Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN
 
 r
 
 THE 
 
 TRUE STATE OF THE QUESTION: 
 
 WHETHER ADMISSIBILITY OF 
 
 IIIG3IEB OFFICES OF THE STATE, 
 
 BY THEMSELVES TERMED 
 
 "CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION," 
 
 Be compatible with the principles of 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION? 
 
 BY JOSEPH SPEARING, JUN. 
 
 CORK: 
 
 PRINTED BY EDWARDS AND SAVAGE, BOOKSELLERS, CASTLE-STREET- 
 
 1816
 
 THE 
 
 TRUE STATE 
 
 THE QUESTION* 
 
 JL HERE cannot be a more direct contradiction to 
 common sense, nor, it is to be feared, a more convincing 
 proof of depravity of disposition and wilful perversion 
 of the directing light of reason and intellect, than the 
 attempting to confound religion with tenets and practices 
 contrary to its essence. True religion, taught by our 
 Saviour and his apostles, is the directing star to guide 
 our course ; the safe prompter of our thoughts ; the 
 efficient dictator of our actions ; not a cloak to cover our 
 temporal ends ! It awns at the peace and happiness of 
 mankind, not by accommodating itself to men's desires 
 and passions, but by exacting their obedience to its 
 precepts. Strange then is the infatuation which can 
 venture on confounding things eternal with things tem- 
 poral ; light with darkness ; truth with equivocation and 
 falsehood : which can refer to religion, questions with 
 which religion not only has nothing to do, but which it 
 utterly disclaims, 
 
 200G13O
 
 4t THE TRUE STATE 
 
 It lias been of late industriously promulgated, with 
 all the affected pomp of recent discovery, as if it were 
 a proposition, the truth of which had not been recognized 
 and admitted before, that no man ought to be persecuted 
 on account of his religion.. This incontrovertible doc- 
 trine, he who will allow the orators and scribblers of our 
 times the merit of having suggested, must be strangely 
 ignorant of the civil and ecclesiastical history of these 
 kingdoms; of the history of the reformation ; and of the 
 state of civilized society since that period. He who 
 maintains that Romanists are persecuted on account of 
 their religion,* must either strangely abuse his own 
 understanding, if he has any, or connive at whatever 
 may be their purposes. He must see things through a 
 strange perspective, who considers conscience and duty 
 concerned in a grasp at power and rule ; who offers as 
 acceptable service to the God of order and peace,, factious 
 and seditious attempts to overturn existing establishments^ 
 and disturb the peace of society ;. and who brings himself 
 to believe that such tenets and practices are derived 
 from the instructions of the " Prince of Peace j" who 
 V left us an example that we should follow his steps ;'* 
 who declared, that " his kingdom was not of this 
 world ;" who commanded us, in things temporal, to 
 " render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's ;" 
 and who, consulting at once both our happiness and our 
 duty, gave us the best of all possible prescriptions : 
 namely, " content.'* 
 
 It would be irrelevant, therefore, in discussing the 
 present question, on its merits, to consider it as in 
 anywise connected with religion. .Any relation it had 
 to an ecclesiastical question, ceased, on the repeal of 
 the penal statutes. It is to be considered as a civil, and,, 
 if the Romanists please, a political question merely. 
 
 But obvious as it is, from the whole tenor of the 
 scriptures, that this question has really no connection 
 with religion j of which these declarations and instruc- 
 
 * This they have themselves more openly advanced, in proportion as rcsti ictkaia 
 have been removed, and privileges granted.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 tions of our Saviour are, alone, sufficient proof: yet the 
 advocates of the Romish claims have, by illusive and 
 sophisticated representations, succeeded in imposing 
 what is spurious on the uninformed, as genuine ; and 
 they have, thence, entangled those claims with what they 
 have been pleased to call religion. For the more correct, 
 information, therefore, of our abused countrymen, a 
 close analysis becomes vitally necessary. In a faithful 
 endeavour to furnish my readers with this, it would be 
 impossible to fix. the same boundary between the subject, 
 and the system of religion which is brought to enforce it. 
 which reason and revelation have irremoveably placed 
 between it and true religion. It cannot then be expected 
 that I can leave untouched, any tenets, doctrines, decrees, 
 decretals, briefs, bulls, institutions, or rescripts, whicli 
 have had thek views in the usurpation of a temporal 
 empire. I am aware that this publication will be 
 considered invidious ;* but, conscious of intending no 
 reasonable ground of offence to persons or parties, I am 
 determined that it shall be only considered so, by those 
 to whom truth, supported by the united testimonies of 
 all accredited histories, and all authentic documents, 
 would be unwelcome. And even where truth is involved 
 i.u points not exactly relevant to any part of my subject, 
 I shall leave such points untouched, and confine myself 
 to such only as have been found to interfere with human 
 governments. 
 
 I shall assume it to be unnecessary to enter here into 
 a defence of regular and settled governments, to effect 
 the subversion of which, Mr. Paine's Model of Anarchy 
 has been proposed. The alluring, but delusive sophism?; 
 of this writer, and of his industrious followers, in the 
 cause of disorder and mischief, however well calculated 
 they may be to attract the ignorant and inexperienced, and 
 to attach their feeble aid to the nefarious confederacy of 
 the designing, the profligate, and the abandoned, are too- 
 obvious to the wise, the learned, and the truly patriotic, 
 to require serious confutation. 
 
 The proposition, then, granted, that governments are 
 useful, in promoting among men in all nations, peace and
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 good order, with their inseparable concomitant, security; 
 the next consideration is, as far as it may be distinctly 
 applicable te the present question, the particular consti- 
 tution of the British government. 
 
 Of this constitution, the connection in church and 
 state is inseparable, and forms the cement and safeguard. 
 From it the inestimable blessings we possess, of civil 
 and religious liberty, are derived. The just and equal 
 laws which form its parts, and are only a terror 
 to evil doers; which secure the lives, properties, and 
 liberties of all loyal and peaceable subjects, of every rank 
 and order, and of whatever religious persuasion ; Avhich 
 protect the good, repress the bad, and promote the true, 
 rational, and lawful "rights of man," in civilized society, 
 under " powers ordained of God j" have been long the 
 envy of all surrounding nations. These are blessings 
 which must excite in all hearts, the generous emotions of 
 true religion, virtue, and legitimate liberality ; the most 
 iirm loyalty, and unequivocal affection to the illustrious 
 monarch who wields the sceptre ; and to the King of 
 kings, and Sovereign Disposer of all things, the most 
 humble and dutiful acknowledgments of the stupendous 
 blessings which he has graciously and mercifully dis- 
 pensed to us. 
 
 But, arduous were the struggles which preceded the 
 attainment of this happy settlement, and glorious bulwark 
 of our rights and liberties dreadful the cruelties which 
 our ancestors suffered under the usurpation of the bishops 
 of Rome and their infatuated clergy ; and great and 
 watchful should be the care, as are momentous and 
 paramount the duty and the trust, in handing down 
 unimpaired to our posterity, a possession, without which 
 all other possessions would be unstable as water, and 
 fleeting as the wind. They would soon become the easy 
 prey of avarice, hypocrisy, pious fraud, and lust of 
 power ; qualities quite opposite to those with which our 
 Divine Master instructs us to perfect ourselves. This 
 constitution also secures to us a privilege above all earthly 
 possessions, and every other blessing a privilege from 
 which our ancestors had been prohibited, under the
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 7 
 
 Romish jurisdiction, namely, the study of, and instruction 
 in, the sacred scriptures ; which alone contain the words 
 of, and road to, eternal life. Exclusion is threatened, 
 in the concluding sentences of the book of Revelations, 
 to him who shall add to, or take from, the doctrines 
 delivered in holy writ. 
 
 That every government should contain the principles 
 of its own security, is an axiom that has been admitted 
 by every writer on the subject, of any consideration ; and 
 this has been acted on in all ages and nations. Indeed 
 this axiom is so obviously self-evident, that a government 
 that did not contain the principles of its own security, 
 would be a government no longer ; or, in other words, 
 a government that admitted within its pale, or powers 
 and privileges of jurisdiction, materials discordant and 
 inimical to it, must inevitably be subverted. And surely 
 to no government is this axiom more applicable in theory, 
 nor its strict observance in practice more justifiable, than 
 to the British ; which affords every liberty to every indivi- 
 dual, except the liberty of doing mischief; and therefore 
 approximates more eminently than that of any other 
 nation on the earth, to the laws of Him, whose service 
 is perfect freedom. 
 
 But, as " the extirpation of heresy, and the exaltation 
 of the catholic church," and attachment to the British 
 constitution, are principles as diametrically opposite as 
 can be well conceived, by any reasoning mind, I shall 
 leave to those who religiously hold the former, and assert 
 that they hold the latter, to reduce them to accordance. 
 
 A corollary of the foregoing axiom is, that a govern- 
 ment cannot admit, with safety to its existence, those 
 who hold opposite opinions to any part of its jurisdiction 
 or powers ; nor are they capable of exercising such. To 
 administer the powers and duties of the constitution and 
 government, as lie finds them, not as he wills them, is 
 the paramount duty of him who serves under, not rules 
 over, the constitution that entrusts him. And, as the 
 most requisite qualification for any service, is an attach, 
 merit to llie interests of that service ; and as it is incon- 
 sistent with the nature of efficient government, to suppose
 
 8 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 that these powers and duties would be adequately and 
 faithfully administered by him whose religious prejudices 
 .are against it : it is utterly inconceivable how, by any 
 legitimate process of reasoning, the anomaly can be 
 reconciled, that those who are inimical to a government, 
 could accept of places under it. But as this is a difficulty 
 which can be only solved by those who are masters of the 
 new logick ; to them I shall leave it, and hasten to a con- 
 clusion much more material, and indeed inevitable : that 
 as a government cannot, with safety, so it ought not, in 
 duty, admit those who hold contrary tenets, either civil 
 .or religious, to the exercise of any of its functions. For 
 to what end would the efforts of inimical persons be 
 directed ? Certainly not to the conservation and safety 
 of the government, with the principles of which they 
 disagreed, but rather to its subversion. If this were 
 not the consequence of their admission, what would the 
 experiment prove ? What, but that they were hypocrites ; 
 and, in the case of the discordance being religious, that 
 they possessed no sincere principles of religion at all. And 
 here they would be equally unfit to be trusted. If they 
 sincerely believed their own to be the true religion, and 
 that of the state to be " a dangerous novelty ;" " a 
 heresy which commenced in the reign of King Henry the 
 eighth, and is still continued ;** they could neither, d'e 
 facto, serve, nor, dejure, be employed by, the govern- 
 ment which held this "dangerous novelty.'* They would, 
 de jacto, endeavour to extirpate this " heresy :" and it' 
 this convey, to a reflecting mind, a strange idea of service, 
 the absurdity will appear no less apparent of expecting 
 that the government should, de jure, give them the 
 opportunity of administering such. If, on the other hand> 
 they did not believe that the reformed religion is a heresy, 
 they then must believe that it is not a heresy ; and, I 
 would ask, would the latter belief constitute a dissenter 
 from the reformed church? Is not a belief, that the 
 doctrine of the reformed church is not a heresy, tanta- 
 mount to a belief that it is the true and primaeval doctrine 
 of the scriptures ? And what would this be, but to be 
 essentially what is understood by the term, protestant ?
 
 OP THE QUESTION'. 9 
 
 I shall now proceed to such summary from history, as 
 -will be requisite within the bounds prescribed by the 
 nature of the present treatise: in which I shall endeavour 
 to steer as clear as possible from a theological view, which 
 1 leave for discussion elsewhere, and confine the disqui- 
 sition to a civil and political consideration. And I shall 
 repeat the remark I have already made, that religion 
 utterly disclaims any connection with this question. It 
 is not necessary to any man's eternal salvation, that he fill 
 an office of trust under a temporal government, although 
 it be necessary, if he fill it, that he fill it faithfully. It 
 is not an impairment of a man's religions liberty ; it is 
 not an infringement on a man's acknowledged right of 
 freedom of conscience, as a free agent, subject only to 
 human tribunals for his actions ; it is not persecution on 
 account of religion ; it is not even an interruption to the 
 formal and external acts, to the rites and ceremonies of 
 his religion, be they ever so many or ridiculous, that he 
 enjoy not the possession of, nor possess the eligibility 
 for, an office of state. The possession of this, and, at 
 the same time, of discordant principles, would be 
 irreconcileable with the idea of the existence of tha 
 government, and indeed with any other idea than that of 
 the person himself being an absolute governor. The 
 ineligibility proceeds from, and the eligibility rests with, 
 himself. ISut it is the incessant employment of sub- 
 terfuge, when one ground is found untenable, to remove 
 to another, disputing " inch by inch,'* until none 
 remains; and when the substance is exhausted, per- 
 verted fancy conjures up the shadow. While there is 
 one neutral, or more properly speaking, ignorant person, 
 to be blindfolded, evasive subtilty is unwilling to con- 
 sider its spider's web as vain. What flies before logical 
 analysis is met by sophistry. The question of catholic 
 emancipation, as it is most absurdly termed, after having 
 passed through its probatory transitions, arrives at last, 
 when the ignorant and credulous are thought sufficiently 
 prepared to swallow such nonsense, at the point of 
 ' Dimple repeal ;" and the compatibility of simple repeal 
 with the principles of the British constitution, is tri-
 
 10 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 umphantly promulgated. All laws already repealed, 
 and all restrictions removed from Romanists, which 
 could in the smallest degree militate against the lawful 
 rights of subjects of a free state ; as Romanists, enjoy* 
 ing not only every religious, but every civil liberty, 
 under the protection of a constitution, whose most pro- 
 minent maxim is liberty and property, the constitution 
 must itself be repealed to please them ! Because an 
 impossibility cannot be effected ; because they administer 
 not what they could not and would not, as Romanists, 
 administer, a protestant government ; therefore they 
 are persecuted on account of their religion. Lord 
 Trimleston was reported by the newspapers to have 
 said, in a speech, the 29th of May, 1813, " We have 
 succeeded in proving the principle, that the emanci- 
 pation of the catholics is not incompatible with the safety 
 of the constitution." In proving ! How ? I have 
 not, at least, been able to come at this proof. It does 
 not appear to me that Lord Trimleston gives, in his 
 speech, any proof of this: he gives us only the assertion: 
 nor have I been able to find, or to hear of, in any the 
 smallest part of the pile of rubbish under which the press 
 has groaned, whether in the shape of pamphlets, news- 
 paper commentaries, or printed reports of speeches, any 
 of this proof; and I am left to conclude, that the proof 
 meant, is the assertion itself; a kind of proof analagous 
 to that contained in the fourth resolution of an aggregate 
 meeting in Dublin, the llth of June, 1814, viz. : 
 ' We utterly deny that the catholic board is an unlawful 
 assembly, either within the provisions of the convention 
 act, or otherwise.*' And also similar to the proof 
 afforded of the assertion, that the Romanists are as great 
 slaves as the negroes ; which, no doubt, is proved by 
 tumultuous aggregate meetings, and by the resolutions 
 passed therein, for example, ull the resolutions in that 
 just alluded to. But, if no better proof has been given 
 of the proposition, that " the emancipation of the catholics 
 is not incompatible with the safety of the constitution,'* 
 perhaps it has been, " not because they were unwilling^ 
 but because they were unable" to give such. Nor will
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 1 1 
 
 this convey any imputation on their " talents," when it 
 baffled the laborious researches, and sincere wishes, of 
 the most wise, virtuous, and patriotic statesman that 
 ever existed, Mr. Pitt. If then, this proposition be so 
 difficult, let us try its opposite. With this view, there- 
 fore, I proceed to the historical test. 
 
 The tirst ages of the Christian aera display only accounts 
 of transactions before Christianity was publicly introduced 
 as the religion of states. It is therefore foreign to the 
 -question to detail these ; but it belongs to it to observe, 
 .that the corruptions which, even during these early 
 times, crept into genuine Christianity, paved the way, 
 not only for more ridiculous perversions, and more enor- 
 mous corruptions, in succeeding ages, but also for the 
 erection of that audacious superstructure of temporal 
 power, under the tyrannical usurpation of the bishops of 
 Home, and the iron rule of ignorant and profligate 
 priests, which held the world in chains of darkness, 
 barbarism, cruelty, and vice ; trampled on the civil 
 rights of mankind, and presumed to fetter the liberty 
 with which " Christ has made us free." And it belongs 
 to it also to notice, that in the second century, councils 
 were introduced. The account of the introduction of 
 councils, I shall give in the words of the learned editors 
 of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, for the purpose of help- 
 ing the reader to a clue to his ascertaining the first 
 beginnings of that power, which afterwards subjugated 
 mankind : 
 
 " During a great part of the second century, the 
 churches were independent of each other ; nor were they 
 joined together by association, confederacy, or any other 
 bonds, but those of charity. Each assembly was a little 
 state, governed by its own laws, which were either 
 t-nacted, or at least approved of by the society. But in 
 process of time, all the Christian churches of a province 
 were formed into a large ecclesiastical body ; which, like 
 confederate states, assembled at certain times, in order 
 to deliberate about the common interests of the whole. 
 This institution had its origin among the Greeks ; but in 
 a short time it became universal, and similar assemblies
 
 12 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 were formed in all places where the gospel had been 
 planted. These assemblies, which consisted of the depu- 
 ties, or commissioners from several churches, were 
 called synods by the Greeks, and councils by the Latins; 
 and the laws enacted in these general meetings were 
 called canons, i. e. rules. Councils, of which we find 
 not the smallest trace before the middle of this century, 
 changed the whole face of the church, and gave it a new 
 form ; for by them the ancient privileges of the people 
 were considerably diminished, and the power and autho- 
 rity of the bishops greatly augmented. The humility, 
 indeed, and prudence of these pious prelates, hindered 
 them from assuming all at once the power with which 
 they were afterwards invested. At their first appearance 
 in the general councils, they acknowledged that they 
 were no more than the delegates of their respective 
 churches, and that they acted in the name, and by the 
 appointment of the people. But they soon changed this 
 humble tone ; imperceptibly extended the limits of their 
 authority ; turned their influence into dominion, their 
 councils into laws ; and at length openly asserted, that 
 Christ had employed them to prescribe to his people 
 authoritative rules of faith and manners. Another effect 
 of these councils was, the gradual abolition of that per- 
 fect equality which reigned among all bishops in the 
 primitive times; for the order and decency of these 
 assemblies required, that some one of the provincial 
 bishops, met in council, should be invested with a supe- 
 rior degree of power and authority ; and hence the rights 
 of metropolitans derive their origin. In the mean time, 
 the hounds of the church were enlarged ; the custom of 
 holding councils was followed wherever the sound of the 
 gospel had reached ; and the universal church had now 
 the appearance of one vast republic, formed by a combi- 
 nation of a great number of little states. This occasioned 
 the creation of a new order of ecclesiastics, who were 
 appointed in different parts of the world as heads of the 
 church, and whose office it was to preserve the consist- 
 ence and union of that immense body, whose numbers 
 were so widely dispersed throughout the nations. Such
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 13 
 
 was the nature and office of patriarchs; among whom, 
 at length, ambition, being arrived at its most insolent 
 period, formed a new dignity, investing the bishops of 
 Rome with the title and authority of the prince of the 
 patriarchs." 
 
 So much for the first and gradual a'dvances to that 
 temporal power, usurped afterwards to so vast an extent 
 by those who pretended to be the ministers of Him, who 
 declared that " his kingdom was not of this world." 
 
 The Roman empire was the first place into which 
 Christianity was publicly introduced as the religion of the 
 state, in the reign of Constantine, An. Chr. 324. Pre- 
 vious to this period, the clergy had been more slowly 
 advancing their power, and their advances were less at 
 variance with the scriptures and with reason ; but, from 
 this period, their ambition exceeded all bounds. They 
 threw off all restraint. They endeavoured, by the 
 grossest perversions, to establish their tenets, which were 
 in direct contradiction to the Christian doctrine, as- 
 consistent with it. They omitted no opportunity which 
 presented itself, nor no stratagems to encrease such 
 opportunities, of grasping at the most arbitrary temporal 
 power, and the most enormous riches. The profligacy 
 of their lives and actions began, at length, to keep pace 
 with their unbounded avarice and tyranny. But all this 
 is nothing, compared with the papal power in after ages, 
 when arrived at its zenith ; for the clergy were yet sub- 
 ject to the state ; the bishop of Rome was still a subject 
 to the emperor. 
 
 In the year .'>72, the Emperor Valentinian empowered 1 
 the bishop of Rome to examine and judge other bishops. 
 In a council at Rome, in the year 378, the bishops 
 approved of this law. The lemoval of the seat of em- 
 pire from Rome to Constantinople, presented a material 
 obstacle to the bishop of Rome's encreasing authority, 
 by raising up a rival metropolitan, which ended in the 
 separation of the Greek and Roman churches. 
 
 In the beginning of the seventh century, the supre- 
 macy of the bishop of Rome was thus introduced : 
 Boniface, the third bishop of that name, engaged Phocus,
 
 14* THE TRUE STATE 
 
 then emperor, to take from the bishop of Constantinople 
 the title of aecumenical or universal bishop, arid to confer 
 it upon him. 
 
 In the eighth century, the strides of the Roman see to 
 power became more rapid, from the ignorance and super- 
 stition of the people, and from various other political 
 events, which favoured its encroachments. When the 
 nations hitherto under the dark and barbarous reign of 
 paganism, during which the chief druid, or high priest, 
 possessed unbounded authority, had received the gospel, 
 and embraced Christianity, they proposed conferring 
 upon the bishop of Rome the same authority which their 
 druids had possessed. This the bishop of Rome accepted, 
 and thus he acquired a civil and political power totally 
 unwarranted by holy writ. His decision was held to be 
 infallible; his authority to extend throughout the world. 
 His legates were sent into every kingdom of Europe ; his 
 bulls and decretal epistles became the rule of faith and 
 discipline ; and his judgment was considered the dernier 
 resort. To support this power, excommunication, by 
 the Roman see, of all who did not manifest the most 
 blind and implicit obedience to it, was found a ready 
 engine. Excommunication, in its Christian import, and 
 as it was practised in the primitive church, as an ecclesi- 
 astical censure, was quite of a different nature from that 
 species of excommunication at this period resorted to. 
 New chains were now forged for the people ; new thun- 
 ders, without hesitation or restraint, sent forth. It was 
 maintained that excommunicated persons forfeited not 
 only their civil rights and advantages, as citizens, but 
 even the common claims and privileges of humanity. 
 Hence, in the succeeding pages of history, the most 
 dreadful wars, the most treacherous rebellions, and the 
 most horrid massacres ! In Europe particularly, the 
 destructive effects of this infernal engine were widely 
 and deeply felt. Its diabolical operation dissolved all, 
 even the tenderest connections ; drenched the hands of 
 the infatuated people in each other's blood ; sapped the 
 allegiance of subjects, and committed to the disposal ot 
 the presumptuous and antichristian bishops of Rome, the
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 15 
 
 sceptres of monarchs. To crown the daring impiety, 
 those on whom this anathema was inflicted, were held 
 degraded to the level of beasts ; nay, of devils, for not 
 assenting to, and not complying with, false and sophis- 
 ticated dogmas, directly contradictory to the plain and 
 unequivocal sense of scripture. 
 
 In 751, Pepin, mayor of the palace to Childeric the 
 third, king of France, countenanced by Zachary, the reign, 
 ing pontiff, easily succeeded in dethroning his sovereign, 
 and usurping his crown. This decree was confirmed by 
 Stephen the second, the successor of Zachary, who dis- 
 solved the obligation of the oath of fidelity and allegiance, 
 which Pepin had sworn to his sovereign. 
 
 In the eleventh century, the bishops of Rome were 
 entitled, " masters of the world/* and popes, i. e. " universal 
 fathers;" derived from the Latin papa, father. This 
 audacious and un scriptural power they obtained by the 
 most scandalous and impious stratagems ; and encreased 
 by constantly taking advantage of the civil dissentions 
 which prevailed throughout Italy, France and Germany, 
 until their influence in civil matters arrived to a height 
 which extinguished every vestige of civil liberty. 
 
 " The wisest and most impartial of the Romish writers 
 acknowledge that, from the time of Louis the meek, 
 the ancient rules of ecclesiastical government were gra- 
 dually changed in Europe by the councils and instigations 
 of the church of Rome ; and new laws substituted in 
 their place ; the European princes suffered themselves to 
 be divested of the supreme authority in ecclesiastical 
 matters, which they had derived from Charlemagne ; the 
 power of the bishops was greatly diminished, and even 
 the authority of both provincial and general councils 
 began to decline." [ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNIA.} 
 
 The "popes," to establish the maxim that the bishop of 
 Rome was constituted, by our Saviour, supreme legislator 
 and judge of the church universal, and that the bishops 
 derived all their authority from him, employed some of 
 their most ingenious and zealous partisans in forging 
 conventions, acts of councils, epistles, &c. to make it 
 appear that the bishops of Rome possessed the supremacy
 
 16 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 in the first ages. These impious deceptions, the French 
 bishops endeavoured to oppose ; but, in the state of 
 ignorance and superstition in which Europe was sunk, 
 their efforts were vain. The bishops of Rome, having 
 established this authority, presided in all councils by 
 their legates ; and maintained the pretended rights of 
 the church against the encroachments of princes. Their 
 power, restrained for some time by sovereign princes 
 from usurping in civil matters, and even by the bishops 
 from assuming a spiritual despotism, at last outstepped 
 these limits. From the time of Leo the ninth, they 
 used every artifice which can disgrace the heart, to erect 
 themselves into supreme legislators in the church, and 
 to vest themselves with jurisdiction over both provincial 
 and general councils, and with the sole distribution of 
 benefices. Not satisfied, however, with this, they styled 
 themselves, "lords of the universe;" "kingof kings ;" 
 " arbiters of the fate of kingdoms and empires ;" 
 " supreme rulers over the kings and princes of the earth;" 
 " sole lords and governors both in spirituals and tem- 
 porals." They and their partisans held that, " to him" 
 (i. e. the bishop of Rome) " all power was given in 
 heaven and on earth;" that, " so far from being equal 
 to him, they, and all other bishops, were but his delegates 
 and deputies ;" that, " the power, authority and juris- 
 diction which they enjoyed, were derived to them from 
 the plenitude of his !" that, " all were to be judged by 
 him, but himself by no man;" that, " the greatest 
 monarchs were his slaves and vassals ;" that, " lie was 
 appointed prince over all nations and kingdoms, that his 
 power excelled all powers ; that it was necessary to 
 salvation for every human creature to be subject to him." 
 The following is an aphorism of Innocent the third : 
 ** We, according to the plenitude of our power, have a 
 right to dispense with all right." Cardinal Bellarmine, 
 the great advocate of the Roman see, lays down : 
 " Should the pope enjoin vice, and forbid virtue, the 
 church would sin if she did not believe virtue to be evil 
 and vice to be good." This doctrine was first broached 
 by Cardinal Zabarel. One of the papal canons says,
 
 Or THE QUESTION. 17 
 
 " Should a pope be so wicked as to carry with him innu* 
 merable souls to hell, let no man presume to find fault 
 with him, or reprove him, because he who is to judge 
 all men, is to be judged by none." All true Romanists 
 lay down as a first principle, that " the pope is above all 
 laws ;" that " no law can be binding with respect to him, 
 to whom an unlimited power was granted of loosening 
 and binding whatever he thought fit to loosen and bind." 
 These arbitrary and blasphemous maxims, or rather 
 statutes, were by no means allowed to remain as so much 
 dead letter. That the power they conferred was exercised 
 by the bishops of Rome, the whole tenor of history 
 assures us. They gave away kingdoms, absolved subjects 
 from their oaths of allegiance, and laid, claim to the 
 whole earth as their property: to every nation, whether 
 Christianity prevailed in it, or not. On the .discovery of 
 America and the East Indies, the bishop of Rome granted 
 to the Portuguese a right to all the countries lying 
 eastward; and to the Spaniards all lying westward of 
 Cape Nore, in Africa, which they were able to conquer by 
 force of arms. 
 
 But during this long and dreadful a?ra, which continued 
 until the time of the reformation, there was no stretch 
 of presumption more daring than the sale of indulgences : 
 and this it was which, in the end, produced the reformation. 
 The clergy had plunged deeply in crimes, and had amassed 
 almost all the wealth of Europe. The laity, instructed 
 that they could purchase pardon of their sins for money, 
 unhesitatingly followed their example. Some, indeed, 
 opposed this torrent of wickedness which had nearly 
 overspread tike world, but in vain. The bishops of Rome 
 and the clergy ruled uncontrolled ; and sovereigns, as 
 well as othei-s were, in effect, but their vassals and 
 slaves. The most prominent opposers of this nefarious 
 system had been the Waldenses and Albigenses ; but 
 they had been suppressed : and though some private 
 persons, and some powerful sovereigns, exclaimed loudly 
 aL'.ainst the tyranny of the bishops of Rome and the clergy, 
 and demanded a reformation of the church in its head and 
 members ; yet they did not go sufficient length to produce
 
 1$ THE TRUE STATE 
 
 any good effect, as they did not then entertain a doubt 
 of the supremacy of the bishop of Rome in religious 
 matters, and consequently remained inactive, or looked 
 to Rome, or to a general council, for redress. Until 
 the sixteenth century, these causes contributed to secure 
 the Roman pontiffs in their usurped dominion. 
 
 In the sixteenth century, the glorious epoch arrived, 
 which restored, (not commenced,} the worship of the 
 true God, and Saviour of the World, in the place of the 
 system substituted for it in the middle and latter ages ; 
 which introduced pastors, true witnesses of God's sacred 
 truth, faithfully instructing the people in the long for- 
 gotten doctrines of primaeval times ; in the righteous and 
 long insulted laws of the gospel. In a word, the doctrines 
 preached by Christ himself, by the apostles, and by their 
 successors of the primitive Christians for the first few 
 ages, instead of " vain traditions ;" instead of " teaching 
 for doctrines the commandments of men." 
 
 It would be foreign to my present purpose, to enter 
 into the doctrines of the reformed church, which are 
 ably conveyed in the writings of her divines, and sub- 
 mitted for trial to the only test which is infallible the 
 sacred scriptures. Those who shall impartially, with 
 humility, and for the rule of Kfe, submit to the same 
 trial, " shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God." 
 It wou-kl be equally foreign to my present purpose, to 
 enter into the doctrines of the church of Rome, which 
 are also to be found in the writings of her doctors ; but 
 the restricted glance which I take in this treatise, will, I 
 hope, be found strictly connected with civil consequences. 
 It has been recently an-d publicly promulgated by Doctor 
 Dromgoole, that theprotestant religion is " A DANGEROUS 
 NOVELTY," and that the Romish is " the only road to 
 eternal life." The doctor's speech, among other matter, 
 predictrrrg, that the novelty was falling, and " would 
 leave nothing behind but the memory of the mischiefs 
 which it had created," was received with surprise, both 
 by some Romanists and some protestants ; but whether 
 the surprise was most excited by the uncharitableness of 
 the tenets, or the inadvertency of the prediction, I am
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 19 
 
 totally unable to determine. I firmly believe, that there 
 are many virtuous and honourable members of the 
 Romish and protestant persuasions, whose surprise was 
 unaffected ; but neither could take credit for much eru- 
 dition ; neither could have been deep historians. Every 
 evidence which ecclesiastical history at either side 
 supplies every document the whole tenor of civil his- 
 tory and every testimony of every modern writer and 
 orator, who are considered true Romanists, altogether 
 confirm the accuracy of the doctor's researches. The 
 reformation has been denominated, ever since its happy 
 introduction, by the church of Rome, and all its adhe- 
 rents, " a heresy which commenced in the reign of Henry 
 the eighth, king of England, and is still continued." 
 The same opinion is invariably held now, by all who are 
 allowed to be " competent expounders," or " true 
 members" of the Romish faith, which is pronounced to 
 be " unchanged and unchangeable." 
 
 " The extirpation of heresy, and the exaltation of the 
 catholic church," convey, indeed, in the abstract mean- 
 ing of the words, a sense different from that in which the 
 
 " * 
 
 histories of all nations would tell us the instruction was 
 accepted, wherein the papal power got entrance. If the 
 dreadful massacre oi' St. Bartholomew's day, in France ; 
 the croisades ; the black and infernal practices of the 
 court of inquisition ; the artful wiles and impious frauds 
 of Romish priests, of all orders, but particularly that of 
 the Jesuits, authorised by the bishop of Rome, and pre- 
 sumptuously termed " The company of Jesus ;" be not 
 sufficient, with the powerful auxiliaries of auricular con- 
 fession, supererogation, indulgences, dispensations, 8cc. ; 
 and the more compendious arguments of racks, gibbets, 
 tire, and faggot, when the force of the former was found 
 to fail ; in curing the credulity of any impartial reader, of 
 whatever profession of faith, I refer him to the formal 
 proceedings against John Huss, anil Jerome of Prague, 
 which he will find minutely related in the pages of 
 history. I now proceed to offer the proof in what sense 
 the instruction was accepted, afforded by the histories of 
 Great Britain and Ireland.
 
 2O THE TRUE STATE 
 
 Before the birth of our Saviour, the Britons, like the rest 
 of the world, the Jews only excepted, were gross idolaters. 
 Though the precise time is uncertain, yet all agree that 
 the gospel was -preached in Great Britain soon after our 
 Saviour's death : Theodoret and Eusebius assert, by 
 the apostles ; and it seems credible that St. Paul first 
 preached there. But Christianity having been subse- 
 quently rooted out by persecutions ; Lucius,, a, British 
 king, sent ambassadors to Eleutherius, the twelfth bishop 
 of Rome, An, Chr. 176, to desire him to send over some 
 missionaries to instruct them in the Christian religion. 
 Two ambassadors were sent, who were consecrated 
 bishops. The more general introduction of Christianity 
 into England, however, was by Austen ; who was sent, 
 with forty Benedictine monks, by the then bishop of 
 Rome, Gregory the iirsr, to convert the English, in the 
 reign of Ethelbert, An. Chr. 596. They arrived at the 
 isle of Thanet in 597* But the church now erected, by 
 no means corresponded with that founded by the apostles, 
 which was perfect, without spot or wrinkle. Our idea, 
 therefore, of the church founded by Austen, must be 
 conformable to the general state of the Christian church 
 ut that time. Austen's care was not confined to the 
 conversion of the English only; he undertook to bring 
 the bishops to a conformity with the Roman church, and 
 to make them acknowledge the bishop of Rome's juris- 
 diction. This was not easy. They could not conceive 
 why they should conform to a church at so great a dis- 
 tance, or why they should own the bishop of Rome's 
 authority : and Austen found he could not effect this 
 subjection. He convened a synod in the year 6O2, at 
 which seven British bishops were present, and also 
 Dinoth, abbot of Bangor, and several of his monks. In 
 this synod, he pressed them to submit to the bishop of 
 Rome's authority. Dinoth made him this remarkable 
 answer : 
 
 " You propose to us obedience to the church of Rome. 
 Are you ignorant that we already owe a deference to the 
 church of God, to the bishop of Rome, and to all chris- 
 tians, of love and charity, which obliges us by all possible
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 21 
 
 means, to assist and do them all the good we can ? 
 Other obedience than this, to him you call pope, we 
 know not of, and this we are always ready to pay ; hut 
 for a superior, what need have we to go so far as Rome, 
 when we are governed, under God, by the bishop of 
 Caerlon, who hath authority to take care of our churches 
 and spiritual affairs." 
 
 From this period, until the conquest, the interval is 
 found pregnant with innovations of Itomiah invention : 
 altars ; the mass ; Peter Pence ; invocations of saints, 
 angels, and the Virgin Mary ; the temporary state of pur- 
 gatory, instead of the eternal state of misery denounced 
 by God himself against the workers of iniquity ; the 
 worship of the true God and Saviour of the World, 
 exchanged for the worship of bones of bits of wood 
 said to be of the cross, and of images; immunities of 
 the clergy ; sanctuaries in churches to the most aban- 
 doned criminals who fled to them ; the substance of 
 religion placed in augmenting the riches of the clergy, 
 by donations to the church, instead of an upright and 
 virtuous conduct; the attempts to appease an oflended God 
 by acts of mortification gifts and oblations confidence 
 in the merits of the saints building and ornamenting 
 churches and chapels endowing monasteries, &c. hunt- 
 ing after relics ; pilgrimages ; solitary masses, celebrated 
 by the priest alone, to pray souls out of purgatory, for 
 payment, &c. These Iconfine myself to the bare men- 
 tion of, only as historical occurrences, during the interval 
 between Austen's time, and the conquest; and merely 
 to impress the idea of the immense riches which thr-i' 
 fraud* placed in the hands of the dc-r^y, and the tem- 
 poral power with which they were found to have invested 
 them, of which the minuter pages of history afford ample 
 proofs. 
 
 In the year 1073, Gregory {he seventh, then bishop 
 of Rome, demanded homage of William ihe first, which 
 William refused ; but, in 1071. V the bishop of Home's 
 authority first began to obtain a footing in England. It 
 arrived not, however, to that height, so destructive to 
 religious and civil liberty, \\hich it obtained afterwards
 
 2 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 During the reign of William the first, it was attempted to 
 put in execution in England, a project of the bishop of 
 Rome's, to render the clergy independent of the civil 
 power, and to incorporate them into a society apart, 
 which should be governed by its own laws ; namely, the 
 celibacy of the clergy. Gregory had called a council at 
 Home, wherein the clergy were forbidden to marry. 
 The. Italians, French, Spaniards, and Germans, sub- 
 mitted after long struggles ; but Lanfranc, archbishop of 
 Canterbury, found it more difficult to introduce this in 
 England. He convened a national synod, wherein it was 
 debated ; but he met with strong opposition. Finding 
 lie could not bring the synod to prohibit all the elergy 
 from marrying, he procured, on what pretence is not 
 known, a decree, that all priests who had their cures in 
 cities, should put away their wives ; but they that had 
 benifices in the country, were not so rigorously treated. 
 The synod also- ordained, by Lanfranc's suggestion, that 
 none should be admitted into orders, until they had 
 sworn never to marry. This restraint discouraged many 
 from taking orders ; so that, in a little time, the church 
 was very ill provided with able ministers. It was found 
 necessary, therefore, to abate of strictness in this matter. 
 
 In the reign of William the second, in a contest 
 between him and Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, 
 Anselm asserted his obedience to the bishop of Home. 
 William made him this reply : " Your subjection to 
 Urban is inconsistent with that which you owe to me as 
 my subject." 
 
 Of croisades, which were undertaken in this king's 
 reign, I come now to speak. The first of these was 
 undertaken in the year 1096, by Urban the second, to 
 recover the Holy Land out of the hands of the Saracens ; 
 a project first set on foot by Peter the hermit. Peter the 
 hermit was a French priest, who luid travelled to the 
 Holy Land in pilgrimage, where he was extremely 
 afflicted with the miseries the Christians endured. He- 
 pretended that our Saviour appeared to him in a dream, 
 and commanded him to go and engage the western christ- 
 ians to undertake their deliverance, promising him success.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 23 
 
 As soon as the bishops of Rome possessed themselves 
 of the privilege of publishing a croisade, they drew a 
 consequence from thence, of which they made great use. 
 They pretended that the extirpation of heretics tended as 
 much to the glory of God, as that of inridels- Now, as 
 they assumed to themselves the power of judging what 
 was heresy, the moment any prince offered to make a 
 stand against their encroachments, they presently pro* 
 nounced him heretic, excommunicated him, and published 
 a croisade against him. 
 
 In 1099, the croises took Jerusalem by storm, and put 
 40,000 Saracens to the sword. It would be absurd 
 merely to term dark and superstitious, the most infernal 
 villainy ever invented or perpetrated. The prince o 
 darkness only could have instigated this enormous wick- 
 edness. The Lord of Light and Life declared, that " he 
 came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them." It 
 is, therefore, sufficiently evident, that these atrocities 
 \vere antichristian. I could here enlarge, and, per- 
 haps, without offering material violence to the boundary 
 which I have prescribed to myself, both in the title 
 and substance of this treatise ; but as it may, never- 
 theless, be considered more strictly applicable to 
 confine myself within a temporal view, I shall, there- 
 fore, on what I have stated, dismiss this part of the 
 subject. 
 
 In the reign of Henry the first, Anselm Convened a 
 synod, where he got all the married priests to be excom. 
 municated, although very numerous in England. Not 
 having received opposition from the king in this, he 
 proceeded to a bolder step, in which Henry considered 
 his prerogative more immediately concerned, and opposed 
 him strenuously : this was, to wrest from the king the, 
 investitures of bishops and abbots. Of this contest, I 
 think it apposite to give a particular account. 
 
 At a council at Rome, at which Anselm had been 
 present, it was decreed, that all ecclesiastics, who for 
 the time to come, received the investiture of their beni- 
 fices from the hands of a layman, should be excom- 
 municated.
 
 21- THE TRUE STATE 
 
 After Anselm's return into England, he refused to dd 
 homage to Henry, or to consecrate the bishops that had 
 been invested by the king. This investiture had been a 
 prerogative of the kings of England, since the first ap- 
 pointment of bishops in England. As to the general 
 usage in other nations, it is true, that in ancient times 
 bishops were elected by the clergy and the people of 
 the district or diocese. But, ever since the time of 
 Charlemagne, sovereign princes had enjoyed the right of 
 investitures to bishoprics and abbeys, by the delivery of 
 the ring and crosier, or pastoral staff. Sigibert, of 
 Gemblours, anno 7/3, relates, that Adrian the first, 
 bishop of Rome, at a council of one hundred and fifrv- 
 three bishops and abbots, granted Charlemagne the 
 privilege of electing the bishop of Home, and the right 
 of investitures. Of these, Gregory the seventh was the 
 first that attempted to deprive them, towards the latter 
 end of the eleventh century. The succeeding bishops of 
 Rome pursued his project, with the same earnestness. 
 Contests ensued. Princes declared they would n^ver 
 suffer any persons to take possession of lands held of the 
 crown, but those who had received investiture at their 
 hands. Of the particular usage in England, however, the 
 best law authorities, Coke, Blackstone, &c. lay do\vn 
 investiture as the ancient prerogative of the crown ; 
 which was, in effect, nomination. Justice Blackstone says, 
 " The very nomination to bishoprics, that ancient 
 prerogative of the crown, was wrested from King Henry 
 the first, and afterwards from his successor, King John ; 
 and seemingly indeed conferred on the chapters belong- 
 ing to each ses : but by means of the frequent appeals to 
 Rome, through the intricacy of the laws which regulated 
 canonical elections, was eventually vested in the pope." 
 
 And the law authorities are born out in their statement 
 by history. Austen was appointed to the see of Canter- 
 bury, by King Ethelbert, in the year 5J)8. Throughout 
 the Saxon times, in short, all ecclesiastical dignities came 
 from the crown. But to resume the particulars of this 
 period, anno 1103, Henry, being willing to act with 
 caution, the court of Rome having grown very formidable
 
 OF THE QUESTION. &$ 
 
 by havin* 1 got the better of the emperor, consented that 
 Anselm should send agents to Rome, while he himself 
 despatched ambassadors there, to persuade the bishop of 
 Rome to leave him in possession of his right. Paschal 
 the second sent word that he could not grant the king 
 what had been forbidden by several councils. Henry, 
 resolved to maintain the privilege he had received from 
 his predecessors, commanded Anselm to do him homage, 
 and to consecrate the bishops that he had invested. 
 Anselm made answer, that " he could not obey the king 
 without disobeying the pope, and the decrees of the 
 synod of Rome, to which he had himself given his vote." 
 The king replied, " What's this to me ? Is the synod of 
 Rome to deprive me of the prerogative of my predeces- 
 sors? No! I will never suffer any person who refuses 
 me the security of a subject, to enjoy estates in my 
 dominions :" and then ordered Anselm to do as he re* 
 quired, or to depart tho kingdom. Anselm answered, 
 that "he could do neither; but, would go down to 
 Canterbury and there wait God's good pleasure." The 
 king and the lords of the council were shocked at this 
 answer. After having debated the matter, the lords of 
 the council were of opinion, that the king should not 
 have so great regard for Anselm, or the bishop of Rome, 
 himself, but should drive the one out of his kingdom, and 
 throw off all dependance on the other. The king not 
 wishing to proceed to these extremities, of himself, 
 summoned a general assembly, or parliament. Matters 
 were at last accommodated, between the bishop of Rome, 
 Anselm, and the kinir, upon these terms: the king was 
 to renounce the right of investiture; and the bishop of 
 Rome to give the bishops and abbots leave to do homage 
 to the king for their tcinporalties. Thus did the bishop 
 of Rome succeed, at this period, in depriving the crown 
 of one of it ancient, and hitherto undisputed, prero- 
 gatives. But even this kind of arrangement, the bishop 
 of Rome would not yield to the emperor. 
 
 In the year 11 If), this king, Henry the first, permitted 
 the English bishops to go to a council at Rheims ; order- 
 ing them to hearken to the bishop of Rome's apostolical
 
 26 THE TEUE STATE 
 
 precepts, but to take heed that they brought not back 
 any new inventions of the court of Rome. 
 
 In the year 112o, Honorius the second sent Cardinal 
 De Creme into England, to complete what Lanfranc and 
 Anselm had so well forwarded, the celibacy of the clergy. 
 The cardinal called a. council at Westminster, wherein 
 he strenuously inveighed against the married clergy : 
 among other things, he said it was a horrible crime to 
 rise from the side of a harlot, (meaning thereby a married 
 clergyman's lawful wife,) and then to handle the conse- 
 crated body of Christ. And yet after all his invectives, 
 he was himself caught that night in bed with a common 
 prostitute: but a short time after this, in 1132, concu- 
 bines were regularly allowed to priests! The higher classes 
 were taught to believe, that founding a monastery a little 
 before their death would atone for a life of incontinence, 
 disorder and bloodshed. Hence innumerable abbeys and 
 religious houses were built, and endowed with lands* 
 manors, lordships, and extensive baronies. 
 
 During Stephen's reign, the troubles which happened, 
 the relation of which would be foreign to my purpose, 
 furnished the clergy with a favourable opportunity of 
 raising the mitre above the crown. The court of Rome 
 laid hold of this juncture, to introduce into England new 
 laws, which the English would have opposed at any 
 other time. The canon law was brought into England, 
 in consequence of a dispute between the archbishop of 
 Canterbury and the bishop of Winchester, about the legate- 
 ship. This contest gave the Italian canonists an oppor- 
 tunity to settle in England, and introduce by degrees 
 the study of the canon law in the university of Oxford ; 
 the separation of the ecclesiastical court from the tern- 
 poral; the appointment of its judges by merely spiritual 
 authority, without any interposition from the crown ; the 
 exclusive jurisdiction it claimed over all ecclesiastical 
 persons and causes ; and the prtvtiagium clerical^, or 
 benefit of clergy, which delivered all clerks from any 
 trial or punishment, except before their own tribunal. 
 At the same time was imported the doctrine of appeals 
 to Rome, as a branch of the canon law.
 
 OF THE QUESTIOX. 27 
 
 The clergy, industrious in taking advantage of Stephen's 
 contests with his barons, advanced their pretensions. 
 He attempted to lower their greatness and presumption, 
 which were daily advancing during his reign ; but his 
 troubles were so many, and their practices managed with 
 such artful assiduity, that they got the better of him, 
 and incited a civil war. The bishops had fortified castles j 
 these Stephen seized, and imprisoned the bishops. A 
 synod was called at Winchester, to which the king was 
 summoned, to give an account of his actions. Stephen 
 sent there some lords, with Alberic De Vere, a famous 
 civilian, who demanded, why the king was summoned 
 there ? The bishop of Rome's legate answered, " It 
 was to give his reasons for having imprisoned the bishops 
 and despoiled them of their estates/' Alberic said, that 
 " the prelates had been punished, not as bishops, but as 
 the king's subjects and servants." The bishop of Salis- 
 bury, not relishing that distinction, roundly told him, 
 " that the bishops could not in any respect be looked on as 
 the king's servants." The majority of the synod being 
 of the same opinion, the archbishop of Roan, who thought 
 the episcopal dignity was no ground for an independent 
 power, endeavoured to set them right : he demanded, 
 " Whether they could clearly prove from the canons, 
 that bishops, as such, ought to have fortified castles ? 
 but, added he, supposing you coukl make appear, that 
 you may be possessed of strong holds, without acting 
 contrary to the canons of the church, yet by what right 
 can you refuse to deliver them into the hands of the king, 
 when the kingdom is threatened with invasion ? Is it 
 not the king's business to take care of the safety of the 
 state ? And can subjects refuse to admit him into their 
 fortresses without incurring the guilt of rebellion ?" 
 These arguments had not weight with the bishops. The 
 legate proposed to excommunicate the king, and send 
 deputies to Rome, to lay their case before the bishop of 
 Rome. The lords sent by the king then declared, that 
 if the synod proceeded to excommunicate the king, the 
 bishops would soon have cause to repent of their pro- 
 ceedings j and if any of them took upon them to go to
 
 $5 JTIE TRUE STATE 
 
 Rome, they would find it no easy matter to return. 
 This terrified them into more cautious measures ; but a 
 deputation was sent to thn king, beseeching him to 
 prevent a rupture between the ecclesiastical and civil 
 powers : i. e. to require him to satisfy the clergy, for 
 fear of a rupture. The clergy's faction at length became 
 so strong in numbers, that a civil war ensued. The king, 
 after defending himself with the greatest valour, was at 
 last overpowered. 
 
 In the reign of Henry the second, the contest with 
 Becket is the most remarkable occurrence which bears 
 on the subject. Thomas Becket was the son of a citizen, 
 had been brought up to the church, and had become 
 archdeacon of Canterbury. Having gained the king's 
 good will, he was appointed high chancellor ; in which 
 office he behaved with the utmost pride and haughtiness, 
 to all but the king ; to whose will he appeared to be so 
 entirely devoted, that the king looked upon him as one 
 always ready to sacrifice every thing to his service. A 
 vacancy having happened in the archbishopric of Can- 
 terbury, he therefore urgently recommended him to the 
 clergy, and he was elected and consecrated. As soon as 
 he saw himself fixed in that high station, he sent the 
 great seal to his benefactor, who little expected any such 
 thing. An independent power was what he was driving 
 at. He vigorously espoused the cause of the clergy, 
 which they generally affected to style the cause of God. 
 One of the greatest grievances which the king had pro- 
 posed to redress, was the rcmissness in punishing priests 
 convicted of any crime. The clergy had, by degrees, 
 acquired an absolute power over all that belonged to 
 their body ; for when a clergyman was accused, the 
 matter was tried in the ecclesiastical court, from whence 
 lay no appeal. It was mad-i appear, in the presence of 
 tiie king, that since his accession to the crown there had 
 been above a hundred murders committed in the kingdom 
 by ecclesiastics, of v.hom not one had been punished, 
 even so much as with degradation ! What was still more 
 astonishing, was thnt the bishops gloried in this their 
 indulgence. They wore of opinion, that they could not
 
 01- THE QUESTION. 29 
 
 give surer marks of their zeal for religion, and the service 
 of God, than by maintaining to the utmost of their power 
 these pretended immunities of the clergy, and, conse- 
 quently, all the abuses that sprung from them. 
 
 A case at this time happened : a clergyman of the 
 diocese of Sarum had committed a murder. It was tried 
 in tiie archbishop's court, and it was decreed, that the 
 murderer should be deprived of his benefice, and confined 
 to a monastery. The king warmly expostulated with the 
 archbishop on this sentence. 13ecket received his expos- 
 tnlation as if it had been without ground, and boldly 
 asserted " the immunities of the church, and privileges 
 of the clergy." He affirmed, that " an ecclesiastic ought 
 not to be put to death for any crime whatsoever." Henry 
 replied, that " being appointed by God to cause justice to 
 be done to all his subjects, without distinction, he did not 
 understand why these pretended immunities should screen 
 malefactors, of what order soever, from the punishments 
 they deserved : that there was no probability God should 
 take pleasure in authorizing the crimes of his ministers ; 
 but, on the contrary, that they ought to be punished 
 more severely than laymen. Lastly, he declared, that 
 since the ecclesiastical court was so favourable to clergy* 
 men, his intent was, that heinous crimes, such as murder, 
 robbery, and the like, should be tried in his courts." 
 
 Uecket made answer, " that he would never allow the 
 clergy should be tried any where but in the ecclesiastical 
 courts, where care should be taken to punish them ac- 
 cording to the canons." 
 
 The king then convened the principal lords of the 
 kingdom, spiritual as well as temporal, in order to consult 
 about the means of redressing the grievances that had 
 been introduced into the state. lie endeavoured to 
 make them sensible, that if care was not taken to curb the 
 arrogant prelate, he would at length usurp all the pre- 
 rogatives of the crown, under the pretence of religion. 
 He proposed a regulation, consisting of five articles, 
 which he called the '* Customs of Henry the first." 
 
 1st..." That no one should appeal to Home without 
 the king's consent."
 
 30 THE TRUE STATfi 
 
 2d..."That no prelate should go to Rome, though sum- 
 moned by the bishop of Rome, without the king's leave." 
 
 3d. .."That no immediate vassal of the crown, or king's 
 officer, should be excommunicated or subjected without 
 the king's knowledge." 
 
 4th..." That all clergymen charged with capital crimes, 
 should be tried in the king's courts." 
 
 5th..." That such ecclesiastical affairs as all the nation 
 should be concerned in, as the repairing of churches, 
 tythes, and the like, should be decided in the civil courts." 
 
 These were approved of by the temporal lords ; but 
 the prelates refused to subscribe them. The king, pro- 
 voked, threatened the clergy ; who, terrified, complied. 
 The bishop of Rome, however, refused his sanction, and 
 condemned the articles, as prejudicial to the church, and 
 destructive of her privileges. On which Becket openly 
 declared, " that he repented of having signed the con- 
 stitutions of Clarendon ; and that he thought himself 
 guilty of so heinous a crime in doing it, that he had 
 nothing to trust to for pardon but the pope's mercy." 
 
 The bishop of Rome quickly sent him his pardon, and 
 promised to stand by him. Beckst's opposition then 
 became more violent. He asserted " that the pope having 
 condemned the articles, his sentence was of greater force 
 than all the laws of the land." 
 
 This, however fit to gain the bishop of Rome's favour, 
 could not avail him in the king's courts, where judgment 
 was to be given pursuant to the said articles passed into a 
 law. He was therefore looked upon as a rebel, who had 
 risen up against the authority of the laws; and the 
 king ordered him to be accused of perjury and treason ; 
 for having violated the oath he hud taken to his sovereign, 
 and refused to pay the obedience due to him. He was 
 declared guilty of the perjury, and the sentence for 
 treason was suspended only because it would have affected 
 his life. However, he came on a subsequent occasion 
 into the room where the king and the barons were sitting, 
 with his cross in his hand. The archbishop of York 
 severely reprimanded him for entering in that posture, 
 alter having been found guilty of perjury. He told him,
 
 OF THE QUESTION. Si 
 
 " that coming into the royal presence in that manner, was 
 bidding defiance to the king, and bid him consider that 
 his sovereign's weapon was sharper than his.'* Becket 
 replied : " It was true the king's weapon could kill the 
 body, but his destroyed the soul, and sent it to hell !" 
 This answer, threatening the king with excommunication, 
 so provoked that monarch, that he ordered the barons to 
 pass sentence forthwith on the crime Becket had just 
 then incurred the guilt of, by his presumption. But 
 that same night Becket fled, and was protected by the 
 king of France, and by the bishop of Rome. Henry, 
 incensed, forbad all appeals to Home, and enjoined the 
 magistrates to hang on the spot, as traitors, all persons 
 that should be taken either with the bishop of Rome's or 
 Becket's letters, or mandates, about them, importing the 
 excommunication of any private person, or an interdict 
 upon the kingdom. Becket, in turn, excommunicated 
 all that adhered to the constitutions of Clarendon, and 
 particularly some of the lords of the council, who however 
 made but a jest of his censures. At last he took the 
 liberty to send the king a, threatening letter. In the 
 course of some time after, Becket was murdered by four 
 persons, in the cathedral of Canterbury. The bishop of 
 Rome soon after threatened to excommunicate the king, 
 and put the kingdom under an interdict j but Henry 
 averted the blow. 
 
 In the reign of John, 1200, the archbishopric of 
 Canterbury having become vacant, Innocent the third com- 
 inanded the deputies of the monks, then at his court, to 
 chuse Stephen Langton, an Englishman, then at Rome. 
 The monks, surprised at this unprecedented order, would 
 at first have dispensed with obeying it. They alleged in 
 their vindication, that they were not empowered by their 
 monastery, and, besides, the king's consent was neces- 
 sary ; but the bishop of Rome would no.t hearken to 
 their reasons. He told them, that as deputies, tl>ey 
 were the representatives of the whole monastery, and 
 that the consent of princes was not at all necessary in 
 elections where he was present himself; and he com- 
 manded them, without giving them time to reply, to
 
 82 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 elect Cardinal Langton for their archbishop. The monks, 
 terrified, complied ; and the election was confirmed, and 
 the archbishop consecrated by the bishop of Rome. The 
 suffragan bishops were forbidden by Innocent to have 
 any thing to do, in future, in the election of their metro- 
 politans : and he sent a brief to the king, exhorting him 
 to own Cardinal Langton for archbishop of Canterbury. 
 The king wrote Innocent a sharp letter, complaining of 
 the encroachment on the prerogatives of his crown, and 
 threatening to break off all intercourse with Rome. The 
 bishop of Rome returned an insulting and canting answer 
 on the merits of Langton, and repeated his assertion to 
 the monks, " that the consent of princes was not requi- 
 site at elections made in his presence." His letter was 
 quickly followed by an order to the bishops of London, 
 Ely and Worcester, to persuade the king into submission 
 to the orders of the church ; or if they found him contu- 
 macious, to put the kingdom under an interdict. The 
 bishops obeyed the order, and the king remained inflex- 
 ible. He commanded the three prelates to depart his 
 presence. Langton's brother importuned him, in an 
 insulting manner, to own Langton for archbishop. The 
 king told him it was a strange thing that an Englishman 
 should press him to renounce the prerogatives of his 
 crown : to which Langton instantly replied, that nothing 
 could be done on his behalf, unless he would wholly put 
 himself upon his brother's mercy. 
 
 The three prelates pronounced the sentence of interdict 
 on the whole kingdom, and retired beyond sea. Imme- 
 diately, divine service, the sacraments, except to infants 
 and dying persons, public prayers, and till ecclesiastical 
 rites, ceased. The church-yards were shut up, and the 
 bodies of the dead thrown into ditches, like dogs, without 
 any priest daring, or being willing to assist at the funerals. 
 The people were thus dealt wiih, to the end that it might 
 sow dissention between the king :iml the people, in order 
 to tie up the king's hands from resisting. 
 
 The king confiscated the estates of -all the ecclesiastics 
 who obeyed the interdict, and sent orders to the sheriffs 
 to make inquiry after them, and r\pd them the kingdom.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. S3 
 
 But this could not be generally put in execution without 
 great violence. Some priests, however, of the more 
 zealously devoted to the see of Home, were obliged to 
 fly : and they that stayed behind suffered daily outrages, 
 for which they could rind no redress from the magistrates, 
 who always sent them to " the pope" for justice. Some 
 ecclesiastics administered the sacraments, in spite of the 
 interdict : but as they were incessantly insulted by the 
 zealots, the king ordered the magistrates to hang, on the 
 spot, such as should do them any outrage. Innocent, 
 informed of this, excommunicated all who disobeyed the? 
 interdict, or executed the king's orders. 
 
 The bishop of Rome, perceiving that the interdict, 
 which had continued above a year, produced not the 
 intended effect, at length, in I c 20f), pronounced the 
 sentence of excommunication ; and committed the publi- 
 cation of it to the bishops of London, Ely and Worcester. 
 As these bishops had still a great regard for the king, 
 they did not think fit to obey the orders with that readi- 
 ness Innocent desired. However, the news of the king's 
 excommunication was spread so over the kingdom^ that 
 not a soul was ignorant of it. As the greater part of the 
 nobility still adhered to the king, he, on the opportunity 
 of some commotions in Ireland, levied a large army, 
 which lie led himself into Ireland, in 1IO. Having 
 reduced Ireland, he returned, but still kept up the army, 
 in England. 
 
 These formidable measures, and the inflexibility of the 
 king, Innocent could not bear to see. He sent two 
 nuncios into England, in \ L 2\\, under pretence of being 
 desirous to make peace between the king and-his- clergy,, 
 but real I v to sound the king's intentions. 
 
 The t\vo nuncios so turned the king every way, that 
 at length he yielded so far as to promise he would give 
 the banished ecclesiastics leave to return to their churches; 
 that Langton should be put in possession of the see of 
 Canterbury; and that the church of England should 
 enjoy all the liberties, privileges, and immunities, it pos- 
 sessed in the time of Edward the Confessor. It might be 
 reasonably supposed, that these should have satisfied the
 
 3i THE TRUE STATE 
 
 nuncios. But what the church of Rome calls an accom- 
 modation, is an entire submission to her orders, and a 
 perfect compliance with all her demands. John had to 
 deal with persons of greater cunning than himself ; whose 
 sole aim was to sound him, and make their advantage 
 against himself. When they saw he complied so far, 
 they demanded farther, the restitution of all that had 
 been taken from the ecclesiastics, and full satisfaction 
 for the damages they had sustained upon this controversy. 
 And because he would not agree to this, which, in effect, 
 was impossible, the negociation broke off, and the nuncios 
 returned, after having published the sentence of excom- 
 munication against the king, which the bishops had until 
 then put off; and which, indeed, appears to have been 
 the real business of the nuncios into England. 
 
 Innocent plainly saw by the advances John had made, 
 that he really wanted to get rid of this affair at any rate ; 
 and he formed the project of reaping from the king's 
 inability to make restitution, advantages he never before 
 dreamt of. But these intentions he at present concealed, 
 until he should have reduced the king to cast himself on 
 his mercy. Styling the king's inability to make restitution, 
 rebellion and obstinacy, he published a bull, which 
 absolved John's subjects from their oath of allegiance, 
 and enjoined them, upon pain of excommunication, to 
 refuse him all obedience. 
 
 In 1212, the king of Scotland sent John word of a 
 dangerous conspiracy forming against him in England ; 
 soon after which, distrusting his army, he disbanded them. 
 In the mean time, a council was called by Langton, 
 under the pretence of a petition to the king, to apply a 
 remedy to the calamities of the church of England. 
 The result of the council was, that John being convicted 
 of " rebellion against the holy see," deserved to be 
 deposed, and that " the pope" should place another king 
 over England. Pursuant to this advice, Innocent 
 thundered out the sentence of deposition against king 
 John : after which he empowered Philip, king of France, 
 to put the sentence in execution ; promising him, as a 
 reward, the remission of all his sins, together with the
 
 OP THE QUESTION. 33 
 
 crown of England, to him and his heirs forever, when 
 once he had dethroned him. A few days after, he 
 published a bull, exhorting all Christian princes to help 
 forward, as far as in them lay, this expedition, which 
 was intended purely to revenge the injuries done to the 
 catholic church. In this bull, he took into his protec- 
 tion whomsoever should contribute money, or any other 
 assistance, towards the subduing th-e enemy of the church, 
 and granted them the same privileges with those who 
 visited the holy sepulchre. He wrote also to the great 
 men, knights and warriors of divers nations, to under- 
 take this war, signing themselves with the cross, the 
 same as for that of the Holy Land. 
 
 The king of France accepted this commission, and 
 made vast preparations, while John prepared for his 
 defence. In the mean time, Innocent sent a legate, 
 Pandulph, into England. His public instructions were 
 to endeavour to prevail with king John to submit to the 
 church ; but his private instructions were, to put the 
 finishing stroke to the project he had formed. He passed 
 through France, where he saw Philip's great preparations, 
 and commended his zeal and diligence ; after which he 
 went on to the king of England, at Dover. To him he 
 represented, that his enemy's forces were so numerous, 
 that they were able to conquer England, though the 
 whole people were united for their common defence ; but. 
 that Philip had received, privately, assurances from the 
 chief barons, that instead of opposing his arms, they 
 would assist him to the utmost of their power. This 
 intelligence corresponding with what John had already 
 received, he appeared shocked at it. This was what 
 Pandulph was driving at. He told him " he had but one 
 way to secure himself from the danger : to put himself 
 under the pope's protection." John, placed thus between 
 two precipices equally dangerous, preferred what he 
 considered the least of the two evils, namely, submission 
 to the bishop of Rome : through whose whole design he 
 saw not ; as the legate took care not to iinpart to him, at 
 first, all the conditions which Innocent required. He 
 was satisfied, first, with obliging him to take a solemn
 
 JG THE TRUE STATE 
 
 bath, "that he would obey the pope in all tilings relating 
 to the affair for which he stood excommunicated ; and 
 comply with other articles proposed, relating to resti- 
 tution, &c." This oath having been obtained, the next 
 thing was to explain, to the king's great surprise, a tacit 
 condition involved in it. The legate proceeded plainly 
 to tell him, that " the offences he had committed against 
 God and the church were of so heinous a nature, that 
 they could not be atoned for but by the absolute resig- 
 nation of his crown into the hands of the pope/* He 
 added, " that he could not give him absolution, but upon 
 that condition only." The unfortunate king, compelled 
 by the hard necessity of his affairs, was forced to submit; 
 and the next day, at Dover church, in the presence of a 
 large concourse of people assembled there, took the 
 crown from off his head, and laid it, with the other 
 ensigns of royalty, at the feet of the legate, as Innocent's 
 representative : after which he signed a charter, whereby 
 he resigned England and Ireland. In this charter, he, 
 thenceforward, acknowledged himself a vassal of the 
 14 holy see," and as such, bound himself to pay a thousand 
 marks yearly rent, and that if he, or any of his succes- 
 sors, should refuse to pay the submission due to the 
 holy see, he should forfeit his right to the crown. He 
 then did homage to the bishop of Rome, in the person 
 ofPandulph; who, to shew the grandeur of his master, 
 spurned with his feet the money which the king offered 
 him as a mark of his subjection. The archbishop of 
 Dublin was the only man that had the spirit to protest 
 against these haughty proceedings, but it was to no 
 purpose. The legate kept the crown and sceptre five 
 days, after which he restored them to John, as a singular 
 favour from the holy see. The king became now con- 
 temptible to all his subjects. Pmululph, having finished 
 his business, went away, without having taken off the 
 interdict, or given the king absolution/ However, he 
 forbad Philip to continue his preparations, or prosecute 
 his design, as John had become a dutiful son of the 
 church. With this Philip refused to comply. But, his 
 fleet having been destroyed by the English fleet, he wnv
 
 OP THE QUESTION. 87 
 
 obliged to drop the undertaking* The king received 
 absolution from Langton afterwards, on his renewing his 
 oath of fealty and obedience to Innocent, and of protec- 
 tion to holy church, &c. 
 
 On the league of the barons against the king, in defence 
 of the liberties of the nation, John sent a trusty messen- 
 ger to Innocent, to intreat his assistance. This crafty 
 pontiff, discerning that agreement between the king and 
 liis subjects, on the stable basis of civil liberty, would be 
 fatal to his usurped authority, resolved, by promoting their 
 discord, the more firmly to establish his own rule. To that 
 purpose, without giving the least hint of his knowing the 
 confederacy of the barons, he sent Cardinal Nicholas, 
 bishop of Tivoli, as his legate into England, with a power 
 to take off the interdict, and compose the difference 
 between the kins; and the clergy, concerning restitution. 
 John having offered to nay down 100,000 marks, the 
 legate seemed satisfied : but the bishops rejected his offer. 
 The legate was not displeased at their obstinacy, and he 
 then told the king his orders. He represented to him, 
 " that he could never hope to live in peace until he had 
 put himself entirely under the protection of the apostolic 
 see ; that in order to do it effectually, it was necessary 
 for him to make a second resignation of his crown, the first 
 being liable to so many exceptions. That, afterwards 
 the pope, finding himself indispensably obliged to stand 
 by him, would infallibly free him from all his troubles." 
 
 A second resignation of his crown, John formally made: ' 
 and signed another charter, wherein care was taken tQ 
 supply all the defects of the former. 
 
 The barons perceived that their confederacy was disco, 
 vertd ; that John's resignation was the price of Innocent'-* 
 protection ; anil that nothing was more opposite to their 
 procuring their privileges, than the vassalage to which 
 John had subjected the kingdom. Cardinal Langton also 
 protested a .train st it, and laid hi> protestation ou the altar. 
 Innocent, highly incensed at this, durst not, however, 
 fall on him, lor fear of putting the whole kingdom in 
 commotion, and inducing the. English to join with I.angton 
 iii defence of tiiuu liberties. But, to mortii'v Uie arch
 
 3& THE TRUE STATE 
 
 bishop, he gave his legate power to fill all vacant benefices 
 In England. This power the legate abused most shame- 
 fully ; giving them to Italians ; to his relations and 
 creatures ; and even some to persons yet unborn. 
 Langton appealed to Innocent ; but without effect ; and 
 orders were despatched to the legate to take off the inter- 
 dict, which had lasted six years. 
 
 The differences between the king and his barons having 
 arrived at a threatening height, the king demanded 
 Innocent's assistance. In a letter informing Innocent of 
 the constraint put on him in signing Magna Charta, he 
 meanly desired Innocent to observe that all the articles 
 were encroachments upon the regal power, and conse- 
 quently upon the sovereign lord. Innocent threatened 
 the barons, who made light of his threats. Proceeding 
 in their measures, he excommunicated them; and put 
 their lands, and the city of London, which had sided 
 with them, under an interdict. The barons despised his 
 censures, and alleged, " that it was not the bishop of 
 Rome's business to meddle with temporal affairs, seeing 
 St. Peter had received from Christ none but spiritual 
 power : for which reason it was neither just nor right 
 that Christians should suffer themselves to be swayed by 
 the ambition and avarice of popes." Innocent had the 
 mortification to see his authority trampled on, since the 
 people were against him. 
 
 The result of the contest between the king and the 
 barons, was, the grant of the two celebrated charters of 
 our liberties, Charta de Foresta, and Magna Charla. 
 The former redressed many encroachments of the crown in 
 the exertion of forest law.; and the latter protected every 
 individual of the nation in the free enjoyment of his life, 
 his liberty, and his property, unless declared to be forfeited 
 by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land. 
 
 In the reign of Henry the third, the king and the 
 bj.shop of Rome stood by each other, and, by that means, 
 effected in turn each other's object ; that of extorting 
 money from the English people. By their exactions, 
 which form the most considerable occurrences of this 
 reign, the kingdom was incessantly pillaged.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. , oQ 
 
 The legate had drained the churches and monasteries 
 of immense sums, and then ordered it to be published 
 throughout the kingdom, that he had power not only to 
 absolve from their vow all that had taken the cross, but 
 likewise to oblige them to compound for absolution by 
 money, under pain of excommunication* 
 
 On pretence of securing the peace of the church 
 against the pretended assaults of the emperor, the bishop 
 of Rome required of all the English ecclesiastics, the 
 fifth part of their goods ; and the king promoted this* 
 But the bishops opposing it, the legate and they compro- 
 mised with the substitution of the fifth of their rents. 
 
 Three hundred Italians were promoted to benefices in 
 England by the bishop of Home, who prohibited the 
 conferring of any benefices until the foreigners were 
 provided for. 
 
 At length, the barons resolved to free themselves from 
 the tyranny of the court of Rome. Martin, the nuncio, 
 used his power in such an indiscreet manner that it was 
 not possible to bear it any longer. The barons, who 
 Leheld with regret all the money of the kingdom remitted 
 to Rome, and who were sensible that the clergy never 
 gave way, when the question was to oppose the bishop 
 of Rome, were at last determined to exert themselves to 
 prevent these frequent extortions. After having conferred 
 together, they resolved to act by their own authority.- 
 Accordingly, without waiting any longer for the king's 
 protection, they issued orders to the wardens of the ports 
 to stop all those who should bring any bulls or mandates 
 from Rome. Pursuant to these orders, which were every 
 where obeyed, without regarding whether they w^ere 
 approved by the king, a messenger from Rome was seized 
 with several bulls about him, empowering the nuncio to 
 exact money from the clergy on divers pretences. The 
 nuncio complained to the king, who commanded every 
 thing to be restored which had been taken from him. 
 But the barons presented to the king strong remonstrances 
 upon this occasion, and set before his eyes the great 
 prejudices he did his subjects by countenancing 
 thus the rapines of the court of Rome. For his
 
 4(J THE TRUE STATE 
 
 conviction, they laid before him the true value of the 
 income which the Italian ecclesiastics enjoyed in England, 
 which amounted to above sixty thousand marks yearly ; 
 nn exceeding, at that time, the whole revenues of the 
 crown ! Henry expressed surprise : but, fearing the 
 resentment of the bishop of Koine, was content with 
 giving the barons leave to write to the general council 
 which was then assembled at Lyons, to set before them the 
 intolerable oppressions which England suffered from the 
 court of Rome. 
 
 The barons wrote a letter to the council, containing the 
 grievances of the English. But they resolved at the same 
 time on a more speedy and effectual course. They agreed 
 to meet under pretence of a tournament. This the king 
 forbad : but they did not obey. They met, and the 
 result was : they despatched a knight to the nuncio, who 
 commanded him, in their name, forthwith to depart the 
 kingdom. On the nuncio's demanding "his authority ?** 
 he answered, " the whole nation :" and that in case he 
 stayed three days in England, he should infallibly be cut 
 in pieces. He complained to the king ;. who answering, 
 lie was not able to protect him, he immediately departed. 
 
 The bishop of Rome was enraged 5 and some time after, 
 instead of removing old grievances, he introduced a new 
 one, by claiming the goods of ecclesiastics dying intestate. 
 Fear of an interdict and excommunication obliged the 
 fcing, unwillingly, to submit; which made the bishop of 
 Rome so imperious, that he attempted to impose a tax on 
 such clergymen as resided on their livings, of one-third, 
 and on such as resided not, of half, of their moveables. 
 But this the king effectually opposed. 
 
 A remarkable attempt at temporal and human jurisdic- 
 tion in spiritual concerns, I think it necessary here to 
 relate. IVoin the absolute power which the bishops of 
 Rome claimed over Christians some English bishops were 
 'f opinion that the authority of the clmrch was without 
 pounds^ In this belief, they aimed at extending it over 
 civil affairs, on pretence that there was hardly any case 
 in which religion might not be concerned. The bishop 
 of Lincoln took upon him this year, 12-K5, to make strict
 
 OP THE QUESTION'. -11 
 
 inquiry concerning the life and manners of every particular 
 person in his diocese. To this the king put a stop, by 
 sending a writ to the sheriff, to hinder any person from 
 making inquiry, unless in matrimonial and testamentary 
 causes : which is sufficient evidence of the antiquity of 
 the king's prerogative to grant prohibition ; to stop the 
 the proceedings of bishops in matters not belonging to 
 them. If a man's actions be obnoxious to the laws of the 
 land, then only, and to the civil power only, is he, in 
 temporal matters, responsible : else the very idea of civil 
 liberty would be nugatory ; and hence, would mortals be 
 invested against mortals with that species of authority 
 which belongs only to God ! 
 
 In the year 1256', a fresh and most extraordinary method 
 of plundering the clergy was resorted to by the bishop 
 of Rome. He caused a great many obligatory notes to 
 be drawn up, whereby each bishop in England acknow- 
 ledged himself to have received of such a merchant of 
 Sienna or Florence, or some other place in Italy, the sum 
 of five hundred, six hundred, or seven hundred marks, 
 a-piece, or more, for the occasions of his church, and 
 bound himself to repay it at such a time. Endeavours 
 were used to constrain each bishop to sign one of these 
 notes. The bishops strongly opposing this, the nuncio 
 asserted, "that there was no injustice in what the pope 
 claimed, since as all the churches belonged to him, he could 
 dispose of their incomesas he pleased." The bishops were 
 in the end obliged to comply; the bishop of Rome thus 
 settling it: that the money paid should be deducted out of 
 the tenths which should hereafter be granted to the king-. 
 
 The bishop of Rome, not content with all this plunder, 
 pressed the king for money, and the king was obliged to 
 satisfy him in some measure, by sending him tive thousand 
 marks. Soon after he commanded the bishops to pay 
 the tenths granted to the king, rtnder pain of excommu- 
 nication ; " notwithsanding all objections, all appeals, ami 
 all letters obtained, or to be obtained, to the contrary." 
 
 In the year 1&38, an association was entered into by 
 the barons, iu which the city of London joined. The 
 parliament having assembled at Winchester, passed an
 
 42 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 act for the perpetual banishment of foreigners ; and the 
 incomes of their benefices were forbidden to be sent to 
 them. 
 
 In the early part of Henry's reign, an act was passed 
 confirming the great charter. It provides " that no freeman 
 shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseizedof his freehold, 
 or liberties, or free customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, 
 or condemned at the king's suit, either before the king 
 in his bench, or before any other commissioner or judge, 
 but by lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of 
 the land ; and that to no man shall right or justice be 
 sold, denied, or delayed." With respect to forfeitures 
 arising from alienation in mortmain, it ordains " that it 
 shall not be lawful to give lands to any religious house, 
 and to take the same lands again to hold of the same 
 house ; nor shall any house of religion take the land of 
 any, and lease the same to him of whom he received it : 
 and if any man so give his lands to any religious house, 
 and be convict, the gift shall be void, and the land shall 
 return to the lord of the fee." 
 
 Alienations in mortmain, (dead hands,) are grants to 
 corporations sole or aggregate, ecclesiastical or temporal. 
 But this and the subsequent statutes of mortmain were 
 directed against grants of lands to monasteries and other 
 religious institutions, which, for a considerable time 
 back, had so prevailed, that all the lands of the king- 
 dom were in danger of being swallo\ved up by the 
 rapacity of the clergy, if legislative interference had not 
 been resorted to ; the clergy had been so assiduous in 
 working on the people for this purpose in their last 
 moments. 
 
 When this practice by the clergy, of endeavouring to 
 get all landed, as well as personal property, into their 
 own hands, had been counteracted by parliamentary 
 interposition, curious and subtile were the contrivances 
 of the ecclesiastics in eluding from time to time the laws 
 in being. But successive parliaments zealously pursued 
 them through all their finesses. From new remedies, 
 however, sprung new evasions; until the legislature at 
 lust obtained a decisive victory.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 48 
 
 In the reign of Etlward the first, parliament granted a 
 subsidy or tax to the king. The clergy opposed paying 
 any part of this, under pretence that a bull had been sent 
 the year before to the archbishop of Canterbury, and that 
 the archbishop had kept it by him without making it 
 public: by which all ecclesiastics were expressly forbidden 
 to pay any taxes to secular princes without the consent 
 of the holy see. . The king, on their persisting in their 
 opposition, commanded all the lay fees possessed by the 
 clergy to be seized, and their whole body to be thrown 
 out of the protection of the laws. He ordered all the 
 estates of the archbishop of Canterbury, the first adviser 
 of the clergy's refusal, to be seized, with the revenues of 
 the monasteries of his diocese, and put the management 
 of them into the hands of officers, who left the monks no 
 more than what was necessary for their subsistence. 
 This king's resolution, magnanimity, and wisdom, over- 
 came the clergy. 
 
 In the seventh year of his reign, the statute de religiosls 
 provided " that no person, religious or other whatsoever, 
 should buy, or sell, or receive, under pretence of a gift, 
 or term of years, or any other title whatsoever, or should 
 bv any act or ingenuity appropriate to himself, any lands 
 or tenements in mortmain ; upon pain that the immediate 
 lord of the fee, or, on his default for one year, the lords 
 paramount, and, in default of them all, the king might 
 enter thereon as a forfeiture." 
 
 - In the year 1300, Edward and Boniface the eighth, 
 having both pretensions to Scotland, Boniface sent 
 Edward a bull, alleging " that from old time the kingdom 
 of Scotland has all along appertained, and does now apper- 
 tain, to the church of Rome." In the beginning of the 
 next year, the king called a parliament, in order to consult 
 about the pretensions of Boniface to Scotland, and what 
 answer should be returned to his bull. The parliament 
 being no loss exasperated than the king, a letter was sent 
 to Koine in answer to the bull, signed by all the baron? 
 of the realm, who declared besides, that they had autho- 
 rity to represent the whole community of that kingdom : 
 stating that the crown of England had all along enjoyed
 
 44 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 the right of of sovereignty aver Scotland, and that it was 
 perfectly notorious that Scotland, as to temporals, never 
 belonged to the church of Rome. That, therefore, the 
 parliament would never suffer the king's prerogative to 
 he called in question, or that he should send ambassadors 
 to Rome upon that score, which Boniface had desired, 
 even though the king himself should be willing to carry 
 so far his conh'dence for the holy see. Finally, they 
 desired the bishop of Rome to leave the king and people 
 of England in the enjoyment of their rights, without 
 giving them any disturbance. 
 
 In the thirty-fifth year of Edward's reign, was made 
 the first statute against papal provisions.; being, according 
 to Sir Edward Coke, the foundation of all the subsequent 
 Statutes of premwiire* One of the king's subjects having 
 obtained a bull of excommunication against another, he. 
 ^Ya9 convicted and executed as a, traitor. 
 
 Edward established, confirmed, and settled, the Great 
 Charter and the Charter of Forests. Sir Win. lilackstone 
 observes, " that it is from this period, from the exact 
 observance of Magna Charta, rather than its making or 
 renewal, in the days of his grand father and his father, that 
 the liberty of Englishmen began again to rear its heacj^ 
 which had flourished in the time of the Saxon kings, ami 
 had been infringed since the time of William the first." 
 
 In the fifth year of the reign of Edward the third, an 
 act was passed, providing, " that no man shall be attached 
 by any accusation, nor forejudged of life ov limb, nor his 
 lands, tenements, goods, or chattels, seized into the 
 king's hands, against the form of the great charter, and 
 the law of the land." In the twenty-fifth of his reign, 
 another act provided, " that none "shall be taken by 
 petition or suggestion made to the king, or his council, 
 unless it be by indictment or presentment of lawful people 
 of the same neighbourhood, or by process made by writ 
 original at the common law. And none shall be put out 
 of his franchise or fieehold, unless lie he duly brought to 
 answer, and forejudged by course of law; and if any 
 thing be done to the contrary, it shall be redressed, and 
 bolden for none." The twenty-eighth O f Edward the
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 4-5 
 
 third also enacts, " that no man shall be put out of land 
 or tenement, nor taken, nor imprisoned, nor disinherited, 
 nor put to death, without being brought in answer, by 
 due processs of law." And by the forty-second of 
 Edward the third, no man shall be put to answer with- 
 out presentment before justices, or matter of record, or 
 by due process and writ original, acccording to the old 
 law of the land, and if any thing be done to the contrary, 
 it shall be void in law, and holden for error." And, by 
 chapter the first of this statute, *'the great charter, and 
 the charter of the forests, shall be kept in all points, and 
 if any statute be made to the contrary, it shah 1 be holden 
 for none." 
 
 In Edward the third's reign, 1343, the parliament 
 enacted the statute of provisors ; i. e. an act against those 
 who brought provisions from the court of Rome for bene- 
 fices. Clement the sixth had carried this farther than any 
 of his predecessors. The parliament had complained 
 without effect. Clement, instead of reforming an abuse 
 which conferred all the benefices upon foreigners, had 
 exhorted the king, in a letter, to withdraw the complaints 
 against provisions, which he called an undeniable prero- 
 gative of the holy see. Although the statute now passed, 
 nettled Clement to the last degree, he thought fit to make 
 no noise about it, having been informed that the king and 
 parliament had resolved to stand by what they had done, 
 and to contemn any censures he might issue, This is \vhat 
 was called the statute of premunire. This, and other 
 statutes passed in his reign, enact severally, ' that the 
 court of Rome shall not present or collate to any bishop* 
 ric or living in England; that whoever disturbs any patron 
 in the presentation to a living, by virtue of a papal provi- 
 sion, such provisor shall pay fine and ransom to the king 
 at his will, and be imprisoned until he renounces such 
 provision : and the same punishment is inflicted on such 
 as cite the king, or any of his subjects, to answer in the 
 court of Rome." When Urban the fiilh attempted to 
 to revive the vassalage and annual rent to which King- 
 John had subjected the kingdom, it was unanimously 
 agreed by all the estates of the realm, in parliament
 
 46 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 assembled, fortieth of Edward the third, " that King 
 John's donation was null and void, being without the 
 concurrence of parliament, and contrary to his coronation 
 oath :" and ali the temporal nobility and commoners 
 engaged, that if the bishop of Rome should endeavour, 
 by process or otherwise, to maintain these usurpations, 
 they would resist and withstand him to the utmost of 
 their power. 
 
 Jn this king's reign, in the year 1377, the celebrated 
 John Wickliffe, doctor of divinity in the university of 
 Oxford, began to publish his belief; which was the first 
 origin of that reformation so generally advanced after- 
 wards by Luther in the reign of Henry the eighth. 
 
 In the reign of Richard the second, 1380, the parlia- 
 ment passed an act against foreign ecclesiastics, rendering 
 them incapable of holding any benefice in England : and 
 another act forbidding all the king's subjects, on severe 
 penalties, to farm benefices conferred on aliens by the 
 court of Rome. And, in consequence of a petition 
 from the parliament to the king, all foreign monks were 
 expelled, for fear they should instil into the English, 
 notions repugnant to the good of the state. 
 
 In 1382, in consequence of a petition from the com- 
 mons, the king revoked the grant empowering the bishops 
 to imprison heretic?. 
 
 In 1S91, the parliament revived the statute of Edward 
 the third, and confirmed it, making it high treason to 
 bring into the kingdom provisions from the court of Rome, 
 without the king's license. On this, a nuncio was sent 
 into England, who threatened extreme measures : but 
 his menaces were disregarded. 
 
 The fifteenth of Richard the second recites, "that of late 
 some spiritual persons have entered into hinds adjoining 
 to their churches, and of the same, by sufferance of tin- 
 tenants, have made church yards, and, by bulls of the 
 bishop of Rome, have hallowed the same, without license 
 of the king and of the lords ;" and therefore declares, 
 " that it is within the statute of mortmain, seventh of 
 Edward the first :" and " that no purchase shall be made 
 so as spiritual persons shall take the profits, upon pain of
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 47 
 
 forfeiture; and the statute shall be kept of all lands, 
 advowsons, and other possessions, to be purchased to the 
 use of guilds or fraternities." This appropriation of lands, 
 under the pretence of church yards, was one of the modes 
 by which the clergy endeavoured to elude the former 
 statutes of mortmain. 
 
 In 1395, the Lollards had made instances in parliament, 
 to set on foot a reformation of the church. They deli- 
 vered a remonstrance into the house against the corrup- 
 tions of the church, containing twelve articles. The 
 king tried to suppress this sect, and compelled Sir Richard 
 Story publicly to abjure their doctrine, threatening to 
 punish him with death if ever he returned to it. 
 
 WicklifFe had written against the bishop of Rome's 
 exactions, and the corruptions of religion ; had exposed 
 the impositions of the mendicant friars ; and had, in the 
 reign of Edward the third, published a defence of his 
 sovereign against the bishop of Rome, who claimed 
 homage similar to that of King John. Continuing to 
 oppose the papal authority, in 1377* a bull was sent to 
 the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of London, 
 ordering them to secure this arch heretic, and lay him in 
 irons ; a letter to the king, requesting him to favour the 
 bishops in the prosecution ; and a bull to Oxford, com- 
 manding the university to give him up. Before these 
 documents reached England, Edward the third was dead ; 
 and Wickliffe, protected by John, duke of Lancaster, 
 uncle to Richard the second, favoured by the queen 
 mother, and supported by the citizens of London, eluded 
 the persecution of Gregory the ninth, who died in 1378. 
 Soon after, he presented to the parliament a remonstrance 
 against the tyranny of Rome ; wrote against the papal 
 supremacy and infallibility ; and published a book on the 
 truth of the scriptures, to prepare the way for an English 
 translation of them. After his death, the followers of 
 his doctrine, whose numbers had been considerable in his 
 life time, increased prodigiously, which materially paved 
 the way for the important results which were effected 
 afterwards by Luther's writings, in the reign of Henry 
 tlje eighth, They began to separate from the church of
 
 48 THE tnU STATE 
 
 Rome in 1389, &ml to appoint priests from among them- 
 selves to perform divine service. They were called 
 Lollards, from a sect which had arisen before WicklihVs 
 time, in Germany ; so denominated from Walter Lollard, 
 who, in 1315, began to publish doctrines opposite to 
 those of Rome, and was arrested at Cologne, by order of 
 the inquisition, tried for heresy, and burned in 1322. 
 
 Of the inquisition, or " holy oflice," as it is termed, 
 it "will, perhaps, here be considered apposite to furnish 
 the reader with a compressed account. Its origin is 
 discernible in a council at Verona, in 1181, when Lucius, 
 bishop of Rome, ordered the bishops to get information 
 of persons suspected of heresy ; and distinguished the 
 several degrees of suspected, convicted, penitent, relapsed, 
 &c. In the year 1206, Dominic de Gusman, founder of 
 the Dominican order of monks, preached with great 
 furv against the Vaudois, and Albisrenses, against whom 
 
 J O <J O 
 
 Innocent the third had ordered a croisade. An unre- 
 lenting persecution commenced against them ; which, in 
 1209, increased to such fury, that the most dreadful and 
 exterminating war was raised against them, which conti- 
 nued for. twenty years from that period, until they were 
 suppressed. By Dominic, in the city of Thoulouse, and 
 province of Languedoc, in France, the first inquisition 
 was erected : which institution was confirmed by Innocent 
 the third, in the council of Lateran, in 1215. * But, in a 
 council held at Thoulouse, in 1229, the bishop of Rome's 
 legate presiding, a council of inquisitors was erected in 
 every city, consisting of one priest and three laymen. 
 This Council was superseded in 1233, by Gregory the 
 ninth, who commissioned the Dominicans to discover 
 and bring to judgment the heretics lurking in France. 
 'flie Dominicans, thus constituted inquisitors of " here- 
 tical pravjty," executed their commission with zeal arid 
 perseverance. In process of time, the inquisition made 
 its way into other countries, although not every where 
 with the same success. The Roman pontiffs persuaded 
 the European princes, particularly the emperor, Frederick 
 the second, and Lewis the ninth, king of France, not only 
 to enact the most barbarous laws against heretics, and ta
 
 OF. THE QUESTION. 4 
 
 commit to tire flames those who were pronounced such 
 bv the inquisitors, but also to maintain the inquisitors in 
 their office, and grant them their protection in the most 
 open and solemn manner. Innocent the fourth erected 
 a perpetual tribunal of inquisitors ; which, depending on 
 himself, he introduced into various states. In 1251, the 
 inquisition was established in Italy ; and in 12.55, in 
 France. But the barbarous massacres of reputed heretics, 
 caused universal detestation of this infernal tribunal to 
 pervade these countries. In France and Germany, its 
 reign proved very short. In Spain and Portugal, it has 
 raged with the most shocking, diabolical cruelty ; of the 
 process of which I shall give a description. But as it was 
 not introduced into these countries, until a period subse- 
 quent to that at which I am arrived in my historical 
 relation, I shall defer this account to its proper order of 
 time. But before I proceed with my succeeding matter, 
 it will be applicable to give some description of the order 
 of Dominicans ; the principal agents in the inhuman and 
 antichristian inquisition. This order was itself founded 
 in 120(>, and is diffused throughout most countries. It has 
 forty-five provinces, and twelve particular congregations, 
 or reforms, governed by vicars-general; the whole subject 
 to a general, who resides at Rome. Of all the monastic 
 orders, none enjoyed a higher degree of power and autho- 
 rity than the Dominican friars ; whose credit was great, 
 and influence universal. But the measures they used to 
 extend their authority, were so perfidious and cruel, that 
 their influence began to decline towards the beginning of 
 the sixteenth century. Their incessant employment was, 
 stigmatizing pious and learned men with heresy; encroach- 
 ing on the rights and properties of others, to augment 
 their possessions; and laying the most iniquitous snares 
 and stratagems for the destruction of their adversaries. 
 The papal see never had more active and useful abettors 
 than this order, and that of the Jesuits, instituted after- 
 wards. The first Dominican monastery in England, wan 
 founded at Oxford, in l'ji.'l. But I return to my relation. 
 The Wickliffites, or Lollards, as they were called, 
 were persecuted by Henry the fourth ; who, in the com- 
 
 D
 
 50 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 mencement of his reign, promised the clergy to join with 
 them in measures to extirpate heresy, and punish obsti- 
 nate heretics. This was highly pleasing to the clergy, 
 who feared a reformation, as hurtful to their temporal 
 interests. Nevertheless, in 1401, the statute of premunire 
 was confirmed and enlarged. By premunire is meant 
 either the statute itself, or the penalty annexed to it. It 
 chiefly regards offences committed in matters ecclesi- 
 astical, wherein the civil jurisdiction is concerned. But 
 though the king did not refuse assent to the new statute, 
 he connived at the breach of it more than any of his pre- 
 decessors. To ingratiate himself with the clergy, he 
 recommended zealously to the parliament, the concerns 
 of the church. The power of the court, and the cabals 
 of the clergy, overcame the reluctance of the house of 
 commons, and an act was passed, 14-01, for the burning 
 of obstinate heretics. William Sawtre, parish priest of 
 St. Osith, in London, was the first English martyr, under 
 this diabolical act. He was burned alive by virtue of the 
 king's " ttrif de heretico comburendo" directed to the 
 mayor of London. Notwithstanding the seventy of per- 
 sedition in this reign, the followers of Wickliffe's doctrine 
 increased continually ; which made the bishops obtain 
 from the king, 1409, an order to Oxford university to 
 meet in convocation ; in which Wickliffe's books were con- 
 demned, and the members forbidden to preach or teach 
 the doctrine therein contained, on pain of degradation. 
 
 In 1410, the commons presented two petitions to the 
 king ; one against the clergy, stating that they made an 
 ill use of their riches, which they laid out in a very diffe- 
 rent manner from the intent of the donors : and that it 
 was necessary to lessen them, by which the poor could be 
 more amply provided for, &c. : the other, praying, that 
 the statute enacted against the Lollards might be repealed 
 r altered. Both these the king rejected, and had the 
 inhumanity to add, that he wished rather the rigour of 
 the statute against the Lollards was heightened, that 
 heresy might be entirely rooted out of the kingdom. He 
 had the bigotry and injustice also to reject another 
 petition from the commons, requiring that clerks con-
 
 victed of any crime, should not be tried in the ecclesiastical 
 courts ; a point which Henry the second, and his peers, 
 had formerly disputed so vigorously with Alexander the 
 third. To let the commons see how far he was from 
 countenancing them, he signed a warrant for the imme- 
 diate burning of one Thomas Badby ; who firmly refused 
 the offer of his life, on condition of recanting, and in the 
 most heroic manner suffered a glorious martyrdom. This 
 execution the commons looked on as an insult ; and when 
 the king required a subsidy, the bill was resolutely thrown 
 out. 
 
 In the first year of Henry the fifth, the clergy, in convo- 
 cation, resolved, that there was no way of rooting out 
 the Lollard heresy, unless care was taken to inflict exem- 
 plary punishments on its principal abettors ; of whom, the 
 most considerable and dangerous was Sir John Oldcastle, 
 baron of Cobham ; who, as a terror to the sect, should 
 be taken to task, and an action entered against him for 
 heresy. Henry giving way to the clergy, Sir John was 
 committed to the Tower, condemned as a heretic, deli- 
 vered over to the secular power, and would have been 
 then put to death, if he had not escaped to Wales, where 
 he concealed himself. In three years afterwards, 14lC, 
 while the king was in France, he was, by the infernal 
 machinations of the clergy, seized, brought to London, 
 hung by the middle with a chain, and burned alive for 
 heresy, amidst the curses and imprecations of the priests 
 and monks, who even laboured to prevent the people 
 from praying for him. 
 
 In this reign, the persecution of the Lollards became 
 very severe, under the influence of the clergy, and num- 
 bers of them were burned alive. 
 
 In the year 1421, however, the king issued a procla- 
 mation, prohibiting the admitting into benefices any 
 ecclesiastics, uporr the bishop of Koine's provisions, con- 
 irary to the rights of the patrons. This was a mortal 
 blow to the court of Rome, to which the clause non 
 obstante, so frequently made use of by the bishops of 
 Koine, became unserviceable at least, with regard to the 
 collation of the buuciices. And in Henry the fifth'*
 
 *f> THE TIIUE STATE 
 
 reign, the alien priories, or abbeys for foreign monks, 
 were suppressed, and their lands given to the crown. 
 
