and of modern date and figure; and it is not the custom among Theologians to own their church in the wrong. "No religion can stand, if men, without regard to their God, and with regard only to controversy, shall rake out of the rubbish of antiquity the obsolete and quaint follies of the sectarians, and affront the majesty of the Almighty with the impudent catalogue of their devices; and it is a strong argument against the proscriptive system, that it helps to continue this shocking contest. Theologian against theologian, polemic against polemic, until the two madmen defame their common Parent, and expose their common religion."-Grattan's Specch on the Catholic Question, 1805.

A good-natured and well-conditioned person has pleasure in keeping and distributing anything that is good. If he detects anything with superior flavour, he presses and invites, and is not easy till others participate ;—and so it is with political and religious freedom. It is a pleasure to possess it, and a pleasure to communicate it to others. There is something shocking in the greedy, growling, guzzling monopoly of such a blessing.

France is no longer a nation of atheists; and therefore, a great cause of offence to the Irish Roman Catholic clergy is removed. Navigation by steam renders all shores more accessible. The union among Catholics is consolidated; all the dangers of Ireland are redoubled; everything seems tending to an event fatal to England-fatal (whatever Catholics may foolishly imagine) to Ireland-and which will subject them both to the dominion of France.

Formerly a poor man might be removed from a parish if there was the slightest danger of his becoming chargeable; a hole in his coat or breeches excited suspicion. The churchwardens said, "He has cost us nothing, but may cost us something; and we must not live even in the apprehension of evil." All this is changed; and the law now says, "Wait till you are hurt; time enough to meet the evil when it comes; you have no right to do a certain evil to others, to prevent an uncertain evil to yourselves." The Catholics, however, are told that what they do ask is objected to, from the fear of what they may ask; that they must do without that which is reasonable, for fear they should ask what is unreasonable. "I would give you a penny (says the miser to the beggar) if I was quite sure you would not ask me for half a crown."

We sincerely hope-we firmly believe-it never will happen; but if it were to happen, why cannot England be just as happy with Ireland being Catholic,

as it is with Scotland being Presbyterian? Has not the Church of England lived side by side with the Kirk, without crossing or jostling, for these last hundred years? Have the Presbyterian members entered into any conspiracy for mincing Bishoprics and Deaneries into Synods and Presbyteries? And is not the Church of England tenfold more rich and more strong than when the separation took place? But however this may be, the real danger, even to the Church of Ireland, as we have before often remarked, is the refusal of Catholic Emancipation.

It would seem, from the frenzy of many worthy Protestants, whenever the name of Catholic is mentioned, that the greatest possible diversity of religious opinions existed between the Catholic and the Protestant-that they were as different as fish and flesh-as alkali and acid-as cow and cart-horse; whereas it is quite clear that there are many Protestant sects whose difference from each other is much more marked, both in church discipline and in tenets of faith, than that of Protestants and Catholics. We maintain that Lambeth, in these two points, is quite as near to the Vatican as it is to the Kirk-if not much nearer.

Instead of lamenting the power of the priests over the lower orders of the Irish, we ought to congratulate ourselves that any influence can affect or control them. Is the tiger less formidable in the forest than when he has been caught and taught to obey a voice, and tremble at a hand? But we over-rate the power of the priest, if we suppose that the upper orders are to encounter all the dangers of treason and rebellion, to confer the revenues of the Protestant Church upon their Catholic clergy. If the influence of the Catholic clergy upon men of rank and education is so unbounded, why cannot the French and Italian clergy recover their possessions, or require an equivalent for them? They are starving in the full enjoyment of an influence which places (as we think) all the wealth and power of the country at their feet-an influence which, in our opinion, overpowers avarice, fear, ambition, and is the master of every passion which brings on change and movement in the Protestant world.

We conclude with a few words of advice to the different opponents of the Catholic question.

To the No-Popery Fool.-You are made use of by men who laugh at you, and despise you for your folly and ignorance; and who, the moment it suits their purpose, will consent to emancipation of the Catholics, and leave you to roar and bellow No Popery! to Vacancy and the Moon.

To the No-Popery Rogue.-A shameful and scandalous game, to sport with the serious interests of the country, in order to gain some increase of public power! To the Honest No-Popery People.-We respect you very sincerely-but are astonished at your existence.

To the Base.-Sweet children of turpitude, beware! the old anti-popery people are fast perishing away. Take heed that you are not surprised by an emancipating King, or an emancipating Administration.

Leave a locus

pænitentia!-prepare a place for retreat-get ready your equivocations and denials. The dreadful day may yet come, when liberality may lead to place and power. We understand these matters here. It is safest to be moderately base-to be flexible in shame, and to be always ready for what is generous, good, and just, when anything is to be gained by virtue.

To the Catholics.-Wait. Do not add to your miseries by a mad and desperate rebellion. Persevere in civil exertions, and concede all you can concede. All great alterations in human affairs are produced by compromise.

J. OGDEN AND CO., PRINTERS, 172, ST. JOHN STREET, EC

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