in^ ^.^^^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. ^^ .5^% 1.0 1.1 |2J us 1^ ua 2.2 !!2.0 1.8 III '''^^ III ''"^ ''^ ^ 6" ► % \^* flhotDgraphic Sciences Ccttpomlion a ««KT MA(H STRUT WKSTER.N.Y 14SM (716) •73-4S03 ^ 6^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CiHM/iCMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microrsproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Biblionraphic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. 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CLAIMS of the PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION on PUB- Lie SUPPORT. By George Henry Woodward, A.B. Price 2rf., or Is. 6d. per dozen. 2. SPEECH of J. C. COLQUHOUN, Esq., M.P., upon the Mavnooth College Grant. Price Id., or 7*. per 100. 3. The USES of the ESTABLISHED CHURCH to the PRO- TESTANTISM and CIVILIZATION of IRELAND. By J. C. CoLQUHouN, Esq., M.P. Price ^d., or Is. 6d. per dozen. 4. STATEMENT of the CIRCUMSTANCES attending the PUBLICATION of the BIBLE with the RHEMISH NOTES. By the Rev. Robert J. M'Giiee. Price Gd., or 40>«. per 100. 5. The DOCTRINES PROMULGATED by the ROMISH BISHOPS in IRELAND, a.d. 1832, touching die power of the Romish Church over Heretics, and the Restitution of Forfeited Pro- perty. By the Rev. Robert J. M*Ghee. Price 6d., or 40s. per 100. G. ADDRESS of the COMMITTEE of the PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION to the PEOPLE of ENGLAND. Second Edition. Price 2d., or 12s. per 100. 7. On the OBJECT and USES of PROTESTANT ASSOCIA- TIONS. By J. C. CoLQUHOUN, Esq., M.P. 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Price 2d., or 12s. per 100. FIRST ANNUAL REPORT, 1836—37. Price 6d. SECOND ANNUAL REPORT, 1837—38. Price 6d. HANDBILLS. 1. POPERY HOSTILE to the WORD of GOD and the PEACE of MAN. Price Is. 9d. per 100. 2. POPERY LIKE PAGANISM. Price Is. 9d. per 100. 3. POPERY UNCHANGED. Price Is. 9d. per 100. THE PROGRESS OF POPERY. *m The frequent allusions in the public press to this most interesting and important subject appear to have excited a certain vague and undefined anxiety in the minds of the reflecting and religious portion of the community. Unfortunately, those allusions being themselves generally vague and unsatisfactory, could lead to no other and more practical result. Facts have not been sufficiently brought forward, suspicions and rumours have been substituted for them, and conse- quently, many who would be prepared, upon discovering real danger, to join in endeavouring to avert it, refrain from all exertions, believing the time of peril still far distant. It is to such persons we desire now to speak, with the view of calmly and temperately stating the true position and prospects of that great semi-political power, which, in former times, enthralled and debased this country. We do not purpose to enter on religious controversy, though we are deeply sensible both of its necessity and utility, nor to unveil to persons who may be already aware of them, those pernicious errors which our Protestant fore- fathers were wont to call " the soul-destroying heresies of Rome." Our objeci at present is of a different kind, though it is not, we are convinced, under existing circumstances, of inferior importance. We desire to prove that Popery, both at home and abroad, is in the pos- session of immense strength, and has been, and is now, marching forward with giant strides to its old ascendency ; and from a proof of these facts, we wish to proceed to an endeavour to arouse all who pretend to zeal for Protestantism, to united and vigorous efforts in the cause which now peculiarly involves the continuance of our civil and religious liberties. To facts, and to facts alone, we shall appeal for a confirmation of our statements ; and although the infor- mation of which we are in possession is unavoidably less extensive than we could wish, it is still enough to justify alarm and to awaken the public spirit.* If it fail altogether in doing so, we are certain that information, as complete as ever satisfied a jury, would equally fail in reanimating the torpid mind of the people ; — for proof will then be afforded that there is an indifference to the imnciples of Popery, and therefore a carelessness about the degree of its success. We hope, * We principally allude to the retuni moved for, last session, by Lord Ashley, of the aums p&id in our various Colonies to all the dificrent religious persuasions. That return will not be ready till next year, and, consequently, much of the matter which tends to criminate the present Government is at present not available. Enough, however, we believe, is in our hands to betray their animus, and to prove the ftingulur guccew of the Popish machinfttions abroad. ii.tfMUil tiWifi I- however, better things ; we trust that the lamentable apathy hitherto observable was the result, not of growing laxity, but merely of tempo- rary ignorance ; and if so, nothing can be requisite to the restoration of public interest in the Protestant cause, but a fair and full declara- tion of the true position of parties in this country. It is well known that the Roman Catholics of England and Scotland took very little part in the agitation which brought about the Act of J 829. After the suppression of the Rebellion in 1715, when so many Roman Catholic families in the north of England were ruined, and Avhen all the others very properly came under the close surveillance of the Government, very little indeed was done to disturb the Hanoverian dynasty, save by the deluded but enthusiastic loyalists of the High- lands. But when the bold Rebellion of 1745 was suppressed, as the former had also been, the hopes of the House of Stuart fell altogether, and the Roman Catholics throughout Great Britain became gradually more and more attached tc the reigning Sovereigns, and more and more anxious to gain confidence by displaying their loyalty and con- tentment. Generally, they took very little part in political strife, and were alienated almost equally from both of the great Parliamentary parties. When the measure for admitting them to the Legislature was taken up by the Whigs, they for a long time recommended themselves and their claims chiefly by refraining from all violent efforts, and from all participation in those democratic expedients and that seditious turbulence on which the Irish entirely relied. At the period of