 Edward the fourth, in 1462, to gain the clergy to his 
 interests, amidst the contending interests of the houses 
 of York and Lancaster, granted them a favour which 
 none of his predecessors had ever done willingly, except 
 Henrv the fourth : That all ecclesiastical persons 
 indicted for any crime, should be tried in the eccle- 
 siastical court, without the king's judges having any 
 thing to do in the matter. By the same charter, he 
 screened the clergy from the penalties of the statutes of 
 provisoes and premunire, passed in the reign of Richard 
 the second. 
 
 Except a bull from the bishop of Rome, in the reign 
 of Henry the seventh, containing a dispensation for his 
 marriage with Edward the fourth's sister, and declaring, 
 " that he confirmed the act of parliament touching King 
 Henry's title, and the succession of his children, support- 
 ing by his apostolical authority, all defects that might 
 in any way occur therein :" I find nothing, until the 
 reign of Henry the eighth, sufficiently material to the 
 question in which I am engaged, to require particular or 
 lengthened detail; it being my intention to use brevity 
 wherever I can, consistently with the nature of the 
 subject. 
 
 Of the intermediate time, therefore, it will be suffi- 
 cient to observe, that the corruptions of the church of 
 Rome, and of the clergy, with infatuated coincidence, 
 kept pace with the light which had been breaking in on 
 many parts of Europe. In England, the Lollards had 
 continued to increase daily : ami although, during 
 this period before Henry's reign, the reformed doctrine 
 of those sometimes termed Lollards, and sometimes 
 ^Vickliffites, was not yet embraced by the majority of the 
 English people ; yet the majority was very considerable 
 indeed, who were loud in opposing the usurpations and 
 exactions of the court of Rome, and the clergv. They 
 liad complained of appeals to Rome ; of citations to 
 Rome, caused by appeals, productive of heavy expenses, 
 and incessant fatigue and difficulty ; of the usurpation of
 
 OF THE QUESTION. <5S 
 
 the collation of preferments, by the bishop of Rome, 
 contrary to the rights of the king, the chapters, and 
 the patrons ; of provisions, granting benefices before a 
 vacancy ; and that such provisions were granted to 
 foreigners ; of the frequent taxes imposed by the bishops 
 of Rome on the clergy, under colour of croisades, and 
 the necessities of the holy see ; of legates and nuncios, 
 whom the people were obliged to maintain at a great 
 expense ; of the bishops of Rome having got the first 
 fruits of all the benefices ; of Peter pence ; of King 
 John's tribute ; of the continual encroachments of the 
 clergy on the prerogatives of the crown ; of the clergy 
 extending their jurisdiction to civil matters, under pre- 
 tence, that there is nothing but what religion may be 
 concerned in ; and of the ecclesiastics being always 
 ready to side with the bishop of Rome, as if he were their 
 only sovereign, instead of standing by the rights and 
 prerogatives of the crown. 
 
 The inquisition in Spain was erected, also, in this 
 interval. It was first introduced into Spain in 14,78 ; but 
 the first inquisitor-general, and the supreme council of 
 the inquisition, were not fixed until 14-83. The inquisitor- 
 general, who directs and governs it, is appointed by the 
 king, and confirmed by the bishop of Rome. It assumes 
 power to name particular inquisitors in everyplace where 
 there is any tribunal of the inquisition. The king, before 
 his coronation, subjects himself and all his dominions, by 
 a special oath, to the "most holy tribunal of the inquisi- 
 tion." The inquisitors derive their power from the bishop 
 of Rome. Confiscation of goods is inflicted on all who 
 are convicted of heresy, or confess, whether they repent 
 or persist in their heresy, because they are declared to 
 incur the punishment, ipsojure, as soon as they fall into 
 heresy ; also disinheriting their children ; infamy, ex- 
 cluding from public offices, bearing witness, &c. ; loss oi* 
 dominion of parents over children, masters over servants, 
 magistrates and princes over subjects, &c. ; excommuni- 
 cation, depriving from public protection, and benefit of 
 law; and any person may plunder or kill such heretics; 
 nor is it lawful for any to undertake their defence; those
 
 54 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 pleading for them are pronounced infamous, and sus- 
 pended from office; and finally death, by burning alive, 
 in some cases heightened by being gagged with an iron 
 instrument, so that in the midst of their torments they 
 can only utter an inarticulate sound. 
 
 In its proceedings, which are conducted with the pro- 
 foundest silence and secrecy, the inquisition affects to 
 inspire terror and amazement ; and the efforts of priest- 
 craft are attended, in its power over the debased and 
 enslaved population of Spain, with complete success. 
 The people stand so much in fear of the inquisition, that 
 husbands, parents, &c., deliver up their wives, children, 
 &c., without daring to murmur. When a person is seized, 
 all the world abandons him ; not the nearest friend dares 
 to speak a word in his defence ; that alone would be 
 enough to render him suspected of heresy, and would 
 bring him within the claws of the inquisition ; nay, the 
 nearest relations are bribed and constrained to 'accuse 
 one another. The criminals are seized, examined, tor- 
 tured, and, unless they recant, are even condemned and 
 executed, without ever seeing or knowing their accusers; 
 whence the revengeful derive opportunity of wreaking 
 their malice on their enemies. By the forms of the 
 inquisition, a person defamed only for heresy is obliged 
 to make a canonical purgation, i. e. to purge himself with 
 seven compurgators ; if he fails in which, he is accounted 
 guilty. If two witnesses testify of different facts, some- 
 times if only one, or, on a mere report, the torture is 
 ordered. The evidence of two according witnesses ensures 
 condemnation. The prisoners are even constrained to 
 become their own accusers : and various arts are used to 
 extort a confession from them. The advocate allowed 
 them is under the direction of the inquisition, and em- 
 ployed chiefly in order to betray them. Tortures are used 
 under pretence of discovering 'the truth, and varied and 
 continued with the most wanton cruelty. When there is 
 no shadow of proof against the pretended criminal, he is 
 discharged, after suffering the most cruel tortures, a long 
 imprisonment, and the toss of the greatest part of his
 
 OP THE QUESTION. 5 
 
 The sentence against the prisoners is pronounced pub- 
 licly, and with extraordinary solemnity. An amphitheatre 
 is erected, in which a^rich altar is placed. This last act 
 of the inquisitorial tragedy is called an " auto da fe" 
 (act of faith ;) is always on a Sunday, or on some great 
 festival; and is appointed when a great number of pri- 
 soners are convicted of heresy, either by their own 
 voluntary or extorted confession, or on the evidence of 
 certain witnesses. The procession is led by Dominicans: 
 the prisoners follow : first those who have escaped being 
 burned ; next the negative, and relapsed, who are to be 
 burned, having flames on their habits pointing upwards. 
 After these, come such as profess doctrines contrary to 
 the Romish faith, who, beside flames pointing upwards, 
 have their pictures painted on their breasts, with dogs, 
 serpents, and devils, all open mouthed, about them. Each 
 prisoner is attended with a familiar of the inquisition ; 
 and those to be burned have also a Jesuit on each hand, 
 continually preaching to them to abjure. After the 
 prisoners, come a troop of familiars on horseback ; and 
 after them, the inquisitors, and other officers of the court, 
 on mules ; and, last, the inquisitor-general, on a white 
 horse, led by two men with black hats and green hat-bands. 
 The prisoners are placed on the altar in the amphitheatre; 
 over against which is a high chair, whither they are called, 
 one by one, to hear their doom, from one of the inquisitors. 
 The inquisitors, who are ecclesiastics, do not, however, 
 publicly pronounce the sentence of death ; but read an 
 act, delivering the criminal to the secular power, which 
 they deliver to seven lay judges, who attend at the right 
 side of the altar, and pass sentence. By the civil magis- 
 trate, they are loaded with chains, and carried to gaol, 
 and, in two hours, brought before the civil judge; who 
 asks them in what religion they will die ; and pronounces 
 sentence on those dying Romanists, to be strangled and 
 burned, and on all others, to be burned alive ! Stakes 
 are immediately erected, and dry furze placed round them. 
 The stakes of such as persist in their heresy, are four 
 yards high, and the prisoners are placed on a board at 
 the top. The "negative and relapsed" being first strangled
 
 5(j THE TRUE STATE 
 
 and burned ; the " persisting heretics" mount the stake, 
 by a ladder; and the Jesuits, alter repeated exhortations 
 to he reconciled to the church, part with them ; telling 
 them, that they leave them to the devil, who is standing 
 at their elbow to receive their souls, and carry them with 
 him into the flames of hell. On this, a great shout is 
 raised ; and the cry is, " Let the dog's beards be made 1" 
 which is done by thrusting flaming furzes, fastened to long 
 poles, against their faces, until their faces are burned to 
 a coal, which is accompanied with loud acclamations of 
 joy. At last, tire is set to the furze at the bottom of the 
 .stake, over which the prisoners are chained so high, that 
 the top of the flame seldom reaches higher than the seat 
 they sit on ; so that they seem rather roasted than burned. 
 With the most heart-rending cries for pity, heard by all 
 sexes and ages with transports of joy, they are at last 
 relieved by death ! 
 
 When Henry the eighth came to the crown, the bishops 
 of Rome had engrossed the collations of all sees, by 
 anticipated reservations, so that when the king wished 
 to promote Wolsey, lie was obliged to ask of Leo the 
 tenth, the bishopric of Lincoln for him, in the year 15 M. 
 
 In the year 1515, the clergy refused Leo a subsidy ; 
 but in 1517, he succeeded in levying a tenth on them. 
 
 I now hasten to the important accounts of indulgences, 
 Luther, and the overthrow of the papal usurpation. 
 
 The first origin of indulgences, was in the latter part 
 of the eleventh century. They were subsequently disposed 
 of for money. But the sale of indulgences, which was 
 publicly and generally promulgated throughout Christen- 
 dom in 1517, by Leo the tenth, calls for particular 
 attention. 
 
 Leo, on pretence of a war with the Turks, caused to 
 l>e publicly and generally sold, at a low rate, to induce 
 the greater quantity of purchasers, what he termed 
 *' plenary indulgences ;" for which he opened a general 
 marl. These indulgences were preached to be capable, 
 out of the inexhaustible treasure of the church, arising 
 tiom the merits of Christ, and works of supererogation 
 >f the saints, of granting to the greatest and most profit-
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 5f 
 
 gate sinner 5 ', a plenary remission of sin: so that each person 
 possessed of one of these, should become, at the moment, 
 pure, white, and spotless. The benefit of them was to 
 extend even to the dead ; whose souls, upon payment 
 of so much money, were to be immediately redeemed 
 out of purgatory. The money arising from the sale of 
 these plenary indulgences, Leo assigned to his own private 
 uses. Collectors were appointed in every Christian state, 
 to receive this money ; and preachers to cry up the benefit 
 of the indulgences. 
 
 MARTIN LUTHER, an Augustine friar, and professor 
 of divinity in the university of Wittemberg, published 
 some strictures on these preachers, and on the sale of 
 indulgences, with some satirical remarks on the indul- 
 gences themselves. This created him enemies ; but their 
 opposition only made him more determined, and excited 
 him to more strict inquiry : by which he found that 
 indulgences had no foundation in holy writ. He then 
 extended his inquiries ; conscientiously applied himself 
 to set the world right as to the papal usurpation ; and 
 taught his disciples to renounce all human authority, and 
 resort to the word of God as the true standard of Christian 
 faith and duty. 
 
 l-.o, at first, did not mind Luther. Despising what he 
 conceived the inconsiderable opposition of a single friar, 
 he continued, without ceasing, to sell his indulgences. 
 He exhorted all Christians to contribute to the war against 
 the infidels, according to their abilities, which would pro- 
 cure them, beside temporal advantages, deliverance from 
 purgatory. He wrote to King Henry to demand two 
 hundred thousand ducats, which Henry refused. 
 
 In IJ^O, Luther, whose defection then made a great 
 noise in Germany, began to be considered more formidable 
 by Leo, from who^e authority he had appealed to a general 
 council. Leo tried to gain him by promises and thieat- 
 enings ; but all being in vain, he published a bull of 
 excommunication against him and his followers. 
 
 Luther, undismayed, renewed. fate} appeal to a council 
 in very harsh terms. Leo, exasperated that a poor monk 
 should dare to brave him thus, di'iircJ the elector of
 
 58 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 Saxony to put him to death, or send him to Rome. The 
 elector refusing to do either, Leo's nuncio ordered 
 Luther's books to be publicly burned at Cologne ; and 
 Luther caused the bull and decretals to be burned openly 
 at Wittemberg ; and published a manifesto in defence 
 of his proceedings. He found himself supported by the 
 elector, his sovereign, who earnestly desired to see a 
 reformation in the church. His writings greatly pro- 
 moted the reformation in Germany. His book on the 
 Babylonish captivity, in which the bishops of Rome were 
 treated without reserve, attracted great notice. The 
 reformation began also to spread in Switzerland, France, 
 and England. 
 
 Of Henry's marriage with Catherine of Arragon, his 
 brother Arthur's widow, and of his divorce fiom her, 
 the minute relation of which would be foreign to my 
 purpose, I shall only remark : first, that this marriage, 
 forbidden by the moral and eternal law of God, took 
 place in consequence of a dispensation, which had been 
 granted by Julius the second ; another daring and impious 
 branch of papal presumption : and, secondly, that the 
 divorce, falsely laid down by Romish writers as the cause 
 of the change of religion, did but accelerate the progress 
 of the reformation; the foundation of which had been 
 widely laid by Wickliffe and Luther. Of Luther's book, 
 vast quantities had been brought into England. Henrv, 
 and his affairs, were but the instruments in the hands of 
 Divine Providence, for quickening the march of truth. 
 His bold and intrepid spirit, co-operating with the outcry 
 of his people against the papal tyranny, which now began 
 to be very general, successfully resisted and overthrew it : 
 an event which was inevitable, when the king's interests 
 and his people's were the same. 
 
 In 1524,- Charles the fifth, emperor of Germany, passed 
 a decree, at the diet of Worms, banishing Luther and all 
 his adherents. 
 
 In 1.525, fifty thousand of Luther's followers were 
 murdered in Franconia. 
 
 In 1529, the emperor called a diet at Spires ; where it 
 was ordered, that those who had hitherto obeyed the
 
 OP THE QUESTION'. 59 
 
 decree of Worms should continue to do so, and the rest 
 that had not submitted to it, should make no innovations 
 in religion, nor hinder their subjects from going to mass. 
 Against this decree, the electors of Saxony and Bran- 
 denburg, the landgrave of Hesse, and the princes of 
 Limenberg, made a solemn protestation; from which all 
 their party had the name of Protestants. This protes- 
 tation, which was presented to the emperor by deputies, 
 met a rough reception ; which obliged the protestants to 
 join together for their common defence. Hence those, 
 in every country, who professed the reformed, or, in other 
 words, primitive and scriptural doctrine, which the refor- 
 mation but restored, were termed protestants. 
 
 Henry, as the breach widened between him and 
 Clement the seventh, then bishop of Rome, on the 
 subject of the divorce, fearing a bull of excommunication 
 or interdict, issued a proclamation, forbidding, under 
 severe penalties, the receiving any bull from Rome, con- 
 trary to the prerogatives of the crown. The next step 
 the king took, was to order an indictment in the court of 
 king's bench, against all the clergy, on the statute of 
 premunire ; they having appeared in Cardinal Wolsey's 
 court, and thereby owned his legatine authority, which 
 he had been accused by the attorney -general of having 
 fxercised in England without the king's special license. 
 The clergy, in convocation, came to a resolution to offer 
 the king 100,0001. for a pardon, and to acknowledge him 
 supreme head of the church of England. The king 
 granted them a pardon. 
 
 A statute against appeals to Rome, on pain of incurring 
 premunire, Mas pads&i in 1 
 
 In 1531<, the statute of Henry the fourth against 
 heretics, was repealed. This proceeded not, however, 
 from the principle of toleration. Henry the eighth by no 
 means coincided with the more liberal and enlightened 
 views of such as wished to promote a thorough refor- 
 mation. His object was merely to throw off the papal 
 yoke. This he determined to throw off, both in temporals 
 and spirituals. The entire population of England had 
 been oppressed by its daily influence in temporals ; and
 
 00 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 the celebrated Doctor Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, 
 and all the well informed of the clergy, had pronounced 
 it repugnant to the doctrine of the holy scriptures, in 
 spirituals. Almost all agreed, then, in the necessity of 
 both temporal and spiritual emancipation from this worse 
 than Egyptian captivity. But the king, not satisfied 
 with the supremacy in civil and ecclesiastical causes, 
 uncontrolled by clerical or papal usurpation, to which he 
 was justly and lawfully entitled, would have also the 
 spiritual rule himself, in the most literal sense, in matters 
 of faith, which he was about wresting from the bishop of 
 Home and the clergy ; a rule which neither he nor the bishop 
 of Home, the clergy, or any mortals, with a becoming 
 sense of themselves, would ever have assumed, and which 
 belongs alone to the Father of Spiiits. In 1531 and 1532, 
 three protestants had been burned as heretics ; and now, 
 1J.J1, the act repealing that of Henry the fourth, was 
 not intended to exempt them ; for it was enacted that 
 they should be burned ; but only to hinder the clergy 
 from being sole judges in causes of this nature. By the 
 statute of Henry the fourth, bishops might, upon suspi- 
 cion of heresy, commit any person to prison, without 
 presentment or accusation, contrary to what was prac- 
 tised in all other cases. This was repealed ; but those of 
 Richard the second and Henry the fifth, were left still in 
 force, with a regulation, that heretics should be pro- 
 ceeded against upon presentments, by two witnesses at 
 least, and then committed, but brought to answer to 
 their indictments in open court ; and if found guilty, and 
 would not abjure, or were relapse, to be adjudged to 
 death ; the king's writ, de heretico comburendo, being 
 first had. Even this must be allowed to have been a 
 qualification and abatement of the dark and inquisitorial 
 tyranny before practised. It at least contracted the 
 limits of priestly dominion over the intellects of men ; 
 but it by no means accorded with the principles of civil 
 and religious liberty, which must be considered coexistent 
 with, and inseparable from, the very nature of legitimate 
 government. It certainly had the effect of putting pro- 
 testants more on their guard j but, at the same time, of
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 6l 
 
 taking away from them, as far as in it lay, in this proba- 
 tionary state of existence, " the liberty with which Christ 
 has made us free." So that a protestant, urged really 
 and conscientiously by the paramount and scriptural consi- 
 derations, drawn from a future state of existence ; (which 
 lias always been the pretence of the church of Rome, even 
 in its utmost usurpations of temporal power ;) in short, a 
 protestant, influenced by the most reasonable kind of 
 i'ear, that he should ultimately be denied by the Messiah 
 before his Father in heaven, if he denied him ; which 
 certainly applies to a denial of his doctrine ; and, on the 
 other hand, impelled by the most affecting and animating 
 of all incitements, that he should be confessed by th6 
 Messiah, if he confessed him ; and, what is obviously 
 included, his doctrine ; was by such confession, obnoxious 
 to the pains of this act of parliament, which warranted 
 the burning him as a heretic. These observations I am 
 fully warranted in making. Succeeding facts in Henry's 
 reign, beside this statute itself, confirm the truth of them. 
 Very different, indeed, is the nature of the ecclesiastical 
 supremacy, which, in this enlightened age, under our 
 present mild and free form of government, is lodged in 
 the higher powers. But of this I shall speak more fully 
 in the sequel. 
 
 The news having arrived, that sentence of excommu- 
 nication had been pronounced and published at Rome 
 against Henry, the legislature immediately determined 
 to proceed vigorously ; and passed an act at once, to 
 abolish the papal authority in England. By this act, 
 Sir William Blackstone observes, " the crown was restored 
 to its supremacy over spiritual men and causes, and the 
 patronage of bishoprics was once more indisputably vested 
 iu the king; and had the spiritual courts been at this 
 time re-united to the civil, we should have seen the old 
 Saxon constitution with regard to ecclesiastical polity, 
 completely restored." One of the provisions of this act 
 is, that when a bishopric shall become vacant, the king 
 shall send to the chapter a co?i^c (Tel'ire ; and in case the 
 election shall not be over within twelve days after the 
 license, it shall belong to the king. That the bishop elect
 
 shall swear fealty to the king, and then be recommended 
 by his majesty to the archbishop to be consecrated. That 
 if the bishop elect, or archbishop, refuse to obey the 
 contents of the act, they shall be liable to the pains of 
 premimire. All persons were expressly forbidden to 
 apply to the bishop of Rome for bulls, palls, and the like. 
 It abolished Peter pence, and all procurations, delega- 
 tions, expedition of bulls and dispensations from Rome ; 
 and the archbishop of Canterbury was appointed to grant 
 all such dispensations, &c., as should not be contrary to 
 the law of God. 
 
 When this act passed, all the members of the parliament 
 swore to observe its provisions, and the king sent com- 
 missioners throughout the kingdom, to administer the 
 same oath to all his subjects. The collection of the public 
 acts, contains the oaths of several abbots and friars of all 
 orders, to this effect : that they would be faithful to the 
 king, &c. ; that they owned the king for supreme head of 
 the church of England ; that the bishop of Rome has no 
 more jurisdiction than any other bishop ; that they re- 
 nounced his obedience ; that they would preach sincerely, 
 doctrines agreeable to the holy scriptures, &c. 
 
 Soon after, an act was passed to confirm the king's title 
 of supreme head of the church of England, which the 
 clergy had already given him. And a proclamation was 
 issued by the king, forbidding to give the bishop of Rome 
 the name of pope, and commanding that name to be erased 
 from all books, that the remembrance of it might be lost 
 if possible. Then the bishops voluntarilyswore to renounce 
 expressly all obedience to the bishop of Rome. 
 
 But, essentially important as these decisive measures 
 were to the cause of the reformation ultimately, its doc- 
 trines, for the reasons I have already stated, could but 
 silently advance, without being able openly to make much 
 progress in this reign. Cardinal Wolsey, whatever hud 
 been his demerits, is justly entitled to have it recorded, 
 as a merit by no means inconsiderable, in that age of 
 persecution and bigotry, that no person was prosecuted 
 ibr heresy during his ministry : and opportunities had not 
 been wanting, which the clergy would have seized, if he
 
 OP THE QUESTION. 6S 
 
 had suffered them. Wolsey's successor, Sir Thomas More, 
 persuaded the king, that what hurted his interest at Rome, 
 was the report of his favouring innovations ; and that to 
 remove this false imputation, he must shew a zeal for the 
 church. Henry took this advice ; prosecuted heretics ; 
 and prohibited importation of their books. But notwith- 
 standing this prohibition, Luther's books made their way, 
 and also Tindal's translation of the new testament ; who 
 had withdrawn to Flanders. Tonstall, bishop of London, 
 caused some copies of the new testament to be seized, 
 and publicly burned by the hangman. But this turned 
 to the advantage of the reformation : for the people in- 
 ferring that the scriptures were contrary to the religion 
 professed, from these efforts to suppress them, their desire 
 increased to read them. Sir Thomas More, while in power, 
 cruelly persecuted the protestants ; many of whom suf- 
 fered martyrdom with wonderful constancy, which helped 
 greatly to confirm their brethren. The king, at length, 
 thought fit to stop More's persecution. Anna Bullen, 
 Archbishop Cranmer, and Thomas Cromwell, were, under 
 God, the instruments chiefly in procuring from this 
 bigotted and capriciqus king, the boon of mercy for this 
 persecuted and faithful people. 
 
 In the year 1.535, Sir Thomas More, after having 
 persecuted unto death numbers of true witnesses, who, 
 with the most heroic fortitude, sealed the truth with 
 their blood, found how frail his own assurance was with 
 Henry. Sir Thomas More, late chancellor, Fisher, 
 bishop of Rochester, and some priors, monks and others, 
 were tried and executed for denying the king's supremacy. 
 Paul the third, who had succeeded Clement the seventh, 
 immediately on hearing this, drew up a thundering bull, 
 excommunicating Henrv, and absolving liis subjects from 
 
 ? . 
 
 their oaths of allegiance ; ordering all ecclesiastics to 
 depart his dominions, and the nobility to take np arms 
 against him; putting the kingdom under an interdict, and 
 forbidding all Christians to have any commerce with the 
 English ; annulling all foreign treaties made with him, &c. 
 In the mean time, Henry, finding that the monks were 
 daily corrupting his subjects, by insinuating to them that
 
 GJ, THE TRUE STAfE 
 
 he was going to overturn all religion, set about suppress- 
 ing the monasteries. JJiit, as he thought it prudent to 
 remove any prejudices in favour of the monks, lie began 
 with ordering a general visitation, appointing Thomas 
 Cromwell visitor-general. Several of' the abbots and 
 priors surrendered their houses to the king. The first 
 surrender was by the abbot of Langden, who, upon 
 Doctor Leighton's breaking open his door on a sudden, 
 was found in bed with a prostitute, who went in the 
 habit of a lay brother. The reports of the commissioners, 
 or visitors, were made public, for the information of 
 the people; containing monstrous disorders and horrible 
 crimes. To wit : lewdness of the confessors of nunneries, 
 and great corruption of the nunneries, whole houses 
 being found almost all with child ; dissoluteness of abbots, 
 and the other monks and friars, not only with harlot-, 
 hut married women ; one hundred and forty-four houses 
 containing abominations equal to any that were in Sodom; 
 a trade driven with images and relics, to enrich the 
 monasteries, by cherishing the people's superstition. 
 Among these were exposed to the sight of the people, 
 the forged relics found in the monasteries, ami the springs 
 by which the images of our Saviour, the Virgin Marv, or 
 any of the saints, were made to move, which had been 
 looked on by the ignorant multitude as the effect of 
 divine power. Shame and fear of punishment having 
 impelled a considerable number to surrender, the others 
 were suppressed by an act of parliament. 
 
 In 1536, it was resolved in the convocation, to let the 
 people have the bible in English. The same year, the 
 parliament confirmed what had been done against the 
 papal authority. They enacted, that all persons Mere to 
 incur the pains of a premunire, who endeavoured to 
 restore in^England the authority of the bishop of Rome ; 
 and all officers, both civil and military, were commanded, 
 under severe penalties, to punish those who should dare 
 to break' the statute. Soon after, the reformers felt 
 somewhat encouraged with respect even to the doctrine; 
 in that some ground was gained against images and 
 purgatory, and that the scriptures were made the stand-
 
 OF THE QUESTION. G$ 
 
 ard of faith by the convocation and the king. This year 
 also, a rebellion broke out, excited by the monks and 
 friars, to restore the papal authority, and other matters, 
 to their old footing. The rebels, menaced with destruc- 
 tion by the preparations made to subdue them, were 
 induced, after a little time, to lay down their arms, and 
 accept of a pardon which was offered. But the rebellion 
 breaking out again, the' rebels were defeated, and a 
 number of them taken and executed. 
 
 Tiiis year, also, the inquisition was established in 
 Portugal. 
 
 In 1538, by the insidious counsel of Gardiner, bishop 
 of Winchester, the king was again incited to persecute 
 the reformers. One Lambert was burned ; whom the 
 king gave his choice either of that alternative, or to 
 abjure his doctrine. But Lambert's faith and constancy 
 were not to be shaken. 
 
 Henry, however, lost not sight of his main object ; 
 and this year required of all the religious a new oath, 
 whereby they expressly renounced the papal authority, 
 and acknowledged the king's supremacy. But; deter- 
 mined to shew, that in abolishing the papal authority, 
 and destroying the monasteries^ he had not changed his 
 religion, he proposed to the parliament^ in 1539, " an act 
 for abolishing diversity of opinions in certain articles 
 concerning Christian religion.'* This act passed, and is 
 known by the name of " the bloody statute." It con- 
 sisted of six articles. The pain of burning or hanging, 
 was enacted against those : 
 
 1st.. .Who by word or Writing denied transubstantiation. 
 2d...Who maintained that communion in both kinds was 
 
 necessary. 
 
 3d. ..Or that it was lawful for priests to marry. 
 4th. .Or that vows of chastity may be broken. 
 5th. .Or that private masses are unprofitable. 
 Oth. .Or that auricular confession is not necessary to 
 salvation. 
 
 Cranmer, previous to the passing of the bill, argued 
 against these six articles three successive days. When, 
 the bill was about to be passed, the king desired Cranmer,, 
 
 E
 
 06 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 to whom he was very partial, notwithstanding his being 
 one of the leading reformers, to go out of the house, 
 since he could not give his consent to it. Cranmer 
 answered, that "he humbly excused himself, for he 
 thought lie was obliged to stay and vote against it." 
 This law presented the most curious anomaly that perhaps 
 ever occurred in any age or nation, as there was hardly a 
 person in the kingdom, but who believed either more or 
 less than the king ; and yet no one could openly, with 
 impunity, make the avowal. But the reformers were the 
 greatest sufferers by it ; and this had been so planned by 
 the designing and cruel Gardiner, who was the real 
 author of it. He had hinted to the king, that it w r as the 
 only means to hinder a league from being formed against 
 him : that what he had abolished not being essential to 
 religion, nor considered as such by the generality of 
 Christians, no man of sound judgment would deem him 
 heretical, as long as he maintained these six articles, 
 which entirely distinguished true catholics from sectaries 
 and innovators. By this counsel, he took the king by 
 his weak side ; and lie was artful enough to conceal 
 wherein he differed from him, as to the bishop of Rome's 
 jurisdiction, &c. ; and which, indeed, he dared not avow. 
 
 The most flagitious stratagems, and artful snares, were 
 resorted to, to draw people in to discover opinions which 
 they intended, in obedience to the law, to conceal. This 
 being made appear to the king, by Cromwell, the chan- 
 cellor, and five hundred people in London alone having 
 been, within a few days, committed to prison on this 
 account, he pardoned them all. 
 
 The dissimulation and artifice of that dark and Jesuitical 
 prelate, Gardiner, would have been more prejudicial to 
 the progress of the reformation, if the reformers had not 
 taken occasion, from the king's being extremely jealous 
 of his supremacy, to remonstrate, and explain to him, that 
 nothing but the reading of the holy scriptures could 
 undeceive the people of the false notion they had enter- 
 tained of the papul authority. Bibles were therefore set 
 up in churches, which every person had liberty to go and 
 lead. But Ciamner farther pressed the necessity of the
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 6*7 
 
 king giving his subjects leave to have bibles in their 
 houses. By this innocent stratagem, the people became 
 generally enlightened in many other matters beside that 
 which induced the liberty. Gardiner tried all he could, 
 to parry this fatal blow to his flagitious manoeuvres, ^but 
 in vain. 
 
 In 1540, Cromwell fell by the malice of Gardiner and 
 the duke, of Norfolk : after which, the prosecutions on 
 the act of the six articles, which had been suspended, 
 were renewed. An act now passed, directing that what- 
 ever the king should enjoin for the future, in matters of 
 religion, should be believed and obeyed by all his subjects. 
 This was investing the king with the infallibility taken 
 from the bishop of Rome. People of the opposite reli- 
 gions w r ere now executed at the same time and place 
 together ; some for denying the king's supremacy, and 
 maintaining the papal authority ; others for maintaining 
 the Lutheran doctrines. By the diabolical craft of 
 Gardiner, aided by his party, Archbishop Cranmer's fall 
 would have followed that of Cromwell, but for the king's 
 esteem for, and good opinion of him. 
 
 In 1,541, Paul the third established, by a bull, the 
 order of Jesuits, which had been founded by Ignatius 
 Loyola. Their founder gave out, and his followers 
 still teach, that their plan was suggested by the imme- 
 diate inspiration of heaven. They take a vow of 
 implicit obedience to the bishop of Rome, binding them- 
 selves to go whithersoever he should command, for the 
 service of religion ; and also a vow of implicit obedience 
 to their general, who is subject to the bishop of Home. 
 At a time when the papal authority had received such a 
 shock, by the revolt of so many nations from the Romislx 
 church, the acquisition of a body of men, thus peculiarly 
 devoted, was eagerly embraced by Paul, whose bull 
 granted them the most ample privileges, and appointed 
 Loyola the first general of the order. The Jesuits, who 
 have been called by the council of Trent, " regular 
 clerks of the company of Jesus," quickly obtained esta- 
 blishments in every Romish country, and increased in 
 power, wealth, and numbers. Layncz and Aquaviva,
 
 3 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 the generals who succeeded Loyola, perfected the system 
 of profound and artful policy which distinguishes the 
 order. Their efforts are particularly directed to obtain 
 influence in the conduct of the affairs of the world. They 
 consider themselves as formed for action ; as chosen 
 soldiers in the service of the " apostolical vicar." AV hat- 
 ever tends to reclaim or oppose the enemies of the Roman 
 see, is their proper object. That they may have full 
 leisure for this active service, they are totally exempted 
 from those observances to which other orders are bound. 
 They are required to attend to all the transactions of the 
 world, on account of the influence which these may have 
 upon religion. They are directed to study the dispo- 
 sitions of persons in high rank, and to cultivate their 
 friendship ; and, by the very constitution as well as 
 genius of their order, a spirit of action and intrigue is 
 infused into all its members. The power of the general 
 is so great, that the members must resign their own 
 opinions, and be mere passive instruments. The consti- 
 tutions of the order, provide for the general being 
 perfectly informed of the character and abilities of iiis 
 subjects. Every novice must confess not only his sins 
 and defects, but make discovery of the inclinations, pas- 
 sions, and bent of his soul; which he must renew every 
 six months. Farther, the members are constituted spies 
 on every word and action of the novices, which they are 
 bound, if of any importance, to disclose to the superior; 
 and a long novitiate must expire, with various gradations 
 of ranks, and the novices must have arrived at thirty- 
 three years of age, before they can be admitted to take 
 the final vows, and become professed members. The 
 superiors, or heads of the several houses, are obliged to 
 transmit to the general,^ regular reports concerning the 
 members under their inspection ; detailing each indivi- 
 dual's character, abilities, temper, experience, and the 
 irtment for which he is best fitted. These reports 
 are arrai ge.1, and entered in registers, in order that the 
 general may, at one comprehensive view, survev the 
 *tate of the society in every kingdom, and observe accu- 
 rately to what particular service each individual is fitted
 
 OF THE QUESTION'. #9 
 
 to be most effectually an instrument. The general, who 
 resides at Home, receives also, by the constitutions of 
 the order, an account of the civil affairs of the country 
 where his subjects reside ; so that he is furnished with 
 full information concerning the transactions of every 
 prince and state in the world. 
 
 The Jesuitical writers teach the lawfulness of killing 
 heretical kings ; that no faith is to be kept with, nor no 
 oaths are binding to, heretics j and that the end justifies 
 the means. 
 
 In 1514, a decree was passed in the diet at Spires, in 
 Germany, that the protestants should not be disturbed 
 in the exercise of their religion; which the emperor con- 
 sented to, to obtain pecuniary assistance from the princes 
 of Germany. Paul the third, to prevent them from 
 enjoying long a toleration which had been granted until 
 a council should meet, fixed that the council or' Trent 
 should open the 2.3th of March, 1545. In 1545, the 
 emperor, coming to Worms, where the diet of the empire 
 was held, declared to them in plain terms, that he could 
 not dispense with their submitting to the council which 
 was to meet at Trent. This indicated a design to reduce 
 them by force ; and there was a league between Paul the 
 third, and the emperor. A Franciscan friar had also 
 preached before the emperor, recommending to him to 
 extirpate the Lutherans ; and the emperor had written 
 to the king of Poland, to stir him up against them. OM 
 the 13th of December, the council at last met at Trent. 
 The legates, presiding in the name of Paul, declared 
 that the council was assembled for three causes ; to 
 destroy heresy to reform discipline and to settle u 
 lasting peace between Christian princes. This concluded 
 the first session of the council, which was held only for 
 opening it. 
 
 In 1517, Edward the sixth succeeded his father, Henry 
 the eighth. The six years of this accomplished and 
 lamented young king's reign, who was but nine years 
 old at his accession, and fifteen at his death, great! v 
 advanced the reformat .ion ; which, in his father's reign, 
 had been confined to such matters only as were contrary
 
 70 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 to his civil power, or, at most, his ecclesiastical supre- 
 macy. The reformers became so numerous and strong, 
 that their enemies could not oppose them. Of these, 
 the principal were : first, the king, who had made 
 surprising progress in religion, and all other valuable 
 acquirements, under the careful tuition of Doctor Cox, 
 so as to have become the wonder and prodigy of the age ; 
 next, Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, the king's 
 uncle, and protector of the realm ; Archbishop Cranmer, 
 and Bishops Holgate, Holbeach, Goodrick, Ridley, and 
 Latimer. The acts against the Lollards, and that of the 
 six articles, were quickly repealed. Private masses 
 were abolished ; it was left to the people's choice to 
 go to confession or not ; and images were taken out 
 of churches. 
 
 In 1548, an important event happened in Germany. 
 The bishop of Rome, having translated the council of 
 Trent to Bologne, the emperor protested against the trans- 
 lation, which protestation the bishop of Rome rejected. 
 The emperor, resolving to shew him he could do without 
 him, ordered articles of agreement to be drawn up, which 
 were called the interim ; the articles being to last only 
 until a general council should meet in some town in 
 Germany. These articles granted, that marriage should 
 be no bar to priest's orders, and that the communion 
 should be given, in botli*kinds, to those who desired it. 
 In England, the parliament passed an act, allowing 
 priests to marry ; and another, confirming the new 
 liturgy which had been composed ; which, except a few 
 alterations, is the same used at this day. 
 
 In 1549, an insurrection took place, for which the 
 increased price of corn, and other causes, were assigned ; 
 but the demands of the rebels shewed, that religion was 
 the chief cause, and the rebellion was fomented by the 
 priests and monks. These demands consisted of fifteen 
 articles, of which I shall give the first ten : 
 1st.. .That all the general councils, and the ancient canons 
 
 of the church, should be observed. 
 2d...That the act of the six articles should be again in 
 force.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 7 1 
 
 3d...That the mass should be in Latin, and that the 
 priests alone should receive. 
 
 4?th..That the sacrament should be lifted up and wor- 
 shipped, and those who refused to do it, should 
 sutler as heretics. 4 
 
 5th. .That the sacrament should only be given to the 
 people at Easter, in one kind. 
 
 ()th..That baptism should be administered at any hour, 
 and at all times* 
 
 7th..That hoiy bread, holy water, and palms, be again 
 used, and images set up, with all the other ancient 
 ceremonies. 
 
 8th..That the new liturgy should be laid aside* and the 
 old offices, as well as the procession s, restored. 
 
 9th. .That all preachers before their sermons, and 
 priests in the mass, should pray for the souls in- 
 purgatory. \- , 
 
 10th. /That the people should be forbidden, to read tha 
 
 bible. 
 After some defeats of the rebels, the rebellion was 
 
 quelled, and a pardon granted, except to some of the 
 
 ringleaders, who, endeavouring to make new stii'3, were 
 
 taken, and lianged at York. 
 
 In 1550, all prayers to saints were ordered to be erased,. 
 
 and all images taken out of churches to be destroyed. 
 In 1551, a confession of faith, gave the linal blow to 
 
 the Romish tenets. This year, the council, removed 
 
 back to Trent, was opened again, 
 
 In 1552, tlie marriage of the clergy was declared good 
 
 and lawful, by an act of parliament ; which had been 
 
 considered only by the people as barely tolerated. 
 
 In 1553, Edward died ; universally lamented by all but 
 
 the popish party ; to the success of whose wiles his death 
 
 opened a prospect. To the reformed, it opened but tin* 
 
 melancholy prospect of persecution and death, in the 
 
 succession of Mary, his half sister : which was afterwards 
 
 realized in characters of blood. 
 
 This cruel and unrelenting bigot determined on forcing, 
 
 the kingdom to return to the " unity of the catholic 
 
 churcb," as she termed it.
 
 73 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 Her first step was to restore the bishops deposed ift 
 Edward's time. Her next, to imprison Cranmer, arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, the archbishop of York, bishops 
 Latimer, Hooper, and Coverdale ; and Bradford and 
 Rogers, protestant ministers, who had influence with the 
 people. An immense number of protestants, seeing the 
 fitorm which was gathering, had the wisdom and good 
 fortune to withdraw, previously to greater violences and 
 parliamentary enactments, from England, disguised as 
 Frenchmen, into other countries. Mary, having heard 
 this, prevented, by an order to all the ports, others from 
 following their example ; by which means, many whose 
 movements were not sufficiently quick, were unfortunately 
 too late, and were arrested on their passage. 
 
 The next step was to abrogate the laws in favour of the 
 reformation. This would not have been possible, if the 
 elections had been left free: as the protestants were infi- 
 nitely more numerous than the Romanists, To remedy 
 this, artifices, frauds, and violence, were practised. 
 Popish magistrates had been placed in all the cities and 
 counties ; and menaces, and even actions and imprison- 
 ments, on the most frivolous pretences, resorted to, to 
 discourage those who were suspected of leaning to the 
 protestant cause. In several places, protestants were 
 violently prevented from assisting at elections. Where 
 they were too numerous to allow this, false returns *.vere 
 made by the popish sheriffs who had been appointed, not 
 only of those who had but an inconsiderable number of 
 votes, but even in some instances of those who had none 
 at all. 
 
 With a house of commons, thus constituted, of men to 
 whom appeals were useless, as they were all, with one 
 accord, on the popish side : and with a house of lords 
 remarkable for tergiversation j having been, in Edward's 
 reign, almost all protestants, and, ha Mary's, Romanists v 
 the queen could not fail in carrying her measures. The 
 first day of the sitting of parliament, two bishops, Taylor 
 of Lincoln, and Harley of Hereford, were driven from 
 the house of lords, for refusing to kneel at the celebration 
 of the mass. Soon after, the house of lords sent down to
 
 OF THE QUESTION'. 73 
 
 the commons the plan of an act, to make void the law* 
 of Edward concerning religion ; which the commons seat 
 back with their approbation. Transuhstantiation, crosses, 
 the mass, crucifixes, and images, were restored ; and an 
 act was passed, making it felony of death for persons to 
 the number of twelve, or more, to assemble with design 
 to change the religion then established. Gardiner, who 
 was appointed lord-chancellor, denied all justice in the 
 court of chancery to those who would not blindly engage 
 to second the queen's intentions. 
 
 In 1554, Queen Mary was married to Philip of Spain. 
 Against this marriage, complaints and murmurs were 
 almost general. The protestants feared they would see 
 a Spanish inquisition erected in England. But the pro- 
 testants were not the only murmurers. Independently 
 of religion, the greatest part of the nation was not free 
 from fears of King Philip's entering upon measures to 
 introduce the Spanish tyranny into England. These 
 murmurs ended in a conspiracy; which was suppressed; 
 and the duke of Norfolk, Lady Jane Grey, her husband, 
 and sixty conspirators, were executed ; among whom was 
 Sir Thomas Wyatt, a Romanist, and a great many more 
 of that persuasion. This year, some bishops and priests 
 were degraded for being married, and others for having 
 preached erroneous doctrines : ami tha two houses peti- 
 tioned the king and queen to intercede with the legate, 
 Cardinal Pole, who had arrived in the kingdom, for " a 
 reconciliation with the church, from which a horrible 
 schism had disunited it." Cardinal Pole enjoined, " for 
 penance, the repeal of all the laws passed against the 
 pope's authority." Upon which an act was passed, " to 
 restore the pope's authority to the footing it had been on 
 before the twenty-ninth year of Henry the eighth's reign:" 
 and the legate gave solemn absolution, which having been 
 received by both houses on their knees, he took off the 
 papal censures. There were, however, some restrictions 
 to this authority, in the act, unnecessary to be particu- 
 larized here, which the legate thought prudent to ratify; 
 but he denounced the judgments of God against all those 
 who possessed the goods of the clui/ch : one of the article.*,
 
 7-j, THE TRUE STATE 
 
 and which he considered the most important, having 
 sanctioned such retention. Before the reconciliation was 
 concluded, Julius the third published a bull, by which he 
 excommunicated all who possessed goods of the church, 
 or monasteries : upon which the queen restored what were 
 in her possession, " to be employed to such uses as the 
 pope should judge proper." 
 
 Another bull came to the queen from Paul the fourth, 
 who had succeeded Julius the third, erecting Ireland 
 into a kingdom, " by virtue of his power to create new 
 kingdoms and abrogate old ones:" holding Henry the 
 eighth's creation of it from a lordship to a kingdom null 
 and invalid. An act was passed to renew the statutes of 
 Richard the second, Henry the fourth, and Henry the 
 fifth, against heretics. 
 
 The protestants, with consternation, saw the impending 
 storm, without being able to avoid it, although much 
 greater in numbers, for the following reasons : a great 
 many concealed their sentiments for fear of losing their 
 lives and fortunes ; others from a conscientious principle, 
 preferred suffering to resistance : and those who were 
 inclined to repel force by force, would have been over- 
 matched by .Spain and the emperor joining the popish 
 party, supported by the weight of the English govern- 
 ment, and aided by all temporisers, or people who, pos- 
 sessing no real principles of religion at all, are always 
 ready to join the most powerful side ; and whose chief 
 consideration is fortune, no matter how acquired. 
 
 The laws against protestants were now, under the 
 diabolical supeiintendance of Gardiner, Bonner, and 
 others of the popish clergy, put in rigorous execution. 
 The detail of the infernal cruelties which were inflicted, 
 however strictly relevant to my subject, would be too long 
 for the intended limits of this'treatise ; and would be, to 
 many of my readers, too disgusting. I shall therefore hasten 
 through the subject ; referring the more inquisitive reader 
 to Rapin, Hume, Buinet, &c.; who have recited the par- 
 ticulars of these horrid atrocities; and confine myself to 
 stating, that the following pious and learned protestant 
 bishops and divines were martyred, by tying them to
 
 OP THE QUESTION. 75 
 
 stakes, and burning them alive with fire and faggot ! The 
 celebrated and learned Cranmer the able and zealous 
 Ridley the pious and venerable Latimer, at the age of 
 eighty Hooper and Ferrar, bishops Rogers, Bradford, 
 Suunilers, Taylor, Philpot, Cardmaker, and others, to 
 the number of twenty-one clergymen. A great number 
 also of the laity, including women, and even some 
 children, were burned ! 
 
 in the account of the entire number burned in this 
 reign, historians differ. Those who mention the smallest, 
 compute it at two hundred and seventy-seven ; viz. five 
 bishops, twenty-one clergymen, eight gentlemen, eighty- 
 lour tradesmen, one hundred husbandmen, fifty-five 
 women, and four children. Those who relate the largest 
 number, say eight hundred in the years 1555 and 1556 
 alone. Numbers died in prison ; and some were prevailed 
 on to abjure by whips and tortures. The queen, by a 
 proclamation, ordered immediate death to those who 
 received heretical books, and did not, without reading 
 or shewing them to any person, deliver them to the 
 
 magistrates. 
 
 The justices of peace, tired with incessant scenes of 
 cruelty and destruction, beginning to grow remiss ; an 
 order came from the court to excite them, and to enjoin 
 them to place spies upon every parish, to watch those 
 who were remiss in religious duties. This, so resembling 
 an inquisition, caused such munnurings as terrified even 
 the bloody Bonner himself into forbearance ; which 
 caused the king and queen to send him a severe letter, 
 testifying surprise, and exhorting him to proceed without 
 relaxation. 
 
 The providence and mercy of God, however, delivered 
 the nation from this scourge, by cutting short the days 
 of her antichristian career, after having reigned, or rather 
 tyrannized, something over five years. 
 
 In the first year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, 1558, acts 
 were passed, restoring the public worship in English ; 
 restoring the queen's supremacy ; renewing and confirming 
 all acts relating to religion, made in the reign of Edward; 
 restoring the queen'vS right of nominating to bishoprics j
 
 ^5 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 confirming statutes made in Henry's reign against the 
 bishop of Rome ; providing that the oath of supremacy 
 should be taken by all persons in public offices ; awarding 
 punishments to those, who, by word or writing, gave 
 countenance to the introducing any foreign power into 
 the kingdom ; establishing uniformity in divine worship; 
 suppressing monasteries founded by Mary ; &c. The 
 reformation having been established, all beneficed clergy 
 who would not conform, were obliged to quit their 
 preferments, which were filled with protestants : and 
 protestant magistrates were every where appointed. 
 
 In 1560, Pius the fourth, by letter, invited the queen 
 back to the pale of the church, promising the continuation 
 of the council of Trent as soon as possible, and other 
 advantages: but he found his overture unsuccessful. As 
 popish perseverance, however, has never been found 
 easily inclined to give way, he sent, next year, a nuncio, 
 xvhose admittance into England, Elizabeth would not 
 allow. 
 
 By statute fifth of Elizabeth, to refuse the oath of 
 supremacy, will incur the pains of premunire ; and to 
 defend the bishop of Rome's jurisdiction in this realm, 
 is a premunire for the first offence, and high treason for 
 the second. 
 
 In 156,5, there was a conference at Bayonne between 
 the courts of France and Spain, in which it was resolved 
 to use their utmost endeavours to extirpate heretics. 
 
 In 1569, a conspiracy broke out in England, and was 
 defeated; the declared intent of which was, " to restore 
 the religion of their forefathers, remove evil counsellors, 
 and cause justice to be done to the duke of Norfolk, and 
 other lords in prison, or under disgrace." The rebels 
 wrote circular letters to the Romanists, inviting them to 
 come and join them ; burned all the English bibles and 
 prayer books at Durham, ami openly celebrated mass. 
 The -real intent of the rebels was to set Mary, queen of 
 Scots, on the throne. It would be too tedious to enter 
 here into the mutual intrigues of Mary herself, and the 
 different persons bigotted to the popish tenets, to effect 
 this. . I shall confine myself merely to the following?
 
 OF THE QUESTION. " 
 
 mention of their names : referring my readers for ample 
 particulars and proofs to Rapin's history of England: the 
 successive bishops of Rome in her time ; Henry the 
 second, and Charles the ninth, kings of France ; Philip 
 the second, king of Spain ; the duke of Alva; Catherine 
 De Medicis ; the duke of Guise ; and the English, Scotch, 
 and Irish Romanists, particularly the Jesuits. The bishop 
 of Rome issued a bull in 1569, excommunicating Elizabeth, 
 and absolving her subjects from their oaths of allegiance. 
 This he caused, in 1570, to be fixed up in different parts 
 of London, at night, by a man named Fitton, \vho was 
 taken, convicted, and hanged near one of the places 
 where the copies had been posted. The bull begins thus : 
 " He that reigneth on high, to whom all power is given 
 in heaven and earth, hath committed the one holy 
 catholic and apostolic church, out of which there is no 
 salvation, to one alone on earth, namely to Peter, prince 
 of the apostles, and to the Roman pontiff, successor of 
 St. Peter, to be governed with a plenitude of power. 
 This one he hath constituted prince over all nations, and 
 all kingdoms, that he might pluck up, destroy, dissipate, 
 overturn, plant, and build." 
 
 In 1571, the parliament, greatly attached to Elizabeth, 
 and aware of all the practices against her, passed an act, 
 providing that it' any man should attempt the personal 
 hurt of the queen, or the depriving her of any part of 
 her sovereignty, raise war, or stir up others to war against 
 her ; if any one should dare to give out that another 
 person has a jtister title than she to the crown; or should 
 say she is a heretic, schismatic, or infidel ; or should 
 UMirp her right and title during her life ; or should affirm 
 the parliament has not power to settle and limit the suc- 
 c- -^ion to the crown ; every such person should be guilty 
 of hi<rh treason. Punishments of treason were also 
 enacted ag lin.st those bringing in bulls, mandates, &c. ; 
 and of premunire against those bringing in Agnus Dei's, 
 grains, crosses beads, or other superstitious things con- 
 secrated by the bishop of Rome. 
 
 On the eve of St. Bartholomew's day, in 1572, was 
 perpetrated the dreadful massacre of protestants in Paris.
 
 78 t!IE TRL'E STATE 
 
 which has taken it* name from that day. The heads of 
 the protestants being invited to Paris, at the celebration 
 of the nuptials of the king of Navarre with Margaret, 
 sister to Charles the ninth of France, were barbarously 
 murdered; viz: five hundred persons of rank, including 
 the celebrated Admiral Coligni ; beside those of inferior 
 note. In Paris alone, ten thousand, rive hundred, of 
 every age, sex, and condition, were murdered ; and in 
 Meaux, Orleans, Troves, Angiers, Thoulouse, Rouen, and 
 Lyons, whither orders had been sent, a similar carnage 
 took place. Some writers mention that seventy thousand, 
 in all, but it is generally agreed that thirty thousand, at 
 least, perished. On the 28th of August, the king of 
 France went to his parliament, avowed the act, and was 
 complimented upon it. 
 
 After this massacre, Charles the ninth, afraid that 
 Elizabeth would aid the Huguenots with her forces, 
 practised the utmost dissimulation to divert her from it. 
 When she told him by her ambassador, that after the 
 deed he had just committed, she could no longer place 
 any confidence in him ; he equivocated. At one time he 
 said it was done without his knowledge ; at another, that 
 he was forced to it. And at the very time that he 
 appeared to have the greatest desire to live in good 
 understanding with Elizabeth, he took private measures 
 to raise her disturbances both in England and Scotland. 
 The bishop of Rome, too, did his utmost to raise a 
 rebellion in England. When he heard of the massacre 
 in France, he expressed great joy ; announced that the 
 cardinals should return thanks to the Almighty for so 
 signal an advantage obtained for the holy see, and that a 
 jubile should be observed all over Christendom. Xor 
 was the king of Spain, who had professed friendship for 
 Elizabeth, nor any other of the popish bigots, idle. 
 The bishop of Rome and Philip of Spain, also, joined in 
 the pious endeavour to raise a rebellion in Ireland. 
 
 In 1579, the Romish priests endeavoured to assist 
 [< the cause." From foreign seminaries, whither they 
 had gone for education, they had flocked into England, 
 under colour of administering the sacraments to Romanists.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 79 
 
 As long as the court imagined they confined themselves 
 to this, no notice was taken. But it was discovered at 
 length that they were more industrious. They maintained, 
 " that the pope had, by divine right, full power to 
 dethrone kings, and that Elizabeth being excommunicated 
 and deposed by Pius the fifth's bull, her subjects were 
 freed from their allegiance/' For publicly maintaining 
 this, four of them were convicted and executed. Two 
 Jesuits, Robert Parsons and Edmund Campian, not only 
 had been employed also to preach this doctrine, but had 
 got a bull, declaring " that Pope Pius's bull bound 
 Elizabeth and the heretics always ; but in no way the 
 catholics, till a favourable opportunity should offer to 
 put it in execution." On this a proclamation was 
 issued, commanding all who had children, wards, or 
 kinsmen, beyond sea, to give in their names within ten 
 days, and call them home within a month : and forbid- 
 ding all persons to entertain or harbour any Jesuits or 
 priests sent forth from the seminaries of Rome or Rheims, 
 upon pain of being punished as rebels and seditious 
 persons. Soon after, printed books were dispersed, 
 intimating " that the pope and the king of Spain had 
 formed a design to conquer England, and restore the 
 catholic religion ;" and exhorting the English Romanists 
 to help forward the design : on which the queen issued 
 another proclamation, declaring, " that she was not 
 ignorant of the practices of her enemies, but by the 
 grace of God, and help of her faithful subjects, she was 
 able to withstand their attacks both at home and abroad. 
 That, as the plots which were contriving, were not only 
 against her person, but also against the whole kingdom, 
 she did not intend to be cruel to the good, by sparing 
 the bad ; and, therefore, such as would not, for the 
 future, keep within the bounds of their duty, were to 
 expect no mercy." 
 
 In the year 1,380, the bishop of Rome, and the king 
 of Spain, put in execution their plan of invading Ireland, 
 in which they met total discomfiture. 
 
 Edmund Campian, and three other ecclesiastics, were 
 executed in 1,381, for having endeavoured to raise coin-
 
 80 THE TRUE STAtfi 
 
 motions, ami for having maintained that the queen was 
 lawfully deposed. These justifiable severities would 
 never have happened, if these infatuated incendiaries had 
 been contented with the free exercise of their religion in 
 private, nor had attacked the government ; and it must 
 be admitted by every candid person, that such were even 
 called for by their own declaration, that " they were 
 come into England to absolve every one in particular from 
 his oath of allegiance, from which Pius the fifth's bull 
 had absolved the nation in general." 
 
 The parliament passed severe laws in consequence of 
 these practices, declaring all " who shall endeavour to 
 dissuade the subjects from their allegiance to the queen, 
 and from the religion established in the kingdom, or shall 
 reconcile them to the church of Rome, as also those who 
 shall be so reconciled, guilty of high treason.*' 
 
 *' Those also are fined in two hundred marks, and 
 imprisonment for a year, who shall say mass ; and they 
 who shall be knowingly present at mass, are fined in 
 one hundred marks, with imprisonment also for a year. 
 Moreover, they who had absented themselves from their 
 parish churches on the days appointed for divine service, 
 were fined in 201. a month." 
 
 The laws against Romanists were not before so severe, 
 and these were forced by their own practices. Seventy 
 priests, however, who were under sentence of death, had 
 their sentences mitigated to transportation ; among whom 
 were several Jesuits. Some time after, the Spfttnsfe 
 ambassador was discovered to be engaged in a plot, and 
 was ordered to quit the kingdom. 
 
 In 1584, another plot was discovered. Crichton, a 
 Scotch Jesuit, going by sea to Scotland, and the vessel 
 he was on board being attacked by pirates, tore some 
 papers he had about him, and threw them into the sea. 
 It happened that the wind hindered the torn papers from 
 falling into the water, and blew them back into the ship, 
 where somebody took the pains to gather them all up. 
 These papers being j H ,t together, a plot was discovered, 
 framed by the bishop of Rome, the king of Spain, and 
 the .duke of Guise, for invading England : on which, a
 
 !QF THE QUESTION. 8J. 
 
 general association of men of all degrees was formed in 
 England, who bound themselves by oath, to prosecute to 
 death, those that should attempt any thing against the 
 queen. 
 
 In 1585, another conspiracy was discovered. William 
 Parry, member of the house of commons, had signalized 
 his zeal for the Romish religion, by opposing singly a 
 bill preferred in the commons against the Jesuits. He 
 spoke with so much vehemence, that he was committed 
 to prison, but released on his submission, and admitted 
 to his place again. But it soon came out that he had a 
 design to kill the queen, and held intelligence with 
 Jesuits, popish nuncios, and cardinals. He was con- 
 demned and executed. This conspiracy ' made the 
 parliament unanimously admit, approve, and confirm the 
 general association. It was enacted also, that twenty- 
 four, or more, commissioners, appointed by the queen, 
 should make inquisition concerning those who should 
 endeavour to raise a rebellion in the kingdom, or attempt 
 the queen's life; appointing for such attempts the punish- 
 ment of death. Another act was passed, " that all popisli 
 priests should depart the realm within forty days ; that 
 all who should afterwards return, should be guilty of 
 high treason ; and that to receive or harbour them, 
 should be felony." 
 
 Again, in 158(>, a fresh plot was discovered. Gilbert 
 Giffurd, doctor of divinity in the seminary at Rheims, 
 
 and Robert Giffard, and Hodgeson, English priests, 
 
 had instilled into one John Savage, an Englishman also, 
 that it would be a meritorious act to kill Elizabeth, which 
 they had made him vow to do during the Easter holidays. 
 At the same time, Ballard, an English priest of the same 
 SLMiiinary, who had been in England notwithstanding the 
 prohibition, returned into France, where he had several 
 conferences with Mendoza and the Lord Paget, how to 
 invade England. The intent of the whole conspiracy, 
 was to restore the Romish religion in England, to kill 
 Elizabeth, and set Mary, queen of Scots, on the throne. 
 Ballard was sent back to England, to confer with a person 
 zealous in the cause, namely, Anthony Babington ; who,, 
 
 p
 
 8* THE TRUE STATE 
 
 having been lately in France, was gained there by the 
 bishop of Glasgow, Mary's ambassador, and by Morgan, 
 an English fugitive. This Babington had been recom- 
 mended to Mary for his zeal ; and on his return to 
 England, she corresponded, and frequently communicated, 
 with him. Ballard told Babington the design of invasion, 
 and of setting Mary on the throne ; and also Savage's 
 vow. Babington objected to the hazard of committing 
 the execution of the design to one person, and suggested 
 six, offering himself as one. The six were appointed, 
 viz. : Savage, Babington, Charnock, Abington, Maxwell, 
 and Barnwell. Mary sent a letter in cypher to Babington, 
 blaming him for his silence, and desiring him to send her 
 the packet of letters come from Morgan, and delivered 
 by the French ambassador's secretary.* Babington, in 
 his answer to her, imparted the plot laid with Ballard. 
 In a second letter, bhe commended his zeal for the 
 catholic religion, but advised him to attempt nothing 
 until he was sure of foreign assistance ; and charged 
 him to promise, in her name, a good reward to the six 
 persons. This conspiracy was detected by the vigilance 
 of Walsingham, one of the queen's secretaries. The 
 fate of Mary is well known ; and I shall only detain the 
 reader by remarking, that fourteen of the other conspi- 
 rators were hanged. Previous to the execution of the 
 sentence on Mary, the French ambassador bribed two 
 assassins to murder Elizabeth. 
 
 Mary had not been long dead, when Philip of Spain 
 proposed to invade England. He was countenanced by 
 Sixtus the fifth, then bishop of Rome, on the ground of 
 his being " the next catholic prince descended from the 
 house of Lancaster ;" as, according to the church of 
 Rome, " a heretic is unworthy and incapable of enjoying a 
 crown." A bull was immediately thundered out against 
 Elizabeth, absolving her subjects from their oaths of 
 allegiance. The dispersion, by a storm, of " the invin- 
 cible armada," as it was termed, closed Philip's hopes at 
 this period. 
 
 In 1589, Henry the third, of France, who had deserted 
 the popish league, was assassinated by James Clement, a
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 83 
 
 Dominican friar ; who had undertaken the meritorious 
 work at the suggestion, and with the approbation, of 
 Bourgoing, the prior of his convocation. This was a 
 league which had been formed by the popish powers, 
 against the protestants, and protestant religion, for tke 
 purpose of total extirpation. 
 
 In 1593, the English fugitives sent one Hesquet, to 
 persuade the earl of Derby to take the title of king, as 
 grandson to Mary, daughter of Henry the seventh. 
 Hesquet told the earl, that he might rely on the assist- 
 ance of Philip the second ; but in case of his refusal, or 
 not being secret, he should not live long. The earl 
 informed against Hesquet, who was taken, and hanged. 
 In four months after, the earl died by a strange poison, 
 which made him vomit to death. 
 
 In 1594f Roderigo Lopez, a Jew, the queen's physi- 
 cian, was hanged, for engaging with the council of Spain 
 to poison Elizabeth for 50,000 crowns. Two Portuguese 
 accomplices were hanged with him ; and Patrick Cullen, 
 an Irish fencing-master, who had been sent from the low 
 countries on the same design, Edmond York, and Richard 
 Williams, underwent the same fate. 
 
 In 1.3 ( J6, the king of Spain made another vigorous 
 effort to conquer England. Collecting every ship he 
 could muster, he formed a formidable fleet, which Divine 
 Providence again dispersed by a violent tempest, in 
 which a great part of it was lost. 
 
 In 1598, one Edmond Squire was apprehended in 
 London, for having undertaken to poison the pummel of 
 the queen's saddle. 
 
 I think it necessary to notice a quarrel which happened 
 between the Jeviits and the secular priests, in England, 
 in l60^, not only from its applicability to the general 
 tenor of my subject, but also as the portentous event of 
 the restoration of the order of Jesuits, by the present 
 bishop of Rome, has taken place. The secular priests 
 accused the Jesuits " of being the sole cause of the severe 
 laws enacted against the catholics, because they had 
 been concerned in all the conspiracies and even sub- 
 orned assassins to murder the queen." While their
 
 84. THE TRUE STATE 
 
 quarrel was at its greatest height, the queen had intelli- 
 gence, that the Jesuits, and such of the secular priests 
 as had espoused their principles and party, were hatching 
 something against the government. On which, she 
 banished them by proclamation, forbidding them to set 
 foot in England again, on pain of death. The other 
 secular priests, who sided not with the Jesuits, were also 
 liable to the same penalty, unless they would take the 
 oath of allegiance. 
 
 In 1603, the first year of James the first's reign, the 
 king issued a proclamation, commanding all Jesuits and 
 other priests, having orders from any foreign power, to 
 quit the kingdom. It was so worded, as to shew that he 
 did not banish the Jesuits out of hatred to the Romish 
 religion, but only on account of their attachment to the 
 tloctrine of the bishop of Rome's unlimited power over 
 crowned heads. 
 
 In H>05, was discovered the most infernal conspiracy 
 ever invented. This was the popish plot, called the 
 gunpowder treason ; by which, every matter was previ- 
 ously settled, and thirty-six barrels of gunpowder placed 
 in a cellar under the parliament house ; from whence, 
 by setting fire to a train, the conspirators designed to 
 have blown up king, lords, and commons, on the 5th 
 of November, the day fixed for the meeting of parlia- 
 ment, which had been prorogued. The principal names 
 which history hands down as having been concerned in 
 this black contrivance, are, Henry Garnet, provincial of 
 the English Jesuits, Oswald Tesmond, John Gerard, and 
 
 Oldcorn, Jesuits ; Guy Fawkes, Robert Catesby, 
 
 Thomas Percy, Everard Digby, Thomas Winter, Stephen 
 
 Littleton, Bates, Robert Winter, John Grant, 
 
 Ambrose Rockwood, Christopher Wright, and Thomas 
 Thresharn. The design was to restore the Romish 
 religion, and the bishop of Home's authority. The mercy 
 and providence of God, however, drew up from the very 
 bottom of hell, and exposed to the horror and amaze- 
 ment of the civilized world, this work of darkness, by 
 the instrumentality of one of themselves, when at the eve 
 of completion. Of these antichristian and traitorous
 
 OP THE QUESTION. 5> 
 
 wretches, some were killed resisting the attempt to take 
 them, among whom were Catesby and Percy ; the 
 remainder were convicted and hanged. The parliament, 
 on meeting, drew up the oath of allegiance, which all 
 subjects, without exception, were obliged to take. Soon 
 after, Urban the eighth drew up a brief, giving those 
 who should take the oath, to understand, that they for- 
 feited all hopes of salvation. 
 
 In 1610, Henry the fourth of France, was murdered 
 by Ravaillac. An attempt had been made to assassinate 
 Henry, soon after his accession, by Chatel, a furious 
 bigot, who had been instigated by the Jesuits. This 
 attempt Henry escaped, and the whole order of Jesuits 
 was declared by the parliament of Paris, " corrupters of 
 the youth, disturbers of the peace, and enemies of the king 
 and state," and banished the kingdom. Henry had 
 issued the edict of Nantz, granting toleration to the 
 protestants ; which, however celebrated by enlightened 
 men, was insupportable, in its effects, to the Romish 
 party. He was, therefore, assassinated by Francis 
 Jlavaillac ; who owned that he was impelled to the fact by 
 the sermons and books of the Jesuits. After he was seized, 
 all who pleased were permitted to speak to him. A Jesuit 
 addressed him in these remarkable words : " Friend, 
 take care, whatever you do, that you don't charge honest 
 people." At his examination, he boldly confessed "he 
 did it because the king did not take arms against the 
 Huguenots, and that his making war against the pope, 
 is the same as to make war against God, seeing the 
 pope was God, and God was the pope." Tl>is murder, 
 which afforded so plain and practical a proof of the 
 danger to sovereigns of that doctrine so often incul- 
 cated by the church of Rome, induced James to issue a 
 fresh proclamation, commanding all Jesuits and priests 
 out of the kingdom, and all Romanists not to come 
 within ten miles of the court. Then he caused all his 
 subjects to take the oath of allegiance ; tfie parliament, 
 which was still sitting, having led the way. 
 
 In 16 14, the house of commons inquired into the 
 causes of the increase of popish recusants, notwith-
 
 86' THE TRUE STATE 
 
 standing the laws enacted since the gunpowder plot. 
 One cause appeared to be, the king's associations abroad 
 for the marriages of the late Prince Henry and Prince 
 Charley with popish princesses. Another, his admitting 
 into his council popish lords. One of them, the earl of 
 Northampton, who had been appointed warden of the 
 cinque ports, managed so, that the Jesuits and priests 
 might safely land there, without being examined at their 
 arrival. Their number so increased, consequently, as to 
 occasion loud murmuring among the people, and a strong 
 reproach to the earl of Northampton from the king; who 
 had himself been the chief promoter of this disobedience 
 to his own proclamations, and the laws, by appointing a 
 popish lord to that particular office. 
 
 In 1621, the commons presented a remonstrance to 
 the king, representing the vigilance and ambition of the 
 bishop of Rome and the king of Spain ; the devilish 
 positions and doctrines whereon popery is built, and 
 taught with authority to its followers, for advancement 
 of their temporal ends ; the distressed and miserable 
 estate of the professors of true religion in foreign parts; 
 the confederacy of the princes of the popish religion, for 
 the subversion of the protestant ; the armies raised and 
 maintained by the chief of that league ; the expectation 
 of the popish recusants of the match witli Spain ; the 
 more than usual concourse of popish recusants to the 
 city, and their frequent conferences there ; the licentious 
 printing and dispersing of seditious books, even in the 
 time of parliament ; the swarms of priests and Jesuits ; 
 and many other matters. From these premises, they 
 deduced, that the popish religion is incompatible with 
 the protestant; that it hath a restless spirit, and. will 
 strive by these gradations ; if it once get but a conni- 
 vance, it will press for a toleration ; if that should be 
 obtained, it must have an equality ; from ihence it will 
 aspire to superiority, and will never rest until it subvert 
 the true religion. They propose the following remedies : 
 war, avowedly to aid the protestants in foreign parts, 
 which would re-unite the princes of the protestant union: 
 to prosecute such war by a diversion, or otherwise-, ;
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 87 
 
 not rest upon defensive measures only : to direct the 
 bent of the war against the chief of the league, who had 
 maintained the war in the Palatinate : to prevent the 
 dangers from popish recusants, by putting in execution 
 the laws against them : that Prince Charles should be 
 married to a protestant : and some others too tedious to 
 mention here. 
 
 James returned a very long, severe, and arbitrary 
 answer, in writing ; in which his notions of prerogative 
 were found to run higher than he had thought proper to 
 develop ever before. In short, his aim seemed clearly 
 to be absolute authority. In the conclusion of his long 
 epistle, he says, " We cannot allow of the style, your 
 ancient and undoubted right and inheritance ; but could 
 rather have wished that ye had said, that your privileges 
 were derived from the grace and permission of our 
 ancestors and us." 
 
 These views, so contrary to the real nature of the 
 British constitution, which at no time lodged an absolute 
 power in the person of the king; nor any where else 
 except in the three estates of king, lords, and commons 
 united together ; drew from the commons the following 
 protestation : " The commons now assembled in parlia- 
 ment, being justly occasioned thereunto, concerning 
 sundry liberties, franchises, and privileges of parliament, 
 among others here mentioned, do make this protestation 
 following. That the liberties, franchises, privileges and 
 jurisdictions of parliament, are the ancient and undoubted 
 birthright and inheritance of the subjects of England ; and 
 that the arduous and urgent affairs concerning the king, 
 state, and defence of the realm, and of the church of 
 England, and the maintenance and making of laws, and 
 redress of mischiefs and grievances, which daily happen 
 within this realm, are proper subjects and matter of counsel 
 and debate in parliament ; and that in the handling and 
 proceeding of these businesses, every member of the house 
 of parliament hath, and of right ought to have, freedom 
 of speech to propound, treat, reason, and bring to conclu- 
 sion the same; and that the commons in parliament have 
 like liberty to treat of these matters, in such order, as iu
 
 Sg THE TRUE STATE 
 
 their judgments shall seem fittest ; and that every member 
 of the said house hath like freedom from all impeachments, 
 imprisonments, and molestation, (other than by censure 
 of the house itself,) for or concerning any speaking, 
 reasoning, or declaring of any matter or matters touch- 
 ing the parliament, or parliament business : and that 
 if any of the said members be complained of, and 
 questioned for any thing done in parliament, the same is 
 to be shewn to the king, by the advice and assent of all 
 the commons assembled in parliament, before the king 
 give credence to any private information." 
 
 The king, being informed of this protestation, went in 
 person to the house of commons, and took it out of the 
 journal-book ; and, some days after, dissolved the parlia- 
 ment, and imprisoned some of the members, among whom 
 was the celebrated Sir Edward Coke. 
 
 While the treaty was going on for the match with the 
 infanta of Spain, the king, to forward it, and obtain the 
 dispensation from Rome, which was necessary at the 
 Spanish side, signed four secret articles, beside the public 
 articles ; the substance of which was, to pledge himself 
 and the parliament to the abrogation of all laws against 
 Ilomanists ; and also all laws repugnant to the Romish 
 religion. But a fresh difficulty occurred in Spain. Some 
 of the Spaniards, who knew the nature of the English 
 constitution, maintained it was not in the king's power 
 to perform what he promised ; or, in case he attempted 
 it, 'a rebellion would infallibly ensue. The king of Spain 
 appointed a committee to take this into consideration. It 
 \vas decided to defer sending the infanta into England, 
 and the Spanish ambassadors in England had orders to 
 desire James to begin putting in execution his engage- 
 ments in favour of the Romanists. 
 
 James, thus placed in a dilemma, resolved to give the 
 ambassadors some satisfaction : and he put into their 
 hands a declaration, promising " pardon under the great 
 seal, of all penalties, forfeitures, seizures, indictments, 
 convictions and incumbrances whatsoever, wliereurito 
 the Roman-catholics arc liable, or have been proceeded 
 against, or might be, as well priests, as others \ suspension.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. Sg 
 
 under his majesty's seal, of all these penal laws, charges, 
 and forfeitures, whereunto Roman-catholic subjects of his 
 majesty have heretofore been subject ; and, under the 
 same seal, to give a dispensation and toleration to all the 
 Roman-catholics, his majesty's subjects, as well priests, as 
 temporal persons, and others, of and from all penalties, 
 forfeitures, troubles, and incumbrances, which they have 
 been, or may be, subject to, by reason of any statute or 
 law whatsoever." 
 
 But while these matters were in agitation in England, 
 Gregory the fifteenth died ; which, rendering the dispen- 
 sation null until it should be renewed by his successor, 
 protracted the intended marriage, and it was ultimately 
 broken off. Happy would it have been for Charles, as 
 well as for the English people, if a similar marriage treaty, 
 which, on the breaking off of this, was entered into with 
 France, had been also broken off. Charles would have 
 reigned securely and happily, in coinciding with the- 
 genius, the interests, and the wishes of the English 
 people ; and the land, with its inhabitants, would not 
 have been oppressed with the commotions, nor the pages 
 of history stained with the excesses, which thence occurred. 
 I now pass to Charles the first. 
 
 His marriage had been concluded with the king of 
 France's sister, while James had been living ; and his 
 queen arrived in the beginning of his reign. In the first 
 year, 1625, both houses presented to the king a petition 
 against popish recusants, which being similar to the 
 petition 1 have related in James's reign, it is unnecessary 
 to dwell on. The king answered the petition graciously, 
 and made fair promises ; but the continual complaints 
 of the parliaments, on the same points, throughout his 
 reign, shew not the performance of these promises. To 
 the intrigues of the queen and her counsellors, this is to 
 be attributed. 
 
 In 1628; the commons presented a remonstrance to thft 
 king, representing " a general fear conceived in the people 
 of secret working and combination to introduce into 
 the kingdom, innovation, and change of religion : some of 
 <he llomish religion having had honours, olliccs, and places
 
 00 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 of command and authority lately conferred on them ; and 
 letters of stay of legal proceedings, and commissions 
 under the great seal, granted for compositions with popish 
 recusants ; with inhibitions and. restraint both to the 
 ecclesiastical and temporal courts arid officers to inter- 
 meddle with them : the great increase of their numbers, 
 insolence, meetings, and conferences : the miserable 
 condition of Ireland, wl.ere, without control, the popish 
 religion is openly professed, and practised in every 
 part thereof; popish jurisdiction being there generally 
 exercised and avowed, monasteries and nunneries 
 erected, &c." 
 
 This remonstrance, which was very long, containing 
 a great many other matters which come not within my 
 subject, made little impression upon the king. 
 
 The commons, the same year, complained that new 
 ceremonies were continually introduced, especially at 
 Durham, by Doctor Cozens, the dean ; as angels, saints, 
 crucifixes, altars, candles on candlemas day, &c. This 
 was equally unattended to by the king. The commons 
 then entered into a vow, in favour of the thirty-nine 
 articles of religion entered into in the reign of Elizabeth. 
 Soon after, the commons entered into a protestation, com- 
 posed of three heads. The first was, " Whosoever shall 
 bring in innovations of religion, or by favour or counte- 
 nance seem to extend or introduce popery or Arminianism, 
 or other opinion disagreeing from the truth, and orthodox 
 church, shall be reputed a capital enemy to the kingdom 
 and commonwealth." The other two were about tonnage 
 and poundage. The king resorted to his usual remedy 
 of dissolving the parliament. He also sent four members 
 of the commons to the tower. Against these mem- 
 bers, the attorney-general exhibited informations in 
 the star-chamber ; and they were severely fined and 
 imprisoned. These violent proceedings caused general 
 murmurings. 
 
 The next occurrence material to my purpose, was in 
 the year 1640. Although this be but a speech of one of 
 the members in the house of commons, Mr. Pym, yet 
 it contained the sense of the entire commons, and all
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 91 
 
 the public grievances of which the people complained. 
 In this speech he said " There are a threefold sort of 
 grievances. 1st. ..Against the privilege of parliament. 
 2d..To the prejudice of religion. 3d. .Against the liberty 
 of the subject. For the first, the members are free from 
 arrests, and to have liberty of speech. These privileges 
 have been broken: first, in restraining the members from 
 speaking ; secondly, in forbidding the speaker to put 
 a question; both of them practised in the last parliament; 
 thirdly, by imprisoning divers members for matters done 
 in parliament ; fourthly, by proceedings against them in 
 the inferior courts j fifthly, enjoining them to give 
 security for their good behaviour, and continuing them 
 in prison even to the death ; sixthly, in abrupt dissolutions 
 of parliament. The second is, encouragement of popery : 
 first, by suspension of laws against them. Now 'tis 
 certain there can be no security from papists, but in 
 their disability : their principles are incompatible with 
 any other religion : laws will not restrain them, nor oaths; 
 for the pope dispenseth with both ; and his command 
 acts them against the realm in spirituals and temporals 
 in ordine ad spirituaHa. Henry the third, and Henry 
 the fourth, of France, were no protestants, yet were 
 murdered because they tolerated reformation. Secondly, 
 by allowing them places of trust and honour in the com- 
 monwealth. Thirdly, their free resort to London, and to 
 the court ; to communicate their counsels and designs, 
 diving into the secrets of state. Fourthly, that as they 
 have a congregation of cardinals at Home for advancing 
 the pope's authority in England ; so they have a nuncio 
 here for the execution thereof." The third sort of 
 grievances against the liberty of the subject, he enume- 
 rates ; as tonnage, poundage, ship-money, &c. 
 
 This speech, which was universally applauded, was 
 followed with another, by Sir U^njamin Rudyard, in 
 which he used the following expressions. " They havo 
 brought it so to pass, that under t.hr name of puritans, all 
 our religion is branded ; itrul under a few hard words 
 against Jesuits, all popery is countenanced. Whosoever 
 squares his actions by any rule, cither divine or human,
 
 9f THE TRUE STATE 
 
 he is A puritan ; he that will not do whatsoever other 
 tnen would have him do, he is a puritan. Their great 
 work, their master-piece, now, is to make all of our 
 religion to be the suspected party of the kingdom." 
 
 The house was loaded with petitions backing these 
 speeches. In consequence, the house appointed a com- 
 mittee of twenty-four, to prepare a remonstrance. But, 
 the king, shewing a greater compliance than was expected, 
 this remonstrance was not drawn up until above a year 
 after, on another occasion. This year, however, the 
 commons ordered the preparing a remonstrance to his 
 majesty concerning Count Rosetti, who exercised in 
 England the functions of nuncio, under colour that it 
 was necessary for the queen, for matters of conscience. 
 The queen, by a message, informed them " that under- 
 standing the having one sent to her from the pope was 
 distasteful to the kingdom, she was desirous to give the 
 parliament satisfaction, and would remove him in conve- 
 nient time.'* The time, however, having been protracted, 
 the commons ordered him to be brought to the bar of 
 their house to be examined : on which he hid himself, 
 and, next day, departed for Rome. Beside the influence 
 which the popish party gained by the direct countenance 
 of the queen, and the indirect countenance of the king, 
 as far as he could elude the vigilance of parliament ; Lord 
 Conway, secretary of state, and Weston, earl of Portland, 
 lord treasurer, were professed Romanists ; and Windebank, 
 secretary of state, and Finch, lord keeper, although 
 they did not openly profess the Romish faith, were 
 avowed patrons of the Romish party. Buckingham may 
 be strictly said to have been of no religion at all. 
 
 On the llth of February, 1641, notice was given to 
 the commons, " that the papists were preparing to execute 
 some great design, and that, by the queen's order, they 
 nil fasted every Saturday for its success." An order was 
 therefore made, that all judges in their circuits should 
 effectually put the laws in execution against priests and 
 Jesuits. 
 
 On the 3d of May, Mr. Pym made known to the house 
 " informations given of desperate designs both at home
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 93 
 
 and abroad against the parliament and the peace of the 
 nation ; and that the persons engaged therein \vere under 
 an oatli of secrecy. That the French were drawing down 
 their forces to the sea side, and that divers persons of 
 eminency about the queen were deeply engaged in these 
 plots." upon which the commons resolved that a protes- 
 tation should be subcribed by all the members. In this, 
 each member promised, vowed and protested, to main- 
 tain and defend, as far as he lawfully may, with his 
 power, life, and estate, the true reformed protestant 
 religion, expressed in the doctrine of the church of 
 England, against all popery and popish innovation within 
 the realm. This protestation they communicated to the 
 lords, desiring that every member of their house might 
 be ordered to take the same. Having passed in the 
 lords, it was signed altogether by four hundred and 
 thirty three commoners, and one hundred and six lords, 
 including the bishops and judges. The concourse of 
 people which had flocked to Westminster on this occasion 
 had been immense. The commons ordered Doctor 
 Burgess to acquaint the multitude, that the protestation 
 had been taken by both houses, and that they were 
 desired to return to their homes. They forthwith 
 departed, satisfied. 
 
 This protestation was not the only effect of the con- 
 spiracy. The same day, the commons ordered the 
 bringing in of a bill for the continuance of the parliament, 
 that it might not be dissolved without the consent of 
 both houses. They ordered likewise the protestation to 
 be tendered to the whole kingdom. 
 
 From this time forward, the disputes ran high between 
 the king and his parliament. These I am not disposed to 
 meddle with, if they even came more clearly within the 
 scope of my design. It is an intricate subject ; touching 
 the king's prerogative on the one hand ; and the privileges 
 of parliament, and the liberty of the subject, on the 
 other. For one only remark I feel myself here called on ; 
 namely, that popery and arbitrary power are strict and 
 inseparable concomitants ; coexisting ; aiding and sup- 
 porting each other. The pretensions of all order* of
 
 94, THE TRUE STATE 
 
 the popish hierarchy, from its head to all its members, 
 are, for themselves, rule ; absolute, undisputed, rule ; 
 and for the people, implicit, blind submission, in ordine 
 ad spirituaUa. It therefore countenances absolute autho- 
 rity over their subjects in princes who are themselves 
 obedient to the Roman see : and, again, princes, aiming 
 at this, have always cither sanctioned or connived at 
 clerical oppression. 
 
 On the 1st of November, 1641, accounts arrived in 
 England of a frightful tragedy acted in Ireland : which 
 excited the horror, amazement, and indignation of the 
 whole kingdom; namely, the Irish rebellion and massacre; 
 in which thirty-seven thousand English protestants were 
 most barbarously murdered, in cold blood, by the Irish ; 
 and more extensive mischief prevented barely in time, by 
 the discovery, only the night before, of a project of 
 seizing, the ensuing day, upon the castle of Dublin, and 
 all the stores and provisions. This dreadful news caused 
 immediate and strong resolves by the commons. 
 
 " Assistance to Ireland. That the persons of papists 
 of quality be secured. That the lords be desired to join 
 concerning the dissolution of the house of capuchins ; 
 of the queen's establishment ; and the speedy sending 
 them away, according to the desires of this house. 
 That the ambassadors may be sent to, from both houses, 
 to deliver up such priests, of the king's subjects, as are in 
 their houses. That a list be brought in of the queen's 
 priests, and other her servants. That a proclamation be 
 issued forth, commanding all strangers that are not of the 
 protestant religion, to deliver in tickets of their names, 
 and an account of their stay here, within two days after 
 the issuing forth of the said proclamation, or else to 
 depart the kingdom forthwith. &c." 
 
 The capuchins are friars of the Franciscan order, 
 founded by Francis, son of a merchant of Assisi, in the 
 province of Umbria, in 1209. The Franciscans, as well 
 as the Dominicans and Jesuits, have been zealous and 
 active friends to the papal hierarchy ; and were invested, 
 by the Roman see, with the treasure of ample and ex- 
 tensive indulgences, as a means of subsistence, by their
 
 OF THK QUESTION". 95 
 
 distribution. Of the Franciscans are conventual brethren, 
 
 and brethren of the observance. From the latter sprung 
 
 the capuchins ; i. e. religious of the Franciscan order in 
 
 its strictest observance ; deriving their name from capuce, 
 
 or capuchon, a stuff cap, or cowl, wherewith they cover 
 
 their heads. They are clothed with brown or grey; 
 
 always barefooted ; are never to go in a coach, nor even 
 
 shave their beard. The capuchins are a reform made 
 
 from the order of Minors, commonly called cordeliers, 
 
 set on foot in the sixteenth century, by Matthew Baschi, 
 
 a religious observant of the monastery of Montesiascone; 
 
 who, being at Rome, said he was advertised several 
 
 times from heaven to practise the rules of St. Francis to 
 
 the letter. Upon this, he made application to Clement, 
 
 bishop of Rome, in 1525 ; who gave him permission to 
 
 retire into a solitude, with as many others as chose to 
 
 embrace the .strict observance. In 1528, the bishop of 
 
 Rome issued a bull in their favour. In 1529, the order 
 
 was brought into complete form ; Matthew was elected 
 
 general ; and the chapter made constitutions. 
 
 The house of commons next passed the remonstrance 
 I before alluded to, and ordered it to be printed. Of this 
 long document, composed of two hundred and four 
 articles, I shall not give even the most brief abridgment, 
 as any thing therein contained, really material to my 
 subject, is comprised in what I have already stated in 
 this treatise. 
 
 In the year 1643, among the reasons of the general 
 assembly in Scotland, for assisting the parliament, the 
 second is " There was an act passed by the convention 
 of estates, anno 1585, wherein the estates found it neces- 
 sary to enter into a league and Christian confederation, 
 with all protestant princes and estates, against the bloody 
 league at Trent. Conformed to which there followed a 
 league between the two crowns of England and Scotland, 
 subscribed at Berwick, 158(J, against whatsoever foreign 
 and intestine powers of papists should arrive or rise. And, 
 therefore, the cause being the same, as well as the parties, 
 and the danger ; we are bound to perform now, what we 
 promised then."
 
 96 THE TRUE 3TATE 
 
 From this time until the reign of Charles the second, I 
 find nothing applicable to my subject. In 1661, the house 
 of commons ordered all their members to receive the 
 sacrament in the church of England, on pain of being 
 expelled. The same year, the corporation act was passed, 
 fcy which every mayor, alderman, common-council man, 
 or any other officer in a corporation, shall take the oaths 
 of allegiance and supremacy. 
 
 In 1663, the two houses presented an address to the 
 king, setting forth, " that his majesty's lenity towards 
 the papists, had drawn into the kingdom great numbers 
 of Romish priests and Jesuits : they were therefore 
 humble suitors to him, to issue out a proclamation to 
 command all Jesuits, and all English, Irish, and Scottish 
 priests, and all such other priests as have taken orders 
 from the see of Rome, or by authority thereof, (except 
 such foreign Jesuits and priests as, by contract of marriage, 
 are to attend the persons of either of the queens,* or, by 
 the law of nations, to attend foreign ambassadors,) to 
 depart this kingdom by a day, under pain of having the 
 penalties of the law inflicted on them." 
 
 The king answered in writing, " that he was not a 
 little troubled that his lenity and condescension towards 
 many of the popish persuasion, had been made so ill a 
 use of, and so ill deserved, that the resort of Jesuits and 
 priests into his kingdom had been thereby increased ; but 
 that he would issue a proclamation, &c." 
 
 This proclamation was issued, but no better observed 
 than all those that had been issued out for the same 
 purpose, since the beginning of the reign of James the 
 first. But it was not then known that the" king was 
 himself a Romanist. 
 
 In 16G6, a dreadful fire broke out in London, which 
 raged three days, and laid a great part of it in ashes. 
 Bishop Burnet relates, on the authority of Doctor Lloyd, 
 afterwards bishop of Worcester, that one Grant, a papist, 
 one of the board of trustees of water works at Islington, 
 the day before the fire broke out, called for the key of the 
 
 The queen mother, and Kirg Charles the iccond'* queen, who was also a. Romanist, 
 f ihc Portugucjc family.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 97 
 
 place where the head* of the pipes were, turned all the 
 cocks that were then open, stopped the water, went away, 
 and carried the keys with him. When the fire broke out 
 the next morning, they opened the pipes in the streets to 
 find water, but there was none. Some hours were lost 
 in sending to Islington, where the door was to be broke 
 open, and the cocks turned ; and it was long before the 
 water got to London. This great fire was generally 
 charged to the popish party. In one of the inscriptions 
 round the monument, in London, are the following 
 words ; which, on King James the second's coming to the 
 crown, were erased, but restored upon the revolution : 
 " This pillar was set up in perpetual remembrance of 
 the most dreadful burning of this protestant city, begun 
 and carried on by the treachery and malice of the popish 
 faction, in the beginning of September, in the year of 
 our Lord 1066, in order to the carrying on the horrid plot 
 for extirpating the protestant religion, and old English 
 liberty, and introducing popery and slavery." 
 
 The same year, the two houses, who were beginning 
 to discover the king's real principles, notwithstanding his 
 contrary professions ; seeing that Romanists had a consi- 
 derable influence in his council, and that their religion 
 began to spread in the nation, presented an address, 
 praying him to put the laws in execution against Romish 
 priests and Jesuits, who took indefatigable pains to pervert 
 his subjects. The king, as customary with himself, his 
 father, and grandfather* issued a proclamation, which 
 produced no farther effect than the former had done. A 
 letter from Secretary Bennett, lately created earl of 
 Arlington, a concealed papist, to the earl of Sandwich, 
 ambassador at Madrid, contains the following sentence : 
 " Your excellency knows sufficiently the springs upon 
 which the animosity to the Roman catholics arises, and 
 how hard it is for his majesty to forbear declaring 'against 
 them, when the complaint arises from both houses of 
 parliament, and accordingly you can yourself frame your 
 answer to the queen of Spain." 
 
 The next year, popish influence was more and more 
 discovered ; the king bcramc more and more suspected - f
 
 9$ THE TRUE STATE 
 
 and complaints and murmurs arose among the people. 
 Another proclamation was issued ; and the frequency of 
 these rather increased than diminished the public jealousy, 
 as the laws on which they were grounded, were not 
 executed. These laws, the two houses, in 1668, addressed 
 him to put in execution ; and an ineffective proclamation 
 was again the result ; for none but Romanists, or men of 
 no religion, had any credit at court. 
 
 In 1669, the king endeavoured, without success, by 
 trying to procure an indulgence for all non-conformists-, 
 without exception, to procure for the Romanists, in the 
 consequent inclusion, the same favour. 
 
 In 1670, the two houses addressed the king, repre- 
 senting the growth of popery, and stating the causes 
 to be : 
 
 lst...The number of priests and Jesuits. 
 
 2d... Their chapels, generally, beside those in ambassa- 
 dors houses. 
 
 3d. ..The fraternities or convents of English popish 
 priests anil Jesuits at St. James's, &c. ; and schools kept 
 for the corrupt education of youth in the principles of 
 popery. 
 
 4th. ..The publicity of popish catechisms. 
 
 5th. ..The remissness of magistrates, &c. in not con- 
 victing papists according to law. 
 
 6th...7th...8th and 9th... Recusants enjoying places, 
 advowsance of churches, presentations to livings, &c. &c. 
 
 10th. .The great insolence of papists in Ireland, where 
 do publicly appear archbishops and bishops, reputed to 
 be made so by the pope, in opposition to those made 
 under his majesty's authority. 
 
 They then state the remedies to be : 
 
 lst...The banishment of all popish priests and Jesuits 
 except such as attend the queen's person by the contract 
 of marriage, and ambassadors, according to the law of 
 nations ; and execution of the laws against popish 
 recusants. 
 
 3d. ..Restraining the concourse of subjects from hearing 
 mass in ambassador's houses, and in all other chapels in 
 the kingdom.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 99 
 
 3d... Not to commit offices of trust to popish recusants. 
 
 4th...That all fraternities or convents of English or 
 other popish priests, Jesuits, or friars, and schools incul- 
 cating principles of popery, be abolished, and such priests, 
 Jesuits, friars, and schoolmasters, punished. 
 
 .Otli...That exchequer officers issue processes against 
 popish recusants convict. 
 
 6th. ..That one Plunket, assuming to be primate of 
 Ireland, and one Peter Talbot, assuming to be archbishop 
 of Dublin, be apprehended and brought to England, 
 to answer such matters as shall be objected against 
 them. 
 
 The king, as usual, published a proclamation, which 
 was no better observed than the former proclamations. 
 But it is remarkable, that he owns, at this time, having 
 employed Romanists, in consideration of the great services 
 performed by them to his father and himself in the civil 
 wars. 
 
 In 1671, the duke of York, the king's brother, after- 
 wards James the second, publicly abjured the protestant 
 religion. 
 
 In 1<>72, the king, and a secret council which he had 
 appointed for the express purpose, combined to effect the 
 accomplishment of their aim, viz. : absolute authority 
 in the person of the king. This council, consisting of 
 five persons only 
 
 C LIFFORD, 
 
 A RLINGTON, 
 B LTKINGHAM, 
 A SIJLEY, 
 L AUDEUDALE, 
 
 was called the cabal ; and the initials of their names form 
 the word CABAL. Sir Thomas Clifford was a zealous and 
 declared Romanist. The earl of Arlington was a zealous 
 Romanist, but made outward profession of the protestant 
 religion. The duke of Buckingham gloried in having 
 no religion, and was reckoned an atheist. Sir Anthony 
 Ashley Cooper, afterwards- earl of Shaftcsbury, was a
 
 HIE TRUE STATE 
 
 man of unsteady religious principles. The duke of 
 Lauderdale had been, in his principles, much against 
 popery and arbitrary government, but had suffered his 
 passions and interests to overthrow his principles,' and to 
 make way for his assent to popery and arbitrary govern- 
 rnent, which have an entire and inseparable dependance 
 the one upon the other. The duke of York, whose 
 character was the very essence of bigotry and enthusiasm, 
 had acquired the rule over all affairs, and over the king 
 himself. 
 
 Of so formidable a cabal, as it was wittily and appro- 
 priately designated, against the rights and liberties of the 
 English nation, the strides became as rapid as the objects 
 were dangerous. The total extirpation of the protestant 
 religion was therefore comprehended. The necessity and 
 policy of this, in promoting despotic views, must be 
 sufficiently obvious. The very genius of protestantism, 
 or, in other words, of the holy scriptures, is liberty. 
 * Where the spirit of the gospel is, there is liberty :" 
 C 2d Corinthians, 3 ch. 17 v. Not, indeed, a species of 
 ^indefinable liberty ; nor a liberty to do mischief and 
 deal out destruction to our fellow creatures ; not a license, 
 an indulgence, for wickedness and crime ; but that 
 species of liberty which accords at once with human 
 reason, unperverted ; with legitimate principles of govern- 
 ment; and with unequivocal obedience to the divine laws. 
 It is " the easy and light yoke," the " reasonable service," 
 of Him "whose service is perfect freedom," and will be 
 perfect happiness. 
 
 To effect the extirpation of this decided enemy to 
 despotism and slavery, (protestantism,) some manoeuvres 
 were necessary. These were easily reconcileable with 
 the king's latitudinarian principles. A Romish priest, 
 (Father Orleans,) owns, in his history, that " the king 
 was by no means a good Christian in liis actions, though 
 a catholic in his heart." He entered into a secret alliance 
 with France, and into a war with Holland, for the pur- 
 poses of freeing himself, as he and the French king were 
 pleased to term it, from the tyranny of parliaments of 
 rendering himself absolute ill his dominions and of
 
 OF THE QUESTION'. 101 
 
 introducing popery, as soon as the states should be suffi- 
 ciently humbled. He had an army also encamped on 
 Blackheath, at the very gates of London, in the midst of 
 winter, and Romanists in the principal military posts. 
 These, by the counsel of his cabal, and his own determi- 
 nation, were to co-operate with the foreign force to effect 
 these objects. 
 
