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The difficulties that havearifen in the government of the province of Quebec, and which are likely (till to occur in it, notwithftanding the bcft intentions of thofe who are intrufted by His Majefly with the adminiftra- tion of affairs there, are fo many and fo great that the Officers, whom IJis Majefty has been pleafed of late to nominate to the principal departments in that Go- vernment,* cannot look upon them without thegreated uneafinefs and apprehenfion, and defpair of being able to overcome them without the affiftance of ati a6l of Parliament to ground and juftify their proceedings. Two nations are to be kept in peace and harmony, and moulded * Licutenant-Gcnoral Gnii Car! (on, fwlin l):m been since created a Peerof Great Britain, by tlie title of Lord Dorchester J was appointed Lieuloiiant Governourof the Province of tiuebec at this time, and William Hey, Esq. Barristcr-ut-Law, was aj)- pofntcd Chief Justice of the Province*. , Y 4 ^-J/. 191 tm moulded, as it were, into one, that are at preient of oppofite religions, ignorant of each other's language, and inclined in their affections to different fyftems of laws. The bulk of the inhabitants are hitherto either French from old France, or native Canadians, that fpeak only the French language, being, as it is thought, about ninety thoufiuid fouls, or, as the French reprefent it in their Memorial, ten thoufand heads of families. The red of the inhabitants arc natives of Great Britain or Ireland, or of the Britifli dominions in North-Ame- rica, and are at prefent only about fix hundred fouls ; but, if the province is governed in fuch a manner as to give f.itisfat^ion to the inhabitants, will probably every day increafe in number by the acceflion of new feltlers for the fake of trade and planting, fo that in time they may equal, or exceed, the number of the French. The French are almoft uniformly Roman-Catholics; there were only three Protcftant families among them at the time of the conqueft of the province ; and probably that number is not much increafed among them, as no endeavours have been ufed for their converfion. But, what is more to be lamented, is that they arc violently bigotted to the Popifli religion, and look upon all Pro- teftantswith an eye of dctcftation. This unhappy cir- cumftance has been, and is flill likely to be, a ground of enmity and difunion between the old and new inha- bitants! The French infift, not only upon a toleration of their public worflnp, but on a fliare in the admini- stration of jullicc, as jury-njcn and jufticcs of the peace and the like, and on a right, in common with the FnoTiQi, of bf.'ing appointed to all the offices of the aovernment. The Kno;lifli, on the contrary, affirm, that the laws of England made iigainft the Papifts ought to be in force there, and confcquently that the native Canadians^ '1 I 32) at preient of r's language, it fyftems of therto either adians, that t is thought, nch reprefent of families, jreat Britain >^orth-Ame- ndrcd fouls ; nanncr as to Dbably every new feltlers in time they 'rcnch. The lolics; there them at the id probably them, as no rfion. But, arc violently pon all Pro- anhappy cir- )e, a ground id new inha- 1 a toleration the admini- of the peace on with the >fficcs of the rary, affirm, ?apifts ought It the native Canadians, .2 :■■* Canadians, unlels they think prop^-T to turn ProtcllaiUs, ought to be excluded from all ihoicofiiccs and various branches of power : and in fomc degree they fcem to be fupported in this opinion by a part of the Governor's Conimiflivin ; I mean that part which enables him ti> call and conftitutca general aircmbly of the freeholders and planters of the province; for it is there cxprefsly provided, that no pcrfon clc(^l;od to ferve in fuch an nf- fembly fliall fit and vote there till he has fubferibcd the declaration againft Popery prcfcribcd by the Ilalule 25 Car. II. which would circctualiy exclude all the Cana- dians. The crouiids upon which the Frerch demand a tolc- "•"'^^•'^'f J-' t _ ct the Ho* ration of the Catholic religion, are partly the rcafon- man-Ca- ablenels of the thing itfelf, they bcingalmoft univcrfally ligioni of that religion, and partly the ftipulation made on that behalf in the fourth article of the definitive treaty of peace, and which is cxprcfled in thefe words. " His '^ Britannic Majefty on his fide agrees to grant the li- *' bertv of the Catholic religion to the inhabitants of " Canada ; he will confequently give the moll efiectual '* orders that his new Roman-Catholic fubjects may ** profefs the worfliip of their religion, according to the " rites of the Romifli church, as far as the laws of " Great Britain permit." Thefe laft words, " as far as the laws of Great Britain permit," render the whole itipulation in favour of this toleration very doubtful ; for it may reafonably be contended, that the laws of England do Miot at all permit the exercife of the Roman-Catholic religion. For in the firll p!ace, thele words (Vcmti to refer to fome degreeof toleration ofthe I»oman-Cat{iolicreligion,alrea* dya(^ually'fubfiftinginfomeparlofo that by this part of the aft, all the Canadian clergv, and a great part of thelaiety, might be required to take the oath of fupremacv, which it is well known the nioft nioderateCathulics cannot take, it being contrary to the fundamental article of their religion ; for thedifierence between the moderate Catholics and the more furious and zealous Papiils, who are molily guided by the Jc- fuits, confifts principaliy in this circumftance, that the latter afcribe to the Pope an unlimited power in temporal as well as fpiritual matters, and afiirm that he may depofe kings, and abfolve fubjefts from their allegiance, and do other the like extravagant niifchiefs, whereas the former deny his temporal, and acknowledg'e only his ipitituiil fupremucv. It is true indeed, this oath ol'Supremacv is taken away by the ftatute of 1 Will. cap. 8. ■ But another fliortcr 4)ath of Supremacy, containing a mere denial of the Spii'iti'iil, 332 i \ f i I Spiritual, or Ecclefiaftical power of the Pope, or any other foreign Prince, and which is therefore equally contrary to the fentiments of all Roman-Catholics, is appointed to be taken in its ftead, and by the fame perfons, and under the fame penalties, as before. It appears therefore, from the ftatute of 1 Eliz.cap. i. alone, without confidering any other of the laws againll Popery, that the exercifc of the Popifli religion cannot be tolerated in the province of Quebec, confid- ently with the laws of England j and confequcntly that it cannot be tolerated there at all by virtue of the ftipu- Jation of the definitive treaty above-mentioned, becaufe that (lipulation has an exprefs reference to the laws of England. Further by the next a6l in the ftatule-book, or flat. 1 Eliz. cap. ii. for the uniformity of common-prayer and fervice, it is enadlcd, " That every miniftcr of a ** parifli-church, &c. within this realm of England. *' Wales, and marches of the fame, or olher the Qucen\s ** dominions, fliall be bound to ufe the book of com- *' mon-prayer, and (hall ufe no other fervice, under *' pain of incurring certain heavy penalties." By this a£l, the mafs is prohibited in all parifli- churches in all her Majefty's dominions. . This aft does not indeed fay exprefsly, as the former does, that it fhall extend to all herMajefty's dominions that hereafter fliall be, as well as thofe that at prefenl are, belonging to the Crown of England. But there is rcafon to believe it meant fo ; or at Icafi; there is room for doubt. And, if it does mean fo, the mafs is prohi- bited by it in the province of Quebec. Upon thcfe rcafons we may conclude, that the exer- cife of the Catholic religion cannot, confidently with the laws of Great Britain, be tolerated in the province ©I" Quebec, Yet 333 I Pope, or any ;refore equally m-Catholics, is by the fame as before. ; of 1 Eliz. cap. er of the laws Popifli religion luebec, confift- nfequcnily that lie of the ftipu- itioned, becaufe I to the laws of e-book, or flat. :ommon-praycr •y miniftcr of d m of England; tier the Queen^s c book of coin- r fcrvice, under Itics." J in all parifti- /, as the forniei ?fty's dominions t that at prcfenl and. But there aft there is room le mafs is prohi- ?, that the exer- :on(]ftently with I in the province i Yet that it iliould be tolerated is furely very reafona- blc, and to be wiftjed by all lovers of Peace and Jultice and Liberty of confcience. By what authority then (hall it be tolerated? th""' ig the only qucftion that remains. Shall the King alone undertake to tolerate it ? will it be advifeable that he fhould excrcife, though for fo good an end, a power of difpenfing with the laws ? will it not give room to a thoufand cenfures and odious reflexions and compari- fons ? The authority of Parliament fcems to be a much fafer foundation to eftablifli this nieafure upon, in a manner which neither the new Englifli inhabitants of the province can conteft, nor the French Catholics fufpe6l to be inadequate. The next oreat difficulty that occurs, is the fettle- ^ , , , Settlement ment of the laws, by which the province of Quebec ot the is for the future to be governed. The law upon this fubjedl feems to be this J ift, That the '■»• -^i' the con- quered continue jn force till the will c' , -leror is declared to the contrary; this folio le- ceflity of the cafe, fince othcrwife the c -o- vinces would be governed by no laws at an, ^uly. That after the declaration of the will of the conqueror the conquered are to be governed by fuch lawS as the conqueror fliall think fit to impofe, whether thofe are the old laws by which they have been governed before, or the laws by which the conquerors are governed them- felves, or partly one, and partly the other, or a new fet of laws different from both. 3dly. That by the conqueror is to be undcrfluod the conqutr'ing nal'ion^ that is, in the pre.ent cafe, the Britifli nation ; that confcqucntly by thit xu'ill of the conqueror is to be un- derllood the will of tht British nation, which in all mailers relating to Icgiflaiion is exprcfled by the King and Yet n :r.n ami railiaincnt, as in all matters relating to the execu- tive power it is exprcflccl by the king alone; that therefore the Paillanunt only have a power to niakc laws for the province of QucIk-c, or to introduce any part of the laws of Great Britain there, or to delegate fiich a power of making or introducing laws to any other hands, nutwithllanding it may ha)>pcn that in hO. fuch a power may inadvertently have been delega. ted to 'le governor and coi.ncil of the province by » private Inllru.'r ajjoining colonics, or even of Great i^ritain it.clF. Tl:.M''e are dreadful confequenccs, but l()llo\v clearly from fuch a doctrine; for which rcafon the do6biue ilfeif ou'.'ht not to hfi maintained. The O other opinion, that the conquered people, when once ceded to the Crown of Great Britain, arc thereby ad- mitted to be Britifl) fiibjefts, and immediately intitled to participate of the liberties of other BritiOi fubje^ls, and are therefore lobe jiovcrncd according; to the rules of ! Wl% g to the execii- pcn that in .c been delcga, province by • 'or, if the con- alone had the of Quebec, it nqucred Cana- erc, would be- and arbitrary lir foot there, aws, and m-od rack, and the .here, both old and other pro- ^vhenrocver he 11 g army there, money to pay ich an armv, a : opprcfs the li- ' even of Great equcnces, but ' which rcafon niaiiicd. The le, when once re thereby ad- diately intitled ritiOi fubjc^ls, ng; to the rules of i 335 the I imitcd Monarchy of Great Britain, by which the executive power is vcftcd folely in the Kincj, but the power of making laws and raifing taxes in the King and Parliament, is a much fafcr and more rcafonabla opinion. It is ther«;iore to be wlflicd, that an a6l of Parliament might be obtained that at once declared what laws fliould take ))lace in the province of Quebec, whether the laws of the comuiffred, or the laws of Great Britain, or ibme of the laws t)f the conquered, and some of the iaws of Great Britain; or whether any other lawsfti uM be introduced there, more peculiarly fitted to the cir- cumftances of the province; and, if any, then what laws fliould be fo introduced : Or, if this detail be thought too troublclome for ll: Parliament to enter upon, and their informations concerning the ftatc of the province fliould be deemed to be as yet too iniper- fe«it U) enable them fo go through fu'-h a i)ufinefs with propriety, then it is to be wiflied that an aft of Parlia- ment may be obtained, by which fuch a legiflative power of making laws and ordinrmces for the good governmentof the province might be delegated to the Governor and Council, as has been already excrcifed by them bv virtue of an Tnflruction from t'nc Kin"; alone. By fuch a delegated parliamentary authority, they may ennuire into ihe (i:ate oFthc Canadian laws and culloms ahea'lv in force there, and n:ay revifc them and reduce them itiio wrilinii, and enacl fucii of them as fliall be found beneficial io the province, aud fit to be continued, and may introduce fuch parts ot the laws of England as thev fhali think lo be for the advantage of the province; and likewife, as occafion oflers, make fuch ollxT IK' • laws and re^';ulalions as (liall be ncccffary for the gooci guveinment of it : And in fo doing they will have . 'rt G have a due recrard to the heads cvf advice hifrGefled bv Mr. Attorney Yorke, and to fuch other intimations and inllruftions as thegovernmentfliall think proper to communicate to them. And, left this legiflative power /jiould beaburedyOrinjadiciouflycxecutcdjbytheGover- nour and Council, there might be a claufe in the a€t ot ParHament dircy ordinances made by the Governor ■ and ; luggefled bv ler intimations hink proper to gi dative power i, bytheGover- 'e in the a(Sl ot fc feveralLa\v3 juncil in Eng- lowed or difal".- Illy they (liould illowed within •s,) they (hould by a6l of Par - on fuch a par- lience from the will ; and the into execution ence as if ihcy guilty of an nQ-land, but i^ hitherto been ifficult, as the ipital offences) niiHicd, unlefs terniining the e; Could any Jcath for fueh tugli he fliould for it, to paff orily ? But, i. ly authority of Parlianent it- ihe Governor and ?md Council of the province, by virtue of a legiflatlvc authority comnumicated to them by a6l of Parliament, the judges .vill be under no other difficulty whai punilh- mcnls to inflict upon the fcveral criminals that come before them, than they are in Great Britain itfelf. Some perfons are of opinion, that the laws of Great, Britain do at once take j)lace in a conqu(;rcd province, without any authoritative introdu6lion of them, either by the King, or the Parliament. But this opinion feems dcftitute of foundation, and is fufficientlv refuted by the advice of the learned Mr. Yorke> His Majefty's Attor- ney-General, who has advifed that the Canadians fhould bepermittcd to retain their dwnLaws, relatingto Inherit- ances and the Alienation of their real eftates, which would be impoffible without an a6l of Parliament for that purpofe, if the whole fyftem of the Laws of England did ipso/ciciohi^coniG the Ldw of the province upon its being conquered, or ceded to the Crown. Indeed, the whole fyftem of the Laws of England, taken in the grols, and without a fele6lion, would be by no means a blefling to the Canadians. The game-laws, the poor-laws, the fidlions and fubtleties in various forts of unions and coiiveyanceSj the niceties arifing from the doctrine of ufes, and the tedious and operofe inftru- ments founded on them, would really be a great misfor- tune to them ; and, from their novelty and ftrangenefs, would be thought to be a much greater. ThisDodlrine therefore of the inftant validity of the whole mafs of the Lava's of England ilnoughoul the conquered province cannot be true. And if the whole fyftem of thofc laws is not valid there, then certainly no part of them can be fo. For if they are, then who (hall diftinguifli which of them arc valid there, and which are not? It may therefore be concluded, as at firft, that none « rf ■^' Sct'lemcnr Of Uv: 338 of the laws of England are valid In the conquered pro- vince ipso facto by virtue of the conqueft, or ceflion, without a pofitive introduction there by a fufficient au- thority : and this fufficient authority feem?, for the reafons already mentioned, to be only the Pailiauient of Great Britain. The next great difficuUy that calls loudly for the in- terpofition of Parliament, is the low ftate of the Revenue of the province of Quebeck. Under the French govern- ment this Revenue amountedto about thirteenthoufand pounds /)c7' anjium, but is now funk to Icfs than three thoufand. The caufe of this is the change in the courfe of trade ; by which means it falls-out, that thofe taxes which formerly produced the principal part of the reve- nue, do now, though ftill in force, produce nothing at all. The principal of thofe taxes was a duty upon French wines, which were imported there from old France in great quantities. Thisfingle duty produced 8000I. a year j now it produces nothing, becaufeno wines are allowed to be imported there from old France. Nor would it be replaced by an increafe of the confumption of Spa- nifh or Portuguefe wines, fuppofing the tax might be conftrued to extend to thofe wines ; for the Canadians do not like them, and will not drink them. From a like caufe, another duty which formerly made a confi- derable part of the publick revenue, which was a duty upon French brandies imported from old France, and French rums imported from the French Weft-India iflands, now produces nothing at all. From thefe caufes the Reyenue is funk fo low that it is infufficient to defray the expenee of the civil government, though the eftablifliment of it is fo very moderate. It is there- fore become neceflary, either for the tre.d'ury of Eng' land to iflue a fufficient annual fum to make good the falaries ronqucrcd pro- left, or ceflion, a fufficient au- feem?, for the e Pailiament of udly for the in- ; of the Ikveniic French goverii- tiirteenthoufand Icfs than three ge in the courfe that thofe taxes part of the reve- re nothing at all. y upon French old France in edSoool.aycarj ines are allowed Nor would h imption of Spa- te tax might be r the Canadians them. From a y made a confi- hich was a duty )ld France, and ch Weft-India I. From thefe it is infufficient nment, though te. It is there- re.'U'ury of Eng' make good the falaries falarlcs of ilie fcveral Officers of the Government, or-lhat Ibme new tax fliould be impofed upon the inhabitants, in aid of thofc which by realon of tUefe accidents have failed, fufficicni for all the purpoies ot the Government.. Andit'thislalter uieihod ihoulu bcadopled, itispielumed that the authority of L^arliament will be the proper pow- er lo have recourfe to, that there may be no colour or pretence for conlcfting the legality of the taxes fo im- pofed. This power alio the Parliament nry excrcife, cither immediately itfelf by impoling a tax upon the province of Quebcck ihis veryfelfion before the Parlia- ment rifcs, or it may delegate to the Governour and Council a power to impofe Vuch taxes as they (hall find neceflary for the fupport of the Government, fubj'^61, as above, to the difallowance of the King and Privy Council, ill order to prevent abufes, and with proper claufcs of RcftriiSlion and Appropriation of the money fo raifed, in order to preveni a mifapplication of it, either by the Officers of the province, or at home. If the Parliament fliould think proper itfelf to lay a tax upon the province, Information has been received from perfons well acquainted with the ftate and trade of the province, that Britifli fpirits would be the com- inod'.ty that could beil b^ar a duty, and would produce the bell revenue ; that ther,e are annually imported into the. province about 350,000 gallons of thefe fpirits, and that they might bear a duty of three-pence a gallon, without hurting the trade, but not more j and this would produce about 300c/. a year. The maUcious and defperate enemies of an upright and popular Adniiniftration, may perhaps traduce fuch a meafure as inconfiftcnt with their late indulgent con- dud with i\(\)ct\ to the other American colonies in the Jate repeal of the ftamp-aa. Bjat the difference of the 2 2 *^*^'^* 3^0 isifci is too f^rikinj; to make su^h a calumny in the Jcaft degree foriniilable. The other American colonies have internal legiflatures of their own, who have been permitted, ever fince their firft eftabliflimtnt, to bt: the: afTefTors of ail their internal taxes ; and, as tiicy had not abufcd this privilege with which they had been fo lorig indulged, — and further, as their excrcifing this privilege feemedtobe nowayprejudicial to the mother-country,— it