the French Revolution most of the- English and Scotch Roman Catholics joined the ranks of the alarmists, and deprecated most strenuously the principles and the practices of their Irish brethren. In many counties their influence, though great, was never exerted ; in some, it was given to the Tory candidates ; they took very little interest, however, in the contests ; they attended Court very little ; they participated sparingly in the sports and expenses of other country gentlemen ; and thus, while their wealth was increasing, their respectability and local influ- ence were increasing also. Times have now altered. The Roman Catholics now see clearly their interest in the success of the Liberals, and therefore, with very few exceptions,* they have thrown their weight into that scale, and have joined in the projects of Mr. O'Con- nell for the advancement of their political power. How great that weight is in England alone we wish now, before proceeding farther, to explain ; because it has been much underrated, and because, from its having been only lately brought into use, it is not generally at all understood. In the peerage the Roman Catholics number the Duke of Norfolk, the Earls of Shrewsbury, Fingall, and Newburgh ; Lords Petre, Stourton, Stafford, Vaux, Arundel, Clifford, Dormer, and Lovat; besides, among the Scotch and Irish Peers who have votes in the • It gives us great pleasure to mention these exceptions, honoris causA, We believe they are confined to Sir Clifford Constable, in Yorkshire; Sir John Gerard and Mr, Trafford, in Lancashire ; and Mr. Giffard, in Staffordshire. All these gentlemen are Btounch Conservatives, and from their very large properties, enjoy great influence in their respective counties. election of representatives to the Imperial Parliament, the EaHa of Traquair and Kenmare; Viscounts Gormanston, Southwell, and Frank- fort ; Lords Trimlestown, Louth, Dunboyne, and Ffrench. Of these, especially of the Peers of Parliament, we need scarcely add, that they include some of the most wealthy, ancient, and influential nobUmen in the kingdom. Among the baronets we find the following Roman Catholics, nearly all of whom may be ranked with the richest of the class to which they belong: Sir C- Throckmorton, Sir J. Gerard, Sir T. Stanley, Sir T. Haggerston, Sir E. Blount, Sir IL Hunlokc, Sir C. Wolseley, Sir H. Titchborne, Sir Clifford Constable, Sir E. Mostyn, Sir F. Vincent, Sir T. Gage, Sir H.Bedingfield, Sir B. Wrey, Sir J. Lawson, Sir J. Smythe, Sir E. Vavasour, &c. ; and besides these then; are many baronets of Ireland and Scotland we might mention, who profess the same religion. Again, in the list of the wealthy landed gentry of England many, very many, avo Roman Catholics ; and (as the following specimens will show to our readers resident in various parts of the country) some of them are among the most powerful proprietors in their respective coun- ties. These names of opulent and ancient families are selected from a much larger catalogue now before us : Salvin, Constable Maxwell, TrafFord, GifFard, Plowden, Weld, Silvertop, Blunt, Stonor, Doughty, Charlton, Canning, Eyton, Howard of Corby, Cary, Chichester, Langdale, Blundell, Standish, Dalton, Searisbrick, Hales, Tempest, Wheble, Mornington, Lacy, Bodenham, Wright, Phillips, Digby, Best, Jones of Llanarth, W^aterton, Eccleston, Stapleton, Fitz- herbert, lliddell, Clavering, Aston, Talbot, Strickland, Rookwood, Walmsley, Eyre, Middleton, Scudamore, Berkley, Towneley, &c. &c. There would be no difficulty in naming several in this list and that of the baronets above, with landed property to the amount of 40,000/. a-year each, and a few with even larger incomes. It is therefore clear that the Roman Catholics of England (for to these we at present confine ourselves) l-ave at their disposal all the means necessary to secure for their party great political importance and power. Nor are these means entirely neglected. It is trn'i that in the House of Commons the Roman Catholics number only forty,* of whom no more than six are English members ; but for the smalluess of this fcce it is very easy to account, when it is remembered that there are many Protestants as zealous in the work of innovation as the Roman Catholics could desire ; who are less liable to suspicion ; and who, therefore, not only have better chances at an election, but also are in Parliament the best * As it is well that the names of these persons should be generally known, we sub- join them. English members : The Earl of Surrey, Lord Fitzalan, fllessrs. Langdale, W. Stanley, Standish, and P. H. Howard. Irish members : Messrs. Archbold, Bryan, Bellew, Chester, Fiizsimon, fliaher, O'Connell, M. O'Connell, JVI. J. O'Connell, .r. O'Connell, IMorgan O'Connell, R. O'Ferrall, Rcddington, E. B. Roche, J. H. Talbot, H. Ball, H. W. Barron, G. S. Barry, H. Btidgman, D. Callagan, J. Power, W. Roche, R. L. Sheil, T. Wyse, O'Connor Don, M. J. Blake, R. D, Browne, A. H. Lynch, J. P. Somera, C. O'Brien, Colonel Butler, J. J. Bodkin, Sir R. Nagle, and Sir Wm. Brabazon. It is proper to add, that Lords Surrey and Fitzalan have always most honourably abstained from violating their oaths by voting on Church matters. No better condemnation of the rest could be required. 6 tools Popery could select. It is not difficult to understand tliat the influential Roman Catholics of the West Riding are as willing to sup- port Sir George Strickland as one of their own persuasion ; and it is not very marvellous that the '* liberal" Roman Catholics of Northum- berland support Lord Ilowick, who declares for the annihilation of the Irish Church, as warmly as they could possibly support any one even of their warmest Jesuits. If tlie votes of the pseudo-Protestant and of the avowed Roman Catholic are to be exactly the same in the House of Commons, conunon sense and policy dictate to the Papists a preference for the former ; and while so many of these convenient persons are to be found, there is no necessity for crowding the House of Commons with men openly adhering to a religion, which, perad- venture, may yet again become the object of popular alarm. But at Court, where the recjuired work eannof. be etticaciously performed by deputy, we find the Roman Catholics contrive to appear in person. The Treasurer of the Household is a Roman Catholic, the Marchioness of Wellesley, Lady Bedingfield, and the Earl of