 The inseparable connexion of popery and arbitrary 
 power, the king' made evident in his declaration published 
 for liberty of conscience ; since he could not grant this 
 liberty without assuming a power to abrogate acts of 
 parliament, or at least suspend the execution thereof as 
 long as he pleased. This declaration, the 15th of March, 
 Ki7^, consisted of divers articles, of which the first was : 
 " His majesty publishes it, in virtue of his supreme 
 power in ecclesiastical matters, which is a right inherent 
 in his person." And the fourth was : " That the 
 execution of all penal laws, in matters ecclesiastical, 
 against whatsoever sort of non-conformists or recusants, 
 be immediately suspended." 
 
 The members of the cabal were so sure of gaining their 
 point, as to believe that the parliament itself would not 
 dare seem to know their artifices. But they were mis- 
 taken. The house of commons determined to proceed 
 with vigour in support of the constitution. The king's 
 actions corresponding so little with his words, and religion 
 and the state being so obviously in danger, they told the 
 king, in an address, " that penal laws, in matters eccle^- 
 siastical, cannot be suspended, but by act of parliament." 
 Soon after, the two houses addressed the king, com- 
 plaining of the growth of popery, the great number ot" 
 Romish priests and Jesuits, and the admission of so 
 many recusants into places of trust, particularly in the 
 army; and pointing out remedies, in many points similar 
 to those in former addresses ; but, in particular, the oaths 
 (/f allegiance and supremacy and the sacrament in the 
 church of England, to all officers and soldiers. This was 
 followed, as usual, by a proclamation, lint the commons, 
 convince*] by experience of the little reliance to be placed 
 on the king's word, and being now resolved not to b<*
 
 102 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 put off so easily, entered on new measures. They would 
 not pass money bills until the declaration should be 
 revoked. 
 
 The king, perceiving the dilemma to which the schemes 
 of the cabal, and his own unconstitutional views, had 
 reduced him ; seeing that he must either give way to, or 
 break with, his parliament, allowed to his prudence the 
 victory over his inclinations. The protestant states of 
 Holland had not been destroyed ; nor France, therefore, 
 yet ready to co-operate. Besides, the English army was 
 protestant, except some few soldiers, and the popish 
 officers whom he had introduced. The navy too was 
 protestant. It would have been absurd, then, to have 
 hoped, that they would have engaged in a design to 
 destroy their own religious and civil liberties. In short, 
 the king, contrary to the advice of the duke of York, and 
 the greater part of the cabal, in this instance, saved a 
 rupture, by recalling his declaration, and making a satis- 
 factory speech to both houses. On which, the two 
 houses went, in a body, to thank the king for so full and 
 satisfactory an answer. 
 
 In 1673, the test act was passed, " to prevent the dangers 
 which may happen from popish recusants," by requiring 
 " that all persons enjoying offices of trust or profit should 
 take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and make 
 the declaration against transubstantiation, in public court, 
 receive the sacrament in the church of England, and 
 deliver into court a certificate signed by the ministers 
 and church-wardens, attested by the oaths of two credible 
 witnesses, and this certificate to be put upon record." 
 
 Immediately after the passing of this act, most of the 
 popish officers threw up their employments. Clifford 
 threw up the treasurer's staff; and the duke of York the 
 post of lord high admiral. 
 
 The duke of York, who had issue, by his former marriage 
 with the earl of Clarendon's daughter, Wary, and Anne, 
 afterwards queens of England, married again in 1073, and 
 selected a popish princess, sister to the duke of Modena. 
 In 1674, a general test was prepared by the commons, 
 of which the following is a copy.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 103 
 
 *' I do solemnly, from my heart, and in the presence 
 of Almighty God, profess, testify, and declare, that I do 
 not believe in my conscience that the church of Rome is 
 the only catholic and universal church of Christ, out of 
 which there is no salvation ; or that the pope hath any 
 jurisdiction or supremacy over the catholic church in 
 general, or over myself in particular ; or that it belongs 
 to the said church of Rome alone to judge the true sense 
 nnd interpretation of the holy scriptures; or that in the 
 holy sacrament of the Eucharist, there is made a perfect 
 change of the whole substance of the wine into Christ's 
 blood, which change the said church of Rome calleth 
 transubstantiation ; or, that the Virgin Mary, or any 
 other saint, ought to be worshipped or prayed unto : and 
 all these aforesaid doctrines and positions, I do renounce 
 and disclaim, as false and erroneous, and contrary to God's 
 word, and the Christian religion," 
 
 But while they were preparing a bill to make this test 
 general, which would have served as a touchstone to dis- 
 tinguish Romanists from protestants, the king prevented 
 the measure by proroguing the parliament. It is true he 
 had assented to a bill the year before, in which the oath 
 was much to the same purpose : but that applied only to 
 those advanced to offices of trust or profit. 
 
 In 1(>77> William, prince of Orange, afterwards King 
 William the third, and the king's and the duke of York's 
 nephew, was married to Mary, eldest daughter of the 
 duke of York. 
 
 In 1678, Doctor Ezrael Tongue, a London divine, 
 Titus Gates, and one Kirkby, communicated to the king 
 a design, which has gone by the name of the popish plot ; 
 the substance of which was, to kill the king, to subvert the 
 constitution, and to extirpate the protestant religion, and 
 establish popery. They next applied to Sir Edmundbury 
 Godfrey, a justice of peace, before whom Gates swore 
 informations. In three weeks after these informations had 
 been lodged, they were examined by the privy council. 
 In a few days afterwards, Sir Edmundbury Godfrey wa.i 
 murdered. Very soon after, Gates was examined by the 
 house of commons 5 after which the commons resolved.
 
 J(H THE TRUE STATE 
 
 neminc cantradicente, " that there is, and hath been, a 
 damnable and hellish plot contrived and carried on by 
 popish recusants, for assassinating and murdering the 
 King, for subverting the government, and rooting out 
 and destroying the protestant religion." 
 
 Two days after, in a conference between the two houses 
 upon liiis vote, the following report was made. " The 
 lords have considered the vote of the house of commons 
 communicated to them at the conference, and have most 
 readily and unanimously concurred with them in it 
 nemine contradicente ; and their lordships are very glad 
 to see that zeal which the commons have shewn upon 
 this occasion, and do fully concur with them, that the 
 most speedy and serious considerations of both housgs are 
 necessary for prevention of the imminent dangers. In 
 order whereunto, their lordships have resolved to sit 
 de die in diem, forenoon and afternoon, and desire that 
 the house of commons will do the same." 
 
 In the mean time, other witnesses, Bedloe and Dugdale, 
 came forward; and Prance, to prove the murder of 
 Godfrey. In 1678, and 1679, on the positive evidence 
 of these men, Coleman, secretary to the duke of York, 
 Langhorn, a Romish lawyer, Whitebread, Fen wick, 
 Gawen, Turner, Ireland, Pickering, and Harcourt, 
 Jesuits, and Grove, a layman ; and, for the murder, 
 Green, Berry, and Hill, were all convicted and executed. 
 And in 1680, on the positive evidence of Gates, Dugdale, 
 and a farther witness, Turberville, a friar, who had 
 turned approver, Henry Howard, lord viscount Stafford, 
 was convicted and executed. Four more lords were 
 committed to the tower ; the lords Powis, Arundel of 
 Wardour, Petre, and Bellasis. 
 
 Of this plot, the reality of which has been by some 
 historians admitted, and by others denied, I shall neither 
 offer any opinion, nor enter into any of the particulars ; 
 which indeed are very tedious and complicated. This is 
 in conformity with a determination into which I entered, 
 on commencing this treatise : not to advance any thing 
 of which any admissible doubts should be found to exist; 
 and also not to suppress any thing which rested on suflfi-
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 cient proof, on account of the cavils of writers, whose 
 endeavours to thrust illusions on the understandings of 
 their readers, to serve "the cause" of their party, are 
 but too palpable. In short, I determined to adduce 
 nothing which could be denied, except it would bfc 
 intended to deny all accredited histories, and all authentic 
 documents. I cannot, however, refrain from referring 
 the reader to the fourteenth volume of Itapin's history of 
 England, octavo, for the particular* afoul corroborating 
 testimonials of the plot, particularly the two latter parts 
 of it ; the subversion of the government, and the extir- 
 pation of protestantism. I would direct his attention to 
 the letters of Coleman, to which he owned, and in which 
 the design is avowed, of " subduing the pestilent northern 
 heresy.'* I would draw his observation to the fact, that 
 Gates had accused Coleman before his letters were found; 
 and that, therefore, Gates must have known Coleman. 
 If he attentively % read, and allow himself sufficient time 
 to weigh in his mind, all that is offered by llapin on the 
 subject, and which takes up haJf the volume : if, beside 
 this, he also read what Bishop Burnet relates in his history: 
 and if he reject the whole, in all its parts, as false: I then 
 may be taxed with a dulness of Understanding ; for I must 
 own, it would ptiz/le me to discover by what process of 
 reasoning he can arrive at the conclusion. I shall here 
 drop the subject. 
 
 Soon after the examinations in the two houses on this 
 matter, the parliament addressed the king, praying him 
 to have the oaths of allegiance and supremacy every where 
 administered ; to have access at court denied to all un- 
 known and suspected persons ; and to order the train 
 bands of London and Westminster to be in readiness : 
 and a bill was passed " For disabling papists from sitting 
 in either house of parliament." 
 
 In 1G79, a design was discovered to burn London a 
 second time. The house of one Bird, in Fetter-lane, 
 being set on fire, his servant, Elizabeth Oxley, was sus- 
 pected of having done it on purpose, and sent to prison. 
 She confessed the fact, and deposed that she had been 
 employed to do it by oiu Stubbs, a Itomanist, who had
 
 106 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 promised her five pounds. Stubbs, being taken up, 
 confessed that he persuaded her to it, and that Father 
 Gifford, his confessor, put him upon it, telling him, 
 " there was no sin in burning all the houses of heretics.'* 
 He added, that he had frequent conferences in this 
 affair with Gifford, and two Irishmen. And Stubbs and 
 the servant maid declared, that the Romanists were 
 to make an insurrection, and expected an army of sixty 
 thousand men from France. The commons obtained a 
 pardon for Stubbs and the servant maid, in consideration 
 of their ready confession. 
 
 In consequence of this, the commons ordered a bill to 
 be brought in to banish all papists, or reputed papists, 
 within London and Westminster, twenty miles from the 
 samp, for six months ; and then they voted, ncmine 
 contradicente, "That the duke of York being a papist, 
 the hopes of his coming such to the crown, has given the 
 greatest countenance and encouragement to the present 
 conspiracies and designs of the papists against the king 
 and the protestant religion." 
 
 They at last determined on a bill " to disable the duke 
 of York from inheriting the imperial crown of England," 
 called, " the exclusion bill." After the particulars of the 
 conspiracy against the established government, and the 
 protestant religion, it was set forth : " That the emissaries, 
 priests, and agents for the pope, had traitorously seduced 
 James duke of York, presumptive heir to these crowns, 
 to the communion of the church of Rome ; and had 
 induced him to enter into several negociations with'the 
 pope, his cardinals, and nuncios, for promoting the 
 Romish church and interests, and by his means and 
 procurement had advanced the power .and greatness of 
 the French king, to the manifest hazard of these king- 
 doms. That by descent of these crowns upon a papist, 
 and by foreign alliance and assistance, they might be able 
 to succeed in their wicked and villanous designs." It 
 then enacts " That James should be incapable of inhe- 
 riting the said crowns, .which, on the king's demise, 
 should go to the person next in succession, as if James 
 was dead." The bill was read the second time, and
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 committed : on which, the king, highly offended, pro- 
 rogued the parliament. 
 
 In the latter end of 1679, a sham plot was discovered, 
 contrived by Romanists, viz: the countess of Powis, one 
 Cellier, a midwife ; the earl of Castlemain, lords Powis, 
 Arundel of Wardonr, Petre and Bellasis, and Lord 
 Stafford, who, as I have before noticed, was not tried and 
 executed until 1080. The design was to trump up false 
 witnesses to accuse Gates of perjury and sodomy; to 
 have the earl of Shaftesbury assassinated ; and to charge 
 the duke of Buckingham, the earl of Essex, the duke of 
 Monmouth, the lord Hallifax, and several considerable 
 citizens of London, with being concerned in a plot 
 against the king. One Dangerfield was to be the principal 
 actor. He received his instructions from the countess of 
 Powis, and the lords in the tower, and with them a list of 
 the persons whom he was to accuse. And the countess 
 of Powis had put into his hands a model of the pretended 
 plot, which he was to convey into the house of some one 
 of the sham conspirators, and there cause it to be found. 
 Dangerfield, furnished with these instructions and papers, 
 informed the duke of York of the matter, upon his arrival 
 from Brussels. The duke of York made him a present 
 of twenty guineas, and introduced him to the king, who, 
 after he had heard him, gave him forty more. Afterwards 
 he made some attempts to assassinate the earl of 
 Shaftesbury, but was always prevented by one accident 
 or other. At last, on pretence of viewing some rooms, 
 which he said he designed to hire, he went to Colonel 
 MansePs lodgings, and found an opportunity to pin some 
 dangerous papers behind his bed's head. This done, he 
 went to inform two officers of the custom-house, that 
 there were in these lodgings prohibited goods to the 
 value of two thousand pounds. The officers, repairing 
 thither the 22d of October, searched every where in 
 hopes of finding their prey ; but as they did not think 
 of searching behind the bed, Dangerfield himself found 
 the papers. The officers, having carried the papers to 
 their superiors, had orders to return them to Mansel. 
 Four or five days after, the colonel meeting Dangerfield
 
 108 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 in the street, brought him before the king and council. 
 He was strictly examined, ami, his contrivance being 
 detected, was bent to Newgate. Two days after, Sir 
 William Waller, a magistrate, searching Ceilier's house, 
 found the model of the pretended plot, wiiiicn very fair, 
 and neatly made up into a book, tied with ribbons, and 
 hid in a meal tub, which gave it the name of the meal 
 tub plot. Dangerfield, finding himself undone if he 
 persisted in a thing which he couid not support, applied 
 himself to the lord mayor of London, and gave him, in 
 writing, a large confession taken upon oatV v\ h a 
 discovery of the persons who set him at work. This 
 confession being sent to the council, several persons 
 were taken up, and committed to the tower ; among 
 whom was the earl of Castlemain, and the countess of 
 Powis. And the five lords already in the tower, on 
 charges of being concerned in the popish plot, (one of 
 whom, Lord Stafford, was executed for which afterwards,) 
 were now among those charged with this subordinate 
 plot : which aimed, by the assassination of the earl of 
 Shaftesbury, (a man not suited to the prudent conceal- 
 ment of their purposes,) and by other stratagems, under 
 colour of law, with regard to the rest, at the destruction 
 of some of their opponents. 
 
 From the apparent shades of approximation between 
 these two plots generally ; and the certain identity as to 
 time and names ; the five lords in the tower having been 
 concerned in both : I have thought it sufficiently pertinent 
 to give the most particular account which I could find, 
 that would at all consist with brevity, of this latter and 
 subordinate one. I have therefore given it verbatim, 
 from Ilapin's history ; to which I again earnestly refer 
 my readers. They will find that his minute relation of 
 the former plot, however tedious, will amply reward 
 their pains; and, if the eliciting of truth be their object, 
 this will, perhaps, better enable them to ascertain if, 
 than the more flowery but delusive representations of 
 other historians. 1 cannot withhold this tribute to the 
 indefatigable industry, strict impartiality, and sensible 
 strain of remark and elucidation, which is discernable ia
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 109 
 
 this able work ; from which I have received much 
 instruction. 
 
 In 1080, the commons passed the exclusion bill before 
 described: and presented a long address, or, rather, 
 remonstrance, to the king: stating the bold and successful 
 attempts of the popish party: that the} 7 had found means, 
 if their opposers were judges, justices of peace, or other 
 magistrates, to have them turned out of commission ; 
 so that, after some time, they became able to influence 
 matters of government, and destroy those they could 
 not corrupt : that money raised, had, by the prevalence 
 of popish counsels, been employed to make war upon a 
 protestant state, and augment the power of the French 
 king: that the test act had no effect; for the papists, by 
 dispensations obtained from Rome, submitted to these 
 tests : that Coleman, the duke of York's secretary, had 
 maintained a correspondence with Rome, by which was 
 hatched the popish plot, which the papists began to 
 smother by the murder of Godfrey: that popish officers 
 were appointed to the command of forces, and above 
 fifty new commissions were granted to known papists: 
 that parliaments were prorogued and dissolved, to give time? 
 and advantage to that party: that witnesses had been 
 corrupted, not only by promises of reward, but of favour 
 from his majesty's brother: that divers of the most 
 considerable of his majesty's protestant subjects had 
 ci imes of the highest nature forged against them, the 
 charges to be supported by subornation and perjury, 
 that they might be destroyed by forms of law and justice: 
 that a periodical pamphlet, exposing popery, ns ridiculous, 
 called the ""Weekly Packet of Advice from Rome," 
 was suppressed by an arbitrary rule of court: and that, 
 notwithstanding all the proclamations, the papists did, in 
 great numbers, resort to the city and court. 
 
 In the lords, the exclusion bill was passed on the first 
 reading, but was thrown out on the second. 
 
 This year, the commons, among other resolutions, 
 passed one, " that a bill be brought in for an association 
 of all his majesty's subjects, for the safety of his majesty's 
 person, the defence of the protestant religion, and the
 
 110 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 preservation of his majesty's protestant subjects against 
 all invasions, and oppositions, and for preventing the 
 duke of York or any other papist from succeeding to 
 the crown." 
 
 The king, after various other votes and addresses, 
 which highly displeased him, dissolved the parliament, 
 after .having sat but three months. At the same time, 
 he summoned another to meet at Oxford, instead of 
 Westminster : to which the very same members were not 
 only generally and unanimously returned ; but also ad- 
 dresses were sent them from the people of all the counties 
 and cities, returning them hearty thanks for their conduct 
 in the last parliament. The king, seeing this with vex- 
 ation, and also the same kind of addresses, votes, and 
 measures, to promote the exclusion of the duke of York, 
 resolved to take a decisive method of defeating them, 
 and again dissolved the new parliament, after having sat 
 but seven days: and from this time forward, 1681, to his 
 death, reigned without a parliament, and very arbitrarily. 
 
 In 1681, Oliver Plunket, the popish titular primate of 
 Ireland, was executed in England, for a conspiracy 
 carried on with the court of France, for an insurrection 
 in Ireland. But although the course of justice was not, 
 nor could not be, arrested in this and other instances, we 
 find the king pulling off the mask which he had assumed 
 to his parliament in the preceding part of his reign. His 
 dissimulation gave way to violence ; his affectation of a 
 merciful disposition, to cruelty and blood ; his assumed 
 gentleness and chearfulness, to the most tyrannical 
 persecution of the most enlightened and truly patriotic 
 Englishmen, even unto death. Do these charges, these 
 heavy charges, want proof? To whom was his mercy 
 shewn? nay, his favours, countenance, and rewards? 
 To those who were plotting against the independence of 
 England, and the laws, rights, liberties, religion, pro- 
 perties, and lives of Englishmen ; because they were of 
 his own religion, which he hypocritically cloaked from 
 his parliament, partly through fear, and partly to serve 
 his own ultimate views. To whom was his unrelenting 
 cruelty shewn ? To men, whose memories will be ever
 
 OF THE QUESTION. Ill 
 
 justly dear to all who revere the true principles of Jaw 
 and justice, and the true rights and liberties of mankind. 
 To men, whose honoured names, (the theme and admi- 
 ration of foreign nations,) are interwoven with, and 
 inseparable from, the fundamental principles of the 
 glorious, and, let us humbly trust, invulnerable consti- 
 tution, under which we have the happiness to live ; and 
 which, we have every reason to hope and believe, has 
 been brought to pass by the particular providence of God. 
 
 On the doctrines of passive obedience and non-resist- 
 ance, much has been said for and against. I shall say 
 but little. It is certain, whatever force may be allowed 
 to the arguments in favour of these doctrines, none can 
 be admitted for their abuse. However we may admit 
 " subjection to the higher powers,'* on the part of the 
 subject, yet on the part of the ruler it cannot be denied, 
 that " there is.no power but of God/* Now the power 
 derived from God, partakes not of oppression. " Rulers 
 are not a terror to good works, but to the evil." In 
 short, whatever way we contemplate the mockery of 
 justice, in the trial, conviction, and execution of such 
 men as Russel and Sydney, we can discern nothing but, 
 on the one hand, the most hardened inattention to the 
 divine laws, on the affinity with which, the validity of all 
 human laws hangs and depends ; and, on the other, the 
 breach, with regard to the subject, both in these and 
 other trials, of the laws, rights, liberties, religion, pro- 
 perties, and lives of the English people. Referring my 
 readers to the English history for the particulars of these 
 trials, which will be found to bear me out in what I have 
 here advanced, 1 now pass to the reign of James the 
 second. 
 
 James the second's inglorious career was permitted to 
 endure but four years. He went publicly to mass two 
 days after his accession. He next caused to be pub- 
 lished, that Charles the second' died, as he had lived, a 
 Romanist : which Charles had taken no small pains to 
 conceal : having been, as the event of James's losing his 
 crown proved, a better politician than his brother, 
 ordered two papers to be published, which he had*
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 found in Charles's strong box, written with his own 
 hand, both tending to prove the necessity of a visible 
 ehurch and infallible guide in matters of faith. To 
 confirm that Charles Mas really "a catholic," Mr. \Vm. 
 Chaffinch, keeper of the closet, made no scruple to shew 
 a little chapel, annexed to the closet, where Charles 
 went secretly to mass ; who had so frequently and 
 solemnly affirmed, in full parliament, that he was a good 
 protestant. 
 
 On the illegal and cruel persecutions in this reign, it 
 would be too tedious to dwell. I must therefore refer 
 my readers to the pages of history for these ; and content 
 myself with relating the more general, prominent, and 
 important transactions. 
 
 The king's design was of a twofold nature ; the intro- 
 duction of absolute government, and popery ; strict and 
 inseparable allies ! His first step to this end, was to 
 disarm the protestants in Ireland, and raise a popish 
 airmy. When the parliament met, the 9th of October, 
 168.5, he developed his real design, which, at his acces- 
 sion, he endeavoured to cloak, by promising, " to 
 preserve the government in church and state, as by law 
 established." He, in his speech, informed them that he 
 had admitted officers into the army not qualified by the 
 tests. The eyes of the nation began now to be opened to 
 what he would be at. They saw, wild and absurd as 
 the scheme was, that he, nevertheless, intended to 
 attempt forcing the English protestant nation to embrace 
 the Romish religion ; and that, for this purpose, he had, 
 with artful and arbitrary views, began with filling the 
 army exclusively with his creatures, and organizing and 
 extending it in its numbers : and this before he attempted 
 to make general changes in the church and offices of that 
 state. The whole house of commons, therefore, with 
 the speaker at their head, attended the king, and 
 presented an address, in which they stated, " that to that 
 part of his majesty's speech, relating to the officers of the 
 army wot qualified for their employments, according to 
 an act of parliament in the twenty-fifth of King Charles 
 the second, entitled An act for preventing dangers
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 113 
 
 which may happen from popish recusants ; they did, of 
 their bounden duty, humbly represent unto his majesty, 
 that these officers cannot, by law, be capable of their 
 employments ; and that the incapacities they bring upon 
 themselves that way, can no way be taken off) but by an 
 act of parliament." The king shewed, by his answer to 
 this address, that he was offended ; and this house of 
 commons was sufficiently pliant to offer a bill to indemnify 
 the popish officers from the penalties they had already 
 incurred, and another to qualify such a number of these 
 officers as the king should think fit. But did this satisfy 
 James and his Jesuitical counsellors? No such thing. 
 Popery could not be effectually introduced into a pro- 
 testant state, without the aid of absolute power. The 
 laws must be dispensed with ; or, rather, there must be 
 no laws which contradict the king's will. Vice versa, 
 absolute power is most effectually introduced (all history 
 informs us,) by the aid of popery. Indeed, the analogy 
 between absolute power and popery is so close, that, in 
 most instances, they may be said to be one and the same. 
 In Christendom the identity is complete; for the very 
 genius of the Romish religion is temporal and spiritual 
 authority : arbitrary rule in ordine ad spiritualia ; in 
 short, absolute power. 
 
 To effect this ambitious, paramount, and monstrous 
 object, which can only properly be said to be an attribute 
 of the Deity, the necessity of unity has been, in all the 
 past ages of the Christian sera, inculcated, except in the 
 very first; and, indeed, in the first too; but not the 
 same kind of unity, nor for the same purposes. In the 
 primitive church, the point and centre of unity was the 
 word of God. As its ministers had been taught by the 
 divine founder of their religion, that " his kingdom was 
 not of this world," their " zeal was according to know- 
 ledge :" and the conformity that these faithful and 
 obedient servants to a never failing master, taught, was 
 conformity to His instructions, who alone is able to 
 lighten our darkness, direct our paths, supply all our 
 wants, make all rough places smooth, and finally conduct 
 u$ to happiness transcendent and eternal. Of a very 
 
 n
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 different species was the unity, the necessity of which 
 \\as presumptuously and impiously preached by the 
 church of Rome, in "succeeding ages : to wit, conformity 
 with a system built on the decrees of bishops of Rome, 
 and of councils, human councils ! directly contradictory 
 to the doctrines of the sacred scriptures. All this, 
 impious and even blasphemous as it was in a spiritual 
 view, would, however, in a human view, as regarding 
 the affairs of men in this lower world, have been rather 
 ridiculous than hurtful, if it had been attended with no 
 visible or temporal effects ; so strictly does even human 
 reason, unperverted, accord with true religion, unalloyed 
 with superstition and the " traditions of men." But, as 
 the words of eternal life point out, that " the tree shall 
 be known by its fruits ;" and, as the writings of all real 
 divines, all true witnesses of the true faith, both in the 
 primitive ages, and in the last, since the reformation, 
 elucidate the real nature of faith, which if it operate not 
 in good works, is not faith : so the histories, ecclesiastical 
 and civil, of all European nations, which have either 
 embraced " the power," or assumed " the form of god- 
 liness," afford us the instructive proof, that the tree 
 which has been planted by the Romish church, has been 
 known by its fruits. Of what description these fruits are, 
 the reader will be easily capable of determining, by the 
 historical sketch which I have briefly, but faithfully, 
 given ; and of which I shall, with as brief and rapid 
 steps as is possible, hasten to the conclusion. But, 
 before I proceed, I would ask the reader, when his 
 deductions shall have been made, as to the quality of the 
 fruits, of what growth is the tree which has produced 
 such fruits ? Is it the true vine ? Is it the tree of life, 
 spreading nutrition and verdure all around ; dispensing 
 blessings and peace; with evergreen, fragrant, flourishing, 
 wide spreading branches, reaching to the highest heaven, 
 " bringing forth fruit unto perfection ?" Or, is it " the 
 barren fig tree," spreading pestilence, desolation, and 
 death, which "shall be cut down, and cast into the tire ?" 
 If the former, whence these fruits? If the latter, what 
 pestiferous church is this, which has planted this tree of
 
 OF THE QUESTION*. 115 
 
 darkness and of evil, to intercept the human prospect 
 granted by the revelation of our bountiful Creator, and, 
 as far as in it lay, to blast the ultimate hopes of frail, 
 fallen man ? But, thanks be to the divine " Lord of the 
 Vineyard," " the Sun of Righteousness, with healing in. 
 his wings," the " Messiah," full of grace and truth," 
 *' the incomprehensible" " Word," the " Eternal Son of 
 God," who hath brought the true tree of " life and 
 immortality to light through the gospel." 
 
 Again, infallibility is claimed by the Romish church. 
 If, indeed, this church were really "the only road to 
 eternal life ;" to constitute which, it would be requisite 
 that it should have neither added to, nor taken from, the 
 doctrines contained in the BOOK of eternal life ; why 
 then, the necessity of union with a church so consonant 
 to the scriptures,, would be sufficiently apparent ; and to 
 dissent from it, would be (as in the existing case it is 
 termed,) heresy. But if, on the other hand, it be found 
 to differ from the scriptures, I would ask, where lies the 
 infallibility? and where the heresy? 
 
 I would farther ask, is the reign of " the Prince of 
 Peace," "the Saviour of the World," designated by the 
 bloody " oriflamme" of slaughter and destruction ? Is 
 it in a presumptuous and arrogant mortal, or succession 
 of mortals, called " popes," that we are to discover the 
 " rock," when reason, as well as revelation, loudly pro- 
 claims, that " other foundation can no man lay than that 
 is laid, which is Jesus Christ?" Is it in the bulls and 
 decretals of popes, and the crude and contradictory 
 decrees of councils, that we are to look for infallibility ? 
 or in the words of Him who is the eternal source of 
 " the living waters" of instruction and of life, and who 
 possesses the requisite attributes to constitute infallibility, 
 omniscience, omnipotence, and perfection ? Is the extir- 
 pation of heretics, (if heretics,) the way to reclaim, to 
 teach them ? Can that be the cause of truth, which 
 requires the compendious arguments of fire and faggot ? 
 The mission of Him who is " the way, the truth, and the 
 life," was " to save that which was lost." What " cause" 
 then is this, which is promoted by persecution and torture?
 
 H6 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 What "church" is this, that audaciously claims to be 
 "exalted'* by the dark empire of desolation and death ? 
 Jf all judgment has been committed to the Son, by the 
 Father, by what claim can weak and erring mortals usurp 
 over their fellow mortals, the sole prerogative of omni- 
 potence, and not only anticipate in this world, but 
 (O matchless audacity !) presume even to dispense the 
 judgments of the next ? In fine, if this reign be not the 
 reign of Christ, whose reign has it been ? To these 
 questions I shall leave the candid reader to furnish 
 himself with the answers. 
 
 It has been urged, finding that the authenticity of 
 history cannot be successfully disputed, that, at this 
 enlightened sera, it is not likely that such scenes will 
 again be acted, as I have described in this treatise. This 
 I am ready to grant, as to the proposition itself, but not 
 as to the conclusion sought to be drawn from it. The 
 proposition, confined as it is within the verge of proba- 
 bility, is logical, because it is true. Such scenes are not 
 likely to be renewed, because the power does not 'exist, 
 at least in these countries, and under our happy and free 
 constitution, of renewing them! But, as the experience 
 of ages has proved the consequences which have flowed 
 from the possession of this power in the hands of 
 Romanists, it is strictly in point to conclude, that similar 
 power would produce similar consequences. 
 
 Of this, the parliament of 1685, however moderate or 
 compliant towards James the second, was fully aware. 
 The king, dissatisfied that the commons were not willing 
 to come up to the full extent of his desire, to dispense 
 with the laws; that is, "to invest him with absolute 
 authority, prorogued the parliament, after a session of 
 but eleven dnys. The king now proceeded by corrupting 
 the judges, whom he caused to lay down as their opinion, 
 that the king had a power to dispense with the laws. 
 Four of them, who would not comply, he dismissed ! 
 lie next attempted to gain the members of parliament, by 
 degrees, one after another, being resolved to have no 
 session until he had compassed his designs. Some of 
 these, and various others, he found too ready to sacrifice
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 117 
 
 their duty, their consciences, and the religious and civil 
 liberties of the nation, to the base considerations of their 
 Own paltry interest. Even among the clergy, he found 
 some of this description. Doctor Cartwright, dean of 
 Rippon, speaking, in a sermon, of the king's promises to 
 the parliament, said, " that the king's promises were free 
 donatives, and ought not to be too strictly examined or 
 urged ; and that they must leave his majesty to explain 
 his own meaning in them." The king rewarded him 
 with the bishopric of Chester. The Lords Arundel and 
 Bellasis, whom I noticed in the summary of the last 
 reign, and the Lords Dover and Tyrconnel, all Romanists, 
 he admitted into the privy council ; and also the new 
 bishop of Chester, and Doctor Parker, bishop of Oxford, 
 a reputed Romanist. 
 
 The judges, gained over to the king's schemes, made 
 a general rule of law in the following points : 
 
 1st..." That the laws of England are the king's laws." 
 2d..."That therefore it is an incident, inseparable 
 prerogative of the kings of England, as of all other 
 sovereign princes, to dispense with all penal laws in 
 particular cases, and upon particular necessary reasons." 
 3d..." That of these reasons and necessities the king is 
 the sole judge, consequently," 
 
 4th. ..That this is not a trust invested in and granted to 
 the king, but the ancient remains of the sovereign power 
 of the kings of England, which never was yet taken from 
 them, nor can be." 
 
 In consequence of this decision, the Romanists, with 
 the king's permission, set up, every where in the kingdom, 
 the free and open exercise of their religion. The Jesuits 
 erected colleges and seminaries in all large towns, and, 
 at the same time, four Romish bishops were publicly 
 consecrated in the king's chapel. Monks appeared in the 
 habits of their order ; and great numbers of priests and 
 monks were called over from foreign parts. No posts ot' 
 honour or profit could be pretended to but by Romanists, 
 or such as were thought ready to become so. All affair*, 
 of the council passed through their hands, or such in 
 possessed unsettled principles of religion, The king sent
 
 118 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 a circular letter to the bishops, with an order, prohibiting 
 all the inferior clergy from preaching upon controverted 
 points of divinity. The great body of the church of 
 England clergy, with the exception of a very few rotten 
 members, like the bishop of Chester, now took the alarm, 
 and shewed themselvesfaithful watchmen in the threatening 
 storm of darkness and of danger. Far from prevaricating, 
 they summoned up all their fortitude ; threw themselves 
 in the gap ; braved the storm ; openly confessed their 
 Divine Master, who will openly reward them with the 
 great and glorious confession to his Father, before men 
 and angels boldly preached the truth, undismayed by 
 the fear of man ; and finally obtained the victory ! for 
 themselves, the never fading crown of truth and faithful- 
 ness for their country, and countrymen, a great and 
 glorious rescue from tyranny and oppression, and a fixed 
 settlement of the most valuable of all human rights and 
 possessions religious and civil liberty. Among these 
 eminent men were Tillotson, Stillingfleet, Williams, 
 Tennison, Clagget, Wake, Gee, Patrick, Whitby, Sharp, 
 and Sherlock. These were all afterwards promoted to 
 the first dignities in the reign of William the third. 
 
 The king and his popish council were very much 
 offended with this boldness, and therefore, in order to 
 force the protestant clergy into a compliance, the king 
 erected a new court for the management of ecclesiastical 
 affairs, among whom were some Romanists ; who were 
 thus invested with a power to direct the protestant clergy 
 in matters of doctrine and discipline. To these commis- 
 sioners he granted full power of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, 
 extending to suspensions, deprivations, &c. 
 
 Soon after this commission was opened, Doctor Sharp, 
 in a sermon, vindicated the church of England, and pointed 
 out the errors of popery. The king, on this, sent a letter 
 to the bishop of London, commanding him forthwith to 
 suspend Doctor Sharp. To this illegal exertion of autho- 
 rity, the bishop of London, not yielding obedience, was 
 himself suspended. 
 
 It began to be now understood, that the king was 
 resolved to keep measures no longer. He had formed a
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 119 
 
 camp of fifteen thousand men upon Hounslow Heath, at a 
 time of profound peace. In this camp was a public 
 chapel, where mass was celebrated every day. 
 
 Before I pa-<s from the year 1685, I have to notice an 
 event by which it is memorable : the revocation of the 
 edict of Nantz. This edict was passed in 1598, by Henry 
 tlie fourth, of France, by which protestants enjoyed 
 toleration. It was revoked by Louis the fourteenth, in 
 1685. Above half a million protestants were forced, 
 consequently, to leave France, for various countries j of 
 .whom fifty thousand settled in England. 
 
 James's next step, 1686, was to send an ambassador to 
 Rome, " to reconcile the three kingdoms of England, 
 Scotland, and Ireland, to the holy see, from which for 
 more than an age they had fallen oft* by the NORTHEKS 
 HERESY 1" 
 
 Innocent the eleventh, who then sat in the chair, would 
 have been better pleased that he had deferred this step ; 
 not considering matters sufficiently ripe for iu The result, 
 in a short time, proved that he was a better politician 
 than James. 
 
 In 1687, the king, not finding the parliament disposed 
 as he wished, again prorogued it ; determining to dispense 
 with the laws by his own authority i. some striking 
 instances of which now occurred. 
 
 The vice-chancellor of the university of Cambridge 
 received a letter from the king, commanding the univer- 
 sity " to admit to the degree of master of arts, Alban 
 Francis, a Benedictine monk, without administering any 
 oath or oaths whatsoever, notwithstanding any statute or 
 law to the contrary, which the king was pleased to dispense 
 with in favour of the said Alban Francis." This not having 
 been done,, the king sent a second letter, commanding 
 them " to do it at their peril." Tike university continuing 
 to stand its ground, the vice-chancellor was, iu short, by 
 the new ecclesiastical commissioners, deprived of his oilier. 
 
 Soon after, the presidentship of Oxford college falling; 
 vacant, the vice-president announced a day for a new 
 election. Before the day came, the members- of the 
 college were informed that the king had granted a par.
 
 J20 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 ticular mandate in favour of Mr. Anthony Farmer, a man 
 of ill reputation, and who had promised to declare himself 
 a Romanist. Upon this, they presented a petition to the 
 king, praying him either to leave them to the choice 
 of their president, according to their founder's statutes; 
 or to recommend a person who might be more serviceable 
 to his majesty and to the college. The answer received 
 was " that the king must be obeyed." The college, how- 
 ever, on the day appointed, elected, by a large majority, 
 Doctor Hough. This provoking the king, the vice- 
 president and fellows were cited to appear before the 
 ecclesiastical commissioners at Whitehall, Accordingly, 
 six fellows, deputed by the society, appeared : and, to 
 the question, why they refused to obey the king's mandate? 
 they, in answer, produced their statutes, and the oath 
 which they had taken for the observation of them ; by 
 which statutes, Farmer could have no pretension, being 
 totally unqualified. However, the commissioners deprived 
 Doctor Hough, and a second mandate was granted in 
 favour of Doctor Parker, bishop of Oxford. The fellows 
 of the college found him no better qualified than Farmer, 
 and refused to obey this new mandate. This so provoked 
 the king, that he went down to Oxford, resolved at all 
 hazards to overcome their obstinacy. He ordered them 
 before him, and spoke to them in terms sufficient to have 
 intimidated men of less firmness and resolution. Pie bad 
 them admit the bishop of Oxford, or they should leel the 
 weight of his displeasure. But they remained firm. 
 Finding this, the king appointed a commission to visit 
 the college, delegated to Cartwright, bishop of Chester, 
 and two of his judges. These commissioners treated the 
 fellows with rudeness and abuse : but found, that of 
 twenty-seven in number, they could succeed but with 
 two. Twenty-five, therefore, they deprived, and expelled. 
 The fellows protested against this sentence, declaring, 
 " they would use all just and legal ways of being relieved." 
 The sentence was, nevertheless, confirmed by the eccle- 
 siastical commissioners, and aggravated by declaring the 
 president and fellows incapable of being admitted to any 
 ecclesiastical dignity or benefice. The president refused
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 121 
 
 to put the bishop of Oxford in possession of his lodgings, 
 and therefore the door was broke open ; the college filled 
 with Romanists ; and Charnock, one of the two rotten 
 members, was made vice-president. This Charnock was, 
 in the succeeding reign, hanged for conspiring to assassi- 
 nate King William. 
 
 These strides were rapid and alarming. It was seen, 
 too, that conforming to popery was the high road to, and 
 only qualification for, all preferments in the state. This 
 degraded bigot this " king of shreds and patches," now 
 conferred all offices on the most violent and bigoted 
 papists, totally disregarding, in his political estimate, any 
 consideration of talents or of virtue. The execrable 
 Jeffries was lord-chancellor ; a minister exhibiting to the 
 contempt and gathering indignation of the great majority 
 of the English people, as exact a type in the state of such 
 a monarch, as Cartwright was in the church. In the 
 mean time, the king wished to corrupt, (or convert, if the 
 reader pleases,) the members of the parliament, which 
 had been prorogued, previous to its meeting. For this 
 purpose, he closeted, one by one, all that were in London 
 to attend the house. With some, as will always happen 
 in similar cases, where a king is the suitor, and where 
 compliance and interest go hand in hand, he succeeded. 
 No age, unfortunately for the human race, has been 
 deficient in its share of that description of celebrated and 
 self-sufficient personages, whose notions of religion are 
 very complaisant to their interests. But, fortunately for 
 the country, all his art could not move the firmness olf the 
 majority of the parliament. Finding himself unsuccessful, 
 he dissolved the parliament by proclamation. 
 
 The king's great endeavour now was for a new parlia- 
 ment at his devotion. He therefore issued quo warrantos 
 against divers corporations, to deprive them of their 
 charters, and, by granting new ones, to rule the elections. 
 Arguments, promises, and menaces were used to persuade 
 or intimidate the people. Magistrates and lord-lieutenants 
 were displaced; but, chiefly, particular men were closeted, 
 to engage them in the king's measures. lie went himself 
 through the different counties, and stopped at the cities
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 and great towns, to cajole or intimidate the people. But 
 he saw such a general reluctance to his designs, that he 
 durst not hazard the calling of a parliament. The eyes 
 of the people were opened to his real design of subverting 
 liberty and religion, and they would not be the instruments 
 of their own ruin. 
 
 The result of the embassy to Rome, notwithstanding 
 the bishop of Rome's opinion that the step was precipitate, 
 was, nevertheless, the sending a nuncio to reside in 
 England. Previous to this year, 1087, he had been only 
 privately acknowledged. But now the king pulled off 
 the mask, and the exasperated people sa\v, with astonish- 
 ment, making his public and pompous entry at Windsor, 
 clothed in his pontifical habit, preceded by a cross bearer, 
 and a train of priests and monks in the habits of their 
 respective orders, the bishop of Rome's nuncio : a 
 character, the assuming which had been made high trea- 
 son by the laws of the land ! The king ordered the duke 
 of Somerset to attend the nuncio to his audience; who 
 desired to be excused from an office the laws of the land 
 made criminal. The duke had sufficient sense to discover^ 
 that high treason may be easier committed by opposing 
 the laws of the land, even though he obliged the king by 
 the action, than by a compliance with the king which 
 would run counter to the laws. His penetration and 
 firmness, however, could not preserve some posts he 
 occupied ; from which the king dismissed him. But it 
 is presumable, that the approbation of the internal 
 monitor more than compensated him for the loss of these: 
 and the king procured another lord, less scrupulous, to 
 accept the office which Somerset refused. At the same 
 time, Father Petre, a Jesuit, the king's confessor, was 
 publicly admitted into the privy council ; which was 
 almost wholly popish, and entirely under the control 
 of the king and this Jesuit. 
 
 The test and penal laws were fences now too feeble to 
 secure religion, for which they were intended ; and all 
 things portended an approaching storm. A king resolved 
 to complete his work, let what would be the consequence: 
 an army of fifteen thousand men, encamped within a few
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 miles of London : the expectation of aid from France : 
 and the fulsome addresses of some protestant corporations, 
 promising base, treacherous, and interested compliance : 
 these, and the melancholy expected consequence of the 
 king's success, by the spreading of corruption, in effecting 
 his object, namely, a renewal of such days as those of 
 the bloody Mary ; were sufficiently alarming, even to 
 the vast and firm majority of English protestants ; 
 notwithstanding the vision of hope beyond the boundary 
 of this wretched bigot's inglorious life and reign. But 
 to cut off the hope of release from the already too 
 oppressed and exasperated people, a proclamation was 
 issued, ordering thanks for the queen's being with child. 
 The protestants began to form suspicions about this 
 pregnancy. Some Jesuits published, that the queen 
 " would certainly be delivered of a prince." They 
 pretended that " this conception was miraculous, and 
 the effect of a solemn petition which the late deceased 
 duchess of Modena had put in heaven to the blessed 
 Virgin Mary ; or of a vow the queen had made to our 
 lady of Loretto, with the present of a golden image, 
 enriched with precious stones." 
 
 The Romish priests and Jesuits having printed and 
 dispersed a great number of controversial writings, which 
 had been answered by Tillotson, Tennison, Stillingfleet, 
 vSherlock, &c. ; the king, fearing these learned men 
 would have been too many for the Romish writers, 
 adopted a compendious method of determining the 
 controversy, in favour of those of his own persuasion, by 
 a proclamation, containing a prohibition of such publi- 
 cations by protestants. 
 
 The king's great design was to get the test act and 
 penal laws repealed. These he had dispensed with 
 already, by his own authority. But he thought it would 
 contribute greatly to quiet the minds of the people, if 
 they were repealed regularly by an act of parliament. 
 He thought also, that if the consent of the prince and 
 princess of Orange could be obtained, it would be a 
 great step towards inducing the parliament. Having 
 sent a representation to Holland, therefore, endeavouring
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 to persuade them " that it was for their own interest, 
 and that of England, that the test act should be abrogated, 
 and the laws made against Roman catholics repealed :" 
 The answer was " that the opinion of the prince and 
 princess was, that the Roman catholics ought to enjoy a 
 full liberty of conscience, without being molested on 
 account of their belief. That if this only was asked, the" 
 prince and princess freely gave their consent. That as 
 to the non-conformists, they did not only consent, but 
 heartily approved of their having an entire liberty of 
 conscience, for the exercise of their religion, without any 
 trouble, hindrance, or molestation on that score. But 
 they could not by any means agree to the repeal of the 
 test, and those other penal laws that tended to the 
 security of the protestant religion ; since the Roman 
 catholics received no other prejudice from these, than 
 their being excluded from parliament and public employ- 
 ments ; and that by them the protestant religion is 
 sheltered from all the designs of the Roman catholics 
 against it, or against the public safety." 
 
 James, having ascertained this ; finding also by a new 
 effort that he could not procure a parliament at his 
 devotion ; foreseeing that all his artiiices would prove 
 unsuccessful, and that he should be obliged to use force 
 to effect designs which he was resolved not to give over; 
 set about increasing his army and fleet. The new com- 
 missions were almost all bestowed on Irish and popish 
 officers. He issued a declaration for liberty of conscience, 
 as he termed it ; the substance of which was to abrogate 
 the laws by his sole authority, by dispensing with the 
 oaths and tests. This declaration he published. But 
 the bare publication would not do. He issued an order 
 in council, enjoining the bishops to see it sent and distri- 
 buted throughout their several dioceses, to be read 
 during divine service. This insidious design to make 
 the protestant bishops his instruments against the pro- 
 testant religion, and the chief fences of the British 
 constitution, greatly perplexed upright and conscientious 
 men, who had always, in lawful commands, evinced 
 their obedience : but who now saw through his schemes.
 
 OF THE QUESTION* 125 
 
 Some of them, who were in London, assembled at the 
 archbishop's palace at Lambeth. The result of their 
 learned and pious deliberations was, rather to endure all 
 that human malice could inflict, than violate their good 
 faith to God and to their country. " In all the changes 
 and chances of this mortal life," there is no other line of 
 conduct which can ensure safety but this. When every 
 thing human conspired, on the one hand, to threaten 
 their temporal destruction ; and, on the other, lay every 
 human stimulus, added to their personal safety, and even 
 their lives ; they preferred their duty to their interest, 
 their safety, and their lives ; and placed their trust and 
 confidence in Him, who is " the resurrection and the 
 life." They knew in whom they trusted ; and their hope 
 was not vain. Guided by tlte spirit of God into all 
 truth, they bore witness to the truth : and, in this cause, 
 in no wise " fearful and unbelieving," they resigned, 
 chearfully, their venerable persons to the utmost " that 
 man could do unto them :" and found themselves sup- 
 ported, and at last rescued, even in this life, " by the 
 gracious and ready help" of their Lord and their God. 
 I think it necessary to elucidate these observations, by 
 relating some of the leading particulars of an event, the 
 noblest and most instructive that lias occurred in the 
 history of the world. 
 
 The names of these bishops were Sancroft, archbishop 
 of Canterbury, Lloyd, bishop of St. Asaph, Kenn, of 
 Bath and Wells, Turner, of Ely, Lake, of Chichester, 
 White, of Peterborough, and Trelawney, of Bristol. 
 Those seven bishops presented a petition to the king, 
 on behalf of themselves and others of their absent breth- 
 ren, and of the inferior clergy of their respective dioceses, 
 stating, " that their averseness to publishing the decla- 
 ration, proceeded neither from any want of duty and 
 obedience to his majesty, nor a'liy want of tenderness to 
 dissenters, in relation to whom they were willing to come 
 to such a temper as should be thought fit when the matter 
 should be considered and settled in parliament and 
 convocation : but, among other considerations, because 
 that declaration was founded upon such a dispensing
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 power, as had been often declared illegal in parliament, 
 and particularly in the years 1662 and 1672 : and in the 
 
 beginning of his majesty's reign : and was a matter of 
 
 i 111- 
 
 so great moment and consequence to the whole nation, 
 
 both in church and state, that they could not in prudence, 
 honour, or conscience, so far make themselves parties 
 to it." The king, exasperated, answered, " If I change 
 my mind, you shall hear from me ; if not, I expect my 
 commands shall be obeyed." The bishops replied, " We 
 resign ourselves to the will of God :" and immediately 
 retired. 
 
 The bishops of Durham and Rochester, both ecclesi- 
 astical commissioners, and two others, caused the decla- 
 ration to be read in their dioceses. But it generally fell 
 out wherever it was read, that the congregation imme- 
 diately left the church. The king resolved to proceed to 
 extremities with the seven bishops, and summoned them 
 to appear before the council. They were asked whether 
 they owned the petition. They replied, they did. The 
 chancellor, Jefferies, asked them, whether they would 
 give their recognizances to appear before the court of 
 king's bench to answer this high misdemeanor? They 
 all refused, insisting on the privilege of their peerage, 
 which they were resolved to maintain as well as the rights 
 of the church ; being equally bound by their callings to 
 oppose all innovations both in government and religion. 
 
 The chancelior, surprised at their constancy, threatened 
 to send them to the tower, and to prosecute them to the 
 utmost rigour of the law, unless they immediately 
 recanted, and withdrew their petition. They unanimously 
 answered " that they were ready to go whithersoever his 
 majesty was pleased to send them ; that they hoped the 
 king of kings would be their protector and their judge ; 
 that they feared nothing from men ; and that having 
 acted according to law, and their own consciences, no 
 punishments should ever be able to shake their reso- 
 lutions." 
 
 A warrant was then drawn up, and signed by the 
 popish council, for their commitment ; for contriving, 
 making, and publishing, a seditious libel against his
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 127 
 
 majesty and his government ; and the attorney-general 
 and solicitor-general ordered to prosecute them. It was 
 not thought proper to send them to the tower through 
 the streets of London, for fear it might occasion some 
 tumult: they were therefore, in the most private manner, 
 sent by water. But it could not be done so privately as 
 to escape the knowledge of the people, who in crowds 
 ran down to the river side, and all the way, upon their 
 knees, desired their blessing, extolling and encouraging 
 their constancy. The same spectacle, to the king's great 
 mortification, was renewed at the tower, where the 
 soldiers of that garrison foil upon their knees to ask their 
 blessing. 
 
 Two days after the bishops were imprisoned, the young 
 prince of Wales, who w T as afterwards the pretender, and 
 whose birth was suspected, made his appearance. On 
 this, the king again practised to obtain a parliament 
 compased of members who would, as it was termed, 
 " serve him in his own way." Disappointed in this, he 
 ordered over some of the popish regiments which had 
 been raised in Ireland. 
 
 The bishops were soon brought to their trials. Their 
 counsel defended them legally and ably. Two of the 
 judges, Holloway and Powell, more upright than the 
 others, charged the jury much in the same strain, 
 Holloway said, " that if the jury were satisfied that the 
 petition was presented with no ill intention, but only to 
 shew the reasons of the petitioners' disobedience to the 
 king's command, he could not think it to be a libel." 
 Powell maintained, " that the petition could not be a 
 libel, because it was founded in the king's incapacity to 
 dispense with laws, which was very true." The jury 
 acquitted the bishops; which produced loud acclamations 
 throughout London and Westminster. The shouts of 
 joy continued through both cities for several hours. The 
 joy next spread through the camp, and, finally, through 
 the whole kingdom, exhibited by bonfires and illumi- 
 nations. The king saw this with astonishment and 
 mortification, not unmixed with terror. But, pursuing 
 his infatuated measures, he turned out Holloway ami
 
 128 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 Powell, and filled their places with two " who would 
 serve him in his own way." Sensible of the general 
 disinclination of the people, he resolved now to make 
 use of open force. But as the assistance of the army 
 was indispensable for this, he determined to try each 
 regiment apart from the rest. He ordered the major of 
 one, to bid the officers and soldiers who were unwilling 
 to contribute to the repeal of the test and penal laws, to 
 lay down their arms. The whole regiment, two captains, 
 and a few popish soldiers excepted, instantly laid down 
 their arms. Speechless with surprise, when he recovered 
 from his astonishment, he commanded the soldiers to 
 take up their arms again, and sullenly told them, that, 
 for the future, he would not do them the honour to ask 
 their advice. Finding that a protestant army was not a 
 fit instrument to convert the nation, he commenced 
 cashiering officers and soldiers, and filling the vacancies 
 with Romanists, and thereby disgusted the whole army. 
 Those who more openly exhibited this disgust, he ordered 
 to be taken into custody, and tried by a court-martial, as 
 mutineers. It was at first believed, that his intention 
 was to have had them condemned to death, but some 
 news from abroad altered the sentence, and they were 
 only cashiered. 
 
 The fleet was no better disposed than the army, to 
 assist the king in his designs. This appeared from an 
 attempt of Vice-Admiral Strictland to have mass said on 
 board his ship, which raised such a mutiny and disorder 
 among the sailors, that it was with some difficulty that the 
 officers saved the priests from being thrown overboard. 
 
 In the mean time, the order for reading the declaration 
 in churches, was slighted. And one of the ecclesiastical 
 commissioners, urged either by conscience or policy, as 
 matters were now verging to a crisis, threw up his 
 commission. 
 
 The eyes of the protestants of all descriptions, church 
 of England, presbyterians, &c. being now completely 
 opened, a union was formed for the preservation of 
 church and state, from the inroads of popery and slavery, 
 at the head of which was placed the prince of Orange.
 
 OF THE QUESTION'. 129 
 
 Of this important trust, many things contributed to 
 render the acceptance imperative on the prince of Orange. 
 The preservation of England ; the securing the succes- 
 sion to the princess his wile ; but, particularly, the danger 
 to which Holland would be exposed, by king James's 
 success ; who, when his designs should be accomplished 
 in England, would, in concert with Louis the fourteenth, 
 of France, turn upon Holland. Numbers of the first 
 rank emigrated to Holland, from whence they corres- 
 ponded with the most considerable people in England. 
 After several consultations, it was resolved, that the 
 English lords at the Hague, should demand assistance of 
 the states, in the name of all England. This assistance 
 was readily granted. But the preparations for the expe- 
 dition, although conducted with great secrecy, came at 
 last to James's ears. In the mean time, James gave the 
 governments of Portsmouth and Hull, the keys, as it 
 wore, of the kingdom, to two Romanists, and took care 
 to have the majority of officers and soldiers in these 
 garrisons, all of the same religion. It was now owned 
 officially in Holland, that the prince of Orange, having 
 been invited by the English nobility, was preparing to 
 carry them the desired assistance, for restoring the govern- 
 ment to its ancient foundation, which King James had 
 quite unhinged. This threw King James and his council 
 into the greatest consternation ; who plainly discerned, 
 that William must have been encouraged by the English 
 protestants, and could form no hope of adequate support 
 from the comparatively small number of Romanists. He 
 turned his attention, therefore, when now too late, to 
 the protestants. He first Sent for some of the bishops, 
 asked their advice, and declared his readiness to do 
 whatever should be thought necessary for the preservation 
 nl' the protestant religion, and the liberties of his subjects. 
 The bishops gave him very sincere and proper advice, 
 "the relation of which would be superfluous, as it con- 
 tained precisely the opposite measures to those he had 
 practised. He did redress some grievances. He restored 
 the bishop of London ; restored the charter of London, 
 and appointed a church of England man lord mayor; 
 
 i
 
 130 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 dissolved the ecclesiastical commission ; ordered the bishop 
 .of Winchester, visitor of Oxford college, to settle that 
 society regularly, and according to their statutes ; issued 
 a proclamation for restoring corporations to their ancient 
 Charters, liberties, rights, and franchises ; removed popish 
 lord lieutenants, mayors, recorders, &c. and put protest- 
 ants in their places. 
 
 But all was too late. The people doubted his sincerity, 
 and imputed his alacrity in the execution of these mea- 
 sures, to his fears. Suspicion was converted to certainty, 
 -by the following occurrence : The bishop of Winchester, 
 pursuant to the king's order, caused a citation to be fixed 
 on the gates of Oxford college, to recall Doctor Hough, 
 and the ejected fellows of that society. News arrived, 
 in the mean time, of the prince of Orange's fleet having 
 been dispersed by a tempest. The citation was recalled 
 upon some frivolous pretence, and the restoration of the 
 college deferred. But afterwards, upon this news proving 
 false, the king resumed his affection for the college, and 
 it was restored. All doubts were now removed. The 
 whole protestant people resolved now not to be any 
 longer amused, and made the dupes of such treachery : 
 .the di3graded king was left to the affection, countenance, 
 and support, of his popish subjects alone ; and the conse- 
 quence was, an accelerated march to the edge of the 
 precipice from which he was precipitated. 
 
 Of the popish troops, two thousand five hundred now 
 arrived from Ireland j commissions were granted to raise 
 new regiments, and other measures were taken. But 
 nothing was capable of bringing a sufficient aid to his 
 assistance. The mob began to insult the popish chapels; 
 iiiul the king, dreading an insurrection, ordered them to 
 be shut up. Popish priests and Jesuits fled from the 
 impending storm, in great numbers, to foreign parts. 
 
 In the midst of all these distractions, the young prince 
 of Wales (whether real or imposed,) was solemnly bap- 
 tized ; the bishop of Rome, represented by his ^nuncio, 
 being godfather. At the same time, the court received 
 a pamphlet, published in Holland, entitled, " A memorial 
 of the English protestants, presented to their high
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 131 
 
 mightinesses the prince and princess of Orange." After 
 relating the grievances of the nation, it complained of 
 King James's obliging his subjects to own a suppositions 
 child for the prince of Wales ; adding, that his majesty 
 would never suffer the witnesses that were present at the 
 queen's delivery, to be heard and examined. The king 
 knew the suspicions entertained by the people, of which, 
 hitherto, he had pretended to be ignorant, but which he 
 now thought it necessary to allay. He therefore sum- 
 moned an extraordinary council, the queen dowager, all 
 the lords spiritual and temporal, the lord mayor and 
 aldermen, judges, &c. The queen dowager deposed, 
 that she was in the room when the queen was delivered, 
 without any thing more positive or particular. Of forty 
 witnesses which followed, seventeen of whom were 
 Romanists, the proof was ambiguous. The examinations 
 tended more to confirm, than remove, the suspicions of 
 the English. 
 
 The prince of Orange issued a declaration, previously 
 to his coming to England, enumerating the grievances of 
 the English nation, especially the king's arrogating to 
 himself a dispensing power; his advancing papists to 
 civil, ecclesiastical, and military employments, and 
 'allowing them to sit in the privy council ; his setting up 
 an illegal commission ; his turning out the president and 
 fellows of Oxford college, contrary to the provision of 
 magna charta, " that no man shall lose his life or goods, 
 but by the laws of the land ;" his allowing popish monas- 
 teries, and colleges of Jesuits, to be created ; his turning 
 out of public employments all such as would not concur 
 with him in the repeal of the test and penal laws ; his 
 invading the privileges, and seizing on the charters of 
 most corporations, and placing popish magistrates in 
 some of them ; his subjecting the courts to his despotic 
 power, and putting the administration of justice into the 
 hands of papists ; his arming the papists, in contempt of 
 the laws, and giving them commands by sea and land, 
 that he might be in a capacity to enslave the nation ; his 
 putting the whole government of Ireland into the hands 
 of papists ; his assuming an absolute power in Scotland,
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 shewing what England might look for. The declaration 
 also stated, that his majesty's evil counsellors made men 
 apprehend the loss of their lives, liberties, honours, and 
 estates, if they should go about to preserve themselves 
 from this oppression by petitions, as in the prosecution 
 of the seven bishops. That a peer (Lord Lovelace,) was 
 treated as a criminal, for saying, " that the subjects were 
 not bound to obey the orders, of a popish justice of peace, 
 by law incapable." It stated also, the princess's interest, 
 and his, in the succession, which he must espouse, as 
 well as the protestant religion, and English laws and 
 liberties ; to which he was most earnestly solicited by a 
 great many lords, both spiritual and temporal, and by 
 many gentlemen, and other subjects of all ranks. It 
 stated his design to be a free parliament, to which he 
 would refer the inquiry into the birth of the pretended 
 prince of Wales, and of all things relating thereto, and 
 to the right of succession. That for the oppressions set 
 forth, there can be no remedy but in parliament, by a 
 declaration of the rights of the subjects. 
 
 The prince of Orange arrived in England on the memo 
 rable 5th of November, 1()88, with four thousand horse, 
 and ten thousand foot, carrying a flag with English 
 colours, and their highness's arms, surrounded with this 
 
 motto: " THE PROTESTANT RELIGION, AND LIBERTIES OF 
 
 ENGLAND ;" and underneath, the motto of the house of 
 Nassau, " I WILL MAINTAIN-." But his great support 
 was the cordial welcome of the protestant English nation, 
 whose vital interests were embarked in his success. The 
 king and his adherents sought to have it believed, that he 
 came to conquer England. But the English protestants 
 knew better. Their o\vn invitation ; the prince's decla- 
 ration ; his well founded dependancc on their powerful 
 superiority ; and, above all, the small number of four- 
 teen thousand troops, totally inadequate to such a 
 purpose, serving only for the purpose of co-operation, 
 and the head-quarters to which the English might 
 flock ; all these overwhelming facts directly contra- 
 dieted the king's assertion. The people had no better 
 reason to credit James's assertions now, than they had
 
 OP THE QUESTION. 
 
 hitherto. They looked on him as the conspirer against 
 their religion and liberty, and on William as theu 
 deliverer. 
 
 An association was entered into by the principal gen- 
 tlemen of the country, who tiocked to William's standard. 
 Numbers deserted from the king's arms, and went over 
 to him. Several lords armed themselves and their tenaots 
 for the prince ; while, in London, others, together with 
 the archbishops and bishops, united to request the king 
 to call a free parliament, and satisfy the prince of Orange. 
 The king answered, that he would call a free parliament 
 when the prince of Orange should quit the kingdom. 
 This answer did not satisfy the lords, who easily saw, 
 that the king was for no parliament of which he could 
 not be master. 
 
 James, quitting London to join his army, ind try to 
 prevent farther dissentions, left behind him a council of 
 five lords ; of whom, the only popular one was the Lord 
 Godolphin* The other four were, the chancellor, Jeffries, 
 the Lords Powis and Bellasis, both notorious papists, and 
 the Lord Preston, suspected as such. On the day after 
 he had joined his army, the chief officers presented an 
 address, stating, " that upon any occasion they should 
 be glad to spill the last drop of their blood in his service, 
 but that they could not in conscience fight against a 
 prince, who was come over with no other design than to 
 procure the calling of a free parliament, for the security 
 of their religion and liberties." This declaration plainly 
 shewed the king, that he could not rely on his army. 
 The defection of Lord Churchill, (afterwards duke of 
 Marlborough,) and of Prince George, of Denmark, mar- 
 ried to his daughter Anne, who now joined the prince of 
 Orange, completed his dismay. He left his army, and 
 returned precipitately to London. 
 
 In the mean time, the principal lords and gentlemen in 
 several districts, aided by the inhabitants, proceeded to 
 secure several places : Plymouth, where the Dutch fleet, 
 lay secure; Bristol, York, Berwick, Nottingham, Mull, 
 Oxford; and they proceeded to disarm, and turn out <>.' 
 their employments, all papists.
 
 THE TR0E STATE 
 
 The Princess Anne, accompanied by the bishop of 
 London, mounted and armed, withdrew from London, 
 and joined her husband at Oxford. 
 
 A defection thus universal, pervading all ranks, in 
 defence of their religion, laws, liberties, and lives, left 
 James no prospect of escape. The queen's consternation 
 was excessive. Father Petre fled to France. The violent 
 counsels of Jeffries were obsolete. The popish counsellors 
 sheltered themselves as well as they could from the 
 impending storm, let what would become of the king. 
 The fears of the king now pointed out, as his sole refuge, 
 the protestant peers, whose counsels he had rejected, 
 whose offices he had wrested from them, whose persons 
 he had insulted, and whose rights he had trampled on. 
 Of these, he called together the small number, spiritual 
 and temporal, that remained in London, to beg their 
 advice in this emergency. He had the mortification to 
 hear a long enumeration of all his unwarrantable proceed- 
 ings, since his accession to the throne, and particularly 
 his violent measures to destroy the protestant religion, 
 and subvert the liberties of England. These, they said, 
 occasioned the dangerous symptoms that now appeared 
 in the body politic, and for which there was no other 
 remedy left, than a free parliament. The necessity, 
 therefore, was represented to his majesty : first, of 
 granting a general pardon to all those who either came 
 over with the prince of Orange, or had joined him since 
 his landing : secondly, of deputing some lords to his 
 highness, to treat with him about a suspension of arms, 
 and to endeavour to bring matters to an accommodation: 
 and lastly, of turning all papists immediately out of their 
 employments, to convince the world that his majesty 
 acted a sincere part. 
 
 The king published a proclamation for a free parlia- 
 ment, and declared his intention to comply with the 
 other parts of the advice ; but relating to the Romanists, 
 he said, he would leave that matter to be debated in 
 parliament. 
 
 Commissioners were sent to the prince of Orange, who 
 put into their hands proposals so reasonable, that the
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 135 
 
 king could not help owning, they were better than he 
 expected. He demanded the disarming, disbanding, and 
 dismissing from employments all papists, and such persons 
 as were not qualified by law ; freedom for the parliament ; 
 security for the city of London ; and, for himself, the- 
 maintenance of his army for six weeks, until the sitting 
 of parliament. So that the king would have come off, 
 in his extreme circumstances, on the easy condition 
 of restoring tire government to its ancient constitution. 
 
 James appointed a council to meet him on these affairs 
 the next day -, but that night, when matters seemed on 
 the eve of accommodation, consulted with some of his 
 popish counsellors,, who advised him to withdraw into- 
 France, and encouraged his hopes of being restored to 
 what they called his rights, by the arms of France. This 
 advice they influenced tlie queen to back ; who, with 
 her real or pretended son-, departed for France, and was 
 quickly followed by the king. 
 
 The queen arrived in France. The king, in disguise,, 
 accompanied by only three persons, took water at White- 
 hall ; in the strictest sense of the word, abdicating,, 
 without making the smallest provision for the government 
 of the kingdom ; violating his promise of calling a parlia- 
 ment, the writs- for which he caused to be burned ; and 
 when he took water, he threw the great seal into the 
 Thames. 
 
 When the king's flight was known, about thirty of the 
 lords, spiritual and temporal, repaired to Guildhall, and 
 sent for the lord mayor and aldermen. After a short 
 consultation, they came to a resolution of adhering to 
 the prince of Orange. They sent deputies to him, 
 praying his protection, and his presence in the city. 
 
 In the mean time, the mob, who would not be restrained. 
 by the militia, assembled in immense numbers, destroyed 
 all the mass houses erected by the king in the city and. 
 suburbs, and seizing the chancellor, Jeffries, threatened 
 to tear him to pieces ; but he was at last lodged in tin.- 
 tower, where he died soon after. 
 
 The king, who was thought to have left the kingdom, 
 but whose vessel was kept back by an adverse \viiid, was-
 
 THE TBUE STATB 
 
 recognized, seized by the mob, and conducted to an i 
 at Feversham. He sent for the earl of Winchelsea, who 
 prevailed with him to return towards London. 
 
 In London he \vas well received, and restored to his 
 palace ; but some suspicious appearances taking place, 
 among which was an Irish officer riling a pistol at the 
 duke of Graf ton, at the head of his regiment, the prince, 
 and the English lords who were with him, resolved in 
 a council, " that the royal palace at Whitehall being 
 still crowded with Irish papists, priests, and Jesuits, his 
 highness could not with ease and safety remain at St. 
 James's, where he must necessarily go the next day, 
 without his majesty and his popish guards were removed 
 within a reasonable distance from London." Some of 
 the council proposed, to send the king prisoner to 
 Breda. But the prince of Orange said, he could not 
 consent to put him under any restraint. 
 
 The prince having taken possession of Whitehall and 
 St. James's, the king removed to Rochester. 
 
 The nuncio, and some others, were furnished with 
 passes to quit the kingdom. 
 
 It being absolutely necessary to put an end to the 
 anarchy under which the kingdom laboured ; the prince 
 assembled the lords spiritual and temporal, and thus 
 addressed them : " My lords, 1 have desired you to meet 
 here, to advise the best manner how to pursue the ends 
 of my declaration, in calling a free parliament, for the 
 preservation of the protestant religion, the restoring the 
 rights and liberties of the kingdom, and settling the same 
 that they may not be in danger of being again subverted." 
 After this he withdrew, and left them to consult together. 
 They voted him particular thanks, and resolved to assemble 
 every day to consult. 
 
 The king again resolved to prosecute his design of 
 going to France. This was easy to him, a.s no person 
 was permitted to stop or hinder him from disposing of 
 himself as he pleased. He accordingly set sail, and 
 arrived there in safety. 
 
 The lords now assembled in their house ; and, being 
 the persons most authorized to act, there havinjr been, no
 
 OF THE QUESTION*. 137 
 
 house of commons summoned, addressed the prince of 
 Orange, " to take upon him the administration of public 
 affairs; both civil and military ; the disposal of the public 
 revenue ; and the care of Ireland, until the convention 
 could assemble; and to issue out missive letters subscribed 
 by himself, to the lords spiritual and temporal, being* 
 protestants, and to the several counties, cities, and 
 boroughs, containing directions for the chusing, within 
 ten days, such a number of persons to represent them, as 
 are of right to be sent to parliament." 
 
 They next issued an order commanding all papists to 
 quit London, except the servants of the queen dowager, 
 and of foreign ministers, and of housekeepers who had 
 been traders three years, and popish officers, who should 
 give bail to appear at the term, and to be of their good 
 behaviour in the mean time. 
 
 The prince thought, that beside the suffrages of the 
 peers, it was necessary to be authorized by others repre- 
 senting the people. He therefore published an order, 
 *' desiring all such persons as had served in any of the 
 parliaments during the reign of the late King Charles the 
 second, to meet him at St. James's upon the 26th of 
 December. He desired likewise, that the lord-mayor 
 and aldermen of London, and fifty of the common council, 
 would be there at the same time." This meeting having 
 taken place at the time appointed, he told them, " that 
 he had desired them to meet him there, to advise the best 
 manner how to pursue the ends of his declaration, in 
 calling a free parliament for the preservation of the pro- 
 testant religion, and the restoring the rights and liberties 
 of the kingdom." 
 
 They then resolved on an address to the prince, similar 
 to that of the lords, to take on him the administration of 
 public affairs, until the meeting of the intended convention, 
 the 2 c 2d of January ensuing. The answers returned by 
 the prince to this address, and that of the lords, were the 
 same ; "that he would endeavour, as far he was able, to 
 secure the peace of the nation, according to their desire." 
 
 The moment \Villiam was entrusted with the govern- 
 ment, he ordered the Trench ambassador, who had been
 
 138 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 active to promote divisions, to quit the kingdom in 
 twenty-four hours. 
 
 He next issued out a proclamation, authorizing all 
 public officers, not being papists, to act in their respec- 
 tice offices, until the meeting of the intended convention, 
 or order to the contrary. 
 
 He next sent for the princess of Orange ; she being 
 the next constitutional heir to the crown. 
 
 In the mean time, the elections went on freely, without 
 any sort of influence : and the convention met the 22d 
 of January, 1689. The two houses presented an address 
 to the prince, in which they acknowledged him, under 
 God, the deliverer of the nation-; and approved all he had 
 done in the administration, which they prayed him to 
 continue until farther application should be made to him 
 by them, which should be done with all convenient speed. 
 On the 28th of January, the house of commons passed 
 the following vote. 
 
 " That King James the second, having endeavoured 
 "to subvert the constitution of the kingdom, by break- 
 " ing the original contract between king and people, 
 " and, by the advice of Jesuits, and other wicked 
 " persons, having violated the fundamental laws, and 
 " withdrawn himself out of the kingdom, hath abdi- 
 " cated the government, and that the throne is thereby 
 " become vacant." 
 The next day, the commons farther voted, 
 
 " That it hath been found by experience to be incon- 
 " sistent with this protestant kingdom to be governed 
 " by a popish prince." 
 
 In the nouse of lords there was not the same unanimity. 
 This did not please the people ; and a petition was drawn 
 up to be presented to the lords, desiring, in plain terms, 
 that the prince and princess of Orange might be settled 
 on the throne. Numbers, of different ranks, signed this 
 petition ; but the prince, not liking this way of proceed- 
 ing, sent the lord-mayor orders to put a stop to this- 
 tumultuous project, which the lord-mayor did accordingly. 
 The lords proposed two amendments to the commons ; 
 one, to substitute the word " deserted" for the word
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 139 
 
 " abdicated :" the other, that the words " and that the 
 throne is thereby become vacant," should be left out. 
 The commons appointed a committee to draw up reasons 
 why they must insist upon their vote, and desired a 
 conference with the lords. 
 
 The ultimate result of a long conference was, that the 
 lords concurred in the votes of the commons : and, at 
 last, both houses agreed, and voted severally, 
 
 " That the prince and princess of Orange should be 
 " king and queen of England, but that the sole and 
 " full regal power should be in the prince only, in the 
 " name of both." 
 
 They then, in full body, waited on the prince and 
 princess, and caused to be read a declaration of rights ; 
 and the following new forms of the oaths, in which the 
 oath of allegiance is brought back to its ancient simplicity, 
 
 OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 
 
 " I, A. B. do sincerely promise and swear that I will 
 " be faithful, and bear true allegiance to their majesties, 
 " King William and Queen Mary. So help me God." 
 
 OATH OF SUPREMACY. 
 
 " I, A. B. do swear, that I from my heart abhor, detest, 
 " and abjure, as impious and heretical, this damnable 
 " doctrine and position, that princes, excommunicated 
 " or deprived by the pope, or any authority of t^ie see of 
 ** Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects, 
 " or any other whatsoever. And I do declare, that no 
 " foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, 
 " hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, 
 " superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical 
 " or spiritual, within this realm. So help me God." 
 
 And they then made them a solemn offer of the crown. 
 This offer, "William, on the part of himself, and the 
 princess, declared that they thankfully accepted : and 
 promised to support the religion, hnvs, and liberties, and 
 study to advance the welfare and glory of the nation.
 
 140 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 The same day, they were proclaimed king and queen. 
 The coronation oath, which had been altered for King 
 James, was worded now, to prevent all ambiguity in 
 future, and secure the rights and liberties of the people, 
 in the following plain and comprehensive manner : 
 
 CORONATION OATH. 
 
 " Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the 
 " people of this kingdom of England, and the dominions 
 " thereto belonging, according to the statutes in parlia- 
 "ment agreed on, and the laws and customs of the 
 " same ?" 
 
 '* I solemnly promise so to do." 
 
 " Will you, to your power, cause law and justice, ill 
 ** mercy, to be executed in all vour judgments?" 
 
 I will." 
 
 " Will you, to the utmost of your power, maintain the 
 " laws of God, the true profession of the gospel, and 
 " the protestant reformed religion, as by law established? 
 " and will you preserve unto the bishops and clergy of 
 " this realm, and to the churches committed to their 
 " charge, all such rights and privileges, as by law do 
 "or shall appertain unto them, or any of them ?" 
 
 " All this I promise to do.*' 
 
 Then the king or queen, laying his or her hand upon 
 the gospels, shall say,] 
 
 " The things which I have here before promised, 
 
 x< I will perform and keep. So help me God." 
 
 An act was next passed for turning the convention into 
 a parliament ; which it was therein declared to be : and 
 another for settling the oaths as herein described. 
 
 Next was passed the act ibr declaring the rights and 
 liberties of the subject, and settling the succession of the 
 crown, to the king and queen and their issue, and after 
 them to the princess Anne and her issue, and after these" 
 to the king and his issue by another queen. This act 
 contains the following clause : 
 
 "That the kings and queens of England should be 
 
 " obliged, at their coming to the crown, to take the
 
 
 OF THE QUEST I03T. , 141 
 
 " test iu the first parliament that should be called at 
 "the beginning of their reign ; ami that if any king or 
 " queen of England should embrace the Roman-catholic 
 " religion, or marry with a Roman-catholic prince or 
 " princess, their subjects should be absolved of their 
 " allegiance ; and that the crown and government of 
 11 these realms should from time to time descend to, 
 " and be enjoyed by such persons, being protestants, 
 " as should have inherited the same, in case the said 
 " persons so reconciled to the church of Rome, or 
 ** marrying a papist, as aforesaid, were actually dead." 
 This act also establishes the following rights and liberties 
 
 of the people of England. 
 
 1st..." That the pretended power of suspending of laws, or 
 '* execution of laws, by regal authority, without consent 
 " of parliament, is illegal." 
 
 2d..." That the pretended power of dispensing with laws, 
 " or the execution of laws, by regal authority, as it 
 " hath been assumed and exercised of late, is illegal." 
 
 ,3d. .." That the commission for erecting the late court 
 " of commissioners for ecclesiastical causes, and all 
 " other commissions and courts of the like nature, are 
 " illegal and pernicious." 
 
 4th..." That the levying of money for or to the use of the 
 " crown, by pretence of prerogative, without grant of 
 " parliament, for longer time, or in any other manner, 
 " than the same is, or shall be granted, is illegal." 
 
 5th..." That it is the right of the subjects to petition the 
 "king, and all commitments and prosecutions for such 
 "petitioning, are illegal." 
 
 lith..." That the rur,ing or keeping a standing army within 
 " the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with consent 
 "of parliament, is against law." 
 
 7th..." That the subjects, who are protestants, may have 
 " arms for their defence, suitable to their condition, 
 " and as allowed by law." 
 
 8th..." That elections of members of parliament ought to 
 " be free." 
 
 9th." That the freedom of speech, and debates or pro- 
 " ceedings in parliament, ought not to be impeached or
 
 14-2 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 " questioned, in any court or place out of parliament." 
 10th.. ."That excessive bail ought not to be required, 
 " nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual 
 " punishments inflicted." 
 
 llth..." That jurors ought to be duly impannelled and 
 ** returned ; and jurors, which pass upon men in trials 
 " for high treason, ought to be freeholders." 
 12th..." That all grants and promises, of fines and for- 
 " feitures of particular persons, before conviction, are 
 " illegal and void." 
 
 13th..." That for redress of all grievances, and for the 
 
 " amending, strengthening, and preserving of the laws, 
 
 " parliaments ought to be held frequently." 
 
 All these acts of the convention parliament, were 
 
 ratified in a new parliament, which was called soon after. 
 
 In Scotland, the following act was passed : 
 
 " The estates of the kingdom of Scotland, find and 
 
 " declare, that King James the seventh, being a professed 
 
 " papist, did assume the royal power, and acted as a 
 
 " king, without ever taking the oath required by law, 
 
 " and had, by the advice of evil and wicked counsellors, 
 
 " invaded the fundamental constitution of this kingdom, 
 
 " and altered it from a legal and limited monarchy to 
 
 " an arbitrary despotic power ; and had governed the 
 
 "same to the subversion of the protestant religion, and 
 
 " violation of the laws and liberties of the nation, invert- 
 
 " ing all the ends of government ; whereby he had fore- 
 
 " faulted the crown, and the throne was become vacant." 
 
 And immediately after, another act was passed, declaring 
 
 William and Mary king and queen of Scotland, in the 
 
 same manner, and with the same provisions, as in the 
 
 english act. 
 
 Thus was this glorious revolution and settlement effected 
 by the great body of the English and Scottish nations, 
 without bloodshed ; which, like as the religion of the 
 countries had been before brought back to its primitive 
 purity, now brought back the constitution to its original 
 principles, and fixed it upon a surer and firmer basis. 
 
 Here a brief appeal to the protestant population of the 
 united empire, will perhaps be considered strictly in point.
 
 OF THE QUESTION'. 143 
 
 I ask then, what is meant by the term Orangemen ? 
 Are not the terms Orangeman and protestant synonymous? 
 "What designation shall be given to the vast protestant 
 population who called the prince of Orange to the throne 7 
 Does the particular appellation, Orangemen, really imply 
 any discordance between the principles, religious or 
 political* of protestants determined as at present to 
 resist the encroachments of popery and slavery, and the 
 principles of the protestants in former days who did 
 effectually resist and put them down ? Are either the 
 spirit or the judgment of our protestaut ancestors, who 
 supported, and whose rights and liberties were supported 
 by, the illustrious prince of Orange, to be indicated at 
 this juncture by intimidation, or by acquiescence in the 
 Jesuitical subtilties of men of whose iron rule, when in 
 power, I have, in this treatise, given a concentrated 
 proof; but who it must be remembered are only formi- 
 dable when in power ! Is it harder to support the 
 existing constitution and the actual laws of the land, 
 than it was to frame them ? With positive laws, " by 
 which the throne, the parliament, and the government 
 of the country are made fundamentally protestant," 
 founded on the strongest of all grounds, the will of an 
 enlightened empire, and the absolute necessity of the 
 case, for the conservation .of the rights and liberties of 
 its inhabitants : with a faithful and constitutional line of 
 monarchs, who, for a century, since the accession of the 
 illustrious house of Brunswick, have been true to the 
 trust reposed in them by this great empire, and its 
 justly prized constitution, which, secures so amply to the 
 subject " the liberty with which Christ has made us free :" 
 is it harder to preserve this establishment, than it was 
 ibrmerly to overthrow a popish establishment and a 
 popish monarch ? There need be no apprehensions in 
 supporting, but there should be in opposing the laws. 
 But, suppose the fundamental laws abrogated ; the pro- 
 bability, or even possibility of which I am by no means 
 disposed to admit : suppose the Romanists raised to 
 power; filling the throne, the parliament, and the 
 government of the country; (one of Doctor Dromgole's
 
 144 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 probabilities ;) what inferences do the attestation of 
 history, and the experience of ages, up to the present 
 hour, warrant us in deducing! What do the strictest 
 rules of analogy authorize us to conclude would be the 
 result ! Here the grounds for apprehension would be 
 highly reasonable. Mr. Plowden, in his history of 
 Ireland, makes the following candid avowal. " If any 
 one says, or pretends to insinuate, that the modern 
 Roman catholics^ who are the objects of the late bounty 
 of parliament, differ in one iota from their predecessors, 
 he is either deceived himself, or he wishes to deceive 
 others. Semper eadent, is not more emphatically des- 
 criptive of our religion than of oiir jurisprudence." 
 It cannot neither be asserted that this is but Mr. 
 Plowden's individual opinion ; for the Romish ecclesi- 
 astical authorities have pronounced their doctrines to 
 be " unchanged and unchangeable.'* Some of the 
 Romanists, it is true, have manifested a material dif- 
 ference of opinion ; and I hope sincerely. But, from 
 the practical proof of the liberality of such an sera as 
 " the exaltation of the catholic church;" which the 
 curious reader will find combined with " the extirpation 
 Of heresy,*' in the bishop of Rome's directions in the 
 Romish prayer book published in Ireland, may God of 
 his infinite mercy preserve this realm ! Of his all suf- 
 ficient power, and of his unmeasured mercy, we have 
 but recently received the most affecting and glorious, 
 display : and we cannot be too thankful, nor too careful 
 to evince our gratitude, by the most prompt and unequi- 
 vocal obedience to all his commandments, for the gra- 
 cious dispensation of his almighty provider.ee, in pre- 
 serving these (let us humbly trust,) favoured islands, and 
 in defeating many a dark and deep laid scheme. 
 
 It has been objected, that the allegiance of the Orange- 
 men, that is, the protestants, is conditional. The con- 
 stitutional princes of the house of Brunswick have 
 required no other. Nor have their title and security been 
 the less, but infinitely the more tirni on that account. 
 They thence becomes invulnerable. The king, faithful to 
 the true relierion. the established constitution, and the
 
 01- THE QUESTION. 145 
 
 solid interests of the empire ; in a word, being a 
 protestant ; and the interests of the king and his people 
 being, therefore, the same ; who shall shake them ? 
 Doctor Dromgoole may be assured, that what he has 
 been pleased to term " the novelty" is not " falling." 
 Again, in a limited monarchy, what other could the 
 allegiance be but conditional ? Any other would be a 
 contradiction in terms : for unconditional submission of 
 the subjects to the will of a monarch, unqualified by any 
 actual constitution, or previously known laws, constitutes 
 absolute authority in the monarch: a species of authority 
 which appears to me to be the farthest of all others from 
 approximating to that of God ; who, with all the real 
 and essential attributes and requisites for absolute autho- 
 rity, has, notwithstanding, been pleased himself to pro- 
 mulgate a code of laws for our observance : obedience to 
 which is made the measure of duty, and consequent 
 happiness; and disobedience the measure of crime, and 
 consequent punishment. 
 
 Under the strict accordance with the principles of our 
 happy constitution in church and state, which has been 
 displayed by the upright house of Brunswick ; it would 
 have been unnecessary to have used these arguments : 
 but they become imperatively necessary, from the efforts 
 of designing men ; and from the fear, that with ignorant 
 and credulous, but, perhaps, well meaning protestants^ 
 nidi efforts may be too successful. I must, therefore, 
 in my humble endeavour to meet every part of the 
 present question on its merits, notice even these jugglers. 
 They are then to be told, that the attempt by James the 
 second, and his Jesuitical counsellors, to enforce, practi- 
 cally, the principle for which they are now contending, 
 lost James his crown. And such protestants as have not 
 been sufficiently informed of the true nature of the British 
 constitution, may be assured, that it is not out of any 
 superior loyalty or affection for the house of Brunswick, 
 that the wish, or the affectation of the wish, is manifested, 
 of conferring on its princes a power, with which that 
 constitution has not invested them; and which they, 
 from a steady principle in their public measures, aiid 
 
 K
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 attachment to the genuine elements of a free government, 
 would reject. But a difference has appeared in the 
 opinions, or apparent opinions, of the protestants them, 
 selves ; which has been first excited, and afterwards 
 carefully nurtured, by a wily, circumventing, Jesuitical, 
 and restless faction, by the most insidious, artful, and 
 treacherous manoeuvres, and for the basest of purposes. 
 However, for the comfort of the weak hearted, the 
 number of this kind of protestants, who dissent from 
 their brethren, compared with the vast protestant popu- 
 lation of England, Scotland, and Ireland, between whom 
 the most perfect agreement in opinion exists, " is but as a 
 drop in the bucket." And if, from the small number of 
 those who have been ludicrously termed liberal protest- 
 ants, compared with this vast majority, who are content 
 with the terms illiberal, intolerant, bigoted, corrupt, 
 and consider such terms, so applied, an honour : if, from 
 this small number, were taken the ignorant, the inte- 
 rested, and the fearful, the remainder would be found so 
 very small, that, as a vesture, they may be folded up ; 
 for, I apprehend, the remainder would be found to be 
 concealed Romanists, under the mask of protestantism ! 
 
 Of these three descriptions, ignorant, interested, and 
 fearful protestants, in Ireland, a short sketch is neces- 
 sary ; and this I mean to draw favourably, which, under 
 all the circumstances, candour requires. 
 
 By ignorant, I mean those uninformed as to the know- 
 ledge which history is calculated to convey ; as also, who 
 have not sufficiently, or, in many instances, at all attended 
 to the reports in newspapers, of popish conventions, in 
 their own time. 
 
 By interested, I do not mean people interested in the 
 catholic claims, as they are called ; but people in trade, 
 who have trembled for their bread; which they have 
 been taught to believe, depended on their being " friends" 
 to " the cause ;" and this by the popish parliament in 
 Dublin, and their subaltern conventions in the respective 
 towns. For these, as well as for the first description, a 
 great many allowances are to be made. It is hard for a 
 man to have the support of himself and his family struck
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 14-/' 
 
 at ; and as examples are more powerful than precepts, 
 (even the immaculate precepts of the " catholic board" 
 itself,) some wholesome examples have been made, for 
 the instruction of such as shall dare to oppose " the 
 .cause," hereafter, of such presumptuous individuals, in 
 trade, as have had the temerity to vote against popular 
 candidates at elections, or, in any manner, to act in 
 favour or support of the constitution of their country; 
 in other words, in conformity with their sense of duty, 
 and their oaths. 
 
 By the third description, composed of " the fearful 
 and unbelieving" solely, I mean those, who, not having 
 the excuse of the second class, but possessing indepen- 
 dence in property, are in want of a much greater treasure, 
 independence of mind. Of this description, such as have 
 not the excuse of the first, can plead nothing else than 
 fear ; for they will mid, they have taken a very flimsy 
 and untenable hold in the affectation of liberality, into 
 which, no sophistry can convert prevarication. Either 
 they are acquainted with, or ignorant of, history. It 
 ignorant, of what value can be their opinions? If 
 informed in history, and calling themselves protestants, 
 and, at the same time, friendly to " the cause of catho- 
 licity," what is this but prevarication ? 
 
 With what face can protestants persist in heaping 
 obloquy upon protestants ; and, with ridiculous self 
 importance, glorying in their own duplicity, or, at best, 
 their own ignorance and credulity, call the most aban- 
 doned falsehoods, circulated for the most base, designing, 
 and wicked purposes, liberality and illumination ! 
 " Orange murderers and assassins," applied to his majes- 
 ty's loyal subjects, who support the constitution ! " Regal 
 ruffian," applied to the memory of the revered friend 
 and protector of liberty, William the third ! "The last 
 remnant of earth's beauty, and the last resting place of 
 heaven's light," applied to the present bishop of Rome, 
 who has restored the Satanic court of inquisition, and the 
 murderous and intriguing order of Jesuits ! Such have 
 been among the ornamental flourishes of modern rheto- 
 ric ; which, if protestants have not spoken, protestani
 
 148 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 gentlemen have at least heard, and assented to, in a popish 
 convention in the city of Cork, and have afterwards 
 declared themselves in favour of catholic emancipation ! 
 The Orange murderers and assassins, (terms which have 
 been very liberally used in other places and meetings, 
 beside Cork,) are his majesty's loyal subjects and soldiers 
 who put down the rebels on Vinegar Hill, and made the 
 real murderers hide their diminished heads, after a two 
 month's impotent struggle, in the year 1798, in Ireland. 
 In the abstract of the affairs of Ireland, I will furnish the 
 reader with the fictitious rules which were fabricated at 
 that time by the traitors, as the rules of Orangemen, for 
 the purpose of forwarding " the cause," and I now pass 
 to the concluding part of the English abstract. 
 
 William had not been long seated on the throne, 
 when an act of toleration was passed. He had formerly 
 expressed the opinion, that no Christian should be perse- 
 cuted for his conscience, in differing from the established 
 religion ; and that the penal laws should be repealed, 
 provided those remained in force, by which the Romanists 
 were excluded from parliament, and public offices ; but 
 that, as to religion, they should be allowed the same 
 liberty as in Holland. 
 
 In 1689, James landed in Ireland ; on which, both 
 houses presented an address to William. In his answer, 
 is the following sentence : " I need not take pains to 
 tell you the deplorable condition of Ireland, which, by 
 the zeal and violence of the popish party there, and by 
 the assistance and encouragement they have from France, 
 is brought to that pass, that it is not advisable to attempt 
 the reducing it, but by a considerable force.*' I shall 
 not enlarge farther on James's expedition to Ireland, in 
 this place, than to observe that he was beaten ; and that, 
 if he had been even victorious, the idea was ridiculous, 
 of thinking to conquer England and Scotland, by Ireland; 
 or of retaining Ireland separately, and independent of 
 England. 
 
 The same year, William declared war against the 
 French king. In his declaration, among other just and 
 necessary causes, is the following : ""But that which
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 149 
 
 most nearly touches us, is his unchristian persecution ot 
 many of our English protestant subjects in France, for 
 matters of religion, contrary to the law of nations, and 
 express treaties, forcing them to abjure their religion by 
 strange and unusual cruelties, and imprisoning some of 
 the masters and seamen of our merchant ships, and 
 condemning others to the gallies, tinder pretence of 
 having on board some of his own miserable protestant 
 subjects, or their effects. And as he has for some years 
 last past endeavoured, by insinuations and promises of 
 assistance, to overthrow the government of England ; so 
 now, by open and violent methods, and the actual inva- 
 sion of Ireland, in support of our subjects in arms, and in 
 rebellion against us, he is promoting the utter extirpation 
 of our good and loyal subjects in that our kingdom." 
 
 In 1690, was discovered a design to assassinate the 
 king, by one Jones, an Irishman ; with whom King 
 James was proved to have been in concert, by letters 
 taken in the earl of TyrconnePs cabinet. The account 
 of the connexion which James hail had in this conspiracy, 
 William and Mary caused to be suppressed, in tenderness 
 to his character. 
 
 In 1691, a plot was discovered, formed by the Lanca- 
 shire papists, in conjunction with King James, and his 
 popish counsellors in Ireland, to subvert the existing 
 government, and re-irrthrone James ; for which, a Mr. 
 Ashton, a servant of James's queen, was executed. 
 Connected with this plot, was a conspiracy to assassinate 
 King William, projected by one Parker, Johnson, a priest, 
 and others. But as their consultations had not arrived to 
 maturity, before the king went for a short time to Holland, 
 thoy assured the general body of conspirators, that the 
 assassination plot should be re-assumed in Holland ; and 
 tint it was determined, when the king should be takeu 
 off, the insurrection should be proceeded an in England. 
 For this conspiracy, one Graiulval was executed in the 
 camp, at Flanders, in 1092 ; and one Du Mont, who 
 had turned approver, was pardoned. It came out, that 
 the French court, and James, were deeply concerned in 
 black design.
 
 150 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 I shall here relate an anecdote which happened a few 
 days after William came to the crown, to shew how very 
 different his principles were from such nefarious tenets. 
 An unknown person wrote to Doctor Burnet, saying, 
 that he had a proposition of great consequence, which he 
 desired to make to the king, provided he might do so 
 safely. To this, the king allowed the doctor to agree. 
 He wrote accordingly to the person, by the name and 
 method pointed out. On meeting the doctor, he told 
 how long he had lived and served in Versailles, and how 
 he knew all the methods of that court ; and, at length, 
 offered to kill the French king. At this, the doctor 
 started tip and said, he thought the king was too well 
 known for any one to dare offer such a proposition. He 
 had hoped, that he had been also so well known, that 
 none should have made it by him. lie was sorry that a 
 promise was given of safety, but he bid the rogue be 
 gone immediately. When he gave an account of this the 
 next day, the king thought he had carried the matter of 
 the promise too far, since it was not to be understood l< 
 relate to such crimes ; and therefore, he wished that the 
 doctor had seized on him, and ordered him to be sure to 
 do so, if ever he could see him again. 
 
 In Hi<K), another plot was discovered, to assassinate 
 King William, for which a commission was granted by 
 James : who, at the same time, prepared with a French 
 force to invade England. A bill was in consequence 
 passed for a general association. The form of the associ- 
 ation begins thus : " Whereas, there has been a horrid 
 and detestable conspiracy formed and carried on by papists 
 and other wicked traitorous persons, for assassinating his 
 majesty's royal person, in order to encourage an invasion 
 from France, to subvert our religion, hnvsand liberty, &c." 
 For this plot were executed, Charnock, King, Keys, 
 Sir John Friend, Sir William Perkins, Kookwood, Lowick, 
 Cranburn, Cooke, and Sir John Fcmviek. Some of these 1 
 were Romanists, and others called themselves protestants ; 
 but they were such, whose system of religion approaches 
 more nearly to the Romish than to the protestant, or, in 
 other words, scriptural system of Christianity.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 151 
 
 In 1699, the commons presented an address to the 
 king ; stating, " the great concourse to the city of papists 
 and other disaffected persons, and the boldness they 
 assumed from his majesty's unexampled clemency, to 
 keep arms and horses contrary to law, &c. That numbers 
 of popish priests and Jesuits, within the city, intruded 
 themselves into the presence of sick and dying persons, 
 with design to prevail upon them, in their weakness, to 
 be reconciled to the church of Rome; and daily endeavour 
 to pervert and seduce from their allegiance his majesty's 
 good subjects, in poisoning them with their wicked and 
 damnable doctrines and principles ; and that they have 
 imported great quantities of popish books, and keep 
 schools to breed up and instruct children in the Romish, 
 superstition and idolatry : and requesting him to issue a 
 proclamation for the removing of papists from London, 
 and putting the laws in execution against them." The 
 king answered, " that he would take care that the laws 
 should be put in execution, according to their desire :'* 
 and issued a proclamation. 
 