fcemed to have been a harfli and ungracious meafure in the Parliament, by the advice of the late miniftry, to revive and exert a dormant and inherent richt of taxinn- themj which, however, the whole Parliamcntjexccptintr a very few members of both hoivfc?, have highly ue- clared themfelves to be pofleiTed-of. But the Cana- dians have nofach internal Icgiflaturo, no fuch nfa're of taxing themfelves by reprefentativcs of their own chuf- ing. Unlcfs, therefore, they have the lingular privilege of not being liable to be taxed at all, thcv muft be liable to be taxed either bv the King alone, or by the Kinc^ aild Parliament; and the milder of thcfe two opinions IS, that they are taxable by the King and Parliament. Thofe therefore who fliould promote the taxing them by auihorityof Parliament, would acl like the trued friends to civil liberty, and with the fame fpirit of mildnefs and moderation that eonduckd them in the repeal of the ft:imp-aci::. If it fnould be faid, that the province of Quebcck ought to have an Affembly in the fame manner as the other American colonies, and that the taxes oufrht to be impofed by the confent of fuch an AlTembly, it will be fufficient for the prefent purpofe, and to fupport the meafure, here fuggefted, of taxing tiiem by authority of Parliament, to anfwer, that as yet no fuch Aflenjbly has been confiitutcd: and till an aflcmbly is ereftcd, whether ralumny in the nierican colonies , who have bteii [i'mtnt, to be the , as tiicy had not lad been fo long ngthis privilege )thcr-country,-'- ^racious meafure late miniftry, to t right of taxing imcnt5exccpt;n<»- have highly uc- But the Cana- :io fuch nfage of their own chiu*- ngular privilege v muft be liable or i)y the King fe two opinions nid Parliament, taxing them by hetrueft friends irit of mildncfs n the repeal oi' e of Quebcck manner as the taxes ought to ITembly, it will 1 to fiipport the by authority of fueh AfTenjbly biy is erefted, whether 341 whether that time be (hort or long, the fafeft and nirld- cll method of impofing ta;tes is t,o do i,t by authority of Parliament. As to the ere^tipg an Aflembly in lb a.t province, it is , ^' V, a meafure which probably will not for fome years to come be found expedient. If an aiTenaUly w.ere now to be coaflitnied, and the direAions ,in the Governo.ur's CommiiTion, above alluded to, were to be.obferved, by which none of the members elefted there are to be per- icitted to fit and vote in the Aflemblv till ihey hare Tub- fcribed the declaration againft Popery, it would amount to an exclufion of all the Canadians, that is, of the bulk of the fettled inhabitants of the province. An Af- fcnibly fo conftituted, might pretend to be a reprefenta- tiye of the people there; but in truth i,t would be a re- prefentative of only the 6oo new Englifli fettlers, aud an inftrument in their hands of domineering over the 90,030 French. Can fuch an aflembly be thought juft or expedient, or likely to produce harmony and friend- fliip between the two nations ? Surely t muft have * contrary eifej^. On the other hand, it might be dangerouv? iu the(e early days of .their fubniiflion, to admit the .CanadiauiJ themfelves to fo great a degree of power. Bigotted, as they are, to the Popifti religi(3s5i, . unacquainted with, and hitherto prejudiced againft, the lawsapd cufttmisof EngJ'.nd, they would be very unlikely for fome years to *ome, to promote fuch nicafures as rtiould gradually introduce the Proteftfint religion, the ufe of the Englifli Language, or the fpirit pftl)e Britifli law^. I,t is mow probable they would cheqk all fuch endeavours, and quarrel with the Governour and Council, pr with the K^glifli members of the Aflibuibly, fpr promoting themr A'^d to this, that they are almo(l ^imiverfally ignorarit z 3 q{ u i 34% of the Englifh language, fo as to he abfolutely incapa- ble of debating in it, and confcquently muft, iffuch an Aflembly were ereded, carry-on the bufinefsof it in the French language; which would tend to perpetuate that language, and with it their prejudices and affec- tions to their former maders, and poftpone to a very diftant time, perhaps for ever, that conlition ot the two nations, or the melting-down the French nation into the Englifli in point of language, affetlions, religion^, and laws, which is fo nuich to be wiflied-for, and which otherwife a generation or two may perhaps cffcfr, if proper meafures are taken for that purpofe. And further, it may be obferved, that the Canadians them- felves do not dcfire an Alfcmblv, but are contented to be protected in the enjovnient of their religion, liuer- ties, and properties, under the adminiftration of his Majefty's Governour and Council. If, to give a proper flability to this mode of government, it is carried~on by authority of Parliament, and is properly fuperintcnded, (as no doubt it will be,) by thewifdom of his MajejRy's Privy-Council, they will think themfelves extremely happy under it. The pcrfons who nipft defirc the im- mediate conftitution of an Afllnibly, are fome of the fix hundred Englifh adventurers, who probably are am- bitious of difp'aying their parts and eloquence in the characters of leading Affembly-men. But, if an Affemblyis to be conftituted, even this too had better be done by a£l of Parliament than by the King's fmgle authority, as it is no lefs than fevering from the general body of his Majefty's dominions a particular part of them, with refpeft to the purpofcs of making laws and impofing taxes. Could the King, if he thought proper, and a particular County of England was to defire it of him, fever that Coupty from the < reft 343 blutely incapa- ' muft, if fuch; bufinefsof it in 1 to perpetuate :!ices and aflfcc- pone to a very lion of the two ch nation into lions, religioHj^ iflied-for, and perhaps effedV, purpofc. And inadians thcm- re contented to religion, liucr- [Iration of his to give a proper s carried~on by fuperintcnded, f his Majefty's K'es extremely defirc the ini- re fonie of the obably arc am- quence in the 1, even this too It than by the 1 ihan fevering s dominions a the purpofcs of d the King, if nty of England upty from the reft rfll of England, and no longer fummon any of its members to Parliament, but, iuftead thereof, conftitute a little Parliament in that County itfclf, that (hould make laws and lay taxes for the inhabitants of that fingle County ? It is prefumed that he could not : and the ere6ling an Aflcmbly in a conquered province is an aSt of much the fame nature. It is true indeed, that fomc of the American Charters and Allemblies owe their rife to this authority: but thi* was in the reigns of the Stuarts, who were fond of extending their Preroga- tive; and, on account of the in confiderablenefs of the colonies at that time, thefe things were then unnoticed; fo that they do not prove the ftrict legality of the prac- tice. Since that time thefe Charters have been put in practice by the Colonies, and acquiefced-in by the mother-country, and in fome meafure recognized in Parliament ; and this ufage, acquiefcence, and recog- nition, are in truth their beft fupport. Put, if an Aflembly is tobeconftituted, in which the Catholicks or Canadians are to be admitted, (as injuft- ice and reafon they ought to^be, if any aflembly at all is to be ereded) the authority of Parliament feems lo be dill more neceflary to give validity to fuch a meafure. For the reafons that have been juft now mentioned, it feems evident that the meafure of ereding an Aflem- bly in the province of Quebeck is fomewhat premature. Howfoon it will become expedient and proper, Expcf rience only can fliew. But in the mean time, however fliort that time may be, it feems neceflary to have re- courfe to the authority of Parliament for fettling the government of the province, and removing the difficul- ties that obftrudl that fcltlement in the three great arti- cles of Religion, Law, and Revenue. It is therefore the humble requeft of all the gentlemen who have lately z 4 bcei^ 344 appointed to the principal Offices in the government of Qiiebeck, to his Majefty's Minifters of State, that they would ufe their influence and endeavour.^ to procure fuch an a(ft of Parliament as they fhall, upon thewho'e matter, think to be ncceflary, to remove the difficHiltics that have been ftated, and to enable the faid gentlemen to adrninifter the government of that province in their feveral departments, with fccurity to themfelves, and advantage to the province. Signed, Perhaps an a6l of Parliament to the following par* port might anfwer the intended purpofes. I A iketch of an a6l of Parliament for tolerating the Rci- man-Catholick religion in the provinccof Quebeck, and for encouraging and introducing the Proteftant religion into ihi.' faid province, and for feithng the Laws, and augmenting the publick Revenue of the fame. CHAP. I. Concirnvttgihc Toleration of the Rnman-Calbo/ick Reli' gion. Whereas it has been humbly rcprefentcd to the King's Moft Excellent Majefty, by His loyal and faith- ful fubje£ts, the French inhabitants of the province of Quebeck, that they are, for the moft part, members of the church of Rome, and are, from motives ofconfci- ence, moft earnedly deiirous of a permiflion to continue in *he fame church, and to worfliiplhe Supreme Being according to the rites and ceremonies thereby prcfcri^ -, and have alledged that they conceive themfelves to have feme reafcnable claim to fuch permiflion and indulg- pncej 34 J government of tatc, that they irti to procure pon the who'e the diffieiiltics "aid gentlemen vince in their emfelves, and olio wing pnr- ating the Rgj- :cofQuebeck, the Proteftant or leitling the levenue of the Mtbolick Reli- * rented to the yal and f'aith- le province of , members of ves of confci- n to continue ipreme Being by prcfcri^ -, felvcs to have [1 and indulg- pncej ence, not only from the innate go()(lnef^ and clemency of his Mnjefty's ciifpofition, which inclines him at all times to fliew hinildf a tender father of all his people, and the gcncrofity, which always a6tllatc.^ the Parlia- ment of Great Britain, to co-operate with his Majefty ' in all fuch his gracious purpofe^, but from a {lipulaticn made in this t)ehalf in the fcnirth article of the lafl de- finitive treaty of peace cnncliuicd at Pari>, in the year of our Lord one thoufanJ (even hundred and fixty-three which is contained in ihefe words : " Jlis Britannic ?' Majefty, on his fide, agrees to grant the liberty of the ** Calhoiick religion to the inhahitanls of Canada. He " will confequently give the moil; etfidnal orders that ** his new Konian-Catholick hihjcAs may proRTs the *' worfliip of their religion, according to the rites of the ^' Hoiiiini church, as far as the laws of Great Britain f' permit." And whereas certain doubts have arifen, and may arife, whether thj laws of Great Britain will permit theexercife of the Koman-Catholick religion ir\ any degree, even in the remote(i: dominions oi" the Crown of Great Britain: and whereas His Majefly and the Britifh Parliament judge it to be rcafonable in the prefent cafe to grant a toleration of the exercife of the faid Roman-Catholick religion throughout the faid pro- vince ofQucbeck, both on account of the almoft univer- fal prevalence of that religion among the French inha- bitants of that province, and the llipulation in that be- half made in the definitive treaty of Paris, as is above mentioned ', yet not without fiich reftridions as may prevent the ill confequ nces that might otherwife follow from fuch indulgence : IT IS THER EFORE ENACT- ED, by his faid Moft Gracious Majefty, by and with ^he advice and confent of the Lords Spiritual and Tem- poral, and theConmions, inParliamcnl aflembled, that TP'r**''*" T ' ot the Ro- it man Ca- tholick wor- ship. Seminaries for Ronian- Catholick i ; "t^ Roman- Cat holick Bishop. 346 il fljall and may be lawful for the Curates and Vicar5, and other priefts belonging to the fevcral pariflics in the Province of Qucbeck, to celebrate the mafs, and to ad- niinifter the facranients of the church of Rome, and to perform all the other fun£lions of the prieftly office, according to the rites and ceremonies of that church ; and that il (hall alfo be lawful for any of the inhabitants of the faid province to attend the mafs, or other Roman- Calholick offices of religion, without any hindrance or moleftatlon ; any law, (latute, or cudom, of England to the contrary thereof in any wife notwithftanding. And, to the end that the faid Roman-Catholick inha- bitantsof the faidProvince of Quebeckmay be under no neccffity, or temptation, to keep-up a corrcfpondence with Old France, in order to be fupplied wiih Roman- Calholick priefts to officiate in their feveral parifli- churches, upon the feveral vacancies which may hap* pen by the deaths of the prefent Incumbents, IT IS HEREBY FURTHER ENAC TED; that it (hall and maybe lawful for the Governour, or Commander in chief, and Council of the faid Province, to tolerate and licence by an ordinance made and publiflicd for that purpofe, fuch and fo many of the Seminaries already eftablifbed in the faid province for the education of perfons intended for holy orders acccrdinj to the ch^^- ^ jf Rome, as they (liall think fufficient to fuppK . oer number of the faidPopifh priefts for the Or-*, -o/ the P.oman-Ca- tholick inhabitants of the faid Province. And the faid Governour, or Commander in chief, and Council of the faid Province fhall have power by new Ordinances to toleratemore, or fewer, of ihcfe Seminaries, as occafion may require. And, to the end that the perfons that dedicate them- felvcs to the fervice of the church, according to the riles l Piicsts- 346 Rcf,irfut;on Alfo it is hereby further provided, that the Goveriiour of the •! /I Seminaiies. and Council (liall have power to regulate, as often as they think proper, by Ordinances made for that purpofe, the fevrral Seminaries which they fliall think fit to tolerate and licenfe, as aforcfaid. Alfo it is further provided, that it fliall be lawful for theGovernour and Councij to prohibit, or reftrain, in any luanner they think proper, the carrying-about the Ho,li in procelfion through the ftreets and publiek highways, by an Ordinance made and publilhed for that purpofe, and to confine the cxercife of ihe Romilh rcliu;ion to churches and private houfes, in order to avoid giving offence and fcandal to the Englilh inhabitants anci oijier? of the Proteftant religion. Alfo it is further enadted, by the authority aforcfai.dj that it fliall ajid may be lawful for the aforefaid Roman- Catholick bifliop, or fuperintendant, and likewife for all the Ronian-Catholick priells, foas aforefaid tolerated in the laid province, to enter into the holy ftate of ma- trimony, if they (liall io think fit, without incurring any damaojej cenfure, or difability, ecclefiaftical or temporal, . li'ieverj any canon, rule, law, or cuf- tom of ..ic iioniiih chuch, to the contrary thereof in any wife notwithftandiag. And the children arifing from fuch marriages fliall be, and be decnu ', legiti- mate to all intents ; od purpofes. Aud_, to the end that the Roman-Catholic'' clergy that are hereby tolerated may have a reafonable main- tenance fuitable jLo their office and chara6ler, IT IS FURTHER ENACTED, that the famt legal profits and dues, uaelher they be glebe-lands or tithes, or of any other kind whatfoever, that belonged or were pay- able to the Roman-Catholick priefts of the feveral pa- riihes in the time of the French government, and might thci^ Establish- ment of church- 4ues. 341) •> then have been recovered by procefs of la.v, in any Court cither fpiritual or temporal, and were not mere vohmtary donations oroblations, fhall dill belong to the faid Uoman-Cutholick priefts, and be paid to them by the Koman-Catholickinhabitantsof their rcfpedivepariflves, and tlie payment of ihem by fuch Roman-Caiholicks lliall be enforced by procefs of law in the Court of the Chief Juftice of the province, by fome fhort and conve- nient ftiit to be appointed for that purpofe by the Cover- nourand Council of the province, by an Ordinance made and publi filed by them for that purpofe. And, in order to prevent unnecelTiry difputes concerning thefe profits and d'les, the faid Chief Juftice of the province fliall enquire by the oaths of twelve, or more, Canadian houfe-keepers of good reputation in every parifli through- out the province, what thofe legal profits and payments were in the lime of the French government, and fhall transmit a written account of the fame to the Governour and Council of the province, who fliall thereupon caufe them to be printed. And two copies of the {-lid printed lifts of the f.iid profits and dues fliall be preferved, the one among the records of the Council, the other among the records of the Court of the Chief Juftice, and fliall be deemed authentick evidence, on all future occafions of the dues of the clergy in the feveral pariflies of the said province. And further, whereas it can be in no degree neceflary Collegiate to the frneexercifeof the Roman-Catholick religion in td\1hi\- Ihefaid province of Quebeck, that the Cathedral or Col- o-s houses, legiate-churehes of deans and chapters, or the religious focieiics of monks and nuns, fliould be permitted to continue, and, as there is reafon to apprehend that the continuance of them might prove detrimental and bur- thcnfomc to the faid province, IT IS THEREFORE HEREBY £.W I HEREBY FaRTHER ENACrED, thai all fuch members of any Cathedral or Collegiate churches, or religions locieties, as think proper to (:ep -t from them and rcfign their rights to any profits from them, and <:;eafe to be members of them, whether they be Deans^ or Prebendaries, or Canons, or other members of any Cathedral or Collegiate church, or monks, or nuns, or rlher niemb'^rs of anv religious fociety or monaftery, fliall be at t'uli hbeity lo '.Icpart therefrom, wh^nfoever they thin', fit : any rultom. law, or Oatulc of^ fuch Cathedral or CoH^pi^te church, or rJigi -us focittv, or any canon, rule, "i \, or cuftom wf thcHdmini religion, to the contrary hereof in anywife notwithltan 'ing. Alfo it fhall be lawful for any of the faid Deans, or Prebendaries, or Canons, or other members, of any Cathedral or Collegiate church in the faid province of Quebeck, and for any Abbot or Prior, Abbefs or Priorefs, monk or nun, or any other mcmijer of any monaftery or religious house in the faid pro-ince, to enter into the holy ftate of matrimony, if ti-.y ihall think fit fo to dh ; any law, canon, or cuftom of the Homifli religion to the contrary thereof in anv wife notwitliflaiidint:. And the faid marriages (liall be ^■al'd, and the iillie of them legitimate, to all intents and purpofcs whatfoevcr. All fuch of the faid , crfons as enter into the holv flate of matrimony (hail be deemed to have tlxrcby de- parted voluntarily from the Cathedral, or Collegiate church, monaliery, or rtligious lioufe, to which they belonged, and to have renounced all their connection therewith, and all their right to any profit arifing from them. Alfo it is hereby provided, that no new members be admitted hereafter into any of the faid Cathedral or Col- legiate churches or monaflerics, or religious houfes ; but 351 but that thofe who are there already, and defire to con- tinue there, be permitted fo to do durint^ their lives ; '^ ' and that after the death, or marriage, or voluntary de- parture, of all the members of all the faid Cathedrals or Collegiate churches, monafteries, or religions focietics, their houfes, lands, revenues, and goods of every kind, moveable and immoveable, fliall be taken into the King's hands, and make part of ihc publick revenue of the Province; and that in the mean time the (lipcnds of fuch members of the faid Cathedral or Collegiate churches, monafteries, or religious houfes, as either die, ormarry, or voluntary depart from the faid churches or religious houfes, ftiali not accrue to the furviving or re- maining members of the faid focicties, but (liall be im- mediately taken into the King's hands, and make a part of the said publick revenue of the Province. Alfo, to the end that the Roman-Catholick inhabit- Liberty to ants of the faid province may, by the free exercife of hoi'/'"' their reafon, and the light of the holy gofpel, be con- ^'^"^""^ verted from the errors and fuperfti lions of the church of Rome, to the profeflion oi the true Protcftant religion; IT IS HEREBY FURTHER EN'ACTED, that it fliall be lawful for all the inhabitants of the faid province, Roman-Catholicks as well as Proteftants, lo read the books of the Old and New Teftamcnt in the French or Englifti language, or in any other language whatfoever, any canon, rule, or cuftom of the Romifli religion, to the contrary hereof in any wife notwiihftanding. And no priell (hall inflidl any ecclefiaftical ccnfure, or pe- nance, upon any Roman-Catholick inhabitant of the, .id province for fo doing, npon pain of being irnprifoncd for a year, upon an indidment and convi6lion thereof before the Chief Juftice of the province. And, m- II :li I !t Provision of Protest- ant mini- stent for future converts from the Romish religion. And, whereas ihcre i.