Fiugal, all of whom have been about the Court for some time, are Roman Cathclics ; and several others of the same kind have been placed in minor situations. Not a few places have been filled by other individuals quite as well pleasing to Popery ; namely, individuals notoriously of no religion at all. Many very high offices in the State are now held either by Roman Catholics or persons of this class. In Ireland, it is well known that nearly every legal situation which has fallen vacant during the existence of the pre- sent Government, has been given to a Roman Catholic. As instances, we may mention that the Master of the Rolls, the Chief Baron of the Exchequer, the Chief Remembrancer, the Clerk of the Hanaper Office, the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General, the Lord-Lieutenant's confidential legal adviser, are all Papists ; and if as yet there are no more in similar stations, the reason i'* simply that there have unfortu- nately been very few legal vacancies. In the Colonies the same gross mal-administration of patronage prevails. The newly appointed Go- vernor of New South Wales is Sir Maurice O'Connell, whose very name speaks volumes. But this is not all.* Popery has been advancing not only in wealth and influence, honour and official power ; it has been progressing in every other direction, and by every other means. Its proselyting zeal has been rekindled ; its Jesuitical arts have been * Connected with the subject of the increase of Popish political influence, there is one topic which we cannot overlook, though it is rather a delicate one to mention ; we mean the private progress made by the Roman Catholics among the leading liberal famiiics. We are reluctant to refer to this matter, but it is necessary to do so. It is notorious that the Duke of Leeds, the Marquis Wellesley, Lord Albemarle, Lord Kinnaird, Lord de Mauley, and many more professing Protestants, married Roman Catholics. Such, too, is the case with many of the female Protestant nobility ; for instance, . the Duke of Sutherland's sister married Loid Surrey ; Lord iSeflon's daughter married Mr. Towneley, the wealthy Lancashire Roman Catholic, &c &c. These seem private matters, but we mention them, because they throw no little light on public ones. And then again, members of several liberal families have recently been converted, or rather perverted to Popery. We may name among others a brother of Earl Spencer,' Sir Charles Wolseley, Mr. Philips, son of the late Whig member for Leicestershire, Mr. Roche, the member for Cork county, Mr. Kenelm Digby, Sir Bour- cheir Wrey, and Mr. Bennett, the Kon of the Whig member for Wiltsbiie. On facts of this kind, whra they accumulate, no comment is neceawry. applied ; its experience has been brougljt to bear ; it ha» watched every opportunity of turning the balance between contending political parties ; and thus gradually it has gone forward, till its course seems plain, and its path smooth and clear. While Protestants have been quarrelling, or while they have been sleeping, Popery, with stealthy steps, or by bold manoeuvres, has been gaining ground, disarming some, deluding others, conquering more, and marching onward to a position whence it can defy opposition ; nay more, can in turn over- bear, and threaten all. Many have ridiculed the pretence of those who foresaw such encroachment and such a triumph ; many, even up to the present time, have so little heeded the matter, that they know not whether to ridicule or resist. Yet the slightest fair inquiry would have convinced the most sceptical that the peril was indeed fast approaching, and that a struggle nmst sooner or later come, if early et*'orts were not made to obviate the necessity of future struggles. We believe that it is now too late to stay the course of the successful superstition, though it cannot be too late to check and impede it. At any rate, it is high time that the people should ascertain the truth, however painful and alarming, and should act on the dictates of sound policy when at length a sound judgment is formed. In 1792, there mere not, in the whole of Great Britain, thirty Roman Catholic chapels ; there are now jive hundred and nineteen, and forty- three building. In that year, there was not one single Roman Catholic college ; there are now ten, and sixty seminaries of education, besides chapel schools. Very lately, Mr. Blundell of Ince Blundell, a Roman Catholic gentleman of great wealth, in Lancashire, died, leaving £200,000 to the Roman Catholic Bishop of London, doubtless for the increase of similar establishments ; and by the Catholic magazines and Catholic directories, we observe some other bequests of great value — one, particularly, from a Miss Dempsey, who is stated to have left her whole property (which is called considerable) to her Church. There are other symptoms of extraordinary zeal and activity, and money is well known to have been received from abroad, particularly from the Leopoldine Institution of Austria. It must be remembered, too, that the Roman Catholic population of Great Britain is now very little short of Two Millions ; that there is, as we have shown, great wealth among their leaders ; and that, when more money is wanted, all the terrors of a death-bed are now, as they ever have been, employed by the priests — with their threatenings of purgatory, and their promises of masses for the soul — to extort a parting gift or legacy to the Church. Before the Reformation, this system had been carried to such an extent, that, both in England and Scotland, the Church of Rome possessed upwards of one quarter of the whole land of the country ; and now-a- days, the same arts that gained that enormous property being employed — why, we ask, should they not be proportionately, or at least partially, successful ? By law, devises of land for ecclesiastical or charitable purposes are void, by the force of acts which first were placed on the statute book, centuries ago, to check the Papists — which they con- stantly evaded then with wonderful sagacity and cunning, and which 8 thoy may cvndc again ; * or if not, ilonations arc still valid under certain circunistancfs, and personal propcrli/ may be bcqucathod as bofore. Tliere is, tiifrcforc, every fair prospect that the two millions will be speedily fully provided witli religious instruction ; and when we consider tli(! immense number of ProtcHtants who