and persecution. For ages, Papists have been allowed the free and unmolested exercise of their religion. Indeed this was at no time denied them, when they could keep themselves from plots and treasons. Since the commencement of the late reign, they have received one concession after another; and at this moment the worship of the established church is not more free, or more protected by law, than is that of the popish chapel; and yet this titular archbishop,-this man who professes to be teaching his people in all wisdom, has the effrontery to assert, that the design of extirpating his religion by violence and persecution has been abandoned only in some degree; that is, that such a design still exists, though somewhat relaxed. Now, he knows that this is not true. Every priest in Ireland knows that the charge is false; but they seem to make it their daily business to persuade their people that there is such a design entertained against them; and thus to cherish the hatred with which the Papists generally regard their Protestant neighbours. It seems to be the sole study of these men to keep alive this hatred, and, for purposes best known to themselves, at the very time when they are so clamorous for emancipation; that is, for admission into places of power and trust, when, no doubt, they would turn the hatred which they have cherished to some truly popish

purpose.

Yet, on this very subject, Oliver Kelly does not speak the sentiments of the great body of Irish Papists, as expressed by their leaders in Dublin, known by the name of the "Catholic board." These leaders have actually gone the length of making an appeal to the pope against their own government; and, therefore, it is no wonder that the pope should interfere in the civil and domestic affairs of Ireland. In this appeal to the pope, which was made about five years ago, it is not admitted that there has been any relaxation in the violence of the persecution to which they are exposed; and as there has been no change since that time, Kelly stands guilty of contradicting a public document issued by the leading men of his own communion. I shall give an extract from this document, with some remarks, for which I am indebted to a pamphlet, entitled, " An Examination of the Address of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, to Pope Pius VII. By the Rev. William Thorpe, Dublin, 1816." This will afford the reader a specimen of the manner in which the "Irish people," as the Papists call themselves, speak of their sufferings:

"Most Holy Father:-We, the Roman Catholic people of Ireland, most humbly approach your holiness, imploring, for five millions of faithful children, the apostolical benediction. We deem it unnecessary, most holy father, to remind the sovereign pontiff of our church of our peculiar claims to his protection and support; for we cannot for a moment imagine that your holiness is unmindful of the constancy and devotion manifested to the holy see by the Roman Catholics of Ireland, in despite of the most sanguinary and unrelenting persecution that ever aggrieved a Christian people. We cannot, however, abstain from reminding our most holy father, that although the persecution which we and our ancestors endured was notoriously and avowedly inflicted upon us, on account of our adherence to, and connexion with the holy see; nevertheless, the Catholics of Ireland never solicited the predecessors of your holiness, at any period of that persecution, to alter, in

the slightest degree, that connexion, or make any modification of the existing discipline of our holy church, to obtain for the Roman Catholics of Ireland, the repeal or mitigation of those cruel laws which proscribed them."

So then, if we will believe our Irish Papists, they are suffering, even at this day, a persecution the most sanguinary and unrelenting that ever aggrieved a Christian people. This reminds me of what I have read somewhere of a country minister, who had, by mistake, taken to the pulpit an old sermon which had been composed for a particular occasion. Having nothing else ready, he was obliged to go on with it, not suspecting that it contained any thing heterodox or unseasonable. He declaimed with great spirit against the vices of the age; and came unexpectedly upon the following sentence :-"Your sins are the cause of the dreadful epidemic which is at present raging in this neighbourhood." An honest justice of the peace, who had been listening with great attention, took the alarm, and starting up, loudly interrogated the speaker: "Where, sir, where is it?" The minister, a little disconcerted, replied, "I do not know that it is any where except in this sermon.' Now, let any man ask the Papists of Ireland, where is this sanguinary and unrelenting persecution carried on against them? and if there be an honest man amongst them, I am sure he will answer, nowhere that he knows of, except in the above libellous address and appeal of his brethren to the pope of Rome.

I might contrast the present unmolested state of the Irish Papists, and the freedom of religious worship which they enjoy, with the state of the Lollards in this country before the reformation, and with the state of the Waldenses and Bohemians, of whom tens of thousands were massacred in cold blood by order of the Pope of Rome, on account of their religion:-I might speak of the burning to death of hundreds of men, women, and children, during the reign of Bloody Mary, Queen of England; of the massacre of Paris; of the murder of many thousands of Protestants in France, in consequence of the revocation of the edict of Nantz, by Louis XIV.; and of the sufferings of our own Covenanters in the west of Scotland, in the reigns of Charles II. and James II.; during which, more real suffering was inflicted on account of religion in one day, than Ireland has suffered for a hundred years; but every such appeal would be scouted at by our Papists; because in the cases referred to, the sufferers were not "Christian people;" but mere heretics, for shedding of whose blood they tell us, no commonwealth shall be called to answer. See the Rhemish note on Rev. xvii. 6., and the Douay note on Deut. xvii. 8., in which it is boldly maintained, that God has given power to the church's guides, that is, to the priests, even under the New Testament, to punish with death such as proudly refuse to obey their decisions. The version of the Bible containing this open avowal of the power of the priests of the church of Rome to punish all heretics with death, was lately published in Dublin, under the sanction of their highest dignitaries, in weekly numbers, and,