^ great reafon to ho[)c, that, by the pious examples and exhortations of perlons that prok'fs the Chriftiau rehgion in greater puritv, and by the free perufcil of the holy fcripturos, many of ihe French inhabitants of thefaid province ihat now profefs the Pioman-Calholick religion, maybe converted from the errors and fuperliitions ihcreuf to the belief of the true Proteftant religion ; upon whieh nioft defirable event it will be rcaion.iole th.i!-. they (liould have places ofpublick wordii;) to rcforl-to, and aimllters of the Gof- pel to perform divnie 1. rvice to iheni, and that fuch minifters llicnltl have a proper rcAard for their pious labours: IT IS HLRKi^Y FUUTHlLa KNAGTIilD that, if, upon any v.u'an:.'.- of a pari(h-church by the death of a {Ionian Cailiolick In< umbent, a fourth part, or more, of the iiihabitaii^ thai are houfekecpers in the faid paridi, or, in cai^, there are more than four- fcore houfekeepers in the f.iid pariili, if twenty, or more, of the faid hcnifc keepers, ih.dl prelent a petition to the Governonr,or Commander i.ichief, of thefaid province, fetting-forth that they are i'rotedants, ai.d that they a»e defirous to biive a Pioteit.i.K niinifl/r amonL^ them, to perform divine ferviee, and excrcile all the lunAions of thcmiuiftryamong then), and prayin^ the Governour to appoint them fuch a nnniller, it fnaU iu fuch cafe he lawfulforthe faid Gi)vern:)ur,or Gcmimctnder Michief, of the faid provmee, to iiominate and aiipv)int to fuch va- cant church, a Proieftani mitiiiler of the Gufpel by letters-patent under the pul)lick foal of the province, to hold the faid olliee oT a Proteilant minillerof the Gofpel for the faid pari(h during his natural life, ortill hvifliall acccptfon.e other benetiee,vvhici.ihall inUantlyniakebis app vntmenl to the former benefice void. And the 1;ud Govcriiour w 3 ss Gov'ernoiir,orConimaiKlcr iiicliief, fiullat thefdmcliiTie prefciit, as abovemeiuioned, a Roman-Catholick prieit t© the fame church for the benelllof the Caiholick inha- bitants of the faid parifli. And all the tithes and other dues that are to be paid by the Protcftant inhabitants of fuch pariHi fliall be paid by them to the faid Proted- ant niiaider, and fliall be recovered by him, by procefs of law in the fame manner as they might have been re- covered before by the Roman-Catholick prieft of the faid parid). And all the liihcs and dues that are to be paid by the Roman Caiholick inhabitants of the faid parifii, fhall be paid to the Ron^an Caiholick prieft of the faid province. And the glebe-lands, and other profits of the church that do not arife from payments of any kind made by the inhabitants of the faid pariflj, fliall be di- vided between the Ronian-Caiholick priefl:and the Pro- teflaut miniftcrof the faid parifli, in proportion to the nujiibcrs of the houfekeepers that profcfs the Popilh and Protcllant religions, at the lime oi" fiHing-iip the vacancy of the church in the manner hereby preferibed. And t!u3 divifion of the profits of the church between the Popifli prieft andiheProtcflant niinifterfliall bemade by virtue of an Order in writing from ihe faidGovernour, or Commander in chief, made for that purpofe under his hand. And this Order of the Governour, or Com- mander iu chief, fliall be final and fliall be deemed to have afeert;iined the proportion of this divifion beyond all litigation. And u;x)n fuch appointment of a Protefi- nnt minifler to any vacant church, though a Roniifli prieft be prefented thereto at the fame lime, ail relicks, in;ages, pictures, and crucifixes, and other fuperftiiious ornaments, fliall be removed from the faid church, in confequence of an Order to he made by the Governour, or Commander in chief^ for that purpofe, in writing ^ A and 3j4 and under his hand. But they mny be kept by the Roman-Calholick pricH of the faid paiifli, in Torn J con- venieni place to be provided by him and the Roman- CathoHck inhabitants thereof forthat purpofe ; and may be brought into, and placed in, the faid church, during the time of divine' fervice, as often as occafion fhail r^- J|uire, but fliall at the end of fuch fervice be again re- moved thereout. Ani the faid Govcrnonr^ or Com- niander In chief, may caufe his faid order to be inforctd . in ''uch a manner as to him fliall appear nioft elFciSlual and exptdieot. Alio it is hcrehv further ena^cd that, if, upon any vacancy of a paridi-chr.rch in the fiid province by the death of t^.e Popifli pricft thereof, it fliall appear to the Governour'fifatisfni51ion,thatthrec-f(ainh parls,or more, of the inhabitants that are houlckeepers in the faid pa- rifh, areProtcflant-s he fhail not prcfent any Honian- Otholick priefi to the faid church, but fliall only appoint a Protefldnt miuiftcr thrreio. And the dud Profcflant m.iniller fliall receive and onjcy all the profits of the faidchurch. And in this cafe thcGovcrnour, or Com- mander in chiif, of the (aid province, fliall take order that all the relicks, image?, pichVrcs, aiurcrncifi.xc." end other fuperftiiious (irnanients of fuch church, fl;ali be removif from the faid church, to be never more fet-up therein, and fliall be either ileflroycd or othcrwife difpofcci-of, a? tlie fiid Governour fl:all think fit. Oath of Alfo it is Iiercby further enacted, that ail the Koman- Jl!'wu!kJn Catholick priefls now in the pofitflion of any churches in the foid j rovince, fl.all take tlie following oath cf allegiance to his Maj. i'y, apj ointtd by the flatule oi' ] Geo. 1. ciip. 13 to uit, " I, A.B. do fincerely pro- ". nule and (wear, thi^t I will be faitliiul and bear true " allegiance to his IVJajefiy King George. S^' help me \y the II') priests. God." And thi ^ o.ith they (hall take, either before the Govcrnour and Council, or the Chief Juftice of the pro- vince, or fucli other perfun or perfons as the Governour and CoLincd (hali, by an ordinance to be made and pubhfhe i foi that i>urpofe> ijiipowtr to adniiniiter tlic faun nut" them. And npon refufai to take the laid oath, thty Hia 1 beindniily deprived ol' their refpeaire benvtiees in the church, and (h.Ji be incapable ever after of benig pre-entcd to any b.-nefiees in the faid province. And the Governoiir {liali, as foon as conveniently may be, prcfent another prieft to the bfenefiee thereby be- come vacant. Ana this oath the Goverilour, or Commander in chief, is hereby required to adminilter, or caufe to be adminiftered, to all the faid pricfts with ail convenient expedition. M\o the aforcfaid Koman-Cathollck bifliop, or fnper- infendant of (he clergy, fliall take the f^id oath ofallei. giance l)crorc he can exercife any ofi he fnnaions of the faid oll^ce. And if he flial! rcfufe fo to do, being re- quired thereto by the Governour, he fliall thereby lofe his faid oirice of bifliop, or fuperintendant, and (liall be incapable ever after of h.olding that office or any other benefice or employment in the church durimr his life. "^ . Alfo all the Roman-Catholick priefis thatfiiall here- after be prefi-nted to any of the churches in the faid province, (lull, before fuch prefcrtation, take the faid o'uh of allegiance. Oiherwife their nrefentation and inftitntion to any of the faid churches fliall be void. Alfo it fliall be lawful for the Governour, or Com- mander in chief, of the faJd province, to rcquife all Deans and Prebendaries, or Canons, or other members of any Cathedral or Collegiate church, and likewife all 3 A a fnpe/igr- / \ 3b6 ! liey nny likcvvi-.i.' 1);"; retiuirfd in lemporil power of the P, '[" (TO !-l'jir»f. fuperiors oF any femlnarics, and .ill Jefuits or cthcf monks, or other nicm!)crs of any religious houfe, to take the (aid oath of Allegiance. And if ihev refufe lb to do, their places, offices, and prnfifs in fuch churches or focielics, riiall immcdiiitely be void and ceafe, and they fl)a:: be expelled fron. fuch focieties. Alfo it V.y.iU be lawful for the f;id Governour, or Commander in Chief, to require the fa'd Bifliop, or Superiutcndanr, iiuil all the I^oman-Cathollck priefls of the feveral churelies in the (aid Provii^ce, both ihofc that are now in pollini on of ih,H:)!n niy hcait abhor, deteft, and abjure, as ini- "•■ prous iiud lie!c-tica], that damnable doarinc and po- " fifion, tlinf princes excommunicated or deprived bv ♦' the Pf^jK", (,r ativ autiiority of i' c fee of Home, may ''' be L]cpr,(cd or niurdcred i)y their fubjeas, or any '■ other whaifutivL-r. So help me God." And thofe who, being rc(]uired to take this oath, fliall refufe fo lo do, CtK\\\ incur the fame penalties as have been abov? appcunted for refufh].- lo lake the aforefaid oath of Alle- giatiee. Alfo It i-- hereby further cna^ed, that no appeal fhall be madj in aiiv matter whatfoever, fpiriiual or temporal, ariiing in the faid Province, lo' the Pope or Bifliop of Pome, or to anv other foreign authority V. hatfoever ; and that no jurifdiaicjn, fpirltual or tcm- pora>l_. to or 'fovRl, fliall be excrclfc'd by the hid Pope, or by nny • of his legates, or by any otiicr perfons coiiuninioned by him in the faid Province of Qiiebeck, under any pre- tence what foevcr. And no \m\h, or difpcnfations, or inftrunienis of any kind, toniulcd on tlie authorily of the faid Bifhop of Rome, or on any other foreign au- thority whatfoever, dial! l)e brought into the Aiid Pro- vince. And whofoever fhal! bring into the faid Province any fuch bulls, difpi-nfiUion?, nv other inflrument?, founded on fuch foreign auihority, and whoever fliali exercife in the faid Province any leganline or other au- thoiity derived from the ftid Rifhop of Rome, ilKill, upon indiament and eonviclion tliereof before the Chief Juftice of the Province, be punifljcd by confisca- tion of all his goods and chattels, and iniprifonmcnt at the difcretion of the Court, and, if he be a fccular priert, by lofs of all fuch benefices as he may have in the church, and an incapacity of holding any ever after. CIuirch« > And, to the end that the officers of the civil govern- "gnccrCr" ment of the faid Province, and th« officers and loldiers '^v'2"nT/oi of the army that are quartered there, and the Enciifli ^' merchants andfettlers, and other Protcftant inhahifants ' thereof, may be immediately acconmiodated with con- venient places of publick \vorfl)Ip, IT IS HEREBY ENACTED, that it fliall be lawful for the Governour, or Commander in Chief, of the faid Province, to caufc fuch and fo many of the churches already built in the faid Province, as he (liall think proper, to be prepared for the fervice of God according to the fimpliciiy of the Proteftant religion, by removing out of them all relicks, images, pidures, and crucifixes, and other fuperfti- licus ornaments, and to order divine fervice to be per- formed therein at fuch hours, and by fuch Proteftant twinifters, as he lliall think proper to appoint. And 3 A 3 the the I'rotcst- nts. I S58 i;! m tjovcrnour «nd Coun- cil may Tntlcp fur- ther regu- lationsi con- cerning Re ligion. Subject to thdisal- lowancc of the King in Council. the RomlOiprleft, and other Roman-Catholick inhabit- ants of fuch PariOics, may at other hours of the day not interfering with ihofe appointed for the Prutt-Hant fervice, perform and attend divine fervice llicre accord- ing to the rites of the Romilh religion, and may at thofe times, ifthey think proper, rephice in tlie faid church- es the fliid images and other churoh-ornanients, to con- tinue there during the time of fuch divine fervice, but no longer; and, afier fuch fervice is enoLd, they fljall remove iheni to fome convenient place to be provided by them for ihejr reception and prcfervation. And whereas it is probable, that manv other regula- tions may be found neccfliiry by pcrfons refiding in the faid Province of Quebeck, and well acduainted with the flatc thereof, for cncourajj'ng and intrr^ducino- the Proteftant religion in the faid Province; and others may become necelfary hereafter as occafions and circum- ftancesshallvary : In order therefore that all fuch regula- tions may bemadefrom time to time with due attention and expedition, IT IS HEBEBY FURTHER ENACT- ED, that it fhall be lawful for His Majefty's Gover- nour, or Commander in Chief, of the faid Province of Quebeck, by and with ilie confent of the Council of the faid Province, or a majority thereof, to make fuch laws and ordinances for the toleration o! the Roman-Ca- tholiek, and for the feltlcment andencouragemcnt ofthe Proteftanf, religion, a* to them (liall feem nioft fitted for thofc purpofe*. And the Ordinances fo mnde fhall be tranfmitted to His Majeay with al! convenient expedi- tion, to be by his faid Majcfty confidered and examined in his Privy-Council, and to be allowed or difallowed as hisMaje(ly,by the advice of his faid Council, (hallre- solve. And, if fuch Ordinances are allowed by His Majefty, they fhall be valid Lavvsuntil they are repca|i?cl 359 by fomc fubfcqucnt a^ of Pariiamcht. And if tl»fv are not difallowed by [lis Majefty in Council within the fpace of three years, they Ihill likcwife be vaHd laws until they are repeah-d by foine fubfequent ad of Parliament. And furtlur, they (1)311 be binding from the time of their being made and pubiiHied in the Pro- vince, and fliall not become void, in cafe of a dlfallow-. aiice, till the arrival of fuch dilallovvance and the pub- ligation of it by ihe Governour. CHAP. 11. Conarmng tht Stttlement oj the Laws in the said Pro- viiice of Que beck. And whereas it is abfolutely ncceflary for the wel- fare and good government of the faid Province of Que. beck, that a fyftem of Laws (liould be eftabliflied therein upon a folid and incontellable foundation j And whereas it may not be convenient to impofe upon the inhabit- ants of the faid Province the whole body of ihe Laws of England at once, and thereby intircly over-turn all iheLaws and Cuftoms l)y which the French inbabitants of the faid province have hitherto been governed, and to which they are much devoted, nor on the other hand to leave all the faid old Laws and Cuftoms of the faid Prcv'.nce in their full force without any alteration whatfoever ; IT IS THEREFORE ENACTED, bv the King's Mod Excellent Majefty, by and wiih the advice and confent of ths Lords fpi ritual and temporal, and ihc Commons in Parliament aflenibled, that it iball be lawful for the Governour, or Commander in covemom Chief, of the faid. Province, bv and with the advice ^"''P'""^- 3 A. 4 and I 3S0 t^o'" r'" '"'I '^''"^*^'"* '^f ^^^ Ct.uncil of ihc faid Province, or the. I-awsf(.ithetn'jor:ty thereof, to inquire into revife, and examine the Laws and cuftoms that have heietofore prevailed in the faid Province, and to enaft by Ordinaiiccs made and f)ulilifhcd for that pnrpofe, fuch of the faid laws and ciiftonis as they fliall judge to be fit to be conti- nued, and to nuke hich alterations and reformations thereof as they fli ill think re:>fonable, and to introdnce fuch p.irt> of the Laws of Engand, and to make fuch new Ltas and regularions, as they fhall judge to be conducive to the welfare of the inhabitants of the faid Province, and the honour 'of the crown of Great Britain. ttt au** ^"f *"" '^"^ '"'• ^^'^ ^'^'-^ ^''^^» ^^'t neccfTiry, rower, lowanccof thus delegatcti by the Parliament of Great Britain to the Coundf'"^'^^^ Glov.rnour and Council of the faid Province of Quebeck, may not become detrimental to thefa-d Pro- vince by any abufc, or injudicious cxercifc, thereof by the faid Governour and Council, it is htrcby further provid' d, that the Ordinances made by them by virtue thereof, be tranfmilted, a« foon as they are made, to His Miijedy in Council, in order to be there exo'mined and fully confidcred and finaMy allowed or difaiiowed, as I-lis Majefty, with the advice of his faid Council, fliall think fit. But they fhall be binding on all the inhabitants of t'le faid Province Horn the t'ime they are pafled, i.ntil ];is Majdty's difallouarce arrives in the Province, and is made pubii(k by the Governour : and if they are not difallowed within three years, thty fliall • no longer be fubj(a to fuch dilallowance, but (l)all continue to be valid Laws until they are repealed or altered by fouic fubfecjuent aa of Parliament. riiAP, .>! t sr>i » CFTAP. III. Concerning the P:dlik Heoenue of the Province of Qutbeck. And wVereas the puhlLk Revenue cf the Province of QuelK'ck did in the 'I'imf of ihe French ffovornment amounl t j abjut thiriecn thouf.ind pounds fterlintr a yi ar, b.it now is reduced to about thrct; ihoufand pounds ftcrliujT a year by vaiioas aiufes, one of ^\huh is that fi.icc t..c vonqucd iA the faid Province by ihc Br.iifli arms no F.ench wines have been iiiipDitcd into the fiid Province frcm Old France, which in ihe finic of ihe F.ench government ufed to be nnportcd tliiiher in fueh q'lantities, that the duty iinpoftd and levied (,n the faid wines, vS^d^ one year witii anoihtr, toanicuni to no kfs thjn eight thoufand pounds a year; And, w liercas certain doubts and ditlicuiiies have iiriftn, and nhiy arife, whether certain other profits of theCro^n and duties on various kinds of goods which wcrc/cnifn'- ed in- theCro'An of France, and lev'id and p;dd in the time of the French govcrnmer.i, fliouid Ihl! of right continue and belong to the Crown of Great Britain, and be levied and paid as heretofore ; And, whereas, if all the fjid profits and dulits were fidiy enjoyed and paid as hcretr.forCj yet (liil tlie publiek Revume of the faid Province would fall \ery fliurt of what it wa.s in the tiuje of the French government : In order therefore to rtiTun-e the f^iid doubts and difficidties, and likewife to reftore the publiek revenue of the faid Province to fuch a condition as maybe fufficient for defraying in a pro- per manner the cxpence of the Civil Government iherc- cF, ins LFXLARED AND ENACTLD by the K'^Li'^ Moil FxcclkuU Majefty.by and with the advice ^.nd I ■i ! ii Hii I i The French Taxes .shall still con- tinue. And a new iJuty be laid of 3 pence per «;a!lonupon tiritish spi- iits> 3&2 aiul confeiU of tho Lords fpiritiial and temporal, and the Commons in Parliament ademblcd, that all fucli profits of any kind whatever as were enjoyed by tlie Crown of France at the time of the conqueft of the faid Province by the Hritifh arms, fliall now belon;?, and of right ought to belong, to, and be enjoyed by, the Crown of Great Britain, and that all fuch dnties upon any comniodity of any kind exjiortcd from, or imported in- to, the faid Province, as were levied and paid to the ofiiccrs of the Crown of France at the time of the faid conqucft, fliall now be levied and paid, and ought of right to be levied and paid, to the officers of the Crown of Great Britain; and fnrthcr, that a dnly of three- pence for every gallon be paid npon all Britifli fpirits of every kind imported into the faid Province either from Great Britain, or Ireland, or tiic Britifli Weft-India iflands, or any other of the Britifli dominions whatfo- ever, unlefs it fliall be found and adjudged bv the Go- vernourand Council of the faid Province, npon a care- ful inquiry and perulal of the cdifts or ordinauces of ihc French King whereby the feveral duties on goods imported into the faid Province were impofed, that Britifli fpirits imported into the faid Province were lia- ble to pay a duty under the French government j and in that cafe the inhabitants of the faii Province fliall now pay the fame duty as they were liable to pay under the French government immediately before the break- ingout ofthelaft war between the two Crowns 'of Great Britain and France, provided that the said duty docs not exceed three-pence for every gallon; and, if it does exceed three-pence for every gallon, they fliall pay only three-pence a gallon and no mf)re. And in the mean time, and till it is declared by the Governour and -our.cii what the duty en this commodity was 'under the 'm 363 the Frcfich govprnnient nt the Oiid time of the laft preach between ihttwo nAtloiis, the faid duly of three- pence for every jjalloii on all Briiifli fpirits iniporled in- to the laid Province Hi ill be paid. Audit is hereby ftirth^r madcd and provided, that Publicic itdiall be lawful for the Govcrnour, or Conjmander in b^SelT Chief, oflhefaiJ Province, hv and v\iih ihe advice ''7 ^f*'*^' °* _ • the Oovcr- and confent ot his Council, and acconling to Ordinances "Q""" and to be by iheni made and pubhfhtd Irocn lime to time for that purpofe, to ifl'ae vvarrair^s imder his hand to the Ikceiver-general of thepublick rev. luieof the faid Pro- vince to pay fnch funis, a? by fucli Ordinances flull be appointed, to the pcrfons appohitcd therein lo receive the fame, for purpofes relating lo ihe government and publick well'are of t!ie Province; fuch as building or repairing barracks for fuldltrs, builchng or repair- ing churches f )r the nfe of the JTolcIlint inhabit- ?nis of the faid Province, afligning falaries, or other •reward?, to fuch ProtciluntniiniiU'rs as labour zealous- ly and fucccfafully in the conv.M-lion of the Romaii-Ca- Ithoiiek inhabitaiitsof ihe faid Province to the Proteftant religion, and erc£liiig fchools fur teaching the Englifli language, building or re^pairing fortificaiions or other ufeful publick buildingSj, widening or repairing publick roads and highways, antl the lii cf Brilany in Old France,) to tome from Quebeck to England, in the winter of the forefioini!; year, 1165: vind logo-over to the North oi France, in the month of January, or February, 1 766, in order to be eonfecrated by some Bifhops in France, as Bifljop of Quebeck ; uhicli ceremony of Confccraiion was (as I was told,) per- formed at the City of Amiens in Pictirdy. And it was agreed amongll the King's Minifter»L()f that time, that he ihoukl be permitted to rctmn to Quebeck in the i I I * M ms I f th^ fpring of tlie (ame year, 176G, to cxrrclfe his Epif- copal fundions in tin; Province, a3 Biihop ot Quebeck. His name was G'f^irr Driamt, or O/i-.