are Protestants oidy in name, ami the very large portion of such who are wholly neglected, we own Me see nothing unreasomxble in the expectation that Poperj will gain many more victims. In Mr. Bickerstcth's tract on the '• Progress of Popery," f eighteen parishes are enumerated, with their l)opulation and Protestant church-room — the latter does not provide for one-tenth of the whole of that population, which exceeds one million of souls I Then, in Ireland, for years the proportion of Roman Catholics to Protestants has bei'n gradually and steadily increasing through the former laxity of the Established Church, the zeal of Popery, and the recent bitter persecutions which have tended so much * For a great deal of curiouH information respecting the astonishing avarice and granping ingenuity of tlie Itomisih Dccleiiastics in this country, wc refer our readers to *^ Blackstonc's Commentaries," Boole II., Chapter XVIII. The passage to which wc refer, occurs under the head of "Alienation in mortmain," and will well repay the trouble of perusal. f Publifihedin London, 1836; Seeley and Burnside. We cannot refrain from usi!?g one quotation, wiiich Mr. Bickerstcth takes from Mr. Scott— the able author, we pre- sume, of the ''Continuation of Milner's Church History." It refers to the extent of Popish persecutinns. "No computation can reach the numbers who have been put to death, in different wayi>, on account of their maintaining the profession of tlie Gospel, and opposing the corruptions of the Church of Rome. A million of poor Waldenses perished in France ; 900,000 orthodox Christians were slain in less tnan thirty years after the institution of the Order of the Jesuits. The Duke of Alva boasted of having put to death, in the Netherlands, 36,000, by the hands of the common executioner, during the space of a few years. The Inquisition destroyed, by various tortures, 150,000 within thirty years. These are a few specimens, and but a few, of those which history has recorded ; but the total amount will never be known till the earth shall disclose her blood, and no more cover her slain." When to these things we add the days of Queen Mary in England, the Swedish butchery, the massacre of St. Bartholomew, the Sicilian Vespers, the Inquisition at Ooa, the suppression of the Reformation in Italy, the Irish massacre of 1641, the Council of Constance, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, truly we may well rally to resist the domination of the harlot, ^^ drunk with the blood of the saints." But it is said, forsooth. Popery has changed ; that the Ethiopian has changed his skin, and the leopard his spots I Oh mockery ! We read, in the " Record " and " Times " recently, an account of the banishment of some hundreds of poor Protestants from Zillerthal, in Tyrol. The incident recalls the recollection of Milton's noble sonnet on the persecution of tlie same people in Cromwell's timc_A sonnet that should be in the very heart of every Englishman. " Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtcr'd saints, whose bones Lie scatter'd on the Alpine mountains cold ; E'en them who kept thy truth so pure of old, When all our fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones, Forget not ; in thy book record their groans Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold. Slain by the bloody Piedmontese that roU'd Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans The vales redoubled to the hills, and they To Hcav'n. Theit martyr'd blood and ash >h sow O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway The triple tyrant : that from these may grow A hundred fold, who, having leam'd thy way, Earlymay fly the Babylonian woe." I 9 to the encourapemont of Protestant emigration.* In that unhappy country there ».•» a Cullege, supported by public money, for the free education of priests ; and of these there are now scarcely less than 2,500, with four archbishops, twenty-three bishops, eight eolh.'ges, besidcL Maynooth, several monasteries, and many convents, nunneries, societies, clubs, and private seminaries. In Scotland, also, it is unfortunately too true that Popery has been of late rapidly advancing, particularly in the west. In Glasgow alone there are now 30,000 Roman Catholics; and even in Stirling they have recently erected a handsome chapel. In the Colonies they have, under various nanies, (as, for instance, the Bishop of Trinidad is called Bishop of Olympus,) bishops at the following places: — Quebec (with a coadjutor); Montreal (with a coad- jutor); Hudson's Bay; Kingston, Upper Canada (with a coadjutor) ; Newfoundland; St. John'8,New Brunswick; Nova Scotia; Trinidad; Cey- lon; Malta; Jamaica; Mauritius; Madras; Calcutta; Australasia; Cape of Good Hope. In all these places they have extensive establishments. In Ceylon, their bishop is only lately appointed ; and in the " Catholic Magazine" of September, 1838, just published, they boast of having 100,000 persons attached to tljeir Church in that island. In India they pretend to 600,000 ; and though that number is questionable, still it is not denied that their converts constitute no inconsiderable portion of the southern population. In Trinidad nearly the whole people are Roman Catholics, and sixteen new missionaries have lately sailed to complete the Popish victory.f From New South Wales, Bishop Broughton, the excellent Protestant diocesan, Wiotc to the Christian Knowledge Society in January, 1836, to the following effect: — *' Protestantism is much endangered in this colony; the efforts of Rome in this country are almost incredible. It is traversed by t/te agents of * Besides the facts stated above, we call the attention of our readers to the following quotations from the " Catholic Directory " of 1R38. They will show Ae spirit and progress of Popery in Ireland as clearly as anything with which we have ever yet met. Diocese of Ardagh.— *' There are religious libraries and Christian doctrine confraterni- ties in almost every parish ; and it is hoped that ere lung they will be established in all. With one or two exceptions, every parish has one or more newly built and slated chapels." • • • • (i Education has been greatly extended during the last few years ; particu~ larly that religiout education which cmtriitt in an accurate knowledge of the mytteriet and other saving truthi of Chrittianity."