 Soon after, a remarkable act was passed, which obliged 
 all persons educated in the Romish religion, or suspected 
 to be of it, who should succeed to any estate before they 
 should be of the age of eighteen, to take the oaths of 
 allegiance and supremacy, and the test, as soon as they 
 came to that age ; and, until they did so, the estate was 
 to devolve to the next of kin, that was a protestant ; but 
 should return to them upon taking the oaths. All popish 
 priests were banished by this bill, and were adjudged to 
 perpetual imprisonment, if they should again return into 
 England ; and the reward of an hundred pounds was 
 ottered' to every one who should discover a popish priest, 
 so as to convict him. Bishop Rurnet, though against 
 persecution for conscience sake, was for this bill. " He 
 had always thought," he said, "that if a government 
 found any sect in religion incompatible with its safety 
 and quiet, it might, and sometimes ought to send 
 away all of that sect, with as little hardship as possi- 
 ble." The provisions of this act, however, were not 
 enforced j as the test relating to matters of doctrine and
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 worship, did not seem a proper ground for such great 
 
 severity. 
 
 In 1701, the king having pressed the parliament to 
 
 provide for the succession of the crown after himself and 
 
 the princess of Denmark ; the queen being at this time 
 
 dead ; the commons resolved, 
 
 " That for the preserving the peace and happiness of this 
 *' kingdom, and the security of the protestant religion 
 " by law established, it is necessary a farther declaration 
 " be made of the limitation arid succession of the crown 
 " in the protestant line, after his majesty, and the 
 " princess, and the heirs of their bodies respectively. 
 " And that farther provision be first made for the rights 
 " and liberties of the people." 
 
 The following preliminaries were then agreed on : 
 
 1st.." That whoever shall hereafter come to the possession 
 " of this crown, shall join in communion with the church 
 " of England, as by law established.'* 
 
 2d..." That in case the crown and imperial dignity of this 
 " realm shall hereafter come to any person not being a 
 " native of this kingdom of England, this nation be not 
 " obliged to engage in any war for the defence of any 
 " dominions or territories, which do not belong to the 
 " crown of England, without the consent of parliament/* 
 
 3d..." That no person, who shall hereafter come to the 
 " possession of the crown, shall go out of the dominions 
 " of England, Scotland, or Ireland, without the consent 
 "of parliament.** 
 
 4th.. ."That from and after the time, that the farther 
 " limitation of this act shall take effect, all matters and 
 " things relative to the well governing of this kingdom, 
 " which are properly cognizable in the privy council, 
 " by the laws and customs of this realm, shall be trans- 
 " acted there, and all resolutions taken thereupon, shall 
 "be signed by such of the privy council as shall advise 
 " and consent to the same.'* 
 
 5th..." That, after the limitation shall takeeffect, no person 
 " born out of the kingdom of England, Scotland, or 
 " Ireland, or the dominions thereunto belonging, al- 
 " though he be naturalized or made a denizen, (except
 
 OP THE QUESTION, 153 
 
 " such-as are born of English parents,) shall he capable 
 " to be of the privy council, or a member of either 
 " house of parliament, or to enjoy any office or place 
 " of trust, either civil or military, or to have any grant 
 " of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, from the 
 " crown to himself, or to any other in trust for 
 " him." 
 
 6th...'* That no person, who has an office, or place of 
 " profit under the king, or receives a pension from the 
 " crown, shall be capable of serving as a member of the 
 " house of commons.'* 
 
 7th..." That, after the limitation shall take effect, judges' 
 " commissions be made quamdlu se bene gesserint, and 
 c their salaries ascertained and established. But, upon 
 " the address of both houses of parliament, it may be 
 "lawful to remove them." 
 
 8th.,." That no pardon under the great seal of England 
 " be pleadable to an impeachment by the commons of 
 " England." 
 
 When these conditions were settled, tl^e princess Sophia, 
 electoress dowager of Brunswick, was named as the suc- 
 cessor in remainder ; to determine which was passed, " an 
 act, for the farther limitation of the crown." 
 
 In 1702, an act was passed for abjuring the pretended 
 prince of Wales, and for swearing to the king, by the title 
 of " rightful and lawful king," and his heirs, according 
 to the act of settlement. 
 
 In the reign of Queen Anne, 1702, the parliament 
 enacted it to be high treason to endeavour to defeat the 
 succession to the crown, as it was now limited by law, or 
 to set aside the next succession. 
 
 An act was passed in 1703, to prevent popish priests 
 from coming into the kingdom. 
 
 In 1700, a petition of the gentry and clergy of the 
 south parts of Lancashire, at their monthly meeting, in 
 the borough of Wigan, for suppressing profaneness and 
 immorality, was presented to the house of commons, 
 complaining of several grievances they laboured under 
 from the priests, Romish gentry, and popish emissaries, 
 and praying for redress and relief. After reading this
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 petition, it was unanimously resolved to address the 
 q ueen that she would be pleased to issue out her 
 royal proclamation for the putting in execution the laws 
 in force against all such persons, as had endeavoured, or 
 should endeavour, to pervert her majesty's subjects to the 
 popish religion." And they ordered that a bill be brought 
 in "for making more effectual the act of the eleventh 
 year of his late majesty's reign for the farther preventing 
 the growth of popery." The substance of the act, eleventh 
 of William, I have given in its proper place in the year 
 1699. The additional matter proposed now, was, that 
 llomanists should, within six months after having attained 
 eighteen years, not only declare themselves protestants, 
 but prove also, that they had made such a declaration, 
 or their estates should devolve as is in that act specified. 
 The reader will observe that the essential difference was, 
 that, by the proposition now made, the omisprolandi would 
 have been laid on the possessors of estates ; whereas, by 
 the act of 1699, it lay on the claimants: a kind of proof 
 necessarily more difficult; and which, when accomplished, 
 availed them no longer than while the original possessors 
 refused taking the oaths. The bill now proposed was 
 objected to, on the principles of liberty of conscience 
 and toleration. It was answered, that the dependence 
 of those of that religion on a foreign jurisdiction, and 
 at present, on a foreign pretender to the crown, put 
 them out of the case of other subjects who might differ 
 from the established religion, since there seemed to be 
 good reason to consider them as enemies rather than as 
 subjects. But the bill did not pass ; and, as I before 
 observed, even the provisions of the act of 1 699 were not 
 enforced. The lords, however, addressed the queen 
 *' That a more watchful eye should be had over the British 
 priests and papists for the future ; and, for that purpose, 
 that a distinct and particular account should be taken of 
 nil papists and repuled papists in the kingdom, with their 
 respective qualities, estates, and places of abode ; and 
 that the several accounts of these inquiries be laid before 
 their house at the next session of parliament." To this 
 address the queen answered, " That she was fully con-
 
 OF THE QUESTION*. 155 
 
 vinced, that the insolent behaviour of the papists had 
 made what their lordships advised necessary to be done, 
 for the safety of her person and government, and the 
 welfare of her people ; and that she would give the 
 necessary orders for every thing their lordships desired." 
 But whatever orders were given, they were very negli- 
 gently executed. 
 
 "*Thc four last years of Queen Anne," which is the 
 title of a production of Dean Swift's, presented to England 
 a miserable and disgraceful contrast, compared with the 
 preceding glorious years of her reign. For the events 
 of those years of exaltation to the glory, character, and 
 prosperity of the country, both at home and abroad; and 
 of these of abasement I refer the reader to Tindal's 
 continuation of Rapin's history, and to the parliamentary 
 history; which fully contradict Doctor Swift : and shall 
 only summarily state, that some of the truest friends to 
 England were persecuted ; and in particular, the duke 
 of Marlborough ; a hero no less illustrious, for it would 
 be impossible he could be more so, than our own justly 
 celebrated duke of "Wellington : a hero who raised Eng- 
 land to a pitch of glory unprecedented in her annals, by 
 victories, during Anne's first years, such as even William 
 failed in achieving. This distinguished man, and several 
 other real patriots, who possessed true English and con- 
 stitutional principles, were, in her last years, dismissed, 
 disgraced, and persecuted ; as the ultimate reward of their 
 glorious and transcendent services. 
 
 At this time, a club of above one hundred Irish papists 
 met at the Sun tavern, in the Strand, to feast, drink the 
 pretender's health, and assert his right. The lord Fingal 
 was chosen steward : and on the tickets of admission was 
 the image of a pope, or popish saint, treading heresy 
 under foot. 
 
 On the first day of August, 1714 the gracious pro- 
 vidence of God dispelled the misty clouds which had 
 been gathering during these " four last years ;" by the 
 memorable, happy, and glorious event of the accession 
 of George the first; of the illustrious and true protestant 
 house of Brunswick.
 
 156 THE TRUE STATB 
 
 In 1716, a rebellion broke out, which was soon sup- 
 pressed. 
 
 In 1722, a plot was discovered j of which the Lord 
 Townshend, secretary of state, wrote to the lord mayor 
 of London in substance as follows : " That his majesty 
 had received repeated advices that several of his subjects 
 have entered into a wicked conspiracy, in concert with 
 traitors abroad, for raising a popish pretender, with a 
 traitorous design to overthrow our excellent constitution 
 both in church and state, and to subject a protestant free 
 people to tyranny and superstition." 
 
 In 1723, great numbers of the protestants in France 
 were hanged ; and their assemblies prohibited, their 
 places of worship pulled down, and sentence of the gallies 
 proclaimed against all who harboured them. 
 
 In the reign of George the second, 1736, Frederick, 
 prince of Wales, was married to the princess of SaxeGotha, 
 sister to the reigning duke, and a protestant. The nation 
 in general was highly pleased with this marriage. The 
 two houses of parliament distinguished themselves upon 
 the same occasion ; and the house of commons, on the 
 29th of April, resolved, nemine contradicente, " That an 
 humble address be presented to his majesty, to congratulate 
 his majesty upon the nuptials of his royal highness the 
 prince of Wales ; and to express the satisfaction and 
 great joy of his faithful commons on this happy occasion, 
 which they look upon with unspeakable comfort, as the 
 means, under the Divine Providence, of giving an addi- 
 tional strength to the protestant interest, and of securing 
 to all future ages, the laws and liberties of this nation, 
 in the full manner \ve now happily and thankfully enjoy 
 them, under the protection of his majesty's just and mild 
 government over his people." The house came to the 
 like resolution with regard to her majesty, and their royal 
 highnesses the prince and princess of Wales : and similar 
 proceedings were held in the house of peers. 
 
 In the year 174-5, the following association was entered 
 into in Yorkshire, in consequence of the rebellion which 
 then broke out. " Whereas there is now a horrid and 
 unnatural rebellion formed and carried on in Scotland by
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 157 
 
 papists and other wicked and traitorous persons, counte- 
 nanced and supported by the old and inveterate enemies 
 of our country, and the religion and liberties thereof, 
 the crowns of France and Spain, in order to dethrone his 
 present majesty, King George, the only rightful and 
 lawful king of these realms, and, having subverted our 
 religion, laws, and liberties, (which God forbid,) to set 
 upon the throne a popish pretender, a dependant to their 
 tyrannous and corrupted courts : we, the lord archbishop 
 of York, lord lieutenants, justices of the peace, clergy, 
 gentlemen, freeholders, and others, of the county of 
 York, whose names are here subscribed to this writing, 
 and every of us, being of opinion, that in times of danger 
 and treasonable practices as these are, an union of our 
 hearts and forces will be most conducing to his majesty's 
 safety, and the public good of our country, do voluntarily 
 and willingly, bind ourselves, every one of ns to the other, 
 jointly and severally, in the bond of our firm and loyal 
 society, and do hereby promise, that with our whole 
 power, bodies, lives, and estates, we, and every of us, 
 will stand by and assist each other in the support and 
 defence of his majesty's sacred person and government, 
 and will withstand, offend, and pursue, as well by force 
 of arms, as by all other means, the said popish pretender 
 and traitors, and also all manner of persons, of what 
 state soever they be, and their abettors, that shall attempt, 
 act, counsel, or consent to any thing that shall tend to 
 the harm of his majesty, King George, or of his royal 
 highness the prince -of Wales, or any of their issue, or to 
 the subversion of his majesty's government. And we do 
 by this instrument declare, that no one of us shall, for 
 any respect of persons or causes, or for fee or reward, 
 separate ourselves from this association, or fail in the 
 prosecution thereof, during our lives. Dated at the 
 castle of York, the 24th of September, 17k5." 
 
 Six thousand of the rebels inarched into England, to 
 whom the town and castle of Carlisle surrendered. 
 
 The city of London and the varjous public companies 
 shewed great loyalty, and entered into large subscription.} 
 for the relief and encouragement of the army. The
 
 458 TUB TRUE STATE 
 
 society of friends, commonly called quakers, sent ten 
 thousand woollen waistcoats for the use of the soldiers, the 
 season having been very severe. Numerous loyal associa- 
 tions were formed, among which that of the lawyers was 
 remarkable. They formed themselves into a regiment, 
 under the command of lord chief justice Willes, for the 
 defence of the royal family, in such manner as the king 
 {should think proper, within London and Westminster, to 
 be called " The associated regiment of the law, for the 
 defence of the royal family, and the preservation of the 
 constitution in church and state." In consequence of 
 this association, the lord chancellor, the master of the 
 rolls, the twelve judges, the attorney-general, the solicitor 
 general, the king's sergeants and council, with the 
 benchers and barristers of the several societies of the law, 
 proceeded in about two hundred coaches from Westmin- 
 ster-hall to St. James's palace, where they presented to 
 his majesty their association, and were received with 
 particular marks of regard. There is no precedent of 
 such a compliment paid to any former king of England. 
 
 In the mean time, a proclamation was issued, for 
 apprehending, and bringing to trial, all Jesuits and popish 
 priests, natural born subjects of his majesty, who should be 
 found in, or within ten miles of, London and Westminster; 
 with a reward of one hundred pounds for each, upon 
 conviction. 
 
 In a very short time the rebels were forced to surrender; 
 previous to which they supplicated for terms. The fol- 
 lowing was the duke of Cumberland, the governor's 
 answer. " All the terms his royal highness will, or can 
 grant to the rebel garrison of Carlisle, are, that they shall 
 not be put to the sword, but reserved for the king's 
 pleasure." 
 
 This rebellion, and its suppression, excited a greater 
 spirit of loyalty and affection to the government than 
 had even before existed, and thus made invulnerable the 
 constitution which it meant to shake. 
 
 When the rebellion was completely suppressed, some 
 executions of the ring leaders took place, and pardon 
 WAS extended to the misguided people.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 . Our present upright and virtuous monarch, George the 
 third, succeeded his grand-father, George the second, in 
 1660 : Frederick, his father, having died before George 
 the second. 
 
 In 1778, an act was passed, relaxing the penal laws 
 against Romanists. Previously, a very dutiful and proper 
 address had been presented to his majesty, by the Romish 
 peers and commoners, containing language, displaying 
 very different sentiments indeed from those which nave 
 lately distinguished the Irish petitions, speeches, and 
 resolutions ; to wit : " They assure his majesty of the 
 respectful affection which they bear to his person, and 
 their true attachment to the civil constitution of their 
 country ; which having been perpetuated through all 
 changes of religious opinions and establishments, has 
 been at length perfected by that revolution which has 
 placed his majesty's illustrious house on the throne of 
 these kingdoms, and inseparably united his title to the 
 crown with the laws and liberties of his people 1 " Here 
 is an admission made by Romanists of the protecting 
 influence of the British constitution : and can any thing 
 be more manifest? Can any impartial Romanist in the 
 British dominions, doubt that his best security is that 
 constitution 3 If he do, let him but turn over the volu- 
 minous pages of history, of which I have given a brie 
 but faithful sketch, and he will discover, that he enjoys 
 that liberty, not only civil, but religious, which his 
 ancestors, chained down by priest-craft, dared not look 
 for ! The parliament, influenced by the same candid, 
 liberal, and compromising spirit, which dictated this 
 sensible and prudent petition of the English Romanists, 
 proceeded to the repeal of some of those laws, which, 
 however necessary and defensive in the times of danger 
 when they were enacted, it justly appeared to them, 
 might be then mitigated. The act which was passed, 
 abolished the punishment of popish priests or Jesuits, 
 who should be found to teach or officiate in the services 
 of their church ; which acts were felony in foreigners, 
 and high treason in the natives of England. But it 
 provides that nothing Contained in it shall extend to any
 
 160 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 popish bishop, &c., who shall not have taken, before he 
 shall have been apprehended, or any prosecution com- 
 menced against him, an oath, which is, in substance, 
 to be faithful to the king, to defend him against conspi- 
 racies, to disclose treasons, and conspiracies against him, 
 and to support the succession of the crown in the 
 Brunswick family ; renouncing and abjuring the pre- 
 tender; rejecting the doctrines, that it is lawful to murder 
 heretics ; that no faith is to be kept with heretics ; and 
 that princes excommunicated may be deposed or mur- 
 dered; abjuring the bishop of Rome's temporal authority, 
 and his power of dispensing with the oath. The act 
 also abolished the forfeitures of popish heirs, who had 
 received their education abroad, and whose estates went 
 to the next protestant heir ; also, the power given to the 
 son, or other nearest relation being a protestant, to tak6 
 possession of the father's or other relation's estate, 
 during the life of the real proprietor ; and also, the 
 depriving Romanists of the power of acquiring any 
 legal property by purchase. 
 
 In 1789, a protestation against the following doctrines 
 was signed by seventeen hundred and forty English 
 Romanists. That princes excommunicated by the pope 
 and council, or by authority of the see of Rome, may 
 be deposed or murdered by their subjects, or other 
 persons. That implicit obedience is due from them to 
 the orders and decrees of popes and general councils. 
 That no church, nor prelates, priests, or assemblies of 
 them, have jurisdiction or authority within the realm. 
 They deny the pope's power of dispensing with oaths ; 
 that popes, or priests, have power to pardon sins at their 
 pleasure ; and that no faith is to be kept with heretics. 
 
 In 1791> an act was passed, providing that Romanists 
 who shall take and subscribe the oath of allegiance, 
 abjuration, and declaration, therein appointed, shall not 
 be summoned to take the oath of supremacy, and make 
 the declaration against transubstantiation, or be prose- 
 cuted for not obeying such summons ; shall not be 
 required to register their names and real estates, or enrol 
 their -deeds and wills; shall be allowed to practise as
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 161 
 
 lawyers, attornies, notaries, &c. ; shall not be prosecuted 
 upon the former statutes ; shall be allowed to keep 
 schools ; &c. But ecclesiastics must give their names, 
 descriptions, and places of assembly, to the clerk of the 
 peace, at the quarter sessions ; and no religious assenir 
 blies shall be with doors locked or bolted ; all offending, 
 to receive no benefit from the act. It is also provided, 
 that no benefit in the act shall extend to any Romish 
 ecclesiastic, who shall officiate in any place of congre- 
 gation or assembly for religious worship, permitted by 
 this act, with a steeple or bell ; or at any funeral, at any 
 church or church-yard, or who shall exercise any of the 
 rites of his religion, or wear the habit of his order, save 
 within some place of congregation allowed by this act, 
 or in a private house, where there shall not be more than 
 five persons assembled, beside those of the household, 
 or who shall not, previously to his so officiating, or exer- 
 cising his functions as aforesaid, have taken and subscribed 
 the oath of allegiance, abjuration, and declaration, herein 
 appointed. The oath is similar to that which I have 
 described in the act of 1778. By this act, any person 
 disturbing a priest in his place of worship, upon proof by 
 two witnesses, incurs a penalty of 201. provided the 
 priest shall have taken and subscribed the oath, shall not 
 be officiating in a cjiapel with a steeple or a bell, or at any 
 funeral in a church or church-yard, or shall not be exer- 
 cising any of the rites of his religion, or wearing the 
 habit of his order, except in chapels or private houses. 
 
 Of the events, since this periocj, of his majesty's bene- 
 ficent and constitutional reign, one of the last, previous 
 to his lamented illness, is the only one which is material 
 to my subject. On the 24-th of March, 1807, a memorable 
 and glorious day, the king dismiosed the administration 
 \vhich has been ludicrously designated " all the talents ;" 
 an appellation which they gave themselves j for having 
 pressed on him the unconstitutional measure which is 
 termed catholic emancipation, which he magnanimously 
 and constitutionally declared he could not accede to, 
 contrary to his coronation oath ! Conduct such as this, 
 in strict unison with the constitution, is calculated to
 
 168 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 secure to a British monarch, not only the affections of 
 his protestant subjects, who, in spite of all exaggerations 
 and falsehoods in " the cause of catholicity," are, at the 
 very least, four-fifths of his people, in England, Scotland, 
 and Ireland, hut also, an inheritance that fadeth not away ; 
 a crown eternal and incorruptible in the heavens, the sure 
 reward of faith unbroken to God and man, and of a steady 
 adherence to the paths of truth and righteousness. His 
 bright example has been nobly and firmly followed by 
 his illustrious, honourable, and intelligent son, George, 
 prince regent j and the chief consolations to his true and 
 loyal subjects, in their sincere sorrow for his illness, are* 
 that if it be the will of the King of kings, not to grant 
 him complete restoration in this life, his sufferings are 
 but for a time, and "are not worthy to be compared 
 with the glory which shall be revealed in him j" and that 
 the nation has had worthy and splendid proof of the 
 administration of his lawful and rightful successor. 
 I come now to the Irish abstract. 
 
 Ireland, in ancient times, was, as it is now, one of 
 the British islands. Its first colonies were from England. 
 They are said to have settled in Ireland, anno mundi 26,57. 
 But they were obliged to yield to the Milesian adventurers 
 from Spain, anno mundi 293-4 ; who held tbe rule until 
 1172, anno Christi, when Ireland reverted to its original 
 possessors, by submitting to Henry the second. 
 
 Anatolius and Palladius had first preached in Ireland ; 
 but Ireland was more generally converted to Christi- 
 anity by Patricius, anno Christi 432, who was so named 
 by Celestine, then bishop of Rome, when he conse- 
 crated him a bishop, and sent him on that mission to 
 Ireland. 
 
 It is agreed by all writers, that Ireland did not submit 
 to the supremacy of Home, until the year 1152; when 
 Cardinal Paparon, sent by Eugenius, then bishop of 
 Home, was admitted into Ireland as legate : nor had 
 the Romish liturgy, and chanting mas?, been used, at 
 the earliest, before 1110, nor generally settled before 
 1171 ; which, the year following, was confirmed by 
 Henry the second.
 
 OP tHfc QUESTION. 163 
 
 In a bull which the bishop of Rome granted Henry, 
 previous to his conquest of Ireland, are the following 
 words : " Ireland, and all the islands on which Christ, 
 the Sun of Righteousness hath shone, and which have 
 received the doctrines of the Christian faith, do belong to 
 the jurisdiction of St. Peter, and of the holy Roman 
 church." Horrid and blasphemous contradiction to the 
 words of Him, who declared, that " His kingdom was 
 not of this world !" 
 
 In the reign of Henry the third, Doctor Leland 
 observes, " the exactions of the see of Rome in England, 
 were odious ; in Ireland, utterly intolerable. Here the 
 wretched laity were stripped even of their very neces- 
 saries, the churches of their ornaments, to supply the 
 rapacious demands of legates and nuncios.'* " Attempts 
 were made, as in England, to overspread the kingdom 
 with Italian ecclesiastics." The most artful contrivances 
 were used by the clergy, to encroach on the civil power, 
 and draw every suit to their own tribunals, " so that the 
 king was obliged to direct his deputy to confine them to 
 the cognizance of causes testamentary or matrimonial." 
 The common law adjudged children born before wedlock, 
 illegitimate ; the canon law, legitimate. When trials 
 were directed by writ, the spiritual courts decided con- 
 trary to the law of the land. The civil courts, therefore, 
 confined the clergy to the inquiry, whether the party had 
 been born before, or after wedlock. The prelates com- 
 plained, and demanded of the parliament, " that the 
 common law should be reduced to a conformity with the 
 canon." The answer was, " Nohimus leges Angli&mulari." 
 
 By the statute, thirty-second of Henry the sixth, 1454, 
 all statutes against provisors, as well in England as in 
 Ireland, are in force in Ireland. By the seventh of 
 Edward the fourth, 14G7, none shall purchase benefices 
 from Rome, on pain of incurring the penalties of the 
 statutes against provisors ; which cannot be pardoned by 
 the king's letters patent, and only by act of parliament. 
 And by the tenth of Henry the seventh, 1495, all statutes 
 against provisors, in England and Ireland, are again 
 confirmed, and to be oxccntcd in Ireland,
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 At the time of the reformation, the clergy were without 
 knowledge, and the laity without instruction j and both, 
 uf course, abjectly attached to the papal authority. 
 The reformation was, consequently, strongly opposed. 
 Cromer, primate of Armagh, pronounced a tremendous 
 curse on all who should acknowledge the king's supre- 
 macy. Archbishop Browne, and some of his suffragans, 
 men of more religion and information than the rest, and 
 who supported the reformation, were treated with outrage, 
 and their lives endangered. The king's supremacy was, 
 however, by the twenty-eighth of Henry the eighth, 
 enacted : AH appeals in spiritual cases to, or obeying 
 processes from, Rome, were taken away, under pain of 
 premunire, as in England ; and the English laws against 
 slandering the king, and for paying first fruits to the 
 king, were enacted. All officers of trust were directed to 
 take the oath of supremacy ; refusing which, was made 
 high treason. And an act also was passed, for suppressing 
 religious houses. By another act, the authority of the 
 bishop of Rome was more solemnly renounced ; the 
 preamble to which, I give, verbatim, as it may gratify 
 the curiosity of such readers as may not have an oppor- 
 tunity of coming at the original, in the Irish statutes : 
 " Forasmuch, as notwithstanding the good and whole- 
 some laws, ordinances, and statutes, heretofore made, 
 enacted, and established by the king's highness, our 
 most gracious sovereign lord, and by the whole consent 
 of this high court of parliament, for the extirpation, 
 abolition, and extinguishment out of this land, of the 
 pretended power, and usurped authority of the bishop of 
 Rome, (by some called the pope,) used within the same, 
 which did obfuscate and wrest God's holy word and 
 testament, a long season, from the spiritual and true 
 meaning thereof to his worldly and carnal affection, as 
 pomp, glory, avarice, ambition, aud tyranny, covering 
 and sliadowing the same with his human *and crafty 
 devices, traditions, and inventions, set forth under the 
 cloak of virtue, only to promote and establish his domi- 
 nion, as well both upon tbe souls and bodies, as also 
 upon the temporal goods of all Christian people, excluding
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 T?ot only Christ out of his kingdom, and rule of man's 
 soul, as much as they might, but also other temporal 
 kings and princes out of their dominions, which they 
 ought to have, by God's law, upon the bodies and goods 
 of their subjects, whereby he did not only rob the king's 
 majesty, being only the supreme head of the realm of 
 England, and of this his land of Ireland, immediately 
 under God, of his honour, right, and pre-eminence due 
 unto him by the law of God, but also spoiled this his 
 land of Ireland yearly, of innumerable treasure, and 
 beside the losses of the same, deceived the king's loving 
 and obedient subjects, persuading them by his laws, bulls, 
 and other his deceivable means, such dreams, vanities, 
 and phantasies, as by the same many of them were 
 seduced and conveyed unto superstitious and erroneous 
 opinions, so that the king's majesty, the lords spiritual 
 and temporal, and the commons in this his land, being 
 overwearied and fatigued with the experience of the 
 infinite abominations, and mischief proceeding of his 
 impostures and crafty coloured deceits, to the great 
 damages of souls, bodies, and goods, were forced of 
 necessity, for the public weal of this land, to exclude 
 that foreign pretended power, jurisdiction, and autho- 
 rity, used and usurped within this said land, and to 
 devise such remedies for their relief in the same, as doth 
 not only redound to the honour of God, the high praise 
 and advancement of the king*s majesty, and of this his 
 land, but also to the great and inestimable utility of the 
 same ; which said good and wholesome laws, notwith- 
 standing so made and heretofore established, it is come 
 to the knowledge of the king's highness, and also to 
 divers and many his loving, faithful, and obedient sub- 
 jects, how that clivers seditious and contentious persons, 
 being imps of the said bishop of Rome, and of his see, 
 and in heart members of his pretended monarchy, do in 
 covers and elsewhere, as they dare, whisper, inculcate, 
 preach and persuade, and, from time to time, instil fnto 
 the ears and heads of the poor, simple, and unlearned 
 people, the advancement and continuance of the said 
 bishop's feigned and pretended authority, pretending the
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 same to have its' ground and original of God's law, 
 whereby the opinions of many be suspended, their judg- 
 ments corrupted and deceived, and diversity in opinions' 
 augmented and increased, to the great displeasure of 
 Almighty God, the high discontent of our said most 
 dread sovereign lord, and the interruption of the unity, 
 charity, concord, and agreement, that ought to be in a 
 Christian region and congregation." As the enacting 
 part of this statute is at some length, it will suffice to 
 give here the substance of it. It is enacted, that if any 
 person or persons shall by writing, cyphering, printing, 
 preaching, or teaching, or by any deed or act, obstinately 
 or maliciously hold, extol, set forth, maintain, or defend 
 the authority, jurisdiction, or power of the bishop of 
 Rome, or of his see, heretofore claimed, used, or usurped 
 within this land, or, by any pretence, obstinately and 
 maliciousJy attribute any manner of jurisdiction, autho- 
 rity, or pre-eminence, to the said see, or any bishop of 
 Home, they and their abettors, counsellors, &c., shall 
 incur the pains of premunire, of the sixteenth of Richard 
 the second. 
 
 To endeavour to counteract these measures, steps were 
 taken, which I think it necessary to relate. Cromer sent 
 two emissaries to Rome, to represent the danger of the 
 church, and to entreat the interposition of the pontiff, in 
 defence of his rights and interests in Ireland. A letter was 
 written, in consequence, by the bishop of Mentz, in the 
 name of the council of cardinals, to O'Nial, of Tyrone, viz. 
 
 " Thou and thy fathers were ever faithful to the 
 mother church of Rome. His holiness Paul, the present 
 pope, and his council of holy fathers, have lately found 
 an ancient prophecy of one Saint Lazarianus, an Irish 
 archbishop of Cashel. It saith, that the church of Home 
 shall surely fall, when the catholic faith is once over- 
 thrown in Ireland. Therefore, for the glory of the mother 
 church, the honour of St. Peter, and your own security, 
 suppress heresy, and oppose the enemies of his holi- 
 ness. You see that when the Roman faith peri.sheth in
 
 $F THE QUESTION. 167 
 
 Ireland, the see of Rome is fated to utter destruction.- 
 The council of cardinals have therefore thought it neces 
 sary to animate the people of the holy island in this pioua 
 cause : being assured, that while the mother church hath 
 sons of such worth as you and those who shall unite with 
 you, she shall not fall, but prevail for ever, in some 
 measure at least, in Britain. Having thus obe} r ed the 
 order of the sacred council, we recommend your princely 
 person to the protection of the Holy Trinity, of the 
 blessed Virgin, of St. Peter, St. Paul, and all the host 
 gf heaven. Amen." 
 
 <* The clergy flew through the whole northern province, 
 harangued the Irish chieftains, inflamed their zeal, and 
 conjured and commanded them to unite in the glorious 
 cause of religion. A confederacy was thus quickly formed 
 for the suppression of heresy : headed by O'Nial : wha 
 declared war against the invaders of the papal rights," 
 
 In the reign of Queen Mary, acts were passed, re* 
 establishing the bishop of Rome's jurisdiction ; repealing" 
 all acts made against the see of Rome, since the twentieth 
 of Henry the eighth ; restoring the ecclesiastical juris- 
 diction of archbishops, bishops, and ordinaries, for process 
 of suits, punishment of crimes, and execution of censures 
 of the church : reviving the statutes of fifth of Richard 
 the second, second of Henry the fourth, and second of 
 Henry the fifth, for the punishment of heresies. 
 
 In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 1,560, an act was 
 passed, restoring to the crown the ancient jurisdiction 
 over the state, ecclesiastical and spiritual, and abolishing 
 all foreign power repugnant to the same. Ecclesiastical 
 persons, and civil officers, refusing to take the oath of 
 supremacy, forfeit offices and promotions, and are dis- 
 abled from holding such during life. For maintaining 
 a,nd defending foreign authority, the penalty is made, for 
 the first offence, forfeiture of goods and chattels, and the 
 offender, if not worth twenty pounds, to suffer a year's 
 imprisonment: if an ecclesiastical person, his benefice to 
 be void : for the second offence, premunire : and for the 
 third offence, high treason. Offenders by words only are 
 to be prosecuted within half a year : and two witnesses
 
 368 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 are necessary for conviction of offenders. Acts were alsa 
 passed for uniformity of common prayer, and administra- 
 tion of the sacraments ; and repealing the laws against 
 heresy. 
 
 " The partisans of Rome inveighed against the heretical 
 queen and her impious ministers. The ignorant were 
 taught to abominate a government, which they heard 
 consigned to all the terrors of divine vengeance ; were 
 exhorted to stand prepared for a glorious opportunity of 
 asserting the cause of religion ; and assured of effectual 
 support, both from the pope, whose authority had been 
 profaned, and from the king of Spain, now particularly 
 offended at Elizabeth." 
 
 In 1573, "letters were intercepted from Rome, addressed 
 to the Irish natives, wherein the bishop of Rome earnestly 
 exhorted them to persevere in their opposition to the 
 queen's government, with assurance of being supplied 
 with money and troops, and promise of absolution to 
 themselves and their posterity to the third generation." 
 
 In 1580, seven hundred Spaniards and Italians, with 
 a large quantity of arms and ammunition, had landed in 
 Ireland, and occupied a fort ; which being attacked, they 
 were summoned to surrender, by the queen's troops. 
 Their answer was " That they were sent by the pope 
 and the king of Spain, to extirpate heresy, and to reduce 
 the land to the obedience of King Philip, who was by the 
 holy father vested with the sovereignty of Ireland." 
 
 In 1587, another landing of five thousand four hundred 
 men having been effected from Spain ; the Irish received 
 from them assurances of the king of Spain's zeal for " the 
 catholic cause ;" and of his protection and support; and 
 were exhorted to persevere in their laudable disaffection 
 to a heretical government. 
 
 In 1599, a letter signed by O'Nial, Desmond, Macarthy, 
 More, and Dermod Macarthy, was despatched to Clement, 
 bishop of Rome ; in which they " prostrate themselves 
 before .* tflfe father of spirits upon earth,' imploring his 
 compassionate relief for his spiritual sons, to enable them 
 to subdue those who are enemies to their Sion, and oppose 
 the building of the walls of their Jerusalem." In return,
 
 OF THE QUESTION*. 
 
 a bull was issued, granting the same spiritual indulgences 
 usually conferred on those who fought against the Turks, 
 for recovery of the Holy Land. 
 
 In 1599, Doctor Leland relates, " that Carew, on 
 entering upon his government, was justly alarmed at the 
 representations made of the southern province. Beside 
 the numbers engaged in open insurrection, he was assured, 
 that the very cities abounded in disaffected persons ; that 
 popish ecclesiastics every where laboured to pervert the 
 ignorant from their loyalty ; and where the terror of their 
 spiritual censures was not sufficient to drive the inhabi- 
 tants into actual rebellion, it yet restrained them from 
 giving any assistance to the royalists." 
 
 He relates farther on, that " Carew, having pursued 
 the rebels with great havock, numbers of the most despe- 
 rate relented at the prospect of desolation and famine ; 
 and these champions of the faith sued to Rome to be 
 absolved from the sin of submitting to a heretical govern- 
 ment, and to be permitted to continue in a temporal 
 obedience to the state." 
 
 Again, " Oviedo, the Spanish archbishop of Dublin, and 
 other factious ecclesiastics, had spread the intelligence 
 of Spanish invasion through the disaffected quarters, and 
 were indefatigable in animating and confirming the leaders 
 of rebellion. From the pope they brought a flattering 
 epistle to Prince O'Nial, commander of the catholic army, 
 as he was styled, filled with benedictions on him and all 
 his adherents, who had not bowed the knee to Baal, but 
 strenuously contended for the faith." 
 
 Owen Me. Eaggan, vicar apostolical of the southern 
 provinces, excommunicated all who took arms in defence 
 of heresy, and all who should shew mercy to those taken 
 fighting on the side of the English government. 
 
 " The incessant diligence," says Doctor Leiand, " of the 
 emissaries of Rome, infused the poison of religious rancour 
 with too great success, and propagated such doctrines in 
 this reign, as must ever be abhorred and execrated. They 
 saw numbers of the Romish communion act with firmness 
 and vigour, in support of that government to which they 
 had sworn allegiance. They saw numbers of their eccle-
 
 17Q THE TRUE STATE 
 
 siastics inculcating the doctrines of civil obedience and 
 submission, and they were virulent in condemning, and 
 industrious in counteracting such doctrines. They taught 
 the people, that while they were unable to resist, the pope, 
 indeed, allowed them to submit to an excommunicated 
 princess, and a heretical government, so far as the 
 exercise of this government did not affect the cause of 
 their religion. But when the faith once required their 
 assistance, it was impious and damnable not to cast off at 
 once this mask of insidious submission ; and when, by the 
 pope's authority, an army of insurgents had arisen against 
 the English power, not to unite in a cause, so glorious, or 
 to continue one moment on the side of government, was 
 to renounce their eternal salvation. Bulls were produced, 
 and spread through Ireland, to countenance these prin- 
 ciples, which the moderate Romish clergy affirmed to be 
 surreptitious. The decisions of the Spanish universities 
 were procured to discredit this opposition. Valladolid 
 and Salamancha denounced all the vengeance of the 
 Almighty against those who should not unite with Tyrone: 
 but the decree of their contemptible doctors arrived too 
 late. -Tyrone had already submitted. A virulent popish 
 party was thus formed in Ireland, which the vigour of 
 Elizabeth's government, and the success of her arms, had 
 kept within some restraints, but which were secretly 
 animated by the emissaries of Rome. If the laws were 
 executed against recusants, they inveighed against the 
 horrid and unchristian persecution ; if government in- 
 dulged them with lenity and connivance, they derided its 
 fears, and affected to despise the temporary policy." 
 
 In the reign of James the first, " the ecclesiastics taught 
 their ignorant disciples, that he could not be a lawful 
 king, who had not been established by the pope, and had 
 not sworn to defend ihe catholic religion. Such were the 
 effects of these pestilent insinuations, that several cities 
 of Leinster, and almost all the cities of Munster, now 
 conspired to avow their contempt of penal statutes, and 
 to restore the Romish worship to its full splendour. 
 Disdaining to confine their devotions any longer to privacy 
 and retirement, they ejected the reformed ministers from
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 their churches, they seized those religious houses which' 
 had been converted to civil uses, they erected their 
 crosses, they celebrated their masses pompotusly and 
 publicly, and their ecclesiastics were seen marching in 
 procession, clothed in the habits of their respective orders. 
 In Cork, the factious ecclesiastics were particularly nu- 
 merous and turbulent. One of them had received, or 
 pretended to have received, a legatine authority from 
 Home ; and the citizens paid a ready obedience to his 
 commission." 
 
 The popish clergy insolently arraigned the civil admi- 
 nistration ; presumptuously reviewed causes determined 
 in the king's courts, and enjoined the people, as they 
 tendered their salvation, to obey their decisions, not 
 those of the law. A proclamation was in consequence 
 published, commanding the popish clergy to quit the 
 kingdom, unless they conformed to the laws of the land. 
 A priest was brought to trial on the statute of premunire, 
 sixteenth of Richard the second, to convince the Irish that 
 the late declarations of the royal supremacy were but an 
 assertion of the ancient constitutional rights of the crown. 
 
 The following is a quotation from a proclamation by 
 King James, in 1607- " Under the condition of being 
 made free from English government, they resolved to 
 comprehend the utter extirpation of all those subjects that 
 are now remaining alive within that kingdom, formerly 
 descended from the English race. In which practices 
 and propositions, followed and fomented by priests and 
 Jesuits, (of whose function in these times, the practice 
 and persuasion of subjects to rebel against their sovereigns, 
 is one special and essential part and portion ;) &c." 
 
 In Hil2, at a general election, " agents were despatched 
 from the pale into every province, to support the elections 
 of their friends, and to entreat the assistance of every 
 man of quality or interest, in this time of danger. The 
 clergy preached the cause of religion, and denounced 
 their excommunications on those who should presume to 
 vote against the friends of the holy Roman church. To 
 the vulgar Irish, they sometimes proceeded yet farther; 
 they assured them that Tyrone was preparing to invade
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 the kingdom, encouraging them to stand firm to the 
 faith, which would soon prove triumphant over all its 
 enemies. The recusant lawyers practised with those of 
 better condition. Promises, threats, and alarms, oaths 
 of association, and all the devices of policy and faction, 
 were employed to gain those who could be of service in 
 the elections ; and with such success, that most of the 
 privy counsellors, who stood for knights of the shire, 
 were rejected, for the most factious and turbulent lawyers, 
 their competitors.'* 
 
 " It was discovered that an ecclesiastical hierarchy, with 
 a regular subordination of orders, offices, and persons, 
 was established throughout the kingdom by the papal 
 power ; their jurisdiction exercised with as much regu- 
 larity, and their decrees executed with as much authority, 
 as if the pope were actually in possession of the realm.*' 
 
 In the reign of Charles the first, 1626, a bull, by 
 Urban the eighth, exhorted the Romanists, " rather to 
 lose their Jives than take the wicked and pestilent oath 
 of supremacy, whereby the sceptre of the catholic church, 
 was wrested from the hand of the vicar of God Almighty: 
 and " such senseless blasphemy,'* Doctor Leland says, 
 " had its full effect upon their ignorance and superstition." 
 
 At this time of danger, the archbishop of Armagh, 
 and several prelates, subscribed the following protestation. 
 "The religion of the papists is superstitious and idolatrous; 
 their faith and doctrine erroneous and heretical ; their 
 church, in respect of both, apostatical. To give them, 
 therefore, a toleration, or to consent that they may freely 
 exercise their religion, and profess their faith and doctrine, 
 is a grievous sin ; and that in two respects ; for, first it 
 is to make ourselves accessary not only to their supersti- 
 tions, idolatries, and heresies, and all the abominations 
 of popery, but also, (which is a consequence of the 
 former,) to the perdition of the seduced people, which 
 perish in the deluge of the catholic apostacy. Secondly, 
 to grant them a toleration, in respect of any money 
 to be given, or contribution to be made by them, is to 
 set religion to sale, and, with it, the souls of the people 
 whom Christ hath redeemed with his blood. And as it is
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 a great sin, so it is also a matter of most dangerous conse- 
 quence : the consideration whereof we submit to the wise 
 and judicious ; beseeching the God of truth to make them 
 who are in authority, zealous of God's glory, and of the 
 advancement of true religion ; zealous, resolute, and 
 courageous, against all popery, superstition, and idolatry." 
 Such were the sentiments of these prelates then. The 
 meaning, in this document, of the allusion to money, 
 the curious reader will find in the cabinet proceedings 
 of Charles the first, which to relate here, would be tedious, 
 if not irrelevant. The positions contained iiv the first 
 sentence, it would be totally foreign to my purpose to 
 enter into ; except barely to ask, of all professed protest- 
 ants only, what do they suppose to be the meaning of 
 protesting against the errors of the church of Rome ? 
 or, in other words, why do they call themselves protest- 
 ants ? Of that part which relates to toleration, it is 
 unquestionable, that, among protestants, a great many 
 conscientiously religious men, in those time* of Charles, 
 held, and, in the present times, hold, the very same 
 opinions as these prelates ; and it is also unquestionable, 
 that a great many more, fully as conscientious* leligious, 
 and upright, have held, and do hold, the necessity of 
 toleration ; the word toleration being understood in its 
 true etymological sense: while the remainder, comprising 
 the ignorant of all ranks and orders, " the great and 
 little vulgar,*' are utterly incapable of forming any 
 judgment on the matter. But this part of the question is 
 now completely at rest ; and the only determinate ques 
 tion which now remains, is, that which forms the title to 
 this treatise. In Ireland, especially, since the relief bill 
 of the year 1793, the subject of toleration cannot, by 
 any tenable pretence, be complicated with this question. 
 But that which defies erudition, confounds wisdom, and 
 baffles common sense, is easily accomplished by the 
 splendid flights of catholic genius, and the bright corus- 
 cations of catholic talents. However to be serious, no 
 factious efforts, no Jesuitical arts, no contrivances in the 
 fashionable science of misrepresentation, can alter the 
 fact, that, at this present a;ra, toleration is, by those of
 
 174 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 the Romish religion, fully enjoyed* This is secured as 
 firmly as acts of parliament can secure it : any person or 
 persons infringing which, are liable to punishment by 
 law. But, the species of toleration, falsely so called, 
 which factious demagogues have been contending for, is 
 not toleration of religious worship, the legitimate meaning 
 of the word, but Ascendancy, Command, the Government ! 
 " Perfect freedom of conscience,'* in the general mean- 
 ing of catholic phraseology, means offices of state, and 
 seats in parliament, untrammelled with any of those 
 " degrading" qualifications, such as the oath of supre- 
 macy, which protestants, (poor easy blockheads !) con* 
 sider a light and easy yoke ; and which, if they even did 
 not, they must, however, submit to before they can enter 
 on the discharge of the duties of offices of state ; which 
 require honest and able men to fill them ; and in the 
 faithful discharge of which, (let all the speculatists, and 
 " all the talents," in his majesty's protestant empire, say 
 what they will to the contrary,) are included the conser- 
 vation of the constitution in church and state, and the 
 unequivocal and efficient support of the laws of the land ; 
 of which the primary and paramount are, the bill of 
 rights, and the act of settlement ; "by which," in the 
 expressive language of the speaker of the house of com- 
 mons, "the throne, the parliament, and the government 
 of the country are made fundamentally protestant." 
 " Perfect freedom of conscience," in the particular exe- 
 cutive and ministerial phraseology of catholic law, sup- 
 ported and applauded by the legislative branch of " the 
 cause of catholicity," is also, " ulterior views :" "restoring 
 Ireland to her rank among the nations /" 
 
 " What's liberty of conscience, 
 I' th* natural and genuine sense ? 
 'Tis to restore with more security, 
 Rebellion to its ancient purity." 
 
 BUTLER'S HUDIBRAS. 
 
 " Perfect freedom of conscience" is, in the prescriptive 
 phraseology of catholic medicine, the all healing catholi- 
 con, the sovereign panacea, the infallible nostrum, which
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 175 
 
 renders smooth and flowery " the only road to eter- 
 nal life ;" namely, the putting down of the " dangerous 
 novelty ;" and the erection of the " glorious oriflamme " 
 to purge the " true faith" of " heresy,*' by clearing 
 " the only road," of " heretics !" " Perfect freedom of 
 conscience" is, lastly, in the authoritative phraseology of 
 catholic divinity, " spiritual obedience :" " the extirpation 
 of heresy, and the exaltation of the catholic church ;" 
 with " the discipline" of which, it has been " published 
 by authority," " securities are incompatible :" while, by 
 another document, " published by authority'* also, the 
 proceedings of " catholic committees" and " catholic 
 boards" have been approved of, and sanctioned. Thus 
 law, physic, and divinity, have lent their sage counsel, 
 and their invigorating aid> to the legislative delegates of 
 the "columns of catholicity j" while these " collecting 
 columns," " the emphatic people," have been excited^ 
 in aggregate meetings, under the pretence of (what 
 would have been, at the best, but an improper and 
 unjustifiable, because " tumultuous " method of,) peti- 
 tioning. 
 
 Before I quit this digression from that part of the 
 abstract which has led to it ; I cannot refrain from 
 noticing the remarkable coincidence of positive facts, 
 since the passing of the relief bill of 1793, (some of 
 which I shall briefly sketch in their due order of time,) 
 with the predictions of the earl of Clare, Doctor 
 Duigenan, and other contemporary and anterior states* 
 men, who anticipated the effects of a removal of the 
 restraining laws, as affecting civil consequences merely* 
 independent of, and .separate from, any such arguments 
 as those of the prelates of Armagh, &c., which I have 
 quoted. Since the year 1793, offence and violence have 
 made rapid and aggravated advances. The removal of 
 all cause, or pretence of cause, by the act of that year, 
 constitutes the peculiar aggravation of the subsequent 
 proceedings. 
 
 The next remarkable and momentous event, in the reign 
 of Charles the first, was the dreadful rebellion and horrid 
 massacre in iGll. Numbers of priests had swarmed into
 
 176 THE TRVE STATE 
 
 the kingdom from foreign seminaries, who, with the 
 seculars, and regulars, had alike bound themselves by 
 solemn oath, to defend the papacy against the whole 
 world ; to labour for the preservation of its power and 
 privileges ; to execute its mandates, and to persecute 
 heretics. Their whole body acted in dangerous concert, 
 under the direction of the bishop of Rome, and subject 
 to the orders of the congregation de propaganda Jide 9 
 lately erected at Rome. They were full fraught with 
 those pestilent doctrines, which the moderate of their 
 own communion profess to abominate ; of the universal 
 monarchy of the bishop of Rome, as well civil as spiritual ; 
 of his authority to excommunicate and depose princes, to 
 absolve subjects from their oaths of allegiance, and to 
 dispense with every law of God and man; to sanctify 
 rebellion and murder, and even to change the very 
 nature and essential difference of vice and virtue. With 
 this, and other impious trumpery of schools and councils, 
 they filled their superstitious votaries ; " contrary," saith 
 Walsh, the Irish Franciscan, " to the letter, sense, and 
 design of the gospel, the writings of the apostles, and the 
 commentaries of their successors ; to the belief of the 
 Christian church for ten ages; and moreover, to the 
 clearest dictates of nature." Popish emissaries held their 
 consultations, and formed their schemes of insurrection 
 on the continent: their ecclesiastical agents were poured 
 into Ireland ; and so unguarded was their zeal, that their 
 motions were known. The English ministers soon per- 
 ceived an unusual ferment among the Irish in foreign 
 countries ; they received secret intimations of some 
 conspiracy now forming ; they conveyed the intelligence 
 to their court ; and Vane, the secretary, was directed to 
 acquaint the Irish lords justices, ** that there had passed 
 from Spain, and other parts, an unspeakable number of 
 Irish churchmen, for England and Ireland, and some 
 good old soldiers, under the pretext of raising levies for 
 the king of Spain ; and that it was whispered by the 
 Irish friars in that kingdom, that a rebellion was shortly 
 expected in Ireland, particularly in Connaught." The 
 dsign was, the utter subversion* of all the late establish
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 177 
 
 merits of property ; restoring the native Irish to all they 
 hud lost by the rebellion of their ancestors, or the 
 decisions of law ; procuring an establishment for the 
 Romish religion, \vith all the splendour and affluence of 
 its hierarchy ; and a settlement of the government ill 
 their own hands. 
 
 The council drew up a proclamation, notifying the 
 discovery of a dangerous conspiracy formed by some evil 
 affected papists, recommending to all good subjects to 
 provide lor defence, and to display their loyalty. But, 
 in the distracted state in which England was then, and 
 the consequent absence of all aid from thence, this mea- 
 sure was totally inadequate to prevent the atrocious 
 mischief. The insurrection broke out with features of 
 the most savage barbarity ; while the protestants, sur- 
 prised, were unable to defend themselves : for, previously, 
 good understanding had appeared to exist among all 
 persuasions. They had, for forty years, been connected 
 together by the bonds -of friendship, alliance, and consan- 
 guinity. Their intermarriages were frequent. Gossipred, 
 fostering, tenancy, neighbourhood, and service, mutually 
 passed between them ; and there appeared a mutual 
 assimilation of manners also. 
 
 The design had been framed by one Roger More, of 
 expelling the English, and asserting the independency of 
 Ireland. He secretly went to the different chieftains, 
 and excited their discontent. He engaged Lord Macguire, 
 Sir Phelim O'Neal, and others, in a conspiracy. They 
 concerted, that Sir Phelim O'Neal should head the insur- 
 rection throughout the provinces, and attack the English 
 settlements, on the same day that Lord Macguire, and 
 Roger More, should surprise the castle of Dublin. 
 Cardinal Richlieu had made them a promise of succours 
 from France; and many Irish officers in the Spanish 
 service, promised to join them, when the insurrection 
 should commence. 
 
 It was only at nine o'clock of the evening before the 
 day of the insurrection, that the matter was discovered 
 to thu Iri.^h government, by Owen O'Connolly, an 
 Irishman, .but a protcstant. 'Roger More escaped, but
 
 178 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 Macguire was taken ; and Hugh Mac Mahon, one of the 
 conspirators, being sei/ed, discovered the project. The- 
 castle was saved from a surprise by the discovery ; but 
 the insurrection, headed by O'Neal, broke out with 
 brutal ferocity in Ulster. The houses, cattle, and goods 
 of the English, vjere first seized ; while they, on the 
 commencement of the violence, instead of assembling 
 together for their mutual defence and protection, remained 
 at home, in hopes of defending their property ; by which 
 they fell separately into the hands of their unrelenting 
 murderers. A general massacre, extending to every age, 
 sex, and condition, now took place ; in which all ties and 
 connexions were overlooked, and unsuspecting victims 
 were butchered by the hands of those, with whom they 
 were connected by the various relations of domestic life. 
 All bonds of faith and friendship were broken. Irish 
 landlords made a prey of their English tenants ; Irish 
 tenants and servants, a sacrifice of their English landlords 
 and masters. One neighbour was murdered by another; 
 and the very Irish children murdered the English. Irish 
 ecclesiastics were seen encouraging the carnage. All 
 the tortures which the most wanton cruelty could devise, 
 were, with the most malicious and satanic ingenuity, re- 
 sorted to. The buildings of the English protestants were 
 burned or pulled down ; and their owners, v/ith their 
 wives and children, consumed in those which were burned. 
 Where numbers assembled to ^oppose the assassins, the 
 treacherous and abandoned wretches, by treaties of capi- 
 tulation, and promises of safety, confirmed by the most 
 solemn oaths, first obtained a surrender, and their arms; 
 and then, with a degree of perfidy and depravity unpa- 
 ralleled in the annafs of mankind, savagely butchered 
 them. Others tempted the prisoners with the hopes of 
 life, to embrue their hands in the blood of friends, 
 brothers, or parents ; which done, they gave them that 
 death which they sought to shun by deserving it. 
 
 More, shocked at these enormities, flew to O'Neal'sr 
 camp ; but found, that his authority, which was sufficient 
 to excite the Irish to rebellion, was too feeble to restrain 
 their inhumanity. He abandoned "the cause," and
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 179 
 
 retired to Flanders. From Ulster, the flamesof rebellion ex- 
 tended to the three other provinces; in which slaughter was 
 frequent also, although the Irish, in these three provinces, 
 affected to act with a moderation which was even more 
 barbarous than their cruelty. They turned the English 
 from their houses, stripped of their possessions, and even 
 stark naked, stripped to the skin of their very clothes; 
 in the midst of an unusually severe winter, deprived, and 
 forbidden of, meat, drink, or raiment, miserably to perish. 
 Sir John Temple, at that time master of the rolls hi 
 Ireland, and one of the privy council, who wrote a history 
 of the rebellion soon after it, says, "there were, since the 
 rebellion first broke out, unto the time of the cessation, 
 made the 15th of September, l6l<3, which was not full 
 two years after, above three hundred thousand British 
 and protestants cruelly murdered in cold blood, destroyed 
 some other way, or expelled out of their habitations, 
 according to the strictest conjecture and computation of 
 those who seemed best to understand the numbers of 
 English planted in Ireland.'* Of these three hundred 
 thousand, Mr. Carte coincides with Sir William Petty, 
 that the number actually massacred, during the heat of 
 the rebellion, was thirty-seven thousand. For the parti- 
 culars of the atrocities, which, however relevant, are too 
 numerous and multifarious, and, being equally diabolical, 
 a liiiit not of selection, I must refer my readers to the 
 histories of Sir William Temple, Doctor Warner, and 
 Doctor Lelaml. 
 
 The lords and gentlemen of the pale, i. e. the English 
 Romanists settled in Ireland, at first pretended to blame 
 the insurrection, and to detest the barbarities with which 
 it was accompanied. They were supplied by the Irish 
 government \\ith arms, which they promised to employ 
 in defence of the government ; but which they turned 
 afterwards against it. They chose Lord Gormanstone for. 
 their lender, and joining the old Irish, rivalled them in 
 evorv art of cruelty towards the English protestants. 
 
 The popish lawyers had excited the populace, by an 
 outcry of pretended grievances ; and the popish clergy 
 had been as industrious ngents and ministers of destruc- 
 
 Cu*
 
 180 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 tion. From the chapels, they announced, previous to the 
 rebellion, " a great design tending to the advancement 
 of the catholic cause." And throughout, they denounced 
 the protestants as " heretics, not to be suffered any longer 
 to live among them ;" pronounced that " it was no more 
 sin to kill an Englishman than to kill a dog; and that it 
 was a most mortal and unpardonable sin to relieve or 
 protect any of them." Again, that " the protestants 
 were devils, and served the devil ; assuring them the 
 killing of such was a meritorious act, and a rare preserva- 
 tive against the pains of purgatory !" But one of the 
 most efficient baits held out to tempt and excite the 
 common people, was the possessions of the protestants : 
 and these ignorant and deluded dupes, to the hypocritical 
 and infernal stratagems of their leaders, were also assured, 
 " that a consultation was held for extirpating all of their 
 communion from Ireland." 
 
 The Romish prelates and clergy, lords, and deputies 
 chosen by the several counties and towns throughout 
 Ireland, assembled at Kilkenny ; regulated all their 
 movements by the forms of a parliament ; directed that 
 all their confederates should be united by an oath of 
 association ; and the prelates and clergy denounced 
 sentence of excommunication on all who should refuse to 
 take it ; on all neuters ; against all who assisted the 
 enemy ; meaning thereby those who were entrusted with 
 the powers of government, for the administration of the 
 constitution, by the dispensation of the actual laws 
 of the land ; and against all who should invade the 
 possessions of any catholic, or any Irish protestant, not 
 adversary to their cause. The first sentence, in the 
 preamble to the oath, is "Whereas, it is requisite, that 
 there should be an unanimous consent, and real union, 
 between all the catholics of this realm " The oath 
 contains the following obligation : " that they would obey 
 and ratify all the orders and decrees made, or to be made, 
 by the supreme council of the confederate catholics of the 
 kingdom ; that they would not seek, directly or indirectly, 
 any pardon or protection for any act to be done, touching 
 the general cause; and that they would not accept oi %
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 1 81 
 
 submit unto any peace, made, or to be made, with the 
 said confederate catholics, without the ^consent thereof." 
 This oath having been taken by all the members of this 
 convention ; the prelates next enjoined all the priests to 
 administer it to their parishioners, and to raise subscrip- 
 tions among them. 
 
 Sir William Parsons, and Sir John Borlase, the lords 
 justices, who had been acting for the earl of Leicester* 
 the lord-lieutenant, then in England, in a letter to the 
 king, observed that " the assembly at Kilkenny had 
 opposed the royal authority, by erecting a new system 
 of government ; and disclaimed it by their oath of associ- 
 ation, and by addressing themselves to foreign powers." 
 
 A father of the congregation of the oratory, named 
 Peter Scaramp, appeared in Kilkenny as legate from the 
 bishop of Rome, and occupied a seat in the convention. 
 He had brought supplies of money and ammunition to the 
 rebels ; letters from the " holy see," to the " supreme 
 council," the "provincial generals," and the Romish 
 prelates; and a bull from Urban the eighth, from which 
 I give some extracts. 
 
 " Having taken into our serious consideration, the great 
 zeal of the Irish towards the propagating of the catholic 
 faith, and the piety of the catholic warriors in the several 
 armies of that kingdom, (which was for that singular 
 fervency in the true worship of God, and notable care had 
 formerly in the like case, by the inhabitants thereof, for 
 the maintenance and preservation of the same orthodox 
 faith, called of old " the land of saints ;") and having got 
 certain notice how, in imitation of their godly and worthy 
 ancestors, they endeavour by force of arms to deliver 
 their thralled nation from the oppressions and grievous 
 injuries of the heretics, wherewith this long time it hath 
 been afflicted and heavily burthened ; and gallantly do in 
 them what lieth to extirpate and totally root out those 
 workers of iniquity, who, in the kingdom of Ireland, had 
 infested, and are always striving to infest the mass of 
 catholic purity, with the pestiferous leaven of their 
 heretical contagion : we therefore being willing to cherish 
 them with the gifts of those spiritual graces, whereof by
 
 182 tHE TRUE STATE 
 
 God we are ordained the only disposer on earth ; by the 
 jnercy of the same Almighty God, trusting in the autho- 
 rity of the blessed apostles, Peter and Paul ; and by virtue 
 of that power of binding and loosing of souls, which God 
 was pleased (without our deserving) to confer on us : to 
 
 all and every one of the faithful Christians, &c." 
 
 Here follows " a full and plenary indulgence, and abso- 
 lute remission of all their sins, such as in the holy time 
 of jubile, to all the faithful in Christ now in arms as 
 
 aforesaid." Then follows-" power to priests to liberate 
 
 and absolve them from excommunication, suspension, and 
 all other ecclesiastical sentences and censures, by whom- 
 soever, or for what cause soever pronounced or inflicted 
 upon them ; as also from all sins, trespasses, transgressions, 
 crimes, and delinquencies^ how heinous and atrocious 
 soever they be, not omitting those very enormities designed 
 
 to be reserved to the apostolic see.*' -&c. &c. " Dated 
 
 at Rome, in the Vatican, or St. Peter's palace, the 25th 
 of May, 1643 ; and in the '20th year of our pontificate." 
 
 The confederates wrote to the bishop of Rome, in 
 1644, stating " that their religion was publicly practised 
 according to theRomish ritual ; that most of the bishops 
 were irt possession of the cathedrals, the priests of the 
 parishes; and that many of the convents were restored to 
 the monks." 
 
 On the proclamation of peace in Limerick, the chief 
 magistrate attended the proclamation, but was suddenly 
 attacked by a tumultuous crowd led on by some clerp-y, 
 who wounded the mayor and the heralds, some of them 
 mortally, imprisoned them for ten days, and received the 
 thanks and benediction of the bishop of Rome's nuncio 
 for this outrage. The nuncio, by his own authority, 
 displaced those magistrates who had attempted to support 
 the proclamation, and conferred the government of 
 the city on a man who had been leader and conductor of 
 the tumult. He convened his clergy at Waterford : they 
 pronounced all who adhered to the peace, guilty of vio- 
 lating their oath of association ; they excommunicated 
 the commissioners, and all who had been instrumental in 
 the treaty 5 they pronounced an interdict on all places
 
 QF THE QUESTlQJf* 
 
 where the peace had been admitted ; and they suspended 
 all the clergy who preached iu favour of' it, and all con- 
 fessors who absolved any adherents of the peace. 
 
 Cardinal Pamfilio wrote to the nuncio, " that the holy 
 see never would, by any positive act, approve the civil 
 allegiance which catholic subjects paid to a heretical 
 prince." In another letter, he reminded him, " that it 
 had been the uninterrupted practice of the see of Rome, 
 never to allow her ministers to make, or consent to, public 
 edicts, for the defence of the crown and person of a 
 heretical prince." 
 
 The nuncio and clergy, at ft general assembly at Kil- 
 kenny, demanded the full establishment of popery ; the 
 full possession of all churches and benefices throughout 
 the kingdom ; the repeal of the common law, so far as it 
 gave the crown any ecclesiastical power ; liberty to erect 
 popish universities, to appoint provisions to all church 
 dignities, and to exercise their ecclesiastical jurisdiction 
 to its full extent; and they required a new oath for 
 continuing the association until these points should be 
 effectually obtained. 
 
 Notwithstanding the partial cessation from, and sup- 
 pression of, general massacre and outrage, Ireland still 
 continued to present a scene of the utmost confusion ; 
 from which it was not emancipated for more than ten 
 years after the first breaking out of the rebellion in 
 October, 1641. At length, in 16,5:2, Oliver Cromwell 
 headed the parliamentary army of England ; to which he 
 attached a strong re-inforcement ; and, landing in Ireland, 
 soon completely reduced the whole island, lie next dis- 
 tributed the lands of those who had been killed, or who 
 had been deprived of their possessions by force of arms, 
 to new colonists, among whom were many of his victorious 
 officers. Limits were assigned to the Irish, beyond which 
 they were not to come ; and these continued to be strictly 
 enforced until the restoration of Charles the second. The 
 protestant and English interests were now more completely 
 established than at any former time ; but though the 
 Romanists had lost tiie power to injure, tliey retained their 
 animosity.
 
 184 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 Charles the <2d, on his restoration, confirmed Cromwell's 
 grants by a declaration ; and an act for the settlement of' 
 them was afterwards passed by the Irish parliament. 
 
 In 1661, the oaths of supremacy and allegiance were 
 ordered to be taken by all members of parliament. By 
 this was procured the first entirely protestant parliament 
 that was known to sit in Ireland : a certain proof that 
 this species of security is of much greater value than the 
 veto, or any other security within the powers of discovery 
 of human wisdom, or of human sophistry. 
 
 This same year, the house of commons addressed the 
 lords justices, stating, 
 
 lst..The numerous assemblies of the Irish in several places, 
 under colour of frequenting masses, and other pretended 
 religious duties. 
 
 2d...'Lhe exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction within this 
 kingdom, and under a foreign authority, compelling the 
 appearance of great companies before them. 
 3d.. .The levying of great sums of money by the poll, by 
 the pretended ecclesiastical jurisdiction, upon the in- 
 habitants of this kingdom, contrary to law. 
 4th. ..The enjoining and observing of extraordinary fasts, 
 which was that same course they took at the beginning 
 of the rebellion. 
 
 5th.. .The forming and levying of companies in the res- 
 pective counties of this kingdom. 
 
 6th. ..The contempt of the civil officers of his majesty, and 
 the opposing of them in the execution of their offices, 
 as particularly in Waterford, where the sheriff, endea- 
 vouring to preserve the peace, was by some of them 
 abused, and his staff of office broken. 
 7th. ..The concourse of many armed men into this city, 
 and the endeavours of the Irish to buy serviceable horses, 
 arms, and ammunition. 
 
 8th. ..The return of the transplanted persons from Con- 
 naught, and returning of many of them in the county 
 of \Vicklow, and the fastness thereof, and in other 
 places of this kingdom. 
 
 9th. ..The return of the Irish, into the cities and towns 
 of this kingdom, and in all other places of strength.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 185 
 
 10th...The great meetings and consultations of the 
 Irish in this city, and such as have been active in the 
 beginning of the rebellion, as in St. Thomas-street, and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 The lords justices answered, that each head of these 
 informations had great weight, but particularly, the 
 levying men and money, buying horses, arms, and 
 ammunition, and owning a foreign ecclesiastical juris- 
 diction, by keeping their ecclesiastical courts, and other- 
 wise : and promised co-operation with them ; and that 
 all idle and suspicious persons should be removed from 
 Dublin and its suburbs. 
 
 The latter end of this year, the commons acquainted 
 the lord chancellor " of some Irish papists that of late 
 had gotten themselves into the commissions of the peace 
 within the province of Connaught ;" whom they desired 
 might be superseded, and none such hereafter appointed. 
 The lord chancellor replied, that some of them " had 
 surreptitiously gotten their names into the commissions 
 of the peace for the province of Connaught," whom he 
 had already, on hearing of it, superseded ; and promised 
 to do the like also, on all similar occasions. 
 
 Soon after, this year also, a message was sent from the 
 
 lords to the commons; desiring their concurrence with the 
 
 subjoined " proposals of both houses to the lords justices 
 
 about the Irish, and for preserving the public peace :" which, 
 
 being agreed to by the commons, were sent accordingly. 
 
 1st.. .That their lordships would be pleased to take a strict 
 
 course for the prohibiting any persons to live in any of 
 
 the cities, walled towns, or garrisons of this kingdom, 
 
 who have been in the late rebellion, or lived in the 
 
 Irish quarters, except such who are declared innocent, 
 
 or otherwise excepted in his majesty's declaration ; or 
 
 such as their lordships shall license. 
 
 3nd...That, as priests, Jesuits, and friars, have been the 
 constant incendiaries in the rebellion in this kingdom, 
 therefore they, and those who have been the chief 
 heads of the rebellion, together with other ill-affected 
 persons, be secured, except such as their lordships shall 
 think n't to dispense withal.
 
 186 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 3d.. That all transplanted persons, and not actually restored, 
 who have come back to Connaught or Clare, be required 
 to return thither, and not to come back from thence 
 without license. 
 
 4th.. .That a strict inquiry be made concerning the priest 
 who wrote the letter,* as also concerning the priest to 
 whom it was written; and that the said letter, together 
 with all other papers concerning it, be transmitted to 
 his majesty, as the lords justices shall think fitting. 
 5th. ..That trained bands be established in the respective 
 counties of this kingdom, and that they may consist 
 only of such protestants as are well affected to the 
 present government. 
 
 6th. ..That all serviceable horses, arms, and other habili- 
 ments of war, belonging to the Irish, or any disaffected 
 persons of what judgment soever, be seized and secured, 
 as their lordships shall think fitting. 
 yth...That, in regard Connaught and the county of Clare, 
 where most of the Irish are, or supposed to be, are 
 six large counties, their lordships will think of some 
 way of securing the same by some additional forces. 
 8th. ..That their lordships will be pleased to take care for 
 the speedy purging of the army of papists and other 
 disaffected persons, if any such be there. 
 The lords justices, by proclamation, issued directions, 
 and ordered measures in co-operation with these proposals. 
 From this time, I find nothing sufficiently material to 
 my subject, until the reign of James the second. 
 
 The movements of James's administration in Ireland, 
 immediately on succeeding his brother Charles, were 
 decisive and uncompromising ; and plainly displayed his 
 design of erecting absolute power on the basis of popery. 
 The first step was an order by James to disarm the 
 protestant militia; and to substitute a popish militia. 
 This done, the protestants became immediately a prey 
 to robberies, extensive and systematic, unrestrained and 
 unpunished. The most violent popish bigots were admitted 
 into all offices of trust without taking the oath of supre- 
 macy ; which Lord Clarendon represented in vain to 
 
 * A treasonable letter written by one priest to another.
 
 F THE QUESTION. 187 
 
 James as contrary to law. Sir Alexander Fitton, a man 
 convicted of forgery, was made lord chancellor ; having 
 purified himself in the king's eyes by conforming to 
 popery : Nagle, a popish lawyer, attorney general : 
 Nugent and Rice, Irish papists, were made chief judges : 
 the other judicial situations were filled with papists also : 
 and all these, together with some popish lawyers, were 
 admitted into the privy council. Papists were admitted 
 to the freedom of corporations ; and the offices of mayors, 
 sheriffs, and justices of the peace, were all filled by them. 
 And, at last, the sword of state was given to the violent 
 and cruel popish bigot, Tyrconnel ! Quo warranto's, 
 as in England, were issued against such corporations as 
 would not voluntarily surrender; and they were dissolved 
 by the unconstitutional decisions of the popish judges'; 
 and others erected fitter for the king's purposes. The 
 insolence and barbarities of the popish officers were 
 intolerable. And, to complete the scene of profligacy, 
 a number of informers, by the most horrid perjuries, 
 endeavoured to destroy their protestant neighbours by 
 form of law; to wit, by swearing informations of treason 
 against all not friendly to their cause ; who presumed to 
 look for rent due; or who did not tamely bend to the 
 most supercilious pride and the most outrageous violence. 
 To give some colour to these enormities, the old trick 
 which had been successfully resorted to, to forward the 
 rebellion in 1641, and which has been, on recent occa- 
 sions in our own times, again resorted to, namely, giving out 
 that a conspiracy was formed by the protestants to cut 
 off Romanists, w;j,s at this time practised. 
 
 The brutality of sheriffs, the perversion of courts of 
 justice, the military barbarities, the unrestrained robberies, 
 wanton murders, and contempt of law, excited loud and 
 general complaints. Outlawries were daily reversed ; the 
 sons of rebels and murderers advanced; with menial 
 servants, who insulted their former masters. Indigent 
 men, newly raised to station, forced goods on credit from 
 tradesmen, who trembled at their brutal arrogance. A 
 total decay of trade hence ensued. The credit and 
 resources of merchants and traders were destroyed, and
 
 186 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 numbers reduced to beggary, or driven to other countries 
 for subsistence. Tyrconnel caused the protestants who 
 were dismissed from the army, to be stripped of their regi- 
 mentals, and turned out into the streets to perish, where the 
 barbarous popish banditti were let loose to destroy them. 
 
 A letter addressed by an unknown person to Lord 
 Mount Alexander, in the county of Down, warned him 
 of a general massacre intended by the Irish. It circum- 
 stantially pointed out the precise time when the bloody 
 design was to be executed, without distinction of sex, 
 age, or condition. The same intelligence was conveyed 
 to some other gentlemen in the northern province. These 
 informations were confirmed, by popish priests having 
 announced to their congregations what they called 
 " a secret intention," and enjoined them to stand ready 
 armed to obey their orders. This excited general alarm. 
 In the northern counties, where the protestants were 
 most numerous, they collected the arms still left among 
 them, resolved to defend themselves, and resist the 
 intolerable tyranny which threatened their destruction. 
 Derry Afforded principal shelter to the fugitive protestants. 
 
 The share which was dealt out to Trinity College, 
 Dublin, of the general despotism, claims a place here. 
 The king's mandate was issued for the admission of one 
 Green, a Romanist, to a professorship of the Irish lan- 
 guage. No such establishment had ever been made. 
 Green was therefore disappointed. The king next 
 directed, that one Doyle should be admitted to afellowship, 
 without taking any oaths, but the oath of a fellow. He 
 was illiterate and profligate, but had conformed to popery. 
 But here, the ignorance of his patrons defeated their 
 purpose. The oath of a fellow included in it the oath of 
 supremacy, and this Doyle refused to take. The popish 
 judges directed him to procure a second letter from the 
 king ; but his character was proved to be so infamous, 
 that his friends were ashamed to make any farther effort 
 in his favour. Tyrconnel, exasperated, stopped the pen- 
 sion annually paid to the university from the exchequer ! 
 
 After James's arrival in Ireland, a mandamus was 
 presented to the governors of the university, in favour of
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 189 
 
 the before-mentioned Green, whom he commanded them 
 to appoint senior fellow. The governors were firm, and 
 pleaded their own cause before Nagle, the attorney- 
 general. They urged the incapacity of Green, and the 
 false allegations of his petition. " But," said they, 
 " there are many important reasons, drawn as well from 
 the statutes relating to religion, as from the obligation of 
 oaths we have taken, and the interest of our religion, 
 (which we will never desert,) that render it wholly impos- 
 sible for us, without violating our consciences, to have 
 any concurrence, -or to be any way concerned in the 
 admission of him.'* In a few days, fellows and scholars 
 were forcibly ejected by the king's popish soldiers j the 
 communion plate, library, furniture of the community, 
 and individual property of the members, were all seized ; 
 their chapel was converted into a magazine, and their 
 chambers into prisons. The members of the society 
 obtained their personal liberty only by the intercession of 
 the bishop of Meath ; and this, on the express condition, 
 that three of them should not meet together, on pain of 
 death. Father Petre, James's confessor, is said to have 
 possessed James with the design of conferring this college 
 on the Jesuits. In the mean time, one Moore, a popish 
 ecclesiastic, was nominated provost ; a man of liberal 
 sentiments, and a lover of letters ; who, with the assist- 
 ance of M'Carthy, another of his own order, preserved 
 the library, books, and manuscripts, from the ravages of 
 a barbarous enemy. r 
 
 In 1689, Rosen, a French general, who was sent to 
 command the siege of Deny, where a considerable 
 number of the protestants had fortified themselves, thun- 
 dered out dreadful menaces against them. This, by 
 convincing them that no mercy was to be expected, 
 confirmed their resolution. He declared, that "if the 
 town were not surrendered by the 1st of July, all of 
 thi'ir faction through the whole country, to Ballishannon, 
 Charlemont, Belfast, Innisowen, protected and unpro- 
 tected alike, should be given up to plunder, and driven 
 under their walls, there to perish, unless relieved by a 
 surrender of the town." The appointed day arrived, but
 
 190 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 the garrison continued their defence. The next morning-, 
 a confused multitude were seen hurrying towards the 
 walls. At a distance, they were mistaken for enemies ; 
 the garrison fired on them, but happily without any 
 damage to the thousands of miserable protestants of all 
 ages and conditions, old, young, women, infants, goaded 
 on by soldiers, whose ears were tortured with their 
 shrieks, and who executed their hideous orders with 
 tears. The afflicting spectacle transported the garrison 
 to fury. Numbers of the wretched sufferers, thus driven 
 to perish beneath their walls, conjured them, with bended 
 knees, and lifted hands, by no means to consider their 
 distress, but to defend their lives bravely against an 
 enemy, who sought to involve them all in one common 
 slaughter. A gallows was now erected in view, of the 
 besiegers ; they were assured, that all the prisoners taken 
 by the garrison should be instantly executed, unless their 
 friends were allowed to depart. Confessors were even 
 admitted to prepare them for death, but Rosen was still 
 unmoved. Happily the intelligence flew to Dublin. The 
 protestant bishop of Meath remonstrated with James, 
 who had in March, this year, arrived in Ireland from 
 France, with some French officers. James answered, 
 that he had already ordered these captives to be released, 
 observing, that such severities were usual in foreign 
 service, however shocking to his subjects. Those who 
 survived a confinement of almost three days, without 
 sustenance or shelter, were permitted to return to their 
 habitations, where the ravages of the soldiery had left 
 them no means of comfort. Some of their ablest men 
 were stolen into the town ; and five hundred useless 
 people crowded among them, and passed undiscovered, 
 notwithstanding the vigilance of the enemy. 
 
 The same year, a bill was passed for repealing the act 
 of settlement, with a preamble which exculpated the 
 Irish from rebelling in 1641 ; and a clause, whereby the 
 real estates of all those who dwelt in any of the three 
 kingdoms, and did not acknowledge King James's power, 
 or who aided or corresponded with those who rebelled 
 against him, since the Ut of August., 1GSS, were declared
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 191 
 
 to 1)0 forfeited, and vested in the king. Thus, by a 
 strain of severity at once ridiculous and detestable, almost 
 everv protestant of Ireland who could write, was to be 
 deprived of his estate. 
 
 An act was also passed, by which a number of persons 
 in the service of the prince of Orange ; those who had 
 retired from the kingdom, and did not return in obedi- 
 ence to the king's proclamation ; numbers who were 
 resident in Britain, and therefore presumed to be adhe- 
 rents of the new government ; were all attainted of high 
 treason, and adjudged to suffer the pains of death and 
 forfeiture, unless they surrendered within certain periods 
 assigned. It was provided, that the estates of those who 
 were detained abroad by sickness, or non-age, should be 
 seized by the king ; and, in defiance of justice and huma- 
 nity, they were to prove their own innocence, before 
 they could be restored. Two thousand six hundred and 
 forty-one persons, of all orders and conditions, peers, 
 peeresses, prelates, baronets, knights, clergy, gentry, and 
 yeomanry, were included in this dreadful sentence. Their 
 names were hastily collected by their respective neigh- 
 bours, and received with so much ease and precipitation, 
 that Nagle, on presenting the bill to James, declared, 
 " that many were attainted on such evidence as satisfied 
 the house, and the rest on common fame;" It was so 
 framed, as to preclude the king from the power of pardon- 
 ing, after the 1st of November, KiSiJ. In the mean time, 
 a statute which affected the lives and properties of so 
 many thousands, was cautiously concealed from them, 
 and lay unknown in the custody of the chancellor. At 
 length, \vhen four months had elapsed, from the day 
 limited for pardoning, Sir Thomas Southwell obtained a 
 view of this fatal act, for the instruction of his lawyer, 
 who was to draw a warrant for iiis pardon, which James 
 had promised. Nagle was surprised and enraged at the 
 discovery. After some evasions, he insisted, that the 
 king was merely a trustee for the forfeitures, and had 
 now no power of pardoninn Southwell. Nothing remained 
 for James, but to reproach his attorney-general for having 
 framed an act intrenching on his prerogative.
 
 192 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 James, wanting resources, chose one, in defiance of law,- 
 reason, and humanity, which has rendered his name hor- 
 rible to Irish protestants. By seizing the tools and engines 
 of one Moore, who, by virtue of a patent from the late king, 
 enjoyed the right of a copper coinage in Ireland, he esta- 
 blished a mint in Dublin and Limerick. Brass and copper 
 of the basest kind, old cannon, broken bells, and household 
 utensils, were assiduously collected ; and from every 
 pound weight of such vile materials, valued at four pence, 
 pieces were coined and circulated to the amount of five 
 pounds in nominal value. By the first proclamation, they 
 were made current in all payments to and from the king 
 and the subjects of the realm, except in the duties on 
 importation of foreign goods, money left in trust, or due 
 by mortgages, bills, or bonds ; and James promised that 
 when this money should be decried, he would receive it in 
 all payments, or make full satisfaction in gold and silver. 
 His soldiers were paid in this coin, and it was poured on 
 the protestant traders. The nominal value was raised by 
 subsequent proclamations ; the original restrictions were 
 removed, and this base money was ordered to be received 
 in all kinds of payments. As brass and copper grew scarce, 
 it was made of tin and pewter, and obtruded on protestants 
 with many circumstances of cruelty and insolence. Old 
 debts of one thousand pounds were discharged by pieces 
 of base metal, amounting to thirty shillings in intrinsic 
 value. Attempts were made to purchase gold and silver 
 at immoderate rates, with this money, but this was quickly 
 forbidden, on pain of death ; and when the protestants 
 attempted to disburthen themselves of this coin, by 
 purchasing the staple commodities of the kingdom, 
 James, by proclamation, set a rate on these commodities, 
 demanded them at this rate, returned his- brass on the 
 proprietor, and, with all the meanness of a trader, 
 exported them to France. It appeared, indeed, in the 
 .end, that James was the only gainer by this iniquitous 
 project ; and that, in the final course of circulation, his 
 own party became possessed of the greatest part of this 
 adulterate coin, just when William had power to suppress 
 'f by proclamation. Yet certain it is, that during that
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 melancholy interval, in which the popish party was pre- 
 dominant, protestants felt all the distresses arising from a 
 state of war and disorder, aggravated by the wantoa 
 insolence of their adversaries. If they attempted to 
 purchase corn or other provisions with the brass coin, 
 they were instantly seized for the king's use, and the 
 proprietors imprisoned, as men who intended to supply 
 the enemy. " We were at a loss," saith Archbishop 
 King, "to know what the meaning of taking away corn 
 from protestant farmers, housekeepers, and bakers, should 
 be, when there was no scarcity in the kingdom. But 
 Sir Robert Parker, and some others, blabbed it out in 
 the coffee-house, that they designed to starve half the 
 protestants, and hang the other, and it would never be 
 w 7 ell until this were done. We were sensible that they 
 were in earnest by the event ; for no protestant could get 
 a bit of bread, and hardly a drop of drink in the whole 
 city of Dublin. Twenty or thirty soldiers stood con- 
 stantly about every bakehouse, and would not suffer a 
 protestant to come nigh them." 
 
 In the mean time, the popish clergy, with the assist- 
 ance of the popish magistrates, seized churches for their 
 own use, not only in the counties, but in the capital. The 
 protestants remonstrated to James. He acknowledged 
 his promise of protecting them, and published a procla- 
 mation against these outrages. But the clergy and their 
 votaries disdained obedience to any orders repugnant to 
 the interests of the faith. A contest arose between James 
 and tho priests, and he had the mortification of finding 
 himself defeated. The churches were retained; and 
 whatever impotent resentment he expressed at this inso- 
 lence, yet he still resigned himself servilely to his clergy, 
 and employed all his attention to make Ireland what he 
 called " a catholic kingdom." An order was issued in the 
 name of his governor of Dublin, that no more than five 
 protestants should meet together, even in churches, on 
 pain of death. He filled the diocese of Meath with popish 
 incumbents, erected a Benedictine nunnery in Dublin, 
 and converted a school, erected in Kilkenny by the duke 
 of Ormoiid, into a popish seminary, by a new charter. 
 
 N
 
 19-V- THE TRUE STATE 
 
 . Not only in the north, generally, beside those who 
 had fortified Derry, but every where else in the kingdom, 
 tj)e protestants now rose in parties, declaring their reso- 
 lution to unite in self defence, to preserve the protestant 
 religion, to continue their dependance on England, and 
 to promote the meeting of a free parliament. Ten thou- 
 sand men arrived to their assistance the 12th of August, 
 1689. From this time, the war proceeded with various 
 success, until William's arrival in Ireland, the 14th of 
 June, 1690, with a larger army. The whole army then 
 amounted to thirty-six thousand men. The battle of 
 the Boyne was fought the 1st of July. William was 
 victorious : after which, James deserted his troops, took 
 ship at Waterford, and fled to France. St. Ruth, one of 
 the French officers, was appointed by James to the com- 
 mand. William, whose affairs called him back to England, 
 appointed General Ginckle commander. The battle of 
 Aughrim was fought the 12th of July, 1691, in which 
 St. Ruth was killed, and a decisive victory obtained. 
 Such of the Irish as escaped in this battle, retreated to 
 Limerick, where they made their final stand. Previous 
 to the battle of Aughrim, St. Ruth, in his address to the 
 Irish officers, reminded them, " that their future fortune 
 depended on the issue of one encounter ; that they were 
 now to fight for their honours, their liberties, and their 
 estates ; that they were now to establish their religion on 
 such a firm basis, as the powers of hell and heresy should 
 never shake ; that the dearest interests and most honour- 
 able engagements of this life, and the ravishing prospects 
 of eternal happiness, called for a vigorous exertion of 
 valour." The priests ran through the ranks, labouring 
 ,to inspire the soldiers with the same sentiments. 
 
 After these two successive victories, the various 
 towns and forts began to yield. Wextbrd had already 
 declared for King William, and now received his garrison. 
 Clonmel was abandoned by the Irish. Waterford was 
 summoned ; the garrison, after some hesitation, demanded 
 the enjoyment of their estates, the freedom of their 
 religion, and liberty to march out with arms and baggage. 
 This last article only was omitted. They accepted the
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 195 
 
 terms, and surrendered. Duncannon surrendered on the 
 same conditions. On the surrender of Cork, the garrison 
 consented to become prisoners of war, with the officers, 
 of whom several were of considerable note. The pro- 
 testant prisoners were set at liberty ; the protestant 
 magistrates resumed their offices, and proclaimed the 
 king and queen. All papists were ordered, on pain of 
 death, to surrender their arms ; a precaution absolutely 
 necessary, as there were more than five thousand prisoners 
 in the town. Kinsale was allowed conditions more 
 favourable than those granted to Cork : the garrison 
 marched out with arms and baggage, and were conducted 
 to Limerick. The fort of Ballymore was reduced : the 
 garrison cried for mercy, and were admitted prisoners of 
 war. Athlone was reduced : the governor of the castle, 
 and 500 men, were made prisoners of war. In the treaty 
 of capitulation with Galway, Ginckle resolved to grant 
 such conditions, as might convince the whole Irish party 
 of the infatuation of their perseverance in a desperate 
 cause, and dispose them to an immediate submission. 
 The garrison were allowed to march out with all the 
 honours of war, and to be conveyed to Limerick ; with 
 liberty to those who desired it, to continue in the town, 
 or to repair to their respective habitations. A free pardon 
 was granted to the governor, magistrates, freemen, and 
 inhabitants, with full possession of their estates and 
 liberties, under the acts of settlement and explanation. 
 The Romish clergy and laity were allowed the private 
 exercise of their religion ; their lawyers to practise ; and 
 their estated gentlemen to bear arms. These terms had 
 their eftect : several parties daily revolted from the Irish. 
 At length, the time arrived for a surrender of the last 
 hold, Limerick. The Irish leaders, after a six weeks 
 siege, offered their terms of capitulation ; by which, 
 they wanted to have included the whole body of their 
 party. They required an act of indemnity for all past 
 offences, with a full enjoyment of the estates they pos- 
 sessed before the present revolution ; freedom for the 
 Romish worship, with an establishment of one Romish 
 ecclesiastic in each parish. They demanded, that
 
 196 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 Romanists should be declared fully qualified for every 
 office, civil and military ; that they should be admitted 
 into all corporations ; and that the Irish army should be 
 kept up, and paid in the same manner with the king's 
 other troops, provided they be willing to serve. Ginckle 
 replied, that stranger as he was to the laws of England, 
 yet he understood that such demands were equally incon- 
 sistent with these laws, and with his own honour. In 
 return for some English prisoners, he ordered those of 
 the Irish to be restored, but not in the same condition ; 
 for they had been treated with humanity, and their sick 
 and wounded carefully attended. He now gave orders 
 for new batteries, resolved to continue the siege. 
 
 He was desired to propose such terms as he could 
 grant. He consented that all Romanists should enjoy 
 the exercise of their religion, as in the reign of Charles 
 the second ; and promised, that their majesties would 
 endeavour to procure them farther security in this parti- 
 cular, when a parliament could be convened. He engaged, 
 that all included in the capitulation, should enjoy their 
 estates, and pursue their callings and professions freely, 
 as in the reign of Charles the second ; that their gentry 
 should be allowed the use of arms ; and that no oath 
 should be required of any, except the oath of allegiance. 
 Should it be disagreeable to any of their party to reside 
 in Ireland on these conditions, or should their army 
 chuse to engage in any foreign service, he consented 
 that all those of every quality, who wished to retire with 
 their families and effects, should have free liberty, and 
 be conveyed to the Continent at the expense of govern- 
 ment. Oblivion as to all actions for trespasses, was also 
 granted. Such liberal terms were mortifying to those 
 Irish who luul already submitted on less favourable terms. 
 
 Fourteen thousand of those who had fought for James, 
 went to France, having transports provided by govern- 
 ment for conveying them. 
 
 Thus, in 16 ( J1, was the last scene concluded of that 
 glorious revolution, which will be ever memorable to all 
 true lovers of legal and constitutional liberty ; and which 
 had assumed a more exalted character in England, where
 
 OP TH E QUESTION. 1 97 
 
 it was effected, more than two years before this period, 
 without bloodshed. 
 
 In 1G92, was passed "an act of recognition of William 
 and Mary's undoubted title to the crown :" And the 
 parliament settled, that Romanists should not have 
 admission into the army; or, during the war with France, 
 have possession of boats. 
 
 In 169.5, it was found necessary, in consequence of 
 the multiplicity of depredations and aggressions on 
 protestants, plainly displaying a system of plunder and 
 violence, to pass two acts of parliament, viz. : " An 
 act for the better suppressing of tories, robbers, and 
 rapparees, and their receivers and harbourers, and for 
 preventing robberies, burglaries, and other heinous 
 crimes ;" and " an act for the better securing the 
 government, by disarming papists." All grants of for- 
 feited estates were made subject to the condition, that 
 they should be planted with protestants; and all those 
 concerned in the rebellion were attainted, except those 
 who were included in any articles or agreement, or had 
 been pardoned. ' An act to restrain foreign education,*' 
 was also passed. By a clause in this act, no papist was 
 allowed to teach school publicly, or in private houses, 
 except children of the family. Penalty 201. and three 
 months imprisonment. 
 
 In 169C), an association was entered into, in conse- 
 quence of the conspiracy which I have related in the 
 English abstract, as follows : " Whereas there has been 
 a horrible and detestable conspiracy for assassinating his 
 majesty's most sacred person, and invading his kingdoms 
 with French forces, contrived and carried on by the late 
 King James and his adherents, to subvert our religion, 
 i;i\v.s, and liberties ; we, the knights, citizens, and bur- 
 gesses, in parliament assembled, whose names are hereunto 
 subscribed, do heartily, sincerely, and solemnly profess, 
 testify, and declare, that his majesty King William was, 
 and is, rightful and lawful king of England, Ireland, 
 Scotland, and France, and the dominions and territories 
 thereunto belonging ; and we do mutually promise and 
 engage to stand by and assist each other, to the utmost
 
 198 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 of our power, in the support and defence of his majesty's 
 most sacred person, title, and government, against the 
 late King James, the pretended prince of Wales, and all 
 their adherents, and against all other persons whatsoever ; 
 and in case his majesty come by an untimely death, 
 which God forbid, we do hereby farther freely and 
 unanimously oblige ourselves to unite, associate, and 
 stand by each other, in revenging the same upon his 
 enemies and their adherents, and in supporting and 
 defending the succession to the crown, according to an 
 act made in England, in the first year of the reign of 
 King William and Queen Mary, entitled, an act declar- 
 ing the rights and liberties of the subject, and settling 
 the succession of the crown." It was ordered, that each 
 member of parliament should sign this, or declare his 
 refusal ; and some members were expelled for refusal. 
 It was ordered to be signed also by all persons filling offices. 
 In l697> the three following acts were passed : " An act 
 to prevent protestants from intermarrying with papists :" 
 " An act for banishing all papists exercising any ecclesi- 
 astical jurisdiction, and all regulars of the popish clergy 
 out of the kingdom :" and " an act forthe confirmation of 
 articles made at the surrender of the city of Limerick." 
 On the 25th of November, this year, a paper was 
 delivered into the house of commons, by Sir Henry 
 Bingham, a member, written by Colonel John Browne, 
 and found among the papers of one Tyrrell, a titular 
 popish bishop, and secretary to the late King James, 
 containing a scheme and proposal for the utter extir- 
 pation of the protestants, and protestant religion, in this 
 kingdom, and other mutters of dangerous consequence. 
 In consequence of this information, the commons, on 
 the 29th of November, came to the following resolutions, 
 ncmine contradicente : 
 
 1st. ..That ever since the reformation, but more parti- 
 cularly during the reign of the late King James, the 
 papists in this kingdom, by their frequent conspi- 
 racies, inhuman massacres, and open rebellions, have 
 endeavoured to extirpate, and entirely subvert the 
 protestant religion and interest in this kingdom.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 199 
 
 2d...That the papists of this kingdom da still retain the 
 same inclinations and resolution of extirpating the 
 protestant religion and interest in the kingdom, and of 
 severing the same from the imperial crown of England. 
 
 3d. ..That other laws, than what we now have, are abso- 
 lutely necessary for the preservation of his majesty's 
 royal person, and the better securing of this kingdom to 
 England, and the protestant religion and interest here. 
 
 4th. ..That the safety of this kingdom doth, next under 
 God, depend on his majesty's life, and that therefore 
 a law for a general association of protestants in this 
 kingdom, for preservation of his royal person and 
 government, is necessary. 
 
 5th. ..That the continuance of all commissions, civil and 
 military, after the demise of his present majesty, for 
 six months, unless superseded by the next successor, 
 according to the limitation of an act passed in England, 
 entitled, an act declaring the rights and liberties of 
 the subject, and settling the succession of the crown, 
 is fit to be made a law in this kingdom. 
 
 (5th. ..That the excluding of papists from having votes for 
 electing any members to serve in parliament in this 
 kingdom, is necessary to be made into a law. 
 
 7th. ..That it is absolutely necessary, that some farther 
 security than the oath of fidelity, be required from his 
 majesty's subjects of this kingdom ; and particularly a 
 declaration, that neither the late King James, or the 
 pretended prince of Wales, nor any of them, have, 
 or ought to have, any right or title to the imperial 
 crown of England. 
 
 8th. ..That such declaration be an oath, and subscribed 
 by the parties so swearing. 
 
 9th. ..That some farther oalh than what is required by 
 law, renouncing the papal authority in this kingdom, 
 is necessary for the securing of the peace and q.uiet 
 thereof. 
 
 10th. ..That it is necessary to be made a law,, that the 
 preaching, writing, or otherwise asserting, that King 
 William is not rightful or lawful king of the.se realms, 
 be high treason.
 