-.r Br la ml ; and he \va> a well-siztd.. co:r.e!y, man, of about 5'> vears ofagv, cl'eafy ami agreeable manners, and faid to be a man of Ibbt r and legidar lii'^-. and uninipeachcd ni-'^rals. And he accordingly went to Quebcck in the faid i'pring of the year 17G6, and hved there many years in ;he exercifj oi hisulfice of B.Hiop of Qochcck ; but, as I ;.im inlorr.Kd, has been dead now feveral years, nnd has been fuccecded by another Popifli Bifliop. Ncnv, as this meafare of permitting Mr. Oliver Brhind to go to Q;iehe( k, in the eharaik-r and Ration of a Bifliop, and to excreife his Epifcopal funftions there, was ^ih■ea.:y agreed -to by his Majcfty's Minillcrs, I thought il better to have it done openly by the Supreme Au- thority of Parlianiont, than privately and almod cian- tlefiineiy, hv the mere coninvanee of the Miniflers of State, in oppolitlon to the at)ove-rnentioried, important, and fundamental, Statute of Queen Elizabeth, whieh prohibits all ex-rcife of the Pope's auihoritv, or of any autuoriiy derived from the Pone, (as that o^ a Poplih Bifliwp is expreiviv,; not only in the kingdom of England itfclF, :r.v}, jIh; dominions then belono-inn- to the Crown, but in all the dominions that (liould belong to the Crown in ajty future times. And this maft be my excuil- for inferling in the foregoing (ketch of an A61 of Parliament the Claufe for permitting a Popifb Eilhop to excreife his Epifcopal functions in the Province of Quc'.ieck. For, as for the meafurc itfclf, " of perniilting a Popifl] Bifliop to refide there,'' I never couUI approve of it, nor, if I had been one of his Majefry's Miniflers, whofe confent had been neecf- fary to it's ad^piion, would I ever have confented to it. I have I < 369 I have juft now faid, that this permiffion to Mr. Briand, to refidc in the Province of Quebeck, as Biftiop of theDiocefe, was given only by the coniiivance of his Majefly's Minilters ot ftate of that time, becaufe I never could find that there was any patent, or warrant, . under his Majefty's Signature, or any of his Seals, that gave him the title oi' Bijhop of Quebeck^ or, authorifed him to ordain Priefls, or execute anv one of his Epif- copal fun6tions, but only an inftru6lion either to the Governour or the Receiver General of the Revenue, (1 forget which), in which he is called Super-inteiidant of the Clergy, with an order, (if I remember right,) to pay him the moderate fum of 200I. a year, for his fupport. And, perhaps, the unwillingness of his Majefty's Minifters to have this meafure *' of permit- ting a Popifti Bifhop to refide in the Province," pub-' lickly difcufled, might be an additional reafon to the two already mentioned, for their not chufing at that lime to bring the fettlement of the Laws and Govern* Ik. .nt of the Province under the confideration of Par- liament. I was told at the time, by Mr. Fowler Walker, (a Barriller at Law, who pra6tifed with fuccefs and repu- tation in the Court of Chancery, and, who was well acquainted* with the then ftate of the Province of Que* beck,) * This Gentleman had been employed, by the agents of several of the Kns'Iish and Scotch nidchants that were settled in tlie I'rovince of Quebeck, in drawing-iip and conducting their complaints to the King in his Privy-Council, against the late General James Murray, (then Captain-General and Go- vernour in Chief of the Province of Quebeck,) for several act* done by him in his first office of Military Governour of the Province, as CommaTider in Chief of the Troops that were S B quartered ■ \ m 370 t)cck,) that this permiffioti, thus granted by connivance, to Mr. Oliver Briandy to return to Qu check, in the charafter of Bifhop of the Province, was obtained from his Majefty's Minifters of State at that time, and particularly from the Marquis of Rockingham, (who was confidered as the principal Minifter,) by the in- fluence of the late celebrated Mr. Edmund Burke, who was at that time his L^rdOiip's private Secretary, and who had then acquired, and ever after retained, a very great degree of his confidence. And I am much in- clined to believe this to have been the cafe. For, other, wife, it feems fomewhat furprifing that, that refpeft- able Nobleman, who, had been placed at the head of the Whig Party, and had been edmeftly folicited and preffed, by the then Duke of Nevvcaftle, (who thought himfelf too old to return again into that aftive anJ important ftation,) to accept the Office of Firft Com- miffioner of the Treafury, almoft againft his will, and who, therefore, might be fuppofed to entertain the fentiments that had always heretofore been profefled by that party, and confequently to have confidered Popery and Slavery as the two grand objeds of fear and abhorrence to all true Englifli Patriol3, againft quartered in h, during the years 1761, 176^2, and 1763, and of ftHne few acts done by him afterwards in his second office of Captain-General and Governour in Chief of the Province, in the years I76t and 1765, which they alledgcd to be ille<;al and injurious to them; and by his conversations with these a£;ent.* and with the merchants of London who were the correspondents . of the said complainants, concernin!,' the grounds, and pruntV, and circumstances, of the Acts complaincd-of, lieliad acquire* a more intimate kno,wlrd-;e of the state of the Province, and ail that was done and doing in it at tliat time, tlmn any other jierson that I theQconvcrsCTi with. P.M. I s 3 tha ■■ tha 3^1 the rctnrii of which, into the Laws and Government of the Nation, it was their d'.ity to provide by every poflible precaution ; — - I fay, it i'eems very fur- prifing, and ahnoft -inaccountablc, that the great Leader of the Whig Party, lliouhl iiave confented to a meafure fo different from the former nieafures of that Party as this permifiTion of a Popifli BiOiop lo exercife his Epifcopal funftions, in the now EnijlKh Province of Quebeck, in dire6t opp; fnion to the above-mentioned Statute of the firft year of Queen PJizabeth. But lh6 influence of Mr. Burke over Jie "oUtical condudt of this worthy Nobleman is faid to have been ahiioll un- bounded. And, here, perhaps, it will be ;ifked, How came Mr. Burke to give fuch advice, and intereft himfelf fo much in fupport of Popery ? was he not himfelf a Proteftant^ and had he not always been educated iii the Protellant Religion ? or was there any truth in a report that was frequently mentioned in converfationj and even publiflied in News -papers, concerning him^ namely^ that he had been educated in a College of Jefuits, at Saint Omer's, in Fl .iders ; and afterwards, when come to Man's eftate, had quitted the Church of Rome, and adopted the Proteftant religion, the belter to advance his fortune in the world ? — In anfwcr lo thefe queft' .s, I mud declare that I believe he was educated in the* Proteftant religion, and alwavs conti- nued in it, and that the report of his having been educated in a College of Jefuits, at Saint Omer's, in Flanders, was entirely groundlefs. And of this I am the more affured from having had in my pofleflion for a year, or more, about three years ago, a fet of Letters of Mr. Burke, in his own hand-writing, written for the mod part, in the year 1748, when he was only twenty h «? vGars 372 years ot ago-, and when he was still a ftudent in Trinity College, in Dublin ; whicli he could not have been, unlefs he had been a Proteftant. The creater i)art of thefe Letters were written to a young friend of nearly his own age, of the name of Shacklelon, who was the fon of a refpe6lable Proteftant School-mafter to whom Mr. Burke had beena fcholarbeforehewas removed to theUniverfity of Dublin. The letters arc written in a ftyle of cor- dial fiiendfl>ip and aflei^ion for his correfpondent, and relate moftiv to claflical learninti; and fine writing, with- out any mention of the Roman-Catholick religion ; and thcv 'hew that Mr. Burke at that time was-.mbitious of making a figure in the world ns an elegant writer of Moral Eflays, or x eriodical Papers, fuch as ihe Spec- tator and the Guardian j after the example of Mr. Ad- difon and Sir Richard Steel. And, indeed, it appears, that he and one, or two, of his young friends at Dublin College, did actually fct-up a periodical paper of that kind in Dublin, but which was not continued for more than a few months. Thefe letters were lent me by the reverend Dr. William Hales, D. D., rector of Killesan- dra, in the biHioprick of Mcath, in Ireland, and were afterwards returned, according to his direction. They contain nothing very curious, or interefting, that might make it of importance to publifh them; but they do honour to Mr. Burke's memory, as they fliew him to have been a friendly, open-hearted, well-dif- pofed young man, with an ardent love of elegant learn- ing, and a laudable defire of diftinguishing himfelf in the cultivation of it : and they prove, beyond a doubt, the falfehood of the story of his having been educated at the Jefuit's College of St. Omer's. But it is, ne- verthelefs, certain, that Mr. Burke, in the fubsequent part of his life, became (though not perhaps a papift,) a great 3':3 great Philo-papist (if I may be allowed to ufe that ex- preflion,) or favourer and protedlorof Papifts, and a great enemy to all the Laws both in Great-Britain and Ireland that had been made from time to time to prevent them from renewing their repeated attempts to deftroy the Government in both countries, to which the prin- ciples of their religion continually excited them : for that was the only ground upon which any of thofe reftraining and difabling A6ts of Parliament had been pafled. And Sir Richard Mufgrave, in his faithful Hiftory of the feveral rebellions in Ireland, informs us, in page 35, that, the firfl pubiick proof of this favour- able difpofition of Mr. Burke towards Popery, was given by him in the year 1762, or the fecond year of the reign of his prefent Majefty, when Mr. Burke was S4f years of age, and had been married for fome years to an excellent and amiable young Lady, who had been educated in the Roman Catholick Religion. Sir Richard fpcaks with fo much candour of Mr. Burke, and with fo much refpeft for his uncommon talents and Pttainments in Political knowledge and wifdom, that I (hall here infert all he fays upon the fubjed, and even the whole Se6lion of his work in which he fpeaks of him, which, is intitled, '^ Origin of the IVhite Boys." B3 ** ORIGIN "ORIGIN OF M ■ I I THE WHITE BOYS." An Extract from Sir Richard Musgrave*s Memoirs of the Dijerent Rebellions in Ireland^ pages 32, 33, 34, 46. « In the year 1759, and under the adminiftration of the Duke of Bedford, an alarming fpirit of infurgency appeared in the South of Ireland, which manifeded it- felf by the uumerows and frequent rifings of the lower clafs of Koman-Catholicks, dreffed in white uniforms, whence tl»ey were denominated z^/Ai/e-^oy^; but they were encouraged, and often headed, by perfons of their own persuasion of some coufidcration. They were armed with guns, fwords, and piftols, of which they plundered the proteftanis, and they marched throuah the country, in military array, preceded by themufick of bag-pipes, or the founding of horns. In their nocturnal perambulations, they enlisted, or prefled into their fervice, every perfon of ihcir own religion, who was capable of ferving them, and bound them by oaths of fecrecy, of fidelity, and obedience to their officers ; and thofe officers were bound by oaths of allegiance to the French King, and Prince Charles, the Pretender to the Crown of England; which appeared by the confcffion and the information of several of the infurgents, fome pf whom were convicted of high trcafon, and various * pthejr ' 375 other crimes. The pretext they made ufe of fo,r rifing and aflTemblingwas, to rcdrcl's the t'ol.lowing grievances ; The IHegal enclofure of commons, the extortion of lyt!ie-pro6lors, and the ex-orbitant feesena6led by their own clergy, though it appeared that they were deeply concerned in encouraging and fomenting them, in the commidion of outrajies. ** They committed dreadful barbarities on fuch per-, fons as hefitated to obey their mandates, or refufed to join in their confederacy j they cutout their tongues, amputated their nofe'=' or ears ; they made them ride many miles in the night on borleback, naked and bare-backed ; they buried them liaksd, in graves lined with furze, up to their chins ; they plundered and often burned houfcs j they houghed and maimed cat* 4le; they feized arms, and hori'es, which they rode about the country, and levied money, at times evert ill the daj'. I (hall refer the reader to Appendix, No, I, for their defigns and practices,* They refembled the modern defenders in every refpedl, except in the tiil« which they alTumed ; and their object was cxadly the fame, that of fubverting the conftitution, and fepar- ating Ireland I'rom England, with the afliftance of France. " Thefe mifcreants became fo formidabl-e in many parts of the Provinces of Leinfter and AJ.unfter, that many laws, which I fliall explain in the fequel, were enabled for their fuppreflion, *' In the year 1762, the Marquis of Drogheda was " * There is a gross misrepresentation of these Insurgents in the Encyclopaedia Britunnica, under the title of Ireland, printed b.}- Janics Mooie ia Colicge-grecn, in the year 1790. B 4 fent I 316 I fent to command a large di(lri£l in the Province of of Munfter, and made Cloghecn in the County of Tip- perary, his head-quarters ^ at that time much dilhirbed by the white boys, who ufed to assemble iu bodies of from five hundred to two thoufand. " On the night of the day on which he arrived at Clogheen, a number of white bovs, well armed and headed bv Father Nicholas Sheehv, affeml^lcd clofe to that town, and were on the point of attacking it> which induced his Lordrtiip lo double the guard. From this, the inhabitants of it, having a fufpicion that he was going to march-out againft the infurgents, Father Doyle, parifli-prieft of Ardtinnan, (aUuded to in the informition of David Landregin, Appendix No. I. 2.) after having expoflulated with them on the danger of afTa'ilting the town, went to Lord Droglieda, pale and trembling with fear, aflured his Lordfhip that his gar- rifon was in no danger, and befought him not to march- out against the infurgents. I received this information from the Marquis himfdf, and it correfponds exaftly with the depofition of Landregin^ " His Lordfliip's regiment killed great numbers of them, in that and the adjacent country ; and he afTured me, that French money was found in the pockets of fome of them. " His Lordfhip, during his refidence there, took the famous Father Nicholas Sheehy, who was afterwards hanged at Clonmel. He b d been a noted leader of the White-boys, and incited them to commit murder, and various outrages j and yet his memory is held in fuch veneration by the popiili multitude, and the clay of his tomb is fuppofed to be endued with fuch fuper- natural powers, that various miraculous cures are im- puted ,w ! i puled to it ; in r.onicquence of which, itis in fuch rc- »{ucfl: amon<;> the popifh rabble, that the fexlon of the"" oliurch, where iho body was interred, is obliged very often to renew it. *' The Marquifj of Droghcda took, in the Caftle of Cahir, the dome' ':k chaplain of the then Lord Cahir, who conftanlly > ded with his Lordfhip, on ferious charges againft h.n for high treafon. *' It is moIlcertain,that tht^wfiite-hj/ fyftem was at firft foriYied to co-operate with the French, who meditated an invafion of Ireland under Conflans ; but when that was defeaicd, and even during a time of profound peace, the barbarous rabble, free from all moral rtftraint, elate with the hope of plunder, and fraught with dis- affedion to a ProtcUant Ibte, continued to commit the moll horrid enormities in many parts of Leinfter and Munfter, for above twenty-five years after. " John Twohy ftates in his information, that they begun to enlift men for the French fo early as the year 1756. See Appendix, No. I 7. ** At firft they were headed, marihalled, and dlfci- plined, by officers .vho had fervedin the Irifh brigades, in the French fervic: ; but when peace was concluded, their leaders confifted of popifh farmers and perfons in a mean fituation. *« Mr. Conway, an Irifh Roman- Catholick gentle- man, refident at Paris, ufed to remit money to them, on the part, and by the orders, of the French Govern- ment and fome popifh merchants, of the province of Munfter, who received and diftiibuted it among the infurgents, were afterwards Members of the Catholick Committee in 1792. <^ In the year l762, they committed fuch dreadful excelTes 378 exceftes in the South cf Irel;uid,that Sir Richard Afton, Lord Chief Juftice of the Common Pleas, was fent down with a fpecial commiflion to try them : and the miftaken lenity which he (hewed them, in the course of his circuit, was fuch, that it encouraged them to i)er- fevere in the commiflion of enormities for fonie years after. ** The late Earl of Carrick and the Reverend Mr. Hewelfon, in the County of Kilkenny, Sir Thomas Maude, Baronet, (afterwards Lord de Montalt,) William Bagwell *nd John Bagcnall, Efquires, of the County of Tipperary, took a very a<3:ive part in fupprefling the White Boys ; for which they were as much traduced and vilified as the Orange -men, yeomen, and all loyal fubjc£ls, who endeavoured to put-down the dc- ^lenders. *' The Grand Jury of the County of Dublin ware so niMch incenfed at this, that they voted an addrefs of thanks, Appendix I. 6. to the Earl of Carrick, and thofe gentlemen, for their fpiiited an;l laudable exer- tions. It appears by the cxaiTiination of David Landre- gin, (Appendix No. 1.2) that a party of White Boys took a solemn oath, in the Town of Clomnel, to aflaf- (inate the Earl of Carrick and the other gentlemen. Of Mr. Ed- *' As Mr. Edmund Burke, who always (liewed a C"'?'