—CatJu)lic Directory, page 101. So much for the national system of education ! ** Religion has been^teadily advancing in the diocese of Dromore. • * • * Although one of the smallest and certainly one of the poorest dioceses in Ireland, yet within the last few ^ears sixteen new chapels have been built, and some of them among the best and most tasteful erections in the country." — Page 106. There are only seventeen parishes in Dromore, and yet we hear of sixteen new chapels ! " In no city within the same short space have so many religious and charitable insti- tutions sprung up as in the metropolis of Ireland. The metropolitan church in JVIarlborough-street, and the new church of St. Andrew, in Wesdan-row, and St. Paul, Arran Quay, are splendid proofs of the zeal and piety of the Catholic inhabitants of Dublin. That capital and its environs can now boast of twenty Catholic churches, one monastery, fourteen convents, five institutions of the Sisters of Charity, three Sisters of Mercy, six charitable Societies for promoting spiritual and corporal works of mercy," &c &c.~Page lOa. Diocese of Ossory. — " Some new chapels and convents are in progress." — Page 114. *' The Roman Catholic population of Cloyno and Ross, by the last census, amounts to nearly 400,000, and gives an average of nearly 7,000 to each parish."— Page 130. t See the Report of the " Church Missionary Society " for 1».38, page 80. MMi 10 Rome. I earnestly desire means of counteracting these machinations. Tlie Protestant schools can he maintained no longer, and a grant is required to maintain schools in connexion with the Church, and in the churches themselves." In Oanada, Popery is the established religion of one province, and is liberally assisted in the other ; while, during the period that inter- vened between 1831 and 1835, although 300,000 more emigrants had arrived out, the grant to the Protestant Church was gradually diminished from \^,0OQl. per annum to 3,500/. /j/?r annum! In the Capo of Good Hope much Iras already been done in Graham's Town and elsewhere ; particularly in the new parts of the Colony. In New- foundland the Roman Catholics form a majority of the House of Assembly, and have gained otherwise a comphte assceiidency. A petition was presented to Parliament last session by Mr. Gladstone, signed by 927 respectable inhabitants of the town of St. John's, which was ordered to be printed. From tliis important document avc extract the following passage : — " In this island, the population of which may be estimated at 75,000, of whom about one-half are Protestants and the other half Roman Catholics, it may be proper to remind your Honourable House that there are no legal distinctions affecting any class of Her Majesty's subjects; and were the Roman Catholics permitted to follow the impulse of their own minds, and to act individually as their own wishes might prompt them, there would be no cause for apprehending that they would differ from their neighbours in matters of a civil natui'e. But it unfortunately happens that their clergy have acquired a thoroughly despotic and absolute control over a very large proportion of the lower orders of their creed, by which means they are enabled to con- centrate and direct the efforts of the body against each member individually to an extent that would scarcely be credited by any who do not witness their conduct, and in a way that is altogether destructive of the civil and religious liberties of the people at large. # # # # " In the first place, they denounce them from the altar as persons hostile to the priests, and as opposed to the authority of their Church, and then warn their congregations not to deal or hold any intercourse with them, designating them commonly as *mad dogs;' a term by which it is understood that the individuals to whom it is applied have not adopted the political views of their priests, and are therefore to be regarded as if excommunicated ; and being thus branded, they are, to a very considerable, and in some instances to a ruinous extent, injured in their business, are constantly exposed to much personal insult, and are not unfrv-quently ill-treated in the open streets by the lov-er orders of their own creed, who deem it a meritorious service thus to carry into effect the denunciations of thtur own priests." In the South Seas, equal activity is displayed. Dr. Lang, the prin- cipal of the Church of Scotland College in New South Wales, writing home on the 6th of October, 1^36, thus expresses himself: — " The moral influence of the Christian Church of New Soutli Wales will extend evi-ntually to the neighbouring islands of New Zea- 11 carry land, containing a native population of half a million of souls, and comprising an extent of territory almost equal to that of the British Islands ; to the western islands of the Pacific, numberless, and teeming with inhabitants ; to the Indian Archipelago, that great nursery of nations ; to China itself. That the Romish propaganda has already directed her vulture eye to this vast field of moral influence, and strewn it, in imagination, with the carcases of the slain, is unquestion- able. Spanish monks and friars have within the last few years been sent from the recently formed republics of the South American to the eastern islands of the Pacific. Other groups, still more distant from the American continent, have recently been surveyed and taken pos- session of by Romish missionaries direct from France ; and the Roman Catholic Bishop of New South Wales is already taking his measures for co-operating with these missionaries from the westward, h/ trans- forming tJie sons of Irish convicts in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Ltand into missionary priests, and dispersing them over the length and breadth of the vast Pacific" In the United States, although it is not forty yetirs since the first Roman Catholic see was created, the " Christian Observer," as quoted by Mr. Bickersteth, states, " there is now a Catholic population of 600,000 souls under the government of the Pope, an archbishop of Baltimore, twelve bishops, and 341 priests. The number of churches 18 401 ; masshouses, about 300 ; colleges, ten ; seminaries for young men, nine ; theological seminaries, five ; novitiates for Jesuits, monas- teries and convents with academies attached, thirty-one ; seminaries for young ladies, thirty ; schools of the sisters of charity, twenty -nine ; an academy for coloured girls at Baltimore ; a female infant school ; and seven Catholic newspapers." In the West Indies unexampled efforts are now made among all classes, principally from the mission- aries of Cuba, where Popery reigns in undisturbed supremacy and unrivalled splendour. Even in China, beyond the borders of which Protestants Lave failed to penetrate, and whence they are now effec- tually (though we trust only for a time) excluded, tiie Jesuits have been working with a marvellous courage worthy of a better cause, and with a success which may well justify tiieir boasting.