 200 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 On the 1st of December, this same year, the house or 
 commons proceeded to take into consideration the report 
 from a committee appointed to consider, what penal 
 laws are in force in this kingdom against papists, which 
 was agreed to by the house, and is as follows : " An act 
 against the authority of the bishop of Rome. It enacts, 
 that no person, by any act, deed, or word, shall maintain 
 or defend, or attribute any manner of jurisdiction, autho- 
 rity, or pre-eminence to the see of Rome, within this 
 kingdom ; the person so offending, his aiders, assisters, 
 abettors, concealers, procurers, comforters, fautors, and 
 counsellors, being thereof convict, according to the laws 
 of this land, shall incur the pains, penalties, and forfei- 
 tures of the statute of premunire, made sixteenth of 
 Richard the second. All that have any office, fee, or 
 room of the king's gift, or are retained in the king's 
 service, every person at the entering into orders, or 
 taking any degree in the university, at the time of 
 his preferment or promotion, shall take the oath of 
 supremacy ; and if he obstinately refuse to do so, then 
 such contempt and offence shall be high treason." 
 
 " An act, restoring to the crown the ancient juris- 
 diction over the state, ecclesiastical and spiritual, and 
 abolishing all foreign power repugnant to the same, 
 enacts, that every archbishop, bishop, and every other 
 ecclesiastical person, officer, or minister, of whatsoever 
 degree or mystery, and every temporal judge, justice, 
 mayor, and other lay and temporal officer and minister, 
 and every other person having the king's fee or wages 
 within this kingdom, shall take the oath of supremacy, 
 upon pain of forfeiting the office, and being disabled 
 from holding or exercising any office, or other promotion. 
 If any, by writing, printing, preaching, express words, 
 deed, or act, affirm, maintain, or defend the authority, 
 pre-eminence, power, or jurisdiction, spiritual or eccle- 
 siastical, of any ibreign prince, prelate, state, or potentate 
 whatsoever, heretofore claimed, used, or assumed within 
 this realm, the person so offending, by aiders, assisters, 
 abettors, and counsellors, shall, for his first offence, 
 forfeit all his goods and chattel?, real and personal ; and
 
 OF THE QUESTION; 201 
 
 if the said goods, &c. be not worth 201. then, besides, 
 one whole year's imprisonment ; the second offence, 
 premunire ; the third, high treason. The offences to 
 be prosecuted within half a year." 
 
 " An act for the uniformity of common prayer and 
 service in the church, and the administration of the 
 sacraments, enacts, that if any person whatsoever shall 
 say any thing in depravation or derogation of the book 
 of common prayer, or any thing therein contained, 
 or shall procure, or cause to say or sing any common or 
 open prayer, or to minister any sacrament, otherwise, or 
 in any other manner or form, than is mentioned in the 
 said book of common prayer, shall forfeit, for the first 
 offence, one hundred marks ; for the second offence, 
 four hundred marks ; for the third offence, all his goods 
 and chattels, and imprisonment during life ; and if, on 
 conviction for the first offence, the party do not pay the 
 fine within six weeks, then he shall, instead thereof^ 
 suffer twelve months imprisonment." Here follows a 
 provision for compelling attendance at church on Sundays, 
 
 " An act for taking away the court of wards and liveries, 
 and tenures in capite, and knights' service, enacts, that 
 the chancellor, two chief justices, chief baron, master 
 of the rolls, and chancellor of the exchequer, or any 
 three or more of them, may commit the wardship of the 
 heir, under age, of any one not dying in the communion 
 of the church of England, on an inquisition found thereof, 
 and returned into chancery, where such heir should have 
 been in ward, to the next of kin of the communion of the 
 church of England, who shall enter into recognizance to 
 bring up such heir in the protestant religion ; and shall 
 thereupon take upon them the management of all the 
 estate, real and personal, belonging to the said heir, and 
 may have an action of trespass or ravishment of ward 
 against any person that shall wrongfully take away the 
 said heir, and recover damages to the use of such heir/' 
 
 " An act for the uniformity of public prayers and 
 administration of sacraments, &c., enacts, that no school- 
 master, or other person instructing or teaching youth in 
 any private house or family, as a tutor or schoolmaster,
 
 202 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 shall teach or infract, &c., without license obtained from 
 the ordinary of the diocese, and without taking the oaths 
 of allegiance and supremacy, and subscribing a declaration 
 that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever, to take 
 up arms against the king, and that he will conform to the 
 liturgy of the church of England, as it is now by law 
 established, upon pain of forfeiting, for the first offence, 
 three months imprisonment ; for the second, and every 
 other such offence, three months imprisonment, and the 
 sum of five pounds to his majesty." 
 
 " By the new rules made by the lord-lieutenant and 
 council, in pursuance and by-virtue of the acts of settle- 
 ment and explanation, it is provided, that no person shall 
 be capable of acting as either mayor, bailiff, sovereign, 
 portrieve, burgo-master, recorder, sheriff, treasurer, al- 
 derman, town-clerk, burgess, or one of the common 
 council, or any magistrate, or such the like officer, within 
 any city, walled town, or corporation within this kingdom, 
 or master or wardens of any corporation, guild, or fra- 
 ternity within this kingdom, until he shall have taken 
 the oaths of supremacy and allegiance, unless dispensed* 
 with by the chief governor of this kingdom." 
 
 " An act for abrogating the oath of supremacy in 
 Ireland, and appointing other oaths." 
 
 " And the several acts made in this kingdom this 
 present session of parliament." 
 
 In 1698, an act was passed " to prevent papists from 
 being solicitors." 
 
 In the reign of Queen Anne, 1703, an act was passed 
 to prevent the farther growth of popery ; of which I shall 
 give some of the principal heads. 
 
 The preamble states, that divers emissaries of the 
 church of Rome, popish priests, &c., taking advantage 
 of the weakness and ignorance, sickness or decay of their 
 reason, of some of her majesty's subjects, in the absence 
 of friends and spiritual guides, do pervert them from the 
 protestant religion; and in farther manifestation of their 
 
 This power of dispensation to the chief governor, was, by a subsequent act of 
 parliament, taken
 
 OF THE QUESTION*. 203 
 
 hatred and aversion to the true religion, many Romanists 
 have refused to make provision for their own children, 
 being protestants ; and have contrived to elude the act 
 preventing protestants intermarrying with papists. It 
 farther states, the power of raising divisions among 
 protestants, by papists Voting in elections for members 
 of parliament. 
 
 It enacts, that if any person shall pervert another, 
 professing, or that shall profess, the protestant religion, 
 and reconcile such person to popery, the seducer, and 
 the seduced, shall both, for the first offence, incur the 
 penalty of premunire. 
 
 If any papists shall send, cause, or willingly suffer to 
 be sent, any child under twenty-one years old, into any 
 foreign parts, they shall incur the penalties of an act, 
 seventh of William, to restrain foreign education. 
 
 If any popish parent shall refuse to allow his protestant 
 children a suitable maintenance, it may be compelled by 
 the court of chancery. 
 
 Protestants intermarrying with papists, either in or 
 out of the kingdom, made liable to the penalties of an 
 act, ninth of William, to prevent such marriages. 
 
 Papists disabled from purchasing manors, lands, tene- 
 ments, or hereditaments, in their own names, or by any 
 other persons for them, or any rents or profits out of the 
 same, or any leases or terms thereof, for any term ex- 
 ceeding thirty-one years. 
 
 Estates of papists to go among their children, as in 
 gavel kind ; except where the next heirs be protestants. 
 
 Limerick and Galway being considerable garrison 
 towns, papists, except those already residing, by virtue 
 of articles, shall not take houses or tenements after the 
 24th of March, 1703. 
 
 Papists not to vote at elections for members of parlia- 
 ment, except they previously take the oaths of allegiance 
 and abjuration, at the quarter sessions, and produce a 
 certificate thereof. 
 
 The power taken from chief governors and the privy 
 council, of granting licenses to papists to keep arms, be- 
 side tho.se who have the benefit of the articles of Limerick.
 
 Where protestants shall hold any right of patronage or 
 presentation to any ecclesiastical benefices, in trust for 
 papists, every such shall be vested in the crown. 
 
 Riotous and unlawful meetings of many thousands of 
 papists having taken place, on pretence of the sanctity 
 of wells, &c., such meetings are declared riots and un- 
 lawful assemblies, "and punishable as such. 
 
 Magistrates required to demolish crosses, pictures, and 
 inscriptions that occasion popish superstition. 
 
 An act was also passed in 1703, making it high treason 
 in this kingdom to impeach the succession of the crown, 
 as limited by several acts of parliament. 
 
 In 1707, the commons made application to have justices 
 of peace dismissed who turned papists in James's time ; 
 and they resolved at the same time, nemine contradicente, 
 *' that all popish priests within this kingdom, are obliged 
 to take the oath of abjuration, by the laws in force in 
 this kingdom ; and all such priests refusing or neglecting 
 to take the same, ought to be prosecuted for such refusal 
 or neglect:" and " that it is the indispensable duty of all 
 judges and magistrates to put the said laws in execution 
 against popish priests." 
 
 In 1707 an act was passed, " to explain and amend 
 an act to prevent papists being solicitors :" a clause in 
 which disabled them from serving on grand juries, unless 
 sufficient protestants could not be had : and on petty juries, 
 in trials on any statute for security of the protestant interest, 
 the plaintiff may challenge a papist, which shall be allowed. 
 
 In 1709, an address was presented by the commons to 
 the viceroy, in which are the following expressions : 
 " We have found by dear bought and fatal experience, 
 that the protestant religion and British interest in this 
 kingdom, are no longer safe than while it is not in the 
 power of papists to distress or destroy them ; and \\ith 
 abhorrence call to mind the satisfaction, which too visibly 
 appeared in the faces, and by the insolent behaviour of 
 the generality of them, when the late attempt was made 
 by the Pretender on the north part of Great Britain. To 
 preserve ourselves against danger from those enemies of 
 our peace, we shall consider of such farther laws as shall
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 be necessary for our own security ; and not be amused 
 by those, who, for other ends than the support of her 
 majesty's government, and the succession of the crown 
 in the protestant line, endeavour to represent them as 
 neither inclined nor able to do us harm." This address 
 contains encomiums on the loyalty and courage of the 
 protestant dissenters, and declares it conducive to the 
 common safety, to give them, who abjure the Pretender, 
 and act faithfully to the government, every indulgence 
 and encouragement in their religious worship. 
 
 The same year, an act was passed, to explain and 
 amend the act to prevent the farther growth of popery. 
 Two or more justices of peace were authorized, by war- 
 rant under their hands and seals, directed to any constable, 
 &c., to summon any man sixteen years old, or upwards, 
 to appear before them, and take ^nd subscribe the oath 
 of abjuration ; who, not appearing, or refusing to take 
 and subscribe the oath, shall be committed to the common 
 gaol for three months, or until he shall take the oath, 
 unless he pay forty shillings to the poor ; and be for ever 
 incapable of keeping arms. Three months after such 
 default or refusal, the offender may be again summoned j 
 and, on default, committed for six months, unless he 
 pay ten pounds : and to be bound, with two sufficient 
 sureties, to appear at the next assizes, or quarter sessions 
 in Dublin, at which the oath shall be tendered by the 
 judges; and if he shall refuse to take and subscribe it, 
 lie shall incur the penalties of premunire. 
 
 From the viceroy's speech, at the close of this session, 
 I extract the following sentences. " I make no doubt 
 but that you understand too well the true interest of the 
 protestant religion in this kingdom, not to endeavour to 
 make all such protestants as easy as you can, who are 
 willing to contribute to defend the whole against the 
 common enemy. It is hot the law now passed, nor any 
 law that the wit of man can frnme, will secure you against 
 popery, while you continue divided among yourselves ; it 
 being demonstrable that unless there be a firm friendship 
 and confidence among the protestauts of this kingdom, it 
 is impossible for you either to be happy or to be safe."
 
 206 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 Having briefly compressed all that I conceive material 
 to my subject, of the former part of Queen Anne's reign, 
 I shall now give a very close abridgment of a few of the 
 most material of those movements which develope the 
 character of " the last four years." 
 
 Edward Lloyd, printer of a treasonable publication in 
 favour of the Pretender, entitled, " The memoirs of the 
 Chevalier de St. George," was indicted for the same, 
 and the bill of indictment found, in November 1712. 
 Michael Harbourn, sheriff of Dublin, received a letter 
 from James Tisdall, clerk of the crown of the queen's 
 bench, to stop process against Lloyd, in May 1713. For 
 this, Tisdall had the following warrant from Lord Chief 
 Justice Cox : 
 
 " SIR, 
 
 The prosecution of Edward Lloyd being under the 
 consideration of the lords justices and council, you are to 
 forbear to issue process against him until farther orders. 
 
 29th May, 1713. RICHARD COX." 
 
 "To THE CLERK OF THE CROWN OF QUEEN'S BENCH." 
 
 But, that this may be traced, step by step, to other and 
 higher authority, the following document affords ample 
 proof: 
 
 " By the lords justices general, and general governors 
 of Ireland." 
 
 " CONS. PHIPPS. CANC. JO. TUAM." 
 
 " His grace the duke of Ormond, lord-lieutenant 
 of this kingdom, having, in his letter unto us, bearing date 
 18th June last, directed a stop to be put to any farther 
 proceedings against Edward Lloyd, upon the indictment 
 now against him in her majesty's court of queen's bench ; 
 we hereby send you a copy of the said letter, and hereby 
 direct and require you, to cause a noli prosequi to be 
 entered upon the said indictment accordingly, for doing 
 whereof this shall be your warrant. Given at her 
 majesty's castle of Dublin. 18th July, 1713. 
 
 "To our Crusty and well beloved, her} 
 
 majesty's attorney and solicitor-general S- G. DAWSON." 
 
 of this kingdom, or cither of them " J
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 207 
 
 These discoveries having been effected by the inquiries 
 of the commons, the following resolution was passed: 
 " Resolved, that the Right Honourable Sir Constantino 
 Phipps, lord high chancellor of Ireland, having repre- 
 sented Edward Lloyd as an object of her majesty's mercy, 
 and as not having an evil design in publishing the said 
 libel, in order to obtain a noli prosequi on the indictment 
 against him, acted therein contrary to his duty, and 
 contrary to the protestant interest of this kingdom." 
 
 Somewhat contemporary with this transaction, was a 
 case of oppression of a loyal protestant. On King William's 
 birth day, Tamerlane was to be acted at the play-house, 
 and Doctor Garth's prologue to it to be spoken. On the 
 actor's refusing to speak the prologue, Dudley Moore, 
 Esq. conceiving it only a handsome encomium on King" 
 William, got upon the stage, and there repeated the 
 prologue. He was indicted as for a riot, on the informa- 
 tions of Joseph Ashbery, Cornelius O'Bryan, John Leigh, 
 and James Mac Kenna, and examined before Mr. Justice 
 Coote, a few days afterwards. The grand jury returned 
 Inlla vera on the indictment by mistake, and were after- 
 wards discharged. After this, Alderman Ralph Gore, 
 foreman of the grand jury, came into court, and made 
 oath that billa vera was endorsed by his mistake, instead 
 of ignoramus. The whole of the grand jury afterwards 
 came into court, and made oath to the same purpose : 
 notwithstanding which, the application was rejected by 
 the court, and Moore bound over to appearance. The 
 attorney-general afterwards moved for trial, which was 
 granted. The next day, the indictment was by consent 
 quashed, and a rule entered for Moore's discharge. After 
 this, the attorney-general filed an information against 
 Moore for the same mutter. The attorney-general being 
 asked whether he had any directions to file the said infor- 
 mation, and from whom ? answered, he did not think 
 himself obliged to discover what passed between him and 
 the lords justices. 
 
 . The reader will have perceived that one of these lords 
 justices was the then chancellor, Phipps. The lord mayor 
 and twenty-four aldermen were summoned to the castle
 
 OQ8 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 by the lords justices. Phipps made a speech to them, in 
 which he endeavoured to prejudice and influence them 
 against Moore, and against the prologue spoken, which 
 he called seditious, and, he asserted, had been prohibited; 
 and proceeded to tamper with them about the description 
 of persons to be returned on the juries, fit for his purpose, 
 namely, the conviction of Moore. 
 
 That this unconstitutional prosecution, or rather per- 
 secution, of Moore, was connected with other extended 
 designs against the protestant religion and establishment, 
 I have collected the following resolutions of the commons 
 to prove ; which were passed on several days subsequent 
 to the discoveries therein unfolded. 
 
 " Resolved, that it appears to this house, that in order 
 to prevent the taking a free poll on the 6th of November, 
 1713, at the Tholsel, and to procure Sir William Fownes, 
 knight, and Martin Tucker, Esq. to be chosen, a dan- 
 gerous design was formed, to insult and mob Thomas 
 Bradshaw and Edward Surdeville, Esqrs. who acted as 
 sheriffs in the said election, together with John Forster 
 and Benjamin Burton, Esqrs. two of the candidates for 
 the city of Dublin, and the persons who came to vote 
 for them." 
 
 " Resolved, that it appears to this house, that, in 
 pursuance of the said design, a great number of persons, 
 armed with swords and clubs, among whom were many 
 papists, and others unqualified to vote, came with Sir 
 William Fownes, knight, and Martin Tucker, Esq., to 
 the Tholsel, on the 6th of November last, in a tumultuous 
 manner, and during the time that Thomas Bradshaw and 
 Edward Surdeville were proceeding on the- queen's writ, 
 tore down the stage erected for taking the poll, with the 
 utmost fury, and put the said Thomas Bradshaw and 
 Edward Surdeville, and John Forster and Benjamin 
 Burton, Esqrs. two of the candidates, with several of the 
 electors, in great terror, and danger of their lives." 
 
 " Resolved, that Thomas Harvey, gentleman, servant 
 to the Right Honourable Sir Constantine Phipps, knight, 
 lord high chancellor of Ireland, was a chief fomentor of, 
 and instrument in, carrying on and putting in execution
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 209 
 
 the riotous design and force, used to obstruct the poll at 
 the Tholsel, on the 6th of November last." 
 
 Three days after the last of these resolutions passed, 
 the commons sent an address to the queen ; from which 
 I extract the following passage. " With the greatest 
 humility, and utmost concern, your majesty's most loyal 
 subjects, the commons of Ireland, are constrained to lay 
 before your majesty the hardships and oppressions, this 
 your kingdom groans under, through the evil adminis- 
 tration of Sir Constantine Phipps, now lord chancellor 
 thereof." The address then states, that the said chancellor 
 encourages papists to insult and traduce protestants ; next, 
 the chancellor's oppressive conduct to Dudley Moore, Esq. 
 and prays that the chancellor may be removed. 
 
 A few days after this address was sent, the houae of 
 commons passed the following resolutions : 
 
 "Resolved, that for some years last past, there hath been 
 a design 'formed and carried on, to subvert the constitution, 
 and alter the government of the city of Dublin." 
 
 " Resolved, that in order to carry on that design, a 
 corrupt and illegal attempt was made in the year 17H> 
 to corrupt Alderman Ralph Gore, then lord mayor, by 
 offering him a bribe of 5001. to name thirty-two persons, 
 marked in a list then delivered to him by Martin Tucker, 
 Esq. sub-collector of the port of Dublin, to be common 
 council men for the said city." 
 
 " Resolved, that it appears, on the examination of 
 Martin Tucker, Esq. that he was sent to offer the said 
 sum of 5001. to Alderman Ralph Gore, while the Right 
 Honourable Sir Constantine Phipps, Knight, lord chan- 
 cellor of Ireland, and Lieutenant-General Ingoldsby, 
 were lords justices of this kingdom." 
 
 " Resolved, that the city of Dublin hath of late been, 
 and still continues, in great disorder and confusion, by 
 reason of the frequent disapprobations of persons elected 
 lord mayors and sheriffs of the said city, all of them of 
 known affection to her majesty's person and government, 
 and to the constitution in church and state." 
 
 " Resolved, that Sir Constantino Phipps, Knight, lord 
 high chancellor of Ireland, hath been the chief cause
 
 210 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 and promoter of such frequent disapprobations, and 
 thereby the occasion of the said disorder and confusions." 
 
 " Resolved, that since the making the new rules in 
 1672, until Sir Constantine Phipps arrived in this king- 
 dom, no person elected lord mayor of Dublin hath been 
 disapproved, except in the government of the earl of 
 Tyrconnel." 
 
 The happy accession of George the first, however^ in 
 1714, removed the oppressions, and dispelled the still 
 more fearful forebodings of protestants ; who had dreaded 
 the prospect in a long duration of a queen's reign, which 
 'had already displayed such ominous appearances. 
 
 The first event which is material to notice, in George 
 the first's reign, is a resolution of the commons, the 
 year after his accession, 1715, viz. : 
 
 " Resolved, neminevontradiccnte, that whoever advised 
 the late queen to prorogue the late parliament in this 
 kingdom, at a time when a bill to attaint the Pretender 
 was under the consideration of the house of commons, 
 xvas an enemy to the succession, as by law established in 
 the illustrious house of Hanover, to the protestant interest 
 of this kingdom, and a favourer of the Pretender and 
 popery." 
 
 " In 1715, was passed, " an act for the more effectual 
 preventing fraudulent conveyances, in order to multiply 
 votes for electing members to serve in parliament j" a 
 clause in which provided, that no papist should vote, 
 unless he had taken the oaths of allegiance and abjuration 
 six months previous to the election. 
 
 In 1716, an association was entered into, in conse- 
 quence of the rebellion which broke out in England, and 
 which was soon after suppressed. The form of the asso- 
 ciation was similar to that in William's reign. The same 
 year, an act was passed, to restrain papists from being 
 high and petty constables. 
 
 In the reign of George the second, 1733, a remarkable 
 discovery was made. John Love, Esq. collector of 
 Mallow, seized some papers in the houses of Teigue 
 Mac Carthy, titular popish bishop of Cork, and Joseph 
 Nagle, a reputed popish solicitor of Cork. The house of
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 commons appointed a committee to take the matter into 
 consideration, and make a report. From this report, I 
 insert the following extract : 
 
 " The committee first took into their consideration an 
 examination of John Hennessy. late the popish priest of 
 the united parishes of Doneraile, taken before the lord 
 Doneraile, and John Love, Esq. the 3rd of January, 
 1731-2. It sets forth the contents of a popish bull, 
 which was sent from Brussels, in the year 1729, to 
 Christopher Butler, titular popish archbishop of Cashel, 
 and by him transmitted to the several popish bishops in 
 Minister, granting an indulgence to papists for their sins, 
 provided they complied with the terms of the said bull ; 
 the principal of which were, to contribute money towards 
 advancing the Pretender to the crown of these kingdoms, 
 and dethroning hii sacred majesty King George. It also 
 contains a most treasonable doctrine of Teigue Mac 
 Carthy, titular popish bishop of Cork, that it was not 
 unlawful to rob King George of his duties, since he had 
 no right to the crown.'* 
 
 " Mr. Love being examined, said, that he had been 
 told by several in the country, that money was collected 
 pursuant to the said bull." 
 
 " By a letter found in Nagle's lodgings, it appears to 
 the committee, that there was a collection made through 
 the kingdom, in the year 1731* and during the sitting of 
 parliament, in order, as was said, to oppose some bills 
 then transmitted to England, especially two; one for 
 disarming papists, the other against popish solicitors." 
 
 '* In a letter signed Thomas Woulfe, the first para- 
 graph relates to a former fund, which seems to strengthen 
 Hennessy's examination concerning the collection made 
 for the Pretender, pursuant to the pope's bull. The 
 second paragraph relates entirely to the bills then depend- 
 ing, of which their apprehensions are pointed out as 
 most terrible, that the extirpation of their religion and 
 themselves was at hand. In order to extort money from 
 the ignorant deluded papists in this kingdom, the author 
 of this letter suggests, that these supposed miseries 
 cannot be suspended, but by money and great application.".
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 By the influence of this, and other letters of the 
 same deceitful and scandalous purport, and of the popish 
 clergy, large sums of money were collected through this 
 kingdom, under pretence of opposing the said bills. 
 And your committee have discovered, in the course of 
 the evidence, that large sums remain under the direction 
 of malignant papists, as a fund for carrying on their ill 
 designs/' 
 
 " Among Nagle's papers was found one, by which it 
 appears to your committee, that any law for the better 
 securing his majesty's revenue, is as grievous to the 
 papists, as any other to prevent the growth of popery. 
 This paper was attested by Woulfe, Nagle's correspondent, 
 to be Nagle's writing, and contains directions to some- 
 body in Dublin, for opposing a bill of that sort, which he 
 calls the collector's bill, passed last session of parliament, 
 for the better securing and collecting his majesty's 
 revenue. By this, your committee are of opinion, that 
 Hennessy's examination receives a farther strength ; for 
 the advice of Nagle corresponds with the titular popish 
 bishop's doctrine." 
 
 " Timothy McCarthy, Timothy O'Brien, and Richard 
 "Walsh, have taken upon them to exercise in the county 
 of Cork, a popish ecclesiasticaj jurisdiction ; and we 
 have great reason to believe, from Hennessy's exami- 
 nation, the same is practised in every other part of 
 Munster, in defiance of the laws of the land, and to the 
 great hazard of the peace of this kingdom." 
 
 I think it necessary to add to this report the more 
 material part of Hennessy's information ; some of which 
 I extract verbatim, the remainder I abridge. 
 
 " In the month of .August, or September, 1729, he, 
 this informant, was in company with Connor Keefte, 
 popish bishop of Limerick, Francis Lloyd, popish bishop 
 of Killaloe, and Doctor Stones, a Franciscan friar, of 
 the city of Dublin, at the house of Teigue Mac Carthy, 
 popish bishop of Cork and Cloyne, when the said Keeffe 
 and Lloyd delivered a letter to the said Mac Carthy, 
 from Christopher Butler, popish archbishop of Cashel, 
 acquainting him, that he had received a letter from the
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 213 
 
 pope's internuncio at Brussels ; that the pope had com- 
 plied with the request of the archbishops and bishops of 
 Ireland ; and that his holiness had sent him an indulgence 
 for ten years, in order to raise a sum of money, to be 
 speedily applied to restore King James the third to his 
 right, and put their present majesties, and all the royal 
 family, to the sword." 
 
 " Soon after this, informant received a letter, and a 
 copy of the pope's bull, from his said bishop, with direc^ 
 . tions strictly to obey the same, the purport of which is as 
 follows : * That every communicant, duly confessing 
 and receiving, upon the patron days of every respective 
 parish, and any Sunday, from the 1st of May, to Sep- 
 tember, having repeated the Lord's prayer five times, 
 and once, the apostles creed, upon paying two-pence 
 each time, was to have a plenary indulgence for his sins ; 
 and all approved confessors had a full power to absolve, 
 in all cases ; with intent, that God would speedily place 
 King James the third on the throne of England.' That 
 the money so raised in every parish, together with five 
 pounds per annum from every parish priest, was to be 
 paid to the bishop of each diocese ; who swore said 
 priests to a true account of what money they collected, 
 by virtue of said bull." 
 
 The bishops were to pay over the money to the Pre- 
 tender's agents. Nagle and Lloyd were agents for Munster. 
 
 This report having been made, the commons agreed 
 to the resolutions of the committee, viz. : 
 
 " Resolved, that it appears to this committee, that 
 under colour of opposing heads of bills brought into 
 parliament last session, great sums of money have been 
 collected and raised, and a fund established, by the 
 popish inhabitants of this kingdom, through the influence 
 of their clergy, highly detrimental to the protestant 
 interest of this kingdom, and of imminent danger to the 
 present happy establishment." 
 
 " Resolved, that there is a popish ecclesiastical juris- 
 diction exercised in this kingdom, by popish archbishops* 
 bishops, and vicars-general, in open violation of the laws 
 of the land*"
 
 214- THE TRUE STATE 
 
 " Resolved, that an humble address be presented to 
 his grace the lord lieutenant, to issue his proclamation 
 to all magistrates, to put the laws against popery in 
 execution." 
 
 " Resolved, that Thomas Woulfe, and Joseph Nagle, 
 have grossly misrepresented the proceedings of the house 
 of commons, last session of parliament, and reflected on 
 the honour and justice of the said house ; and have, by 
 such misrepresentation, promoted the collecting divers 
 sums of money from the poor deluded popish inhabitants 
 of this kingdom, under pretence of obstructing the 
 proceedings of this house." 
 
 In 1734, an act was passed, to prevent persons con- 
 verted from the popish to the protestant religion, and 
 married to popish wives, or educating their children in 
 the popish religion, from acting as justices of the peace. 
 
 In 1739, the commons presented an address to the 
 lord lieutenant, praying him *< to take such legal methods 
 of disarming the papists, as may preserve the public 
 peace and tranquillity." The viceroy answered : " The 
 house of commons may be assured, that I shall at all 
 times be ready to do every thing in my power, that may 
 contribute to preserve the public peace and tranquillity ; 
 for which purpose, pursuant to their advice, a procla* 
 mation is already ordered, for disarming the papists of 
 this kingdom." 
 
 In 1745, on the breaking out of the rebellion in 
 Scotland, a speech was made by the lord lieutenant, 
 Chesterfield, to the two houses, from which I extract 
 the most pertinent passages. 
 
 " Your own reflections will best suggest to you the 
 advantages you have enjoyed under a succession of 
 protestant princes, by nature inclined, and by legal 
 authority enabled, to preserve and protect you ; as your 
 own history, and even the experience of some still alive 
 among you, will best paint the miseries and calamities of 
 a people, scourged, rather than governed, by blind 
 zeal and lawless power." 
 
 " These considerations must necessarily excite your 
 highest indignation at the attempt now carrying on in.
 
 OF THE QUESTION-. 
 
 Scotland, to disturb his majesty's government, by a 
 pretender to his crown ; oue nursed up in civil and 
 religious error j formed to persecution and. oppression, 
 in the seat of superstition and tyranny ; whose groundless 
 claim is as contrary to the natural rights of mankind, as 
 to the particular laws, and constitution of these king- 
 doms ;. whose only hopes of support are placed in the 
 enemies of the liberties of Europe in general; and whose 
 success would consequently destroy your liberty, your 
 property, and your religion.'* 
 
 " The measures that have hitherto been taken to 
 prevent the growth of popery, have, I hope, had some, 
 and will still have a greater effect ; however, I leave it 
 to your consideration, whether nothing farther can be 
 done, either by new laws, or by the more effectual 
 execution of those in being, to secure this natron against 
 the great number of papists, whose speculative errors 
 would only deserve pity, if their pernicious influence 
 upon civil, society did not both require and authorize 
 restraint." 
 
 An association was very soon after entered into, by all 
 the members of the parliament, as follows : 
 
 " Whereas a most wicked and unnatural rebellion is 
 raised in Scotland, in order to place a popish pretender 
 on the throne of these kingdoms,, to the subversion of 
 our religion, laws, and liberties : we the knights, citizens, 
 and burgesses/ ia parliament assembled, whose names 
 are hereunto subscribed, having an utter abhorrence of 
 such an insolent attempt,, a- due sense of his majesty's 
 paternal care of, and concern for, the preservation of 
 our happy constitution, in church and state, and of his 
 exposing his royal person in maintenance of the liberties 
 of Europe, do heartily, sincerely, and solemnly, mutually 
 promise and engage to unite, associate, stand by, and to 
 the utmost of our power assist each other, in support and 
 defence of his majesty's most sacred person and govern- 
 ment, and the protestant succession to the, crown in his 
 royal house, against the Pretender and all his adherents." 
 
 From the speaker's speech to the viceroy, the same 
 session, the following is an extract :
 
 216 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 " In the present unquiet situation of affairs, to animate 
 their fellow subjects to a defence of their religion and 
 liberty, they have passed a law, offering a high reward 
 for the apprehending, alive or dead, the persons of those 
 disturbers of our peace, in case they shall land, or attempt 
 to land, in this kingdom ; and they are determined, to 
 the utmost of their power, to disappoint the designs of 
 that detestable rebellion, now carried on in a neighbouring 
 kingdom, in favour of a popish abjured pretender; one 
 who has ever meditated cruel revenge against a free 
 people, which he is well instructed to execute by that 
 spiritual tyrant, whose every art is employed in contriving 
 the destruction of the civil and religious rights we so 
 happily enjoy." 
 
 In 1746, an act was passed, for annulling all marriages 
 to be celebrated by any popish priest, between protestant 
 and protestant, or between protestant and papist ; and 
 to amend and make more effectual an act passed in the 
 sixth year of Queen Anne, entitled, " an act for the 
 more effectual preventing the taking away, and marry, 
 ing children against the consent of their parents or 
 guardians.' 1 
 
 In 1755, the commons passed the following resolutions : 
 4< Resolved, that no person who hath been, or shall 
 be, a papist, after the age of twelve years, hath a right, 
 by the laws of this kingdom, to vote at any election, for 
 any member to serve in parliament, unless such person 
 shall, before such election, have enrolled a certificate of 
 his conformity, and have received the sacrament, and 
 have taken, made, and subscribed the oaths and decla- 
 ration, appointed by the several acts and statutes made in 
 this kingdom, to prevent the farther growth of popery." 
 
 " Resolved, that no person who was, or shall be, a 
 protestant, at the time of his marriage, and whose wife 
 hath been, or shall be, a papist, at the time of the 
 marriage, hath a right, by the laws of this kingdom, to 
 vote at any election of any member to serve in, parlia- 
 ment, unless such wife shall, within one year after her 
 marriage to such protestant, have enrolled a certificate of 
 her confonnitv, ^d have received the sacrament, and
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 217 
 
 have taken, made, and subscribed the oaths and decla- 
 ration appointed by the several acts and statutes made in 
 this kingdom, to prevent the farther growth of popery." 
 
 From the viceroy's speech to both houses, in his 
 present majesty's reign, the following is an extract: 
 
 " You can be no strangers to his majesty's most 
 gracious declaration, that the preservation of the consti- 
 tution, in church and state, and the enforcing a due 
 obedience to the laws, not more necessary to his own 
 authority, than to the liberties of his people, shall be the 
 first and constant object of his care. And I have it 
 particularly in command to declare to you, that his 
 subjects of this kingdom are fully and in every respect 
 comprehended in these assurances." 
 
 " His majesty's wise choice of a royal consort, eminent 
 for her personal virtues and endowments, and descended 
 from a house so illustrious for its attachment to the 
 protestant cause, displays in the clearest light his paternal 
 care, not only to preserve to us, but transmit unimpaired 
 to our posterity, the blessings of his reign, liberty and 
 pure religion." 
 
 Our upright, parental, and mild monarch had not been 
 long seated on the throne, which he has adorned at every 
 period of his reign by his virtues, and to which he has 
 cemented, and in defence of which he has engaged, by 
 ties immutable, every heart in his dominions, not made 
 up of the basest materials ; he had not been long seated, 
 I say, when disturbances arose in Ireland. The pledges 
 had been onlv just given, to which the above speech of 
 the viceroy adverts, of a constitutional reign, tempered, 
 at the same time, with a remarkable and praiseworthy 
 mixture of mildness and clemency, when a faction, 
 called White-boys, arose ; and, successively, soon after, 
 two others, called Hearts of Oak, and Hearts of Steel. 
 I shall not fatigue the reader with any description of 
 these, nor of the subsequent factions, called Right-boys, 
 Defenders, United Irishmen, Cara vats, Shana vests, Carders, 
 Threshers, and Ribbon-men ; as, maugre all their pretences, 
 or purposes, the only lit designation for them all, either in 
 their succession, or in the aggregate, is Rebels. But the
 
 218 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 following extract from the viceroy's speech to both houses, 
 in 1763, is here applicable. 
 
 " Not only my duty, but my earnest good wishes for 
 the prosperity of Ireland, oblige me to take this oppor- 
 tunity of mentioning to you the only linpleasing circum- 
 stance which has occurred since my entrance upon this 
 government; the tumultuous risings of the lower people, 
 in contempt of laws and of magistracy, and of every 
 constitutional subordination, must, if not duly attended 
 to, be productive of the most fatal consequences. They 
 are a disgrace to a country of liberty they are ruinous 
 to a country of commerce and must be particularly fatal 
 here, where the least check to the rising spirit of industry 
 is so very sensibly felt, and so very difficult to be retrieved* 
 No means can serve more effectually to prevent these 
 disorders for the future, than the encouragement of such 
 institutions as tend to impress on the minds of the lower 
 order of people, early habits of industry, and true princi- 
 ples of religion. For this purpose, your protestant charter 
 schools were established, to which I therefore recommend 
 the continuance of your care, encouragement and support." 
 
 Immediately subsequent to this speech, addresses from 
 both houses were presented to the king and to the viceroy:: 
 which require not insertion here, as they are merely echoes 
 of the speech. 
 
 In 1764, however, an address was presented by both 
 houses to the viceroy, from which I insert an extract, a* 
 follows : 
 
 . " Had these grievances (the pretended occasions of the 
 late insurrections,) been found to have a real existence, 
 yet the violent and tumultuary attempts for redressing 
 them, would not have been, in the eye of the law, less 
 criminal ; and would, even in that case, have been what 
 they now undoubtedly are treason against the state." 
 
 *' But when no Traces of oppression can be seen, we can 
 only impute these disorders to the artful contrivances 
 of designing men, who, from selfish and interested views, 
 have spread this licentious spirit among the people, and 
 raised in their minds, a restless and turbulent impatience 
 of every legal and constitutional obligation."
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 219 
 
 " And we must confess it to be a melancholy reflection 
 in a state, the foundation and the pride of which is civil 
 liberty, no invasion whereof can with any colour be pre- 
 tended, by these disturbers of the public repose, that it 
 became necessary to call in the military power, in aid of 
 the civil, without which interposition, the rapid progress 
 of these disorders could not, upon some late occasions, 
 have been so effectually withstood." 
 
 " When we offer these considerations to your excellency, 
 we have the firmest persuasion and confidence, that his 
 majesty has always made, and ever will make, the laws 
 of all his kingdoms, framed equally for the support of his 
 royal authority, and for the maintenance of the liberties 
 of his subjects, the invariable rule of his government, and 
 that it is his gracious intention, that all ranks and orders 
 of men should enjoy, without disturbance or molestation, 
 and be protected in, the possession of those rights and 
 privileges, allotted to them by the laws and the constitution : 
 \vhosoever exceeds these bounds, can lay no claim to that 
 protection." 
 
 At this time the commons passed a resolution, which I 
 think it material to insert : 
 
 " Resolved, nemine contradicente, that the corporation 
 of the city of Dublin, in consideration of their steady 
 allegiance and fidelity, their constant regard to the 
 glorious revolution, and all its happy consequences, par- 
 ticularly their inviolable attachment to the protestant 
 succession in the present royal family, which is the great 
 ornament and blessing of these kingdoms, merits the 
 particular attention and favour of this house." 
 
 Hence the envenomed shafts which have been directed 
 against this presumptuously loyal and tirm corporation, 
 by ** unrelenting hatred!" 
 
 The same year an act was passed, for confirming the 
 titles, and for quieting the possessions of protestants, and 
 for giving time to the converts from popery, to perform 
 the requisites of conformity prescribed by the laws against 
 popery. This act contains the following paragraph : 
 
 " All such person or persons, as have heretofore obtained 
 the bishop's certificate of their conformity, and from and
 
 220 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 after the obtaining the same, have professed the protestant 
 religion, and have continued protestants, and have not 
 performed all the other legal requisites of conformity, 
 and shall perform the same before the 1st day of December, 
 in the year 17^5, shall from the time of his, her, or their 
 conformity from the popish to the protestant religion, be 
 deemed and taken to be protestants of the established 
 church, to all intents and purposes." 
 
 In the year 1776, it was found necessary to pass the 
 White-boy act ; the abstract of which is as follows. 
 Persons found in arms, day or night, in any disguise, or 
 distinguished by any name, other than their usual name, 
 are liable to corporal punishment, fine, and imprisonment. 
 Persons maiming, wounding, shooting at, threatening, 
 by letter, the person, or property of another, or persuad- 
 ing or compelling him to join in any criminal offences, 
 are punishable with death. Persons forcibly entering the 
 dwelling-houses of others in the night, or causing any 
 door to be opened, any arms, ammunition, horses, or 
 other goods .or chattels, to be seized, are punishable with 
 death. Aiding, abetting, or concealing any such persons, 
 is death ; and persons killing or maiming such offenders, 
 in pursuing or apprehending them, are indemnified. All 
 damages done by such offenders, are to be made good by 
 assessment, in the district where the damage is sustained. 
 Magistrates are empowered to search for, and seize all 
 arms, &c., in the possession of papists, not duly licensed; 
 and persons under such denomination, are liable to cor- 
 poral punishment, fine, and imprisonment, for concealing 
 arms, ammunition, &c. The act, however, allows time 
 for criminals to surrender, and receive pardon, and enacts, 
 that no confession shall be brought in evidence against 
 any so surrendering, or pleading pardon. 
 
 In 1778* Romanists, taking and subscribing the oath 
 of allegiance, and the declaration prescribed by the act, 
 in 1774, and enrolling their names, were empowered, by 
 an act of parliament, to take leases for nine hundred and 
 ninety-nine years, or five lives ; and lands, &c. were 
 made devisable, transferable, and descendible, to, or 
 from them. The penal acts were repealed, respecting
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 the hearing and celebrating mass, and several other res- 
 trictions removed. 
 
 In 1782, Romanists were, by another act, relieved 
 from all restrictions respecting property, and most of the 
 restraints on them were removed. In the debate in the 
 house of commons, previously, it is worthy of observation, 
 that their number was then estimated at only two millions. 
 This I give on authority that can hardly be disputed, 
 that of their own advocates then, Mr. Walshe, Mr. 
 Grattan, and Sir Boyle Roche. He who should believe 
 the two millions swelled to three millions, since 1782, 
 could scarcely be deemed very incredulous ! Four 
 millions and five millions, however, and sometimes, to 
 suit the purposes of splendid orations, six and seven 
 millions have been intimated. One of their own writers, 
 Doctor Burke, titular bishop of Ossory, who had made a 
 calculation in 17&2, stated their number then to be, one 
 million three hundred thousand ; and the number of the 
 protestants to be, seven hundred and seventy thousand. 
 
 In 1783, I find the following " resolutions of the 
 catholic committee :" 
 
 " SIR PATRICK BELLEW IN THE CHAIR." 
 
 " Resolved, that we feel ourselves particularly called 
 upon to declare, that this committee consists of every 
 Roman catholic nobleman and gentleman of landed 
 property, and of other gentlemen, chosen by their fellow 
 subjects of that persuasion in Dublin, and other principal 
 parts of the kingdom." 
 
 " Resolved, that thus constituted, we have, for several 
 years past, been the medium through which the voice of 
 the Roman catholics of Ireland has been conveyed, and 
 the only one competent thereto." 
 
 In 1791, the following resolution was passed: " At a 
 meeting of the general committee of the Roman catholics 
 of Ireland, Dublin, 10th February, 1791.'* 
 
 " Resolved, that the several papers now read, containing 
 resolutions and instructions from this city, and from the 
 principal cities and towns of Ireland, be referred to a
 
 222 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 committee of eight, who shall report thereon to this 
 committee, on Friday, the 18th instant." 
 
 In 1792, a very constitutional and proper address, 
 which it is not necessary to insert here, because it is 
 similar to that which I have given in the English abstract, 
 in 1789, disavowing certain hostile tenets of the Romish 
 religion, was prepared, and presented to government, by 
 Lord Kenmare : soon after which, " the general com- 
 mittee of the Roman catholics" passed resolutions, 
 condemning it " as surreptitiously obtained, and not 
 containing the real sense of the catholic body ;" and 
 declaring, " that Lord Kenmare had forfeited their confi- 
 dence." Soon after, Lords Fingal and Kenmare, and 
 Sir Patrick Bellew, seceded. The Romish bishops issued 
 menaces against those who had subscribed the declaration 
 contained in the address. I admit that these were of a 
 spiritual nature ; but the discerning reader will easily 
 discover, why such menaces cannot partake of materiality, 
 under a free and enlightened, or, if their graces and 
 lordships like the phrase better, " an a-catholic govern- 
 ment." He who shall draw his conclusions from liistorical 
 facts, which, I humbly submit, are the only tenable 
 premises, cannot reasonably have his charity or liberality 
 impeached, if he believe, that the absence of temporal 
 chastisement, even of the refractory members of the 
 church of Rome, may possibly be, not from the want of 
 will, but from the want of power to inflict it ! 
 
 " The catholic committee," this year, and also the 
 three next years in succession, proceeded to the exercise 
 of one of its functions, levying money on his majesty's 
 Romish subjects within the realm. 
 
 The same year, 1792, an act was passed, granting 
 Romanists, that after the 24th day of June, 1792, they 
 may practise as barristers and attorneys ; that they and 
 protestants may intermarry ; that popish schoolmasters 
 need not obtain licenses from the ordinary to keep school, 
 and all restrictions as to foreign education were removed. 
 In the debate in the house of commons, previously, 
 Sir ^Hercules Langrishe, their warm advocate, said 
 1 Notwithstanding my prepossessions in favour of the
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 Roman-catholics, I was checked for some time in my 
 ardour to serve them, by reading, of late, a multitude 
 of publications, and paragraphs in the newspapers, and 
 other public prints, circulated gratis, with the utmost 
 industry, purporting to convey the sentiments of the 
 catholics. What was their import ? they were exhorta- 
 tions to the people never to be satisfied at any concession 
 until the state itself was conceded ! they were precau- 
 tions against public tranquillity they were invitations 
 to disorder, and covenants of discontent they were 
 ostentations of strength, rather than solicitations for 
 favours rather appeals to the powers of the people, 
 than applications to the authority of the state they 
 involved the relief of the catholic, with the revolution 
 of the government and were dissertations for demo- 
 cracy, rather than arguments for toleration !" 
 
 In 1793, the Romanists were granted, the elective 
 franchise; eligibility to be justices of peace, grand jurors, 
 and officers in the army and navy ; liberty to endow a 
 college and schools ; liberty to carry arms, to those pos- 
 sessing a certain degree of property ; and the right of 
 challenge against a Romanist was taken away, in causes 
 where a protestant and a Romanist are the parties. 
 These, with the former grants, leave them now under no 
 exclusions but the following: the parliament, the privy 
 council, and the offices of viceroy, lord-chancellor, master 
 of the rolls, judges, judges of the court of admiralty, 
 secretary of state, lord privy seal, vice-treasurer, deputy 
 vice-treasurer, teller and cashier of the exchequer, auditor 
 general, lieutenant, or governor, or custos rotulorum 
 of counties, secretary to the viceroy, sergeants at law, 
 attorney-general, solicitor-general, king's counsel, masters 
 in chancery, provost or fellow of Trinity college, post- 
 master-general, master or lieutenant-general of the 
 ordnance, commander in chief of the forces, general on 
 the staff; sheriff or sub-sheriff of any county ; and from 
 holding any office of trust that can be established by the 
 lord-lieutenant and council, under the seventeenth and 
 eighteenth of Glutrles the second. They are also ex- 
 cluded from the oilices of mayors, sheriffs, recorders,
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 aldermen, common-council men, &c., in cities; and from 
 the offices of high or sub-sheriffs of counties. 
 
 These privileges, granted in 1793, were specifically 
 enumerated, in their previous petition, as the objects of 
 their anxious desire ; and they were predicated, in all 
 Contemporary publications, as the component parts which 
 made up complete emancipation ; and would be the means 
 of producing perfect contentment, and ensuring the most 
 flourishing state of peace, happiness, and prosperity in 
 Ireland* Some little time before this period, Father 
 O'Leary, in one of his tracts, expresses himself thus : 
 " This happy system of toleration could be introduced, 
 by excluding in this kingdom the catholics from any high 
 offices under the crown ; secondly, from the privilege of 
 sitting in the senate ; thirdly, if the use of arms gives 
 any umbrage, from the privilege of carrying them, 
 except to such as have a mind to serve their country in 
 the army, or such persons as are possessed of real or 
 personal estate, amounting to whatever value the legis- 
 lature thinks fit ; all other laws heretofore enacted, to be 
 null and void. The kingdom would soon flourish ; and 
 the brilliant example set to such princes as have not as 
 yet thrown open the gates of toleration, would rescue 
 mankind from the heavy yoke which misconstrued 
 religion has laid on their necks." Thus one of their 
 own priests, previous to the grant of these privileges, 
 held them out as the most desirable boon, and viewed 
 them as complete emancipation. 
 
 In the debate which preceded the grant, the late earl 
 of Clare demonstrated the falsehood of an assertion which 
 the petition contained, that the treaty of Limerick had 
 been violated. The first article of that treaty, he plainly 
 shewed, was the only one which related to the whole 
 Romish body ; stipulating, that they should have liberty 
 to exercise their religion, as in the reign of Charles the 
 second. This they have had, ever since, to a greater ex- 
 tent, than under Charles the second. The second article 
 applies only to the garrison of Limerick, and other 
 fortified places, and contains the terms of surrender 
 granted to them exclusively. Lord Clare's speech con-
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 225 
 
 tains the following remarkable passage : " It is utterly 
 impossible that a zealous catholic can exercise the efficient 
 powers of government in support of a protestant esta- 
 blishment in Ireland, or in support of her connexion 
 with the protestant empire of Great Britain. It is not to 
 the people who profess the catholic religion, that I look, 
 upon this occasion ; it is to the principles of that religion, 
 to which I know they are zealously and superstitiously 
 devoted : the influence which" these principles have had 
 upon the political government of every nation in Europe, 
 for centuries." 
 
 Doctor Duigenan had proposed, in the house of com- 
 mons, that the following sentence should be inserted in 
 the oath of Romanists : " Nor do we believe, that any 
 other sect of Christians are, of course, to be doomed to 
 eternal damnation hereafter, and that they may not enter 
 into a state of salvation, because they happen to differ 
 from us in religious tenets." All their ecclesiastics, and 
 the leading members of the laity, declared, that the 
 fundamental principles of their religion rendered such an 
 oatli inadmissible. 
 
 The following is an extract from the report of the 
 secret committee of the house of lords, in 1793 : 
 
 " The people at this time called Defenders, are very 
 different from those -who originally assumed that appel- 
 lation, and are all, as far as the committee could discover, 
 of the Roman catholic persuasion ; in general, poor; 
 ignorant labouring men, sworn to secrecy, and impressed 
 with an opinion, that they are assisting the catholic 
 cause. In other respects, they do not appear to have 
 any distinct particular object in view ; but they talk of 
 being relieved from hearth-money, tithes, county cesses, 
 and of lowering their rents. They first appeared in the 
 county of Loutli, in considerable bodies, in April last. 
 Several of them were armed : they assembled mostly in 
 the night, and forced into the houses of protestants, and 
 took from them their arms. The disorders soon spread 
 through the counties of Meath, divan, Monaghan, and 
 other parts adjacent ; at first, they took nothing but 
 arms, but afterwards they plundered the houses of every
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 thing they could find. Their measures appear to have 
 been concerted and conducted with the utmost secrecy, 
 and a degree of regularity and system not usual in people 
 in such mean condition, and as if directed by men of a 
 superior rank. Sums of money, to a considerable amount, 
 have been levied, and still continue to be levied, upon 
 the Roman catholics in all parts of the kingdom, by 
 subscriptions and collections at their chapels, and else- 
 where ; some of which levies have been made, and still 
 continue to be made, under the authority of a printed 
 circular letter, which has been sent into all parts of the 
 kingdom, a copy of which letter we think it our duty to 
 insert herein.** 
 
 " SIR, 
 
 " By an order of the sub-committee, dated the 
 15th of January, I had the honour to forward you a plan 
 for a general subscription, which had for its object the 
 raising a fund for defraying the heavy and growing 
 expenses incurred by the general committee, in conduct- 
 ing the affairs of the catholics of Ireland. As several 
 mistakes have occurred in the transmission of these letters, 
 owing to my ignorance of the address of many of the 
 delegates, I am directed to inform you, that such a plan is 
 now in forwardness throughout the kingdom. A measure 
 so strongly enforced by necessity, and so consonant to 
 justice, cannot fail to attract your very serious attention; 
 the committee having the most perfect reliance on your 
 zeal, are therefore confident, that you will use your 
 best exertions to carry the necessary business into full 
 effect." 
 
 it n 77- r> l K4i i~ro > ( " SIGNED BY THE SECRETARY 
 
 "Dublin, Feb. 5///, 1793. < 
 
 ( OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE. 
 
 " P. S. It is hoped you will acknowledge the receipt 
 of this letter, stating at the same time, whatever progress 
 has been made in your district." 
 
 " Several seditious and inflammatory papers, published 
 in Dublin, and dispersed through the country, seem to 
 have countenanced and encouraged the Defenders in
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 their proceedings : and it appears, that letters were 
 written by a member of the committee of the Roman 
 catholics, at Dublin, previous to the last summer assizes, 
 to a person resident at Dundalk, in one of which the 
 said person, in the name of the said Roman catholic 
 committee, directed inquiries to be made, touching the 
 offences of which the Defenders then in confinement, 
 were accused j which inquiries will be best explained, by 
 inserting the said letter, in the words following :" 
 
 " Dublin, 9lh August, 1792." 
 
 " DEAR SIR, 
 
 " I received this day, your favour of 8th 
 inst. enclosing the different papers respecting the busi- 
 ness I wrote you. It is with much regret that I am 
 obliged to reply, that from the want of information on 
 the subject matter of the indictments, no precise opinion 
 can be formed, whether the alleged offence is, or is not 
 bailable ; the committee are consequently in the dark as 
 to the measures that should be adopted, nor can your 
 exertions accelerate, as it seems, that period, until the 
 assizes, when you will be able to obtain copies of the 
 examinations. Mr. Nugent's brother left town this day 
 truly disconsolate, in not being able to effect something 
 towards the liberation of his kinsman ; he, however, did 
 his best in the affair." 
 
 " I am, dear Sir, your obedient servant," 
 
 " JOHN SWEETMAN." 
 
 " P. S. If any new occurrence should happen, be 
 good enough to inform me of it." 
 
 " And it does appear, that the said person to whom 
 the said letter was addressed at Dundalk, did employ, at 
 a considerable expense, an agent and counsel to act for 
 several persons who were accused of being Defenders, 
 and were indicted for offences committed by them in the 
 county of Louth, one of which offenders appears to be 
 particularly named in the above letter. But the cool-
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 mittee think it their duty to state, that nothing appeared 
 before them, which could lead them to believe, that the 
 body of the Roman catholics in this kingdom were con- 
 cerned in promoting or countenancing such disturbances, 
 or that they were privy to this application of any part of 
 the money which had been levied upon them, however 
 suspicious the conduct of ill disposed individuals of their 
 persuasion, resident in Dublin, may have been.*' 
 
 The report proceeds to state, that some of the magis- 
 trates have exerted themselves with vigour and courage, 
 to support the laws, but that the greater part were 
 inactive, which prevented the suppression of the distur- 
 bances ; and it states, the best means for restoring 
 tranquillity to be, " to procure a sufficient number of 
 active, resolute, and steady magistrates, who would 
 exert themselves to maintain the public peace, and to 
 cut off from these deluded people all hope or expectation 
 of support or defence, arising from a common fund to be 
 levied upon persons of their communion." 
 
 In 1793, was passed, " an act to prevent the election 
 or appointment of unlawful assemblies, under pretence 
 of preparing or presenting public petitions, or other 
 addresses, to his majesty or the parliament." This is 
 usually termed the convention act, and is in substance as 
 follows : All assemblies, committees, or other bodies 
 of persons elected, or in any other manner constituted or 
 appointed to represent the people of this realm, or any 
 number or description of them, or the people of any 
 province, county, city, town, or other district, within 
 the same, under pretence of petitioning for, or in any 
 other manner procuring, an alteration of matters esta- 
 blished by law, in church or state, except the members 
 of parliament, or houses of convocation, duly summoned 
 by the king's writ, are unlawful assemblies.; and magis- 
 trates are required to disperse them, and, if resisted, 
 to apprehend offenders. It constitutes publishing, or 
 causing to be published, any written or other notice of 
 election or appointment of representatives or delegates ; 
 or attending, or voting, or in any other manner acting, 
 in the appointment of such, a high misdemeanor.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 229 
 
 Exceptions are provided for elections by bodies corporate, 
 and tor the right of petitioning. 
 
 The 'same year, Doctor Troy published a pastoral 
 letter, which contains the following sentence : " Catholics 
 are obliged to believe, as an article of faith, that the 
 pope, or bishop of Rome, as successor of St. Peter, 13 
 the supreme visible head of the church on earth, and the 
 centre of catholic unity, with a primacy, by divine right, 
 of real jurisdiction and authority in the church, and that 
 all catholic.* owe him canonical respect and obedience on 
 that account." 
 
 In 179 K several thousands of the Defenders assembled 
 in the neighbourhood of Ballinaugh, in the county of 
 Cavan. The protestant inhabitants fled, and their houses 
 and properties were taken possession of by some of the 
 Defenders, while they were pursued by others. Some of 
 the Dublin militia, in co-operation with the protestant 
 inhabitants, met and defeated them. They retired into 
 the town of Ballinaugh, which they took possession of, 
 and fired from the houses on the soldiers and protestants* 
 The magistrate* were obliged to direct the town to be 
 burned, to dislodge them, and it was burned to ashes. 
 
 The following is an extract from the speech of the 
 viceroy to both houses, the 2.5th of March, 1794* : 
 " I am sorry to inform you, that in some parts of the 
 county of Cork, the people, deluded by the artifices of 
 wicked and designing men, have assembled in numerous 
 bodies, and have.compelled many to take unlawful oaths." 
 The disturbances here alluded to, were in some little 
 time suppressed by the exertions oX the troops, and of 
 some of the magistrates. 
 
 In 17 ( J-> Maynooth college was established by an act 
 of parliament ; by which, certain trustees were empow- 
 ered to receive donations for establishing and endowing 
 an academy for the education of persons professing the 
 Romish religion, and to acquire lands, free from forfei- 
 ture by mortmain. Little short of forty thousand pound* 
 was granted for its establishment at first ^ and in every 
 subsequent session, a regular charge of eight thousand 
 pounds has been made to pnrliameot, for its annuaj
 
 30 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 support. I may add, too, that this does not appear to 
 content them. I have myself heard it represented as- 
 trifling, by gentlemen of that better informed, or rather, 
 deeper initiated class of Romanists, as to faith and doc- 
 trine, which is recognised as composed of " competent 
 expounders ;" while the encouragement of the protestant 
 charter schools has been spoken of with contempt, dislike, 
 and jealousy. But, with all due deference for the purity 
 of these gentlemen's faith, it may, perhaps, be considered 
 not very irrelevant to remark, that if the original sum 
 had been, or the yearly stipend were, a great deal less, 
 the grant of any sum must be considered as a step farther 
 in essential and practical liberality, than the most perfect 
 and complete toleration of religious worship could possibly 
 demand, from a protestant establishment, to a Romish 
 seminary. 
 
 In 1796, the viceroy again addressed > both houses as 
 follows : " It is with regret I feel myself obliged to 
 advert to those secret and treasonable associations, the 
 dangerous extent and malignity of which have, in some 
 degree, been disclosed in several trials, and to the distur- 
 bances which have taken place in some parts of the 
 kingdom.'* 
 
 In the list of these disturbances, any attempt to recount 
 which, would render this work too voluminous for my 
 proposed limits and object, the minute inquirer into the 
 past transactions in Ireland, will rind many instances of 
 atrocious, deliberate, and systematic murder ; which, 
 from this period, arrived, with progressive steps, at such 
 maturity of audacity, that it was sufficient for a man to 
 be an active and upright magistrate, or even a loyal and 
 zealous subject, for his life to be despaired of by his 
 friends. A loyal man, who would not be persuaded or 
 intimidated into joining the traitors, and who had hot the 
 address to conceal the secret of his loyalty, or, in some 
 parts of the country, did not at least affect neutrality, 
 could count " his head's assurance but frail." 
 
 Whenever matters arrive at this desperate estate in 
 any nation, it is not only the just and lawful province, 
 but the indispensable and paramount duty of an efficient
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 231 
 
 government, to interpose, as soon as is practicable, after 
 the overt acts become tangible, the strong arm of power, 
 for the purpose of prompt suppression. But, in these free 
 countries, where genuine liberty is the essential charac- 
 teristic of the constitution and frame of the government, 
 and where no valid excuse for sedition or disaffection can 
 be urged, much less for robbery and murder ; and these, 
 too, of the most virtuous and upright members of society ; 
 the compulsion of the constituted authorities to the per- 
 formance of this duty, acquires, by every law divine and 
 human, double force ! The duties of obedience and 
 protection are reciprocal. As, on the one hand, " every 
 soul" is to be "subject to the higher powers;" so, on 
 the other, while " the king, as supreme," or " governors, 
 sent by him," " minister good to the good," " the sword 
 is not born in vain, but is to execute wrath upon the evil." 
 Conformable, therefore, to holy writ to the laws of 
 nature to the laws of nations and to the laws of the 
 individual land which they were " ordained" to govern, 
 was the conduct of its " rulers," when treason and murder 
 advanced with diabolical and ghastly strides, in the face 
 of day, within the bosom of that land! They suspended 
 the habeas corpus act ; and an act was passed, entitled, 
 " an act more effectually to suppress insurrections, and 
 to prevent the disturbance of the public peace ;" by 
 which it is enacted, that " it shall be lawful for the 
 justices of the peace of any county, assembled at a special 
 session, in manner by the said act directed, not being 
 fewer than seven, or the major part of them, one of whom 
 to be of the quorum, if they judge fit, upon due consi- 
 deration of the state of the county, to signify by memorial, 
 by them signed, to the lord lieutenant, or other chief 
 governor or governors of this kingdom, that they consider 
 their county, or any part 1 hereof, to be in a state of 
 disturbance, or in immediate danger of becoming so, and 
 praying that the said lord lieutenant and council may 
 proclaim such county, or part thereof, to be in a state of 
 disturbance ; thereupon, it shall be lawful for the said 
 lord lieutenant, or other chief governor or governors ot* 
 this kingdom, by and with the advice of his majestyV
 
 232 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 privy council, by proclamation, to declare such county, 
 or any part of such county, to be in a state of disturbance, 
 or in immediate danger of becoming so, and also such 
 parts of any adjoining county or counties, as such chief 
 governor shall think n't, in order to prevent the conti- 
 nuance or extension of such disturbance." 
 
 " The information of any prosecutors on behalf of the 
 crown, who may be afterwards assassinated, shall be 
 admitted as evidence against delinquents.'* 
 
 " Any person having arms,** is required by it " to 
 register them, his name, and place of abode ; and a 
 magistrate may search for arms the house of any person 
 \vho shall not do so.'* 
 
 " If a magistrate, or peace officer, be murdered while 
 on duty, or in consequence of his exertions to serve the 
 public, the grand jury may levy a sum of money on the 
 county, for his representative. 
 
 On a county, or any part thereof, being proclaimed, 
 " the magistrates are required to hold petty sessions as 
 often as necessary, but never at a longer interval than 
 fourteen days; and to punish offenders in a summary way.'* 
 
 All persons are required, when the county or barony 
 has been proclaimed, to keep within their houses between 
 sun-set and sun-rise ; and are liable to be transported, if 
 found out of their houses in the night. 
 
 This act was introduced by the then attorney-general, 
 Mr. Wolfe, afterwards Lord Kil warden, and lord chief 
 justice of the king's bench ; whose lamented and tragical 
 fate, in the year 1803, in the open day, in the streets of 
 Dublin, (the victim himself, in daring defiance of all laws 
 divine and human, of the murderous system which his 
 integrity and his talents had been exerted to suppress,) 
 I shall notice in its proper place. 
 
 The operation of this act was first introduced in part 
 of the county of Down, where the most violent outrages 
 compelled its application, soon after it had passed into 
 a law. 
 
 These, and such like vigorous measures, then, and since, 
 have attracted the obloquy, and excited the bellowings 
 of insidious and seditious news-writers and orators. But
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 235 
 
 safe in the collision with truth and reason, the conflict 
 \vith such contemptible opponents can be easily sustained. 
 They have been defined as infringements on the liberty 
 of the subject, in a free constitution, and hostile to the 
 spirit of the constitution. I shall leave to the penetration 
 of my readers, to discover what kind of liberty is wanted 
 by these " talented men," when matters arrive to that 
 kind of crisis which I have described. I know not. Sure 
 I am, however, that it is not the Christian liberty. Is it 
 the liberty, when matters have first proceeded to these 
 formidable lengths, for murder to ride triumphantly, 
 openly, undisputedly, and with impunity ? Is it (they 
 knowing the atrocious crimes which compel the application 
 of coercive measures,) a liberty to preach these crimes as 
 heroic, meritorious, and the road to heaven ! 
 
 But it is insinuated, that the power of locomotion is 
 prevented : that a restraint is placed on the innocent as 
 well as the guilty that an innocent person being found 
 out in the hours between sun-set and sun-rise, may be 
 transported. In the first place, this can never apply to any 
 person who does not live in a district which is actually 
 disturbed, and not only disturbed, but that has been, by 
 the regular and required steps, proclaimed. The disturb- 
 ance and the subsequent proclamation, may be easily 
 supposed to be sufficiently notorious, particularly in the 
 disturbed district, where, only, the proclamation, and the 
 law on which it is founded, have effect. It cannot then 
 be that very great grievance, under the exigency of such 
 a case, for an innocent man to conform to a regulation 
 which secures his own safety ; for, if innocent, it would 
 certainly be better for him to stay within during the 
 hours of night, in a disturbed district, than to go out, 
 and, perhaps, be murdered ; which there would be a 
 chance of happening him, if he would not join "the 
 cause ;" putting the event of transportation out of the 
 question. Besides, what business can labouring people 
 have out, in a disturbed district, .that they cannot do 
 between the rising and setting of the sun. If, however, 
 an innocent man should go out in the night, on an emer- 
 gency sickness in his family, for instance (a case which
 
 234- THE TRUE STATE 
 
 has been put,) I must here observe, first, that truth is 
 the best eloquence. The sickness, or emergency, stated, 
 and capable of being proved by more demonstrable evi- 
 dence than either an assertion or an oath, inasmuch as 
 the sickness or emergency would be coexistent with his 
 examination : the magistrate that would pervert justice, 
 by transporting him, would deserve to be impeached. 
 Next, there is no human government sufficiently intuitive 
 to know, amid the systematic artifices of concealed treason, 
 who is innocent, or who is not ; and, therefore, in a case 
 of this kind, the onus probandl must clearly He on the 
 person found out of his house at unlawful hours. And 
 if, after all, we even admit a temporary restraint on per- 
 sonal freedom, there is no rational, considerate, or innocent 
 person, but will consider the remedy, although unpleasant 
 in its confining nature, to be, at least, better than the 
 disease to which it is applied. When the disease is cured, 
 the remedy, of course, ceases. Such is the constitution 
 and course of nature, that we must submit sometimes to 
 a temporary evil, and a fleeting inconvenience, for the 
 sake of procuring, by that very means, permanent good, 
 secure settlement, and ultimate safety. We must bear the 
 lesser evil to escape the greater. We must endure a slight, 
 local, partial infringement of our liberty ; and that, too, at 
 hours when the enjoyments of all virtuous, domestic, honest 
 and sober people, are in the bosoms of their families, or in the 
 necessary and healthful restorative, and "chief nourisher in 
 life's feast'* sleep ; which the great Lord of the vineyard, 
 He who "keepeth the city," "giveth his beloved;" we 
 must endure, I say, this trifling restraint, to whomsoever of 
 us it be a restraint; and consider it a cheap premium of in- 
 surance, for the preservation of the religion, laws, rights, 
 liberties, properties, and lives of ourselves and our posterity. 
 In 1797 the traitors proceeded to more daring and 
 general outrages ; in short, to every overt act of rebellion : 
 in consequence of which, General Lake was authorized 
 by the viceroy to act as the public safety should require, 
 in the northern district, where he was stationed, and 
 where insurrectionary movements had commenced, by 
 the employment of the troops and the yeomanry to sup.
 
 OF THE QUESTIf 233 
 
 press the dfeturbances; and by seizing and recovering 
 such arms and ammunition as had been traitorously taken 
 from the troops and loyal subjects. 
 
 The report of the secret committee of the house of 
 lords, in 1797> describes " that in the event of success 
 on the part of the conspirators, it had been decided, that 
 all persons who from their principles or situation may be 
 deemed inimical to the conspiracy, shall be massacred : 
 the first proscribed list, it has appeared to your committee, 
 has been calculated by one of their leaders at thirty 
 thousand persons." 
 
 In 1797> the insurrection act was obliged to be put in 
 force in several districts, and large seizures of arms were 
 made. The conspirators had been, for some time before, 
 denominated " United Irishmen." It is the policy of 
 all illegal associations, to change the name, when such 
 becomes convenient and profitable to the purposes of 
 delusion. But, as I before observed, it is of no import 
 what the name be, whether White-boys, Defenders, or 
 United Irishmen, while we can so easily discern, in the 
 overt acts of the individuals, " what kind of spirit they 
 are of," in the aggregate. In like manner, the Romish 
 convention is still indicated, by the speeches of its orators, 
 the same convention, whether it assume the name of 
 " committee," " board," or " association :" alike obnox- 
 ious to every law divine or human alike intended to 
 beard the government, libel, insult, and depreciate courts 
 of justice, and magistrates, disturb the country, and delude 
 its ignorant, bigoted, and unfortunate inhabitants. 
 
 It might be asserted, that the convention hasnot exhibited, 
 since its having received its new title of " Association," 
 so very violent a character : which in some measure would 
 be true. But whether this reserve arises from prudence 
 or conviction whether it proceeds from fear or love- 
 whether the " Association" is " subject for wrath or for 
 conscience sake," I shall leave to casuists to determine; 
 as I shall to lawyers the legality of its exi-tence at all. 
 
 In the commencement of 17DS, the disturbances were 
 observed to hasten, with progressive acceleration, to their 
 crisis,
 
 236 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 Lord Grenville, then a member of administration, in 
 reply to some absurd proposals of conciliation, from the 
 then opposition, in the English parliament, after stating 
 the nature of the conspiracy to be, " to deliver the country 
 to the French invaders," said " That such a system did 
 exist had been proved : and that large sums had been 
 distributed to hire assassins to murder those who were 
 inimical to their traitorous plans ; to intimidate all wit- 
 nesses who came to give evidence against them ; and 
 even to deter juries from giving a conscientious verdict. 
 Were not the same terrors hung over the heads of the 
 judges and magistrates, to scare them from the performance 
 of their sacred duty." 
 
 On the 23d of May, the rebellion broke out ; and was 
 pursued with the most infatuated and diabolical violence. 
 It would be foreign to the design, and too diffuse for the 
 compass of this treatise, to give a history of this rebellion ; 
 and it would be quite superfluous, as SirRichardMusgrave's 
 history contains a copious account of all particulars con- 
 nected with it. There are also two publications extant, 
 of a local nature Jackson's Narrative, and Taylor's 
 History of the Rebellion in Wexfbrd ; and there is a 
 compressed account, of a general nature, in the Annual 
 Register for 1798. I shall, therefore, only advert briefly 
 to such prominent and characteristic acts of atrocity and 
 cruelty, and such well authenticated religious instructions, 
 which excited them, as shall be directly and immediately 
 applicable to my subject. As other histories of this 
 nefarious conspiracy have been published, which differ 
 materially from these, from which only I have extracted, 
 I think it necessary to give my reasons for this preference. 
 Plainly then, I have seen no other, on which I could 
 depend : and these carry with them the accredited passport 
 of authenticity the internal demonstration of the truth 
 of the facts related. The acute and learned Bishop Burnet, 
 in his History of the Reformation, sets out with this 
 declaration, " I shall take an effectual way to be believed." 
 This he has effected, by suffering nothing he advances as 
 facts, to be dependent on his own assertions ; but he gives 
 his proofs ; and, as these are at too great length to be
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 interwoven in, without breaking the thread of, his history, 
 he adds them in an appendix. This method, exactly, Sir 
 Richard Musgrave has taken ; and his history, Jackson's 
 narrative, Taylor's history, and the sketch in the Annual 
 Register, agree with the reports of the secret committees 
 of the houses of lords and commons in Ireland, in the 
 facts, at least, if it be assumed not always in the inferences. 
 The reports are founded on the confession of some of the 
 chiefs of the conspiracy ; ' with whom the government 
 entered into this kind of compromise, as an equivalent 
 for their discoveries; "Not body's death, but body's 
 banishment." They are founded also, exclusive of these 
 confessions, on the important information which the 
 government was in possession of, prior to these confes- 
 sions which enabled them to come at the root of the 
 conspiracy ; and which demonstrates the mercy shewn 
 these chiefs to be gratuitous ; whose doom had been, 
 else, certain ; and whose confessions were not wanted, 
 except for the purpose of convincing the deluded and 
 unbelieving. 
 
 A short time previous to the breaking out of the 
 rebellion, James O'Coigly, an Irish Romish priest, who 
 was deep in the conspiracy, was convicted and executed 
 in England, whither he had gone from Ireland, to forward 
 the cause of the united traitors, pending the preconcerted 
 rebellion and invasion. 
 
 An act was passed, authorizing grand juries to present 
 any newspaper, containing seditious or libellous matter, 
 as a nuisance ; and also authorizing the magistrates, on 
 such presentation, to suppress the paper, and seize and 
 destroy the printing materials, &c. A paper called " The 
 Press," was, therefore, suppressed, and some of ita 
 principal supporters taken into custody. 
 
 The great and acknowledged object of this rebellion 
 was the separation of Ireland from the crown of England. 
 C)f the collateral objects, the reader will be ab/e to form 
 a tolerably correct estimate, from the following extracts; 
 which will be found to preserve a very close chain of 
 connexion with the previous historical facts, which I havn 
 given in this treatise.
 
 238 THETHUE STATE 
 
 SIR RICHARD MUSGRAVE'S HISTORY. "James Beaghan, 
 executed on Vinegar Hill, the 21th of June, 1799, for 
 various murders, which, he said, lie was instigated by 
 popish priests to commit, confessed, * that every man 
 that was a protestant was called an Orangeman, and every 
 one was to be killed, from the poorest man in the country. 
 They thought it no more sin to kill a protestant than a dog.' 
 
 IBID " It appears, on the evidence of different persons, 
 that one hundred and eighty-four protestants were burned 
 in the barn of Scullabogue," where they had been col- 
 lected for the purpose, " and that thirty-seven were shot 
 at the front of it." 
 
 IBID " Ninety-seven protestants were put to death on 
 the bridge of Wexford, in the following manner : -two 
 rebels pushed their pikes into the breast of the victim, 
 and two into his back ; and, in that state, writhing with 
 torture, they held him suspended, until dead, and then 
 threw him over the bridge into the water !" 
 
 The following, from the same author, is a description 
 of the Carmelites, a religious order among the Romanists, 
 which originated with some mendicant friars, who induced 
 the popish multitude to believe, that an admission into it 
 would ensure them eternal happiness. 
 
 " At their initiation they received a square piece of 
 brown cloth, with the letters I. H. S. inscribed on it, 
 which was hung round the neck with a string, and lying 
 on the shoulder, next to the skin, was, from its situation, 
 called a scapular. The price of it, on initiation, to the 
 poorer class, was one shilling ; to those who could afford 
 it, higher in proportion to their ability. To it was ascribed 
 protection from outward dangers and injuries from the 
 ghostly enemy from a house, in which one of them 
 happened to be, being consumed by fire or of extin- 
 guishing one on fire, if thrown into the flames, while the 
 scapular would remain sale." 
 
 " This soon became the signal by which those of the 
 true faith were to know eacli other, and the rallying 
 point for those devotees who carried on the croisade 
 against the heretics ; and a shop was opened soon after the 
 lantling of the French," (the 844 that landed at Killala,)
 
 OF TH E QUESTION. 
 
 "where all the Sons of Erin, with their pikes in their 
 hands, were supplied with scapulars at regulated prices I" 
 
 IBID "One of the favourite toasts, at the convivial 
 meetings of the rebels, was ' A total extirpation of the 
 protestants.' 
 
 IBID " A member of the Irish directory acknowledged, 
 while in prison, that the alarming reports about the 
 Orangemen were invented by them merely as a device to 
 stimulate the mass of the papists against the protestants, 
 and the priests eagerly adopted it for that purpose." 
 
 IBID " An oath was found on board the Gladiator, 
 by which the Irish traitors in the fleet, bound each other 
 in the year 1798, to carry it into Brest, and afterwards 
 to kill all protestants." 
 
 IBID " It was often asserted in the committees, that a 
 person would ensure salvation by killing a certain number 
 of protestants :" "that a Roman-catholic would certainly 
 go to heaven, if he killed three protestants." 
 
 IBID " Denis Sullivan and Daniel KeerFe* were con- 
 victed of having compelled Luke O'Brien, a soldier, with 
 a cocked pistol at his breast, to swear that he would not 
 bo true to the king, because he was not qualified, or 
 entitled to enjoy the crown." 
 
 IBID " An oath exhibited to Phineas Hunt, Tipperary, 
 for him to swear, contained an obligation to murder all 
 the protestants in the kingdom." 
 
 IBID " In 1797 during the spring assizes in Waterford, 
 Doctor Hussey preached two sermons of an inflammatory 
 tendency ; and some time before, he said, in a sermon 
 preached in a chapel in Dublin, You may talk of 
 liberality as much as you will ; but you may be assured 
 of this, that no person can be saved out of your church.' 
 
 JACKSON'S NARRATIVE. " The extinction of the pro- 
 testant religion was the favourite idea of the great mass 
 of the rebels, and their strongest motive to action. la 
 the town of Wexfbrd, protestant men and women were 
 obliged to recant; and, with their children, were re- 
 quired to be baptized in the catholic chapel, after the 
 Roman-catholic manner, and to attend mass. Even the 
 protection granted by the priests to the protestaut men
 
 4-0 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 and women, after they had been thus baptized, was, 
 
 * Protect, in the name of Jesus Christ, A. B. he or she 
 having been made a Christian, and a member of the 
 catholic church.' (Signed by the priest.)" 
 
 IBID " At the battle of Three Rocks, before the 
 town of Wexford was taken by the rebels, a priest, of 
 the name of Murphy, marched at their head, telling 
 them to follow him, and not to fear ; for if they took up 
 the dust from the roads, and threw it at the king's troops, 
 they would fall dead before them. The rebel camps 
 were constantly attended by numbers of priests, saying 
 mass every day, and pretending to give charms which 
 would prevent the balls of the soldiers from injuringthem." 
 
 IBID " That no compunction might arise in their 
 breasts, on account of the murders they were daily com- 
 mitting, their priests assured them, it was ordained by 
 God, and that it had been prophesied there should be 
 but one religion, and that was to be the Roman catholic ; 
 so that, in destroying the protestants, they were perform- 
 ing a duty to Heaven." 
 
 TAYLOR'S HISTORY " Each vied with the other who 
 should put the greatest number to death. Among those 
 sanguinary heroes, stand most noted the names of Fardy, 
 Sinnott, Redmond, and Miskella, who trampled on the 
 wounded bodies, and behaved otherwise so bloody, as to 
 obtain for themselves the title of" the true-born Romans." 
 IBID Copy of a priest's protection to the rebels, 
 which he sold them, and which, by hanging about their 
 necks, he said, " would make the person who wore it, 
 proof against all the power of heretical artillery." 
 
 * IN in.' 
 
 ' In the name of God, I II S and of the Blessed Virgin.' 
 
 AMEN. 
 
 * No gun, pistol, sword, or any other offensive weapon, 
 can hurt, or otherwise injure the person who has this 
 paper in his possession ; and it is earnestly recommended 
 to all women with-child, to carry it, as it will be found 
 an infallible preservation against the fatality of child-bed.' 
 
 - ' No. 7G01.' ROACH.'
 
 4>F TH E QUESTION. 
 
 IBID " There was another oath taken by the papists, 
 which the disaffected protestants and presbyterians knew 
 nothing of; this was caUed the black test, and was as 
 follows : ' Every Loyal Irish Protestant Heretic, I Shall 
 Murder, And This I Swear/ Such as bound themselves 
 under this oath, had a pass word, by which they knew 
 each other any where they should meet. This pass word 
 was the initials of the several words in the oath, and no 
 
 individual knew this, but such as were sworn. 
 
 *ELIPHISMATIS* was the pass word." 
 
 IBID Of the massacre on 'Wexford bridge, he says: 
 ** In the evening, Thomas Dixon assisted the murdering 
 band, and immediately hoisted that harbinger of destruc- 
 tion, the black flag, which had on one side a bloody 
 cross, and on the other, the initials, M. W. S. ; that is, 
 Murder Without Sin." 
 
 IBID " The following notice was posted on the church 
 door of Killashee, in the county of Longford, a few days 
 after the French troops landed at Killala :" 
 
 " TAKE NOTICE," 
 
 " Heretical usurpers, that the brave slaves of this island 
 wili no longer live in bondage ; the die is cast, our deli- 
 verers are come, and the royal brute who held the iron 
 rod of despotic slaver}', is expiring ; no longer shall 
 one govern four. The old holy religion shall be re-esta- 
 blished in this house, and the earth shall no longer be 
 burthened with bloody heretics ; who, under the pretence 
 of rebellion, (which they themselves have raised,) mean 
 to massacre us." 
 
 " Tlie flow'r-de-luce, and harp we w r ill display, 
 " While tyrant heretics shall moulder into ckiy." 
 
 " IlLVENGE ! REVENGE ! REVENGE !" 
 
 IBID " While these were torturing, I thought I would 
 surely be the next, as there was only one between me 
 and death, when the Lord appeared in our behalf, by 
 sending Mr. Corrin, parish priest of Wexford, to rescue 
 u.s. When he came to the place of execution, he 
 exclaimed * Oh ! what is it you are doing, desist from
 
 242 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 shedding innocent blood, there has been too much of 
 that already ; you have lost y&ur cause, and for God's 
 sake shed no more : on which, these inhuman monsters 
 exclaimed 'they^are all bloody Orangemen, we will 
 pike them, for this is the way they would serve us, if 
 they had us in their power.' Mr. Corrin then took oft' 
 his hat, and requested them to kneel down, and pray for 
 the souls of the poor prisoners, before they would kill any 
 more of them. They obeyed ; and when he had got 
 them in the attitude of devotion, he said, ' now pray, 
 that the Lord Jesus may give you to feel that mercy 
 for them, which you expect from him in the hour of 
 death, and in the' day of judgment.' This was suc- 
 cessful." 
 
 IBID ** The following articles of popish faith, were 
 fbund in the pocket of Priest Murphy, who was killed at 
 the battle of Arklow :"* 
 
 1st...* When we assemble, we cross ourselves, saying : 
 ** We acknowledge these our articles, in the presence 
 of Christ's vicar, our Lord God the pope, and in the 
 presence of the holy primates, bishops, monks, friars, 
 and priests." 
 
 2d...* We acknowledge they can make vice virtue, and 
 virtue vice, according to their pleasure. Falling flat 
 on their faces, they proceed in this manner, speaking 
 to the Host, and saying : " Holy, glorious, and admi- 
 rable Host, we acknowledge it according to our good 
 father, the pope, we must all fall down before the 
 great effigy of our Lord God Almighty." 
 3d...* AVe acknowledge the supremacy of the holy father, 
 the Lord God the pope-, and that he is Peter's successor 
 in the chair.' 
 
 4th...* We acknowledge that Peter has the Key s of Heaven, 
 and that he will receive those only who acknowledge 
 his supremacy.' 
 
 5th...* We are bound to believe there can be no salvation 
 out of our holy church.' 
 
 * This writer observes, in a note, " these articles have also cppeared in the Ia;t edition 
 of Veridicus." I have not seen Veridicus. But thry are to be found in Sir Richard 
 Musgravc's history also.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 6th. ,. We are bound to believe, that the late holy mas- 
 sacre was lawful, and justly put in execution against 
 protestants, and that we should continue the same, as 
 long as we can do it with safety to ourselves.' 
 7th...* We are bound to curse, ring the bells, and put out 
 
 the candles, four times each year, on heretics.' 
 8th...* We are bound to believe that heretics can never 
 be saved, unless they partake of that holy sacrament, 
 extreme unction.' 
 
 9th...' We are bound to believe, that those who elope from 
 our holy religion, are under the power of the Devil, 
 whom heretics follow.' 
 
 10th../ No faith is to be kept with heretics, though 
 
 bound by the most sacred oaths ; for, says our holy 
 
 father, they have followed damnation, and Luther and 
 
 Calvin.' 
 
 1 1th...* We are not bound to believe their oaths, for their 
 
 principles are damnation.' 
 
 12th...' We are bound to drive heretics out of the land, 
 with fire, sword, faggot, and confusion ; as our holy 
 father says, if their heresy prevails, we are still to 
 become their slaves. Oh ! dear Father, keep us from 
 that. (Here the holy water is shaken, and they say 
 Hail Mary three times.') 
 
 l^th...* We are bound to absolve, without any reward, all 
 those who embrue their hands in the blood of heretics.' 
 14th...* We are bound to believe, that Christ's vicar, our 
 Lord God the pope, can absolve all men, (heretics 
 excepted,) and has given the like power to all his 
 inferior clergv.' 
 
 15th...* We are bound to believe all the articles com- 
 manded by our holy church.' 
 iCth...* We are bound to believe, that the Virgin Mary 
 
 has more honour in Heaven, than any of the angels.' 
 17th...' We are bound to pray to the holy angels, that 
 
 they may pray for us.' 
 
 18th...' We are bound to believe in the holy cross, holy 
 \vatcr, holy spittle, holy earth, holy bones, holy people, 
 and beads ; and that they are to Ue used on certain 
 occasions.'
 
 244 1HE TRUE STATE 
 
 19th../ We are bound to celebrate the holy mass in 
 Latin, having ourselves clothed in a holy vestment and 
 shirt, bearing the holy cross on our shoulders, signi- 
 fying we are the very Christ.' 
 
 20th.. / We are bound to believe, every time mass is 
 celebrated, there is an expiatory for the living and the 
 dead/ 
 
 21st...' We are bound to believe there are four places of 
 Purgatory, viz. : Limbus infantum, Limbus patrum, 
 Meadows of Ease, and Purgatory.' 
 
 22d../ We are bound to believe that Christ was three 
 days in Limbus patrum, where the souls of holy fathers 
 go, till they get a pass with them to the holy Peter.' 
 53d...' We are bound to believe, that the souls of children 
 unbaptized, go to the Limbus infantum, until original 
 sin is well purged away, by the help of holy masses 
 said for them/ 
 
 '21-th...' We acknowledge the souls of Christians go to 
 Purgatory, and remain there till we pray them out of 
 it, that they may have the power to walk the Meadows 
 of Ease with safety, till it pleases holy Peter to open 
 the Gates of Glory for them, where no heretic shall 
 ever enter/ 
 
 25th../ We are bound to keep Lent according to our 
 clergy's pleasure, and to maintain the work of supere- 
 rogation/ 
 2()th../ We are bound to acknowledge the lake in the 
 
 North to be holy, called Lough Darragh/ 
 27th../ We are bound to pray to no other saint on that 
 
 day, only them to whom it is dedicated/ 
 28th../ We must baptize bells, and consecrate chapels', 
 and no man to enter the holy office of a priest, only 
 he who is known to be a man, after the harlot Joan/ 
 29th../ We maintain seven sacraments essential to salva- 
 tion, viz. : Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, 
 Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.' 
 30th../ We maintain we can transubstantiate the bread 
 
 and wine, into the real body and blood of Christ/ 
 -ilst../ We believe that heretics eat their kiiul or' sacra- 
 ment, to their eternal damnation/
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 32d...' We believe that Christ is every where, but espe- 
 
 cially in our church.' 
 33(1...' We maintain* that we cannot know any thing, 
 
 without being in clanger of judgment.' 
 31-th...' We maintain, that heretics have neither the will 
 
 of the prophets, nor of Christ.' 
 35th...' We acknowledge that the Rosary of St. Bridget 
 
 is to be said once a week ; and, lastly, that our holy 
 
 church can never err.' 
 
 ANNUAL. REGISTER, 1798. " The rebels made an attack 
 on the town of Knniscorthy, which they carried." ' The 
 loyalists would have repulsed the rebels, had not the 
 catholic inhabitants treacherously set fire to the town, to 
 smother the troops who were defending it.' Jackson's 
 
 JBID (Of Scullabogue Barn.) " The wretched vic- 
 tims who attempted to escape through a small window, 
 were received on the pikes of the rebels, and thrown 
 back into the flames." 
 
 IBID " An almost indiscriminate system of plunder 
 prevailed ; nor were the leaders able to preserve the least 
 order or discipline among their fanatical and licentious 
 followers. It is a remarkable circumstance, that though 
 the chiefs of the United Irishmen were evidently hostile 
 to all religious establishments,, the people were directly 
 the contrary ;. and the majority of them engaged in 
 the cause, professedly, because they believed, ' that the- 
 heretics, who had reigned upwards of one hundred years,, 
 were now to be extirpated,, and the true catholic religion 
 established/ Such protestants as joined the rebel army, 
 were obliged to be baptized in the Romish chapels ; and 
 even Mr. Harvey, and the other chieftaius, were com- 
 pelled to attend mass; and, at least* outwardly, to.conform 
 to the rites of that religion." 
 
 REPORT OF THE SOCKET COMMITTEE OF THE IRISH 
 HOUSE OF COMMONS, 1798. It reiers to a secret com- 
 mittee of the lords, in 1793, and secret committees of 
 both houses, in 1797; declares, that the allegations stated 
 in these, are fully confirmed by farther evidence, anil 
 subsequent events \ and proceeds- to state, that " Tlie
 
 24*6 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 society of United Irishmen was established in the year 
 1791. Its founders held forth what they termed catholic 
 emancipation, and parliamentary reform, as the ostensible 
 objects' of their union ; but it clearly appeared, from the 
 letters of Theobald Wolfe Tone, accompanying their ori- 
 ginal constitution, as transmitted to Belfast for adoption, 
 that from its commencement, the real purpose of those 
 who were at the head of the institution, was, to separate 
 Ireland from Great Britain, and to subvert the established 
 constitution of this kingdom." 
 
 " To deter the well affected from joining the yeomanry 
 corps, and to render the administration of justice alto- 
 gether ineffectual, the most active system of terror was 
 put in operation. Persons enrolled in the yeomanry, 
 magistrates, witnesses, jurors ; in a word, every class 
 and description of people who ventured to support the 
 laws, became objects of the most cruel persecution, in 
 their persons, property, and even in the line of their 
 business ; and multitudes were compelled to take their 
 illegal oaths, and profess an adherence to the party, as a 
 means of security." 
 
 The report farther states, the practice of several thou- 
 sands assembling in military array, under pretence of 
 saving corn, and digging potatoes, funerals, foot-ball 
 meetings, &c. j but, in fact, to terrify the peaceable and 
 well disposed, and to compel them to enter into their 
 treasonable associations; with a view of displaying their 
 strength ; giving the people the habit of assembling from 
 great distances, upon an order being issued, and making 
 them more accustomed to shew themselves openly, in 
 support of the cause. 
 
 The report farther states i " From several authentic 
 reports of their own proceedings, it appears, that consi- 
 derable sums of money were subscribed, for the purpose 
 of defending such of their associates, as should bebroi. : 
 to trial. That they had itinerant committees, who wen: 
 circuit as regularly as the judges. That a bar of iaxvyers 
 were retained, to undertake the cause of all persons in 
 the gross, committed for slate offences. Entries oi' mone\ 
 appear in their proceedings, as paid to procure, as well
 
 OF THE QUESTION. . 247 
 
 as to buy off, witnesses : in many cases to gaolers, for 
 being guilty of breaches of trust ; and even to under 
 sheriffs, for returning partial pannels. Hand-bills, to 
 intimidate jurors, were circulated, and every species of 
 indecent management practised in the courts, to exclude 
 from the jury-box persons unconnected with their party." 
 " A new organization of the society took place in 
 August, 1797." 
 
 The committee, in their report, refer to the exami- 
 nation, upon oath, before the secret committee of the 
 lords, of Doctor M'Nevin, (a member of their executive 
 directory,) for the detailed application of this new system, 
 to military purposes. 
 
 The report then refers to the connexion of the party 
 whli the French directory, in Appendix, No. 31. 
 
 Doctor M'Nevin, in his examination, states, that " he 
 was authorized to give France assurances of being repaid 
 the full expenses of any future armament she might send 
 to Ireland, as well as the last, which had miscarried ; the 
 same to be raised by the confiscation of the lands of the 
 church, and of the property of all those who should 
 oppose the measures of the party." 
 
 In one of the trials in Dublin, an expression of one of 
 the conspirators came out, on the evidence of Captain, 
 Armstrong, of the King's County militia, one of the^ 
 crown witnesses. " Mr. Lawless remarked," said Captain 
 Armstrong, " that the trees to the right of the camp, 
 would be very convenient for hanging people." Captain 
 Armstrong also described the instructions given to him- 
 self, in his military capacity, by the conspirators, to have 
 been, "that no other person was to be spared, who was 
 not an United Irishman." 
 
 Before I proceed to the report of the secret committee 
 
 of the lords, I think it expedient to give fabricated 
 
 rules and regulations of the Orangemen, from 
 Appendix, No. 26, of the report of the commons ; toge- 
 ther with the preliminary observations, from the same 
 Appendix. 
 
 " As an instance of the arts used,, to make the Orange 
 association an occasion of exciting in the brcusb of the
 
 18 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 lower classes of catholics, the most malignant and vindic- 
 tive passions, the following series of fabricated rules and 
 regulations, intended to be considered as those of the 
 Orangemen, are here inserted. The copy from which they 
 are transcribed, was found in the house of Marlay, a taylor, 
 in Hoey's-court; but similar copies were frequently found, 
 both on the persons, and in the houses,of United Irishmen." 
 1st..." Resolved unanimously, that each and every mem- 
 ber, be furnished with a case of horse pistols, and a 
 sword ; also, that every member shall have twelve 
 rounds of ball cartridge." 
 3d...'* Resolved, that every man shall be ready at a 
 
 moment's warning." 
 
 3d..." Resolved, that no member is to introduce a papist 
 or presbyterian, quaker or methodist, or any persua- 
 sion, but a protestaut." 
 4th..." Resolved, that no man wear Irish manufacture, 
 
 nor give employment to any papist." 
 5th..." Resolved, that every man shall be ready, at a 
 moment's warning, to burn all the chapels and meeting- 
 houses in the city and county of Dublin." 
 6th..." Resolved, that any man that will give information 
 of any house he suspects to be an United Irishman's, will 
 get the sum of five pounds, and his name kept private." 
 7th..." Resolved, that no member will introduce any man 
 tinder the age of nineteen, or over the age of forty-six." 
 REPORT OF THE SECRET COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF 
 LORDS, 1798. From Doctor M'Nevin's examination, 
 before this committee, 7th of August, 1798 : " In a 
 written memoir, taken by an accredited agent, to the 
 directory, in France, containing the objects of his mission, 
 according to the instructions he had received from the 
 executive, it is mentioned, ' that the catholic priests had 
 ceased to be alarmed at the calumnies which had been 
 propagated, of French irreligion, and were all affected to 
 the cause. That someof them had rendered great service 
 in propagating, with discreet zeal, the system of the 
 union." 
 
 IBID. -From the examination of Thomas Addis F.iru 
 mett :
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 " Question. How do you account for the people being 
 so loyal and well disposed, while the French were in 
 Bantiy Bay ?" 
 
 " Answer. About November, 17fX> a messenger 
 arrived here from France, who stated, that a descent 
 would immediately be made with fifteen thousand men. 
 In a very few days after this messenger had quitted 
 Ireland, on his return, a letter arrived, which was consi- 
 dered as authentic by the Irish executive, stating the 
 expedition was deferred until spring, when England would 
 l>e invaded, and probably Ireland. This contradiction, 
 then, threw the executive off their guard ; in conse- 
 quence of which, no measures were taken to prepare the 
 people for the reception of the French army. The 
 people were left to themselves." 
 
 IBID From the information, on oath, before four magis- 
 trates, of Richard G randy, farmer, 23d of June, 1798 ; who 
 had escaped from the rebels. " Saith, that he attended 
 mass, celebrated by Edward Murphy, parish priest of 
 Bannow ; that, after mass, he heard said Murphy preach 
 a sermon, in which he said, ' Brethren, you see you are 
 victorious every where that the balls of the heretics fly 
 about you without hurting you that few of you have 
 fallen, whilst thousands of the heretics are dead, and that 
 the few that have fallen, was for deviating from our cause, 
 and want of faith ; that this, visibly, is the work of God, 
 who is now determined, that the heretics, who have 
 reigned upwards of an hundred years, should be now 
 extirpated, and the true catholic religion established.' 
 And deponent saith, that this sermon was preached after 
 the battle of Ross ; and saith, he has heard several 
 sermons preached by the priests to the same effect ; and 
 farther saith, that lie has heard several of the rebels, who 
 had been at the battle of Enniscorthy, and elsewhere, 
 declare, that Edward Roche, the priest, did constantly 
 catch the bullets that came from his majesty's army in his 
 hand, and give them to the rebels, to load their guns 
 with. Deponent farther saith, that any protestant who 
 was admitted into the rebel army, was first baptized 
 by a Roman-catholic priest, and that every protestant
 
 50 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 who refused to be baptized, was put to death, and 
 that many, to save their lives, suffered themselves to be 
 baptized." 
 