* decided attachment to Popery, manifefted it for the lirft time on this occafion, i fliall, in touching on it, relate a few of the early circumftances of his life. " In doing fo, I muft prcmifc, that I do not mean ^todifparage him. I had the honour of being acquainted with him: and I was (o fenfible of his exalted moral and intolletfjual excellence, that I gave the following character of him in a pan)j^hlet publiHied in London bv S79 by J. Stockdale in 1794, which was noticed in the Monthly Review of April, 1795: *» " ' His book on French affairs contains more political wifcioni, and more profound knowledge of pra£lical Of hisex- government, than any that ever appeared ; and in on the future ages will tend to endear the Britifti conftitution voluUon. '' to its fubje«Sls. '* 1 he bright effulgence of his genius, like the fun, raifed-up feme buzzing infects, who cavilled at the doctrines whicli he advanced ; but the ftate of France proves the futility of their affprtions, and that he fpokc prophetic truth. *f His long and luminous life, devoted to the caufe of wildom and virtue, was more bright in its fetting, than the meridian blaze of moft other geniufes;* *' He was the fon of a popilh Solicitor in Dublin, at the Univerfity of which he received his education; but I have been affurcd by his contemporaries, that he did not, in the courfe of it, difplay any fymptoms of thofe ihining abilities, which afterwards made the progrefs of his life U) brilliant. *' Soon after he v^ ent to the Temple to iludy the law, he married a daughter of Doctor Nugent, who had been bred at Doway, in Flanders, and was a moft bi- gotted Romanifl. A year after he had gone to the Temple, Mr. Griffith, who was at that linie ferving his apprenticeOiip to Mr. Burke's father, iniormed me, that his n.alter ient him to London, relative to forne law-bufinefs, and that Mr. Edmund Burke detained him many days longer than he had permifiion to re- main there : th^t during his Ih.y, he feemed much agitated in hi§ mind, and that, when they were alone, \\c Jrequen;ly introduce(l religiou as a lopick of con- verfaliji^ , 38a 1 1 verfation, and faid, that he had ftrong reafons for think- ing more favourably of the Romifh peifuafion than he formerly did. For thefe reafons, this gentleman affured me, he verily believed, that he v.as become a convert to Popery. ** Soon after this gentleman's return, Mr. Burke, fenior, having heard a report that his fon had really changed ti is religion, was much concerned at it ; he- caufe he had entertained the moft fanguine hopes that he would acquire great wealth and fame at the Irifli bar, from pra6lifing at which Romanifts were excluded by law. " He therefore employed Mr. Bowen, his brother- in-law, who, as a linen merchant, had a very extenfive correfpdndence in London, to make ftrift enquiry about the converfion of his fon. *• Some days after, Mr. Bowen entered his office, and in the prefence of the gentleman who gave me this in- formation, threw him a letter, faying, * There, your fon is moft certainly become a Roman-Catholick.' On reading the letter, Mr Burke became furious, lament- ing that the rifing hope of his family was blafted, and that the expence he had been at in his fon's education was now thrown-away. " As fome of ihe greateft men, even at an advanced period of life, have become (laves to the paflion of Love, it is very poffible that Mr. Burke, in the fpring of life, when its influence is irrefiftible, and endued with a lively imagination, and all the tendernefs of fenfibility, might have conformed to the exterior ceremonies of Popery, to obtain Mifs Nugent, of whom he was very much enamoured j but it is not to be fuppofed, that a perfon of fo vigorous and highly-cultivated an under- ftanding, ss\ 'm ftandinor, could have continued under the (hackles of that abfurd fuperftition. ** At laft, when he had ferved a fufficient number of terms to be called to the bar, he refufed to eturn to his native country, declaring, that the climate of it dif- agreed with him ; and that he expelled to get fome employu/ .nt in the line of his profelfion in America, through one of the Grcnville family. He therefore re- mained in London, where he fubfifted chiefly by his pen, and he foon acquired a confiderable degree of ce- lebrity, as a writer, and a man of genius, by his pub- lication of his Treatise on the Sublime and Beautiful, and by his Vindication of Natural Society, in imitation of Lord Bolinffbroke, which introduced him to the notice and acquaintance of Mr.* Hamilton. When that gentleman came to Ireland, as Secretary to the Earl of Halifax, he, wiftiing to avail himfelf of Mr. Burke's talents, folicited him to attend him, but in no official capacity ; and he accordingly complied. *' He accompanied him a fecond time to Dublin, when Mr. Hamilton was Secretary to the Earl of Northumber- land ; and was rewarded with a penfion of 300l. a-year. *' When they returned to England, Mr. Hamilton intended to have fpoken a fpeech on the peace in the year 1763, which he had prevailed on Mr. Burke to compose. *« It unfortunately happened, that, as he was about to rife, Mr. Charles Townfhend entered the houfe j and, as his wit and eloquence had been always terrifick to him, his appearance palfied his exertions, and ftruck him dumb. Mr. Burke, enraged at this, (as they had united their talents in a kind of partnerfliip) faid, with " ♦■ William Gerrard Hamiltoi), Esq- fomc ,183 u > fome Warmth, * What fignifies mv making fpecchcs for you, uheii you cannot fpeak ihem ?' " A warm altercation ensued, in the courfe of which Mr. Hamilton informed Mr. Burke, that he had bffeii overpaid ; on which Mr. Burke, with becoming fpirit, refigned bispenfion, which was afterwards given to a gentleman who enjoys it at this time. Mr. Mc. Cor- mick, ill his Lif^ of Mr. Burke, is miUakcu in this circuniftance. Their quarrel became a matter of curiofity and debate, in the fuperior circles of fociety, in which the partizans on each fide were very warm. *' 'J'hc difcuffion of this affair introduced Mr. Burke to the notice of Lord Rockingham, who having formed a friendfliip for him, made him an under-fecretary in the Treafury; but having loft that employment in fix months, the period of his lordfliip's adminiftration, he brought him into Parliament, where the clo^ quence and the great intelieftua! powers difplaycd in his fpeeches, will remain a ftriking and an eternal monument of his genius. " When the enormities committed by the White Boys were about to draw on them the vengeance of the law, and fomc time before Sir Richard Afton proceeded on his commiflion to try them, Mr. Edmund Burke fent his brother Richard, (who died Recorder of Briftol,) and Mr. Nagle, a relation, on a miflion to Munfter, to levy money on the Popiftr body, for the ufe of the White Boys, who wereexclufivdy Papifls. "Some Roman-Catholicks complained bitterly of the funis of money which they extorted from them. * The defpotim " • T have no other proof that these gentlemen •were employed* by Mr. Bu'ke, than that they declaiod so without reserve to the perboiib from wboiu they obtained money. In doing so. 3S3 defpotifm which the i^omifh prelates have over their own body is fiich, that they can at any time levy large fums of money on them, to promote the intereft of their Church, which is a moft dangerous engine in a well-go verened ftate. The open and general exercife of it in the years 1792, and, 1793, and again in 17JH and 1795, was fufficicnt to create an alarm in the Go- vernment. At thofe periods, fome of the lower claifes of people in Munfter complained loudly of the ex- a«Slions pra£t:ifed on them ; and, on being afked, for what purpofc they were ? they anfwered, that they had made that enquiry, and were informed, at one time, that it was to obtain for them the ele6live franchife; at another, to procure the privilege of fitting in Parlia- ment for perfons of their own perfuafion. It is well known that Mr. William Todd Jones was their warm partizan while in the Houfe of Commons* ; and, from the imtemperatezeal with which fome members of that body (howt'd in promoting their dcfigns, it was univer- fally believed that they were a«Stuated by finiller mo* tivcs. " It was ftrongly fufpcfted, that a perfoii in au elevated fituation in England, from his fingular per- tinacity in adhering to their caufe, when in actual and open rebellion, had received fome of their contribu- tions; and the debat^ which took place in the Romifii Convention in the year 1792, and which the reader will fee in the foquel, and the fudden, fuccefsiiil, and he niii^hl have been actuated by motives of charity and humanity. " * Mr. Jones afterwards accused, in the pubiick prints, the Catholick Committee, of not giving him the whole of the aioucy which tJicy had promised to pay him. unexpedlcd I y Objection of the Po- pish Bishop of Ossory to taking an oath of alle- giance to Kins; George the third. SS4 unexpet- can h.^ ■:• -'-v i'iin.iou^ * W'hnt 'T'-m illustrious } in > (I N. B. N. B. 38r» in the contemplation of Parliament, Thomas Maria Ghillini, the Pope's legate at Bruflels, who had a complete controiil and fupcrinteiidance over all the northern churches, and fpokc ox cathedra, made the following animadverfions on that oath, in four letters to the Titular Archbifliops of Ireland; and thefc letters are ftyled by Thomas Burke, (who publifhed them in his Hibernica Dominicana,) literce ver^ aarecr cedroque diguip, " The legate, treats the claufes in the propofed oath, containing a declaration of abhorrence and detcftation of the dodrines, " that faith is not to be kept with hereticks; and that Princes, deprived by tho Pope, may be depofed or murdered by ♦heir fubjefts," as ab~ folutely intolerable ; becaufe, he fays, thofe doftrines arQ defended and contended-for by moft Catholick nations, and the Holy See has frequently followed them in pra6liee. On the whole he decides, that, as the oath is in its whole extent unlawful, fo in its na- ture it is invalid, null, and of no effeft ; infomuch that it can by no means bind or oblige confciences*." " It is well known, that fimilar decifions have been uniformly made by the Roman pontiffs, on the validity of oaths any way detrimental to the Holy See. In the late rebellion, the Popifli multitude, and many of the RomiHi clergy and gentlemen, paid no regard whatever to the oath of allegiance. " When the Emperor and the Roman-Catholick Princes of Germany concluded a peace called the Treaty of Weftphalia, i;i the year 1648, with the Pro- teftant Princes, they mutually bound each other by .1 ♦ Page 92."). This was in the supplement of that work pub- lished in the year 1772. folenin 387 folcmn oaih, to the obfervance of itj on which the Pope publiflicd a flaming '. ull, in which he pronounced the oath to be null and void, as no oath could bind them to liercticks. This bull was expofed by Horn- beck, a famous German divine, in a work entitled, '* Examefi lullce papahs, qua Innocentius X. abrogare nltitur pacem Gernumice." "Thccondua of the Parliament of Ireland, from the beginning of his prelent Majesty's reign, till the end of the year 1793, prefents the reader with an un- interrupted ferics of blunders in politicks. : " All our difgraces and misfortunes are to be found in the hiftory of our penal laws, and in the feeble execution of them, beginning with the third of George III. cap. 19. for indemnifying all fuch perfons as have been, or fliall be aiding in the difperfing of riots, and apprehending the rioters, which was cnaded for the fuppreflion of the White-boys. As the boldnefs and temerity of thefe infurgents continued to encreafe, the fifth of George III. cap. S. pafTed, and was en- titled, " An Aa to prevent the future tumultuous rifings of perfons within this kingdom.'' The want of en- forcing the falutary provifions of thefe laws tended to encourage the White-boys in the commiflion of atroci- ties for above twenty years after. About the year 1773, that fyftem of conciliation and conceflion, which laid tiie foundation of the late rebellion, began j for, while this Popilh banditti, encouraged by their clergy, were committing the mod dreadful enormities, the thir- teenth and fourteenth of George III. cap. 35, to ena- ble Roman-Catholicks to teftify their allegiance to his Majefty by oath, was enafted 5 but the folly and ab- furdity of that law were fully proved by the neceflity of pafling, foon after, the thirteenth aud fourteenth of 2 c 2 George George HI. cap. 45. to prevent malicious cutting and wounding, and to punifli ofrenders, called chalkers; for the afladin in the morning teftified his alle- giance to his King, and at night, with his chalking knife, renounced his allegiance to his God, by mangling and maiming his fellow -creature, and houghing his cattle. ''As, the barbarous excefTes commitled by the White- boys continued to encreafc, the fifteenth and fixteenth of George III. cap. 21. was enafted a^ainft them. It recites that the fifth of George III. cap. 8. was infuffi- ficient for fuppreffing tliem; and it flates, "That they aflembled riotonfly, injured perfons and property, com- ()elled perfons to quit the-r abode, impofed oaths and declarations by menaces, fent threatening and incendiary letters, obftruaed the export of corn, and deftroyed the fame." This is an cxaft defcription of the de- fenders. " As their turbulence and ferocity continued to encreafe, and as they made a conftant prafticc of houghing foldiers in a wanton and unprovoked manner, the chalking ad was extended, and amended by the leventeenth and eicrhteenth of George III. cap. 49. " Conceffion and conciliation holding pace with an encreafe of the enormities committed by thofe favages, a law paired foon after, the feventeenth and eighteenth of George III. cap. 49. to enable Koman-Catholicks to takt leafes for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, or five lives, at any rent ; and bv it, all lands of which a Roman-Catholick was at that time feized, were made defcendible, devifable, and transferable, as fully as if the fame were in the feifin of any other perfon. ^'The preamble of this aft recites, «That for their nniform peaceable behaviour, for a long feries of . ,.■ J. vcars, 389 S years, it appears reafonable and expedient lo relax fevcral of their incapacities and dilabilities.' The falfity and inconfillency of this aflerlion will be an eternal (lain on the Parliament of Ireland. "There is no doubt, but that the Romanifts had fome hired agents in that aflembly at this period. A ftrong argument in favour of an Union ! " As a mark of gratitude for thefe indulgencies, this infamous banditti proceeded to commit greater enormities than they had pradiced before, in confe- quence of which the legiflature were obliged to pafs the eighteenth and nineteenth of George III. cap. 37. and the title of it will fliew how ncceflary it was t * An Act to prevent the deteftablo praftice of houghing cattle, burning houfes, barns, haggards, and corn; and for other purpofes.' " Though they continued to commit their ufual excef- fcs, the legiflature, aftuated by what was called Liberalihj of sentiment, put the Roman-Catholicks on the fame footing with Proteftants, as to property, in the year 1782; and almoft the whole of the reftri6live laws were repealed. The volunteers checked, in fome de- gree, the barbarous outrages committed by the White- boys, from the year 1780 to the year 1784, when the inftitution began to languifli j and then we find them as furious as ever in the province of Leinfter. This proves how neceflfary a numerous and well-armed police, confifting of proteftants, is to the profperity of Ireland. "In December, 1784, a body of White-boys broke into the houfe of John Mafon, a Proteftant, in the county of Kilkenny, in the night, placed him naked on horfeback, and having carried him in this manner five or (ix miles from his houfe. they cut-off his ears^ 2c 3 and n m I 390 and in that flate buried liim up to liis chin ; thev alfo robbed him ol his fire-arms*. " This year thev wore fo outrageous in the Province of Leinfter, particularly in the County of Kilkenny, that a denunciation was read againft them in all the Popifli chapels in the dioccfe of Offory, on tlie feven- teenth of November, 1784. *' This was a (hong proof of the returning loyalty and obedience to the laws cf the Popifli clergy of that diocefe; or, if they were infincere and fecretly encou- raged the White-boys as much as formerly, of their extreme duplicity. " A6 Doctor Butler, brother of Mr. Butler of Bally- ragget, and of the noble houfe of Ormond, was at that time titular Archbifliop of CaOiel, a gentleman who was fmcerely loyal, it is very likely that he prevailed on his clergy to adopt this procedure. He iliould not be confounded with Do6lor Butler, who was in that See when the White-boys began their exceiTes. " All thefe privileges were granted with a good grace by Parliament, and they met with no oppofition from the conftituent body, who were at that time ex- clufively Proteftants. " Notwithftanding fuch liberality on the part of the Proteftant ftate, the White-boys Hill continued to commit nodurnal depredations in different parts of Leinfter and Munfter, ; but in the latter they were fucceeded by a fet of infurgents called Right-boys in 1786, who refembled them in every refpeft, except in th€ title which they jfllimed. Their proceedings, chiefly diredcd againft the Proteftant clergy, were not * See Appendix, No. l. 8. for a few specimens of White-boy atrocity. . ■ the I! tlie wild and extravagant efforts of rafh and ignorant pcafants, but a dark and deep-laid fcheme, planned l)y men (killed in the law and the artifices by which it might be evaded. Such men fuggefted to the farmers, to enter into a combination under the fan6lion of an oath, not to take their tythes, or to affft any clergy- man in drawing them. " Some of the Proteftant gentlemen hoping to ex, onerate their eftates of tythes, by the machinations and enormities of thefe traitors, fecretly encouraged them j and others connived at their exceffes, till they began to oppofc the payment of rent, and the recovery of money by legal procefsj and then they came forward in fup- port of the Law. " A form of a fummons to the clergy to draw their tythc, penned with legal accuracy, was printed at Cork, and circulated with great diligence through many parts of M under. In order to make the com- bination univerfal, fome of the moft a6live and intelli- gent members of it adminiftered oaths to all the lower clafs of people, at the Romifli Chapels and market- towns. To varnifli over the knavery and turpitude of their defigns, they publiflied a tything-table, according to which they pretended that they would pay the clergy ; but to which they did not adhere ; and, if they had done fo, it would not have afforded them a fubfiftence. Befides, by fwearing not to hire horfes to them, and by a great number of them combining to fever the tythe, and draw their corn, on the fame day, they completely robbed them of their property; and the Proteftant clergy would aftually have ftarved, but that an A6t of Parliament paffed in the year 1787, to enable them to 2 C4 ronrstrff WV T ^* _J^ 392 recover tlie tylbes of which they had been dtfraucled in this manner. " At laft, the Proteftant clergy in the County of Cork ^vere fo much intimidated by the menaces and infiilts which they received from them, that many were obh- ged to fly to the City of Cork for proteftion. Thefe traitors foon proceeded from one a£l of violence to another, and ertabhflied fuch a fvftcm of terror, that landlords were afraid *o diftraia for rent, or to fue by civil procefs for money due by note. They took arms from Proteftants, and levied money to buy ammu- nition. They broke open goals, fet fire to hay and corn, and even to houfes, efpeci^ally to thofe occupied by the army. At laft they had the audacity to threaten the Cities of Limerick and Cork, and the Town of Ennis, the capital of Clare, with famine; and took mcifures to prevent farmers and fifliermen jrom conveying fup- plies of provifions to them. They proceedeil by fuch a regular fyllem, that they eftablifhcd a kind of poll office, for communication, by which they conveyed their notices with celerity for the purpofe of forming their meetings, which were frequent and numerous. " This fpirit of riot and infurredion occafioned the paffing of a law in the year 1787, drawn bv the prefent lord Clare, entitled, ^' An Ad to prevent' tumultuous rifings and alTemblies, and for the more effectual pu- iiiihment of perfons guilty of outrage, riot, and illegal combination, and of adminiftering and taking unlaw- ful oaths;" and in the formation of that law, he fliewed the fame political wifdom, and firmnefs of nnud, which he evinced on all fubfequcnt occa(ions. By that law Government were empowered to raife an armed police in any county they chofe; and the * - introdut'rlion SOS that leir intr(xlHaion of it Into the Counties of Kilkenny, Tippcrary, Cork, and Kerry, occafioned fuch a re- volution in the morals and manners of their inha- bitant?, and was fo efficient in prefervino- fecial order, that fome of the principal landholders in theni dcelared openly in Parliament, that their ertates were en eafed two years purchafe in value bv that falatary ftatute. " An ingenious foreigner obferved to me, that he never Tuv a country in which fo many proclamations were ilfued againft malefaAors, and the commiffion of crimes, as in Ireland; a fure proof of the feeble execution of ihe laws! •' At lart, Dodor Woodward, Bifliop of Cloynr, fliocked and alarmed at feeing his clergy driven from their houfes to the City of Cork, whither they went for an afyluiD, and that a confpiracy was formed for the deftru6iion of the Proteftant Church, wrote a very able pamphlet, ftating the origin and prop-refs of the infurreclion in Munfter, hoping thereby to roufe Go- vernment to lake nieafures for its defence. "Nothingmarked foilrongly the depravity of thctimcs as the malignant attacks, attended with fcurrility and abufe, which were made on this amiable prelate, fol- this feaionable and fpirited difcharge of his paitoral duty. ! had the honour of being well acquainted with him, and I never knew a perfon more profoundly and elegantly learned, or fo well vcrfed, not only in every thing that concerned the ecclefiaftical depart- ment, but in the various duties of every line of focial life. Having vifited every part of the Continent, he fpoke the modern languages with great fluency and purity, and had uncommon cafe and afiabilitv of manner. ' «He N. f.. OfDr VVooci- ward, R; shop of Cloync 