* Since the above was in the printer's hands, I have received the following details from a correspondent:-"If we may believe historians, Pope Julius, in seven years, was the occasion of the slaughter of 200,000 Christians. The massacre in France cut off 100,000, in three months. P. Perionius avers, that in the persecution of the Albigenses and Waldenses, 1,000,000 lost their lives. From the beginning of the order of Jesuits,

for any thing that I know, is publicly circulated through the country to this day. And the people who inculcate such doctrine, living unmolested, have the effrontery to complain to a foreign power, that they are the objects of the most sanguinary and unrelenting persecution!

I have been accused of want of liberality and politeness, because I have represented our Papists as trained to falsehood, and unable to speak the truth on any subject in which their religion is concerned. I am perfectly convinced that I have said nothing but what is strictly true; and in corroboration of what I have said on the subject of their falsifying, I quote the following passage from Mr. Thorpe's pamphlet already referred to. But what need is there of any authority? When the Papists tell us that they are suffering such persecution, all the world knows that it is a lie; and they themselves know it to be a lie; but they expect by means of it to deceive the pope, and other foreign powers, in order to embarrass the government, and, if possible, terrify them into a concession of their arrogant demands.

"They complain," says Mr. Thorpe, "of persecution notoriously and avowedly inflicted upon them, on account of their adherence to, and connexion with the holy see; and this persecution they solemnly assure the world, is the most sanguinary and unrelenting that ever aggrieved a Christian people. What effect is this likely to produce on those unacquainted with the real state of the case? It must excite in them mingled emotions of pity and indignation; pity for the unfortunate sufferers, and indignation against the government which op presses them. It would not be surprising if Roman Catholics in foreign countries, sympathizing with their afflicted brethren in Ireland, should institute an inquiry into the nature and extent of their grievances, and imitating the conduct of Protestants among us, towards the sufferers in the South of France, call on their respective governments to interpose for their relief. If the sympathies of British Protestants have been kindled by a few assassinations,-by the massacre of a few scores of people in France, surely foreign Roman Catholics cannot hear unmoved the cries of five millions of their brethren in Ireland, tortured by the most sanguinary and unrelenting persecution that ever aggrieved a Christian people. At this moment, perhaps, they are endeavouring to calculate how many have been slaughtered, or picturing to themselves the cruel tortures, amidst which they have been deprived of life; or perhaps they are preparing an asylum for the small remnant of the priesthood, which, after the conflagration of their sacred edifices, may have escaped the general massacre.* If such have not till 1580, that is, thirty or forty years, 900,000 perished, saith Balduinus. The Duke of Alva, by the hangman, put 36,000 to death. Vergerius affirms, that the Inquisition, in thirty years, destroyed 150,000. To all this, I may add the Irish rebellion, in which 300,000 were destroyed, as Lord Orrery reports in a paper printed in the reign of Charles II.; making a total of two millions six hundred and eighty-six thousand." These horrible facts speak for themselves. Many of a like kind might be added, but I reserve this as a separate subject of discussion.

*The Author may keep himself at ease on this score. There is little danger of Papists in foreign countries giving themselves the trouble of sympathizing with those in Ireland; much less of being at the expense of providing for them. They know one another too well to give much credit to such representations; besides, they have neither sympathy nor money to spare for the relief of their living brethren, their whole stock of both being required for the dead in Purgatory.

been the effects of this document on the mind of foreigners, we are not to thank the Catholic leaders for it; for this, like their other measures, is equally calculated to render the government odious abroad, and insecure at home. But what are we to think of the men who deliberately and unblushingly can give such falsehoods under their hand? Among the many bad signs of the times, is there a worse one than that total disregard of truth and moral character, in which those persons seem to glory, who assume to be political leaders in Ireland? Does it not appear from their public conduct, as if they had forgotten all distinction between truth and falsehood? Do we not see them daily distorting every fact, whether of a public or private nature, and, with signal effrontery, fabricating such falsehoods as may best suit their purposes of malice, or revenge, or political irritation? And what is their conduct on detection, or when any attempt is made to disabuse the public mind? They bluster and bully, and make a noise about their honour; as if a caluminator were less a calumniator after he had bullied and fought, than before; or as if the stain of falsehood could be covered by the stain of blood." pp. 14, 15. I intend to resume this subject in my next.