* There is no corner of the globe which their restless feet have not invaded ; there is no danger they have not braved ; tliere is nu artifice they have scorned ; and, of course, no scruple has been allowed to deter men who proclaim that " the end can sanctify the means." We believe it must be admitted, however, that the difficulties they encounter are not equal to those with which the Protestants contend. It is not very difficult to make a Papist of a Pagan. No one who has read Southey'a " History of Brazil" can be astonished at the success of Roman Catholics * For the bonsting to which wc allude, and other important inrorniation on the subject of Roiiian Cfttholic missions, we must refer to " Dr. Wiseman's Leciurcs, London, 1837," and the " Roman Catholic Missions of Australasia, by W. Ullathorne, D.D., Vicar. O'jneral." Published, Liverpool, RocklifF and Duckworth, 1837. Smne of the statements of the former work, particularly those relating to Protestant missions, have been lufuted in the Rtv. James Hough's '•'• Prottsiant Mistions Viiulicatcd." Seelcy, London, 1837. By the '■ Catholic Dir.ctory " of 1(138, it appears that the Papists actually have two bishopricks in China ! 12 in tlieir missionary efforts, and no one who has read Dr. Buchanan's " Christian Researches," and noted there the horrors inflicted on their victims, and the apology for Christianity taught by them, can have the slightest sympathy with their exertions. To them, if to any in the present day, applies the awful censure, " Woe unto you, Pharisees, ye compass the sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold moi'e a child of hell than yourselves." But it is with the facts we have now to do ; we wish chiefly to show that they have progressed ; we leave others to determine how and why. We find in Europe symptoms that Popery is once more at war with the Bible, and struggling for ancient ascendency. The following extract is from a fulmination of the Bishop of Bruges, dated Lent, 1838. We take it from the Monthly Extracts of the Bible Society of the 30th April, and it is accompanied with a notific>*tion that similar decrees have been made in France. " We are desirous that all our diocesans should be apprised anew, that it is severely prohibited to every one, who is not provided with special permission to read and hold forbidden books, to purchase a Bible, or a commentary on the Bible, or any other books whatever, of the emissaries of the Bible Society, or to receive them gratis, or to retain such copies as tJiey have in their possession. In any case we deem it our duty to state, that while holding error in detestation, individuals are neverthe- less bound to abstain from all acts of violence towards the emissaries of the society in question ; the constituted authorities alone being em- powered by the laws, both human and divine, to employ force of arms and the exercise of justice." Such is freedom in that Popishly revolutionized land I In Holland, we hear with deep sorrow, that superstition is again making way, and is rapidly beating down that Protestant vanguard of Europe. In Leyden, three Roman Catholic chapels have been erected, and we understand, on unquestionable authority, progress has been made to an alarming extent. In France, the Archbishop of Paris has ventured on that which few Frenchmen now attempt — the counteraction of their arbitrary king. He has addressed the monarch, and has commenced to agitate for a renewal of the pomp and power of Romanism ; and, with his party, he has already rendered the educational system as closely Popish as possible. In the Rhenish provinces of Prussia,* the Archbishop of Cologne has preferred the authority of the Pope to that of the King, and in direct contravention of the law, has displayed the bigotry of his religion, by forbidding Roman Catholics to marry Protestants. In Tyrol, as we have already mentioned in a note, hun- dreds have been banished from their native land, and expelled even * In the Rhenish provincea the Roman Catholic population amounts to 1,678,746 souls. In the whole Prussian dominions, inclusive of those provinces, the number is not less than 6,000,000 ! In Nassau, they form nearly three-fifths of the population, and in both Baden and Bavaria, they are more than double the number of all the various Protestant sects. In Hanover there are upwards of 200,000 Roman Catholics, and in Austria they constitute the mass of the community. Such, also, is the case in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium. Poland, Sicily, Sardinia, South America, Madeira, parts of Greece, Ireland, tlie Azores, the Cape de Vord Islands, tlie Phillipinc Islands, Lower Canada, Martinicjue, Isle of France, &u. &c. Sec. 13 or a beyond the extreme borders of the whole Austriari Empire for daring to rvorship the God of their fathers as those champions of truth dared to do in ancient times. Thus in every part of tlie world, Popery, now in close alliance with Infidelity, is pursuing its triumphant course, is trampling on the consciences of mankind ; rendering whole districts desolate of the Word of Life ; and thwarting, with systematic zeal, the genuine ministers of the Gospel. One short step more will enable that despotic power to complete the victory, to attack all recu.ants with pristine cruelty, and convert the most faithful countries into slaughter- houses of afflicted truth. Everywhere under fraudulent liberal pre- tences the Roman Catholics are gaining over the unwary ; and on such they are fastening the clanking fetters which our nobler ancestors, swelling with the dignity of freemen, burst asunder. The Jesuits who were put down when it was convenient to be quiescent, and when the jealous eyes of real Protestants were watching every trick, u,nd were prepared to resist every nefarious design, are now called again