 IBID. " The stale pretexts of parliamentary reform, 
 and catholic emancipation, found ineffectual, it was 
 represented to the people, that it was necessary to 
 organize in their own defence ; as their protestant 
 fellow-subjects had entered into a solemn league and 
 covenant to destroy them having sworn to wade up 
 to their knees in popish blood. And also, that their 
 organization would lead to the abolition of tithes, and to a 
 distribution of property, inasmuch as they would become 
 members of a democracy which would govern the country." 
 
 I cannot conclude my extracts from this report, without 
 stating a farther passage, in Doctor M'Nevin's own 
 words, in his examination ; which contains a very remark- 
 able declaration. " The intention was to abolish the 
 church establishment, and not to have any established 
 religion, but that all persons should exercise their res- 
 pective religion, and pay their own clergy : for my part, 
 I would as soon establish the Mahometan as the popish 
 religion, though I am myself a Roman-catholic." 
 
 When the account of the rebellion reached England, 
 the English militia made a voluntary and spirited offer 
 of their services ; to aid, with the other forces in Ireland, 
 in suppressing it. In consequence, a message was sent 
 by his majesty to the English parliament ; and a bill was 
 passed, enabling his majesty to accept the offer. As 
 great a part of the regular troops as could be spared, had 
 been already sent over : and some of the English militia 
 and fencibles quickly followed. The efficient aid of 
 these; the brave and loyal co-operation of the troops and 
 yeomanry of Ireland ; the timely proclamation of martial 
 law throughout the whole country ; the vigilance of the 
 Irish executive government ; the convictions ; the deve- 
 lopement of the conspiracy, by the confession of some of 
 the conspirators ; all contributed to the speedy suppression 
 of the rebellion. 
 
 A remarkable and conspicuous feature, in the progress 
 of this rebellion, presents itself. The unfortunate protest-
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 251 
 
 ant gentleman who had the chief military command in 
 Wexford, retired from it, long before the confederacy was 
 overpowered by the royal army, in deep disgust and with 
 sincere repentance ; shocked and amazed at those dia- 
 bolical cruelties, and savage murders of innocent and 
 inoffensive protestants, which he had not the power to 
 prevent or mitigate. From this command, he had for 
 some time retired, before his apprehension. 
 
 In the speech of the viceroy, (Marquis Cornwallis,) to 
 the parliament, the 8th of October, some time after the 
 rebellion was suppressed, is the following passage. 
 
 " Religion, that greatest comfort and support of man- 
 kind, has been most wickedly perverted to the purpose 
 of inflaming the worst of passions ; and the vilest arts 
 have been used to persuade the ignorant and unwary, 
 that in a reign which has been marked by a series of 
 indulgences to all sorts of Christians, it is the intention 
 of his majesty's government to oppress, and even to 
 extirpate, that description of his majesty's subjects, who 
 have received repeated and recent marks of his favour 
 and protection." 
 
 It is not surprising that a charge of this wicked and 
 false nature, as to the views of the Orangemen, to suit 
 the malignant and sinister purposes of Jesuitical subtilty, 
 should have been made, when the government itself has 
 not escaped it. The government will, beyond question, 
 as it did then, effectually, and as is its bounden duty at 
 all times, resist, " with the utmost vigour snd decision," 
 every attempt to overturn our happy constitution, and 
 rob and murder those who support, and are well affected 
 to it. 
 
 To this crime, of this presumption, the Orangemen 
 plead guilty. True to their principles true to their 
 allegiance, (which taken in its legal and proper gense, 
 allows not neutrality, much less treachery, for they 
 < annot be absolved from this allegiance,) and, as "the 
 great captain" expressed himsolf, " true to their oaths ;" 
 they will be always ready to co-operate with the govern- 
 ment for this purpose ; and to contribute their zealous 
 and steady, but obedient and subordinate efforts, to defeat
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 any conspiracy against his sacred majesty, his crown and 
 dignity, this free constitution, and the protestant succes- 
 sion in his majesty's illustrious house. To this, they are 
 incited by the strongest of all inducements their duty 
 and their interest. The duty is obvious : the interest is 
 of the most important and vital nature ; involving every 
 thing valuable in life, and even including life itself. 
 But any necessity of such farther proof of their fidelity, 
 a second time, they sincerely deprecate. 
 
 I think it material to furnish the reader in this place, 
 with the address of the protestants of Dublin, assuming 
 the name of Orangemen, to the loyal subjects of Ireland. 
 
 " TO THE LOYAL SUBJECTS OF IRELAND." 
 
 " From the various attempts that have been made to 
 poison the public mind, and slander those who have had 
 the spirit to adhere to their king and constitution, and 
 to maintain the laws :" 
 
 " We the protestants of Dublin, assuming the name of 
 Orangemen, feel ourselves called upon, not to vindicate our 
 principles, for \ve know that our honour and loyalty bid 
 defiance to the shafts of malevolence and disaffection, but, 
 openly to disavow those principles, and declare to the 
 world the objects of our institution." 
 
 " We have long observed, with indignation, the efforts 
 that have been made to foment rebellion in this kingdom, 
 by the seditious, who haveformed themselves into societies, 
 under the specious name of United Irishmen." 
 
 " We have seen with pain, the lower orders of our 
 fellow-subjects forced or seduced from their allegiance, by 
 the threats and machinations of traitors." 
 
 " And we have viewed with horror, the successful ex- 
 ertions of miscreants to encourage a foreign enemy to 
 invade this happy land, in hopes of rising into consequence 
 on the downfal of their country." 
 
 "We, therefore, think it high time to rally round the 
 constitution, and pledge ourselves to each other to main- 
 tain the Jaws, and support our good king against all his 
 enemies, whether rebels to their God or to their country*
 
 OF THE QUEST ION. 
 
 and, by so doing, shew to the world, that there is a body 
 of men in this island, who are ready, in the hour of danger, 
 to stand forward in the defence of that grand palladium 
 of our liberty the constitution of Great Britain and 
 Ireland, obtained and established by the courage and. 
 loyalty of onr ancestors, under the great King William.*' 
 " Fellow subjects ! we are accused of being an institu- 
 tion founded on principles too shocking to repeat, and 
 bound together by oaths, at which human nature would 
 shudder but we caution you not to be led away by such 
 malevolent falsehoods ; for we solemnly assure you, in the 
 presence of the Almighty (rod, that the idea of injuring 
 any one, on account of his religious opinion, never entered 
 into our hearts. We regard every loyal subject as our 
 friend, be his religion what it may j we have no enmity 
 but to the enemies of our country.*' 
 
 " We farther declare, that we are ready, at all times, 
 to submit ourselves to the orders of those in authority, 
 under his majesty, and that we will chearfully undertake 
 any duty which they should think proper to point out for 
 us, in case either a foreign enemy shall dare to invade 
 our coasts, or that a domestic foe should presume to raise 
 the standard of rebellion in the land ; to these principles 
 we are pledged, and in the support of them We are ready 
 to shed the last drop of our blood.*' 
 
 Although the rebellion was subdued, and the traitors 
 made to hide their heads, yet the spirit of it was not 
 thoroughly suppressed ; and is not yet extinct. This 
 affords a melancholy proof of innate depravity : for the 
 mercy shewn, when every thing was in the power of the 
 government, would have warranted the hope of a happier 
 result. To the mass of the people engaged in it, pardon 
 was extended : nor were chiefs and leaders pursued, after 
 the insurrection was crushed. Murderers only were the 
 objects of subsequent prosecutions. The sincerity of 
 repentance, and extent of gratitude, in rebels, the reader 
 may appreciate, from the commencement of a proclama- 
 tion by the king, the Kith of March, 1 7W. 
 
 " Whereas, we have reason to apprehend that divers 
 persons, engaged in the treasonable conspiracy against
 
 254? THE TRUE STATE 
 
 us in our kingdom of Ireland, which lately manifested 
 itself in open acts of rebellion and war against us in our 
 said kingdom, have not abandoned their treasonable de- 
 signs against us ; and, acting in concert with our foreign 
 enemies, are preparing to assist our said enemies in an 
 invasion of our kingdoms, and for that purpose are endea- 
 vouring to stir up rebellion and war against us in this 
 kingdom : &c." The proclamation then directs, that no 
 person shall be permitted to pass from Ireland to England, 
 except those in the king's service, or who shall obtain pass- 
 ports from the viceroy, or his secretaries, the mayors or 
 magistrates of towns, or generals of districts. Those diso- 
 beying, to be taken into custody, to await the king'spleasure. 
 
 To this, I think it applicable to subjoin some passages, 
 from a report of a secret committee of the English house 
 of commons in 1799. 
 
 " The persons principally engaged in it," (the mutiny 
 in the British fleet,) " even in its early stages, were many 
 of them United Irishmen. The mutineers were bound, 
 by secret oaths, to the perpetration of the greatest crimes. 
 An attempt was made to give to the ships in mutiny, the 
 name of ' the floating republic." 
 
 " The priest, O'Coigly, and another priest who had 
 fled from Ireland, were the principal persons who had 
 opened the communication with the United Britons." 
 
 " Many Irish, ordinarily resident here, chiefly among 
 the lowest classes of the community, have been gradually 
 induced to become members of this society. But the most 
 active part consists of those Irish rebels who have fled to 
 this country ; rendered desperate by their crimes, not 
 daring to return to Ireland, and either unable to make 
 their way to the countries subject to France, or not 
 receiving sufficient encouragement to attempt it, they 
 remain here, waiting for the opportunity of executing 
 those violent and desperate projects to .which they have 
 become familiar. And they appear to be under the 
 direction of some persons of a higher class, who sometimes 
 furnish pecuniary aid, and form the committee, by means 
 of which a constant correspondence is carried on, through 
 Hamburgh, with France."
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 255 
 
 In 1800, the union of the British and Irish legislatures 
 was arranged and completed ; which took place the 1st 
 of January, 1801. 
 
 The 20th of March, 1801, the earl of Westmoreland, 
 who had been viceroy in Ireland, thus expressed himself 
 in the united parliament : " Catholic emancipation had 
 long been the watch-word of rebellion in Ireland. It 
 seemed not to be considered, that the catholics were now 
 admitted to a participation of all the privileges of the 
 constitution ; that they were only excluded from holding 
 about thirty places of public trust, and from sitting in 
 parliament. Their lordships ought well to weigh how 
 much they would have to do, if they proceeded to take 
 off' these inconsiderable inabilities. Were they aware 
 that it would then be necessary to meddle with the 
 Toleration Act, the Bill of Rights, the Act of Settlement, 
 and probably the Union with Scotland." 
 
 It has been stated, that hopes had been held out of the 
 catholic claims being granted, in the event of the union 
 of Great Britain and Ireland taking place. I think it 
 necessary, therefore, to give a passage from a speech of 
 Mr. Pitt's, in the imperial parliament, the 25th of March, 
 1801, soon after his resignation of his office, which he 
 had filled with so much credit to himself, and service to 
 his country. 
 
 " All I shall say, is, that though I wished to submit the 
 catholic question to parliament, there were such objections 
 stated, as convinced me it was impossible for me to bring 
 the measure forward as a minister. These are the words 
 I chuse to use ; and no admissions nor denials shall be 
 extorted from me. Should the opposition infer that it 
 was the sovereign who had impeded the measure, and 
 therefore dismissed his ministers, or that the ministers 
 themselves had desired to resign, conjecture will prove 
 
 no fact." " The sovereign exercised his opinion on 
 
 the sentiments, as well as the rapacity of his ministers ; 
 and if he judged either unsuitcd or incompetent, it was 
 the prerogative, nay the dulv, of the crown to dismiss 
 them. If a minister felt he ought to propose any meusun , 
 and yet was convinced that success was impossible, it
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 proper for him to retire ; but in proportion to the reluc- 
 tance with which his resignation wa.s permitted, ought to 
 he his love for such a sovereign. Towards the best of 
 monarchs, he trusted he was not deficient in gratitude or 
 duty ; nor did he doubt but the motive of his actions 
 would be justified during the whole of his reign." 
 
 In the course of his speech, Mr. Pitt denied that the 
 catholics had received any pledge ; and said that he 
 "was authorised to deny that even the catholics supposed 
 they had received such a pledge : an expostulation was 
 natural, but a pledge was never given." 
 
 I must here make a few remarks. Complaints have 
 been made by the Romanists, or, which is the same thing, 
 by their expositors, that they were deceived into appro- 
 bation of the measure of the union, on a supposition that 
 their claims would be subsequently granted. Nay, the 
 pledge has been stated to have been given. Here, then, 
 is the denial of such pledge : and the onus probcmdi 
 would necessarily lie on those who assert it, of its actual 
 existence. This proof has not been given. It is not, 
 therefore, too much to assume, that no such proof can 
 be given. But, to take the argument in another view, 
 suppose that what was not given, though falsely asserted 
 to have been given, had been really given : to what could 
 
 it amount ? Would the pledge of any minister, nay, 
 
 of any human being, be of any avail, in a matter of this 
 nature ? This question, perhaps, can be best answered, 
 by proposing another. Would any individual, however 
 high or elevated, be competent to give a pledge for 
 a measure, involving material changes in the established 
 constitution in church and state, which pledge should tie 
 down the three estates, king, lords, and commons, to 
 
 accede to it? This supposition, which flows from the 
 
 idea of a pledge, is so very absurd, that a man of far h s> 
 talents than Mr. Pitt was, could hardly be suspected of 
 entertaining it, which he must have done, if he had given 
 such a pledge. But it is only of a piece with all the rest 
 of the sinister machinations, and collusive logic of the 
 " talented'' party from which it has emanated. The 
 calumny does not even partake of sp deep a colour, as
 
 Of THE QUESTION. 257 
 
 being directed against a subject, as another, of a similar 
 nature, directed against an illustrious personage, high in 
 the esteem, and secure in the confidence and attachment 
 of the vast majority of well affected subjects in the united 
 empire ; against a character exalted far, far beyond the 
 impotent efforts of such foul-mouthed slanderers, by his 
 strict sense of honour, his fortitude, talents, .integrity, 
 and forbearance, much more than by his pre-eminent and 
 supreme rank; which rank alone should have secured 
 him, by all the laws of God and man, from any charges, 
 though even as literally true, as they were shamefully 
 and barefacedly false. 
 
 This part of the subject reminds me, and will bring to 
 my reader's recollection, the dinner anecdote ; in the 
 course of which, an old talkative gentleman, greedy of 
 ephemeral popularity, entertained his entertainers with 
 one of his amusing old stories ; wherein he asserted, that 
 another elevated and venerable personage had expressed 
 himself, to him, in a conversation some years back, in 
 words, touching " the catholic question," which 1 chuse 
 not to repeat. The reader will either remember the 
 substance of them, or must, if he chuses to come at them, 
 search the newspaper reports for himself. I have only to 
 remark, first, that the words, so affirmed to have been 
 spoken, were, in their order of time, attributed to a 
 period subsequent to the Relief Bills of 1778, 1782, 1792, 
 and 1793. Secondly, that the tale does not agree with 
 the known constancy, and much admired constitutional 
 principles, of the upright, and in spite of the sneers of 
 ignorance and faction, learned and able personage therein 
 alluded to: which principles directed the dismission, on 
 the 24th of March, 1807, of the then ministers, for press- 
 ing on him this very question. Nay, the tale is broadly 
 and demonstratively contradicted by that celebrated event. 
 But, perhaps the facetious orator did not recollect this 
 trifling circumstance. The exact time of the developement 
 has not a little puzzled my un-illu initiated head. Why 
 did not Mr. L*******r make this important communication 
 at a time when the exalted rpr<?onage, therein mentioned, 
 was not incapacitated, by his lamented illness, from di- 
 
 R
 
 258 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 cernirig its truth or falsehood : however reply rtiay be 
 justly considered inconsistent with his high station ? 
 Umph conscience, thou art but a slippery jade! No> 
 doubt, the anecdote would then have lost the exhilirating 
 grace of novelty, which co-operates with the enlivening 
 effects of Champaigne, in materially contributing to the 
 social " brotherhood of affection,'* in relieving the dull 
 uniformity which cramps the genius of plain matter-of-fact 
 men, and in enabling amiable, companionable, liberal, 
 witty, and talented individuals, to push the zest of art 
 evening's entertainment to the zenith of sublime incom- 
 prehensibility. Before I dismiss this part of my subject, 
 I think it due to the respectable and peaceable society, 
 to which this gentleman affects to belong, to give a 
 quotation> (and I chuse to give it in this place,) from the 
 Belfast Magazine, in 1811, volume the eighth. 
 
 " The people called quakers generally refuse to sign," 
 (a petition in favour of emancipation) "and, in an instance 
 where the right of private judgment was exerted, censure 
 was thrown on the person who subscribed the petition by 
 some of his more rigid brethren. This is the tyranny of 
 a sect, exercised on the right of private judgment. The 
 language is, ' Do not meddle in any act of a party. The 
 society ought to be so grateful for the many favours they 
 have received from government, as not to do any thing 
 displeasing to them.' If the favours conferred had been 
 greater than they are, for quakers certainly labour under 
 many disabilities and inconveniencies, on account of their 
 religious sentiments, and which in justice ought to be 
 remedied, in common with all other restrictions on 
 opinion, it is a completely selfish motive to decline to 
 assist others in the restoration of their rights, in gratitude 
 for exclusive benefits conferred on themselves, and, as to 
 the cant word of party, it ought to be remembered, that 
 party means an association of a number of persons, for 
 the purpose of attaining some e,nd ; and before party can 
 be condemned, the purposes to be accomplished ought to 
 be considered. A part) is either good, bad, or indifferent, 
 according to the ends they have in view. Doubtless, 
 many of this society, if they followed their individual
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 259 
 
 inclination, would join in an act of justice to our catholic 
 brethren : but the fear of the censure of a coercive disci- 
 .pline, and of the power of a church, a principle strongly 
 inculcated on them, and with no sect possessing greater 
 influence, restrains the spontaneous acts of the individuals. 
 It is a blessing to be emancipated from the Bastile of a 
 sect, and to be at liberty to exercise an independent 
 judgment, unbiassed by the opinions of popes, councils, 
 convocations, general assemblies, or yearly meetings." 
 
 1 shall leave to the penetration of my readers, to fathom 
 the design and scope, in any and every view, of this very 
 insidious paragraph. But, (as the only matter from which 
 it could have claimed notice, or required insertion, here,) 
 I submit, and, to the judicious and impartial, I may 
 safely submit, on the part of the society of friends, com- 
 monly called quakers, whether this be not sufficient 
 proof of a disclaimer, on their part, of such kind of inter- 
 ference as is exhibited in the conduct of the gentleman 
 above alluded to. 
 
 The Union was considered a measure of the utmost 
 importance, for the safety of Ireland, and the protection 
 of its loyal inhabitants, in the conservation of its connex- 
 ion with the crown of Great Britain. This has been the 
 most general opinion throughout the empire ; it includes 
 the sentiments of the majority, whether as to numbers or 
 respectability ; and is supported by this strong considera- 
 tion, that no interests could be reasonably assumed to 
 exist, or could properly be allowed to exist, in competition 
 with the paramount interests and safety of the state ; 
 \\hich necessarily involve the safety and protection of its 
 well affected inhabitants, and do not necessarily take into 
 account any particular or sinister interests of any other 
 description of inhabitants, less zealous in the great re- 
 quisite of patriotism, so much talked of, but so little 
 understood. The safety of the state is the supreme 
 law : and it is properly so : for, let this be once over- 
 turned, nay endangered, and its adherents may bid a 
 long farewel to their religious liberty, and also to their 
 ci\il laws, rights, liberties, properties, and even lives; 
 or, at best, life would not be worth the purchase, in
 
 260 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 surrendering all things which constitute its value ; and 
 which our bountiful Creator hath given us richly to enjtfy. 
 I feel myself bound to observe, that there were some, 
 of unquestionable loyalty, of pure motives, and of real 
 talents, who opposed the union. But such have been 
 since convinced of its utility. And for the comfort of 
 some well-meaning, but more ignorant individuals, there 
 is no substantial reason to fear, that the United parliament 
 will ever impose on Ireland, which is known to be wretch- 
 edly poor, compared with England, any burdens which 
 she may be unable to bear, or to suppose that it h?.s laid 
 on any, which the general exigency, in the long and 
 arduous struggle for independence, nay existence, w r ould 
 not have compelled her own parliament to have imposed, 
 in case it had existed, throughout the tremendous con- 
 flict, up to this happy and glorious sera of its termination. 
 But, thanks be to the great and merciful God, whose 
 superintending and preserving providence directs, rules,, 
 and governs all events, both in this present state of 
 existence, and in all " the varied modes of endless 
 being ;" this vital measure, the union, is now placed 
 beyond the power of cavil : and the brightest consolation 
 awaits those, who have been patient in enduring unto the 
 end, the inevitable burdens, inseparable from the long 
 external war, and the no less unavoidable and expensive 
 efforts in keeping under the evil genius of domestic 
 treachery. The stable basis on which our national secu- 
 rity now stands, affords the best grounded hope of opening 
 prosperity. The general consolidation of separate and 
 heterogeneous governments, as well as interests, by the 
 union of the legislatures, as well as sceptres, of England, 
 Scotland, and Ireland, into one condensed, independent, 
 and united empire : the consequent accession of strength 
 and safety to the empire : this empire, with the aid of 
 honourable and illustrious allies, under the countenance 
 and favour of the Most High, enabled to suppress the 
 last perfidious efforts of French banditti, which the 
 diabolical ruffian, their late chief, termed glory : and the 
 consequent clear prospect of the return of peace, good 
 order, and security, to which we have been so long
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 strangers : all conspire to point out an jcra of prosperity, 
 now commencing, unequalled in our annals. 
 
 In the year 1803, the malignant spirit, which it was 
 reasonably to have been hoped that the mercy before 
 granted would have quenched, rather than encouraged, 
 brok-e out again, in open rebellion, in the city of Dublin. 
 The attempts made in the north of Ireland, to incite its 
 inhabitants to join in this, failed : and the insurrection 
 was confined to the city of Dublin. It burst forth sud- 
 denly, with every appearance of temerity and infatuation, 
 at nine o'clock on Saturday evening, the 23d of July. 
 But it had been planned in concert with the French ruler, 
 Buonaparte, then first consul, who had, with his charac- 
 teristical perfidy, and satanical subtilty, by the treaty 
 of Amiens, entered into a peace, or rather truce short, 
 hollow, and delusive, for the direct purpose of obtaining 
 a more effectual opportunity of prosecuting such nefarious 
 views. For a comprehensive account of this, I refer ths 
 reader to the Annual Register for 1793. 
 
 By the bravery of even the few troops, who, on the 
 sudden emergency, could be collected from the nearest 
 places to Thomas-street, in which the rebels took their 
 station, the spirit of this insurrection was, almost imme- 
 diately after its breaking out, effectually damped ; for the 
 conspirators, whose number at the onset was small, calcu* 
 lated on the hope of progressive accumulation, before the 
 opposing force, on the sudden surprise, could muster. 
 And the insurrection was completely subdued before 
 twelve o'clock the same night : previous to which, the 
 military had poured in from all quarters. The rebels 
 were put to flight, with the loss of great numbers killed, 
 and some taken, who were executed. 
 
 With malignant ingenuity, the rebels had despatched 
 a forged summons to the learned and venerable Lord 
 Kil warden, lord chief justice of the king's bench, to attend 
 a council in the evening. Lord Kilwarden, and the Rev. 
 Mr. Wolfe, his nephew, passing through Thomas street, 
 in a carriage, to the castle, were barbarously drugged 
 from the carriage to the ground, and covered with wounds 
 from the pikes of the savages j \vhfv>o enormities,
 
 262 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 reader will recollect, Lord Kilwarden had, in 1796, when 
 attorney-general, endeavoured to restrain, by the intro- 
 duction of the Insurrection Act. Before Lord Kilwarden 
 expired, (his nephew had first died,) he was rescued by 
 the police and military. This truly noble and upright 
 judge, faithful unto death, hearing some expressions as 
 to the punishment of the rebels, breathed his last with 
 the constitutional request " that no man might suffer 
 but by the laws of his country !" Colonel Browne, repair- 
 ing to join his regiment, on the first alarm, was, in like 
 inhuman manner, murdered. Every passenger, who was 
 not murdered, was forced to join the rebels, and armed 
 \vith a pike. Showers of bottles and stones, from houses 
 in Thomas-street, directed at the king's troops, aided the 
 efforts of fellow rebels in the street, with their more 
 offensive and murderous weapons. 
 
 In 1805, the first discussion took place in the imperial 
 
 parliament, on the Romish claims. In the petition from the 
 
 Irish Romanists, after enumerating the particulars of the 
 
 oath which they do take, they instance, as proof of their 
 
 regard for oaths, that which they will not take ; and 
 
 state, " that however painful it is to their feelings, that 
 
 it should still be thought necessary to exact such tests 
 
 from them, (and from them alone, of all his majesty's 
 
 subjects,) they can with perfect truth affirm, that the 
 
 political and moral principles, which are thereby asserted, 
 
 are not only conformable to their opinions, but expressly 
 
 inculcated by the religion which they profess." Here, I 
 
 must observe, in this, the first and most moderate petition 
 
 presented to the imperial parliament, what is wanting in 
 
 violence, is supplied in sophistry. It is true, that the 
 
 oath to which they point, as " painful to their feelings,'* 
 
 is not required from protestants, for that would be 
 
 supererogatory, to the last degree of absurdity, when 
 
 they take the oath of supremacy, which Romanists will 
 
 not take. Nay, protestants will take it without offices of 
 
 state. 
 
 I shall give a few quotations from this debate : 
 Lord Viscount Sidmouth " Agreed with the noble 
 secretary of state (Lord Hawkesbury) that restraint had
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 963 
 
 produced a quiet and orderly conduct in the Irish Roman 
 catholics, which had led to a relaxation of that system, 
 and thence the evils of rebellion which followed." He 
 quoted the authority of Clarendon to prove, "that the 
 rebellion of 164-1 was occasioned by the Roman catholics 
 having possessed themselvesof corporations;" and asserted, 
 from Doctor Troy, " that a cabinet of cardinals now sits at 
 Rome, to conduct the ecclesiastical concerns of Ireland." 
 Lord Redesdale " Such was the state of the catholic 
 hierarchy, that he must deprecate any increase of their 
 power. They already possessed an authority of great 
 extent ; an authority, too, enforced by the most dreadful 
 means that of excommunication. He knew, indeed, an 
 instance, where a poor person who had been excom- 
 municated, would have actually starved, if it had not 
 been for the/ benevolence of a protestant divine, who 
 supplied him with subsistence. There was another in- 
 stance of the exercise of this extraordinary power : two 
 catholic^ were married by a protestant clergyman ; this 
 being heard by the parish priest, he reported it to the 
 bishop. The persons who. had been married, were imme- 
 diately summoned to appear before the catholic vicar 
 general gf the diocese j and the protestant clergyman, 
 consulting the peace of his parish, and perhaps bis own 
 safety, with that of the parties summoned, advised them 
 to submit to the summons. They accordingly waited 
 on the vicar-general, and expressed their contrition.^ 
 But no, the vicar-general was inexorable ; and tliis couple 
 was excommunicated, for having been married according 
 to law. But this was not all such as should have any 
 communication with them, were to be excommunicated 
 also. The man, however, being a person with whom 
 many were in the habit of communicating, it was reported 
 to the bishop, and above two hundred persons, mcu and 
 women, were, from twentv miles distance, summoned 
 before the vicar-general. They obeyed ; but the vicar 
 V;as so much appeased as not to impose the excommuni- 
 cation. He, however, inflicted a penance, which \v;i->, 
 that each person should perform a pilgrimage of thiity 
 miles : that is, from what arc called holy wells, in Irelanu,
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 to another, each beaf ing a label, specifying the cause tor 
 which the penance was imposed." His lordship states an 
 instruction of Doctor Hussey's, to prevent some Romish 
 servants from joining in prayers in a protestant family, 
 where it had been practised, " that its being read by a 
 
 heretic was sufficient." His lordship then cites the 
 
 oath, " which was, notwithstanding the objection of the 
 apostolical vicar, subscribed by the catholics in England, 
 in 1778, while the same oath, namely, a test of allegiance 
 to a protestant succession only, was refused by the 
 catholics of Ireland." 
 
 Lord Viscount Carleton ." In Ireland, the Roman 
 catholics hold regular ecclesiastical courts, whose de- 
 cisions are completely enforced by ecclesiastical influ- 
 ence, lay submission, and the all powerful effect of 
 excommunication, prohibiting all intercourse with persons 
 excommunicated. Their spiritual jurisdiction draws to it 
 temporal power and influence ; it involves dispensations, 
 licenses to marry, legitimacy, and the right of succession, 
 as dependent on the validity of marriage, pre-contract, 
 former marriage, affinity, and consanguinity ; as incapa- 
 cities, maintenance, and liability to debts, as consequences 
 resulting from marriage ; divorces, as dissolving the bond 
 of marriage ; and the validity 01' wills of personal estate. 
 In all these instances, the exercise of spiritual authority 
 influences temporal rights. The extent of that influence 
 is liable to be greatly increased, as Roman catholic eccle- 
 siastics claim the right of deciding what are spiritual 
 matters within their cognisance, and by an undue exercise 
 of that claim of power, they may greatly extend their 
 influence over temporal objects. Were Roman catholics 
 possessed of temporal power, they must (acting conform- 
 ably to the principles of their sect,) use it to legally 
 enforce Roman catholic ecclesiastical decrees ; to give 
 increased importance to their religion ; to depress the 
 protestant religion ; to legalize a foreign supremacy, that 
 of the pope, with all its claimed temporal, consequences ; 
 to overthrow the constitutional supremacy of his majesty, 
 with all its now enjoyed temporal consequences ; and to 
 obstruct the execution, or procure the repeal, of all our
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 laws, which relate to spiritual affairs, howsoever exten- 
 sively affecting temporal rights. It would be highly 
 dangerous to afford the means of futurely weakening, in 
 effect, that supremacy of the king, which is already 
 openly denied in theory. A participation of equal 
 power, must take all pre-eminence from the established 
 religion ; in such case, how is the king's supremacy to 
 be maintained ? What is to become of those acts of 
 parliament, which render it penal to deny that supre- 
 macy ? Is every attempt to invade it, to be rendered 
 legal ? Is a right to be conferred, of denying it without 
 control, and of obstructing it with impunity, and perhaps 
 success ? The ulterior views of the Irish Roman catho- 
 lics, may be strongly collected from the caution used in 
 framing the oath, in the thirteenth and fourteenth of 
 George the third, chapter thirty-tive, in which they have 
 adopted the- expressions, * the succession of the crown in 
 his majesty's family ;' declining to adopt the expressions 
 which the English Roman catholics had no hesitation to 
 make use of, in the thirty-first of George the third, 
 chapter thirty-two ' which succession is limited to the 
 Princess Sophia, &c., and the heirs of her body, being 
 protestants.' In the one case, the oath binds to the 
 support of a protestant succession ; in the other, it leaves 
 an opening for the possibility of a Roman catholic succes- 
 sion."" Not many years ago, maps of the Irish 
 forfeited estates were industriously circulated on the 
 Continent, an indication that some important object was 
 looked at for attainment ; and that it was desirable to 
 conciliate foreign catholic potentates, with a view to the 
 success of that project. Since the union, it has been 
 openly avowed, * that the revolution was an usurpation j 
 the exclusion of Roman catholics from seats in parlia- 
 ment, an excess of the power of the legislature; that the 
 old Roman catholic proprietors never had offended ; that 
 the confiscations were unjust, and that the present pos- 
 sessors held by usurpation, and ought to be dispossessed.' 
 Of what avail would the disclaiming of Roman catholics 
 bo, if they acquired power to enforce their claims, 
 when they have already, since their supposed disclaimer,
 
 266 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 though not yet possessed of sufficient power to establish 
 their demands, revived their claims to the forfeited 
 estates ? How have their stating specific objects, as 
 exclusive of all others, in various transactions of the 
 year 1792, prevented unqualified demands in 1794-, and 
 down to the present period ? Letters, in 1792, by Byrne, 
 to the several parish priests of Ireland, directed that 
 delegates should be elected by their several parishes, to 
 sit in a Roman catholic convention. The convention 
 was assembled. It resolved, * that the objects of their 
 pursuits, were merely admission to the bar, county magis- 
 tracies, serving on juries, and voting for members of 
 parliament, out of freeholds of twenty pounds per annum.* 
 The adoption of the innovation now proposed, would 
 new model the constitution, would violate the principles 
 of the reformation, the revolution, the act of settlement 
 of the crown, and the two acts of union ; might substi- 
 tute the pope's supremacy, in the place of his majesty's ; 
 might discontent the protestants, unsettle property, 
 revive mischiefs, and destroy the present establishment 
 in church and state." 
 
 The bishop of St. Asaph " If it was dangerous for a 
 protestant to possess influence in a catholic state, much 
 worse must it be for a catholic to do so in a protestant 
 state ; because in spirituals, he acknowledges the pope, 
 and it is not always easy to separate spiritual from temporal 
 obedience." 
 
 In the house of commons, Dr. Duigenan said-" In the 
 opinion which he entertained, as to the propriety of at least 
 keeping the Irish catholics within the bounds of the present 
 laws, he was supported by the high authority of that emi- 
 nent lawyer, Judge Blackstone, who said, that the restraints 
 which were laid on the catholics were to be considered as 
 the principal bulwark of the existence of a protestant 
 church and a protestant government in this country." 
 
 The motion for a committee was rejected by majorities, 
 in the lords of one hundred and twenty-nine, and in the 
 commons, of two hundred and twelve. 
 
 In 1807, the upright, able, and temperate man, whe- 
 ther viewed in the character of statesman or of warrior,
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 267 
 
 who is now duke of Wellington, (then Sir ArthurWellesley, 
 chief secretary in Ireland,) found it necessary, from 
 the state of the country, to introduce into parliament a 
 renewal of the insurrection act. He proposed its conti- 
 nuance for seven years. This was loudly opposed by 
 the opposition members : who, not being able to deny 
 the necessity which compelled its enactment, proposed 
 a period little exceeding one year. Mr. Perceval, (then 
 a short time the leading member of that more steady 
 administration, which our upright monarch had found it 
 necessary to select, when he dismissed the old, in March, 
 that year,) thinking, however, that a shorter period than 
 the seven years might answer : the time of its expiration 
 was fixed for 1810. 
 
 Mr. Grattan (24th of July, ISO?) said, " He was 
 assured by his right honourable friend near him, (Mr. 
 Elliot, the late secretary for Ireland,) that there were, in 
 various parts of Ireland, secret nocturnal meetings of a 
 dark and dangerous nature." 
 
 Again, (27th of July,) he re-stated, " that he had been 
 informed, that there were held in Ireland treasonable 
 meetings, for the purpose of organizing a force to assist 
 the French. The bill was to put down the French interest 
 in Ireland, not to oppress the Irish nation. He did not 
 mean to accuse his countrymen of treason or disaf- 
 fection, but he was certain that there was a French party 
 in Ireland. It was against them, and not against Irishmen, 
 that the operation of the bill was directed ; and sooner 
 than run a risk of losing the constitution altogether, he 
 would take upon him his full share, in common with his 
 majesty's ministers, of the responsibility which would 
 attach to the measure." 
 
 Again, (13th of August,) he said, " his right honour- 
 able friend, Mr, Sheridan, had said, that there was no 
 jus-t ground for parsing the insurrection bill ; and yet, 
 had not his right honourable friend admitted, that there 
 was a French party in Ireland * He allowed the justice 
 of that statement." 
 
 In 1810, when this act ceased to be operative, the 
 salutary effects of its restraining property were instantly
 
 205 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 missed. The scenes which have since occurred, are too 
 recent in the recollection of my readers, to require 
 minute recapitulation. Besides, such would be too volu- 
 minous for the limits of this treatise. 
 
 In a debate in the house of lords, June the 6th, 1810, 
 en a Roman catholic petition, Lord Clancarty, who had 
 premised himself to have been favourable to their claims, 
 but, "that late events had shaken his favourable opinions," 
 proceeded to observe : " By their own conduct, they 
 had fortified every objection against their claims, and 
 restored to their full vigour the dying prejudices, which, 
 though the ancient misconduct of those of their commu- 
 nion had legitimately created, modern professions on 
 their part, and modern liberality on the part of the pro- 
 
 testants, had almost extinguished." " Can those safely 
 
 be admitted into the confidential offices of the state, or 
 into the legislature, who assert in practice, although they 
 deny in theory, a power utterly inconsistent with the 
 independence of the state ? Can they be deemed safe 
 guardians of our ecclesiastical establishments, who have 
 of late shewn such bitter enmity to our church ?" 
 His lordship adverted to resolutions adopted by the 
 Irish titular bishops, 26th of February, 1810, and con- 
 tained in their address to the clergy and laity of the 
 Roman catholic churches in Ireland : The first of which is: 
 " Resolved, that it appertains to the order, charge, 
 and spiritual authority of bishops in the catholic church, 
 and is inseparable from their mission, to propose, enter- 
 tain, and judge, without any lay intervention, on points 
 of Christian faith, and of general discipline." 
 
 " Now," he said, " I will undertake to say, that there 
 is not in any country on the globe, whether under a 
 Roman catholic, or protestant government, any body of 
 Roman catholic bishops, who would, at this day, presume 
 to arrogate to themselves, much less who would dare to 
 execute, powers co-extensive with those assumed by the 
 Irish titular clergy, by this resolution. Surely it was 
 not necessary for their lordships to be told, that the 
 discipline of a church, and especially the Roman catholic 
 church, involves much matter of temporal concern: and,
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 269 
 
 consequently, that the assumption of an exclusive power, 
 to propose and judge, without lay intervention, on points 
 of discipline, is a direct assertion of a temporal authority, 
 assumed by the Irish titular bishops, to the exclusion of 
 the throne, the government, and the legislature of this 
 kingdom.'* 
 
 For many other momentous points in this able speech, 
 I beg to direct the reader's attention to the speech 
 itself, which is copiously reported in the seventeenth 
 volume of the parliamentary debates. But I request 
 particular attention, in this place, to a very important 
 fact, for which I must go back a little in the order of 
 time. On the 14th of September, 1808, resolutions were 
 passed by the titular bishops assembled in synod, one of 
 which will be found to have been in perfect consistency 
 with the resolution of 1810, just quoted. It is thus 
 worded : 
 
 " Resolved, that it is the decided opinion of the Roman 
 catholic prelates of Ireland, here assembled, that it is 
 inexpedient to introduce any alteration in the canonical 
 mode hitherto observed in the nomination of Irish Roman 
 catholic bishops ; which mode, by long experience, was 
 found to be unexceptionable, wise, and prudent." 
 
 So far, so good, as to consistency. But mark, reader, 
 the words of a resolution passed, among others of the 
 titular bishops, in January 1799 ' 
 
 " Resolved, that in the appointment of prelates of the 
 Roman catholic religion, to vacant sees within the king- 
 dom, such interference of government, as may enable it 
 to be satisfied of the loyalty of the person appointed, is- 
 just, and ought to be agreed to." 
 
 I have prefeire;i the plan of inserting these here, 
 rather than in the order of their respective periods, that 
 the reader may not lose the effect which is produced by 
 immediate comparison. The anomaly contained in the 
 flat contradiction, in the two resolutions of 1808 and 1810, 
 to the resolution of 1799, all three signed by nearly the 
 same individual prelates, in Dublin, I shall leave to these 
 bishops to reconcile. I only touch here on the incon- 
 sistency. To the subject of the veto itself, as security
 
 .270 THE TRUE' 3T ATI. 
 
 for what is termed emancipation, I shall give a place in 
 my concluding remarks. But, I must say here, that no 
 friends to the constitution will deny the truth of the 
 candid admission, "that such interference of govern- 
 ment, as may enable it to be satisfied of the loyalty of the 
 person appointed, is just, and ought to be agreed to." 
 And I must also say, that this position of the synod will 
 stand by itself, uncoupled with "catholic emancipation.'* 
 As, then, the truth of this position stands established, 
 by the admission of " competent expounders ;" and, as 
 it is, also, obvious to reason, so it is quite in unison with 
 law, which allows not imperium in imperio. And as, in 
 a constitutional and legal view, encroachments on the 
 supremacy and authority of the state must be guarded 
 against in their incipient, stages, it is not only criminal 
 to act on a principle of usurpation of power, distinct 
 from the authority and supremacy of the state, but it is 
 illegal and unconstitutional also, even to assert it. And 
 very properly so : for, were it not for this security, the 
 rights and liberties of the subjects would become a farce, 
 dependent on the inspired consistencies of their graces, 
 lordships, &c., who constitute the Romish hierarchy, in 
 the regular chain of gradation, and strict subordination 
 to their " lord the pope." The determination, I appre- 
 hend, does not lie with " the most reverend and right 
 reverend prelates," whether the assumption of temporal 
 authority over any part of his majesty's subjects, (sup- 
 pose Romanists,) shall be legal and constitutional, even 
 although " catholic emancipation" be never granted. 
 . In the same debate, in 1810, the earl of Bucking- 
 hamshire, who had been chief secretary in Ireland, in 
 179-, when the Romish claims were rejected in the Irish 
 parliament ; and, in 1793, when these claims had been 
 granted, said : " His majesty's ministers were desirous 
 to conciliate the catholics ; and had been led to believe, 
 that the grant of ujl they then asked, and which was 
 more than the most sanguine of them expected, would 
 have that effect. But, on the contrary, the result was 
 extended demand, and clamorous dissatisfaction. And 
 the same British ministers having, in 1795, appointed a
 
 OP THE 3UE8TIOX. 
 
 noble lord, (Fitzwilliam,) chief governor of Ireland, were 
 obliged to recall him, on account of the irritation pro- 
 duced by the steps he had taken, with a view to exempt 
 the catholics from those oaths which the rest of his 
 majesty's subjects are required to take, in order to qualify 
 themselves to sit in parliament ; and, when that measure 
 was brought forward during the administration of his 
 successor, (Lord Camden,) it was rejected in the house 
 of commons by a large majority." 
 
 Of the occurrences of 1811, the first I shall notice, 
 is a speech made by the Right Honourable William? 
 Wellesley Pole, then chief secretary for Ireland, in the 
 house of commons, in defence of the measures which the 
 Irish government was compelled to use, when these 
 measures were questioned by the opposition members. 
 This speech has been published in a pamphlet, and to 
 this document I refer my readers. I shall, however, 
 extract such material passages, and compress such others, 
 as shall give a brief view of its import. 
 
 " The catholic committee appointed in 1809, was 
 composed of the thirty-six representatives of the different 
 parishes of Dublin, who, on a previous occasion, had 
 formed a similar committee ; the remnants of the com- 
 mittees that prepared the petitions of 1805 and 1807; 
 and, finally, of the surviving delegates of the catholic 
 convention of 1793, and the noble lords who compose 
 the catholic peerage." 
 
 He describes the resolutions passed by this committee, 
 in 1809, as strong and vehement ; but such, however, 
 as did not seem to call for the notice of government. 
 But the proceedings of 18 JO, he describes. as more violent. 
 An aggregate meeting was assembled the 2d of Novem- 
 ber, at which a resolution was passed, " that the catholic 
 committee should have the sole management of catholic 
 affairs." 
 
 " On the 21-th of November, the catholic committee 
 met again, and Lord Fingal \vas called to the chair. Of 
 that noble lord, it is hardly necessary that I should state, 
 that he is one of the best men among the Roman catho- 
 lics, and one of the best and most loyal men in Ireland.
 
 272 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 At that meeting, a motion was made, for a vote of thanks 
 from the catholics of Ireland, to Lord Donoughmore. 
 The impropriety of discussing a question of that kind, in 
 a committee appointed solely for the purpose of preparing 
 a petition to parliament, struck Lord Fingal, and he 
 stated his doubts upon the subject, to the committee ; 
 and, though he heartily approved of thanking Lord 
 Donoughmore, desired to be informed, whether the com- 
 mittee was competent to do any thing but prepare the 
 catholic petition ? His lordship was answered by Mr. 
 O'Connell, who reminded the committee, that the last 
 aggregate meeting had removed all doubts upon that 
 subject, by their resolution empowering the committee 
 to conduct all the affairs of the catholics of Ireland. 
 Mr. O'Connell's opinion, with respect to the general 
 powers of the committee, accorded with the sense of the 
 members present, and the resolutions were carried unani- 
 mously." 
 
 I must stop here to observe, that this opinion, when 
 opposed to the united opinions of all the legal, consti- 
 tuted, " ordained" authorities, is just entitled to about 
 as much weight, in a legal and constitutional sense, as 
 the opinions of the synods of 1808, and 1810, as to their 
 own authority in general discipline. It is not from 
 aggregate meetings that the laws of the land emanate. 
 
 "The committee, about the middle of December, ap- 
 pointed a committee of grievances." 
 
 " In the mean time, the catholic coaimittee continued 
 to meet from week to week, and sometimes twice a week : 
 they adopted, as far as they could, all the forms of the 
 house of commons. Their debates were attended by short 
 hand writers, and were published regularly in the Irish 
 newspapers." 
 
 " About the beginning of January, a member of the 
 committee stated, that the committee of grievances had 
 nearly prepared their report, which consisted of three 
 hundred folio pages." 
 
 " In December, a resolution was agreed to, desiring 
 the secretary of the committee to correspond with some 
 gentlemen in the country, who were friendly to their
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 views, but not a word was said about any election. 
 Afterwards, a guarded resolution was adopted, stating, 
 that an augmentation of the number of the committee 
 was desirable, and that the management of that augmen- 
 t iirion should be vested in a sub-committee. Still, however, 
 not a word of the circular letter, until the 19th of January. 
 On the 2-'3d of January, the Irish government became 
 possessed of the tact, that such a letter had been written 
 by the secretary of the catholic committee, and that 
 several answers had been received thereto ; but of the 
 nature of the letter, or of the answers, they were wholly 
 
 ignorant." " To shew, however, what was the nature 
 
 of the augmentation suggested in December, I beg to 
 state the opinion of one of the members ; who declared, 
 that when, to the thirty-six representatives of parishes, 
 ten members should be added from each county, the 
 whole would make a greater number than he had ever 
 seen at any aggregate meeting." 
 
 " With regard to Mr. Hav's circular letter of the 1st of 
 
 P 
 
 January, tiie Irish government never saw it until the 
 101 h of February." 
 
 I shall here, before I proceed with Mr. Pole's state- 
 ment, give the import of this letter, as I consider it too 
 long to insert entirely. It is addressed from Edward 
 II iv, secretary to the general committee of the catholics 
 of Ireland, sitting in Dublin, to the catholics of the 
 tlitrerent counties throughout Ireland. It states " the 
 imperative necessity of an increase of their numbers, so. 
 that there maybe managers of the petition connected 
 
 with every part of Ireland." " It is," it says, " highly 
 
 desirable, that the committee should become the depo- 
 sitory of the collective wisdom of the catholic body; that 
 it be able to ascertain, in order to obey the wishes, and 
 clearly understand the wants, of all their catholic fellow 
 subjects." " They (the committee) beg leave to sug- 
 gest to you, the propriety of appointing ten managers of 
 the petition in your county. There are now survi- 
 vors of the persons who were delegates in the year 1793; 
 these persons are already constituent members of the 
 c jinmittee, and, as such, managers of the petition j 6t 
 
 s
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 that you have to appoint only additional managers." 
 
 They are cautioned to keep within the spirit and letter 
 of the law, and not to resort to election, or appointment 
 to represent any person or persons, or any district 
 or districts whatsoever, in the nomination of the 
 managers. 
 
 Mr. Pole proceeded : " On the 10th of February, 
 then, the Irish government obtained a copy of this 
 circular letter ; and, at the same time, received private 
 information of the most secret nature, that several thou- 
 sand copies of that letter were circulating in Ireland ; 
 that many members of the augmented committee had 
 been returned ; that some of them had actually arrived 
 in Dublin ; and that the whole of them were expected 
 to arrive time enough for the meeting of the iGth of 
 February, or at latest for that of the 23d. We were also 
 informed, that the letter had been penned by the lawyers 
 belonging to the catholic committee, and that great 
 pains had been taken to keep within the letter of the 
 law, and to avoid incurring its penalties ; the object 
 being to obtain a complete representative body from all 
 the counties of Ireland, under the pretext of assisting in 
 managing the petition. It was also stated, that when all 
 the members had arrived, and the catholic convention 
 had assembled, it would be kept sitting, for the purpose 
 of diffusing throughout Ireland the flame which the 
 committee had raised in Dublin. The Irish government 
 ulso received information of the mode in which the elec- 
 tions had been, and were to be, conducted. One main 
 object, it appeared, was to secure secrecy ; and names 
 were sent down from Dublin, of particular persons resi- 
 dent in that city, whom the committee recommended to 
 be returned as delegates from certain places ; and, by 
 this contrivance, it was expected that a full attendance 
 would always be secured/' 
 
 " The meeting which came within the purview of the 
 convention act, was one which claimed the sole manage- 
 ment of all the affairs of the catholics of Ireland ; and 
 was composed, not only of the members- delegated by the 
 aggregate body of the catholics, to frame a petition, but
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 275 
 
 by others elected under writs issued by the persons so 
 delegated.*' 
 
 The following is a copy of the circular letter written by 
 the command of the lord lieutenant, to the several sheriff's 
 and chief magistrates of the principal towns throughout 
 Ireland : 
 
 " Dublin Castle, February 12/A, 1811." 
 
 " SIR, 
 
 " It being reported that the Roman catholics in the 
 
 county of are to be called together, to nominate or 
 
 appoint persons as representatives, delegates, or managers, 
 to act on their behalf as members of an unlawful assembly, 
 sitting in Dublin, and calling itself * the catholic com- 
 mittee;' you are required, in pursuance of the provisions 
 of an act of the thirty -third of the king, chapter twenty- 
 nine, to cause to be arrested, and to commit to prison, 
 (unless bail shall be given,) all persons within your juris- 
 diction, who shall be guilty of giving, or having given, 
 or of publishing, or having published, any written or 
 other notice, of the election or appointment, in any 
 manner,, of such representative, delegate, or manager, 
 as aforesaid ; or of attending, voting, or acting, or of 
 having attended, voted, or acted, in any manner, in the 
 choice or appointment of such representative, delegate, 
 or manager. And you are to communicate these direc- 
 tions, as far as lies in your power, forthwith, to the several 
 magistrates of the said county of ." 
 
 " N. B. Sheriffs are to act under the, warrant of magis- 
 trates, in cases where the crime has been committed." 
 
 " By command of his grace, the lord lieutenant," 
 
 " W. W. POLE." 
 
 On this circular having been issued, a violent outcry 
 was raised by that part of the press which is considered 
 more immediately the Romish organ. The Dublin 
 K veiling Post of the 21st of February, 1811, alluding to 
 the committee having been railed therein, " an unlawful 
 assembly," thus expressed itself: "This allegation is
 
 276 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 grounded on the f convention act.' It can have no other 
 foundation. The convention of 1792, which sat, before 
 the passing of that act, was composed of delegates and 
 representatives, deliberately and publicly chosen to repre- 
 sent the different counties and great towns in Ireland. 
 It sat in despite of the threats and proclaimed menaces 
 of government, and of almost all the grand juries in 
 
 Ireland." It then goes on to state, that " it was 
 
 the want of a law that prevented proclaiming the catholic 
 convention what W. W. Pole has styled the humble 
 committee, * an unlawful assembly.' ' 
 
 Here is an admission of the lengths to which the 
 " catholic convention" of 1792, had then arrived, out of 
 the mouth of one of its most accredited and zealous expo- 
 sitors ; furnishing, (if apology were necessary in passing 
 an act for the peace of the country, thus invaded,) the 
 most efficient apology, in the boasting and braving state- 
 ment of the excesses which imperatively compelled it. 
 
 On the 23d of February, the "catholic committee" met. 
 The very name was assumed, too, in their own subse- 
 quent report, published. Two magistrates, Alderman 
 Uarley, and Mr. Babington, were sent by the government, 
 to disperse it. Lord French, who had been called to 
 the chair, " assured the magistrates, that that meeting 
 was not the catholic committee ; that he sat as chairman 
 of no committee, but as chairman of a meeting of catholic 
 gentlemen, for the purpose of signing and forwarding a 
 petition to parliament;" and proposed, that the nature 
 of the meeting should be explained to Mr. Pole. This 
 reference, the magistrates at length consented to. On 
 the assurance given, the government agreed not to inter- 
 rupt them. 
 
 In a debate in the common?:, on the 23d of May, 1811, 
 on the Romish claims, Sir John Cox liippesley, baronet, 
 adverted to late publications by Doctor Milner, a prelate 
 of the Romish church, " condemning the resolutions of 
 the English catholics, at tending to the security of the 
 established church." Here, it is true, is conduct on 
 the part of English Romanists, calculated to produce 
 impressions highly favourable to their principles : but
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 277 
 
 here, it is no less obvious, is a " competent expounder,'* 
 endeavouring to correct that doctrinal obliquity \\hich 
 indicates such manly and emancipated minds, in these 
 " truant sons of the church." But, which opinion, that 
 of the English Romanists, or that of Doctor Milner, has 
 been most generally sanctioned in Ireland, both by the, 
 Romish clergy and laity ? I say, most generally ; for it 
 is not to be doubted, but that there are candid and 
 honourable members of both, that would be an ornament 
 to any communion. But I will venture to assert, in this 
 seeming paradox, that such do come nearer to protest- 
 antism, than those of its own professed members, who 
 join in the vociferous din of " catholic emancipation." 
 The idolizing eulogies bestowed on the doctor, who 
 holds his office and title of "apostolical vicar," immedi- 
 diately from his " Lord the pope ;" and the salutary 
 " discipline" of abuse, on the English " apostates," render 
 any proof, in the way of answer to the foregoing question, 
 quite unnecessary. 
 
 In the same debate, the Right Honourable Doctor 
 Duigenan said : " A great stress has been laid on the 
 answers of the foreign universities, upon a point of the 
 doctrine of the catholic church. He did not, however, 
 attach much weight to those answers, when they were 
 contrary to the recorded articles of the catholic faith. 
 He recollected how often history had spoken of the 
 opinions of universities obtained by bribery." " As to 
 the number at which the Irish catholics were stated, he 
 was convinced that it was a great exaggeration. The 
 whole population of Ireland did not exceed three millions 
 and a half, and one million and a half of these were not 
 catholics." " Doctor Troy, the catholic bishop of Dublin, 
 had stated in a pamphlet, that the supremacy of the pope 
 was tire bond of catholic unity. As the supremacy of 
 the pope was therefore an article of faith, they did not 
 venture to take the oath of supremacy, although he sup- 
 posed, that they would not hesitate at taking any other 
 sort of oath. It was a doctrine of their religion, that 
 oaths taken with heretics, were absolutely null and void. 
 (N T o, no, from many member*) He should say, yes, \
 
 278 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 it was a doctrine of their belief, and he did not doubt, 
 but that it would in many cases be the rule of their 
 conduct. Doctor Milner himself had stated, that oaths 
 were to be judged of by expediency ; and, for simply 
 quoting this from his book, last year, he had been griev- 
 ously abused." 
 
 The Right Honourable Spencer Perceval said : " That 
 toleration might be claimed as a right, he did not mean 
 to dispute ; but that there would be any right to political 
 power, in consequence, was a proposition he should 
 contend against, to the utmost. Political power was not 
 the right of an individual ; it was a trust to the individual 
 for the interests of the whole. That power, ha thought, 
 if granted, would naturally be applied to the destruction 
 of the established church.*' "The church establish- 
 ment should be maintained in the whole kingdom, and 
 not be endangered in any part of it. It had been asked, 
 how this evil could happen, whether by force or by 
 influence ? He would say, that it might happen in conse- 
 quence of the course in which the honourable gentlemen 
 on the other side, were proceeding, when they sat in the 
 situation which he and his colleagues at present filled, by 
 granting gradually, until all was given away." 
 
 Mr. Whitbread said : " The right honourable gentle- 
 man's intolerance had hindered the recruiting service. 
 For these three years past, the catholics had not enlisted. 
 The priests had prevented them, and no wonder."- 
 " His right honourable friend, (Mr. G rattan,) had said, 
 that he had authority to concede it, (the veto,) and with 
 this he was now taunted. "Why, he thought he had 
 authority ; he thought Doctor Milner one worthy of trust, 
 because he was a man held in general esteem. What 
 Doctor Milner now appeared to be, all must know. His 
 right honourable friend had been deceived ; but he had 
 rather be the deceived, than the deceiver." 
 
 A debate in the lords was brought on the 18th of 
 June, 1811. 
 
 Lord Redesdale stated : " That a reverend gentleman 
 had put the question, while the measure of the Union was 
 in agitation, whether it was intended to remove the
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 disabilities of the catholics? and that the answer was 
 that there was no such intention." " The great states- 
 man who retired in 1801, (Mr. Pitt,) did not assign to 
 him, (Lord Redesdale,) as the reason tor that proceeding, 
 the impossibility of fulfilling a pledge to the catholics ; 
 and, as to the plan of security, he had only to state, that 
 the person to whom he alluded, had declared to him, a 
 few months before his death, that he had no plan ; and 
 that he could conceive no plan whatever, by which a 
 sufficient security could be provided for the established 
 church, in the event of the catholic claims being granted." 
 
 The lord chancellor said: " The revolution of llJSS 
 was founded on a belief, that certain tenets existed, which 
 precluded persons holding them, from power, and the 
 existence of those tenets was now denied. We had there- 
 fore been guarding the constitution by various laws, and 
 now we were told that supremacy meant nothing." 
 
 I return now to the proceedings in Dublin. An aggre- 
 gate meeting was held on the 9th of July, 1811. Of the 
 resolutions passed, the fifth was : 
 
 " Resolved, that said committee do consist of the 
 catholic peers and their eldest sons, the catholic baronets, 
 the prelates of the catholic church in Ireland, and also, 
 ten persons to be appointed by the catholics, in each 
 county in Ireland ; the survivors of the delegates of 
 1793, to constitute an integral part of that number, and 
 also of five persons to be appointed by the catholic inha- 
 bitants of each parish in Dublin/' 
 
 A work entitled, " Ihe state of the catholic cause," 
 published at Fitzpatrick's, Capel-street, the very house 
 where the catholic committee had always assembled, 
 states as follows i " In pursuance of the foregoing reso- 
 lutions, several of the parishes assembled, and appointed 
 persons to manage petitions to parliament, on behalf of 
 the catholics of Ireland ; and the counties had beuan to 
 assemble for a similar purpose, when, on thc-iuth of July, 
 the following proclamation issued from the privy council, 
 then sitting in Dublin castle." 
 
 This proclamation, by the lord lieutenant and council, 
 first recites the provisions of the convention act ; next
 
 280 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 states, that at an assembly of persons held in Dublin, on 
 the 9th of July, styling themselves " a meeting of the 
 catholics of Ireland," certain resolutions (which it quotes,) 
 were, among others, entered into ; and then declares 
 such proposed assembly to be " not only in direct viola- 
 tion of the provisions of the statute aforesaid, and an 
 unlawful assembly, but tending directly to endanger the 
 peace and tranquillity of the state ;" commands all sub- 
 jects in Ireland to " abstain from all acts and proceedings 
 contrary to the provisions of the aforesaid statute ;" and 
 requires all magistrates to " proceed in due course of 
 law, to apprehend and hold to bail, all persons against 
 whom information on oath shall have been obtained, of 
 having given, or published, or caused to be given, or 
 published, any written or other notice" of elections, or 
 appointments of representatives or delegates, or of having 
 voted, or acted, or who shall be found voting or acting, 
 in such appointment, " that the person or persons so 
 offending, may be prosecuted according to law ; and 
 in case an assembly of such delegates or represen- 
 tatives, shall hereafter attempt to meet, in defiance of 
 the law, and notwithstanding this proclamation, that 
 they shall proceed to disperse the same, as an unlawful 
 assembly, pursuant to the directions of the aforesaid 
 statute." 
 
 A meeting of the committee was held the very day after 
 the proclamation was issued, namely, the 31st of July. 
 From a long speech of Mr. Scully's, I select the following 
 curious passage : " It is but candid, at the same time, 
 to admit, that they" (the resolutions which caused the 
 proclamation,) "might have been more circumspectly 
 framed ; the words actually adopted by the convention 
 act, might have been avoided, such as 'appointed, &c.; J 
 and other words, equally useful, might have been selected. 
 Some circumspection might have steered the meeting 
 clear of the convention act. The sense of the meeting 
 was, I am persuaded, to steer clear of its spirit and 
 restriction, and to petition only ; and I did regret, that 
 the wording of the resolutions had not been more tech- 
 nically guarded."
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 Mr. Scully, however, then pronounces, at some length, 
 his opinion, that the resolutions "are justifiable in law." 
 
 This meeting, in the teeth of the act of parliament, 
 and the prohibitory proclamation grounded on it, was 
 denominated, in the published report of its proceedings, 
 " The general corqmittee of the catholics of Ireland :'* 
 and its sitting was trumpeted, by the braggadocio who 
 writes in their official paper, in all the figures of impotent 
 menace, \vhich language could afford, short of actual high 
 treason. Of this, the reader may take the following short 
 specimens, which I select from a variety. 
 
 " Subsequent to the appearance of William Wcllesley 
 Pole's proclamation, an extraordinary sitting of the com- 
 inittee took place : of the debate and resolutions we give 
 a full and accurate report." "The election of managers 
 to the catholic committee proceeded yesterday in Mary's 
 parish, without interruption, notwithstanding the procla- 
 mation of William Wellesley Pole." Dublin Evening Post, 
 1st of August, 1811. 
 
 The reader will here perceive the artifice in endeavour- 
 ing to delude the peaceable and respectable part of the 
 Romanists themselves, into a belief, that this was the sole, 
 as well as illegal, act of the secretary ; whereas the lord 
 lieutenant, the lord-chancellor, and the attorney-general, 
 are equally responsible: and for what? For the perfor- 
 mance of their bounden duty, in pursuance of the law 
 of the land. 
 
 Again " A crisis like the present, when the right 
 of the subject is attacked when the catholic, already 
 enslaved, is insulted when the last refuge of the wretched, 
 the privilege of humbly petitioning for redress, is attempted 
 to be taken away when an intolerant administration have 
 rashly stepped in between the prince and the people, risk- 
 in uf the popularity of the one, and casting a new infliction 
 on the other when all i.*> at stake 1 , anil much is in danger, 
 it becomes the bounden duty of every print, possessing a 
 character of independence, to speak out boldly, and not 
 to bow, even for a moment, to the threat of power, or 
 the petulance of office." Dublin Evening Post, (jth of 
 August, 1811.
 
 282 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 Again " The proclamation is issued, only to be laughed 
 at and the arrests have taken place, to increase, it should 
 seem, the honest, manly, constitutional spirit of the Irish 
 people. The catholics continue to meet they appoint 
 
 their delegates to the general committee." Dublin 
 
 Evening Post, 13tk of August, 1811. 
 
 Again " It is, no doubt, frightful to the intolerant, 
 to the pensioner, and to the factious, to see the catholic 
 bold and upright, unawed by the frown unintimidated 
 by the threat of power.*' Dublin Evening Post, IJth 
 of August, 1811. 
 
 Again " It is with an honest pride it is with feelings 
 anxiously alive to the liberty, peace, and prosperity of 
 the country, that we again congratulate the friends of 
 freedom, on the manly, constitutional spirit that pervades 
 Ireland. Centuries of slavery, of insult, and oppression, 
 have not, thank heaven ! so far lowered or debased our 
 catholic fellow subjects, as to make them crouch beneath 
 the unconstitutional mandate of a little intolerant minister 
 Had the catholics of Ireland shrunk from their great 
 duty had they fled before the slovenly circular of the 
 secretary had they bowed in silence and in fear to the 
 proclamation, they would have been unworthy the rights 
 and privileges they so fairly seek." Dublin Evening Post, 
 2Qth of August, 1811. 
 
 The circular ascribed to the secretary, was written " by 
 command of his grace the lord-lieutenant ;" with the 
 advice and co-operation of the lord-chancellor, and the 
 attorney-general ; and in obedience to an act passed by 
 king, lords, and commons, the paramount and constitu- 
 tional authority : to which the popish parliament has by 
 this time discovered, (time and events having, thank God, 
 improved their experience,) that they must bend. 
 
 Again " We have already had occasion to dwell with 
 heartfelt satisfaction on various meetings of our catholic 
 countrymen meetings that will adorn the page of the 
 future historian of these times meetings which posterity 
 will contemplate with rapture, while they turn with 
 indignation and disgust from the hated names of those 
 who proclaim the country and persecute the people."
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 28S 
 
 Here, the patriotic writer has left out of his calculation 
 the other species of historians, who boast not of confor- 
 mity with his creed ; who take the liberty of judging for 
 themselves , and who rest their arguments on facts. He 
 has forgotten that the press is, at least, equally free to 
 those who undertake to remove rubbish, as it is to those 
 who heap it : to those who know the legitimate rights 
 of free subjects, living in a land of real liberty ; who, 
 knowing, will maintain ; and who, unintimidated, dare 
 to detect illusions ; as it is to those who basely impose 
 them : to those who endeavour to undeceive the ignorant 
 and unwary, as it is to those false teachers, whose counsels 
 lead to footsteps, the end of which is death ! 
 
 The outrages had already compelled, this year, the 
 appointment of a special commission, the regular return 
 of the assizes not having been found sufficient to meet 
 the system. It was held in the counties of Tipperary, 
 \Vaterford, and Kilkenny. Numbers were convicted and 
 executed. 
 
 A very wise measure had been resorted to, by parliament, 
 to preserve the public peace; namely, passing a bill called 
 " The militia interchange bill:' and a number of Irish 
 regiments were stationed in England, and of English 
 regiments in Ireland. On this subject, the Dublin 
 Evening Post thus expresses itself, 24th of August: 
 " Neither can an army of English militia turn him (the 
 catholic,) from the pursuit of those measures which can 
 alone raise him from slavery to freedom." It says, 31 st 
 of August " The great cause which now agitates the 
 country is not of a partial, but of a general nature." Here 
 this " talented" writer uses a very appropriate term to 
 describe the horrid and lawless state of civil society, in 
 that country which his own pious and patriotic labours 
 had so eminently contributed to " AGITA 1 1 :." 
 
 Again, September the 10th "The nation speaks with 
 one voice, and must be hoard." 
 
 Again, September the l^tli, he communicates friendly 
 advice to ministers " that it would be more wise, as well 
 as just, at once to concede all the immunities, all the 
 political power, so reasonably, so constitutionally de-
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 manded, than, by persevering in measures of intolerance, 
 of exclusion, and injustice, to drive an united people to 
 despair." 
 
 Again, September the 19th " If the unanimity of a 
 people in pursuit of freedom, be the great step to its 
 attainment, Ireland must be emancipated !" 
 
 The reader will have perceived, in the quotation of ISth 
 of August, the allusion to arrests. For the information 
 of such as may not have attended to the political phaeno- 
 mena at this time, I think it necessary briefly to sketch, 
 that the lord chief-justice issued warrants, on the 8th 
 of August, stating, that on the 9th of July a number 
 of persons assembled at Fishamble-street, and resolved, 
 that a committee, &c. should be appointed, for the purpose 
 or under the pretence of preparing petitions, &c. ; and 
 that he had received informations on oath, that on the 
 31st, divers other persons assembled in the Roman catholic 
 chapel in Liffey-sti eet, for the purpose of appointing five 
 persons, to act in such committee as the representatives of 
 that parish ; that Edward Sheridan was appointed one 
 of the representatives, and Thomas Kirwan, Gregory 
 Scurlog, Henry Edmund Taaffe, and Doctor John Breeri, 
 were four of those who acted in such appointment: and 
 commanding these to be brought before the court of king's 
 bench, to be dealt with according to law. They were 
 arrested on the 10th ; and, bail having been entered, the 
 trial of Edward Sheridan, Esq. M. D. came on, the 21st 
 of November. I shall refer my readers to the public 
 report of this trial. He was acquitted. The verdict has 
 been called an " immortal verdict.'* I shall not presume 
 to give any opinion. The only remark I shall make, is, 
 that to the judges alone it belongs to decide, declare, and 
 pronounce the law; to the exclusion alike of counsel's or 
 jury's opinion. Facts alone come within the exclusive 
 province of a jury. For the law on the case, I shall give 
 such authorities, as, I apprehend, will have sufficient 
 weight with those who are m>t immediately interested in 
 believing, or afiecting to bdieve, the opposite opinion. 
 
 First, the attorney-genei til's : " The meeting, in the 
 first instance, becomes illegal, independent of any
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 285 
 
 act they should do after they are assembled. This position 
 is established by the second section." 
 
 Oh ! but, (it may be asserted,) this gentleman is the 
 public Accuser. Well be it so has he accused falsely? 
 Read, impartial reader, the section to which he alluded 5 
 and then, let your own reason assist your conclusion : 
 whether, in his own comprehensive and condensed words, 
 " It is made a high misdemeanor for any person to attend 
 and vote at such election or appointment, or by any other 
 means, vote or act in the choice or appointment of such 
 representatives or delegates, or other persons to act as 
 such ?" 
 
 Next, the solicitor-general's : " He would direct the 
 attention of the jury and the court to the only two things 
 which he thought were forgotten the law and the fact 
 of the case. He was of opinion, that the counsel for the 
 traversers had really supposed the judges and the jury to 
 have changed places ; for the judges were addressed as 
 to the facts, and the jury were called upon to give their 
 decision upon the law. The jury have, in truth, nothing 
 to do with the law and the judges should not have the 
 smallest concern whatever in the verdict on the facts 
 
 of the indictment." <; The counsel themselves had 
 
 allowed the fact on their cross examination of the wit- 
 nesses. Why should they, then, attempt to make the 
 jury disbelieve it ? He protested he did not know which 
 of the counsel, on the other side, to answer : the one had 
 denied the possibility of proving the actions ; the other 
 had 1 Openly confessed them, and gloried in them." 
 
 " lie took notice of the statute of Charles the- second, 
 against tumultuary petitioning: the title of this act, 
 and that of the act on which the traverser is indicted, 
 are the same ; only that the specific object in each is 
 different. Both the one and the other was made to prevent 
 the evil which was peculiar to the country for which it 
 was enacted ; that for England, to prevent tumultuary 
 petitioning, because that was the object which was there 
 considered as mischievous; tor Ireland, to prevent 
 delegation, because self-created conventions were the 
 bane of this country. The acts are the same, this
 
 286 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 difference being excepted : would not, then, the same 
 words be used in the same sense in each ? They certainly 
 would. Pretence had been considered to mean real 
 purpose on all the occasions in which the English act 
 had been put in practice, and it must likewise, therefore, 
 be so understood here." 
 
 " Mr. Burrowes had said, that these meetings were 
 not within the scope of the act, because they did not 
 represent the people in the same sense in which the 
 parliament did ; because they did not levy taxes, and 
 make laws. This was but a futile objection ; if they 
 began to levy taxes, and to make laws, they would 
 entirely usurp the rights of parliament. This was not 
 the intention of the statute j the meetings must not be 
 allowed to go so far ; they must be checked ere they 
 come to such a pitch/' 
 
 Lastly, the opinions of all the judges of the court 
 of king's bench, in the lord chief justice's charge to 
 the jury : 
 
 " The act does not profess to say, that it was intended 
 to suppress conventions, meeting with a criminal inten- 
 tion ; and, to this day, an assembly might meet, and not 
 be guilty of any criminal act, and be only illegal under 
 the operation of this statute. But it was the meeting 
 of an assembly, however fair or innocent their motive, 
 that was considered by the legislature criminal and dan- 
 gerous, from the very nature of the constitution of such 
 conventions. It was not because they were fair intended, 
 but because, from their very formation, they possibly might 
 be injurious ; and the remedy which the legislature takes, 
 is to declare the existence of them unlawful, and authorizes 
 the magistrates to disperse them ; and this must be the 
 only operative construction of the act, for the second 
 section declares the publishing a notice to meet to be a 
 high misdemeanor ; and makes it a substantive offence, 
 attending and voting at any election of persons to serve 
 in the same ; and it would be impossible that this section 
 of the act could ever apply, if it was to depend on the 
 question, whether the assembly met on a true or false 
 pretence, which would be a transaction long subsequent.
 
 OF THE QUESTION, 28? 
 
 So that unless the legislature meant it to extend to all 
 representative assemblies, save those particularly excepted, 
 these enactments of the second section would be absurd, 
 and nonsense : and, what would shew that absurdity 
 greater, if the pretence was to be a false pretence, is, 
 that the act empowers the peace officer to force his way 
 into any such assembly and disperse it. Is the peace 
 officer to be a judge of the truth or falsehood of the pre- 
 tence of the meeting ? or is he to wait until tlve pretence, 
 the false pretence of the meeting is disclosed, and then 
 disperse them, while they are dispersing themselves, and 
 the object of the meeting has been obtained ? So that, 
 if the acts of the assembly were only to bring it within 
 the operation of the statute, the remedy would seem to 
 me to be strangely imperative." 
 
 " The act has done nothing, unless it has prevented 
 the meeting of all delegated assemblies, whether meeting 
 for the purpose of petitioning or otherwise. It remains 
 then, if you do believe that the traverser, Dr. Sheridan, 
 did act in the election of Mr. Kirwan, nominated to the 
 general committee, and that such committee was for the 
 purpose of altering any matter, by petition, or otherwise, 
 in the church or state, you will tind him guilty ; for it is 
 our opinion, that the fact of his assisting at that election, 
 whether it was for the purpose of petitioning or not, 
 would not put him out of the operation of the statute." 
 
 The other three judges expressed their unanimous 
 concurrence in this opinion. 
 
 Thus I have given, not only the opinions of the learned 
 and upright men who competently fill the high offices 
 entrusted to them, but also the solemn judgment of all 
 the judges of the king's bench ; and I shall ask, who can 
 successfully dispute this authority ? If the word authority 
 be understood as power, to the king's bench belongs the 
 power : for this is the legal and constitutional tribunal ; 
 and the act of parliament is plain and express : if as 
 opinion, let reason decide, nuiugre all pretences or 
 purposes. 
 
 It is, therefore, the fairest assumption, that this jury, 
 composed confessedly of respectable men, acquitted Dr-
 
 588 THE TUUE STATE 
 
 Sheridan, because they did not think the fact sufficiently 
 sustained by evidence. 
 
 Another jury, however, found a verdict of guilty, 
 against Thomas Kirwan, Esq., in the beginning of the 
 next year. This variation, in a similar case, probably 
 arose from a more explicit exposition of the FACT : for it 
 cannot, with safety, be assumed, that it arose from the 
 quibble on the words "pretence" and "purpose; 11 involving 
 a law point, previously decided by all the judges of the 
 king's bench ; and with which, both juries had been 
 assured, by these competent authorities, that they had 
 nothing to do. 
 
 Mr. Kirwan's sentence was, in effect, but a nominal one, 
 to establish the law beyond cavil. He was fined a mark, 
 and discharged. 
 
 An assembly had taken place, termed, " The county 
 of Dublin catholic meeting," on the 19th of September, 
 1811 the Honourable Thomas Barnewall, in the chair. 
 The work entitled the " State of the catholic cause," 
 reports the chairman to have said : "The spirit of discord 
 had begun to subside in the country ; we were endea- 
 vouring to forget the disastrous epoch of 1798, and of 
 1803, whilst we breathed :i sigh on the ashes of the victims 
 of those days of sorrow, &c." <{ The political horizon 
 brightened upon us, when an act, odious in its misappli- 
 cation, like a baneful tempest, clouded this propitious 
 dawn all on a sudden ! " 
 
 This work also reports Colonel Talbot to have said, at 
 the same meeting : " You have not much to expect from 
 the candour or \visdom of the prime minister,*' (Mr. 
 Perceval,) " if you only recollect the declaration which 
 he made, * That he stood in the house of commons to 
 oppose a commutation of tithes, parliamentary reform, 
 and catholic emancipation." 
 
 This work also reports Mr. Finlay to have said, at the 
 same meeting : " His folly" (Mr. Pole's) " has kindled 
 a flame in the country, which nothing but emancipation 
 can extinguish. The metropolis called upon the country, 
 
 and the country has obeyed the call." " The city of 
 
 Dublin first raised the shout, that xoused the land, and
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 289 
 
 now the county of Dublin comes forward to feed the cry, 
 
 and freshen its echo." " I say, this act is virtually 
 
 repealed." -* Numerous statutes are not in force, 
 
 though not repealed/' " Why are these records of 
 
 legislative folly, or executive cruelty, unrepealed ? I 
 know not why, and care not wherefore ; but this I know, 
 they are Hot repealed, and they are not in force." 
 " Had the ignorance of such miscreants led them to 
 interrupt (as is too probable,) the peaceful exercise of 
 this undoubted right, and had any scuffle ensued, in 
 which an unoffending catholic had lost his life no judge, 
 but a Jeffries, that would not charge it to be murder 
 no juror, but a perjurer, that would not find it to be 
 murder and no viceroy, but a villain, that would not 
 refuse to such convict, a pardon." 
 
 What miscreants ? The act of parliament " requires 
 mayors, sheriffs, justices of peace, or other peace officers, 
 to disperse, &c." I shall not undertake to say, whether 
 Mr. Finlay be a protestant ; but this I will say, that it 
 would be very difficult to persuo.de me to depend on his 
 arguments, as a logician, or his opinion, as a lawyer. 
 
 In another place, he says : " Let lawyers argue the 
 law, and do you trust in their interpretations so far, and 
 so far only, as they convince you. Submit, 1 say, your 
 reason to their arguments, but don't submit your rights 
 to their authority." 
 
 How far the first and third parts of this compound 
 proposition, agree with the second, is, I own, to me 
 quite mysterious. If Air. I'inlay confine the idea to law- 
 yers exclusively, who are not judges, the first and third 
 I am not then inclined to dispute. But I shall certainly not 
 take Mr. Finlav's advice in the second ; I shall not submit 
 my reason to his arguments. 1 will not believe (and I 
 flatter myself I shall not stand alone in my belief,) Mr. 
 Vinlay's doctrine, regarding the duties of judges, juries, 
 and viceroys. Perhaps the converse of the propositions, 
 regarding judges, juries, and viceroys, may be more 
 reasonably, as well as more legally and constitutionally 
 laid down That the judge would be a Jeffries, who 
 should charge a magistrate with murder to a jury, for 
 
 T
 
 290 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 obedience (both his and the magistrates boun den duty,) 
 to an act of parliament : that the juror would be a per- 
 jurer, who should find such, murder : and that the viceroy 
 would not be a villain, who should use the king's prero- 
 gative, in pardoning him. 
 
 Perhaps, too, the following extract, from a speech 
 reported to have been spoken by Mr. Finlay, at an aggre- 
 gate meeting, in Galway, may be serviceable in assisting 
 the reader's judgment, in determining how far it indicates 
 protestantism : " Mr. Canning has told the house of 
 commons, that they should grant emancipation, in order 
 to take the people out of our hands, in order to vex the 
 agitators. With all my heart. I strike the bargain on 
 that condition. Let them give you emancipation, to vex 
 us ; and then, perhaps, some of us may find our way into 
 that house, to vex them." 
 
 The general committee had met on the 19th of Octo- 
 ber. Mr. Hare, assistant lawyer of the castle division of 
 the police establishment, dispossessed Lord Fingal of the 
 chair ; and, afterwards, Lord Netterville, who had been 
 called on to take his place ; and called on the meeting 
 to disperse. It accordingly dispersed. 
 
 On the 26th of December, an aggregate meeting " of 
 the catholics of Ireland" was held. Eleven resolutions 
 were passed, from which I make some selections, 
 
 " Resolved, that it appears to us, that the general 
 committee of the catholics of Ireland, appointed and 
 assembled for the sole and constitutional purpose of pre- 
 paring petitions to the legislature, on behalf of the 
 catholic people, and possessing the confidence, esteem, 
 and reverence of Irishmen, of all religious persuasions, 
 have been forcibly and illegally obstructed and outraged, 
 by the orders of his grace, Charles, duke of Richmond, 
 the present chief governor of Ireland, in conjunction 
 with other persons exercising the civil government therein, 
 and their prominent legal advisers." 
 
 " That in the measures pursued by the administration 
 of Ireland for some years, we have observed, with regret 
 and indignation, a spirit of exasperating intolerance, 
 arising from the impolicy of these rulers, as well as from
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 291 
 
 their ignorance of the country they have undertaken to 
 govern." 
 
 " That the measures springing from so improvident a 
 spirit, call forth the loud and unqualified reprobation of 
 his majesty's Irish subjects." 
 
 " That it befits the catholics of Ireland, upon every 
 principle of honour and prudence, fortified as they are by 
 the first principles of the constitution, and supported by 
 the solemn verdict of a jury, not to submit, in silence, to 
 this monstrous perversion of law, and unwarrantable abuse 
 of temporary power." 
 
 They appoint a board to prepare an address to the 
 Prince Regent, when the restrictions should cease ; and 
 at the same time appoint the general committee to meet 
 on the 28th of February, 1812. 
 
 This meeting did not take place on the 28th of February, 
 but an aggregate meeting, termed, *" of the catholics of 
 Ireland," did. Six resolutions were passed, of which 
 the first was : 
 
 " Resolved, that the general committee of the catholics 
 of Ireland, appointed in pursuance of the resolutions of 
 the aggregate meeting of the 9th of July last, deserve and 
 possess the confidence of the catholics of Ireland ; but 
 while we are strongly impressed with the conviction that 
 the said committee does not come within the letter or 
 spirit of any penal law, yet we recommend to them not to 
 meet or interfere, as a committee, with our petition, 
 until the question lately raised on the convention act 
 be decided." 
 
 In the fourth, the individuals composing the board, are 
 requested to collect subscriptions, to defray the expenses 
 attendant on the petitions. 
 
 The fifth was : 
 
 " Resolved, that it is of the greatest importance to the 
 success of our cause, and we strongly recommend it to 
 the gentlemen, declared to possess the confidence of the 
 counties, cities, and towns in Ireland, either to draw up 
 separate petitions, or to adopt that of the catholics now 
 assembled, and to transmit the same, without loss of time, 
 through the medium of their representatives iu parliament,
 
 292 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 in the name and on behalf of their several counties, cities, 
 and towns." 
 
 In 1812, the system of robbing arms was revived ; the 
 county of Down was disturbed by rebels, under one of 
 their various denominations, " Threshers ;" " Carders" 
 assumed to regulate the price of land ; and disturbances 
 proceeded to an alarming degree in Tipperary, &c. 
 
 On the 21st of April, a debate was brought on in the 
 house of lords. 
 
 Lord Redesdale said : " That this unfortunate per. 
 suasion existed, there was the highest authority to prove; 
 men of the first intellectual powers, Mr. Locke, and 
 others, had admitted, that the catholics denied salvation 
 to any persons out of the pale of their church. The tone 
 of the catholics now, was very different from what it 
 had been at the commencement of the concessions 
 to them, which were received in the spirit of amity 
 and good will; but the moment they gained a standing 
 place, they assumed the language of menace and 
 intimidation." He then alluded to " Ward's Errata 
 of the Protestant Bible," a new edition of which had 
 been lately published. 
 
 The earl of Liverpool, adverting to excommunication, 
 said : " It gives the power of personal confinement, and 
 corporal punishment, to the persons exercising it ; and, 
 therefore, no man will say that it is not a temporal 
 power. 1 will next call your lordships' attention to the 
 important powers of absolution and auricular confession. 
 I do not direct your lordships' attention to that power, as 
 it is understood in its spiritual effects, but to the temporal 
 power with which it invests the priesthood of Ireland ; 
 and it gives more temporal power and authority to those 
 persons among the populace, than can be claimed by the 
 state." He then referred to " the Roman catholic autho- 
 rity of an Irishman, and a priest, at the present day ; a 
 person of most respectable character, and great learning. 
 That learned man states, ' that there is a great deal of 
 flesh and blood in this spiritual power ; that the bishops 
 claim the power of imprisoning, in episcopal matters ; of 
 whipping, and other tortures ; of settling the fees of the
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 293 
 
 inferior clergy on baptism, c. ;' and will any man state 
 that these are not powers of a temporal nature ?" 
 
 In the house of commons, the debate was brought on 
 the 23d of April. 
 
 Doctor Duigenan, adverting to * emancipation,* said: 
 " It goes to annul the act of uniformity, and also the 
 test and corporation acts, passed in the reign of Charles 
 the second. Every able lawyer, Mr. Justice Blackstone, 
 and others, speak of the act of uniformity, and the thir- 
 teenth of Charles the second, as the bulwarks of the 
 
 constitution." Adverting to- numbers, he said : > 
 
 " The only thing like an authentic calculation, that has 
 been made upon this subject, was from the return of the 
 hearth-money collectors, in Ireland, some years back ; 
 and the calculation then made, was at an average of six 
 persons to a house ; and at this average, instead of the 
 catholics amounting to four millions, the whole popula- 
 tion did not exceed two millions six hundred thousand." 
 
 Of the Irish militia, he ebserved : " One half the 
 privates of the Irish regiments, and almost all the officers, 
 are Irish protestants." 
 
 Sir J. Hippesley said : " In 1791, the Roman catholic 
 bishops of Ireland addressed the see of Rome, repre- 
 senting the prejudices excited by a reference to the oath 
 in question ; the words * hccreticos persequar et impugnabo,' 
 
 in the oath of Romish bishops." " The pope directed 
 
 the congregation de propaganda jide to be convened; a 
 tribunal then consisting of a cardinal prefect, and twenty- 
 two other cardinals ; and the result of their determination, 
 sanctioned by the pope, was immediately transmitted to 
 the archbishops of Ireland. Much surprise appears to 
 have been expressed by that tribunal, at the objections 
 taken to the oath. The titular archbishops were reminded 
 of the explanation formerly given of the same oath, to 
 the late titular archbishop Butler, to similar objections 
 raised' by the bishop of Cloyne ; and the strained, perse- 
 cuting construction of the words * harcticos persequar et 
 impugnabo ,' was therein pointedly disavowed by Rome. 
 The official document contains also the memorable words, 
 that ' the see of Rome never taught* that faith is not to
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 be kept with the heterodox ; that an oath to kings, sepa- 
 rated from the catholic communion, can be violated ; or 
 that it is lawful for the hishop of Rome to invade their 
 temporal dominions. We, too, (it adds,) consider an 
 attempt against the life of kin^s and princes, even under 
 the pretext of religion, a horrid and detestable crime.* 
 It then proceeds to state the legitimate construction of 
 the pontifical oath ; but adds, that as the oath has been 
 so grossly misrepresented, the Roman catholic prelates in 
 Ireland are allowed, in future, to make use of the same 
 form of oath, as was directed to be taken by the archbi- 
 shop of Mohcelow, in Russia, in which the words ' htvre- 
 ticos persequar et impugnabo* are wholly omitted, by 
 express authority of the pope. The oath thus substi- 
 tuted, concludes with this pointed declaration : ' J will 
 observe all these things the more inviolably, as I am firmly 
 convinced that there is nothing contained in them, which 
 can be contrary to the fidelity I owe to the most serene 
 king of Great Britain and Ireland, and to his successors 
 to the throne'" 
 
 Of the answers of the six universities, he said : 
 " Upon examining the tenor of these documents, and 
 more especially the most explicit and valuable of them 
 all, (Pope Pius's letter,) we shall find little reason to be 
 satisfied. They deny and they disclaim too much. It is 
 not that their church does not, at this day, hold such and 
 such doctrines, but that it never did : it is not, that their 
 church does not arrogate to itself such and such powers, 
 but that it never did. Now, will history bear them out 
 in this ? Will their own councils and decrees bear them 
 out ? In this view, it is not only as to veracity, that the 
 whole statement become suspicious." 
 
 The Right Honourable Mr. Yorke said, (adverting to 
 the controversy that arose between the apostolical vicar 
 of the Romish church, and the Roman catholic com- 
 mittee :) " It was brought up by the direction of the 
 committee, and in a very little time there were no copies 
 to be had. The two letters published by the Roman 
 catholic committee, were written in consequence of the 
 letter of the apostolical vicar, in the year 1790, on account
 
 OJB THE QUESTION* 39& 
 
 of the oath it was proposed by the Roman catholic com- 
 mittee to take, in which they denied altogether the 
 temporal authority of the pope in Ireland, and even his 
 spiritual power, sub modo. Upon a reference to the 
 proceedings of the Roman catholics on that occasion, we 
 shall see how much they were controller! by a foreign 
 spiritual authority. The oath proposed by the com- 
 mittee, was founded on their own protest, in which they 
 called themselves the protesting Roman catholics. It 
 was signed, I believe, by almost, all the respectable 
 Roman catholics in this country, and by a great many of 
 the bishops : I think the name of Doctor Milner was 
 among them. But the apostolical vicar, without assigning 
 any reason, forbad the catholics to-take this oath. This 
 led to a discussion of considerable length, the result of 
 which was an explanatory declaration from the apostolical 
 vicar, * that no new oath should be taken, without con- 
 sulting the bishops, in whom the supreme authority 
 resided, as governors of the church of Christ, and keeper* 
 of the faith.' A controversy ensued, which was consi- 
 derably protracted ;. and in -course of which, a great deal 
 of scholastic learning, was displayed on one side ; and a 
 great deal of sound sense, and certainly I never in my. 
 life witnessed more true Christian piety displayed any. 
 where, than in the two letters to which I have alluded. 
 The committee were desirous to induce their bishops, 
 some of whom had refused to sign the protest,, to agree 
 with them in the object they proposed, and relinquish 
 their objections. The bishops refused ; but the com- 
 mittee were, nevertheless, unanimous in framing the 
 oath, which was afterwards adopted by the parliament of 
 Ireland ; and here it is material to state the nature of 
 that oath, in order to shew the ground upon wliicli it 
 was opposed by the bishops." 
 
 " The oatii set out with disclaiming, as impious and 
 heretical, that damnable doctrine, that princes excom- 
 municated by the pope, may be deposed from their domi- 
 nions and their subjects absolved from their allegiance. 
 They abjure most solemnly that opinion imputed to them, 
 that no faith is to be kept with lu;relic.> ; and they also
 
 296* THE TRUE STATE 
 
 abjure the opinion, that any foreign prince or potentate 
 hath, or ought to have, any temporal power in these 
 realms. And farther, sub modo, * that no foreign bishop, 
 priest, or any other ecclesiastical power whatever, has a 
 right to exercise any spiritual authority in these realms, 
 hostile to the state, or that can directly, or indirectly, 
 interrupt or interfere with the independence and security 
 of the protestant church or establishment, or the rights, 
 liberties, and properties of his majesty's subjects." 
 
 " The last passage was the one objected to by the 
 bishops, and struck out of the oath. But this was the 
 most material passage to us, although thus condemned 
 by the bishops. It was pretty material they should object 
 to an oath so worded ; and it is pretty good authority for 
 those doubts now entertained with respect to the Roman 
 catholic clergy. The result, however, shewed, that even 
 the laity were taught to consider themselves as departing 
 from the principles of their spiritual faith, if they abjured 
 the authority of the see of Rome in this respect." 
 
 " This controversy went on for a considerable time, 
 and great acrimony was indulged on both sides. The 
 protesting catholic committee complained most griev. 
 ously of the conduct of their bishops, who, by their 
 constant interference, prevented the success of their 
 political objects ; and the bishops, in their turn, charged 
 them with a dereliction of the principles of their religion ; 
 and the committee at length submitted, and gave up this 
 oath. In giving up this matter, on the part of the pro- 
 testing catholic committee, two things become manifest. 
 In the first place, that no concession would be made by 
 the catholics ; and, in the second, that the priests were 
 more absolutely masters of their flocks, than they were 
 even in France- or in Italy itself." 
 
 " Now, in spite of all the conclusive reasoning in these 
 letters, to which I have alluded ; in spite of the condem- 
 nation of the conduct of their bishops, expressed by the 
 catholic committee ; and in spite of the conviction in 
 their own minds, of the propriety of what they were 
 doing, they were obliged to give way to their bishops, 
 and to the authority of the pone ; and I am credibly
 
 OP THE QUESTION. 
 
 9? 
 
 informed, that in consequence of what took place on this 
 letter to their bishops, many of the gentlemen of that 
 committee expunged their names from that protestation, 
 and many others of them dared not sign their names 
 to it. Now this draws me to an observation in reference 
 to the veto. No man can doubt, that the veto met with 
 the approbation of the catholic laity, when it was first 
 mentioned in this house. But when the bishops inter- 
 fered, we heard no more about the veto. Why then, 
 when we know the interference of the catholic clergy 
 upon the subject of the veto, I cannot hesitate to say, 
 that the catholic religion is just as objectionable, with a 
 view to these concessions, as ever it was." 
 
 Mr. Yorke alluded to Locke, on toleration, and Black- 
 stone. " Blackstone maintains, that every popish priest, 
 upon taking his oath for orders, renounces his engage- 
 ments and allegiance to the government of which he was 
 a subject." 
 
 Mr. John Leslie Foster said : " Hardly were the poli- 
 tical concessions granted, until Ireland was in a flame 
 from end to end, and one continued month of peace and 
 security it has never known from that hour to the present. 
 And yet are we called on to assume, as a matter so evi- 
 dent, that nothing but the most wilful and intolerant 
 bigotry can prevent us from acknowledging, that the 
 progress of catholic content is in the direct proportion of 
 the concession of political power." 
 
 Mr. Perceval said : " The catholics have no positive 
 and natural right to that which has no existence but in 
 a state of society ; that cannot be an object of natural 
 right, which is purely the creature of society. Such, for 
 instance, as offices of state, emoluments, and distinctions, 
 and other social institutions, which spring from the foun- 
 dation of society. These can never be matters of inherent 
 right ; and no man can have any original or primitive 
 claim upon them. These are benefits and advantages 
 which must, of necessity, be distributed according to the 
 views of the institution that creates them. They can he 
 only received by the members of society, according to the 
 terms and forms which the law makes it necessary for
 
 298 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 them to conform to ; and therefore, in that point of view, 
 it is undeniable, that the catholics of Ireland have no- 
 ground to demand as a right, that which is the object of 
 the present government to refuse to concede." 
 
 " In the course of the speech of Sir John Cox Hippesley, 
 last night, he desired us to refer to a work entitled 
 ' Tractatus de ecclesia,' for something that would highly 
 instruct and gratify all who read it. I have got a Tractatus 
 de ecclesia, not indeed the exact one mentioned by the 
 honourable baronet, but a Tractatus published by the 
 printer of Maynooth college, and by their authority, 
 under the direction of M. De La Hogue, the professor 
 of theology at Maynooth ; and certainly it may be con- 
 sidered as one of the class books of that college. On 
 my part, I introduce this book for the purpose of shewing 
 that they teach the youth of that institution, at this hour, 
 the same obnoxioustenets. The proposition to which I wisk 
 to call the attention of the house, is their instructions upon 
 the subject of the general councils. It contains instruc- 
 tions for the youth educated there, and it tells them, 
 among other things, 'that councils are infallible.' There 
 is no sort of reservation whatever ; they are taught to 
 believe implicitly in the infallibility of all these councils. 
 We must understand that the whole of the councils are 
 not specified in the book ; but the most prominent points- 
 and doctrines of the fourth council of Lateran and of Trent 
 are collected together, and inculcated as the most doctrinal 
 tenets, without any exception whatever, of the Roman 
 catholic church. This contains the tenets received by 
 the Irish and Gallican churches. It does not contain 
 merely matters of faith, but also of discipline ; and incul- 
 cates the doctrine to which I object, namely, the infallibility 
 of those councils." 
 
 "If the Roman catholic theologians of Maynooth do 
 really renounce these obnoxious doctrines of the fourth 
 Lateran council, and do not abide by these general councils 
 of Trent, it is not quite fair nor just by the youth who are 
 entrusted to their education, to tell them, that those of 
 this last council are to be the manual of their education. 
 I say, therefore, this appears to me to leave no reasonable-
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 299 
 
 doubt, in this point of vtew, that they have given up none 
 of these obnoxious doctrines. What a different argument 
 there would have been on this subject, in favour of the catho- 
 lics, if the honourable baronet could have produced a book 
 in which these councils are contained, and in which the 
 obnoxious parts could have been pointed out for the benefit 
 of the students, that they might know how to avoid those 
 doctrines, which were to be considered by their masters 
 as objectionable parts, and to which they should pay no 
 attention. But no we have the most objectionable parts 
 picked out, and made the earliest food for the young 
 mind; and the learned theologian then tells them that, 
 " Itaque maximo in pretio illud concilium habere debent 
 omnes clerici, cum ratione dogmaium sit omnium 
 praccedentiuin synodorum compendium, et ratione disci- 
 pline merito dici posset manuale sacerdotum vel eorum 
 qui sacerdotio sunt initiandi." 
 