394! " He had the moft exalted piety, and was not only very charitable himfelf, but an adivc promoter of publick charities. His eloquence in the pulpit was irrefiftible, as his ftyle was nervous and elegant j his voice was loud and harmonious, and he had great dignity of manner. " With all thefe exalted qualities and endowments, he poflefled the moft brilliant wit, and fuch a happy vein of humour, as enlivened fociety wherever he happened to be. « This neceffary and important duty, the negleft of which would have been criminal, drew on him a hoft of foes, confifting of Popifli Bifliops, Pricfts, Friars, and Prefbyteriaii Minifters, who abufed and vilified him with frngular malignity ; and even fome Members of Parliament had the hardened audacity to arraign him with much feverity. "This amiable prelate made a mofl: eloquent fpeech in fupport of the privileges granted to the Roman-Ca- tholicks in the year 1782. This fpirit of infurre^lion fpread over moft parts of Munfter. The confpirators bound each other by oath 10 refift the laws of the land, and to obey none but thofe of Captain Right; and fo ftriftly did they adhere to them, that the High Sheriff of the County of Waterford* could not procure a perlon to execute the fentence of the law on one of thefe mifcreants who was condemned to be whipped at Carrick-on- Suir, though he offered a large fum of money for that purpofe. He was therefore under the neceffity of performing that duty himfelf, in the face of an enraged mob. The writer of these pages wi« High Sheriff al fliat time. After v^ 395 After this long, hut, I truft, not unmterelting cxtraa from Sir Richard Mufgrave's Memoirs of the Rebellions in Ireland, I return to the permiffion which the King's Minifters of State in April, 1766, gave, by connivance, to Mr. Oliver Briand, a Roman-Catho^ Jick Prieft of the Province of Quebeck, to go to France in order to be confecrafed as Birtiop of that Province, and then to return to Quebeck, and exercife his epif- copal funaions in that Province; which permiffion was at that time reported to have been obtained from the Marquis of Rockingham by the advice and influence cf Mr. Edmund Burke, l^he only argument I hear'd alledged at that time in defence of that mcafure, was to the following efl"e6lj "That, fmce, by the Capitu- " lation which Sir Jcffery Amherft granted to the Mar- " quis of Vaudreuil, the French Governour of Canada, " iu September, I7C0, when that country was furren- "dercd to the BritiOi arms, and by the fubfequent " ceffion of it to the Crown of Great-Britain by the " Treaty of Peace, figned at Paris, in February^ I763, " it had been ftipulatcd ' that the worfhip prefcribed *' by the Roman-Catholick Religion fliould bt tolerated " in the Province, and that the Roraan-Catholick '* inhabitants (hould be permitted to aflemble in their " Churches and Chapels to hear Mafs, and receive *• the Sacraments of the Romifli Religion, as hereto- " fore,' it was neceflary not only to permit the Ro- " man-Catholick Priefts that were then in the Province « to continue to officiate in the faid Churches and " Chapels without any moleftation, but to permit other ' "Priefts, Ilil S9() '' Priefts to iuccecd them in the difchargc of thofe ** religious duties, when death, or any other event, *' fliall have deprived the people of the ferviccs of thofe *« who were then in office. But in the manner of pro- "vidingforthisfucceflionofnew Romifh Priefts upon , " the death of thofe now in Office, it is necefTary for " the Government to be very cautious. For, if they " negledt to make fonie fafe and prudent provifion for " the regular fupply of new Priefts to fuccced to the " prelent fet upon the vacancies that will arifcby death " or any other caufe, there is great reafon to apprehend *' that freft) Priefts will come into the Province, from " Old France, who will be attached to the interefts of " that Kingdom, and, perhaps, be employed by the " French Minifters of State, as fpies and emiftiiries, to " keep, up a fpirit of difaffeaion in the minds of the " French, or Canadian, inhabitants of the Province " to the Englidi Government, and a fecrct wiffi to be ''again fuhjea to the Crown of France. And, to " avoid this danger, the eafieft and moft prudent way '' of proceeding feems to be to permit a Popifh Bifliop *'' of well-known Loyalty to the King of Great-Britain, •'and who has refided for many years paft in the " Province, and who has kw, or no, conneaions with '' Old France, fuch as Mojifieur Olivier Briand, to " refide in the Province in a very humble and private " manner, with a fmall revenue to fupport him ; that " he might be ready, upon the vacancy of any Parifli- '' Churchin the Province, by the death of the incum- " bent, immediately to ordain a new Prieft that had " been both born and bred in the Province, to be " prefented to the faid vacant benefice; for which *' employments there would, probably, be ahvays a *' fufficient nuniber of young Candidates, both born • ' «and '' and educated in the Province, becaufe there is In '' the Town of Quebcck a Seminary, or College, '^ of Konian Catholick Priefts, of about five or fix " m jiumber, which has been long ago built and " endowed fivfficiently with landed eflates for the " maintenance of the Priefts that belong to it, and " whofe duty it is to educate young men for the Ro- " nian-Catholick Prieft-hood. And it was alledged " that fuch an humble and private Bifliop, who would " exercife no other of his Epifcopal powers but thai of " ordaining Priefts, and that only at the requifition of " the Governour of the Province, and who might *' therefore be confidered as a mere manufaaiirer of *^ Vnejls, or (according to a French exprelTion which " was at that time reported to have been ufed by Mr. " Oliver Briand himfelf upon the occafion,) un'ftmplc ''faiseur de prClres, would be a very fafe and conve- " nient inflrument in the hands of the Governour for *' carrying into execution the promife made to the *^ inhabitants cf the Province, of tolerating the worfliip " of their Religion, without at the fame time incurring " the danger above-mentioned of admitting French " fpies into the Province under the charader of Ko- " man-Cdtholic Priefts." This was the argument that I hear'd mentioned at the time, as that which had been employed by the advocates of this meafure to prevail upon the King;*s Miniflers of that time to confent to it, and which (enforced, probably, by the addrefs and eloquence of Mr. Edmund Burke,) proved fuccefsful. It is, however, in my opinion, rather fpecious than folid and fatisfac- tory. But, if it was perfe6lly juft and conclufive in favour ;f tiie meafute of permitting a Popifli Bifhop to refide m the Province ol Quebeck, it muft at leaft be al- lowed I 1 : lowed that fuch ameafureougiit not tuluive been adopted without the authority of an Aft of ParHament, to take it out of the operation of the important and fundamental tStatute above-mentioned of the 1(1 of Queen -EH- zabeth, which prohibits the exercife of any power derived from the Pope, not only in the Kingdom of England itfelf, and the dominions thereunto belonging at that time, but in all the dominions that fliall belong to it ai any future time. And therefore, for want of fuch an Aft of Parliament to authorize it, the faid meafuic was illegal. But, if it had been legal, it would not have been a prudent meafure, notwitftanding the plaufibility of the foregoing argument in it's favour. For it was almoft certain, that any Roman-Catholick Pried: who fliould be permitted to refide in the Province of Que- beck after having been confecrated Bifbop of it, would (notwithftanding any declarations that he might have made to the i:nglifli Government, in order to obtain fuch permiflion, '' that he fliould confider himfelf only as an Orda'mer of Neiv Priefls when they (hould be wanted to fupply the vacant benefices, and would never exert any of the other powers belonging to his Epifcopal OfficeJ~T fay, it was almoll certain that he would (notwithftanding fuch declarations) exert many other powers of his office over the Roman-Catholick inhabitants of the Province, which might have very important effefts both on the Koman-Catholick Priefts and the Liiety of the fame religion, and would proba- bly greatly check and difcourage both thofe defcriptions of his Maiefty's new, or Canadian, fubjefts from converfing freely and aflbciating with the Britifli inha- bitants of the Province, and from reading the books of the New Teftament, and inquiring into the nature r of 399 oFth^ Proteftant Religion and it's difference from that of the Church of Pome ; of which inquiries the natural coiifequence would have been that many of them would have become converts to the Do6lrinc of the Church of England. And accordingly it was found that, when Mr. Oliver Briand returned into the Pro- vince of Quebeck, he took upon himfelf the title of Olhier Briand, par la Grace de Dim et du Saint Siege, Evesquf; de Quebec, and, after having, upon his ar- rival in the Province in June, 1706, declined the com- pliments ufually paid to his predeceflbrs in that high office, and declared to his friends, « that he did not •' come into the Province to be a Bidiop upon the *' fame high footing as his predeceffors in the time of '' the French Government, and was not therefore " mtitled, and did not defire, to be treated with the '< fane ceremony and refpea as had been ufed towards '^ them, but that he was only unjimplefaiseiirdepreires, " a mere Ordainer of New P.riefts," and having, for a month or two, worn only a common black gown, like the other Roman- Catholick Priefts, he grew tired of this humble way of proceeding, and dreffed himfelf in a purple robe, with a golden crofs at his bread, which are the ufual enfigns of the Epifcopal dignity among the Roman-Catholicksj and afterwards he very freely exercifcd the tremendous powers of fufpending priefts from the excrcifc of their clerical fundions and de- priving them of their benefices, and excommunicating and depriving perfons of the Sacraments, and inter- diaing divine worfhip in Churches and Chapels. Amongft other exercifes of thefe high powers belong- ing to him s Bifhop of Quebeck, he publifhed a circular Letter to the Roman-Catholick inhabitants to exhort them to take arms for the Crown againft the other I": I ■ill'' I'll 'lil iili 400 other Americans in the bcginnintr of the American war, in wliicli he proinifed indulgencies to tiiofc who fhould comply with his exh(irtations, and threatened tliofc who fliould rcfiilc to do To, with excommunica- tion. And by this Letter as well a^ by feveral afts of haughtineffe' and violence, he very much difgulted the Canadians, as my readers may fee by confulting the fecond volume of my Quebeck papers, in pages 111, 112, 113, M4. So different did his conduft uuhe Province, when m aaual poffellion of the office appear to be from that of the mere occafional ordainer of new priefts, le Jimple faheur de prtlre^, which he had promifed to be when he folJicited the permif- lion to return to the Province after having been made it's Bifliop. As for the advantages that. It was pretended, would refult to the Province of Quebeck, from the permiffion given to a PopiQi Bifliop to refide there, by furnifliing a means of fupplying the vacant benefices with freflt Priefts without admitting any to come there from Old France, they might cafijy have been obtained without this dangerous and illegal meafure, by purfuing the following plan. The Seminary, or College, of Que- beck, might have been preferved, with allits members and teachers of Popifli divinity, and its revenues,- (which are faid to amount to fix or fevcn hundred pounds fterling a year,) for the education of youncr Canadians to the profeffion of the Prieft-hood : and" when they had attained the proper age for taking orders m that Church, thefe young men might have been * ibnt-over to England at the King's expence with the ' Governour's recommendation to his Majefty's Secre- * tary of State for America, as young men of good * Wiaviour and principles, that were fit" to be made * Priefts 401 Priefts and hoU benefices in the Province. And frou^ i.ngland they might have been fent to Muntter in t-erma„y, or to the I'opift canton of Lucerne in Swit- «'land, (attended by fome proper and trully con,- pan.on, who (hould have taken care that they (l.ould "ot have fet their foot in Old France) with reeom- mendattons. if they had gone to Switzerland, from the Secretary of State for America to his Majefty'. Rehdent, or other Minifter. ,„ the Swifs Cantons- and there they th,y might have been ordained to the Pneft-hood of the Church of Rome by the Bi(l>on of Munfter, or of Lucerne, or fuch other Roman-Catho- ■ek d,ftr,a. (no, i„ Old France,) as his Majefty, in his Royal Wifdom, (hould have thought fit to fend then, to. And, when thus ordained Priefts of the Church of Rome by fuch foreign Popifl, Bi(I,op, they ftould have returned to Engla.ul, and front thence to Quebeefc by the firft convenient opportunities, at the King s expence. Such a voyage to Europe would probably have been confidered, by the young Candi- dates for the Prieft.hood who fl.ould have had oeeafion to take ,t, as a party of pleafure rather than a hardfliiu. And the e,(pence of it to the Publick would have been •nfling; perhaps 300I. or4ool. once in three or four rars. For, as the whole number of parifhes in the , Provmce .s but 128. (at leaft it was no greater in the year 1 767 ; I know not how many new pariflics may have been created fince :) a fupply of two „e>v Priefts a year, or fix or feven every three years, would have been fufficent to keep the benefices always full. By this obvious and eafy ntelhod of procuring new Priefts for the fupport of the Roman-Catholick Religion agreeably ,0 the toleration promifed bv the Capitulation and Ireaty of Peace, the fuppofed necefiity of permit.^ a J) mmm ■i' 402 ting a Popidi BiHiop to refide in the Province might have hecn avoided. If the young French, or Canadian, schohirs, edu- cated at the Popifli Seminary at Qiiebeck, for the prieft-hood in Canada, had been ordained priells in this manner by the Biiliop of Munrtcr, or fome other Koman-Calhohck bifliop in Germany, or Switzerland, and been immediately fent-back to Quebeck in a King's fliip, to be appointed to officiate in the vacant Churches of the Province, it would, I prefume, have been expedient to dirca that they fhould be appointed, or collated, to thofe Churches by the Governour of the Province, to hold the fame during his Majtfty*s plcafure: and thus the whole body of them would have been dependant on the Crown, and would, pro- bably, have ufed their influence over the Inhabitants of their feveral pariflies, to promote their attachment to the Englifli Government, and to induce them to re- linquifli their former prejudices ii\ favour of that of France. And, in this ftate of things, it is highly pro- bable that feveral of these Roman-Caiholick pariflj- priefts, or Curates, (as they were there called,) being free from the controul, or authority, of any Popi(h bifhop, or other Ecclefiaflical Superiour in the Pro- vince, would have ventured to read with attention the books of the New Testament, and to inquire into the gromuls of the differences of the doctrines of the Church of Rome from thofe of the Church of Eng- land, and, inconfequtnce of fuch examination, would often have been inclined to adopt fome of the doctrines, if not all, of the Church of England, and particularly to think it lawful to ufe the Liturgy of the Church of England, tianflalcd into French, in their Churches, >nllead of the Latin Mafs j and that, upon thefe changes in 403 in their opinions upon thefc fubjea^, they would have beco„,e the means of converting their parishioners to heir new way of thinking upon ihem, as WickUff, he great Enghft Reformer, did in England, with as- ton.flnng fueccfs, in the reign of King Richard the 11. And, that fuch changes of opinion in rdigious matters as fhould have been recommended by the parilh-priefts to the.r Panfliioners, would have been readily adopted by the latter.-and, more .fpccialiv, that ofthe lawful- nefsofmakingufeofthe Kngiifl. Liturgv, tranflated into French, in their Church.s inftcad of the Latin Ma)s,~.I have hardly any doubt, irom all that I could collca ot the fentiments and inclinations of the peo- pie of that province from a refidence in it during three years, from September, ]7C6, to September, 1769, ana from convcrfing during that time with a great variety of the French, or Canadian, inhabitants of it. And this was alfo the opinion of that wife and judicious Statesman as well as great and succefsful General, Sir Jcffery Amherft, who conquered that whole Province and granted the Marquis of Vaudreuil, the French Go- vcrnourofii,theCapitulationofSeptember, 1760. For about the month of May, 1774, when the Bill fur re! gulatmg the government of the Province of Quebeck was brought into the Houfe of Lords by the late Earl of Dartmouth, Sir JefTery called upon me at my cham- bers in the Temple, to converfe upon the provifions of that Bill, of which he exprefled a ftrong difapprobation and more particularly of the ciaufe that cftablyhed thi Pop.fh Religion in Canada, by giving the Popifli priefts a legal right to their tylhes, which he had expreflly rcluled to grant ihem by the Capitulation of Septem- ber, 1760, and had referred to ihe .'ature Declaration ofthe King's pleafure on that fubject; which Decla- ^ ^ ^ ration 40i ration had never been made from the furrender of the Province in Seplcmbcr, 176O, to ihc introdiiaion of that Qiiebeck-bill into the houfe of Lords in Mav, 1774-, and the right of the PrieHs to fue their parifli-- ioners for their tythcs in courts of Juflice, had there- fore been confuiered as fiifpendcd during the long in- terval of 11 years from Septenibir, 1760, to May, 1774. This daufc he therefore highly difapproved-of, as being a wanton and unneccflary cJlabDjhment of Popery in the Province, inftead of a mere toleration of it, or permiffion to attend the worjhip of it in their Churches juid Chapels without any molestation, either to them- felvcs or their priefts ; which was all that was (lipu- lated by either the capitulation of September, 1760, or the TrMty of Paris in February, 1763. And it was certainly not necelTary for the faiisfadion of the bulk of the Inhabitants of Cannda, bccaufe they were very well ['leafed to be left at liberty either to pay their tythes, or to let it alone, as they thought fit ; though, from an attachment to their religion, they, for the moft part, thought fit to pay them. And 1 remember that Sir JcfTcry told me at the fame time, that he thought it would have been fullicieut for the fatisfaction of the Inhabitants of the Province, to have only per. mitted theCmates, or Parifli-priefts, who were in the l^rovince at the time rf the Capitulation, to have con- tinued in pofllfiiuu of iheir benefices during their lives, and then to have fupplied their places by Protestant French miniftcrs, who (hould have conformed to the Church of England and have read the Liturgy of it, tranflatcd into French, to their fcveral Congregations. And I remember that a French merchant at Quebeck, who was a native of old France, and a man of uncom. nion talents and great reading and knowledge, and was m 405 wa? a profcfTcd Homan-Catholick, (though he was reckoned by many perfons of that city, to be what the French call a Philosopher, or an unbeliever in all revealed religion,) went further ftill than Sir Jeffery Amhcrft in the opinion that the Protellant religion of the Church of England might have eafilv becn°intro. duced into the Province. For one day, when he dined with me at my houfe at Quebeck, lie told mc of hi. own accord, (I having faid nothincr to lead to it,) that he was fnrprized that theEnglifh Government had nor, immediately after the a.flion of the Province to the Crown of England, by the Treaty of Peace in Fcbru- ary, 1763, introduced into it at once the Protertint religion as fettled in the Church of England ; addino-, that he was perfuaded chat it would have been readify iubmitted-to and acquie.ed-in by the inhabitants of tLe Province, who, as the Clergy i.f the Church of England have retained fomc of the Ecclefiaftical veft- mentscftheRomim Clergy, fuch as the gown, and band, and furplice, would have hardly perceived the change from one religion to the other/ In this, how- ever, I couid not agree with the Philofopher, but was always defirous, from motives both of Juftice and Pru- dence, that they (liould enjoy a compleai toleration of their religion to the full extent of the Capitulation and the Treaty of Peace, but without an cftablifhmcnt of it, which the body of the People in the Province did by no means wifh-for, and which was afterwards un- neceflarily re-impofed upon them, rather than