into action, and are allowed in a degenerate age to undermine with impu- nity, and to prosper without remark. Nothing intrigue could procure is wanted, nothing falsehood could purchase is required, nothing con- centrated ability and enormous wealth could obtain is now unpossessed by the Papists. With each concession they have obtained, their demands have increased ; with every victory they have won, their morbid ambition ha:^ risen ; and with accumulated strength, with augmented powjr, with expanded hopes, they have applied them- selves to each fresh undertaking, — resolved, however, even if that be gained, to deem it nothing more important than an " instalment." But let us look at home, and scrutinize more narrowly in our own once free and blessed land the insidious and successful encroachments of Popery. In 1793, the franchise was granted to the Roman Catho- lics, and they were considered admissible to corporations; in 1795, the grant was made to the College of Maynooth, and shortly after they were admitted to the bar, and to the higher ranks of the army. They then clamoured in Ireland and petitioned in England to be admitted to the Legislature, making sundry plausible professions as to their inten- tions and principles. These are very well known, but they cannot be too generally circulated, and therefore Ave wijl give three specimens, and three only. In 1S05, a petition was presented to Parliament, signed, among others, by Mr. O'Connell, praying for ** Emancipation." The petitioners stated, " That the Roman Catholic party felt bound to defend the right of property as established by the lr>ws now in being, and they solemnly abjured all and every idea of subverting the Church, or of using any privilege that might be granted to them to effect that object." In 1812, a similar petition Avas presented in an emphatic speech by Mr. Brougham ; that petition said, "We distinctly disavow any intention to subvert the Protestant Establishment, for the purpose of substitutinga Roman Catholic Estab- lishment in its stead."* Lastly, in 1826, the Roman Catholic bishops * For these, and very many other interesting particulars, see the Bishop of Exeter's admirable speech, delivered March 1, 1838, published by the Protestant Association. ■RHiSHIi mmmmm 14 addressed the Protestants of England in a document, of which the following is an extract. " Bearing equally with you, our fellow-subjects, the burdens of ilie country, and upholding equally its institutions and its glory, we claim to be admitted to a full participation in all the rights of British sub- jects. Every principle and practice hostile, in the remotest degree, to those institutions, we nwst explicitly disclaim. Year after year we repeat the humiliating task of disavowal, still we suffer the penalties of guilt." These, and n.any other similar declarations, deluded a very large portion of the people ; and at length Parliament was recommended to consider the Roman Catholic claims. The King's speech on that occasion was as follows : — " His Majesty recommends that you take into your deliberate con- sideration the whole condition of Irelanf', and that you should review the laws which impose civil disabiliticL't on his Roman Catholic sub- jects. You will consider whether the removal of those disabilities can be effected consistently with the full and pervianent security of our Establishments in Church and State, with the maintenance of the Reformed religion established by Ian, and of the rights and privileges of the bishops and of the clergy of this realm, and of the Churches committed to their charge." In answer to that speech, all parties in both Houses unanimously concurred in an address, pledging themselves to have those important objects in view when settling this long-agitated question. Consequently, two 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 unpro- secuted by the Government ; and the other, imposing the following solemn oath on all Roman Catholic members of Parliament. " / do swear, that I will defend to the utmost of my power, the settle- ment of property within this realm as established by the laws; and I do hereby disclaim, disavow, and solemnly abjure any intentioti to subvert the present ChuiCh, Establishment, as settled by law within this realm ; and I do solemnly swear that I never will exercise any jirivilege 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 jnofess, testify, and declare, that I do m^ke 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 Protestantism relied for their protection. What has been the result ? We a&k every reasonable man if every year since 1829 has not seen the political power of the Roman Catholics increase ? ^nd we ask further, if so much has been done in the first nine years after Emancipation, what may not the second nine years w^nett ? 15 In 1833, a Bill passed, for which the Papists in the Houses of Par- liament, 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 exten- sive, 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 annu- ally 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 connexion with such a system, and the Papists are tiierefore 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'Connell 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 withdravm from 850 parishes in Ireland; and, as by that clause whenever there were less ih&n 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 Pro- testant 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. Hap- pily 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 begin- ning. 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 denomi- nation, 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 "wo Z)mewLicutenant of the county, and Sir Charles Wulseley in a court dress." 