 " With regard to the influence of the pope, I wish that 
 the house should be apprized of what were the sentiments 
 in the recent publication of Doctor O'Connor. He has 
 stated his opinion with regard to the influence of the Irish 
 church on the people, and given much other important 
 information upon that subject. Page 95 begins with letters, 
 after an historical address upon the subject of the fears 
 of the people, with respect to foreign influence." (Here 
 he read several extracts from DoctorO Connor's pamphlet, 
 containing comments upon the influence of the bishop of 
 Rome, as still inculcated by the college of Maynooth ; on 
 the spiritual and temporal power of the catholic clergy ; and, 
 in page 114, on the oath of allegiance taken by the Roman 
 catholicclergy to the papal authority.) "Now, this Doctor 
 O'Connor has sustained a vigorous controversy with some 
 of the Roman-catholic clergy of Ireland; and, I am told, he 
 has been excommunicated for this identical publication." 
 
 For the entire of this admirable speech, the delivery 
 of which, its able and upright speaker outlived but seven- 
 teen days, I refer the reader to the parliamentary history. 
 I have given here, however, the most prominent passages. 
 
 The Romish claims were, on this occasion, rejected by 
 a majority of eighty-five.
 
 300 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 On the llth of May, the hand of an assassin deprived 
 Mr. Perceval's country of his faithful services, and raised 
 him to an immortal crown. 
 
 The following is extracted from a newspaper : 
 
 " Dumfries, May 19th -A report was here circulated on 
 the 10th instant, twenty-four hours before the assassination, 
 that Mr. Perceval was shot in his way to the house of 
 commons, at the door or in the lobby of that house.*' 
 
 The Rev. Doctor Thorpe, in a pamphlet, published in 
 Dublin, in 1814, gives " an extract from a speech said to 
 have been delivered by Mr.O'Connell, at a meeting of the 
 Roman catholics of Limerick : published (he says) in 
 Dublin, along with one said to have been spoken by Mr. 
 Finlay, at an aggregate meeting of the Roman catholics, 
 held in Dublin. The motto of the pamphlet which con- 
 tains these speeches, is remarkable : it is 'Magnus uterque 
 timor latronibus* Hor. 1 Lib. 4 Sat." 
 
 " In the latter periods of the present reign, every 
 administration has had a distinct principle, upon which it 
 was formed, and which serves the historian to explain all 
 its movements. Thus, the principle of the Pitt adminis- 
 tration was to deprive the people of all share in the 
 government, and to vest all power and authority-in the 
 crown. In short, Pitt's views amounted to unqualified 
 despotism. This great object he steadily pursued through 
 his ill-starred career. It is true, he encouraged commerce'; 
 but it was for the purpose of taxation ; and he used tax- 
 ation for the purpose of corruption. He assisted the 
 merchants, as long as he could, to grow rich, and they 
 lauded him ; he bought the people with their own money, 
 and they praised him. Each succeeding day produced 
 some new inroad on the constitution ; and the alarm 
 which he excited, by reason of the bloody workings of 
 the French revolution, enabled him to rule the land with 
 uncontrolled sway. He has bequeathed to his successors 
 the accumulated power of the crown a power which is 
 so great, as to sustain the nonentities of the present 
 administration. The principle of Pitt's administration 
 was despotism : the principle of Perceval's administration 
 vvas peculating bigotry bigoted peculation t In the name
 
 OF THE QUESTION. SOI 
 
 of the Lord, he plundered the people. Pious and en- 
 lightened statesman ! he would take their money only for 
 the good of their souls ! The principle of the present 
 administration is still more obvious. It has unequivocally 
 disclosed itself in all their movements. It is simple and 
 single it consists in falsehood ! Falsehood is th bond 
 and link which connects this ministry in office. Some 
 of them pretend to be our friends ; you know it is not 
 true. They are only our worse enemies for hypocrisy." 
 
 Doctor Thorpe says, " This calumny was uttered almost 
 before Mr. Perceval was cold in his grave !" 
 
 Again " The pamphlet before us furnishes a parallel, 
 in the speech attributed to Mr. Finlay. He is described 
 as having expressed himself as follows, in an aggregate 
 meeting of the Roman catholics, held in Dublin, within 
 a month after Mr. Perceval's funeral." 
 
 " But two obstacles impeded its advancement, (i. e. 
 catholic emancipation,) which neither moral nor political 
 causes could remove the principles of a minister, and 
 the conscience of a king. The minister said it was 
 resisted by his reason the king declared itwas resisted by 
 his morality. The king was religious the bigots were 
 obstinate. Bigotry, in this case, as in all cases, adopted 
 the pretences of religion to counteract the purposes of 
 religion. The bigots of the day beset the monarch they 
 said to themselves, in the language of the great poet, 
 
 The oath, the oath's the thing, 
 
 In which we'll catch the conscience of the King. 
 
 In this way they succeeded in convincing the sovereign, 
 that concession to you must be perjury to him. Thus, 
 the semblance of religion, and the substance of bigotry, 
 united to oppose the free worship of God. Against these 
 two uncommon obstacles, moral and political causes 
 worked in vain in vain would reason expostulate with 
 bigotry in vain would it argue with religious conscienti- 
 ousness. Reason could do nothing with the one or the other 
 secondary causes must fail to remove such obstacles 
 human causes could riot remove them man could not 
 remove them none but God could remove them. God 
 has removed them. By the two severest visitations with
 
 302 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 which man can be afflicted by the loss of reason and by 
 the loss of life, these two impediments to your emancipa- 
 tion have been dislodged ; your king no longer ranks 
 with the rational, and the minister of that king is now 
 numbered with the dead. As a subject and a man, I 
 must, in common with you all, sincerely deplore this 
 twofold affliction ; but, as a moralist and a Christian, it 
 may be permitted to infer, that these awful signs of the 
 times may appear to the eye of the unborn historian, but 
 as the distinct evidence of a controlling providence ; that 
 for the future, man's free worship of his Creator is, as it 
 were, written by the finger of God ; and that it now 
 stands a record in heaven, that the time is past, and 
 never can return, when any man, or any set of men, 
 can presume to rebuke, by any system of social or civil 
 vilification, that great majority of the Christian church 
 which bend the knee at the name of Jesus." 
 
 I shall make no remarks on these speeches, as the 
 judicious remarks made by Doctor Thorpe, in his 
 pamphlet, to which I refer my readers, fully com- 
 prehend all that is necessary to be said on this part 
 of the subject. 
 
 On the 18th of June, an aggregate meeting, termed, 
 of " the catholics of Ireland," took place in Dublin. 
 The resolutions passed were : 
 
 1st "That we do forthwith renew our humble, but 
 earnest application by petition to the legislature, pray- 
 ing for a total and unqualified repeal of the penal laws 
 which aggrieve the catholics of these realms, infringe 
 the sacred rights of religious liberty, and endanger the 
 existence of the British empire." 
 
 2d...." That the charge of preparing such petitions, and 
 of causing them to be duly presented without delay, be 
 confided to the individuals possessing the confidence 
 of the catholics of Ireland, named at the last aggregate 
 meeting of the catholics of Ireland." 
 3d... ."That the said persons are so nominated, not to repre- 
 sent the people of these realms, or any portion thereof, 
 but merely for the purposes, solely and exclusively, 
 already prescribed, undfor no other purpose whatsoever."
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 305 
 
 4th...." That from authentic documents now before us, 
 we learn with deep disappointment and anguish, how 
 . cruelly the promised boon of catholic freedom has been 
 intercepted by the fatal witchery of an unworthy secret 
 influence, hostile to our fairest hopes, spurning alike 
 the sanctions of public and private virtue, the demands 
 of personal gratitude, and the sacred obligations of 
 plighted honour." 
 
 5th...." That to this impure source we trace but too 
 distinctly, our baffled hopes and protracted servitude 
 the arrogant invasion of the undoubted right of peti- 
 tioning the acrimony of illegal state prosecutions the 
 surrender of Ireland to prolonged oppression and insult 
 and the many experiments, equally pitiful and 
 perilous, recently practised upon the habitual passive- 
 ness of an ill-treated, but high spirited people." 
 
 Oth..." That cheerless indeed would be our prospects, and 
 faint our hopes of success, were they to rest upon the 
 constancy of courtiers, or the pompous patronage of 
 men who can coldly sacrifice the feelings and interests 
 of millions, at the shrine of perishable power ; or, 
 deluded by the blandishments of a too luxurious court, 
 can hazard the safety of a people, for ill-timed courtly 
 compliments. The pageants of a court, command not 
 our respect our great cause rests upon the immutable 
 foundations of truth, and justice, and reason equal 
 constitutional rights, unconditional, unstipulated, 
 unpurchased by dishonour, are objects dear to our 
 hearts. They consist with virtue, wisdom, humanity, 
 true religion, and unaffected honour ; and can never 
 be abandoned by men who deserve to be free." 
 
 7th.. .'1 hat for the complete attainment of this our con- 
 stitutional object, we firmly confide in our own per- 
 vering exertions, in the enlightened wisdom and 
 growing liberality of our fellow citizens, (recently 
 and gloriously exhibited in their petitions to parliament 
 in our behalf,) and, above all, in that providence which 
 presides over the destinies of nations, and permits not 
 the oppression of man by his fellow creature with 
 impunity.*'
 
 304 OF THE QUESTION". 
 
 8th..." That, turning with disgust from the gloomy wreck 
 of public character, presented in recent events, we 
 recognise, with esteem and admiration, the truly noble 
 elevation of sentiment which has distinguished Lords 
 Grey and Grenville, and the other personages who, 
 with them, have stood aloof from the allurements of 
 intrigue, and maintained the high station of rigid 
 independence. We respect their recent conduct as 
 directed by sound wisdom, by well founded caution, 
 by an honest anxiety as well for the secure attainment 
 of great public benefits as for the conservation of their 
 own personal honour." 
 
 9th..." That we have found in the Earl of Donotighmore, 
 a steady, earnest and intrepid advocate of our rights 
 an ever faithful sentinel of our interests an undaunted 
 and judicious assertor of truths awfully important to 
 our country. That the Right Honourable Henry 
 Grattan has eloquently sustained our application to 
 the house of commons, and has again deserved 
 our eternal gratitude, and that our chairman be 
 requested to transmit these our sentiments in suitable 
 terms." 
 
 10th..." That we have viewed with inexpressible pleasure 
 and admiration the generous exertions of our fellow 
 citizens of other persuasions in our behalf, their solici- 
 tude in subscribing and recommending petitions to 
 parliament for our relief, and their spontaneous sup- 
 port at public meetings. We hope to merit their 
 honourable confidence by a continuance of the same 
 temperate, but firm conduct which has already con- 
 ciliated their esteem : and though we cannot, in 
 sincerity, proffer those securities or arrangements, 
 (amounting, if practicable, to the new exchange 
 of one species of servitude for another,) yet we must 
 chearfully tender to their kind acceptance, as the only 
 equivalent in our power, our warm affections and lasting 
 gratitude our oaths of allegiance our past loyalty 
 and merits our present willingness to assist (whr-never 
 by law permitted) in ths ardous enterprize of saving 
 the sinking vessel of the state."
 
 F THE QUESTION. 305 
 
 llth..." That from recent observation of political dupli- 
 city, we feel it necessary to recommend most earnestly 
 to all catholic freeholders throughout Ireland, steadily 
 to resist the pretensions of any candidates who shall 
 hesitate to pledge themselves publicly to the uniform 
 support of catholic emancipation ; or who shall have 
 lent, or are likely to lend, their support to any 
 administration founded in intolerance, and hostile to 
 the enjoyment of religious liberty." 
 12th..." That the expenses unavoidably attendant upon 
 the conduct of catholic petitions, and the defence of 
 the invaded right of petitioning, call for the liberal aid 
 of our fellow countrymen, and we confide to the public 
 spirit and zeal of the catholic body throughout every 
 district for ample pecuniary support." 
 13th..." That these our resolutions be published in the 
 public prints four times in four of the London news- 
 papers, and six times in six of the Dublin newspapers." 
 14th..." That the cordial gratitude of the catholics of 
 Ireland is due to the author of the * Statement of the 
 Penal Laws,' lately published, a work in which we 
 recognise all the accuracy of great legal knowledge, 
 combined with the classic elegance of the scholar, and 
 profound observation of the philosopher." 
 15th..." That the catholics of Ireland have beheld, with 
 sentiments of the deepest gratitude, the exalted patriot- 
 ic of his royal highness the duke of Sussex, manifested 
 by his constitutional and enlightened support of the 
 principles of religious liberty." 
 
 This insidious, seditious, and daring document, too 
 plainly displays tiie cloven foot, to require much remark. 
 Passing by the contemptible trash, " unqualified repeal," 
 and the flimsy subterfuge, "possessing the confidence 
 of," &c. I shall only request of the reader to remark 
 the subtile ingenuity of deception, and treasonable 
 audacity, contained in the base and false attack on 
 the exalted, upright, spirited, yet temperate personage, 
 who, supported by numerous and powerful adherents, 
 *tlid not think it necessary to permit " All the talents" 
 to "ride romrh-shod through Carluloii-hoiise." 
 
 u
 
 506 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 On the 22d of June, Mr. Canning proposed, in the house 
 of commons, that the laws affecting Roman catholics should 
 be taken into consideration early in the next session, which 
 was carried by a majority of one hundred and twenty-nine. 
 
 On the 1st of July, the same proposition was made in 
 the house of lords, by the Marquis Wellesley, which was 
 rejected by a majority of one. 
 
 On the 4th of July, the " catholic board," in Dublin, 
 resolved " That the catholic board do meet on the first 
 and third Saturday of every month, until the 1st of Novem- 
 ber next ; and that our secretary do write circular letters 
 to all the members, announcing our serious apprehen- 
 sions, that a religious persecution is about to recommence 
 in Ireland, apparently sanctioned by the present admi- 
 nistration- and inculcating the necessity of frequent 
 deliberation, and constant activity, on the part of the 
 catholic body, in obviating the approaching calamity, 
 and in the firm assertion of their rights, at this fearful 
 and important crisis." 
 
 From this time forward, the meetings of boards and 
 aggregates became so frequent, that I should only trouble 
 the reader with a confused and crowded mass of events, 
 and an obtrusive repetition of nonsensical and seditious 
 speeches, by a misnomer, termed eloquent, but suffi- 
 ciently disgusting and tiresome, even at the periods of 
 their delivery, were I to give all that has been said, and 
 all that has been done. I shall, therefore, omit the most 
 bulky and immaterial part, what has been said. Besides, 
 it has been objected, that for the particular sentiments of 
 any individual, the individual himself should alone be 
 answerable, and should in his own person alone, suffer 
 any privations or restrictions consequent on these. I am 
 inclined to attach much more weight to this opinion, 
 than to any other I ever heard of, coming from a member 
 of the " august body.'* Speeches would not be suffi- 
 ciently conclusive. 
 
 " We must have grounds more relative than thia" 
 
 Our inductions must flow, on this, as on every other part 
 of the subject, from more tangible premises. Of this
 
 OF THE QUESTION 307 
 
 description, are the " resolutions'* of aggregates and 
 boards. I shall only insert such passages from speeches, 
 as may be assumed to be connected with general occur- 
 rences. These, too, shall be as few and short as possible. 
 My object is a general relation, and embraces not parti- 
 cular, invidious, or unnecessary detail, where I can in 
 any wise avoid it, with justice to my general subject. 
 My anxious desire is to avoid giving offence, and rather to 
 throw a veil over the violent and absurd speeches of 
 individuals, where it can be done without injury to 
 fehe general design of this work, or without compromising 
 truth. 
 
 Of the resolutions, to give the whole, verbatim, general 
 and local, would be also very tedious. The more striking 
 and important, I shall give literally ; the others, some- 
 times abridge, and sometimes glance through generally, 
 to prove coincidence, and, at the same time, combine 
 substance with brevity. 
 
 On the 1st of August, an aggregate meeting in Tralee 
 passed resolutions ; of which, the third was : " That as* 
 Irishmen, and as catholics, we would deem the annex- 
 ation of any conditions, or stipulations, to our freedom, 
 as a wanton insult to our loyalty and our honour, and as 
 calculated to injure the religion which we have inherited 
 from our ancestors, and to which we firmly and consci- 
 entiously adhere." 
 
 And the ninth was : " That the most sincere thanks 
 of the catholics of Ireland, are due to the author of the 
 Statement of 'the Penal Laws, a work eminently calculated 
 to ensure for our cause the support of every honest man, 
 because it so truly and so forcibly discloses the grievances 
 and oppressions necessarily consequent on a code of 
 intolerance." 
 
 On the H-th of August, an aggregate meeting in Cork 
 passed resolutions; of which, the first was: "That 
 feeling, with a deep and solemn conviction, the danger of 
 irritating, and necessity of conciliating, at this awful 
 period, live millions of men, who constitute the efficient 
 population of this land, and are the nerve and sinew of 
 its strength, we will continue on;- unremitting exertions
 
 SOS THE TRUE STATE 
 
 to obtain from the legislature, the restoration imme- 
 diate, complete, ami unconditional, of those rights, to 
 which nature, justice, policy, the pronounced voice of 
 our protestant fellow-citizens, and the spirit of the con- 
 stitution itself, proclaim, with irresistible accord, our 
 undoubted title." 
 
 The llth was: " That, identifying ourselves in feel- 
 ing, as we are in interest, with the catholics of Ireland, 
 assembled in Dublin, on the 18th of June, and 2nd of 
 July, we highly applaud the manly spirit of their resolu- 
 tions, and the proud attitude of conscious right, assumed 
 by them on those days ; and to the truly dignified conduct 
 of their venerated chairman, the earl of Fingal, we can 
 never omit an opportunity of presenting the heartfelt 
 expression of our wannest approbation." 
 
 And the 12th was : " That the work entitled, 'A State- 
 ment of the Penal Laws,' appears to us a luminous and 
 uncontroverted exposition or the disabilities under which 
 we yet labour, and an irresistible appeal to the sympathy 
 and justice of our protestant countrymen, whose co-ope- 
 ration in effecting the removal of our grievances, will be 
 commensurate with the knowledge of their extent ; and, 
 that onr thanks are due to the author of this masterly 
 performance." 
 
 Of that part of the first resolution, which alludes to 
 protestant signatures, in favour of " emancipation," I 
 shall only remark, that, at a subsequent period of time, 
 in this work, the 13th of May, 1813, will be found an 
 elucidation, in a speech of Doctor Duigenan's, in the 
 house of commons. But the most copious abuse was 
 issued from seditious newspapers, of those who had the 
 presumption, forsooth, to sign counter-petitions against 
 " emancipation," which now became pretty general 
 throughout the country. Among the variety, the Cork 
 Mercantile Chronicle, of October the 16th, terms the 
 corporation of the city of Cork, " a gang of paltry bigots;" 
 while other newspapers threatened to publish the names 
 of such as should sign them. Why were not these 
 threats put in execution ? There could b.e but three 
 reasons. First, they could not all be procured. Secondly,
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 309 
 
 a glimmering of light ; the fear, that those whose names 
 could be procured, should be exposed to the dagger of 
 the assassin. Thirdly, the apprehension, that the deve- 
 iopement (if practicable,) would tend more to the credit, 
 than to the disgrace of the individuals exposed. For 
 the honour of human nature, it is to be hoped, that the 
 second was the impulsive reason for forbearance. In 
 one of these papers, the happiest indications have been 
 since exhibited ; and, there is strong reason to believe, 
 with great sincerity. 
 
 On the 29th of September, the parliament was dissolved, 
 and writs were issued for a new parliament, to meet 
 on the 24th of November. 
 
 I now come to the memorable aera of the general elec- 
 tion. Of this, to- attempt giving a regular account, 
 would be entirely too tedious and complicated. It is also 
 too well impressed on the recollection of my readers, to 
 be necessary* But I may remark, that in no place in the 
 United Kingdom, did its furor rage with such tremendous 
 violence, as in the city and county of Cork. Of its exhi- 
 bitions in these, I shall give some specimens. 
 
 Advertisement 'From the Cork Mercantile Chronicle. 
 " IMPORTANT NOTICE." 
 
 " The electors of the county of Cork are hereby 
 informed, that daily lists, of those who shall vote, either 
 for or against the liberal and patriotic candidate, shall be 
 published, and forwarded by express, to the several 
 towns of the county, for the purpose of enabling the 
 public to judge of the real principles and dispositions of 
 each voter.'* October 19///, 1812. 
 
 Advertisement From the Cork Mercantile Chronicle. 
 CITY ELECTION." 
 
 " As arrangements have been made for the free passage 
 of the electors, Sir Nicholas Coltlmrst, with great respect, 
 solicits the attendance, &c." October C 23d. 
 
 The election had been commenced on the 20th of 
 October. From the SOth, to the 'JJd, the city court haJ
 
 310 THE TUUE STATE 
 
 exhibited the most tumultuary scene ever witnessed in 
 Cork. The very lowest of the rabble, aided and incited 
 by a factious rabble, a little better dressed, regularly took 
 possession of the court-house, at its first opening in the 
 morning of each day ; and, supported by reinforcements 
 throughout the day, kept possession ; while the better 
 dressed ruffians obstructed the passage of, insulted, and 
 endeavoured to intimidate, if that were practicable, those 
 whom they supposed to be firm and loyal, long before 
 they could ascertain, except by guess, how they would 
 vote. At last, the magistrates were compelled to inter- 
 fere ; tjoor-keepers were fixed ; constables stationed ; a 
 military guard (if absolutely necessary to preserve the 
 peace of the city, and the liberties of its inhabitants,) 
 held in requisition ; and some seditious individuals com- 
 mitted to prison. On the 23d, order was in some measure 
 restored ; and a free passage obtained for electors, of 
 whatever religious or political persuasion. This is what 
 Sir Nicholas Colthurst alluded to in his advertisement. 
 
 On the 27th of October, the Cork Southern Reporter 
 commenced, and in four succeeding newspapers conti- 
 nued, a publication of the names and votes of the city 
 freemen and freeholders, which was thus prefaced : 
 " We have been obliged to omit the lengthened details 
 of yesterday's proceedings, in order to insert the list of 
 the freemen and freeholders who have voted from the 
 first day of the election, and for whom. This we con- 
 ceive a most necessary duty. It is right the people 
 should be made acquainted with those who voted for and 
 against the enlightened advocate of religious liberty the 
 decided enemy of corruption -the assertor of Irish rights, 
 and the attentive and assiduous guardian of the commer- 
 cial interests of the city of Cork." 
 
 The next material document, is an advertisement first 
 published in the Southern Reporter, the same day the 
 resolutions therein were passed. 
 
 " At a meeting of the catholics of the county of Cork, 
 held at the Bush Tavern, on Saturday, 31st of October, 
 1812, pursuant to public notice, the following resolu- 
 tions, moved by Alexander O'Driscol, of Creagb, and
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 311 
 
 .seconded by Michael Gal way, of Old Court, Esquires, 
 
 were unanimously agreed to :" 
 
 " William Copinger, jun. of Barry's Court, osq. being 
 
 moved to the chair by Thomas Rochfort, of Garret'sTowii, 
 
 esq. seconded by M'Carthy O'Leary, of Millstreet, esq." 
 
 1st.." Resolved, that the elective franchise is the most 
 important privilege with which the Roman catholics of 
 this country are invested ; and, that when honestly and 
 independently exercised, it must prove the most effi- 
 cient instrument towards the extinction of unjust and 
 partial laws, and the complete possession of all the 
 blessings of the British constitution." 
 
 2d..." That the Roman catholics of Cork are bound by 
 every tie of honour, gratitude, and public duty, to 
 support the sincere and unequivocal friends of civil 
 and religious liberty, and to oppose most strenuously, 
 hostile, or even doubtful candidates.*' 
 
 3d..." That we have on repeated occasions, in the glowing 
 language of the heart, returned thanks to the Honour- 
 able George Ponsonby, for his steady and uniform 
 support of the catholic claims, and of every measure 
 calculated to promote the prosperity of his native land, 
 uninfluenced by patronage, and unawed by the threats 
 of an administration avowedly hostile to the concession 
 of our just rights, and that we will support him to the 
 utmost of our power, in the arduous contest in which 
 he is engaged." 
 
 ith..." That we regret that any Roman catholic elector in 
 this county, has been found so shamefully inconsistent, 
 so regardless of his own character, and that of the 
 catholic body, as to sacrifice every generous feeling of 
 the heart, and every principle of manly independence, 
 at the shrine of corrupt self interest, and at the very 
 crisis of his country's fate, to abandon his public duty, 
 and thus to have his name recorded in the list of those 
 apostates who have become the ignominious accom- 
 plices of their own degradation, a stigma upon their 
 race, and a disgrace to their religion and their count r\ . ' 
 
 5th..." That no fair or liberal landlord can think of perse- 
 cuting his tenantry, for acting according to the dictates
 
 312 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 of their consciences, and exercising honestly and inde- 
 pendently, the rights with which the laws of their 
 country invest them." 
 
 6th..." That we have observed, with much indignation, 
 an address, purporting to come from Mr. Hare, in 
 which he expresses " thanks and gratitude to his highly 
 respected catholic friends," because we cannot enter- 
 tain a belief, that any respectable or independent 
 catholic, did, or could give his support to Mr. Hare, 
 in preference to Mr. Ponsonby, of the sincerity of 
 whose attachment to our cause, no catholic can enter- 
 tain a doubt." 
 
 7th..." That the present resolutions be published in the 
 Cork papers," 
 
 " WILLIAM COPIXGER, CHAIRMAN.' 
 " JOHN STACK, SECRETARY'" 
 
 " William Copinger, esq. having left the chair, and 
 Richard Barry, esq. having been called thereto, the 
 thanks of the meeting were unanimously voted to Mr. 
 Copinger.'* 
 
 On the 3d of November, by which time all sides began 
 to discern the result, which the 5th decided, of this pro- 
 tracted and turbulent election, the Southern Reporter 
 published along article, under the head, " City Election," 
 \vhich thus commenced : " While a contemptible and 
 illiberal faction are endeavouring, by base slander, and 
 every species of corruption, to deprive the city of Cork 
 of its former faithful and able representative, the eyes of 
 the people of Ireland are anxiously directed to the result 
 of this ill-judged and wicked contest.** 
 
 The loyal and protestant corporation of Cork, the pro- 
 testant clergy, and all other descriptions of protestant 
 freemen and freeholders, thus denominated " a contemp- 
 tible and illiberal faction" what shall we term the other 
 party ? " The patriots," to be sure ! The patriots, then, 
 perceiving the game to be up in the city, directed all their 
 4< talents," exertions, and support, in aid of the friends 
 of their cause, in the county. Here, it was found neces-
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 313 
 
 sary to meet some of the manoeuvres. The following 
 advertisement, therefore, was published in the Cork 
 papers : 
 
 " The friends of the independence of the county of 
 Cork, having determined to support it by such a contri- 
 bution, as will effectually meet the boasted resources 
 which are now avowed to be at the disposal of another 
 party; and having for that purpose entered into a liberal 
 and, extensive subscription ; the gentlemen who have 
 agreed to contribute thereto, are requested to pay their 
 contributions into any of the banks of the city or county 
 of Cork, and to take receipts, accountable to the trea- 
 surer, John Michael Wrixon, Esq. And such gentlemen 
 as have not had an opportunity of expressing their feelings 
 and intentions on this occasion, are requested to signify 
 them speedily to the said treasurer, or to William 
 Colburn, Esq. Cork." 
 
 " Signed by order, 
 J?ov.nd, "WILLIAM COLBURN, SECRETARY*' 
 
 On the 5th of November, the Southern Reporter pub- 
 lished an article, of which I give the commencing part : 
 
 Reporter-Office, Six o'Clock." 
 
 " The voice of the sheriffs this evening announced, 
 that Colonel Longtield, and Sir Nicholas Colthurst, were 
 the members to sit in the next parliament, for the repre- 
 sentation of this great city. But the voice of the people 
 contradicted the official return. Sir Nicholas Colthurst, 
 the member started against Mr. llutchinson, by a bigoted 
 faction, received at this election, six hundred and thirty- 
 nine voices in his favour ; and we do most firmly believe, 
 that in a city whose population consists of one hundred 
 and forty thousand persons, he would not have been 
 enabled to poll double that number, though every 
 individual inhabitant were permitted to vote. We arc 
 warranted in this opinion, from die sight which this great 
 city presented this evening, when not less, we are sure, 
 than eighty thousand people, attended the triumphal 
 chairing of Mr. llutchinson."
 
 314 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 Before I pass the period of the election, in glancing 
 through which, I have, for brevity, confined myself to 
 what I conceived to he a few of the most material 
 documents ; it is in the closest chain of connexion with 
 its proceedings, to insert, in this place, the following 
 
 " ADVERTISEMENT." 
 
 " It appearing to several of the noblemen and gentlemen 
 of landed interest in this county, that an illiberal attack 
 has been made on the highly respectable banking house 
 of Joseph Pike, of this city, esquire, by sending in an 
 unusual number of his notes for payment, and by cutting 
 and mutilating others, so as to prevent their circulation, 
 and this in consequence of his having exercised his right 
 of elective franshise : We, who have hereunto subscribed 
 our names, hereby declare, that if such conduct shall be 
 persisted in, after this publication, \\ e are resolved our- 
 selves, and shall direct our agents and receivers of our 
 rents, not to take in payment thereof, any other than the 
 
 NATIONAL PAPER OF THIS KINGDOM, 
 
 so as thereby to prevent the depreciation attempted to be 
 cast upon the notes of the said Joseph Pike, or the 
 preference attempted 'to be given to the circulation of 
 other banker's notes .of this county and city. Cork, 
 November 16, 181i2." 
 
 Shannon, 
 
 Bandon, Wallis Adams, Henry Bechcr, 
 
 Bantry, John Pyne, Samuel Jervois, 
 
 Bernard, John CoUhurst, Nathaniel Evanson, 
 
 Thos. Cork QRoss, Richard Hare, Richard Townsend, 
 Rich.B.Townsend, J.Trarers,'Be\\i<lere.Jas. Hingston, Clk. 
 Samuel Totcnsend, Robt. Hedges Eyre, Samuel R. Perry, 
 II illiam Stewart, Robert Courtenay, John Trovers, 
 Simon White, Augustus Warren, Rev. Somers Payne, 
 
 Abraham Morris, RlichaelG. Adams, John Browne, 
 John Colthurst, Thomas Alleyn,
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 315 
 
 The following advertisement is also applicable, from 
 the Mercantile Chronicle of the 4th of December : 
 
 " CITY OF CORK REGISTRY." 
 
 " The gentlemen associated for the purpose of extending 
 the elective franchise, give this public notice, that such 
 persons as are willing to register their freeholds, may have 
 their affidavits prepared by their agents, John Swiney, 
 South-mall; Edmond OTlaherty, Marl borough-street ; 
 John Bennett, Lavitt's-quay; James O'Brien, South-mall;. 
 St. John Aikenhead, Rutland-street ; Remiah Sheehan, 
 Marlborough-street ; who will also, if necessary, defray 
 the expenses to be incurred on the occasion. Cork, 
 December 4, 1812." 
 
 Having thus given collectively, without troubling the 
 reader with long speeches, or minute circumstances, a 
 sufficient specimen of this election in the city and county 
 of Cork; this will furnish a clue towards discerning its spirit 
 generally ; and I now revert to intermediate occurrences. 
 
 On the 23d of October, resolutions wore passed by 
 " the catholic electors of the town and county of Carlow." 
 These resolutions are not only similar, in import, to those 
 passed in Cork on the 31st, but they are, for the most 
 part, similar in the very words. It is, therefore, unne- 
 cessary to give them. 
 
 On the 5th of November, at an aggregate meeting of 
 the " catholics of the county of Dublin," resolutions were 
 passed ; of which the second was : " That we deem the 
 idea of annexing any conditions or restrictions to our 
 emancipation, under the name of securities, to imply a 
 most unmerited insult to our allegiance and our under- 
 standings, and that such idea has originated with our 
 worst enemies for the mere purpose of delaying the 
 concessions of religious freedom, which we claim as a 
 right, the concession of which we deem essential to the 
 safety of the country." 
 
 The sixth was : " That from recent events we deem it 
 necessary to conjure the catholic freeholders to strengthen 
 their interests by immediate registry, anil to abstain from 
 involving themselves in any promises that may connect
 
 316 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 them with the supporters of an incompetent and profligate 
 administration." 
 
 The eighth was : " That subscriptions to defray the 
 expenses of our petition be collected in every parish in 
 this county." 
 
 And the ninth was : That the thanks and support 
 of this meeting are eminently due to the author of a work 
 entitled * A Statement of the Penal Laws,' for the zeal, 
 patriotism, and ability, displayed in publishing to the 
 country the many grievances under which the catholics 
 of Ireland still labour.'* 
 
 On the 2yth of November, at an aggregate meeting in 
 the Queen's County, resolutions were passed ; of which 
 the third was : " That we cannot consider those persons 
 who require securities for our allegiance, inconsistent 
 with our real principles, as discovering any real desire to 
 conciliate the catholics of Ireland." 
 
 The fifth was : " That from recent events we deem 
 it necessary to conjure the catholics to register their free- 
 holds without delay, that they may hereafter be enabled 
 to evince their zealous attachment to the sincere friends 
 of civil and religious liberty-.'* 
 
 And the tenth was : " That our warmest thanks and 
 support are eminently due to the author of the * Statement 
 of the Penal Laws." 
 
 In the beginning of December, the following address,, 
 dated the 18th of November, was published : 
 
 "THE ADDRESS 
 
 Of the Roman catholic prelates, assembled in Dublin, on 
 the 18th of November, 1812, to the clergy and laity 
 of the Roman catholic churches in Ireland. Published 
 by authority." 
 
 *' To the clergy a?id laity of the Roman catholic churches 
 
 in Ireland." 
 
 " REVEREND BROTHERS, 15KLOVEU CHILDREN, 
 
 PEACE BE TO YOU 
 
 I" 
 
 " Recurring exigencies in the course of the last few 
 years, have repeatedly induced us, as guardians of the
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 317 
 
 Roman catholic religion in Ireland, to declare our senti- 
 ments on the subject of its concerns ; and we have had 
 the unspeakable satisfaction of witnessing that such decla- 
 rations, on our part, were received by you with that 
 unanimity, and that spirit, which proclaim to the world, 
 that your inviolable attachment to the creed of your 
 ancestors hath not hitherto been, and, under the Divine 
 protection, never will be lessened or impaired, by priva- 
 tions, penalties, or hardships." 
 
 " Of that conscientious loyalty, which all good subject* 
 owe to their king, and to the state, and which the spirit 
 of our religion so emphatically inculcates, you have given 
 such unequivocal assurances, such unparalleled and satis- 
 factory proofs, that the most distrustful ingenuity cannot 
 possibly devise securities more binding." 
 
 " We learn, notwithstanding, with the deepest regret, 
 that in the opinion of many respectable individuals, 
 your restoration to the full enjoyment of the blessings 
 of the constitution ought to be postponed, until what 
 we consider necessary to the integrity of our reli- 
 gion, shall have been first surrendered ; a surrender, 
 to which, with the assistance of God, we shall prefer 
 that of our lives." 
 
 " We are also concerned to observe, that various at- 
 tempts have been made, and are still persisted in, to 
 mislead the public mind. Periodical papers and pamphlets, 
 replete with misrepresentation, are unceasingly employed 
 to frustrate the exertions of our friends, and exasperate 
 the prejudices of our opponents." 
 
 " Amongst these publications, we find it necessary to 
 particularize certain tracts, which have lately appeared, 
 under the title of Columbanus ad Hitternos, fraught with 
 misrepresentation and calumny, and presuming to dictate, 
 as Roman catholic tenets, opinions contrary to the genuine 
 doctrines, and subversive of the discipline of the Roman 
 catholic church." 
 
 " To obviate, as far as in our power, these mischievous 
 attempts, we deem it a duty to announce to you the 
 subsequent resolutions, which \ve have this day unani- 
 mously adopted."
 
 318 Tfi TRUE STATK 
 
 1st...." That we do hereby confirm and declare our 
 unaltered adherence to the resolutions unanimously 
 entered into at our last general meeting, on the 26th 
 of February, 1810." 
 
 2nd..." That we do confirm our condemnation and censure 
 of certain propositions, extracted from a book, entitled 
 Abus sans Example, fyc. by Pierre Louis Blanchard, 
 R. Juigne, London, 1808, and specified in our decla- 
 ration of the 3d of July, and 21st of August, 1809; 
 and further, \ve in like manner declare, that we will 
 not grant faculties, of any kind, to any clergyman, who 
 may or shall assert, that our afflicted holy father is a 
 heretic, or a schismatic, or the author, or the abettor 
 of heresy or schism.'* 
 
 3d...." That, although the substance of the answers 
 returned by six Roman catholic universities, relative 
 to the duties of subjects, in the years 1788 and 1?89, 
 is manifestly contained in the oath of allegiance and 
 declaration, which we have solemnly sworn ; we think it 
 nevertheless, fitting to declare, that we consider those 
 answers as perfectly conformable to the doctrine and te- 
 nets of our religion, and that we adopt them as our own." 
 
 4th...." That admiring, as we do, the determination of the 
 Roman catholics of Ireland, to persevere in their tem- 
 perate, firm, and constitutional efforts for the removal 
 of the disabilities, which still continue to affect them : 
 we contemplate, with peculiar satisfaction, thezeal which 
 they have evinced, in their readiness to forego the attain- 
 ment of civil advantages, rather than purchase them at 
 the expense of any sacrifice which might compromise 
 or endanger the safety and integrity of their religion." 
 
 th...."That, as we are at present precluded from any 
 intercourse with our supreme pastor, we feel ourselves 
 utterly incompetent to propose or agree to any change 
 in the long established mode of appointing Irish Roman 
 catholic bishops." 
 
 -^-" That we are firmly convinced, that no pledges, or 
 securities of more efficient obligation can be devised, 
 than those which we have already given ; most humbly 
 concciving that our long continued endurance under
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 . the pressure of the penal code, from which a sacrifice 
 of conscience would have instantly relieved us, is proof, 
 incontrovertible, that the sacredness of an oath is no 
 where more binding, than on the consciences of Irish 
 Roman catholics." 
 
 7th...." That our warmest thanks are justly due to James 
 Bernard Clinch, Esq. for the ability, learning, and zeal, 
 which he has successfully displayed in his refutation 
 of the errors and slanders published under the title 
 of Columbanus ad Hibernos" 
 
 " We conclude, reverend brothers, beloved children, 
 by exhorting you to persevere in the faith of your 
 forefathers in Christ ; to rest your hope on Him whose 
 promises cannot fail, and that your faith and hope be 
 ever enlivened by charity." 
 
 " Once more, reverend brethren, beloved children, 
 peace be with you.! Amen." 
 
 "Dublin, Nov. 18, 1812." 
 
 "R. O'Reilly, T.Costello, 
 
 P. J. Plunkett, N. J. Archdeacon, 
 
 P. M' Mullen, J. Caulfidd, (by proxy.) 
 
 E. Derry, (by prosy.) J. Flyn, (by prosy.) 
 C. O'Donnell, T. Bray, 
 
 P. M'LougMin, F. Moylan, 
 
 J. Murphy, JT. Coppinger, 
 
 F. O'Reilly, John Young, 
 
 J. T. Troy, J. O'Shaughnessy, 
 
 J). Murray, C. Sughrue, 
 
 1). Dtlany, J. Power, 
 
 P. Ryan, (1. O' Kelly, r.c. Tuam. 
 
 P. Daly, v.(\ArdaghdJ>y proxy] f/'. Plunkctt, r.c. Elphin. 
 
 R.Man.ifield, r*c.Qssory v (pro$y) D. Mannin, 
 
 The next document I think necessary to notice, is the 
 following, copied from the Mercantile Chronicle ; 
 
 " At a meeting of the association of independent 
 Roman catholic electors of the city of Cork, held in 
 Carey's-lane school rooms, on Tuesday the 8th of Dec.
 
 S20 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 1812. Patrick Kenifeck, Esq. in the chair, the follow- 
 ing resolutions were unanimously agreed to :" 
 
 " That we do most sincerely lament and condemn the 
 wicked exertions which have been made by some deluded 
 bigots, enemies to Irish interests, to excite and continue 
 feelings most hostile to the public peace, and to the 
 private enjoyment of society in this part of our island ; 
 and that we will, to the utmost of our power, exert 
 ourselves to aliay such dissentions, and restore good will 
 and good neighbourhood in our city, and the more par- 
 ticularly, because we are convinced that there could not 
 exist a greater bar to the progress of our just, great, 
 independent, and constitutional cause, than domestic 
 disunion." 
 
 " That we are further bound, as well by our own 
 principles of rectitude, as by the earnest and repeated 
 solicitations and entreaties of the distinguished possessor 
 of our attachment and esteem, the Hon. Christopher 
 Hely Hutchinson, to recommend with peculiar earnestness 
 the discontinuance of any acts injurious to the interests of 
 any individual of this city ; nor can we forbear from ex- 
 pressing our most marked disapprobation of such proceed- 
 ings, as utterly unworthy of the proud spirit of Irishmen." 
 
 11 That a fund be established for promoting the objects 
 of this institution, to which every friend is invited to 
 contribute according to his means." 
 
 "JoHN ENGLAND, SECRETARY" 
 
 At an aggregate meeting of " the catholics of Ireland," 
 on the 15th of December, resolutions were passed ; of 
 which the seventh was : " That we have seen with 
 indignation, certain resolutions lately published by some 
 members of grand juries, and some individuals in different 
 counties, containing insinuations and charges against the 
 catholics of Ireland, accusing them of disaffection, of 
 entertaining disguised and secret views, and of an intention 
 to obtain a catholic ascendancy." 
 
 The first material document in 1813, is the following, 
 of which I give a transcript, as it appeared in the news- 
 papers :
 
 OP THE QUESTION. 3*1 
 
 " PROTESTANT UNION." 
 
 " At a meeting of protestant gentlemen, convened to 
 consider the claims of the Roman catholics, held at the 
 Crown and Anchor Tavern, in the Strand, London, 
 January 22nd, 1818." 
 
 " GRANVILLE SHARP, ESQ. IN THE CHAIR." 
 
 " Much information, on the suhject of the Roman 
 catholic claims, was communicated by different gentle- 
 men, and many interesting and well authenticated facts 
 were stated, by which it appeared to the meeting : 
 1st.. .That the subject now under consideration, is of the 
 highest importance to the welfare and happiness of the 
 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 
 2nd...That, from the extensive information now received, 
 it is evident that much misapprehension prevails in 
 this country, with respect to Ireland, and to the general 
 tenets and spirit of the Roman catholics in that part of 
 the empire. 
 
 3d. ..That the claims of the Roman catholics, together 
 with the principles and rights of the protestants, ought, 
 to be gravely and impartially brought before the public : 
 not with any party views, nor in a spirit of personal 
 hostility, but of moderation and good will: not by 
 exciting prejudice and clamour against the Roman 
 catholics, but by circulating and eliciting such infor- 
 mation as will shew, whether their claims can be 
 conceded, consistently with the safety of our protest- 
 ant state. 
 
 4th. ..That, in order to collect and diffuse information ou 
 these highly interesting topics, and at the same time to 
 defend and support the protestaut interest in tlu-r 
 realms, a society should be instituted, on the basis of 
 civil and religious liberty, as recognised by the British 
 constitution." 
 
 " The meeting therefore resolved to form a society, to 
 be entitled, the Protestant Union, for the Defence and 
 Support of the Protestant Religion, and the British Con- 
 stitution, as established by the glorious revolution, HJS8." 
 
 x
 
 322 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 " In order to declare the sentiments of this meeting, 
 
 and the principles upon which the society is formed, it 
 
 was resolved :" 
 
 1st..." That it appears to this meeting, that the Roman 
 catholics demand as a right, under the name of catholic 
 emancipation, the repeal of all laws and disabilities by 
 which they are affected on account of their religious 
 tenets. This demand embraces not only the exercise 
 of unlimited and uncontrolled religious liberty, but 
 involves the grant of the most extensive political power. 
 The attainment of their object would enable the Roman 
 catholics to possess the patronage of the church of 
 England. They would be eligible to sit in parlia- 
 ment ; to become privy Counsellors to the king, and to 
 exercise all the offices and patronage of the higher 
 departments of the government of England, as well as 
 Ireland, whether in church or state ; and indeed to fill 
 the throne itself, should the crown descend to a person 
 of the Roman catholic religion." 
 
 2nd..." That we cordially admit the great principle of the 
 protestant religion, so amply recognised by our national 
 church, which allows every man to worship God, after 
 the dictates of his ow r n conscience, provided he do not 
 disturb the peace of the community. And we are 
 ready to apply this principle, in its fullest extent, to 
 persons professing the Roman catholic religion. But 
 we have no proof, nor indeed complaint, that the 
 Roman catholics have not, for many years, been fully 
 secured in the free exercise of their religion ; and we 
 believe, that the existing laws afford them ample pro- 
 tection in their religious profession : and, consequently, 
 as they are under no restraint of a religious nature, 
 their object can only be the removal of political restric- 
 tions. Nevertheless, if the laws can be proved to be 
 insufficient for this purpose, we will chearfully support 
 any measure necessary for religious toleration. '* 
 
 3d..." That political power, and religious toleration, 
 are matters totally distinct ; the latter may be per- 
 fectly enjoyed, without any material portion of the 
 former."
 
 OP THE QUESTION. 323 
 
 4-th...*' That with regard to rendering the Roman catho* 
 lies eligible to farther political power, the wisdom of 
 that measure principally depends upon its expediency, 
 and the degree of safety to the state, with which it can 
 be granted." 
 
 5th..." That the protestant religion is the great security 
 of the public happiness and welfare of this country ; 
 for, as our civil and religious liberties have originated 
 in, and been preserved by a protestant establishment, 
 it appears to us, that those invaluable blessings will 
 flourish with its prosperity, and decline with its 
 decay." 
 
 6th..." That it has been the wise policy of our ancestors, 
 who have asserted and established those great princi- 
 ples of civil and religious freedom, which have essentially 
 contributed to the security, prosperity, and renown of 
 this empire, to exclude Roman catholics from its 
 government." 
 
 7th...*' That it has been declared, by that great charter of 
 our civil liberties, the Bill of Rights, that it had been 
 found by experience, inconsistent with the safety and 
 welfare of this protestant kingdom, to be governed by 
 a popish prince, or by any king or queen marrying a 
 papist ; therefore, every person professing the popish 
 religion, or who should marry a papist, should be 
 excluded from, and be incapable of enjoy ing the govern- 
 ment of this realm, and of Ireland. And by the 
 Acts of Settlement, which have so happily secured the 
 crown of these realms to his majesty and his august 
 family, it is declared, that the succession of the crown, 
 in the protestant line, is for the happiness of the nation, 
 and the security of our religion ; and, that on the 
 maintenance of these acts, ' the safety of his majes- 
 ty's person and government the continuance of the 
 monarchy of England the preservation of the protest- 
 ant religion the maintenance of the church of England, 
 as by law established the security of the ancient and 
 undoubted rights and liberties, and the future peace 
 and tranquillity of this kingdom, do (under God,) 
 entirely depend."
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 8th..." That, as by the laws of this kingdom, a pro- 
 testant government has been declared essential for 
 the continuation of the limited monarchy of this realm, 
 and the security of the liberty of the subject, so we 
 consider, that, especially as the practice of govern- 
 ment depends so much upon the ministers of the king, 
 and upon the parliament, it ever has been necessary, 
 for the like ends, that our legislators, the patrons of 
 our protestant church, the members of the king's privy 
 council, and the great officers of the executive govern- 
 ment, should not be Roman catholics." 
 
 9th...*' That, since the period of the glorious revolution, 
 about which time, those acts of the legislature were 
 passed, we have seen nothing in the character and 
 features of the religion of the Roman catholics, which 
 can lead us to suspect the wisdom and policy of the 
 principles upon which those salutary acts were founded, 
 or which have at any time hitherto, rendered it expedient 
 or safe to abrogate them. On the other hand, we believe 
 that a different policy would have been full of danger, 
 und would have ended in the subversion of the civil and 
 religious liberties of the country, and the destruction 
 
 of the monarchy, and of our protestant establishment." 
 
 10th..." That, as we have not yet witnessed any favour- 
 able alteration or amelioration in the spirit of the 
 Roman catholic religion, so are we taught not to con- 
 sider any such change at present, as at all probable. 
 On the contrary, it has been stated by a writer of that 
 persuasion, of considerable authority, that * if any one 
 pretends to insinuate, that the modern Roman catholics 
 differ, in one iota, from their ancestors, he either 
 deceives himself, or wishes to deceive others.' What 
 their ancestors were, we well know ; and what them- 
 selves are, they thus undisguisedly proclaim. f On this 
 ground, therefore, we see that we have no more to 
 expect from Roman catholic ascendancy, than our 
 forefathers have found ; and we have only to look 
 back through the history of these realms, to see what 
 may be expected by protestants, from that religion 
 which, its partisans avow, has never changed."
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 llth..." That we do not conceive the Roman catholics, 
 with the tenets which they hold, can, with safety to 
 our protestant establishment, be admitted to farther 
 political power. The infallibility of general councils, 
 which may be revived under the influence of our enemy; 
 the power of the Romish church, operating to a most 
 extensive degree, upon the authority of the ministers 
 of that religion, both in their appointment and conti- 
 nuance in office, and having the strongest influence 
 upon the minds of their people; the confining of eternal 
 salvation to those within the pale of their own church ; 
 and the imputing of the crime of heresy to protestants ; 
 for which crime, the Romish church claims the right 
 to inflict the heaviest temporal punishment ; these 
 tenets, to this hour strenuously maintained by her 
 highest authorities, operate powerfully upon the body 
 politic, and render it unsafe to intrust farther political 
 power to those who maintain them. And, bearing in 
 mind, that the very adoption of such principles, neces- 
 sarily excludes the toleration of other modes of faith, 
 we conceive, that the admitting to the higher offices 
 of state, those who conscientiously hold those princi- 
 ples, would greatly endanger, if not totally destroy, 
 our civil and religious liberties." 
 
 12th..." That, as we do not see that the restrictions by 
 which the Roman catholics are excluded from the 
 power of framing the laws, and administering the 
 highest offices in the government of our civil and reli- 
 gious establishment, can with safety be abolished, so 
 we utterly deny their right to demand their abolition. 
 Every state possesses a right to restrain whatever is 
 dangerous to its security ; and no individual, or asso- 
 ciation of individuals, can maintain, as a claim of right 
 against the state, the relaxation of any restraint, of 
 which a continuance is required, for the safety of the 
 community.** 
 
 13th..." That the existence of a power, \\lio, to use the 
 words of Mr. Locke, ' can not only persuade the mem- 
 bers of his church to whatsoever he lists, either as 
 pnrely religious, or in, order thereto, but am also
 
 326 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 enjoin it them on pain of eternal fire/ must always be 
 dangerous to a state, where its operation is admitted ; 
 but to give farther political immunities, to persons 
 whose spiritual instructors and ministers can only 
 receive their existence by such a power, (whether 
 vested in the person of the pope, the Romish church, 
 or a general council,) would be highly dangerous." 
 14th..." That, notwithstanding the danger of popery to 
 the welfare of this country, we are ready to allow 
 liberty of conscience to those who profess it. We 
 revere the principles of religious toleration, which serve 
 at once to adorn and secure our protestant established 
 church ; and we will ever support those principles, 
 while they are exercised in a manner compatible with 
 the peace of the community. But in the demands of 
 the Roman catholics of Ireland, we see nothing merely 
 religious ; indeed, their religious privileges are already 
 so ample and well secured, that they scarcely admit of 
 farther extension, unless their church is to receive 
 positive encouragement, and to become the established 
 religion of the kingdom." 
 
 15th... " That we would exceedingly lament, if the rejec- 
 , tion of the claims of the Roman catholics should occasion 
 resistance to the laws, or be attended with alienation 
 from the government ; but we are convinced, that if 
 such would be the consequence of their rejection, their 
 admission would be attended with consequences far 
 more fatal to the empire at large, inasmuch as it would 
 place the means of effectual mischief within the power of 
 those whose supposed disloyalty would be again excited, 
 should every future claim, however extravagant, not 
 be admitted : but we conceive, that from the clamour 
 of those, whose ambition interests them so powerfully 
 in this question, it has received an importance of a 
 more extensive quality than really belongs to it. The 
 lower orders of society have comparatively no interest 
 in it. The adoption of it would not ameliorate their 
 condition. The rich and the powerful, or those in the 
 immediate pursuit of riches and power, would alone 
 reap the fruits of it j and if persons of this description
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 were to excite rebellion because they are not rendered 
 eligible to possess political power, what would they 
 not do, if they were disappointed in obtaining the 
 power, after they had obtained the eligibility?" 
 
 16th..." That, as the liberal and tolerant concessions 
 which have been made to the Roman catholics, during 
 the reign of his present majesty, with which they 
 declared themselves, at the time, to be fully satisfied, 
 have rather served to excite, than to allay discontent ; 
 and, instead of raising gratitude and attachment, have 
 prompted 'hem to demand as a right, the most exten- 
 sive accession of political power, urged with great 
 violence of language, we do not conceive that the 
 concession of those claims would eitlier increase their 
 attachment to our protestant government, or add to 
 the security or happiness of Ireland, or the kingdom at 
 large." 
 
 17th. u " That acknowledging in the king, the power of 
 negativing the appointment of Roman catholic bishops, 
 is one of the lowest of those securities which the state 
 has a right to demand, on the admission of Roman 
 catholics to farther political power ; but they refuse to 
 admit even this security, and positively deny the 
 necessity of any other. In the resolutions of the meet- 
 ing of the catholics of the county of Dublin, held on 
 the 5th of November, 181'2, it was resolved, 'That 
 they deem the idea of annexing any conditions or 
 restrictions to their emancipation, under the name of 
 securities, to imply a most unmerited insult to their 
 .tllegiance, and to their understanding, and that such 
 an idea has originated with their worst enemies, for the 
 mere purpose of delaying the concession of religious 
 freedom, which they claim as a right, and the conces- 
 sion of which they deem essential to the safety of the 
 country.* Which resolution, we consider to be virtu- 
 ally approved by the Roman catholic prelates (twenty- 
 eight in number,) assembled at Dublin* the IHth of 
 November, 181 J ! in their address to the clergy and 
 laity of the Roman catholic churches in Ireland. We 
 do therefore apprehend, that, as the principles o/ the
 
 328 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 Roman catholics are now notorious to the world, (and 
 the onus probandi lies upon them to shew, from suffi- 
 cient authority, if they are altered,) no farther inquiry 
 is necessary, till they have distinctly stated the nature 
 of those specific securities which they are willing to 
 give, on their admission to farther political power." 
 18th..." That a committee (with power to add to their 
 number,) be chosen to conduct the affairs of the society, 
 to frame regulations for its management, and to publish 
 its proceedings ; and that a subscription be now opened 
 for those purposes." 
 
 19th. .." That Stephen Cattley, esq. be treasurer." 
 SOth" That these resolutions be signed by the chairman, 
 and advertised in the public papers." 
 
 " GRANVILLE SHARP." 
 
 " Mr. Sharp having left the chair" 
 
 " Resolved, that the thanks of the meeting be gittm to 
 the chairman, for his unwearied attention to the objects 
 of this meeting, and for his impartial conduct in the 
 chair." 
 
 " JOHN HICKEN, SECRETARY." 
 
 ** The committee will be happy to receive any useful 
 communications, respecting the objects of the Protestant 
 Union, addressed to the secretary, Mr. Hickeu, at Mr. 
 Bickerstaff's, bookseller, Essex-street, Strand, London, 
 where copies of the resolutions of the society may be 
 had gratis." 
 
 %* " Subscriptions to defray the expenses of print- 
 ing, advertising, &c. are received at Messrs. Hoare's, 
 bankers, Fleet-Street; Messrs. Barnard, Dimsdale, and 
 Co. bankers, No. 50, Corn-Hill, London j and at Mr. 
 Bickerstaff's, as above." 
 
 On the 5th of February, the trial of Mr. Hugh Fitz- 
 patrick, bookseller, of Capel-street, Dublin, came on in 
 the court of king's bench, for the publication of a false 
 libel, in a note contained in a, work, entitled, " A State- 
 ment of the "Penal Laws which aggrieve the Catholics of
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 329 
 
 Ireland." This note, introduced by the words, " tragical 
 instance," is as follows: "At the summer assizes of 
 Kilkenny, in 1810, one Barry was convicted of a capital 
 offence, for which he was afterwards executed. This 
 man's case was truly tragical. He was wholly innocent ; 
 was a respectable catholic fanner, in the county of 
 Waterford, in good circumstances. His innocence wa 
 clearly established, in the interval between his conviction 
 and execution ; yet he was hanged, publicly avowing his 
 innocence ! ! ! There were some shocking circumstances 
 attending his case, which the duke of Richmond's admi- 
 nistration may yet be invited to explain to parliament.*' 
 
 The attorney-general produced the documents, which 
 proved the falsehood of this statement, and exposed the 
 true state of the case. Barry had been tried at Kilkenny, 
 on two indictments ; the one for a capital, the other for a 
 transportable felony. The lord chief justice of the 
 comm/m pleas, Lord Norbury, charged the jury to find 
 him guilty on both ; but the jury only found on the 
 transportable felony, and lie was sentenced to transpor- 
 tation. While in Kilkenny gaol, he was informed on a 
 Saturday, that an indictment for a highway robbery had 
 been found against him at Clonmel, and that he was to be 
 tried on Monday. He was accordingly sent to Clonmel 
 on Sunday. His counsel was instructed to make out an 
 affidavit, stating, that he had several respectable wit- 
 nesses, who could prove an alibi, but who resided at fifty 
 miles distance from Clonmel, and that therefore the trial 
 ought to be deferred until next commission. The judge 
 did not, however, conceive that the grounds were suffi- 
 ciently strong, as the robbery had been committed in 
 open day light, and the gentleman who was robbed, had 
 a full view of the person who robbed him. 
 
 "This man," said the attorney-general, "who had 
 been indicted upon t\vo acts of felony, and found guilty 
 upon one of them, alter having been i-aught in the act, 
 was the respectable catholic fanner of whom the libel 
 spoke ! But lest any th: ir should even after all be at- 
 tached to the word catholic, it was neccessary to state, 
 that the man's religion was never known during his trial.
 
 330 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 It was rumoured that tlie author of this false and wicked 
 Jibel was a barrister. He hoped in God the rumour was 
 false he hoped so, for the honour of the profession ; for 
 the author of such a publication would be a disgrace to it." 
 
 Mr. Scully said, that he would mention the name of the 
 author, were the attorney-general to allow an investigation 
 to take place, as to the truth of the allegations. 
 
 The attorney-general stated, that the proper place for 
 such investigation was in parliament ; that his majesty's 
 government might be impeached there, and brought to 
 trial ; but that he could never allow, nor would the law 
 allow, that the lord-lieutenant of Ireland should be 
 brought to the bar of the king's bench on the accusation 
 of libellers. 
 
 Mr. Fitzpatrick was found guilty of having published 
 this false libel. 
 
 The remarks 1 shall make on the work which contains 
 this atrocious libel, shall be lew and concise. It is a 
 complication of falsehood. It says " The judges are 
 appointed, not in consequence of legal ability, but of 
 known hostility to the catholics." Again " If the crown 
 should think proper to institute criminal proceedings 
 against catholic individuals, for alleged misdemeanor^ 
 breach of the peace, public libel, seditious words or acts, 
 high treason, &c. ; if a catholic should happen to be 
 involved in a dispute with a corporation, or justice ot the 
 peace, &c.; the court of king's bench becomes, in all 
 these cases, the great tribunal of judgment, and exercises 
 a summary jurisdiction. The judges of the com t, therefore, 
 when actuated by the virulent spirit of the anti-catholic 
 code, must become the instruments of grievous and heavy 
 oppression ; they may display the most flagrant partiality. 
 That all these foul practices do exist, we dare not affirm; 
 neither shall we adduce particular instances. The pomp and 
 bearing of judicial office lend an outward shew of purity ; 
 and, from ancient times, it has been permitted to every 
 judge, however weak or pliant, to shield his infirmities or his 
 vices by the exterior of gravity and decorum." Again 
 "We feel that we have under-rated the real extent of 
 ratholic complaint against the present principle of ad
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 331 
 
 ministering justice in Ireland. Instances arc innumerable, 
 and proofs conclusive, in support of a statement far more 
 aggravated. Verdicts have been frequently procured, 
 wholly contradictory to evidence ; reprobated even by 
 the sitting judge, and not to be accounted for, otherwise 
 than upon the marked principle of religious prejudice. 
 Catholic prisoners are brought to trial upon charges affect- 
 ing their lives; the evidence failing, the crown lawyers 
 abandon the prosecution as untenable; the judge directs 
 an acquittal ; and yet the jury finds a verdict of guilty. 
 Again, protestants are prosecuted for gross outrages 
 against the property and persons of catholics for robbery 
 and murder. The evidence is clear and connected the 
 judge charges unfavourably ; and yet, to the amazement 
 of unreflecting spectators, the jury acquits instantly. In 
 cases where the protestant murderer or robber has been con- 
 victed, his protestantism secures his pardon. All the local 
 soi-disant loyalists fall to work : memorials and petitions 
 are prepared and signed ; vouchers of excellent character 
 are easily procured ; .even catholics dare not withhold 
 their signatures, lest they should be stigmatized as san- 
 guinary and merciless. Thus the testimony appears 
 unanimous, and the rord-lieutcmmt readily pardons, 
 perhaps promotes the conrict ; who, in some instances, 
 becomes thenceforth a cherished object of favour. On 
 the other hand, when the prisoner is a catholic, he is 
 generally destitute of this powerful agency and inter- 
 ference. His witnesses as may be expected, are usually 
 persons of his own condition and family. It is true, they 
 may swear positively to an effectual and legal defence, 
 wholly uncoutradiVk'd ; but not being protestants, (i. e. 
 respectable, the epithet affectedly attached to every thing 
 protestant,) they commonly fail to meet with credit. 
 Should he be convicted, a thousand rumours are imme- 
 diately circulated to the prejudice ofhis general character: 
 he is proscribed as a dangerous man, a leader of a faction : 
 no grand jurv interposes iu his behalf; and he suffers 
 death, publicly protesting his innocence, fortified by the 
 testimony of his confessor's belief of his veracity, ami 
 exciting the sympathy and regrets of the people." Then
 
 THE TRUE STATB 
 
 follows, the instance of " poor Barry," of which the reader 
 is in possession ; and who, it appears, had confessed his 
 guilt, to Mr. Elliot, the magistrate before whom lie had 
 been originally taken ; though he went out of the world 
 with a lie in his mouth, " publicly avowing his innocence ! 
 fortified by the testimony of his confessor's belief of his 
 veracity !" 
 
 Having thus exhibited the falsehood of this infamous 
 " Statement," it remains that the reader be enabled to 
 ascertain the purpose of it. He will be assisted in his 
 conclusion by the following quotation : " In every point 
 of view, they'* (the Romanists) " form a truly important 
 subject of inquiry and reflection. In numbers they have 
 prodigiously increased, and they are continually increasing 
 beyond example in any other country. Already they 
 compose the far greater part of the trading and manufac- 
 turing interests. The agricultural class, so powerful and 
 influential throughout Ireland, the land-holders, farmers, 
 peasantry, are almost universally catholics. They occupy 
 the most VALUABLE POSITIONS, whether for commercial or 
 for MILITARY purposes ; the boldest coasts, most navigable 
 rivers, and most TENABLE PASSES ; the most fertile districts, 
 the readiest supplies of forage, the readiest means of 
 ATTACK AND DEFENCE : numerically, they constitute full 
 jive-sixth parts of the Irish population ; and, compared 
 with the members of the established church, they are at 
 least ten to one ; a proportion rapidly advancing" of late 
 years. The open country is in their almost exclusive 
 occupation. The gross population of Ireland is mode- 
 rately estimated at rive millions of inhabitants. Of this 
 number we may, without exaggeration; state the catholics 
 as amounting to four millions two hundred thousand. In 
 fine, the catholics are emphatically the people of Ireland" 
 
 The most superficial observer will here be able to 
 discern the immediate purpose and the " ulterior views." 
 
 Of "the penal laws which aggrieve the catholics of 
 Ireland," it would be klle to occupy time or room with 
 repetition of a false "Statement." Of reply, I flatter 
 myself this treatise will be found to contain enough, 
 act only -to the insidious and Jesuitical "Statement,"
 
 Of THE QUESTION. 
 
 which I have now briefly reviewed, but also to every 
 other of the same base and spurious species. The protes- 
 tant religion, the protestant establishment in church and 
 state, and the jurisprudence of these countries, stand on 
 an unassailable ROCK, from which they mock the malignant 
 but contemptible efforts of all ignorant, groveling, and 
 priest-ridden opponents ; who have not yet been able to 
 discern how to emancipate themselves, the true and only 
 emancipation for their own vital interests ; and who are 
 not sensible of the blessings our unrivalled constitution 
 confers upon all its subjects indiscriminately, and the 
 protection it affords against " the authority of the church" 
 even to themselves. In their own DOUAY VERSION of the 
 scriptures, which had been slowly and reluctantly wrung 
 from " the church," by the laudable, increased, and 
 unextinguishable efforts of vast numbers of its own mem- 
 bers, is the following note, on the 8th verse of the lyth 
 chapter of Deuteronomy. " Here we see what authority 
 God was pleased to give to the church guides of the Old 
 Testament, in deciding, without appeal, all controversies 
 relating to the law ; promising that they should not err 
 therein, and punishing with DEATH such as proudly 
 refused to obey their decisions : and surely he has not 
 done Jess tor the church guides of the New Testament." 
 The only comment I shall make on language so plain, 
 will be a little additional information to the reader. This 
 note is preserved, then, in the last edition of the Douay 
 Bible, published recently. But I shall give three appli- 
 cable questions which have been proposed, in the Dublin 
 Correspondent newspaper, to the Romish hierarchy, at 
 the conclusion of a letter addressed to them on the subject, 
 and requiring answers. 
 
 1st..." Is it still a tenet of the church of Rome, that 
 her clergy have a right to punish, with death, those who 
 refuse to submit to their decisions on religious subject 
 
 2nd..." If it be not, when was it renounced, and by 
 what authority ; and is the authority by which it has been 
 renounced, the same us that by which it was formerly 
 maintained and acted on, namely, the authority of the 
 church ?"
 
 834; 
 
 3d..." If it has ceased to be a tenet of the Roman catholic 
 faith, and has been renounced by the authority of the 
 church, why has there been re-published and circulated 
 through the country, by the permission of the Romish 
 hierarchy, a note, which still maintains the right of the 
 clergy to punish with death, those who refuse to submit 
 to their decisions in matters of religion ?" 
 
 To these questions, no answers have been given. 
 Why ? No doubt, their graces, lordships, &c. invested 
 with this " authority," and not liable to " err" in their 
 "decisions," have not thought it worth while. This, 
 then, is among the blessings suited to the craving appe- 
 tites of " Patriots," in thirst of blood, which they 
 contemplate as fit to supersede the " Grievances" endured 
 under the British constitution ! A Romish establishment, 
 in all its pomp and circumstance of mummery wealth 
 and power, extensive and indefinite subjection to the 
 " decisions of the church guides," on pain of " death" 
 
 with all the attendant tyranny and horrors ! These 
 
 are the blessings which Jesuitical lawyers propose for our 
 acceptance, and teach us we should eagerly assist in 
 endeavouring to procure. To be sure such is not laid 
 down in express words in the " Statement ;" for, perhaps, 
 as the " philosophical" author observed in another place, 
 he dared not : but a little attention to its oblique propo- 
 sitions, will elicit its latent meaning. 
 
 On the 12th of February, the Protestant Union pub- 
 lished an address, as follows : 
 
 PROTESTANT UNION." 
 
 * c Address of the Protestant Union, for the Defence and 
 Support of the Protestant Religion and British Constitu- 
 tion : as established at the glorious revolution in 1688." 
 " AT a meeting of the committee of the Protestant 
 
 Union, held February 12, 1813. 
 
 " GRANVILLE SHARP, ESQ. IN THE CHAIR.*' 
 
 " Resolved that the following address be published :" 
 
 " It is an observation of Addison, that * there is no 
 
 greater sign of a general decay of virtue in a nation than
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 335 
 
 a want of zeal in its inhabitants for the good of their 
 country.' If political violence and party clamour be the 
 just criterion of zeal, then indeed we have no such decay 
 to lament : since they are too much the characteristic 
 features of the present times. Whereas the vast magni- 
 tude of those subjects which now force themselves upon 
 the national councils for consideration, demand from 
 every man the exercise of the most exalted principles, 
 and the purest views ; moderation, firmness, and manly 
 independence ; a total absence of every selfish jfrinciple ; 
 and a prudence which resorts to experience of the past, 
 that it may judge of the probabilities of the future ; are 
 those indispensable qualifications which he must bring to 
 the consideration of these great questions, who desires 
 to form just conclusions upon them questions upon 
 which every man in the country does or ought to feel the 
 most anxious interest. This zeal, which this excellent 
 writer in another place calls ' the love of our country,' 
 and which, as a moral virtue, he describes to be * a fixed 
 disposition of mind to promote the safety, welfare, and 
 reputation of the community in which we are born, and 
 of the constitution under which we are protected,' it is 
 to be feared is not in exercise to an extent commen- 
 surate with the dangers which threaten our tranquillity 
 and happiness. Patriotism, which Gisborne terms, 
 ' a peculiar affection for our countrymen, attended 
 with an active zeal to promote their welfare ;' is 
 unquestionably a moral duty; and no former period 
 of our history ever claimed its exertions more loudly 
 than the present." 
 
 " With a view then to the promotion of this patriotism 
 and love of our country, as well as to excite it in others, 
 the Protestant Union is formed ; and its members have 
 determined to awaken, if possible, the attention of their 
 countrymen to one of the most momentous subjects which 
 have been agitated in Great Britain since the glorious 
 revolution ; and to place it before them in its real and 
 undisguised character; ihey allude to that which is 
 termed, but they think improperly termed, " Catholic 
 Emancipation."
 
 336 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 " Civil and religious liberty has been ever dear to 
 Englishmen. Multitudes have perished in its defence j 
 and our countrymen still view with a jealous eye whatever 
 tends to injure it. They well know that our admirable 
 constitution secures equal liberty and protection to the 
 persons and property of the poor as well as the rich, and 
 that our laws protect every man in the peaceable worship 
 of God, according to the dictates of his own conscience. 
 To this source we trace that strength and happiness, that 
 energy and wisdom, which have extended the power, the 
 influence, and the renown of this realm ; and enabled it 
 to withstand all its enemies, however numerous, subtile, 
 and malignant. And it is to this excellent system, under 
 Divine Providence, that the domestic improvements of 
 our country, its benevolent and religious institutions 
 flourish, and afford a satisfactory proof of great advance- 
 ment in the moral condition of the people." 
 
 " Certainly this state of things has been produced under 
 a protestant ascendancy. The government of the country, 
 during the progress of this national happiness, has been 
 purely protestant ; and it has carefully excluded Roman 
 catholics from its legislative and executive functions. It 
 has been its policy to confine the crown to a protestant 
 monarch, and to take care that a protestant monarch 
 should only be advised by a protestant council and minis- 
 try ; that our legislators and .the higher officers of the 
 state should be protestants. This is what it has inva- 
 riably been since the revolution ; for as Mr. Burke has 
 observed-' our church is protestant, our state is protest- 
 ant, our government is protestant in all its parts." 
 
 " This policy, recognised and supported by the law, 
 and which has given beauty and strength to the magnifi- 
 cent fabric of the British constitution, was the result of 
 many a struggle, endured by our forefathers with painful 
 and inflexible constancy, against popery and arbitrary 
 power; these they found inseparable, and therefore they 
 sent them together into exile. Indeed it was in those 
 arduous conflicts that the qualities we so much venerate in 
 the honest patriots and holy martyrs, and which shed a 
 lustre upon our annals, were so conspicuous, and their
 
 or THE QUESTION. $37 
 
 examples are chiefly valuable to us, as indicating the 
 course of conduct we ought to pursue, for preserving 
 those civil and religious rights, which are essential to our 
 happiness, and the welfare of the community." 
 
 " The Protestant Union, satisfied of the wisdom of this 
 policy, and considering that its continuance is indispen- 
 sable to the security and tranquillity of the country, 
 cannot but view, with painful solicitude, the pretensions 
 of the Roman catholics, whose claims to farther political 
 power they deem perfectly incompatible with the princi- 
 ples of the constitution. They are demanded to an 
 extent which has no limit ; and are urged with a vehe- 
 mence, and in a language, which afford no proof that 
 the power, when acquired, would be exercised with 
 moderation towards the feelings and interest of others. 
 They demand, without exception, the removal of all civil 
 disabilities which attach on account of their religious 
 tenets ; and they peremptorily place that demand on the 
 ground of right, which renders it superfluous to ask 
 security for the proper exercise of power. The extent 
 of their demands, and the spirit in which they are urged, 
 naturally lead to the consideration of the effect which a 
 compliance with them would produce in the protestant 
 constitution of this kingdom >a constitution not ideal 
 r.ot depending upon uncertain and arbitrary construc- 
 tions but embodied in the laws and statutes of the realm, 
 and especially in those which are classed among the most 
 solemn acts of the legislature. For, if such distinctions 
 run for a moment be allowed, we may not be unwar- 
 ranted in affirming, that the Bill of Rights, the Acts for 
 the Settlement of the Crown, and the Acts for the Union 
 of Scotland and Ireland, are to be considered not as 
 ordinary, simple, legislative enactments, but as several 
 grand compacts between the sovereign and the country, 
 and between different masses of population, in the great 
 divisions of the empire. They were as much the direct 
 acts of the country itself, as of its legislators ; and when 
 they were passed, it was understood that they should ba 
 perpetuated. While these bulwarks are to remain the 
 uuiiuments of the \\i<dojn of our sages, and the barriers 
 
 T
 
 338 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 of the liberties of our protestant state, and are to furnish 
 the sacred aphorisms of its government, the Protestant 
 Union will not fail to lend its aid for their preservation, 
 by diffusing a just knowledge of the principles upon 
 which they are founded. But, if they are to be under- 
 mined or destroyed, the Protestant Union will at least 
 have the satisfaction to reflect, that they have called the 
 attention of their fellow countrymen to the subject, before 
 the adoption of a measure, which they apprehend may 
 prove fatal to our civil liberties, to our national church, 
 and that religious freedom which is essential to the inte- 
 rests of the dissenters, and various denominations of 
 Christians in this country." 
 
 " Sir Hercules Langrishe, (who was a sincere advocate 
 for the Roman catholics,) in the debates of 1793, when 
 the bill was brought into the Irish parliament, for confer- 
 ring the elective franchise upon the Irish Roman catholics, 
 and when they were rendered eligible to offices, to a great 
 extent, thus expressed himself: ' I have long wished 
 that the time was come, which would form a new aera of 
 Irish concord, of Irish consequence, and Irish prospe- 
 rity ; in which religious dis mention should be lost in civil 
 operation ; in which community of interests, and reci- 
 procal good offices, should root out our prejudices, and 
 unite our hearts. But, until the enlightened spirit of 
 liberal policy had given a progress to these rational 
 dispositions, a communication of political power could 
 not be expected ; for you must reconcile, before you can 
 unite ; you must assimilate, before you incorporate. No 
 body of men should for a moment suffer themselves, in 
 their pursuits, to be unmindful that there is a settled 
 supreme power in the state, to which, so long as the 
 constitution exists, every man owes respect ; that it may 
 fee solicited, but must be obeyed ; that it may be softened, 
 but must not be subdued.' However this eloquent 
 senator might have been flattered by the Roman catho- 
 lics, in 1793, we discern in their late proceedings, but 
 few symptoms of acquiescence in his excellent sentiments. 
 Do they approach either their protestant brethren, or 
 their protestant government, with the dispositions so well
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 339 
 
 described by their great advocate ? Against the former, 
 they approach as against their enemies ; to the latter, 
 they advance not in the language of solicitation, but of 
 demand, as for a right. They seem to consider us as 
 enemies, in \\ ithholding from them what they term their 
 just rights. They do not offer to share our burdens, and 
 partake of our benefits, with the brotherly feeling which 
 can alone make co-operation useful or attainable. And, 
 viewing us as enemies they place themselves in the atti- 
 tude of menace. They attempt to storm the habitation 
 of power; and, if they succeed, we should be irrational 
 to expect to be treated as friends and coadjutors, having 
 a community of interests." 
 
 " Knowing how much we value religious toleration, 
 they mask their views, as in the reign of James the 
 second, under the name of religious liberty. They know 
 there is an essential difference between that invaluable 
 right, and political power. The one, they already possess; 
 and although they have, at present, considerable political 
 power, they aim at that extension of it, which might 
 enable them to rule supremely. To ask this in plain 
 terms, would alarm the fears of all ; and therefore they 
 make use of those sacred principles which we all value, 
 and all dread to transgress. The question can scarcely 
 be said even to bear upon the religious advantages of the 
 Roman catholics, as they are already so ample, and so 
 well protected ; but it does bear, with great and direct 
 force, upon the religious rights of protestants ; nnd it is 
 for them seriously to consider, whether a grant of farther 
 political power to the Roman catholics, will not ulti- 
 mately destroy the protection and the remedies which 
 flow from these rights. It is not now for our conside- 
 ration, which is the best mode of faith, but whether the 
 religion of the Roman catholic can allow him to be a 
 tolerant governor or' a protestant people ? Whether the 
 admission to farther political power, of those who consci- 
 entiously profess that religion, the spirit of whose principle 
 is intolerance, which it inculcates a.s a sacred duty, ran 
 be compatible with the religions liberty of prototanls, 
 whether dissenter, or of it. iishcd church ? It will
 
 33:0 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 be one part of the duty of the Protestant Union, to 
 inquire and illustrate this essential part of the subject. 
 In resisting the claims of the Roman catholics, the Pro- 
 testant Unibn have neither the intention, nor the desire, 
 to -excite groundless clamour against their principles, or 
 hostilities to their persons. On the contrary, they are 
 convinced, that it is of the last importance, if) while the 
 constitution is preserved unimpaired, its Roman catholic 
 population can by any means be rendered more efficient 
 for the legitimate end of all government, the happiness 
 and security of the empire." 
 
 " The Protestant Union most feelingly deprecate vio- 
 lence in all ; whether in those who claim, or in those who 
 resist, the proposed concessions. It would be to them 
 matter of sincere regret, if either should use those watch- 
 words, too frequently employed by party men, which are 
 as indeterminate in their meaning, as they are mischievous 
 in their effects. They can see nothing in the cry of 
 no popery,' more friendly to the right understanding 
 and determination of this great question of domestic 
 policy, than in that of * no bigotry/ They are equally 
 calculated to mislead, and to raise the passions, without 
 guiding the understanding." 
 
 " The society have no partialities to indulge, nor any 
 antipathies to gratify, at the expense of any portion of 
 the community ; their object is to lend their aid in pre- 
 serving the constitution in all its integrity. And they 
 know r , from experience, that this will best serve the true 
 interests of the United Kingdom. The conciliation, 
 however, so much desired, does not rest with the protest- 
 ant, bin with the Roman catholic part of the community. 
 The protestant chearfuily allows to the Roman catholic, 
 the libeity of freely exercising his own religion, but the 
 Roman catholic has not advanced one step nearer to his 
 protestant brother. The protestant allows, that the 
 .Roman catholic may bo saved in his own church ; but 
 the Roman catholic does not exercise the same charity 
 towards the prolestant. He is still a heretic. To him, 
 as a proH'Siant, the church of Rome is not reconciled, 
 nor does she suffer her children to be reconciled to him.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 311 
 
 There is no brotherly feeling yet in existence ; nay, 
 on the contrary, there is unequivocal enmity ; and 
 the same hist of domination and coercion prevails, as 
 ever reigned in their church. That church has not yet 
 learned to admit the principles of even bare toleration, 
 much less of religious liberty ; and she is at this d:>y 
 as much indisposed to learn this lesson, as in any former 
 period." 
 
 " If all these points were fully known by all the pro- 
 testants, the result would be certain ; the danger from 
 intrusting farther political power to the lloma.i caihoiics 
 would be obvious. But some affect to deny tlio e to be 
 the tenets of the church of Home; or, at any rate, tli it 
 they are her tenets at this day. It shall, therefore, be 
 one of the duties of the Protestant Union, to procure and 
 disperse information upon this point. From an extensive 
 correspondence with Ireland, they are in possession of 
 a multitude of facts, and the observations of many well 
 informed dispassionate men, in different parts of that 
 island, which throw considerable light upon the subject. 
 From this correspondence, they probably may publish 
 such extracts as appear to bear upon the question, and 
 which may serve to illustrate the present tenets of the 
 church of Rome, and their effects upon society, in that 
 part of the United Kingdom. Should the Protestant 
 Union deem it necessary to circulate such information, 
 they will be so far responsible for its authenticity, as that 
 nothing shall be published, which they do not receive 
 from the most unimpeachable sources ; and, as the 
 authors of different letters adopt their own reasoning, 
 and, of course, with different degrees of cohclusiveness, 
 the society, in case of publication, as it will not lei 1 
 itself at liberty to interfere with either the reasonings or 
 the conclusions, so it will not consider itself responsible 
 for every expression." 
 
 " Although the Protestant Union have already been 
 favoured with very extensive communications, they c 
 not but invite farther information, upon the subjec' 
 those tenets of the Roman catholic church, which are 
 yet unhappily in operation upon the Irish people."
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 " The Protestant Union are aware, that it has been 
 frequently thrown out, that the tenets of the Roman 
 catholics are altered, and are not now hostile to the 
 peace and welfare of a protestant kingdom. To ascertain 
 the fact, the onus prolandi lies upon them ; and, if they 
 had produced the necessary proof, the Protestant Union 
 would have had no existence, nor would zealous protest- 
 ants have had occasion to tremble for the admission 
 of Roman catholics into the highest offices of the state. 
 Let them produce authentic and incontrovertible evi- 
 dence of the happy alteration, and how and when it took 
 place, and the functions of the Protestant Union will be 
 ended. But they fear, that the real state of the Irish 
 Roman catholic population, will but too truly demonstrate 
 the deteriorating effect of the Roman catholic influence ; 
 and that the safety and happiness of the country, must 
 (under God,) still depend upon a protestant ascendancy." 
 
 " It is said also, that if you will give the Roman catho- 
 lics farther power, and which, it is added, you may give 
 them, without danger to the state, you will satisfy and 
 conciliate them. So it was said by Mr. Secretary Hobart, 
 in 1793, when he brought in the bill to which we have 
 already referred. That right honourable gentleman said : 
 ' I know that what we are doing, will essentially serve 
 the country it will conciliate the Roman catholics it 
 \vill cement a common union of interest and affection 
 among his majesty's subjects and enable this country to 
 repel all her enemies,' But how has it turned out ? So 
 far from union, we have had dissentions ; and instead 
 of conciliating, the measure itself has served both as an 
 encouragement to prefer farther demands, and a powerful 
 engine for attaining them. And did this measure enable 
 the country to repel her enemies ? On the contrary, her 
 domestic foes, whether from this act or not, we shall not 
 determine, did gain consistency and strength, and within 
 iive years they broke out in open rebellion ! Without 
 entering into the question, whether the rebellion had 
 religious or civil power, or both, for its object, it is an 
 undoubted fact, that the main body of the rebels were 
 Roman catholics j that Koman catholic priests were
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 343 
 
 commanders of troops, and advisers in their councils ; 
 and that unoffending protestants were massacred, without 
 regard to age or sex, in the most barbarous manner. 
 The cruelties exercised at Wexford, Scullabogue, and 
 other parts of Ireland, in the year 1798, rival those of 
 the worst days of popery." 
 
 " As facts are stubborn tilings, and sometimes irritate 
 by the efficacy of the resistance, we shall not be surprised 
 if the Protestant Union should be accused of illiberality 
 and harshness; but, if this irritation should be occasioned 
 by the facts, the Union will not be to blame. The fault 
 will be in those concerned in the facts related, and with 
 the community in which they shall have had birth. The 
 Protestant Union can only control their own language 
 and operation j and they will take care to use that mode- 
 ration which best befits their cause which is not that of 
 ambition, violence, or intolerance. But, if firmness in 
 executing the duty they have undertaken, should otfend, 
 they will not be very careful about the imputations which 
 may be cast upon them. They wish the truth ta prevail ; 
 and if the Protestant Union have taken a wrong view of 
 the subject, and, after all, their fears should prove 
 unfounded, they will still rejoice in the liberty, the hap. 
 piness, and the power of the country, whoever may be 
 admitted to power, and by whomsoever its government 
 shall be administered. However, as the Protestant 
 Union feel the great importance of this subject, to the 
 future prosperity and welfare of the empire, they cannot 
 reconcile it to patriotism, or to duty, not to draw the 
 serious attention of the protestant part of the community, 
 to what concerns them so nearly ; and, after it has placed 
 this subject before the face, and upon the conscience of 
 the country, it will be the business of the Protestant 
 Union to yield to the public voice, whatever that voice 
 may express. But, should the nation itself adopt the 
 policy of rendering the Roman catholics eligible to all 
 the highest offices of state, the Protestant tin ion may 
 rind useful employment in watching narrowly the progress 
 of that ascendancy, which has never yet b^en friendly to 
 either civil or religious liberty. As its resolutions declare
 
 344 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 so much at large the principles of the Union, it is unne- 
 cessary here to detail them farther ; but while the society 
 exists, its principles will ever be, to maintain inviolate 
 the Bill of Rights, which secured our civil liberties ; the 
 Acts of Settlement, which secured the throne to the 
 house of Brunswick ; and the Acts of Union, which con- 
 solidated the strength of the empire ; and, at the same 
 time, to support our national church, and that religious 
 freedom, under which all classes of Christians in the 
 empire, including the Roman catholics themselves, are 
 protected in the peaceable exercise of their religion. 
 Their wish is, to transmit unsullied and undefaced to their 
 children, that civil and religious liberty which they have 
 received from their fathers.* 1 
 
 '* GRANVILLE SHARP, 
 
 On the 5th of February, Mr. Grattan moved for a 
 committee on the claims of the Roman Catholics. 
 
 Mr. Bankes said : " The church of Rome not only 
 does not renounce any tenet which she ever held, but 
 glories in her perpetual unity of doctrine; referring, as 
 to an unquestionable and an authentic text, to the councils, 
 canons, and bulls, of all former times. Her advocate* 
 here would defend her, upon a supposed departure from 
 these principles, which they state not to be disclaimed 
 indeed, but to be grown obsolete, and impossible to be 
 called into activity. But she rejects all such defence ; 
 she maintains, that whatever has been once laid down, is 
 unchanged and unchangeable. If her rules of action be 
 the same as in the dark ages, is it reasonable to suppose 
 that her conduct would be different, if she were invested 
 ivith the same power ?" 
 
 Mr. Bankes read extracts from a remonstrance, in 
 1808, of the present bishop of Rome, against an ordi- 
 nance by Buonaparte, viz. : 
 
 * A claim is set up for the freedom of every sort of 
 worship, with the public exercise thereof; which, as 
 being contrary to the canons, to the councils, and to the 
 catholic religion, we have rejected. A reformation of 
 fciehoprics is called for, and the independence of the
 
 W THE QUESTION. 
 
 bishops upon us ; which, being contrary to the intention 
 of our legislator, Jesus Christ, we protest that we will 
 maintain, for ourselves and our successors, the plenitude 
 of our supremacy. Out of the catholic church, there is 
 no hope of salvation. The French system of indifference 
 or equality, with regard to all religions, is utterly oppo- 
 site to the catholic ; which, being the only one of divine 
 institution, cannot form any alliance with any other, any 
 more than Christ can league witli Helial. It is false, that 
 the concordat has recognised and established the inde- 
 pendence of the church of France ; or that it has given a 
 sanction to the toleration of other modes of worship.' 
 
 Mr. Edward Protheroe said : " The protestant advo- 
 cates of the Roman catholic cause, take their ground 
 with circumspection. Unable to conceal the intolerant 
 spirit, ahd dangerous tenets of the church of Rome, 
 recorded in the page of history, they aver that modern 
 Roman catholics have renounced these doctrines, and 
 triumphantly produce their proof, in answer to certain 
 queries proposed to foreign universities. Need I reply, 
 that every true catholic acknowledges the authority of a 
 general council, duly held under the sovereign pontiff, to 
 be infallible, and submits his conscience implicitly to its 
 decrees ; whereas, he knows no such authority, in his 
 church, as that of an university ? I cannot but observe, 
 too, that not one of these universities intimates, that the 
 belief of the catholic church is, in the slightest degree, 
 changed, or capable of change ; and, though they disavow 
 certain doctrines to be those of their church, they do not 
 deny that she retains every article of the faith which she 
 professed, when the horrors of a bigoted persecution pre- 
 sented to this country, its practical illustration." 
 
 " When the Test Law was introduced into the house 
 of lords, Lord Bristol candidly avowed, * that as a iaithful 
 member of a protestant parliament, his advice went with 
 the main scope of the bill ; though, as a catholic of the 
 church of Rome, his conscience obliged him to give hi* 
 negative to it." 
 
 The Right Honourable Robert Peel said : " Though 
 the committee is dissolved, yet every individual member
 
 346 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 who composed it, was re-appointed by an aggregate meet- 
 ing of the catholics to act on the part of that body ; and 
 they arc now pursuing, precisely, the same course, in 
 their new capacity, which they did in their old. The 
 catholic committee, when a decision in a court of justice 
 had proved its illegality, was undoubtedly changed in its 
 name, and in its form of appointment, and it now skulks 
 behind the law which its former constitution had violated." 
 Mr. Peel stated, that the protestant petitions against the 
 Romish claims, arose out of the resolution of the house 
 of commons the last session. He farther said: " We 
 want no preamble nor clause in a modern act of parlia- 
 ment, to assure us that the protestant religion is the 
 religion of the state, and that we are absolved from our 
 allegiance to a catholic sovereign. We do not want to 
 hunt through the statute book for the laws on which the 
 constitution is founded, nor to be referred, from the Bill 
 of Rights, by a note in the margin, to an act passed in 
 the fifty-third of George- the third, commonly called, 
 Mr. Grattan's act." 
 
 " But, according to the right honourable gentleman, the 
 protestants are actuated, in their opposition to the catho- 
 lics, by narrow motives of exclusion, or by the bigoted spirit 
 of a sect. I remember the insidious comparison which 
 the right honourable gentleman drew between the peti- 
 tions of the respective parties. * The catholics/ said he, 
 ' petition for the ascendancy of the law, the protestants 
 for the ascendancy of a sect.' Of a sect ! to what sect 
 do we belong ? To the protestant religion, as by law 
 established. To what laws do we adhere ? -To those 
 under which this empire has lived and flourished for ages : 
 we arc satisfied with them, and let those who ask for the 
 change, be called upon to prove its necessity." 
 
 '* This committee, into which we are required to enter, 
 is not a committee upon the claims of the catholics, but 
 a committee to review and revise the British constitution; 
 where the protestant religion is to be put on its defence, 
 and to be heard by counsel at the bar." 
 
 " I do not understand on what grounds it can be argued, 
 fbat it is more inconsistent with the principles of the
 
 OF THE QUESTION 1 . 
 
 constitution, to admit the catholics to the throne, than to 
 the other brunches of the legislature. They were excluded 
 from the latter at an earlier period than from the former. 
 In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, they were incapacitated 
 from holding office ; in the reigir of Charles the second, 
 they were excluded from the house of commons and the 
 house of lords ; but it was not until the period of the 
 revolution, that a catholic was rendered incapable of 
 inheriting the crown and government of these realms." 
 
 ** I will not now argue, whether the grant of the elective 
 franchise was a wise one or not, but I can see reasons for 
 that concession which in no way apply to the concession 
 of the farther privileges, which are now demanded. We 
 have said to the catholics, you are in possession of 
 property you shall have the franchise which property 
 confers you shall not be taxed without your own con- 
 sent you shall exert an influence in the state but we 
 insist ou this qualification in your representative, that he 
 shall disavow opinions and tenets, which we conceive to 
 be hostile to the establishment of this country in church 
 and state." 
 
 This is but an outline, prominent passages, of Mr.Peel'i 
 able and constitutional speech. 
 
 The Right Honourable Mr. Ryder said: "It was urged 
 that the sentiments of the protestants, both here and in Ire- 
 land, were changed ; and this argument appeared, at that 
 time, to derive some countenance from the absence of peti- 
 tions from any considerable number of the protestant body. 
 It has, however, since been proved, that the silence of 
 the country was owing, as I have always contended, not 
 to indifference nor apathy to this great question, involving, 
 as they believe, the dearest interests of their own religion; 
 but to a laudable reluctance, not imnec essarily to agitate 
 the public rnind upon questions, of all others, the most 
 likely to excite the worst species of contest ; to cpnfidence, 
 that their repiesntatives, entertaining the same opinion 
 with themselves, would give no encouragement to claims, 
 which could not be safely conceded ; and that confidence 
 has been confirmed, year after year, by the uniform 
 conduct of parliament, until the close of the last session."
 
 $&& THE TRUE STATE 
 
 " Since that period, however, the table of the house 
 has been loaded with petitions against these claims. The 
 only practicable inference to be drawn from them is, what 
 I believe will not be denied, that the general sense of this 
 part of the empire, and a large majority of the protestants 
 of Ireland, are decidedly hostile to the measure of farther 
 concession." 
 
 Mr. Henry Lascelles said : ' It has been stated, in 
 the course of this debate, by an honourable member, 
 whose authority on this subject is great, that use has 
 been made of the catholic question in Ireland, by the 
 disaffected, and those who wish to render it instrumental 
 towards the disunion of the two countries. I must observe, 
 that I should have considered a disclaimer of such pro- 
 ceedings, by the sound part of the catholics, as indicatory 
 of a conciliatory disposition : I could have wished that 
 snch disclaimer had taken place." 
 
 Sir William Scott alluded to declarations of the bishop 
 of Rome, in pastoral instructions, 22nd of May, 1808 
 * We reject that all religions should be free and publicly 
 exercised, as contrary to the canons and councils, the 
 catholic religion, the tranquillity of life, and the good 
 
 of the state.' * The protection much boasted of, for 
 
 different worships, is only a pretext, and a colour to 
 authorize the secular power to meddle in things spiritual j 
 since, in shewing respect for all sects, with all their 
 opinions, customs, and superstitions, a government does 
 not respect, in effect, any right, any institution, any law 
 of the catholic church. Under such protection, is con- 
 cealed a persecution, the most crafty and dangerous 
 which can be exercised against the religion of Jesus 
 Christ. He does not love or understand our most holy 
 religion, out of which there is no salvation, who does 
 
 not revolt at such an order of things.' <-" These (said 
 
 Sir William Scott) are the opinions of the supreme head 
 of the church, upon the mere toleration of other worships. 
 If so, what must be his opinion of a state of things, in 
 which another worship is dominant, and the catholic faith 
 is in a state of depression? Do I misrepresent the 
 opinion when I say, it can be no other than this, that
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 349 
 
 such a state is an inverted and unnatural state, which 
 cannot continue without endangering the salvation of the 
 country where it exists." 
 
 " Is there any reason to suppose that the catholic church 
 of Ireland dissents from the opinions of the see of Home, 
 upon a subject so interesting to their common feelings ? 
 1 am sure I do not misrepresent the prelates of that church, 
 when I describe them to be the faithful disciples and 
 votaries of that see, and most conscientious in their ad- 
 herence to its tenets-^and most singular it would be, 
 if they deserted it upon a point which is so immediately 
 connected with their own personal interests of every 
 species. It is quite impossible that they, of all men, 
 should be better satisfied than the pope himself is, with 
 the protestant ascendancy, and with the comparative 
 depression of their own church where they live ! But it 
 is intimated that the catholic laity hold no such opinions. 
 In the first place, I look in vain for the evidence of that 
 fact. In the second place, there may be, I believe, some 
 more philosophical spirits, who entertain other opinions, 
 but who are charged, in the suspicions of their brethren, 
 with departing from the strict rules of faith, and whose 
 general opinions, upon these matters, I must say, I have 
 always found extremely difficult to reconcile with the 
 superficial notions of that laith, which I have been able 
 to collect from any exposition of them. But however 
 that may be, I have not a doubt that the number of such 
 persons is comparatively small, and that the general 
 body of the faithful would follow their pastors upon such 
 subjects. It is a remark of that profound observer, who 
 who has been styled the chancellor of human nature, 
 Lord Clarendon, that any agreement which you may 
 make with that body of men, will signify little, unless it 
 is followed by the approbation of their clergy." 
 