granted to them, by the Quebeck-a61: of the year 1774..'' But, whatever might have been the probability of fuc- ccfs in a plan of gradually converting the Canadians to the Protestant religion, by encouraging, or, at l^aft, per- mitting, their own priefts to become the iuftruments of 2 o 3 fuch if 406 ri fuch coiiverfions, in confequence of their own free ex- animation of the grounds of the differences between the doarines of the two religions and their fubfequent conviaion of the errors of the Romifli doftrines;— all hopes of that kind were co.inter-aaed, and almoft de- flroyed, by the unfortunate meafure, adopted in the year 1766, of permitting Mr. John Oliver Sriand tort- turn to Quebeck in the character of Bifhop of the Pro- vmce.For, by the power of suspending pricfts from the cxercife of their clerical funaions, and depriving them of their benefices, and interdiaing the performance of divine worfhip in whole parities, which he claimed and exercifed on various ( rcafions, he kept the clergy in fuch a ftaleof terror and fubjeaion to him, that no prieft would ever venture to exprefs any doubts concern- ing the doarines of the Church of Rome, or take the Bmalltft step towards an adoption of the doarines of the Church of England. Two remarkable mftances of his exercife of these dangerous epifcopal powers in the Province of Quebeck, exhibit fo clearly the imprudence of the meafure of permitting him to return into the Province in the charaaer of its Bifhop, that, though they have already been publifhed in the year 1776, in the fecond volume of my Quebcck-paper's, I will here reprint them. They are a tranflation from an extraa from a letter written ii. French by a Roman-Catholick gentleman in the Province of Quebeck to a friend in London in September, 1775, /f Travjlalion f! 4or 1 A Tran^latio I of ttvo anecdotes concerninp, the conduct, of John Oliver Bri^ind, the Popish Bishop of Quebec k ; extracted from a Letter written hi/ ei person of credit in the Prouifice ofQucbeck to his friend at London about the end of September, 1775. Seten years ago Monfieur Vincelot, the Seignior of IHette, at the requifition of the bifliop of Quebeck in his vifitation of the pariflies of his dioccfe, gave apiece of ground, eight French arpents fquare, forihe iniiabit- ants of that parifli to build a church upon. And he himfelf bu:lt upon it, at his own expence, an uncom- njonlv fpacious parfcnagc-houfe, in which the people of the paridi might meet to hear mafs during the time thechurch would takc-upin building. And in this houfe tiie priell of the parifli lived. At the end of two years Mop.ficur Bii iud, the biOiop, -ai the requcft of the inhubitanls of ilie iii.ihi.'r part of the pariih, appointed .mother place lor ihe fuualion of thec!)i!rcl) which the inhabitants of it were to bui'd: and the inhabitants ac- cordm^jiy begun to build thechurch in this latter place; and in the courfc of three years (they proceeding hut flowly in the work) made it fit for the performance of divine fervicc. When the building of the church was compleaicd, Mr. Vincelot refumed the poflelHon of the former Ipof of ground and of the parfonage-houfe w'lnch he had built upt)n it; grounding hi«' right to make th.is rcfumpiion upon the non- performance of the condition upon which alone he had given lhi» 2d: ground iil 408 ground to the parifli, which was "that they (hould ereft a church upon it/' This proceeding gave offence to the bifliop, who immediately (ent orders to the Curate of the parifli to inform Mr. Vincelot, that what he had once given to the church, he could never after refume ; and thai he, the bifliop, therefore required him i .medi- ately to refcore the piece of ground in queftion to the Curate of the parifl. ; and that, if he refufed to do fo, he, the bifhop, would immediately excommunicate him and all his family. This threat was difregarded by Mr. Vincelot; and he continued to keep poflefllon of the piece of ground. Upon this the Prelate flew into a rage, and immediately commanded the fame Curate of the parifli to acquaint Mr. Vincelot that he had excom. municated him, and had extended the excommuni- cation to his wife alfo, if (lie joined with him in his refufal to reftore the land. Upon this Mr. Vincelot brought the matter before one of the courts of Juftice, and there openly reproached the bifhop with his paf- fionate and violent behaviour, and his inordinate ambition and dcfire of making himfelf an ahfolute ruler m the province, and declared him to be nothing Icfs than a difturber of the publick peace. The Judges obferved a profound fiicnce while Mr. Vincelot vus fpeaking, and then decided, that, as the conditions upon which Mr. Vincelot had made the donation of that piece of land to the parifli, had not been i.>bfervu.i, the land mult revert to Mr. Vincelot. This affair hap, pened in ihe month of May, 1774, and wasthe occafion oflhebifljop's relaxing very much from the hau^htinefs and fevenly with which he had before trtaled Mr. Vincelot. Another and a much ftronger inflance of this bifliop's violence of temper happened about four mon;hs after ihe il 409 the former. A man that lived in the pari Ih of St. John, of which Monfie »r Gafpe is the Seignior, want- ed to marrya woman who was his coufin, though in a pretty diftant degree. In order to this he applied to the bifliop for a difpenfation to enable him to do fo. As Mr. Briand is rather fond of money, he required of this poor man, for the difpenfation he wanted, a fum of money which was greater than the whole value of the land he held in the parifli. This threw the poor man man into defpair; and he went to the proteftant minif- ter of Quebeck, and defined him to marry him. But the miniiier refufed to do fo, and informed him of the reafons which induced him to make this refufal. Upon this the ma.i refolves to take a new courfe of his own contrivmg. He invites his relations and friends to his houfe, and gives them a feaft ; and, before they fit-down to table, he produces his intended bride ; and, m the prefence of the girl's father and of all the company there affembled. the two parties declare their confent to take each other for man and -.vife. Now this proceed- ing was undoubtedly blameable ; and 'he man was liable to be puni(htd for it. But ihe p.ii i^liment of the guilty parties was not lufficieni to f »isiy the bifliop's vengeance. Bcfidcs the man nnd ti)e woman who had been thus married, he excommunicated all the com- pany who had been prdent on the c,;.ca(ion, and ail the inhabitants of the paritli without exception ; fo that Monfieur Gafpe, tne Seignior of the parifli, and his Wife, who live at the diftance J four miles and a half from the place where tl OiT-nce was committed, were mvolved in this cxco.nmu-'-ation. The Curate of Iflette, who docs the duty ol il,< )ari(h ot St. John, was fent thither by the bifi.op to car-y this fentence of ixcomni'.niication into execution. He accordingly comes tv> 410 to the pari fli -church, and extinguiflies the lamp of the principal altar, throws-down the wax-tapers upon the ground, orders the bLlI to ring, burns the confecrated bread, anil carries away the box thai contained it, the calice, and the fun, and reads the fentence of excom- munication, and declares that it i.s to continue in force fo long as the parifh Hiall harbour within it thofe two rebels to the authority of the church. Alarmed at this terrible threat, the inhabitants of this unfortunate pa- ri Oi depute their church -wardens to the biiliop to implore his nu rcy. The church-wardens repair to Quebeck, and on theirknees intreatthe bifli^p to take- off the excommunication. But they could niake no imprclfion on him. On the con*- he behaved to them with the gieatcft rudcnefs ? ' c itempt, faying, ** No ! Iiuillby no means taU-off i. ' ixcommunkatioii, I luiH tench you to dread ihcpozuer of a bi/Jjop : and the refi of the province luill^ in consequence of your exavi" pUy become more obedient to the church. I therefore command you to drive those two wretches from among you : and, if you obey this command, I zvi/l then con- fider what it may he f roper for me to do with rcspcet to ike excommunication.'' The poor church-wardens ftill on theii kncos, fill into tears at thofe harfli words, and faid in anfxicr to them, *' that, as those persons tvere upon their ozrn /and, they, the other pari/hioners, had no authority to drivr them out of the pari/h, as his Lordfhip now required them to do : but that this could vnly be done by the Judges." Cetyou gone, you black- guards, oi't out of the room, this moment-/' replied the biOiop, and at the lame time opened them the door. Ui'on this they rofe from their kneeling pofture, to £;o out of the room. But one of them, growing bolder than the reft, ftayed bciiind in the room fur a fliort fpacr 411 fpace of ime after the reft had quitted it, and faid to the biihop in a fteady tone of voice, in the hearing of Mr. Mabanc, (one of the Judges of the court of com- mon pleas,) who happened to be with the bifliop at the time, «« My Lord, if this man had given you the T50 Dollars which you asked of him for a dispensation to marry his relation, you ivould have granted him the dispensation ; and then he ivould not have been guilty of this offence. And, now, my Lord, that he has been gmlty of it, you ought to have confined your punifhment to him alone, and not have extended it t) the inhabitants of a whole parish, who are entirely innocent." JMr. Mabane was ftruck with thejuftnefsof theobfcrvulion, and could not refrain from laghing when the man delivered it ; and he earncftly interceded with the bi- fljop to take-off the excommunication. But he did not fucceed. For the bifhop thought fit to continue it for two months longer, and then ?it laft took it off at the humble and urgent requell of Monneur and Madame Gafpe. This (lory was related to me by Francis Le Clerc, one of the church-wardens above-mentioned, who waited on the bifliop at the defire of the other inhabitants of the parifli on the occafion above- recited. The French cxtraft, of which this is a tranflation, may be fcen in the fecond volume of my Quebeck pnper?, in pages 120, KM, 122—126. F. M, Remarls I 4V2 The Tole- ration «)f a Keligion. I Remarks on the true meaning of the uords Toleration, ENDowMEJiT, and Establish- ment, when applied to a Religion adopted and permitted in anij country. I HAVE obferved that fome people are apt to ufe thefc words ill a contiifed manner, or without annexing dif- tina Ideas to them, whenapplied to a mode of Religion that is permiited or adopted in any country; which makes It difficult to underftand their rcafonings on the fiibjea and to come to any juft and fatisfaaory con- elufions on it. It will therefore be ufefuj to (late the feveral diftina Ideas which ought to be annexed to them indifcullionsupon this fubjea. Now It appears to me that there are three different methods in which a Religion, that is permitted by the Government of a country to be profeffed and praaifed in it, may be fupported, which may be diftinguidied from each other by the words Toleration^ Endozvmeiity and EstalUshme7it. When the Government of a country permits the profeflbrs of a Keligion to meet-together in places of worfkip of their ov.n building, or hiring, and to have divine worfliip performed in them, according to the Rites and Ceremonies which they chufe to adopt, by priefls, ormmifters, of their own, whom they employ and hire for the purpofe, that Religion is said to he tolerated. Thus the Quakers are tolerated in tnglnnd, and fuch of ihePrefbyierians and other F oteitant DifTcnters from the church of England as comply with the conditions *"" required ] \ 1 t f F i: i: t e 413 required by the two Toleration-acts of the 1 Williain and Mary, and the 19 of the prefent king George the III. are also Tolerated. But the other protcftant difTent- ers, who do not comply with thofe conditions, are not tolerated, but are expofed to the penahics of fevere laws for word) ipping God according to their coiifcicnccs in their niLcting-hoiifcs, or conventicles, as they are called in thofe penal aatutes. And in like manner the Ro- man-Catholick religion was tolerated in Canada from theconqncftofthe country by Sir Jeflfery Amherft in September, 176O, to the palfing of the Qnebeck-acH in June 1774, when it was eftabliflied by that Act. For the people were permitted toaflTcmblc in their churchei and chapels to hear Mafs and to receive the Sacranjents, according to the rites of the Church of Rome, and the pricfls were permitted to officiate therein, without any moleftation whatfoever: and thetythes and other profits paid to thepriefts on this account, were paid voluntarily by the people who followed that mode of worHiij) with- out any right in the priefts to compel the payment of them by a fuit at law. This was/.fr/e^ iohmtlon. But it is pofllble that a government, though it may think it nectfTary in point of Juftice to permit the followers of a particular religion to meet together in moderate numbers to worftiip God in their own way, .may yet not think it expedient to let that religion take root in the country in a manner that is likely to increafe the number of its votaries. And in this cafe they may forbid its being endowed by gifts of land, or other permanent property, afllgned to truflees for the perma^ ncnt fupport of it. This, I apprehend, would not be inconfiftent with toleration, nor at all unjuft towards the profelTors of fuch barcly-tolerated religion ; becaufe every ftate has a right to judge of the utility of the pur- pofcs 414 pofes for which it allows the property ofanyof its members to be aliened in mortmain. The En- But on the other hand it is poflible that a covern- a Religion, nient may think a particular mode of religion, though not worthy to be fupported and encouraged by publick authority, yet to be fo very innocent and inoffcnfive to the ftal i ' a Religion. '""opi(h parifliioners, that is, of •1-9 perfons out of every 50 throughout the j^rovince, is hereby affigncd to the Romilh prk-fts as a maintendnce and reward for performing the ceremonies, and teaching the do6lrines of that reliirjon. I know that fome perfons have alTertcd that this meafure is not an efiablifhmem of the Popifli religion in Canada, becaufe the Protellant parifliioners are Hot obliged to pay tythes to the RorjiH) prielb. But this affeas only xhQ quantum o{ the (^ovifion made for the maintenance of thofe priefts and the religion they are to teach. It is fomewhut lefs ample than it would be if the Proteftants were forced to pay the tythes to them as well as the Homan-catholicks. But the nature and defign of the Pro vi Hon are the fame in both cafes. It is a fluid provided by publick authority for the fupport of prieils, to exercife and teach the religion of the church of Kome. And this, I prefume, is all that is meant by ihofe who have atfirmed that the Popifli reli- gion is eftabhjhtd by this act of parliament, and is all that the words, eftahl'ijhment of a religion^ naturally and ufually import. ** ',»*-- •■•^ OP 415 or TRUE RELIGION, HERESY, SCHISM, TOLERATION) AND ^ ^ WHAT BEST MEANS MAY BE USED, ' AGAINST THZ GROWTH OF POPERY** BY JOHN MILTON, ESQ. Tht Attthor 'if faradise Lost. ■» ■ • f «< ' i ItU unknown fo no man, who knows aught of con- cernment among us, that the increafe of Popery is at thisday nofmall trouble and offence tothegfeateft part of the nation ; and th^ rejoicing of all good men that it is fo : the more their rejoicing, that God hath given a heart to the people to remember (liH their great and happy deliverance from Popifli thraldom, and to efteem fo highly the precious benefit of his gofpel, fo freely and fo peaceably enjoyed among them. Since there- fore fome have already in publick with many confider- ab!e arguments exhorted the people to beware the growth of this Romifh weed j I ihonght it no lefs than a common duty to lend my hand, how unable foever, to fo good a purpofe. I will not now enter into the la* byrinth of Councils and Fathers,— an intangled wood which the papifts love to fight in, not with hope of victory, but to obfcure the fhame of an open overthrow:' ^hich yet in that kind of combat, many heretofore. * Printed i» the Year 1673. and 'i 4.- * ? )N^ .;r «< ,j,.. ht of con- )pery is at left part of I that it is h given sL great ancf to efteem fo freely ice there- confider- :ware the > lefs than lie foever, to ihe la- ;led wood h hope of i^erthrovvr eretofore, and 417 and one of late, halh eminently given them. And fuch manner of difpute with them, to learned men is ufeful and very commendable. But I (hall infift now on what is plainer to cotumon apprehension, and what I have to fay, without longer introduaion. True religion is the true worfhip and fervice of God, Of Tru, learnt and believed from the word of God only. No ^'"*'*" man, or angel, can know how Gud would be worOiipped and ferved, unlefs God reveal it. He hath revealed and taught it us in the Holy Scriptures by infpired minifters, and m the Gofpel by his own Son and his Apoflies, with ftnaeft command to reject all other traditions, or addi- tions, whatfoever. According to that of St. Paul, " Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gofpel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be anathema, or accurfed."- And Deut. iv. 2. « Ye (I.all not add to the word which I command you, neither fhall you diminifh aught from it." Rev x^fil i,9 tr> a ip f^ A^cv. xxu. 18, 19. "It any man fhall add, &c. If any man {hall take-away from the words," &c. With good and religious reafon, there- fore all Proteftant churches with one confent, and particularly the church of England in her thirtv-nine articles, artic. 6th, ,9th, 20tb, 21ft, and elfewhere, maintain ihefe two points, as the main principles of true religion : that the rirle of trne religion is the word ot God only: and that their fkah ought not to bean implicit faith, that is, to believe, though as the church believes, againft, or without, exprefs authority of Scrip- ture. And, if all Proteftants, as univerfally as they ho.d thefe two principles, fo attentively and rcligioufly wouid obferve them, they Would avoid and cut-off .- many debates and contentions, fchifms, and perfecu- ^ tions, which too oft have been among them, and more . . a£ ifirmlv } .a*^ A/. ^r^^ - .0. ^ \> .^x"^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // 1.0 I.I 25 M llll|y 22 ■ 4.0 1.4 1.6 Photographic Corporation '*#.%?' % n? ^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SS0 (716) 872-4303 ^ V ^. 