CHAPTER LXXXIII.

FURTHER REMARKS ON THe archbishop OF TUAM'S CHARGE. EXTRACT FROM REV. MR. THORPE'S REPLY. LAWFULNESS OF INSTRUCTING THOSE WHO LIVE IN IGNORANCE AND ERROR.

SATURDAY, February 12th, 1820. In my last number, I introduced Oliver Kelly, popish archbishop of Tuam, as admitting that the design of converting Irish Papists, by means of violence and persecution, was, in some degree, abandoned; and I shewed, that on this subject he was guilty of contradicting his brethren, the popish leaders in Dublin, who, in an appeal to the pope, assure his holiness, that they are still exposed to "the most sanguinary and unrelenting persecution that ever aggrieved a Christian people." In my last number, I declared this to be a most impudent falsehood, as all the world knows it to be; but, in order to bring the matter more distinctly before the eye of the reader, I make another extract from Mr. Thorpe's pamphlet:

Where can even a trace of such persecution be discovered? Look at the various classes of the Roman Catholics. Examine first the peasantry and working tradesmen. Are the former obstructed or oppressed, on the ground of religion, in taking or cultivating land? Are the lat ter shackled in the choice or exercise of their manual employments? No there is literally no shadow of distinction between them and Protestants of the same rank. Go up higher to the departments of trade and commerce. Do the Roman Catholics labour under any disqualifications, or are they in any respect obstructed in those pursuits? No: they have precisely the same facilities, privileges, and rights, which Protestants possess. And even in the professions of law and medicine, (from the established church they are necessarily excluded,) the same rule holds good, as to every thing really important to the great mass

of persons engaged in those professions. That of medicine, with all its honour's and emoluments, is as free to them as to Protestants; and if, in the department of law, there are a few situations to which Protestants exclusively are eligible, those situations are so few, and, from the competition arising from Protestant numbers and talents, so few of them, even though they were open to all, would be attainable by Roman Catholics, that this profession is scarcely an exception to the general rule. But how are they situated as to opportunities of instruction? Are any obstacles thrown in the way of their advancement in learning and knowledge? The very reverse. They possess even greater facilities in this respect than Protestants. Various schools, in which there is no interference with their religious opinions, have been instituted for their instruction, and are supported by the contributions of Protestants. The only Protestant university in Ireland is open to them. Nor is this all; a college for their exclusive advantage has been founded, and endowed by the Protestant legislature.

"If any where, then we may expect to find, in what concerns the exercise of their religion, some traces of the persecution of which they complain. Let us therefore examine how they are situated in this respect. Are they obstructed or discouraged in the exercise of their worship? No: they are secured in the full, free, and most public exercise of all the rites and ceremonies of their church. Are they limited as to the number of their clergy, or restrained from making a suitable provision for them? Their own statements on this subject furnish the best answer to this question. They have in Ireland, according to their own account, "four archbishops, twenty-four bishops, eleven hundred parish priests, eight hundred curates, and between two and three hundred regular clergy of various orders:" and as to their emoluments, an estimate may be formed from this circumstance, that the parish priest of a small village in the county of Limerick, enjoys, (as they have lately assured the public,) an income of 300l. per annum. There is but one inquiry more. Are they destitute of proper edifices in which to receive their congregations, and to conduct their religious services? Any one who has lately travelled through Ireland is competent to answer this question. Their chapels are as numerous as the parish churches, and, in many places, far exceed them in splendour of external ornament. This fact deserves particular notice; because those chapels have been erected, in almost every instance, on the estates of Protestants, (very frequently the ground given free of rent,) and by funds, to which Protestants have been the most liberal contributors. Such is the real condition of the Roman Catholics in Ireland, at the very moment that they have had the signal effrontery to complain to the pope, and to state, in the face of Europe, that they are the victims of the most sanguinary and unrelenting persecution that ever aggrieved a Christian people." pp. 16-18.

I have made this long extract, in order to let my readers know the real condition of the Papists in Ireland, with regard to religious liberty. What would our suffering forefathers in Scotland have given for the hundredth part of the liberty which Papists now enjoy in Ireland, and in every part of the British dominions? The fact is, their civil privileges are equal to those of other dissenters; and their religious wor ship is as free as that of the established church in any of the three