17 deemed useful to obviate calumny, to oxplain Catholic tenets, defend the purity and truth of Catholic doctrines, and circulate useful infor- mation 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-comrautees of not less than five members out of their own body, for any purposes of the Institute, and also to organize local Com- mittees, and to solicit and avail themselves of the co-operation of indi- viduals in different parts of Great Britain and the Colonies." The result of tiiis 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 Com- mittees, and these again are to be subdivided. This arrangement, 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 overbear- ing the Government. We hope, then, that this will convince the Pro- testants of Great Britain, if everything else fail 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 iirst, nothing was heard but professions of loyalty, nothing but promises of peace ; but when tiie time came to speak out, first for emancipation, 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) is, to a very great extent, in the hands of the Roman Catholics ; the Government are disposed to assist in any '* heavy blow or great discouragement to Protestantism." These are all most important matters. The moment in 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.f Modern Liberalism, Infidelity, ultra High Church doctrines, the prin- ciples 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 impedi- • The first fruits of this Resolution was the clause in the Prisons' Bill to which we have alluded. It was introduced immediately after tlie formation of the Institute. f We allude to those unfortunate and deeply to be regretted publications—" Tracts for the Times," "Fronde'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 with. out notice, and the hope that their influence would fail, is now dead. ! I mn 18 It' ment is offered to its plans ; and we regret to add, that the Noncon- formists — 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 our religion, has been lost througli perfidy, apathy, or defeat ; and now, 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 huiuiliatlng foreign despotism. We can no longer look for that pro- vidential care which for ages was the guide and guardian of us as a Protestant 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 for the pre- servation of their freedom and their faith. Too long, alas I have we been deluded by the vain idea that the enlightenment of this genera- tion 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 portentous 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 glances 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 con- scientious 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 countiy, not even during the reign of the last infatuated monarch of the Stewart dynasty, when evils more terrible threatened the land. At that period, niemorable 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 19 apostate Rome. But by the providence of God, the Protestants of Ireland rallied round the banner of their faith, and drove their proud foreign invaders from the sliore. Popery then called forth all its energies, and throwing forth its whole force on the stubborn and awakened popu- lation, broke itself on the rock they had erected, instead 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 it 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 co-operating 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 prejudice to display. Away with all maudlin sentimentality about " the religious liave 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 consist- ency. To the Dissenters we say — " You declare yourselves against endowments, behold Popery endowed both at home and in the Colo- nies." To the Whig who still affects to act on the principles which distinguished his ancestors and placed the fan^'ly of Brunswick on the throne, we say, " Inquire if (joverimient 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 tliat 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 any one may avow himself, Dissenter,Whig, Liberal, or Conservative, Churchman or Patriot, we appeal to him to deceive himself no longer — to believe, ere it be too late, the facts which it is impossible to deny, that Popery, the same now as when the whole western population groaned in bondage, is gaining ground by crafty devices and open violence, is coming forth from the dungeons of per- secution and the cells of bigotry, once more to prostitute Christianity, once more to conquer and to entiiral. To the simpleton who talks of Popery being changed, we retort, with the evidence of " Dens' Theo- logy," the assumption of infallibility, and the recent instances of violated oaths ; and if the Papist himself impudently take up this contemptible jargon, we know of no answer but to laugh him to scorn. A very short time will prove who is right, and will show whether our state- ments are as fanciful and our fears as absurd as some will ])retend to believe them. To the verdict Time will give, we refer all who are too ignorant to know the truth and too idle at once to seek it ; but this we beg them to remember, that each increase of danger increases the respon- sibilities of those M-ho, being warned, neglected to avert it ; and further, as dangers and responsibilities augment, so also do difficulties, pari passu. We therefore once more earnestly cftU on all M'ho value Pro- testantism, on all to whom the blessings we enjoy are dear, to acquit themselves of a solemn duty now resting on every one who has the 'r ~ 1'lill.lWl m^ I). '0. so TV' slightest influence and the smallest power. Every thing worth pre- serving is at stake ; policy and each higher obligation unite to excite us to exertion ; the means of usefulness are possessed by all ; the evils of delay increase and accumulate ; we have experience of the past to guide us, and hopes of the future to excite us, and above all, the noblest cause that ever yet animated the spirits of free-born men. The choice is between the system enthroned in the passions of corrupted nature, that has cursed every land on which it has trampled, the raaster-con- trivance of priestcraft and fraud, which has dignified the insolence of pride and monopolised the presumption of power, which has palliated crime, indulged depravity, and restored idolatry, which for centuries has warred against the temporal and eternal happiness of man, and derogated from the honour of God ; and, on the other hand, that mild benignant sway that inculcates piety and promotes peace, succouring the afflicted, protecting the oppressed, giving freedom to the enslaved, that shines on the spirit of human kind with beams reflected from the clear refulgency of heaven. It is the cause for which martyrs have perished, for which our purest patriots have courted peril, and which now alone affords to all classes of the people the promise of liberty and knowledge. m f^"- 'I : i Hactntosb, Printer, SO, Great NeW'ilrect, London. .;*V' mmmm wm •*.. •iii:- ) .- ''I