4, . or pretended religions, at this day in Chriftendom/ Popery is the only, or the greatefl, Herefy : and he who isfo forward to brand all others for Hereticks, theob- llinate Papift, the only.Heretick. Hence one of their own famous writers found juft caufe to ftile the Romifh Church " Mother of error, fchool of Herefy." And, whereas the Papift boafts himfelf to be a Roman-Ca- tholick, it is a mere cont'-adidlion, one of the Pope's bulls, as if he {hould fay, univcrfal particular, a Ca- Thetrue tholick fchifmatick. For C^z/^^/ic^ ia Greek fignifies Thf^hrif J^niver/al : and the Chriftian Church was fo called Cathoiick ^^ conllfting of all nations to whom the Gofpel was to be preached, in contradiftinfition to the Jewifli Church, which confifted, for the moft part, of Jews only. Of Sects. Se<3A' may be in a true Church as well as in a falfe, whea men follow the doctrine loo much for the teacher's fake I II ■ >» ■ 419 tiikcy whom they think ahnoft infaUible; and this becomes, through infirmity, imphcit faith; and the name Senary pertains to fuch a difciple. Sectaries. Scbifm is a rent, or divifion, in the church, when it Schism, comes to the feparating of congregations; and may alfo happen to a true church, as well as to a falfe; yet in the true needs not tend to the breaking of commu- nion, if they can agree in the right adminiftration of ihat wherein they communicate, keeping their other opinions to thenifelveS, not being deftrudive to Faith. The Pharifecs and Sadducees were two fedts; yet both met-together in their common worfliip of God at Je- rufalem. But here the Papifls will angrily demand, what! are Lutherans, Calvini{ls,Anabaptifts,Socinians, Arminians, no Hereticks ? I anfwer, all thefe may have fome errors, but are no Hereticks. Hcrefy is in the Difference ht'cweeii will and choice profeflldly again ft: Scripture ; error is h"J^s a£;ainft the will, in mifundcrftanding the Scripture ^"'^'^' after all iincere endeavours to underftand it rightly : Hence it was faid well by one of the ancients, *' Err I may, but a Hcretick I will not be." It is a human frailty to err, and no man is infallible here on earth. But fo long as ail thefe profefs to fet the word of God only before them as the rule of faith and obedience; and ufe all diligence and fmccrity of heart, by reading, by learning, by ftudy, by prayer for Illumination of the Holy Spirit, to underftand the rule and obey it, they have done what man can do : God will affuredly pardon them, as he did the friends of Job: good and pious men, though much miftaken, as there it appears, in fome points of dodfrine. But fome will fay, *' with Chrillians it is otherwife, whom God hath pf-omifcd by his fpirit to teach all things," True, all things abfolutely neceflary to fidva- a £ :;} tiua : y an i I wmm mm 4*20 I I I I H iii I tlon: But the hotleft difputes among Prote(lanl3, calmly and charitably enquircd-into, will be found lefs than fuch. The Lutheran holds Consubstanttation an error indeed, but not mortal. The Calvinift is taxed with Predestination^ and to make God the author of fin; not with any diflionourable thought of God, but, it may be, over-zcaloufly aflerting his abfolute power, not without plea of Scripture. The Anabaptift is accufed of denying infants their right to baptifm ; again they fay, they deny nothing but what the Scrip- ture denies them. The Arian and Socinian are charged to difpute againft the Trinity : They affirm to believe the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, according to Scrip-^ ture and the Apoftolick Creed ; as for terms of Trinity , Trini-nnityy Co-essentiality , Tri-personality ^mCi the like, they reject them as fcholaftick notions, not to be found in Scripture, which, by a general Proteftant maxim, is plain and perfpicuous abundantly to explain its own meaning in the propereft words, belonging to fo high a matter, and fo neccflary to be known j a myftery indeed in their fophiftick fubtilities, but in Scripture a plain doiSlrine. Their other opinions are of left moment. They difpute the fatisfadion of Chrift, or rather the word " Satisfaftion," as not Scriptural : but they acknowledge him both God and their Saviour. The Arminian, lallly, is condemned for fetting-up free will againid free grace; but that imputation he dif- claims in all his writings, and grounds himfelf largely upon Scripture only. It cannot be denied that the authors, or late revivers, of all ihefe fc6ls, or opinions, were learned, worthy, zealous, and religious men, as ap- pears by their lives written; and the fame [may be faidj of their many eminent and learned followers, perfect and powerful in the Scriptures, holy and unblameable in their 421 : llieir lives; and it cannot be imagined that God would derertfuch painful and zealous labourers in his Church, and oft-times great fufferers for their confcience, to damnable errors and a reprobate fenfe, who had fo often implored the affiftance of his Spirit; but rather, having made no man infallible, that he hath pardoned their errors, and accepts their pious endeavours, fin- cerely fearching all things acccording to tl;e rule of Scripture, with fuch guidance and di region as they can obtain <»f God by prayer. What Proteftant then, who himfelf maintains the fame principles, and dif- avows all implicit faith, would perfecute, and not rather charitably * .'crate, fuch men as thefe, unlefs he mean to abjure the principles of his own religion ? If it be aflced, how far they (hould be tolerated ? I anfw^r, doubtiefs equally, as being all Proteftants; that is, on all occafions ready to give account of their faith, either by arguing, [orby]preaching in their feveral aflemblies, [orbyj publick writing, and the freedom of printing. For, if the French and Polonian Proteftants enjoy all this liberty among Papirts, much more may a Proteftant juftly expeft it among Proteftants; and yet fometimes, here among us, the one perfecutes the other upon every flight pretence. But he is wont to fay, he enjoins only things indif- ferent. Let them be fo ftill ; who gave him authority to change their nature by enjoining them? if by his own principles, as is proved, he ought to tolerate controverted points of do6lrine not (lightly grounded on Scripture, much more ought he not to impofe things inditfercnt without Scripture. In religion no- thing is indifferent ; but, if it come once to be nnpofed, is cither a command or a prohibition, and fo conie- jquently an addition to the word of Gud, which he 2 E 3 prolcire:* I I 432 profetTes to dif&llow. Befiucs, how unequal, how un- chaiitable mud it needs be, to inipofe that which his confcience cannot urge him to impofe, upon him whofe confcience forbids him to obey? What can it be but love of contention for things not neccflary to be done, to nioleft the confcience of his brother, who holds them neceffary to be not done? To concludf, let fuch an one but call to mind his own principles above- mentioned, and he muft neceffarily grant, that neither can he impofe, nor the other believe or obey, aught in religion, but from the word of God only. More amply to underftand this, may be read the 14th and i5th Chapters to the Romans, and the contents of the 14th, fet-forth no doubt but with full authority of the Church of England ; the glofs is this : " Men may not contemn, pr condemn, one the other for things indifferent." And in the 6th article above-mentioned, " whatfoever is not read in Holy Scripture, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man as an article of Faith, or r'ceflary to Salvation." And certainly what is not fc, is not to be required at all ; as being an adtliticn to the word of God exprefsly forbidden. Thus this lon(r and hot conteft, whether Proteftants ought to tolerate one another, if men will be but ra- tional and not partial, may be ended without need of more words to compole it. The claims Let US now enquire whether Popery be tolerable or oi Popt.y. ^^^ Popery is a double thing to deal with, and claims a twofold power, Ealcstasticaly and PoiUical^ both ufurped, and the one fupporting the other. hat Ecclesiastical is ever pretended to PolHicah The Pope by this mixt faculty pretends right to king- ^loms and ftates, and efpecially to this of England y thrones, ; :k }t 423 thrones, and unthrones kings, and abfolves ihe people from their obedience to them ; fometimes interdifts to whole nations the pubiick worfhip of God, fluuting-up their churches: and was wont to drain-away the grcaielt part of the wealth of this then miferabie land, as part of his patrimony, to maintain the pride and luxury of his court and prelates : and now, fince, throuorh the infinite mercy and favour of God, we have (liaken-off his Baby lonifti yoke, hath not ceafed by his fpics and agents, Bulls, and Em i(rarics,[toendeavour] once to deftroy both kingand parliament J [and]perpetuallytofeduce_,corrupt, and pervert as many as they can of the people. Whe- ther therefore it be fit or reafonable, to tolerate men thus principled in religion towards the ftate, I fubmit it to the confideration of all magiftrates, who are bed able to provide for their own and the pubiick fafety. As THe cxer- for tolerating the exercife of their religion, fuppofing Popi°hwor. their ftate-adivities not to be dano-erous, I anfwer, that shipisido- ° ' latrous, and toleration is either pubiick or private j and the exercife therefore r , . .. . r •••11 t • ousrht not pt their religion, as tar as jt is idolatrous, can be tole- to be tole- rated neither way : not publickly, without grievous "'^''* and unfufFerable fcandal given to all confcicntious be- holders ; not privately, without great offence to God, declared againfl: all kind of idolatry, though fecret, JiLzek. viii. 7, 8. *' And he brought me to the door of the court, and, when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. Then faid he unto me, fon of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged, behold a door; and he faid unto me, go-in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here." And ver. 12. "Then faid he unto me, fon of man, haft thou feen what the ancienta of the houfe of Ifrael do in the dark r" &c. And it an- > pears by the whole chapter, that God was no lefs of- fended with thefe fecret idolatries, than with thofe in 2 E 4 pubiick ; I T I 4!24 publick; and ncrlefs provoked, than to bring- on and haftcn his judgments on the whole land for thcfe alfo. Having (liewn tluis, that Popery, as being Idolatrous, h not to be tolerated cither in publick or in private ; it muft be now thought bow to remove it and hinder the growth thereof i I mean in our natives, and not fo- reigners, privileged by the Law of nations. Are we to puni(h them by corporal punifliment, or fines in their eftates, upon account of their religion ? I fuppofe it ftands not with the clemency of the gofpel, more than what appertains to the fecurity of the ftate : but, firft, we muft remove their Idolatry, and all the furniture thereof, whether Idols, or the Mafs, wherein they adore their God under bread and wine : for the com- im-'ercs and mandment forbids to adore, not only "any graven a!.s"!T"n- imago, but the likenefs of any thing in heaven above, s^umenis j ^j^^ ^^^^^ bcncith, or in the water under the earth; ofifki.atry, ' au^hnc be ti-.oi, f^-Jt not bow-dowu to them, nor worfliip them ; ani\e- for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God." If they moved. ^^^^^ jj^_^j. ^^ removing their Idols we violate their con- fcicnces, we have no warrant to regard confcience which is not grounded on Scripture: and they them- felvesconfcfs in ihcir late defences, that they hold not their images nectiTary to falvation, but onl'y as they are enjoined them by tradition. Shall we condefcend to difpute with them ? The Scripture is our only principle in relitrion; and by that onlv they will not be judged, but will add other prin- ciples of their own, which, forbidden by the word of God, we cannot aflent to. And [in feveral places of the gofpel] the coinmon maxim alfo in Logick is, ** againft them who deny principles, we are not to difpute.*' Let them bound their difputations on the gcriptitre only, apd an ordinary Protertant, well- read in the r m the Bible, may turn and wind their do(9;ors. They will not go-about to prove their Idolatries by the word of God, but turn to Ihitts and evafions, and frivolous diftin^lions: Idols, they fay, are laymen's books, and a great means to ftir^up pious thoughts and devotion in the learnedeft. I fay, they are no means of God's ap" po'intingy but plainly the contrary : let ihem hear the prophets; Jer. x. 8. "The ftock is a do6lrine of vani- ties." Hab. ii. 18. "What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it: the molten image and a teacher of lies?" Bui they alledge in their late anfwcrs, that the laws of Mofcs, given only to the Jews, concern not us under the Gofpcl ; and remember not thaf Idolatry is forbidden as cxprefsly : but with thefe wiles and fallacies " compafling fea and land, like the Pharifees of old, to make one profelyte, they lead-away privily * many fimple and ignorant fouls, men and women, " and make them twofold more the chil- dren of hell than themfelves," Mat. xxiii. 15. But the Aportle halh well warned us, I may fav, from fuch ' deceivers as thefe; for their myftcry was then working. **I befeech you, brethren," faith he, "mark them which caufe divifions and offences, contrary to the doftrine which ye have learned ; and avoid them: for they that are fuch, ferve not our Lord Jefus Chiift, but their own belly, and by good words and fair fp( cches deceive the heart of the fimple,'' Rom. xvi. 17, 18. The next means to hinder the growth of Popery, Protestants will be to read duly and diligently the holy fcrip^ures, diU^em in which, as St. Paul faith to Timothy, (who had known '^^^!' * *' Besides xohdt the grim ivolf vAih frhy paxo " On/ill devours apiice" In Milton's Elegy on the death of liis worthy and learned fr.'end, tlic Rev, Mr. lidwaid King, written iuthc year 1(538, and intitled fj^cidtis, ^ ;* them J I 426 ii them from a child,) " are able to make wife unto falva- lion." And to the whole church of Colofli ; " Let the word of Chrift dwell in you plentifully, with al! wif- dom,'* Col. iii. 16. The Papal, Antichriftian, church permits not her Laicty to read the Bible in their own tongue; our church on the contrary hath propofed it to all men, and to this end tranflated it intoEnglifh, with profitable notes on what is mct-with obfcure, though what is mod neceiTary to be known be ftill plained ; that all forts and degrees of men, not underftanding the original, may read it in their mother-tongue. Keither let the countryman, the tradesman, the law- yer, the phyfician, the ftatesman, excufe himfelf by his much bufinefs from the ftudious reading thereof. Our Saviour faith, Luke x. 41, 42. *< Thou art care- ful and troubled about many things*, but one thing i« needful.'' If they were afked, they would be loth to fet earthly things, wealth, or honour, before the wif- dom of falvation. Yet moft men, in the courfe and praftice of their lives, are found to do fo ; and, through unwillingnefs to take the pains of underftand- ing their religion by their own diligent ftudy, would fain be {;wed by a deputy. Hence comes Implicit faith, ever learning and never taught, much hearing and fmall proficience, till want of fundamental knowledge cafily turns to fnperftition or Popery: therefore the Apoftle admoniOies, Ephef. iv. 14. " That we henceforth be no more children, tofled to and fro and carried-about with everv wind of dcftrine, by the flcight of men, and cunning craftinef?, whereby they lie-in-wait to de- ceive." Every member of the church, at least of any breeding or capacity, ought to be fo well grounded in fpiritual knowledge, as, if need be, to examine their teachers themfelvcs, A£ls xvii. 11. " They fearched the 1 427 the Scriptures daily, whether thofe things were fa. Rev. ii. 2. '* Thou had tried them which fay they are apoftles, and are not." How (liould any private Chrif- tian try his teachers, unlefs he bt well-grounded him- fclf in the rule of Scripturcj by which he is taught ? As therefore among Papills, their ignorance in Scripture chiefly upholds Popery J fo among I'roteftant people, the frequent and feripus reading thereof will fooneft pull Popery down. Another means to abate Popery, arises from the conftaiit reading of Scripture, wherein believers who agree in the main, are evcry-where exhorted to mutual • forbearance and charit) one towards the other, though diflcnting in fome opinions. It is written that the coat of our Saviour was without feamj whence fome would infer, that there fliould be no divifion in the Church of Chrift, It fliould be fo indeed; yet feams jn the fame cloth, neither hurt the garment, nor mif- become it; and not only feams, but fchifms will be wiiile men are fallible : but, if they who diflent in • matters noteflTenlial to belief, while the common adver- fary is in the field, (liall {land jarring and pelting atone another, they will be foon routed and fubdued. The Papift with open mouth makes much advantage of our feveral opinions ; not that he is able to confute the worft of them, but that we, by our continual jangle among ourfelves, make them worfe than they are indeed. To fave ourfelves, therefore, and refift the common enemy, it concerns us mainly to agree within ourfelves, that with joint forces we may not only hold our own, but get ground ; and why (hould we not ? The Gofpel commands us to tolerate one another, though of vari- ous opinions, and hath promifed a good and happy pyent thereof; Phil. iii. 15. *' Let us therefore, as ;r.any iU I I i ■ 1 428 many as be perfc6l, be thii3 mliuloil ; and if in any thing ve be otht-rwifn minded, God fhail reveal even this unto you." And wc are bid, i Thtff. v. 2t. «' Prove all things^ hold-faft that which is good." St. Paul judged I hat not only to tolerate, but to examine and prove all thinrjs, was no danger to our holding fad that which is good. How (ball we prove all things, which includes all opinions at leaft, founded on Scrip- lure, unlefs wc not only tolerate them, but patiently hear them, and fcrioufly read them > If be who thinks bimfelf in the truth, profefTts to have learnt it, not by implicii faith, but by attentive ftudy of the fcripturcs, and full perfuallon of heart ; with what equity can he rcfufj to hear or read hin>, who demonflrates to have gained his knowledge by the fame way ? Is it a fair conrfe to aiu-rt truth, by arrogating to himfelf the only freedom of fpeech, and flopping the mouths of others equally gifted ? This is the direft way to bring-in that papiftical, implicit, faith which we all difclaim. They pretend it would imfettle the weaker fort ; rhe fame gP^KUidlefs fear is pretended by the Romlfh clergy. At lead then, let them have leave to write in Latin, which the common people undcrHand not ; that what they hold may be difcuffld among the learned only. We fr.fTtT the Idolatrous books of Papifts, without this f' ar, to be fold and read as common as our own why not niueh rather of Anabaptifts, Arians, Arminians, and So- cinians? There is no learned man but will confefs he hath much profited by reading controverfies, his fenfes awak'-ned, his judgement (liarpcned, and the truth which he holds, more fi-mly eftabliflied. If then it be profitable for him to read, why diould it not, at leaft, be tolerable and free for his adverfary to write? in Logick, they teach, that contraries laid-togetbcr more evidently ,.' appear i N. B. 429 appear; it follows then, lliat, all controverfv being pcr- uiilted, tdUhood will appear the more falfe, and truth the more true ; which niufl necda conduce much, not A vicioun only to the confounding of Popery, but to ihc gcntiral I'.ted'lhpose* confirmation of unimplicit truth, tr.c:n to inii The laft means to avoid Popery, i to amend our lives. It is a general complaint that this Nation, of late years, is grown more iiumeroudy aad excellivcly vicious than hercc )rore; pride, luxury, drunkennels, whoredom, curfing, fwearing, bold and open atheifm, every-where abounding: where thefe grow, no wonder if Popery alfo grow A-pace. There is no man fo wicked, but fometimes his ronfcience will wrinjj him with thoughts of another world, and the peril of his foul ; the trouble and melanchoK which he conceives of true repentance and amendment he endures not, but inclines rather to fome carnal fuperftition, which may pacify and lull his confcience with fome more pleafing doc- N. li. trine. None more ready and officious to offer herfelf than the Romifti, and opens wide her office, with all her faculties, to receive him ; eafy confefiion, eafy abfolution, pardons, indulgences, malfcs for him both quick and dead, Agnus Dei's, reliques, and the like: and he, inftead of " working-out his falvation with fear and trembling," ftrait thinks in his heart (like another kind of fool than he in the pfalms) to bribe God as a corrupt Judge; and by his piodtor, fume prieft, or fryer, to buy-out his peace with money, which he cannot with his repentance. For God, when men (in outragioufly, and will not be admoniflied, gives-over chaftizing them, perhaps, by peftilence, fire, fwcrd, or famine, which may all turn to their good, and takes -up his fevered puniflimenls, hardnefs, befotlednefs, of heart, and idolatry, to their ftna! per- dition. Idolatry brought the Heathen to heinous ' s trans- N.a, :j.' I 4^0 tranrgrefiions, Rdniw ii. And heinous tranfgreflions oft-times bring the light profeflbrs of true religion, to grofs Idolatry : i Theff. ii. ii, la- " For this caufe God fliall feud them ftrong deiufion that they fliould believe a lye, that they all might be damned who be- lieve not the truth, but had pleafure in unrighteoufnefs." And Ifaiah xliv. 18. fpeaking of Idolaters, " They have not known nor underlkx^l; for he hath (hut their eyes that they cannot fee, and their hearts that they cannot underlland." Let us therefore, ufmg this laft means, (laft here fpokcn-of, but firfttobedone,) amend our lives with all fpeedj left thrv>ugh impenitency we run into that ftupidity, which we now feek all means fo wearily to avoid, tlie worft of fupp.rftitions, and the heavieft of all God's judgements, Popery. By this tra61: on Toleration it appears that Milion, (thouffh a moft powerful and vehement advocate for both Civil and Rdigious Liberty), yet thought that Papifts, from the hoftility of their principles to the members of all other Churches but that of Rome, were not proper objects of Toleration, under a Proteftant Government. How much more would he have been fliocked, if he had been now living, at the opinion that is now adopted by the new Whigs, as they call them- felves, who wifli not only to tolerate them, or permit them to profefs the Popifh Religion, and make ufe of the niafs, and the Popifli facraments in their places of worfliip, (which is properly Toleration,) but to make them capable of holdingjudicial offices:md acminiftering the laws of England in our Courts of Judicature, and of commanding our Navies and Armies. This they call CathoUck Emancipation ; but I (hould think it ought rather to be called Catholick Exaltation^