 " In this state of opinions, I cannot but think there is 
 great haxard in arming sucli persons with tiie authority 
 belonging to many of the situations from which they are 
 now excluded. Their opinions unavoidably exclude them. 
 It is a very simple, and I should have thought, a very inof- 
 fensive proposition : ' We caunot iuvst you with power
 
 350 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 which, we think, will be employed injuriously to interests 
 we hold dear and sacred, but which you hold mischievous 
 and intolerable. We lament the necessity, but we are 
 compelled to act upon the common principle of self 
 preservation.*' 
 
 Lord Castlereagh said : " This veto was not proposed 
 either by myself, or by those with whom I had the honour 
 to act. On the contrary, I can venture to Istate, that it 
 was formally and explicitly proposed to his majesty's 
 ministers by the Roman catholics themselves. I can also 
 state, with the same confidence, that no idea was ever 
 entertained of acquiring patronage in the catholic church, 
 on the part of the government, in consequence of the 
 veto ; which was not, as I have observed, the favourite 
 measure of my colleagues or myself; but which, in truth, 
 was first held out as the result of the best wishes and 
 mature deliberations of the catholics themselves. I will 
 be still more explicit on this head ; and I can add, that 
 such was their liberality on the occasion, that they ran 
 before the wishes, and out-stripped the desires of the 
 government itself. I am, therefore, authorized in laying 
 down this plain and undeniable principle, that the Roman 
 catholics, in their avowed character, as honest men, have 
 no right to attribute to the government any idea of ac- 
 quiring patronage in the catholic church by the exercise 
 of the veto." 
 
 The motion for a committee was carried by a majority 
 of forty. 
 
 In the committee, the 9th of March, the Right 
 Honourable Charles Abbot, the speaker, said : " Of the 
 oaths I do not mean to speak lightly, or of the conscien- 
 tious sense in which they may be taken by honourable 
 men. But we cannot be blind or deaf to all that is to be 
 seen and heard upon this subject. We see in England 
 no very great eageraess to take these oaths, if we may 
 judge by the recent statement of the oaths taken by 
 Roman catholics, and returned to the privy council under 
 the act of 1791 ; for during the last ten years, there 
 appears to have been but one solitary instance. And 
 however specific the language of these oaths and asseve^
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 351 
 
 rations, there have not been wanting many explanatory 
 distinctions to do away their effect. Some are said to 
 be solemn and serious, some serious, but not solemn ; 
 we have some that are active, and some that are passive; 
 and in Ireland, the honourable baronet opposite to me 
 (Sir John Hippesley,) well knows, that ecclesiastical 
 monitions have been issued, to warn the Roman catholics 
 from unwarily thinking these oaths more extensively 
 binding than they really are, and from supposing them- 
 selves too much under the necessity of forbearing to weaken 
 and disturb the protestant church and government." 
 
 " The consequences of such a bill, even if proposed to 
 lie over for consideration, to another session of parliament, 
 will not be indifferent. It will naturally give exaggerated 
 hopes to the Roman catholics, which cannot be ultimately 
 fulfilled, and it will spread universal dissatisfaction through 
 the established chinch, and hold out the prospect of per- 
 petual conflict and agitation. For I think no maxim more 
 false or dangerous in policy, than that which has been 
 advanced in support of measures like the present, that 
 by adding to the power of those who are hostile tp oar 
 establishments, we may hope to abate of their enmity.*' 
 
 After stating some concessions that may safely be 
 granted to Romanists, among which are, equal privileges 
 to the English Romanists, with those which the Irish 
 enjoy ; the speaker proceeded : 
 
 " Foreign intercourse, and even foreign influence, are 
 alleged to be of the essence of the Roman catholic religion. 
 In Ireland, all who have read the instructive publications 
 of the honourable baronet, know that in modern times 
 even aliens have been obtruded and appointed to Roman 
 catholic bishoprics there, and when Ueneral Humbert 
 invaded Ireland, and landed at Killala, he found that the 
 Roman catholic bishop of Killala, appointed by the pope, 
 w:is brother to a rebel general in his own armv. There 
 
 c? 
 
 things must no longer be endured. And that the vicars 
 apostolic of England must also be brought within tht 
 cognisance of the state, is most evident, from the formidable 
 nature of their powers, which they exercised in the tra in- 
 actions of the yearlTl'U over the English Roman catholi-
 
 5,52 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 " Upon this point, if the Roman catholic prelates in 
 England and Ireland have any desire to conciliate their 
 protestant fellow subjects, the road is now open to them : 
 this is their day let them come forward and define the 
 limits of their obedience, and tender the largest submission 
 which any other Roman catholic subjects have ever yielded 
 to any protestant government. If they decline to do so, 
 their disposition will be no longer doubtful. But at all 
 events, whether they do so or not, it behoves government 
 to look to its own security in this question, and new model 
 the provisions of the statute of Elizabeth, and apply it 
 to all parts of the United Kingdom, before any proposal 
 can be entertained even for putting the English and Irish 
 Roman catholics upon a footing of equal privileges. 
 ' Whilst the spiritual supremacy of the pope, is reserved 
 by the Roman catholic clergy out of their allegiance to 
 the state,' in the language of Lord Clarendon, who had 
 amply developed this subject, ' this reserve is illusory of 
 the whole.' Other able writers have truly described it to 
 be * a mere legerdemain.' And until this is renounced, 
 I would answer the Roman catholic claims for power in 
 the recent language of the northern counties of Ireland 
 'If you cannot give up what you call your faith, we 
 cannot give up what we know to be our constitution.'' 
 
 Sir J. Hippesley said : " I am far from imputing to 
 the catholics of the United Kingdom any recent abuse 
 of their communications with the see of Rome j but I can 
 see no reason why our municipal regulations should be 
 guided by a less cautious policy in this respect, than the 
 regulations of those states wherein the sovereign himself is 
 in communion with the see of Rome. Without any great 
 stretch of imagination, we can conceive it possible thai 
 abuses may exist; as they have existed, and those who 
 are not disposed to take a wider range of inquiry, muy 
 satisiy themselves by the perusal of my Lord Chief Justice 
 Coke's fifth report, in Caudiy's case, where the whole 
 law of the ancient jurisdiction of the crown is laid down 
 with great perspicuity." 
 
 Doctor Duigenan said : " The council of Constance 
 had decreed, that no oath was binding which was con-
 
 OT THE QUESTION. 
 
 trary to the interest of the church. Any oath to a pro- 
 testarrt king was consequently void.'* 
 
 On the llth of May, Sir John Cox Hippesley moved 
 for a select committee. 
 
 Sir John Hippesley said : " The construction," by the 
 Romanists, " in a printed note subjoined to the oath, is 
 the following : All here are agreed, that to violate the 
 above clause, it is necessary to disturb and weaken, not 
 only the protestant religion, but likewise the protestaot 
 government. They are connected by the conjunction, 
 and, without any comma after " religion." Both must 
 be disturbed and weakened ; not in any manner, but 
 precisely by the exercise of the privileges now gran-ted. 
 In other respects, we are in our former situation, as 
 to preaching, teaching, writing, &c. " Weaken," after 
 " disturb," appears rather an expletive, than a word con- 
 taining a distinct meaning ; for it is implied in " disturb," 
 as whoever intends to disturb, a fortiori, intends to 
 weaken. Hence the expression is generally understood, 
 and so it has been explained by every one consulted on 
 it "to weaken by disturbance." Indeed, if or was 
 between disturb and the word weaken, as it was pro- 
 posed to be, the signification would be changed, and 
 inadmissible.' 
 
 " Every catholic state in Europe has promulgated, at 
 various periods, such ordinances as ought to be consulted 
 as authorities, in framing securities against the encroach- 
 ments of a foreign jurisdiction." 
 
 Alluding to ** simple repeal :" " It is sufficient to 
 repel such pretensions, by demonstrating, that in all 
 ages, there is no example of compliance on the part 
 any government ; that there is no example of collation or 
 institution being given to prelates of the Roman commu- 
 nion, in the unqualified terms that such catholics would 
 prescribe ; that there is no example of an intercourse 
 being maintained between the see of Koine, and the 
 subjects of any state, whether in communion with Home, 
 or otherwise 1 , where the government of that state J 
 mean to be understood, where there exists any dominant 
 church establishment does not maintain its right of
 
 354 THE TttUE STATE 
 
 control over such an intercourse by license, and inspec- 
 tion of correspondence at its pleasure. The exception of 
 the Jorum internum, or penitentiary, is a concession from 
 the crown, not an abstract right, to be maintained inde- 
 pendently of government.'* 
 
 The motion for a select committee was lost by a 
 majority of forty-eight. 
 
 On the second reading of the bill, the 13th of May 
 Doctor Duigenan said : (in allusion to the protestant 
 petition for unconditional repeal) " That petition could 
 not, with truth, be called the petition of the protestants 
 of Ireland. He had read the whole of it, and the names 
 subscribed did not altogether amount to four thousand, 
 while there were petitions signed by- upwards of one 
 hundred thousand protestants of Ireland, against the bill.* 
 It did not contain more than three hundred names of 
 any note. The rest was a collection of obscure signa- 
 tures, unknown to any person but themselves and their 
 associates of revolutionary characters, who had long 
 laboured for the ruin of their country, and unfortunately 
 escaped from execution/ 
 
 " Why did they (the Romanists,) not take the oath of 
 supremacy? If they took that oath, there might, per- 
 haps, be but little difference in that house upon the 
 subject. But then, it was argued in their favour, that 
 even their refusal to take that oath, proved, that they 
 had a regard to oaths imposed by protestants ; for nothing 
 but such oaths had stood in the way of their attaining 
 the object of their wishes. This, however, was easily 
 explained. They made a distinction in their oaths. The 
 oath of supremacy, for instance, related to an article of 
 faith ; and to take such an oath, \vould be considered as 
 an abjuration of their whole religion. In other matters, 
 they would take oaths, without holding themselves bound 
 to fulfil the engagements thus contracted ; for other oaths, 
 according to Doctor Troy, and all other theologians, 
 
 * However considerable this majorky in Ireland, again-t the hill, its number is 
 trifling, compared with the va>>t number of pL-tiuoner 5 in England, against it. For 
 the quantities of names in these petitions individually, and die immense number of 
 s, I refer the reader to thr parliamentary debates.
 
 F THE QUESTION, 355 
 
 were not binding, according to the decrees of the church, 
 
 which were unchangeable. To violate oaths imposed 
 
 by heretics, when the good of their church required it, 
 was with them neither a lie, nor breach of any moral 
 duties* Such oaths, according to their doctrines, were 
 absolute nullities. They thought, that the protestant 
 religion ought not ever to be tolerated." 
 
 " A manual has been read to the house, which forbad 
 lying and swearing ; but that was between catholic and 
 catholic j he apprehended it extended not to their con- 
 nexions with heretics* He wished the house to look 
 what had been the conduct of those who were to be thus 
 favoured here, in other countries. They would not tole- 
 rate the protestant religion, where they had power. For 
 proof of this, they had only to look at the first article of 
 the new constitution of Spain j where it was enacted, that 
 the Roman catholic religion should be the religion of that 
 country, and that no other religion should be^tolerated." 
 
 *' A forty shilling freeholder was generally a labourer, 
 who had a piece of land, about an acre, or frequently 
 less ; for which he paid as high a rent as any other person 
 
 would pay, but he paid it \fcith his labour." * The 
 
 owner of such a place, registers himself as a freeholder. 
 He swears that he has a freehold of his own, worth 
 forty shillings a year, after payment of his rent. These 
 freeholders had so much increased of late years, that in 
 one county, where there were formerly but four hundred 
 votes, there were now eleven thousand : by which means, 
 the elective franchise was placed in the kinds of the 
 meanest of the populace."- 
 
 " To shew the implacable hostility of the catholic 
 clergy, and their disloyalty to the crown and the state, 
 he noticed their conduct in 1809 : when the catholic's 
 at a synod held at Tulloch, in Ireland, by an unanimous 
 resolution, approved of that bull of the pope, which con- 
 firmed the elevation of Buonaparte to the imperial crown 
 of France ; whereby they acknowledged that usurper, 
 with whom we were at war, as sovereign of Franco, to 
 the exclusion of its lawful king ; and sanctioned a system, 
 which deprived ail those inhabitants of France of their
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 estates, who would not submit to the new order of things. 
 This was not a concern of religion, but an act of disloyalty 
 to their king. What right had they to signify their 
 approbation of that bull ? Was it done, from a wish to 
 conciliate Buonaparte, with a view of procuring his 
 assistance ? The conduct of the catholics had been such, 
 that instead of giving what they did not possess, there 
 were, he thought, good grounds for withdrawing the 
 elective franchise from them. It had been argued, that 
 as the elective franchise had been given to the Roman 
 catholics, they ought not to withhold the representative 
 privilege. But, in his opinion, the argument proved the 
 reverse of what those who urged it intended it should 
 prove. If the possession of the elective franchise ren- 
 dered it necessary for the Roman catholics to have the 
 representative privilege, then, in his opinion, they ought 
 
 to be deprived even of the elective franchise." 
 
 " Doctor Milner, who was the general agent for all the 
 catholics of Kngland and Ireland, maintained, that the 
 obligation of an oath was to be measured by expediency ; 
 and Doctor Lanegan, an Irish titular bishop, held nearly 
 ;he same. In short, there was no such thing as holding 
 i hem, by any oaths-. When, to appease an insurrection 
 of his subjects in Hungary, the emperor of Germany had 
 entered into a treaty with them, and took an oath to 
 observe it faithfully,, the pope, in 1712, issued a bull, 
 Jeclaring both the stipulations of the treaty, and the obli- 
 gation of the oath, to be void.'* 
 
 On the 2-ltli of May, in the committee of the whole 
 house The speaker said : ** As to oaths, I do not think 
 
 hey are to be undervalued ; but they cannot be accepted 
 .vithout some discrimination. Upon enlightened and 
 honourable minds, I do not doubt their obligatory force. 
 It must not, however, be forgotten, that the minds of 
 ;he great mass of Roman catholic population are in a 
 tate of darkness, and absolute subjugation to the priest- 
 -:ood. Of the particular structure of these oaths, I shall 
 
 :ot now enter into any discussion ; but that they are not 
 be entirely relied upon, is apparent, by the very 
 uuct of the friends of the bill, and by the necessity
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 357 
 
 they have felt of superadding regulations, to enforce the 
 same purposes. We must also bear in mind, by whom 
 these oaths are to be interpreted, and how they have 
 been interpreted. Nor can we shut our eyes against 
 the notorious fact, that the sovereign pontiff, not in 
 ancient times, but so lately as in the year 1809, by a 
 solemn instruction to the prelates of his church, has com- 
 manded them to distinguish between the passive oaths 
 which may be taken, and the active oaths, which may 
 not be taken, by the Roman catholics of any heretical 
 state ; and has declared, that all oaths taken to the 
 prejudice of the church, are null and void/' 
 
 " Nor are these doctrines to be found only in Italy ; it 
 is well known to the honourable baronet, and probably 
 to many other members of this house, that in London 
 also, and within the last forty-eight hours, distinctions of 
 the same sort have been promulgated, in the name, and bv 
 the authority, of a leading prelate of the Roman catholic 
 church, and circulated throughout this metropolis." 
 
 " As to the regulations of the clergy, and the restric- 
 tions of foreign intercourse, for the purpose of giving us 
 some domestic security against foreign encroachments, 
 (whether the concessions now proposed, or any, or none, 
 are to be granted,) these, I think, are necessary matter* 
 for legislation." 
 
 Sir John Nicholl, after having adverted to the advo- 
 cates and the opponents of the bill, said : " There is n. 
 third class of members, and probably not inconsiderable 
 in number, who have not made up their opinions upon the 
 subject ; who hitherto have not resisted, and some have 
 even supported the progress of the measure, from a desire 
 to see its precise character and extent, before they come 
 to any final decision. It is this third class of members 
 whose attention is particularly solicited, and who are 
 requested now to pause 1 , and consider what will be the 
 effect of the bill, if carried in its present form, &c." 
 
 " Even while the whole state was catholic in form, am! 
 before the name of protestantism existed, our catholic 
 ancestors, in the spirit of protestantism, found it nor 
 to. resist with firmness, the pretensions and encroach?
 
 358 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 ments of the see of Rome ; in proof of which, reference 
 may be had to various acts of parliament passed before 
 the reformation." 
 
 The bill was thrown out by a majority of four ; there 
 having been for it, two hundred and forty-seven ; and 
 against it, two hundred and fifty-one. 
 
 On the 26th of May, was published the following 
 
 PASTORAL ADDRESS." 
 
 " The Roman catholic prelates assembled in Dublin, to 
 the clergy and laity of the Roman catholic church in 
 Ireland.'*" 
 
 " REVEREND BROTHERS, BELOVED CHILDREN, 
 PEACE BE WITH YOU." 
 
 " Solicitude for the spiritual interests of our beloved 
 flocks, obliges us once more to suspend the exercise of our 
 other pastoral duties, in order to deliberate, in common, 
 upon the present posture of our religious concerns." 
 
 " We hasten to declare to you the lively feelings of 
 gratitude excited in our breasts, by the gracious conde- 
 scension of the legislature, in taking into its consideration 
 the disabilities which still affect the catholic body. With 
 these feelings deeply and indelibly impressed upon our 
 hearts, it is with the utmost distress of mind, that we are 
 compelled, by a sense of duty, to dissent, (in some 
 points connected with our emancipation,) from the opi 
 nions of those virtuous and enlightened statesmen who 
 have so ably advocated the cause of catholic freedom." 
 
 " Probably from a want of sufficient information, but 
 unquestionably from the most upright motives, they 
 have proposed to the legislature the adoption of certain 
 arrangements, respecting our ecclesiastical discipline, 
 and particularly respecting the exercise of episcopal func- 
 tions, to which it would be impossible for us to assent, 
 without incurring the guilt of schism ; inasmuch as they 
 might, if carried into effect, invade the spiritual jurisdic- 
 tion of our supreme pastor, and alter an important point of 
 ourdiscipline; for which alteration, his concurrence would, 
 upon catholic principles, be indispensably necessary."
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 " When the quarter is considered, from whence the 
 clauses have proceeded, it might, perhaps, be imagined, 
 were we to continue silent, that they had our unqualified 
 approbation. On this account, we deem it a duty which 
 we owe to you, to our country, and to God, to declare 
 in the most public manner, that they have not, and that, 
 in their present shape, they never can have our con- 
 currence. As, however, we have, upon all occasions, 
 inculcated the duty of loyalty to our most gracious sove- 
 reign, (the security whereof, is the professed object of 
 the proposed ecclesiastical arrangements,) so we would 
 be always desirous to give you the most convincing 
 proofs, that we are ready, in the most exemplary manner, 
 to practise it ourselves. We have sworn to preserve 
 inviolate the allegiance which every subject owes to his 
 sovereign. We are not accused of having violated our 
 oaths." 
 
 " Should any other oath, not adverse to our religious 
 principles, be yet devised, which could remove even the 
 unfounded apprehensions of any part of our countrymen, 
 we would willingly take it. We owe it to our God, to be 
 free from disloyalty ; we owe it to our countrymen, to 
 endeavour, at least, to be free from suspicion." 
 
 " Upon these grounds, reverend brothers, beloved 
 
 children, we announce to you the following resolutions, 
 
 which, after invoking the light and assistance of God, 
 
 we have unanimously adopted, viz. : 
 
 1st...*' That, having seriously examined the copy of an 
 
 amended bill, now in progress through parliament* 
 
 and purporting to provide for the removal of the civil 
 
 and military disqualifications under which his majesty's 
 
 lloman catholic subjects labour, we are compelled to 
 
 declare, that the ecclesiastical clauses or securities 
 
 therein devised, arc utterly incompatible with the 
 
 discipline of our church, and with the free exercise of 
 
 our religion." 
 
 2nd..." That we cannot, without the heavy guilt of schism, 
 accede to such regulations ; nor can we dissemble our 
 consternation and dismay, at the consequences which 
 they must, if enforced, necessarily produce."
 
 3d..." That we would with the utmost willingness swear, 
 (should the legislature require us to do so,) * that we 
 never will concur in the appointment or consecration 
 of any b'ishop, whom we do not conscientiously believe 
 to be of unimpeachable loyalty, and peaceable conduct.' 
 And farther ' that we have not, and that we will not 
 have any correspondence or communion with the chief 
 pastor of our church, or with any person authorized to 
 act in his name, for the purpose of overthrowing or 
 disturbing the protestant government, or the protestant 
 church of Great Britain and Ireland, or the protestant 
 church of Scotland, as by law established." 
 
 " Reverend brethren, beloved children, the grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and the communion of the Holy 
 Ghost, be with you all Amen." 
 
 "Richard O'Reilly, "John -Forcer, 
 
 J. T. Troy, William Copjringer, 
 
 Thomas Bray, N. P. Archdeacon, 
 
 Patrick G. PlunkeK, P. Ryan, 
 
 Daniel Murray, Peter M* Mullen, (by proxy.) 
 
 ~F. Moylan, J. Young, (by proxy.) 
 
 C. Sughrue, (by proxy.) Daniel Delany, (by proxy.) 
 
 JZdmond Derry, R. Mqnsfield, v. c. Ossory. 
 
 Charles O'Donncll, Oliver O'Reilly, r. c. Tuam. 
 
 Tarrell O'Reilly, G. Plunkett, v. c. Elphin. 
 
 James O'Shaughnessy, P. Daly, v. c. Ardagh. 
 
 Peter M'Laughlin, D. Mann'm, v. c. Gakcay. 
 
 James Murphy" John Flin, v. c.'* 
 
 This document is sufficiently expressive, on the spiri- 
 tual jurisdiction of their supreme pastor, on their disci- 
 pline, and on the necessity, upon catholic principles, of 
 their supreme pastor's concurrence with securities, not 
 then obtainable ; but which, when obtained, we shall see, 
 by and by, how it was received. Indeed, something like 
 guarding against any such possible event, seems to have
 
 OF THE QUESTION. S6l 
 
 actuated these learned personages, when they declared, 
 that the securities proposed in the bill introduced by 
 their advocates, never could have their concurrence. In 
 the second resolution,, consequences of enforcing these 
 securities are (what shall I say) threatened? O impos- 
 sible ! Surely not ; for all the kingdoms of the world, 
 and the glory of them, after invoking the light and 
 assistance of God ! no feared. This must be the im- 
 port ; indicated, too, by " consternation and dismay. 
 But then, it must be civil consequences, which secu- 
 rities " must necessarily produce;" for it would be quite 
 absurd to suppose, that the intelligent and infallible 
 guides of a church founded on a rock, could fear for 
 spiritual concerns ! 
 
 On the 29th of May, a vote of thanks was passed, in 
 the catholic board, to the catholic bishops, for their reso- 
 lutions against the proposed bill. And when the majority 
 of four was announced, the Irish papers in the Komisn 
 interest, expressed satisfaction, that "any bill incorpo- 
 rating such obnoxious clauses, was stopped, no matter by 
 what means." 
 
 On the 20th of May, Mr. Fitzpatrick, having persisted 
 in his refusal to give up the author of the " Statement/' 
 which contained the libel before adverted to, was sen- 
 tenced to be imprisoned eighteen months, and to pay a 
 
 fine of two hundred pounds. 
 
 r 
 
 " At a meeting of the Roman catholic board, for the 
 county and city of Coik, held at the Bush Tavern, the 
 SDthof May, 1813." 
 
 " GEORGE WATERS, ESQ. IN THE CHAIR." 
 
 " The following resolutions, proposed by James Roclie, 
 . and seconded by Kilwaul AJorrogh, Esq. were uiuu 
 nimously agreed to :" 
 
 " Resolved, that our resolutions of the 20th instant, 
 declaratory of our satisfaction with the spirit and object 
 of the catholic bill, as introduced by Mr. Grattan into 
 parliament, applied exclusively, and could only be 
 interpreted to apply, to its civil and political provisions."
 
 362 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 " Resolved, that we presume not, nor did it become us 
 to pronounce an opinion, on the ecclesiastical clauses 
 appended to the bill ; awaiting, as we were bound in 
 duty and respect to do, the judgment of our prelates, 
 who alone were competent to decide on them." 
 
 " Resolved, that the sentiments of our venerable hierarchy 
 being now fully notified to us, we unhesitatingly acqui- 
 esce in their solemn determination, which it becomes 
 imperative on us to support, by every constitutional 
 means." 
 
 " GEORGE WATERS." 
 
 '* WILLIAM J. SHEEHY, SECRETARY." 
 
 In the resolutions alluded to on the 20th, the board 
 had declared " entire satisfaction with the spirit and 
 object of the bill," which it termed, " the great and 
 long wished for charter of their emancipation." 
 
 On the 1st of June, resolutions were passed at Kilkenny, 
 thanking their prelates, and declaring, that the enact- 
 ments of the proposed bill, " breathed suspicion, jealousy, 
 and cruel and unreasonable persecution j would be death 
 to their religion degradation to their country a schisma- 
 tical invasion of their church discipline would prostrate 
 the independence of their hierarchy and denationalize 
 the character of the Irish priesthood." They then." sus- 
 pend their confidence in James Boulger, Esq. until he 
 shall have satisfactorily explained his vote," (differing 
 from the fiat of the bishops,) and they return thanks to 
 Captain Bryan, and to the Dublin Evening Post. 
 
 On the 14th of June, an aggregate meeting at Limerick 
 resolved, " that the late decision of their venerable pre- 
 lates met their warmest approbation." 
 
 On the 14-th of June, at an aggregate meeting, in 
 Cork, the resolution of the catholic board, in Dublin, of 
 the 2Qth of the last month, having been read, viz. : 
 " That the most respectful thanks of this board, be 
 given to the most reverend and right reverend the Roman 
 catholic prelates in Ireland, for the communication made 
 to us this day, and for their ever vigilant and zealous 
 attention to the interests, of the catholic church in
 
 OP THE QUESTION*. 363 
 
 Ireland :" it was resolved unanimously, " that we do 
 
 most warmly adopt the foregoing resolution.'* 
 
 On the 15th of June, an aggregate meeting of " the 
 
 catholics of Ireland,*' was held in Dublin, and resolutions 
 
 passed, from which I select a few of the most pointed. 
 
 ' That the expenses unavoidably attendant upon the 
 conduct of catholic petitions, and the defence of the 
 invaded rights of petitioning, call for the liberal aid of 
 our fellow countrymen ; and we confide in the public 
 spirit and zeal of the catholic body throughout Ireland, 
 for ample pecuniary support." 
 
 " That the warm approbation and gratitude of the catho- 
 lics of Ireland, be conveyed to the Right Rev. Doctor 
 Milner, for his manly,upright, and conscientious oppo- 
 sition, in conformity with the most reverend and right 
 reverend the catholic prelates of Ireland, to the eccle- 
 siastical regulations contained in the bill lately submitted 
 to parliament, and purporting to be a bill for the farther 
 relief of his majesty's Roman catholic subjects." 
 
 '* That we do strongly recommend it to the inhabitants of 
 the several counties, cities, towns, and parishes of 
 Ireland, to present separate addresses to the crown, 
 and petitions to parliament, praying the total and 
 unqualified repeal of all those penal statutes, which 
 infringe the sacred right oi private conscience, in reli- 
 gious concerns." 
 
 ' That we feel it necessary to repeat our earnest exhor- 
 tation to all catholic freeholders throughout Ireland, to 
 register their freeholds, and steadily to resist the pre- 
 tensions of any candidates for their votes, who shall 
 have lent, or are likely to lend, their support to any 
 administration founded in intolerance, and hostile to 
 the full enjoyment of religious freedom." 
 
 ' That the address to her royal highness the princess of 
 Wales, now read, be adopted; and that the indivi- 
 duals composing the general board of the catholics of 
 Ireland, be requested to procure signatures thereto." 
 The next proceeding was the publication of the follow. 
 
 ing manifesto, by the " August Hudy" sitting ity Dublin 
 
 for the despatch of business.
 
 364 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 " ADDRESS 
 
 Of the general Board of Catholics of Ireland, to the 
 Catholic Population at large." 
 
 "BELOVED FELLOW COUNTRYMEN AND FELLOW SUFFERERS ! 
 
 " The general board of the catholics of Ireland, 
 to whose care you have confided the conduct of your 
 petitions to the legislature for relief, deem it proper, at 
 this critical juncture, to lay before you certain considera- 
 tions, seriously interesting to our common security and 
 welfare." 
 
 " As the chosen depositaries of our claims and expec- 
 tations, we have been solicitous, at all times and under 
 every discouragement, to justify your confidence by a 
 firm and faithful discharge of our solemn duty towards 
 Ireland ; and, however ardently engaged in soliciting the 
 restoration of religious freedom, we have never infringed 
 the limits of the law, or been unmindful of what is due to 
 the peace and good character of our country." 
 
 ** We have encountered many difficulties and much oblo- 
 quythese had been foreseen the latter we have wholly 
 disregarded. The worst of human passions have been 
 arrayed against us, but with little effect. Monopoly, as- 
 suming the mask of religion, presented a host of selfish and 
 hypocritical opponents : these have been discomfited with 
 ridicule and reprobation. Ignorance, starting from the 
 lethargy of ages, frowned upon the advocates of enlight- 
 ened policy, and menaced the extinction of our legitimate 
 hopes; her influence has vanished like the pestilential 
 vapours before the advancing light of Heaven ! Sectarian 
 jealousy national prejudices, have been stimulated against 
 the freedom of Irish catholics ; these have been permitted 
 to wanton in shameful and savage license ; but they have 
 finally fallen beneath the pressure of justice and reason." 
 
 " The moment has arrived when the cause of catholic 
 freedom rests almost solely upon catholic firmness, pru- 
 dence, and circumspection ; our enemies have failed in 
 their attempts to obstruct our petitions, or to stifle the 
 discussion of our just complaints worsted in argument,
 
 OT THE QUESTION. 
 
 prostrate before public abhorrence, they have resorted to 
 wicked machinations for traducing our conduct, character, 
 and principles. Fabrications and forgeries have become 
 the weapons of controversy. They have not been ashamed 
 to invent and to circulate in your name, the vilest publi- 
 cations, calculated to delude and impose upon your 
 protestant fellow subjects to create jealousy and hatred, 
 and to criminate the catholics of Ireland by imputations 
 equally false, impudent, and atrocious. These crimes of 
 traitorous malignity have been, strange to tell, perpetrated 
 with impunity." 
 
 " These devices have, however, wholly failed, or en- 
 joyed a mere temporary triumph they have been detected 
 and despised." 
 
 " Fellow countrymen ! a new danger now impends 
 over our abused country, and a new mode of hostility if 
 developed ; of this we are about to warn you our 
 enemies seek to irritate our passions, and to betray us 
 into imprudent resentments. Restless and desperate, they 
 have undertaken to provoke, or to seduce the catholic 
 body to violence and insurrection. We know that local 
 agents are busy and venal emissaries are abroad. These 
 miscreants will resort to your meetings, your clubs, and 
 your public places they will insinuate themselves into 
 your confidence by counterfeit zeal, by da-ring language, 
 bv affected warmth and concern for your sufferings. 
 They will suggest secret oaths and engagements propose 
 illegal associations circulate wild and improbable rumours 
 of plots and conspiracies recommend arut predict rash and 
 ruinous hostilities." 
 
 " Fellow countrymen ! behold a deep laid :?nd diabolical 
 plot, now in actual progress, constructed not merely for 
 defeating catholic freedom, but for involving our beloved 
 country in massacre, desolation, and ruin. He now, more 
 than ever, vigilantly upon yonr guard. "\Ve entreat and 
 conjure you, as yon value \oiir f;n;iiies, yonr country, and 
 your religion, to shun the vile instruments of this nvthrioiis 
 policy to beware of their fatal snares and s*diu.tii. 
 
 " How indeed, can. the insidious toe hope to in ,-i-adc 
 us that the catholic cause requires any infraction of the
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 laws, or any disturbance of the public peace. The avenue 
 to success is yet open ; the constitution points it out ; it 
 lies through petitions to the legislature to king, lords, 
 and commons. Let us then petition petition from every 
 town, village, and parish, without exception ; let every 
 man, every woman, every child, subscribe such petitions; 
 no name is so humble as not to be useful ; this is the 
 interest of all this should be the business of all 
 persevere ! and be not deterred or dissuaded SLUMBER 
 NOT OVER YOUR DEEP WRONGS ! let persecution be exposed 
 to notoriety ; and let your complaints resound throughout 
 Christendom !" 
 
 " Leave the rest to events to the legislature and to 
 Providence ; our cause is good, and favoured from above j 
 it is in faithful hands ; let us be, therefore, confident 
 and strenuous." 
 
 " In the mean time, fellow countrymen, let us preserve 
 our habits of industry, domestic union, good morals, 
 allegiance and religion. Let us instruct our children in 
 useful knowledge ; instil into their hearts a love of virtue 
 of freedom of their country and of the faith of their 
 ancestors. Place before their eyes the dignified example 
 of " men, who know their rights, and knowing, dare main- 
 tain !" yet steady and immoveable in the paths of righte- 
 ousness, order, and good will. Thus shall you speedily 
 disappoint the fond speculations of malignant and besotted 
 foes. Thus, also, shall you gladden the hearts of your 
 faithful and enlightened friends -justify their regard, and 
 requite their unabating labours for your happiness.*' 
 
 " May genuine freedom crown a virtuous perseverance 
 with her rich rewards ; and may we all enjoy in security, 
 as we shall have earned through peril, the precious 
 blessing of concord internal peace and constitutional 
 independence !" 
 
 I shall here leave to close and minute critics, to amuse 
 themselves with analyzing, how far these " chosen depo- 
 sitaries," in the attempt to paint the picture of their 
 " malignant and besotted foes," have accurately por- 
 trayed their own. I must say, however, that 1 agree
 
 OP THE QUESTION. S&7 
 
 with " the legion of honour," that " a deep laid and 
 diabolical plot is now in actual progress :" but I strongly 
 suspect, that it is not against " catholic freedom," but 
 against protestant freedom. I should be very sorry to 
 make any assertion on light grounds ; but what have facts 
 indicated? Who have been told "wo/ to slumber over 
 their deep wrongs ?" and how have they, to whom the 
 instruction was officially communicated, exhibited their 
 waking " habits of industry ?" whose houses have been 
 plundered, not of fire arms alone ? Against what class 
 of society has plunder exhibited itself, in its insidious, 
 masked, and thousand shapes ? O, but I crave pardon ! 
 " Kiel) rewards" of " industry !" Who have been 
 pointed out to " ridicule and reprobation," and declared 
 " prostrate before public abhorrence ?" Whose houses, 
 granaries, corn, &c., have been burned? Whose horses, 
 cattle, &c., have been stolen, killed, or houghed? 
 W 7 hose trees have been cut down, to provide materials 
 for implements of " Attack and Defence ?" Whose 
 distrains, from roguish tenants, for rent, have been 
 rescued ? Who have been menaced, and who have been 
 MURDEUED? Is this, then, "the good cause, favoured 
 from above," most illustrious knights of the " legion of 
 honour ?" or, does " the voice of thy brother's blood 
 
 cry from the ground ? " 
 
 The foregoing proclamation from the board, was soon 
 followed by a notice from its trumpeter, in the Dublin 
 Evening Post, viz. 
 
 " ASSOCIATION OF FRIENDS OF RELIGIOUS 
 LIBERTY." 
 
 " This glorious association, the necessary result of the 
 times, and particularly of the Orange system, is proceeding 
 with a pace upon which, sanguine as we were, we could 
 not calculate. We shall take an early opportunity of 
 submitting its constitution to the public. The Princess 
 Charlotte ! Freedom ! Ireland ! are its parole and coun- 
 tersigns. Hatred to Orangemen, not vengeuuce, it* 
 principle Loyalty its eiul and aim ! ' 
 
 San"uiiie, this erudite writer may indeed well exclaim !
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 On the 1st of July, it was resolved, in an aggregate 
 meeting in Dublin : 
 
 " That it be an instruction to the catholic board, to 
 consider of the constitutional fitness and propriety of 
 sending an earnest and pressing memorial to the Spanish 
 Cortes, stating to them the enslaved and depressed state 
 of their fellow catholics in Ireland, with respect to their 
 exclusion, on the score of their religion, from the benefits 
 of the British constitution ; and imploring their favourable 
 intercession with their ally, our most gracious sovereign/' 
 
 On the 22d of July, at the conclusion of the session 
 of parliament, the right honourable the speaker of the 
 bouse of commons, addressed his royal highness the Prince 
 Regent, at the bar of the house of lords, on the presentation 
 of the vote of credit bill. From his able and eloquent 
 address, the following is an extract : 
 
 " But, sir, these are not the only subjects to which oar 
 attention has been called. Other momentous changes have 
 been proposed for our consideration. Adhering, however, 
 to those laws by which the throne, the parliament, and 
 the government of this country are made fundamentally 
 protestant, we have not consented to allow, that those 
 who acknowledge a foreign jurisdiction, should be autho- 
 rized to administer the powers and jurisdictions of this 
 realm : willing as we are, nevertheless, and willing as, I 
 trust, we ever shall be, to allow the largest scope to 
 religious toleration." 
 
 On the 24th of July, the general board unanimously 
 resolved, that each member of the board sign and give in 
 to the secretary, the following declaration : " I declare, 
 upon my honour, that I will not speak or vote in the 
 catholic board, in any other dress than one of Irish 
 manufacture." 
 
 On the 26th of Jury, the trial of Mr. John Magee came 
 on in the court of king's bench, for a libel on his grace 
 the Duke of Richmond. It would afford the reader but 
 poor entertainment or information, to give any of the 
 tedious particulars of this trial, or of the nonsensical, 
 illegal, and unconstitutional spec-dies of some of Magee 's 
 counsel. I shall confine myself to the most prominent
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 369 
 
 passages of the libel itself. It was thus introduced, in the 
 Dublin Evening Post : 
 
 THE DUKE OF RICHMOND." 
 
 Alluding to his grace's predecessors, it asserted : 
 " They insulted, they oppressed, tliey murdered, and 
 they deceived. The profligate, unprincipled Westmore- 
 land the cold hearted and cruel Camden the artful and 
 treacherous Cornwallis left Ireland more depressed and 
 divided than they found her they augmented the 
 powers of the government, both in the military and civil 
 branches they increased coercion and corruption, &c." 
 
 " Since that period, the complexion of the times has 
 changed the country has outgrown submission and 
 some forms, at least, must now be observed towards the 
 people !" 
 
 Of the duke of Richmond, it says: " He came over 
 ignorant, he soon became prejudiced, and then he became 
 intemperate. lie takes from the people their money, he 
 cits of their bread, and drinks of their wine. In return, 
 he gives them a bad government; and, at his departure, 
 leaves them more distracted than ever. His grace com- 
 menced his reign by flattery he continued it in folly 
 he accompanied it with violence and he will conclude 
 it with falsehood." 
 
 Mr. Magee was found guilty, and sentenced to two years 
 imprisonment, and to pay a fine of five hundred pound . 
 
 As many of my readers may not be skillevl in the voca- 
 bulary of the Dublin Evening Post, I think it nee 
 sary to give ;i tew explications of some of the terms of 
 " science." 
 
 " Profligate, unprincipled." A noble peer, who acted 
 a constitutional and upright part, as viceroy ; and who 
 had the temerity to develope, that " catholic emanci- 
 pation had long been the watch-word of rebellion, in 
 Ireland." Vide Wlk of March, 1S()1, in ////.v Treathe. 
 
 " Cold hearted and cruel." Another noble peer, who, 
 when rebellion had reared its head in t!..- face of da\, |>i< - 
 sunied to use the pov."^ i'lfni-lcd to !VT\ to put it <!<> 
 
 J A
 
 370 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 " Artful and treacherous." Another noble peer, who 
 went far in measures of conciliation extended mercy ami 
 forgiveness but would not surrender the constitution. 
 
 " Ignorant." Another noble peer, holding out the 
 olive branch, on his arrival j which, if accepted, would 
 have placed the prosperity, peace, credit, ami trade of 
 Ireland, in a far different situation from that to which- 
 the " industrious*' efforts of traitors and swindlers have 
 DOW reduced them. 
 
 " Prejudiced." Determined to preserve the consti- 
 tution in church and state. 
 
 " Intemperate/' Causing to be dispersed, an unlawful 
 assembly, after long and patient endurance ; when, at 
 length, they assumed a menacing and dangerous attitude. 
 
 " A bad govern men t." Maintenance of the laws. 
 
 " Flattery." A condescending and gentlemanlike 
 manner, particularly engaging in a nobleman of exalted 
 and princely rank. 
 
 " Folly." An open, sincere heart ; conciliation, in 
 the admissible sense of the word, and as consistent with 
 honour and duty. 
 
 " Violence." A manly spirit, not to be intimidated, 
 or priest-ridden* 
 
 " Falsehood." 1 Here I must confess my ignorance ; I 
 cannot discover its meaning here. Perhaps, it is only to 
 be discovered by initiated adepts in "science." 
 
 Having here discharged a debt of justice to- the illus- 
 trious noblemen, thus foully calumniated, it remains that 
 I discharge one of charity. I should be very sorry to- 
 press on a man suffering under the infliction of the law, 
 for this and other publications. But Mr. John Magee is- 
 not the author of this publication, no more than Mr. Hugh 
 Fitzpatrick was the author of the " Statement,*' although 
 both have necessarily ami justly suffered for the publi- 
 cation of them. This has been their own fault, not that 
 of the law. If a man be determined to adopt the libellous 
 production of another ; and then, contrary to all sound, 
 honourable, sincere advice, and in defiance of reason, 
 suffer himself to be left in the lurch by its real author, 
 election lies with himself j and the only reward for
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 571 
 
 bis pains, is the punishment, and the contemplation of 
 his own folly in incurring it. It is really ludicrous to 
 dignify an unnecessary, an uncalled for self infliction, 
 voluntary immurement and loss, with the term honour j 
 which, in fact, is the essence of folly. 
 
 On the 4th of August, resolutions replete with false- 
 hood, violence, and absurdity, were passed in Kilkenny, 
 viz. : 
 
 1st..." Resolved, that it is our firm determination, never 
 to relax in constitutional pursuit of our claims, until, 
 by the complete and unconditional restoration of our 
 just rights, our character, our principles, and our faith, 
 shall be vindicated from the foul aspersions and snspi- 
 cions which the present system of exclusion cast upon, 
 them." 
 
 The second and third are not material. 
 4th..." That the exercise of the penal laws against us, ren- 
 ders us a people alien and outcast from the privileges and 
 freedom of the Engl ish constitution. That this free con- 
 stitution of England is to us more a subject of insulting 
 and injurious mockery, than of benefit and pride. That, 
 relatively to us, it is a code of partial and oppressive 
 enactments, and not a system of equal and cherishing 
 law. That living, therefore, under the crown, but, 
 not under the constitution, a degraded race, we feel 
 ourselves in a more debasetl condition than the slaves 
 of an absolute monarchy, where tyranny is not the 
 portion of the few, but of all." 
 
 .5th..." That it is our duty, as well as glory, to struggle 
 against this bondage. That vt will not be willing 
 slaves. That we know our religion not to be the 
 reason, bin the pretext of hypocritical ty runny, for 
 enslavement. England may oppress, but she shall not 
 dupe us." 
 
 <jth..."That it is a wise and manly policy to proclaim our 
 slavery to Europe, in the most distinct manner possible ; 
 and that, for this purpose, the measure of applying to 
 the Spanish cortcs, for its intercession with our sove- 
 reign, on our behalf, meets our decided approbation, 
 ]j : ,ve Butter, let EnirVu: '. at least, bo p'il to sha'
 
 372 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 7th..." That \ve congratulate our fellow countrymen, 
 of all ranks and classes, upon the approaching deli- 
 verance of Ireland, from the tantalizing and intolerant 
 administration of the duke of Richmond. Ireland 
 has never known so mischievous a system, and can 
 never know a worse. May the merited odium 
 which pursues him, warn his successors against tram- 
 pling upon the sacred rights of petition, outraging 
 the feelings of a good and gallant people, or minis- 
 tering to the base arts of intrigue, intolerance, and 
 injustice." 
 
 8th..." That Daniel O'Connell, Esq. is eminently entitled 
 to our gratitude and applause, for his many and pre- 
 cious services rendered to the catholic cause, and to 
 his country his faithful performance of his duty in 
 the catholic board his unshaken constancy, in watch- 
 ing over the interests of Ireland his early opposition 
 to the humiliating bill, lately proposed in parliament 
 his intrepid developement of the crimes and treasons of 
 Orangeism and, finally, the dignified, eloquent, and 
 unparalleled oration., which he pronounced on the 21st 
 of July, in defence of the virtuous ami patriotic John 
 Magee, the proprietor of the Dublin Evening Post. 
 We hold that oration to be of inestimable value, and 
 singularly calculated to control the partialities of the 
 bench, to shame and stigmatize the bigotry of a selected 
 jury, and to rebuke into native insignificance, the vain 
 and vulgar law officer, who shall hereafter virulently 
 and venal ly invade a free press, or vilify an injured 
 nation." 
 
 9th..." That we have viewed with inexpressible pleasure, 
 the generous devotion of the proprietor of the Dublin 
 Evening Post, John Magee, Esq. to the cause of 
 Ireland, and particularly his unceasing exposure of the 
 bigotry and intemperance of the duke of Richmond's 
 administration." 
 
 10th..." That a, subscription be now set on foot, to be 
 applicable to such purposes as shall appear to our com- 
 mittee most honourable to him to receive, and most 
 befitting our gratitude to offer."
 
 OF THE QUESTION. $73 
 
 llth. .."That, in the present distressed state of our 
 manufacturers, it is strongly recommended, that every 
 independent Irishman shall give a decided preference 
 to the use of our native manufacture." 
 
 12th..." That the signatures to the anti-catholic petition 
 for this county, be procured, and published in the 
 public prints." 
 
 13th..." That in these times of prosecutions and perse- 
 cutions, when we are about, once more to seek, bv 
 petition to the legislature, the repeal of bad laws, and 
 to procure the benefits we should have enjoyed under 
 those laws already passed in our favour, various, but 
 unavoidable expenses, are necessarily incurred, in fur- 
 therance of the same. That to establish a fund to 
 defray suc-h expenses, cannot in any other way be so 
 effectually accomplished, as by parochial subscriptions. 
 That we therefore most strenuously recommend the 
 same to be speedily adopted, throughout this country. 
 That the money so collected, with the names of the 
 persons who subscribe, and their respective subscriptions 
 
 annexed, be returned to , our treasurer; out of 
 
 which, the local expenses incurred in this county, being 
 first discharged, the surplus shall be immediately for- 
 warded to the treasurer of the catholic board of Ireland." 
 From the 13th, to the 19th, are not material. 
 
 19th..." That in the true spirit of gratitude and patriot 
 ism, we feel ourselves bound to come forward, with 
 the most public testimony of our attachment to the 
 character and conduct of our chairman, George Bryan, 
 Esquire. By the devotion of his time, his talents,, 
 and liis fortune, to the promotion of our common 
 cause, he has raised himself to an eminence amongst 
 his countrymen, to which taid men look up with :r.i 
 envious hatred ; but the good, with delight. While 
 he has to reckon every slave of power among h;* 
 enemies, let it be his consolation and his pride to 
 know, that his suffering countrymen love him with 
 swelling and breaking hearts." 
 On the Oth of August, resolutions- were passed in 
 
 Tippcrary '
 
 THE TRUE STATB 
 
 1st.. .For unqualified repeal. 
 nd.. Immaterial. 
 
 3d... Thanks to the general board. 
 
 4th..." That Daniel O'Connell, Esq. is eminently endeared 
 to his grateful country, by his many and precious 
 services his incessant warfare against intolerance and 
 oppression his indefatigable attention to his duty in 
 the catholic board his seasonable exposure of the 
 defects and mischiefs of the bill lately withdrawn from 
 the house of commons and particularly his constitu- 
 tional and masterly oration, in defence of John Magee, 
 Esquire, the virtuous and patriotic proprietor of the 
 Dublin Evening Post." 
 
 5th..." That the catholic freeholders are bound, by grati- 
 tude and honour, not less than by prudence and com- 
 mon justice, to support such candidates by their votes, 
 as have supported them, and opposed the intolerant 
 administration of the duke of Richmond/' 
 6th. ..Contains eulogy of, and proposes subscription for, 
 
 Mr. Magee. 
 
 7th...*' That the signatures to the anti- catholic petition, 
 purporting to be the petition of a few protestants of 
 this county, be procured and published." 
 8th... Subscriptions throughout parishes. 
 
 Within the month of August, resolutions were also 
 passed in Limerick, Waterford, Clare, Louth, Mayo, and 
 Tralee. These are, for the most part, the same in sub- 
 stance, viz. : Unqualified repeal thanks to their pre- 
 latesto the general board registry of freeholds parish 
 Mibscriptions -use of Irish manufacture exclusively 
 i hanks to advocates, as Messrs. O'Connell, O'Gorman, 
 .Scully, Finlay, Phillips, Magee, &c. One of the reso- 
 lutions in Louth, contains this blasphemous predicate: 
 *' We should doubt the being of Providence, if we doubt 
 of success." One of those in Waterford, threatens ' ; non- 
 jsubmission to their state of degradation." The 14th of 
 the Limerick resolutions is : " That the gentlemen 
 already elected in aggregate meeting, a., the catholic 
 board of the county and city of Limerick, for the purpose 
 of arranging petitions to parliament, be continued as om
 
 OF THE QUESTION*. 3^5 
 
 board ; with power to add, according to expediency, to 
 their number ; and be requested to persevere in diligent 
 attention to the affairs of the body." In Tralee, one of 
 the resolutions abuses the duke of Richmond's admi- 
 nistration. 
 
 I have to state here, that the malignant slander of 
 the duke of Richmond, by boards and aggregates, was 
 replied to, and its motives exposed in proper colours, m 
 addresses to his grace, at his departure, throughout the 
 whole kingdom, by the assizes grand juries of cities and 
 counties, and corporations of cities and towns. 
 
 At the conclusion of the circuit, to bring up the rear, 
 a most tumultuous aggregate meeting assembled in Cork, 
 the 30th of August. The resolutions passed being 
 numerous and long, I shall abridge most of them, and 
 give a few verbatim. 
 
 They demand " unqualified repeal* add thirty-four 
 
 members to the Cork board return thanks to the general 
 
 board, and to their prelates recommend the exclusive 
 
 use of Irish manufacture return thanks to Dr. Milner ; 
 
 those dissenting from whom, are termed, " false friends, 
 
 or false brethren" and also, thanks to " that invaluable 
 
 Irishman, John Magee, Esq. for his undeviating support 
 
 of our cause, and manly exposure of the bigotry and 
 
 profligacy of our enemies, of every rank and degree." 
 
 11th..." That it is a primary and indispensable duty to 
 
 obtain for ourselves that constitutional weight, which 
 
 the elective franchise confers ; and to acquire for our 
 
 parliamentary friends, that legitimate influence which 
 
 can best ensure the success of our cause, and we trust 
 
 our body will carry this into eftect." 
 
 13th..." That the Roman catholics of tta county and 
 
 city of Cork, most gratefully admire the merits, and 
 
 approve the worth, of that great and good Irishman, 
 
 the strong pillar of our cause, anil the pride of our 
 
 land, Counsellor O'Connell , \vlio, in the true spirit of 
 
 constitutional independence, has undauntedly stood 
 
 foremost in the light, whenever the interests ot Ireland 
 
 were to be defended, her rights demanded, or lie ' 
 
 enemies confounded j and, that we consider him parti-
 
 376 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 cularly entitled to our most glowing gratitude, a> 
 catholic Irishmen, for his virtuous motion in support of 
 our hierarchy, proposed in the general board, on the 
 29th day of May last, and triumphantly carried by a 
 glorious and patriotic majority." 
 
 Ib'th..." That counsellor M'Donnell, the patriotic editor 
 of the Cork Mercantile Chronicle the vigilant sentinel 
 of our rights the undaunted and incorruptible advo- 
 cate of catholic claims and religious freedom, has well 
 merited, and continues to obtain, the entire confi- 
 dence, sincere gratitude, and cordial thanks of this 
 meeting and that he be appointed a member of our 
 board." 
 
 Against these resolutions, a protest was published, 
 signed by ninety of the general body of the Romanists ; 
 and out of the old board, and the new addition thereto 
 of thirty-four members, altogether, twenty-eight members 
 published an advertisement of their resignation. 
 
 Of the movements preparatory to, and conduct at this 
 meeting, I shall give the subsequent account, by the 
 " Southern Reporter" newspaper, of Cork. It charges 
 the Roman catholic clergy with " using indecent misre- 
 presentations, to inflame the minds of the lower orders of 
 the people, preparatory to their sending them to the late 
 aggregate catholic meeting." And they describe the 
 meeting, as " one of the most tumultuous and riotous 
 scenes ever witnessed in our city." It says, " that they, 
 from their altars, where peace and harmony among men 
 are usually inculcated, told the people, that the Roman 
 catholic church was in danger, and ordered them to 
 
 repair to the meeting, to defend their religion." 
 
 Again " In addition to their exhortations, they were 
 concerned in distributing inflammatory hand-bills, at the 
 chapels, which the fomentors of discord had recourse to, 
 to carry their ends." 
 
 The " Roman catholic clergymen" published an adver- 
 tisement in the Cork Mercantile Chronicle, of the 3d of 
 September, to defend themselves against this charge. 
 To term this a defence, is indeed ,a " most In me and 
 impotent conclusion j" for they admit, that mention had
 
 OF THE QUESTION. -S77 
 
 been made, at four public masses, of tlie aggregate 
 meeting ; at three in the south chapel, and at one in 
 the north chapel. 
 
 The meeting of tin's tumultuous mob, was concluded 
 late in the evening of the 30th, by chairing Mr. O'Connell 
 through the principal parts of the citv. 
 
 On the 3d of September, the newly reinforced board 
 resolved : To meet once in three weeks on parish 
 subscriptions; out of which, five hundred pounds to be 
 transmitted to the general board on registry of free- 
 holds. "That no gentleman do speak or vote in this 
 board, unless he shall be dressed in Irish manufacture," &c. 
 
 On the 4th of September, a meeting \vas held, theparti- 
 lars of which were thus published in the Cork newspapers : 
 
 " At a numerous and respectable meeting of Roman 
 catholic gentlemen of the city and county of Cork, who 
 dissented from, and protested against, the proceedings 
 of the late Roman catholic aggregate meeting, held this 
 day, Saturday, September the 4th, 1813, at the Bush 
 Tavern." 
 
 "ALEXANDER O'DRISCOL, r.>^. ix THE CIIATII." 
 
 " The following resolutions were agreed to : " 
 1st..." That we have seen with regret, the success of 
 those artifices which have been employed to deceive 
 a generous and unsuspecting people, and lead them 
 into riot and disorder." 
 
 2nd..." That, adopting the wi^e principle of the consti- 
 tution, by which property is made the standard of 
 opinion, we found it impossible, at the late aggregate 
 meeting, amidst the tumult of the lowest populace, 
 ignorant of necessity, and misled by design, to ascer. 
 . tain the sense of the catholic s of this city and county." 
 3d..." That we are too deeply intuvstfd in the success of 
 the catholic cause, to surreuder it for OIK- instant into 
 the hands of persons not ] it confidence; and, 
 
 that while we make every exertion for iiu- attainment 
 of conciliation, we will continue to pro.-n-cute our just 
 claims with undiminished ardour, and in the -aim- steady 
 and constitutional con J^ we have hithuto pin-sued."
 
 878 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 4th..." That, justly anxious for the final establishment 
 of a system of government free from restraint and 
 distrust, on account of religious opinions, we feel 
 assured, that our revered prelates, whose personal and 
 and pastoral virtues entitle them to our highest confi- 
 dence and respect, will be ever ready to give their 
 cordial aid to the attainment of any measure which shall 
 obtain our emancipation, without injury to our religion 
 or its doctrine." 
 
 " ALEXANDER O'DRISCOL, CHAIRMAN." 
 " FREDERICK HONAN, SECRETARY." 
 
 The first of these resolutions exhibits laudable indica- 
 tions of a peaceable disposition, on the part of the 
 gentlemen who signed this address, amounting to a good 
 number. This, though a negative virtue, has its merit 
 in times of " riot and disorder." But what does this 
 resolution prove? a minor proposition that the account 
 by the Southern Reporter was true; for that **riot and 
 disorder" had prevailed. What does the fourth resolution 
 prove ? that they are "justly anxious for the final esta- 
 blishment of a system of government free from restraint 
 and distrust, on account of religious opinions." Now, 
 what sort of "government" would this "final establish- 
 ment" be, if it could be effected ? What would become 
 of the establishment in church and state ? Of the Bill 
 of Rights 1 of the Act of Settlement ! of the succession 
 of the crown to the heirs of the Princess Sophia, being 
 protestants! Ultimately, what would become of the 
 protestant religion ? Why they may sleep " in the tomb 
 of all the Capulets !" for what are "ulterior views," after 
 all, but a consequence flowing from the above major 
 proposition ? As to the second resolution, it appears 
 something unintelligible. I know of no "principle of the* 
 constitution, by which property is made the standard of 
 opinion." If, indeed, it had been called the standard of 
 representation, though the scale does descend so low 
 as forty shillings per annum, to qualify for voting, the 
 proposition would have been clear enough, and even 
 some of those, " ignorant of necessity," might comprehend
 
 OF TI1E QUESTION* 
 
 it. But this does not appear, by the context, to have 
 been the meaning of these gentlemen. They seem to me 
 to have imagined, that the strength of the purse contri- 
 butes to the soundness of the head ; but it is rather 
 \vhimsical to suppose, that the constitution asserts this j 
 for if it did, it would assert nonsense. The constitution 
 is to be found in the laws of the land. " The constitution" 
 and " the laws," are of synonimous import. These laws 
 are of a compound nature : the unwritten, or common 
 law, and the written, or statute law. By the latter of 
 these, tumultuary petitioning had been guarded against 
 in England, in the reign of Charles the second, by 
 an act passed then. No such statute has been passed 
 in Ireland. The convention act of Ireland applies to 
 delegation, and yet even this has been questioned* The 
 solicitor-general observed, in the trial of Doctor Sheridan 
 in 1811, that the object of the English act in Charles the 
 second s time, was, " to prevent tumultuary petitioning, 
 because that was the object that was then considered 
 dangerous." It may be reasonably asked, has not 
 tumultuary petitioning, i. e. aggregate meetings, been as 
 dangerous in Ireland for many of the last years? But 
 though a particular act be not yet passed for Ireland, on 
 this crying grievance, and deadly bane to peace and order; 
 it would not be a safe induction that aggregate meetings 
 are therefore legal. What says the common law ? I ask 
 not this question of those, who, at aggregates, " tind it 
 impossible to ascertain, amidst tumult, the sense of 
 catholics." But, be this question how it will, at law, I 
 do say, that collecting at aggregates cannot be more 
 criminal in the "lowest populace, ignorant of nocwit \ ," 
 than it would be in "standard of opinion men." If legal 
 for one, no less so is it for the other ; for there: is not one 
 law for the rich, and another for the poor ; and this is one 
 of the "principles," of the constitution. If, indeed, the 
 " lowest populace" should unfortunately be " misled by 
 design" into " riot and disorder." winch threaten the 
 public peace, they make themselves more obnoxious to 
 the consequences of the riot act j and this, 1 appreJicu<J, 
 is the only difference.
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 In October, resolutions were passed in Sligo, Tyrone, 
 and Antrim, which were similar to those passed in the 
 other towns which I have noticed in August. 
 
 In November, similar resolutions were passed in Done- 
 gal, the Queen s County, and Armagh ; and resolutions 
 peculiarly daring and blasphemous in Berry, of which 
 I give some of the more curious, and the substance 
 of the others. 
 
 In the first, it is stated, " that it is at length the 
 interests of the Irish government to make peace with the 
 Irish people !" 
 
 In the second, they resolve to petition, praying the 
 parliament to " ubey the dictates of interest, policy, and 
 necessity, by quickly removing every impediment which 
 continues to obstruct the free worship of God.'* 
 
 In the third, they state, that they " have been suffering 
 from England for their attachment to HIM" (i. e. the 
 bishop of Rome ;) " but through all our suffering and 
 sacrifice which may yet be necessary, we shall ' never 
 teave him nor forsake him ;' but at every loss, and through 
 every peril, shall imitate the conduct of our fathers to his 
 predecessors, and uphold that allegiance to the Tiara, 
 purely spiritual, which has obtained for the Irish the high 
 title of the faithful." 
 
 4th resolution..." That if there be a God in Heaven, 
 our cause cannot be indifferent to his providence ! and 
 if there be justice on earth, our slavery must be near its 
 termination !" 
 
 5th..." That we consider it wise, as it has been usual 
 with the catholic body, to invoke the interposition of allied 
 powers that Spain has before interfered* in behalf of the 
 catholics of Ireland, and it must strike the nations of 
 Europe as a stron/r argument, that whilst the two nations 
 most catholic, have invested a protestant Irishman with 
 ducal rank, and supreme military command, their pro- 
 testant ally should refuse to the catholic the rank of a 
 colonel, or the command of a regiment.'' 
 
 6th. ..Registry of freeholds. 
 
 * This 19 true. Vide, reign ef Queen Elizabeth, Irish abstract, ih thii treatise.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 7th..." That it is an indispensable duty in every catholic 
 to make extraordinary exertions for the education of hs 
 children.*" 
 
 8th..." That whilst the catholics are carefully ex- 
 cluded from juries, in cases on which the interests oi' 
 catholics are most affected, and whilst there are counties 
 in Ireland, in which catholics never sat on a jury in a civil 
 case, and never in a criminal case when the catholic was 
 the sufferer ; life, liberty, and property, have not security, 
 and trial by jury operates as a curse !" 
 
 9th. .."That the published trial of John Magee, Esq. 
 is a book proper to be placed in the hands of our children, 
 in order that they may early learn the wrongs of their 
 country, and grow up with a rooted horror of oppression." 
 
 10th..." That our great advocate and fellow sufferer, 
 Daniel O'Connell, Esq. has secured the admiration of his 
 country, by supplying the historian with an accredited 
 document of the true character of the Duke of Richmond'* 
 administration, and a faithful portrait of its first law 
 adviser. 
 
 From the tenth to the thirteenth, they are not material. 
 
 l;>th..." That as Ireland should speak with one voice, 
 it is wise that we should adopt for our county the unrivalled 
 petition, already recommended by the catholic people." 
 
 lllh..." That the catholic board possess and deserve 
 the entire confidence of the catholics," 
 
 1,0th...." That the general conduct of our pastors 
 merits our praise that their particular promptitude and 
 sagacity, in censuring and exposing the insidious provi- 
 sions of the late catholic bill, constitute an obligation 
 which the people of this country can never sufficiently 
 appreciate or repay." 
 
 Kith..." That we consider their ecclesiastical agenf, 
 Doctor John Milncr, a judicious and energetic friend to 
 Ireland." 
 
 17th..." That the following gentlemen possess the 
 conh'deiice of the catholics of this city and county." 
 (Ten names specified.) 
 
 TK-rc h.is been a C^iechiim lately publihel in fork, which may be of a*it,iocr, 
 and ;:;. -h I >ii-H ::oticc by ar.J by.
 
 THE TRUE STATS 
 
 ,; 18th..." That John Finlay, Esq. be added to the list of 
 those gentlemen who possess the confidence of the catholics 
 of this city and county." 
 
 On the 8th of December, a resolution was unanimously 
 passed in the " catholic board," as follows : 
 
 " Resolved that we think it necessary, at this particu- 
 lar time, to re-adopt our resolution of the year 1810 ; 
 that, as Irishmen and catholics, we never can nor will 
 consent to any interference on the part of the crown, or 
 the servants of the crown, in the appointment of our 
 bishops ; and that with every disposition to meet, as far 
 as it can be done, the wishes of every part of our parlia- 
 mentary friends, and protestant fellow subjects, we yet 
 feel ourselves bound to declare, that no settlement can 
 be final or satisfactory, which has for its basis, or at all 
 involves, any innovation or alteration, to be made by 
 authority of parliament, in the doctrine or discipline of 
 the catholic church in Ireland. That this declaration is 
 not lightly made, but is grounded upon the concurrence 
 of this board with the prelates, and in the sentiments of 
 the catholic body at large, as publicly and repeatedly 
 expressed at the several meetings held, for the last three 
 years, in every part of the kingdom." 
 
 The adoption of this resolution was preceded by a speech 
 from Doctor Dromgoole. This speech has engaged much 
 of the public attention ; and has been copiously com- 
 mented on ; which renders my task brief. But the reader 
 will necessarily look for, in this place, the most prominent 
 passages of so marked an oration. 
 
 The learned Doctor, if truly reported by the Dublin 
 Evening" Post, observed : " The oath for catholic mem- 
 bers of parliament, is nearly similar to |the ordinary oath 
 of allegiance it is drawn up in the same cautious and 
 suspicious manner the clauses and observations are of 
 the same insulting and calumnious kind. But both go 
 to a solemn pledge to support, not the succession, but 
 the PROTESTANT succession to the crown." 
 
 Again " It is known that every catholic acknowledges 
 him" (the bishop of Rome,) " as supreme head of the 
 c hurch*-that the bishops correspond with him as a father
 
 OF THE QUESTION, 383 
 
 that they receive his pastoral instructions that they 
 communicate to him the success of their labours in the 
 mission that he is the common bond and centre of union 
 to catholics, wherever dispersed upon the face of the 
 earth. What then of a general nature is or can be done 
 for tlie propagation of Christianity, in any quarter of the 
 globe, that is not done with the knowledge, or by the 
 approbation, or under the direction of the see of Rome ? 
 Is not this the known doctrine of catholicity ? And how 
 gross the ignorance that would propose such an oath, unless 
 it was meant to insult? And how absurd and presumptuous 
 to suppose it would be accepted ? Are these the securities 
 that are sought for the protection of the protestant church? 
 If so, she cannot obtain them. She might, according to 
 the penalties of that bill, see, indeed, the catholic pastors 
 driven from their flocks she might see them subjected 
 to obloquy, privation, and insult she might see them. 
 transported as felons, and suffering as murderers j but 
 she would never see them so lost, so abandoned, as to 
 take the oath which was proposed an oath not to seek 
 directly or indirectly, the subversion of the protestant 
 church ! Why this would he to abuse the Divine com- 
 mand, which says, " Go ye and teach all nations 1" It 
 would be to proscribe the writings and spiritual labours 
 of a Bossuet, an Arnot, a Lingard, or aMilner ; to forego 
 the defence of the catholic faith for that vindicated how 
 can the separation from it be justified ? Do not even the 
 virtues and morality of a priesthood go indirectly to pro- 
 pagate the faith which they profess ? Do they not operate 
 more effectually than words? For what is more powerful 
 than example? Was \vnr then to be waged with the virtues? 
 Were they too to bo abjured?- No! if the church of 
 Kngland trembles for its safety, it must seek it elsewhere; 
 we have no securities to give ! That she stands iu great 
 need of securities \vlio can doubt? when he sees division 
 in the camp, and observes the determined war that is 
 carried on against her, murvs pugnatur infra ct extra 
 that her articles of association are despised by those who 
 pretend to be governed by them ; that Socinians, and 
 men of .strange -faith, arc amongst those in command;
 
 SS4f THE TRUE STATE 
 
 whilst, from without, she is incessantly assailed by a 
 thousand bands of associated enthusiasts, furious tribes, 
 religious warriors, who neither take nor give quarter. 
 Why are they not put on their securities? Why are they 
 not bound over to keep the peace ? To pass over others, 
 observe the Methodists, a sort of Cossack infantry, reli- 
 giously irregular, who, possessing themselves of the fields 
 and hedges, and fighting from ruined houses and church 
 yards, are carrying on a desultory, but destructive warfare 
 against her. In the mean time, the strong and republican 
 phalanxes of presbyterianism occupy an imposing position ; 
 and the columns of catholicity are collecting, who challenge 
 the possession of the ark, and unfurling the oriflamme, 
 display its glorious motto E> Tar* 11%*." 
 
 "But the established church will stand it will surmount 
 the storms with which it is assailed, if it be built upon a 
 ROCK ; but if its foundation be on SAND, no human power 
 can support it. In vain shall statesmen put their heads 
 together in vain shall parliaments, in mockery of omni- 
 potence, declare that it is permanent and inviolate in 
 vain shall the lazy churchman cry from the sanctuary, to 
 the watchman on the tower, to proclaim that danger is at 
 hand; it shall fall, for it is human, and liable to force, 
 to accident, and to decay: it shall fall and nothing but 
 the memory of the mischiefs which it has created shall 
 survive. Already the marks of approaching ruin are upon 
 it : it has had its time upon the earth, a date nearly as long 
 as any other NOVELTY ; and when the time of its dissolu- 
 tion arrives, shall catholics be compelled, by the sacred 
 bond of an oath, to uphold a system which they believe 
 will be one day rejected by the whole earth ? Can they 
 be induced to swear that tkcy would oppose even the 
 present protcstants of England, if, ceasing to be truants, 
 they thought n't to return to their ancient worship, and 
 to have a CATHOLIC KING and a CATHOLIC PARLIAMENT !" 
 
 Again, near the conclusion : " There are this day in 
 the room, members of the board who have come from the 
 remotest pails of the country. From the city of Cork, 
 only, you have eight or ten a city which, by its late 
 struggle, ha* rendered the mo^t important service to
 
 OF THE QUESTION- .38$ 
 
 Ireland, and gloriously vindicated its own character from 
 the imputation brought upon it by assuming and incapable 
 men. Let us shew, that the anger we expressed against 
 our fellow subjects, who urged the legislature to the demand 
 of securities that the anger against the members of our 
 own body, who only seemed to favour those securities, 
 was something more than words that our opposition to 
 the late bill was grounded upon principle, and upon a 
 deep sense of the mischiefs with which it was pregnant. 
 This resolution does no more than communicate what we 
 have often expressed, ami what the country feels. It 
 conveys the sense of the priesthood and the people. Our 
 bishops have given it their sanction. The English bishops 
 though slow in deciding, have stamped itwith their appro- 
 bation. I hold in my hand their pastoral letter, in a style 
 truly apostolic and Christian, it conveys their determination 
 never to be parties, or assenting to any interference of 
 parliament in catholic ecclesiastical discipline." 
 
 Doctor Dromgoole, subsequently to the delivery of 
 this speech, and its publication in the Dublin Evening 
 Post, published it in a pamphlet, together with a vindi- 
 cation of it. In the pamphlet, the expression of the 
 " insulting" nature of " a solemn pledge to support, not 
 the succession, but the protestant succession to the 
 crown," is omitted; or, according to the doctor, "erased, 
 and another substituted in its stead." And, it is asserted, 
 that " the printer of the Dublin Evening Post had, 
 through mistake, inserted both." In the vindication, he 
 says : " If a conclusion is to be drawn from the favour- 
 able manner in which that speech was received, it met 
 with the most complete concurrence. The speaker was 
 frequently interrupted by applause ; and the resolution 
 was parsed, with marks of enthusiastic approbation. The 
 whole assembly, the galleries, anil all the members of 
 the board, with the exception of two or three individuals, 
 rose up together ; and, with clapping of hands, waving 
 of hats, and long continued cheering, gave the m 
 unequivocal proofs of their entire satisfaction." 
 
 Lord Ffrench was ehainnan of the meeting, which thus 
 greeted, with acclamation, this erudite physician's 
 
 'J 15
 
 386 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 scription, and which has since so completely restored 
 sight to the blind. His lordship was reported, by the 
 Dublin Evening Post, to have made a speech himself, 
 previously to putting the question on the resolution, which 
 was afterwards unanimously carried, as follows : 
 
 " I am particularly anxious to add my name to the list 
 of those, who think that the present question is now 
 before a proper tribunal. It is a political question, and 
 it belongs to you alone. Any compromise with govern- 
 ment, is disgusting in my mind. It is right to put an 
 eternal extinguisher on this question. Let the people 
 speak for themselves, against any innovation in the disci- 
 pline of the church, by external powers. For my part, I 
 will say, that I will constantly raise my voice, and almost 
 my handy against it." 
 
 To these speeches, and this resolution of the 8th, it 
 will be applicable, to preserve the chain of connexion, 
 immediately to subjoin an extract from a speech, given 
 by the Dublin Evening Post, as from Doctor Dromgoole, 
 on the 24th of December : 
 
 " My opinions, as I have given them, I would declare 
 before the privy council, or the bench of bishops. I 
 desire no man to adopt them ; and, in their rejection, for 
 myself, I shall feel nothing, but I shall feel a great deal 
 for the character of this board. Recollect, gentlemen, 
 that those are the opinions of a catholic that they are 
 yours, if you be catholic and that they are notori- 
 ously the opinions of every well informed catholic upon 
 the face of the earth. I have ventured, in order to pre- 
 vent an oath from being enacted, which could not, in 
 its present form, be taken, to state one of the religious 
 objections which we have to the protestant church. And 
 because a few hired papers have made a noise in the 
 city, and a few ragged Orangemen, in Derry or Belfast, 
 have come together in consequence if such be the case, 
 are you to make a solemn disavowal of your principles ? 
 And if you do, will you be believed ? Is there a protest- 
 ant of any description, in any of these kingdoms, that 
 does not know that you have objections to the religion of 
 the. state? And if you say the contrary, how can they
 
 t)P THE QUESTION. 38? 
 
 believe you ? Are you prepared, like slaves before their 
 offended masters, to get upon your knees, and say, that 
 indeed you meant no offence that the protestant church 
 is not in danger that you have no objection to the tenets 
 it holds that you, for your part, do not think that it is 
 norel, or that it. will have an end ? If you do this, you 
 will be disgraced and laughed at your fellow catholics 
 will be ashamed of you, and protestants will hold you in 
 contempt." 
 
 The Doctor's reasoning here, is so full, satisfactory, 
 and conclusive, and the act of the 8th of December, 
 nemine contradicente, and passed with acclamation, so 
 strong, that it would be idle to relate the subsequent 
 farce ; for of what value could disavowal of sentiments, 
 received with " rapturous applause" on the 8th, be, at a 
 subsequent period, when it was clearly ascertained that 
 the predictions had failed when the " cossack infantry," 
 and " republican phalanxes" were found not inclined to 
 conjunction with " the columns of catholicity ?" 
 
 The Doctor, in his vindication, says : " Let no man 
 deceive himself. As long as the catholic is oppressed, 
 and conceives that his political degradation is to be 
 referred to the church of England that it must co-exist 
 with the duration of that church so long, he can have 
 no alternative he must unavoidably, and in spite of 
 himself, desire to see that system changed or destroyed." 
 
 Again. " This is not the only crime of which the 
 writer has been guilty. He has dared to say, with an 
 appearance of satisfaction, that the church of England 
 will fall ; and that nothing but the memory of the mis- 
 chiefs she has created will survive. Well, tins is his 
 belief, and the belief of every catholic in the world." 
 
 Again. " May he not, guiltlessly, although perhaps 
 vainly hope, that, wearied out with the continual conflict 
 of ten thousand jarring opinions that, alarmed at the 
 dangers with which the state and establishment are conti- 
 nually threatened, the people of England will, themselves, 
 become anxious for repose and that the learned divines 
 of her establishment, and the statesmen to whom her 
 prosperity is committed, availing themselves of the
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 dispositions of the people, may at length seek for that 
 reconciliation, by the \vay of concordat, or otherwise, 
 which shall open for their agitated country, a calm and 
 Secure port, where She may quietly anchor after her long 
 tossings, and the storms with which she has been so con- 
 stantly endangered ? May not this flattering vision be 
 indulged to a catholic, who, from the most benevolent 
 intentions, might wish a re-union established between 
 the church of England, and the spiritual head of the 
 rest of the Christian world ; a re-union which has been 
 recommended by some of the ablest and most Christian 
 protestant divines? She is nearer, perhaps, in alliance 
 with catholicity, than with any other, even protestant, 
 church. The motives that kept up the separation, are 
 for ever removed there is now no catholic claimant to 
 the crown of England the church property is irrevocably 
 invested in the present possessors the parts of her disci- 
 pline which are most objected to by the clergymen of the 
 church of England, might, and would be modified, as 
 has been with that part of the Greek church, at present 
 in communion with the see of Rome and no obstacle be 
 suffered to lie in the way of a cordial and lasting recon- 
 ciliation. There does not, then, seem to be any thing 
 very impossible in all this ; or, at least, nothing that is 
 very heinous and criminal, in this speculation. England 
 was catholic once she became protestant. She has 
 changed again and again, through the varying doctrines 
 of the reformers ; and would it be so surprising, that, after 
 having tried all, she became catholic again ? Can he 
 suppose, that any possible injury could be inflicted on 
 England, by a measure that would go for ever to remove 
 her religious distinctions, restore her to unity with 
 herself, and unity with the rest of the Christian world ? 
 The period may not, then, be so very remote, as some 
 people imagine, when England, being catholic herself, 
 may have a catholic king, and a catholic parliament." 
 
 Having now concluded my extracts from all Doctor 
 Dromgoole's publications, I shall be brief in my remarks. 
 It is observable, that in the first speech of the 8th, it 
 &' the established church which is termed a novelty ;
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 whereas, in that on the 24th, all hope of co-operation 
 then gone, it is the protestant church generally : for, 
 in the mean time, the " cossack infantry" were lost in 
 amazement at the matchless assurance of the Doctor ; 
 while, as he himself informs us, some of the "strong 
 and republican phalanxes" had "come togettar," and 
 " occupied an imposing position/' not to espouse, but to 
 dispute the doctor's tenets, in Belfast and Deny. 
 
 It would not be my design, if it were not even foreign 
 to my present subject, to advocate, in an ecclesiastical 
 sense, the cause of dissenters from the established church, 
 the doctrines of which are pure, because they are those 
 of the sacred Scriptures. In this sense, I would rather, 
 in Doctor Dromgoole's words, be inclined to ask, " how 
 
 can the separation be justified? But it is necessary, 
 
 in justice, to defend them, in a civil sense, for they are 
 decidedly loyal and firm. 1 shall, therefore, on the part of 
 the methodists, as I did on the part of another respectable 
 society already, who had been tampered with in vain, give 
 a document, which, I apprehend, furnishes sufficient proof 
 of the propriety of their political and civil principles. 
 
 " Bath, August SO///, 1797-" 
 
 " At the yearly conference of the mcthodist preachers 
 and delegates, from the principal societies in the king- 
 dom, lately held at Leeds, they came to a resolution, 
 that if any of the members of their societies, should pro- 
 pagate opinions inimical to the civil government, and 
 established religion of the country, they should no longer 
 be considered as having fellowship or connexion with 
 them, -but, that all such should be desired quietly to 
 withdraw themselves from the societies ; which, if they 
 refused to do, and continued to act contrary to the spirit 
 of this resolution, that then they should be forthwith 
 expelled : it being unanimously determined, that the 
 societies should not become a nursery of sedition, or 
 acknowledge the disturbers of the public weal." 
 
 Here we find principles of loyalty and affection to the 
 civil government ; while, not the least indication can be 
 discerned, of dissent even from the established religion.
 
 390 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 but rather the contrary. Besides, the methodists profess 
 not to dissent from the established church. For this, 
 they are themselves the best authority : and, as proof, 
 they communicate with the church. 
 
 As to thepresbyterians, and other protestant dissenters, 
 the journals of the Irish house of commons, bear honour- 
 able testimony to their loyalty and courage, which I have 
 noticed in the year 1709, page 205 of this treatise. In 
 1798, they formed themselves into " strong and repub- 
 lican phalanxes ;" and, every where throughout Ireland, 
 but more particularly in the northern parts, where they 
 " occupy an imposing position," forming the great mass 
 of the population, afforded efficient aid to the govern- 
 ment, in the chastisement of rebels. The learned Doctor 
 may be assured, that there is full enough of the " repub- 
 lican" principle in the British constitution, as now settled, 
 to satisfy the presbyterians ; though this principle of it 
 had suffered deterioration, which did not content them, 
 under the tyrannical reigns of the Stuarts. The presby- 
 terians know full well, that if the pill could be once 
 administered, by which the mischievous Ecclesia Anglican 
 could be lulled into a quiet exit, by a gentle euthanasia ; 
 or, by co-operative force, as the patient is stubborn, 
 the brisk cathartic, intimated by the " oriflammeS* 
 there would then be no necessity of making wry 
 faces at the dose that would remain to be taken. 
 The total extirpation of the " novelty," generally, 
 must follow. 
 
 That statesmen will commit high treason, and divines 
 of the establishment, apostacy, the doctor does, as he 
 truly expresses, vainly hope : for they would commit 
 nothing less, were the former to presume to lay the 
 liberties of British subjects at the feet of the bibhop of 
 Rome ; and were the latter to quit " that foundation, 
 other than which no man can lay, which is Jesus Christ," 
 for an assumed rock, a human superstructure of popes 
 and councils, which crumbles, at the touch, into sand ! 
 But who are the "protestant divines" who have "re- 
 commended reunion?'* It was a remark of Sir Henry 
 Parnell's, in the house of commons, " that the church
 
 OF THE QUESTION 
 
 has its concealed children in. the sects separate from 
 its unity." Of this description, must these protestant 
 divines have been. 
 
 But I must do justice to one of Doctor Dromgoole's 
 arguments ; which appears to me to be the best part of 
 his. vindication. He mentions alliance in doctrine between 
 the churches of England and Rome : he must mean in the 
 doctrine of the Unity in Trinity. This is the doctrine of 
 the church of Rome, of the church of England, and of the 
 sacred Scriptures. It is, also, one of the most important 
 and vital doctrines. Would to God, that there could be 
 " a cordial and lasting reconciliation," by a proper and 
 scriptural agreement in every other ! 
 
 I have now to revert to intermediate occurrences, 
 between the speeches and vindication. 
 
 "At a meeting of the general board of the catholics of 
 Ireland, held at the Shakspeare-gallery, Exchequer 
 street, Dublin, on Saturday, the 1 1 th of December, 1 813.' ' 
 
 " OWEN O'CONOH, ESQ. IN THE CHAIR." 
 
 " Resolved. ..That a service of plate, of the value of 
 one thousand guineas, be presented to Daniel O'Connell, 
 Esq. on the part of the catholic people of Ireland, as a 
 small tribute of their gratitude for the unshaken intre- 
 pidity, matchless ability, and unwearied perseverance, 
 with which, in despite of power and intolerance, he has 
 uniformly asserted the rights, and vindicated the caltim. 
 niated character of his catholic countrymen." 
 
 "Resolved.. .that the following noblemen and gentlemen 
 do compose a committee, for the purpose of carrying the 
 above resolution into effect." 
 
 " The Viscount Netteriillc y " George Bryan, Esq. 
 The Lord Ffrench, ll-nry Edmund Taafli, 
 
 Purcell O'Gorman, Esq. Nicholas Mahon,- A'.v/. 
 Owen O'Conor, Esq." Randal M'Donnetl, Esq. 
 
 4 - OWEN O'CONOR, 
 
 ' LiMVARD HAY,
 
 "CORK CATHOLIC BOARD." 
 
 " 21st of December, 1813." 
 
 " JAMES B. FOLEY, ESQ. IN THE CHAIR." 
 
 " The following resolution, adopted by the general 
 board of the catholics of Ireland, on Wednesday the 8th 
 of December, having been read :" 
 
 (Here is inserted Doctor Dromgoole's resolution.} 
 
 " Resolved unanimously, that we most warmly approve 
 of the above resolution, as directly expressive of the 
 sentiments and principles of this board." 
 
 " Resolved unanimously, and with acclamation, that 
 fully participating in the sentiments of gratitude and 
 admiration expressed on a late occasion, by the general 
 board of the catholics of Ireland, to Daniel O'Connell, 
 Esq. and regarding him as' the man, who has been the 
 undaunted supporter of his country's rights, and the 
 intrepid guardian of that country's dearest and most sacred 
 interests, in the preservation, unaltered and unchanged, 
 of the hallowed religion of its brave and calumniated 
 people ; we again assure him of our warm and continued 
 confidence, gratitude, and support : and will chearfully 
 and with heartfelt pleasure, contribute towards forming 
 the tribute of national gratitude, voted to one of their 
 ablest members, by the illustrious body possessed of the 
 confidence of the people of Ireland." 
 
 " Resolved unanimously, thr.t the individuals composing 
 this board, do forward fifty pounds, as their contribution 
 to the fund, for providing a tribute of Irish gratitude to 
 Daniel O'Connell, Esq. and that we earnestly recommend 
 to the catholics of this county and city, to co-operate 
 promptly and efficaciously in this national purpose ; and 
 that the members of this board will receive and transmit 
 the contributions of their countrymen, to the committee 
 appointed by the general board to receive them." 
 
 "JAMES B. FOLEY, 
 "TIMOTHY MAHONY, 
 
 On the 8th of January, 1814, in the " catholic board," 
 Mr. O'Connell was reported by the newspapers to have
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 said, that " he thought it was the duty of cntholics to 
 shew their gratitude to those of the freemen who were 
 disposed to assist them in attaining the object in view, and 
 to give such friends a decided preference in business. 
 This might be called bigotry ; he could not think so: it 
 \\asbutdischarginga debt of gratitude, and refusing to 
 an enetny the means of carrying his injurious intentions 
 into effect : and, whatever might be the opinions of 
 others on this matter, he was free to confess, that he 
 did, from his soul, hate the man, who, from any motive, 
 wished to keep him and other catholics, in their present 
 state of inferiority.*' I have thought it necessary to 
 insert this extract, as illustrative of a principle which 
 has been reduced to practical operation. Of this, various 
 instances could be adduced, prior and subsequent to the 
 delivery of this speech; but, as brevity must be consulted 
 here, I shall rest the proof on the case of Mr. Pike, 
 of Cork, of which the reader is already in possession, 
 substantiated by an authentic document. 
 
 The following document requires literal insertion : 
 " ADDRESS 
 
 "Of the general catholic board to the people adopted 
 Saturday, February the 5th, 1814." 
 
 "FELLOW COUNTRYMEN AND FELLOW SUFFERERS !" 
 
 " The general board of the catholics of Ireland, to 
 whom you have confided your petitions to the legislature, 
 once more address you. They claim the continuance of 
 your confidence only, because they feel that tiny deserve 
 it, by the zeal and purity of their intentions and exertions 
 in the cause of your religion and your country. I-Vilow 
 countrymen! the object of your petitions is sanctioned 
 by justice it is enforced by wisdom it must he attained, 
 unless the artifices of your enemies shall triumph over 
 justice and wisdom; we say their art ilk es, because their 
 arguments have failed, and" their calumnies are forgotten 
 or despised." 
 
 " Amongst their artifices, we dread but one it is tl 
 which has been already practised with success on former 
 occasions ; it is one to which you me exposed by your
 
 394 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 situation, your sufferings, and your feelings ; your enemies 
 wish to betray you into illegal associations and com- 
 binations ; they wish to bring upon you punishment, 
 aggravated by its being merited, and they still desire to 
 ruin your cause, and that of Ireland." 
 
 " The emissaries of your enemies, become more cautious 
 by detection, are likely to assume deeper disguise. It is 
 our duty to expose to you the evils which must ensue to 
 yours and to the catholic cause, if you 'enter into any 
 Illegal or secret combination, or association.'* 
 
 " Repeated acts of parliament have pronounced associa- 
 tions, for almost any imaginable purpose, to be illegal. 
 A recent statute, called 50th of the king, chap. 102, beside 
 more associations, which are plainly criminal, as for 
 seditious purposes, or to disturb the public peace, has 
 declared every association, committee, society, or bro- 
 therhood whatsoever, to be unlawful, if formed to injure 
 any person, or the property of any person, or to compel any 
 person to do, or omit, or refuse to do any act whatsoever." 
 
 "That statute has also declared any oath or engage- 
 ment to be illegal, which imports to bind any person to 
 obey the rules, or orders, or commands of any committee 
 or body of men not lawfully and legally constituted or 
 of any captain, leader, or commander not appointed by 
 the king or binding any persons to assemble at the 
 command of any such captain, leader, commander, or 
 committee, or of any person not having lawful authority 
 or bindiug any person not to inform or give evidence, or 
 not to reveal or discover having taken any illegal oath, 
 or having done any illegal act, or to conceal any illegal 
 oath thereafter to be taken." 
 
 " For inducing or procuring, by any means, the taking 
 of any such oath or engagement, the punishment is trans- 
 portation for life ; he who takes any such oath is liable to 
 transportation for seven years ; and it will not be received 
 as an excuse, that the party has been compelled by force 
 or menace to take such oaths, unless he makes full dis- 
 covery to a magistrate, within seven days." 
 
 " By another act of parliament, called the 15th and 
 16th of the king, chap. 21, it is made a high niisde-
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 395 
 
 meanor, punishable by pillory or whipping, to wear any 
 particular badge or dress, or to assume any particular 
 name or denomination of a party." 
 
 " Recollect, too, we entreat of you, that not only is it 
 unlawful and punishable to assume the name, or wear 
 the colours or badge of any such association, or to take, 
 or induce any person to enter into any engagement or 
 oath to belong thereto, but that almost every act, in 
 pursuance of such oath or engagement, is made, by 
 various statutes, felony of death. Even to assault a 
 dwelling-house (strangely as the phrase may sound,) is a 
 capital felony in Ireland. And to raise the arm, without 
 even a blow or further violence, is an assault in law. 
 80 that he, who, in pursuance of plans of any such 
 association, raises his unarmed hand against a dwelling 
 house, may for that offence be capitally convicted, and 
 suffer death." 
 
 " We select this instance, to shew you the extent to 
 which capital punishments are applicable, by law, to the 
 consequences of illegal associations." 
 
 44 Transportation for seven years is the doom of him 
 who enters into any illegal association. Transportation 
 for life, is visited upon him who induces another to enter 
 into an illegal association ; and finally, death is the 
 punishment of him who does any one act, in pursuance 
 of the design of an illegal association." 
 
 " Such, fellow countrymen ! are the punishments which 
 the law denounces against illegal associations ; whether 
 they be called White-boys or Right-boys, Threshers or 
 Carders, Ribbonmen or Orangemen, they are all liable 
 to punishment, and all deserve condemnation." 
 
 " It is quite true, that some delinquent* may escape, but 
 do not flatter yourselves that you can be of that fortunate 
 number : if you transgress the law, you will meet, as you 
 will deserve/all the zeal and activity of prosecution." 
 
 " Reflect upon these serious subjects for your considera- 
 tion. If you offend against the laws, what favour can you 
 expect what favour have you grounds for expecting .-" 
 
 " Reflect also upon the iiiutility of those associations. 
 What utility, what advantage, "has ever been derived
 
 396 THE TRUE STATB 
 
 from them? None whatsoever. No redress has ever 
 been obtained by their means. They have been quite 
 useless nay, worse ; for they have always produced 
 crimes ; robbery, outrage, and murder ; and they have 
 uniformly been followed by numerous executions, in 
 which the innocent have been often taken for, and con- 
 founded with the guilty. Do you require any other 
 arguments to induce you to refrain from those associa- 
 tions ? Perhaps you are careless of your own lives you 
 cannot be insensible to the blood of the innocent." 
 
 " There is, however, another inducement to refrain 
 your enemies, the men who would deny you the poor 
 privilege of worshipping your God, as your forefathers 
 have worshipped these men, all these men, anxiously 
 desire, that you should form criminal combinations and 
 confederations they want but a pretext for framing laws 
 still stronger and more sanguinary ; they want but a 
 pretext to lay the heavy hand of power upon your country 
 and your religion. Your enemies seek to seduce or to 
 drive you into illegal associations. Your friends, the 
 catholic board, ardently desire to prevent your forming 
 any association. They conjure you, if you confide in 
 them, to hearken to advice, which can be dictated only 
 by their affectionate attachment to you. They conjure 
 you to respect the laws to live in peace to offer injury 
 or outrage to no man to seek legal redress alone for 
 every injury inflicted on you. The redress is, and shall 
 be within your reach ! They beseecli you to look for 
 relief from your grievances, only through the lawful 
 channel of petitioning parliament. And they confidently 
 promise you, that the wisdom of parliament will speedily 
 extend that relief, if you continue, by peaceable and 
 dutiful conduct, to deserve it to gratify your friends, 
 and disappoint your enemies.'* 
 
 " So will you afford us the happiness of seeing your 
 religion resound from the calumnies and inflictions of 
 centuries of persecution, and your countrymen, of all 
 classes and persuasions, reconciled, coherent, and finally 
 free." 
 
 ** GEORGE BRYAN,
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 On the 10th of February, Mr. John Magec, who had 
 been convicted for having published the Kilkenny reso- 
 lutions in the Dublin Evening Post, was sentenced to 
 pay a fine of one thousand pounds, and to be imprisoned 
 six months, to commence from the expiration of his 
 former sentence. 
 
 On the 22nd of February, an aggregate meeting for 
 the county of Dublin, passed resolutions, whch, in sub- 
 stance, are : Simple repeal thanks to the board, and 
 to their pastors. 
 
 On the 2nd of March, a religious declaration was pro- 
 posed to the board by one of its members, which was 
 agreed to, and referred to the consideration of Dr. Troy. 
 The following is an extract from a letter to Mr. Hay, 
 which the newspapers attributed to Doctor Troy, in 
 answer : " A single perusal has been sufficient. My 
 sense of them has been long formed on such grounds, as 
 will not require, nor indeed allow me to submit them 
 anew to inquiry. I find they are an exact transcript of 
 a well known formulary of the condemnation of doctrine* 
 imputed to catholics, emanating from some members of 
 the committee of English catholics, twenty-four years 
 ago. On its publication, their formulary created much 
 mischievous division among the English catholics ; and 
 shortly after, when embodied by its framers into an 
 oath, which it was intended to have inserted in an act of 
 parliament, it was condemned by the catholic bishops of 
 Great Britain, and by such of the Irish prelates as were 
 consulted on it, (of which I happened to be one,) and by 
 them declared to be such as no catholic could, with a 
 safe conscience, take or subscribe to. This sentence 
 was confirmed by the supreme pastor." 
 
 On the frith of March, an aggregate meeting in 
 Kilkenny, passed resolutions, of which the third W.IK : 
 That we re-adopt our resolutions of the years 1808 and 
 JSH), against any right or interference to be vested in 
 the crown, in the appointment of our clergy, as these 
 resolutions have been set forth in a speech delivered at 
 the catholic board, by Doctor Dromgoole, the substance 
 of which we aj>prove and adopt."
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 The fourth "Was: "That our thanks are eminently 
 due, and are hereby given, to the virtuous minority on 
 Counsellor M'Donnell's motion, for rescinding the vote 
 of censure passed by the catholic board, on Doctor 
 Dromgoole's speech." 
 
 The only thing material in the others, was Thanks 
 to Mr, Magee, and measures for full indemnification of 
 his losses. 
 
 By the report, in the Cork Mercantile Chronicle, of 
 this meeting, the Reverend Patrick Kelly was chairman ; 
 and the Reverend P. O'Conry said : " Every doctrinal 
 point in his (Doctor Dromgoole's) speech, as Roman 
 catholics, we must believe to be true." The Reverend 
 N. Carroll, also, spoke in favour of the fourth resolution. 
 
 At the spring assizes, the grand juries of the counties 
 and cities throughout Ireland, forwarded addresses to the 
 lord lieutenant, praying the suppression of the " catholic 
 board." 
 
 ' On the 7th of April, the Cork board resolved : " That 
 as Irishmen, and as catholics, deeply anxious for the 
 prosperity of our great cause, we deem it right, at this 
 important crisis, when assailed by the hostility of orga- 
 nized intolerance, and threatened with the privation of 
 our humble, but constitutional right of petition, to renew 
 the expression of our most anxious desire for the restora- 
 tion of unanimity in our body, upon principles of mutual 
 oblivion, and mutual conciliation.'* 
 
 On the 22nd of April, it was attempted, in the house 
 of commons, to call in question the propriety of the 
 speaker's address, at the close of the session, to his royal 
 highness the Prince Regent. This attempt met with 
 signal defeat; having been supported by only one hundred 
 and six members, and opposed by two hundred and 
 seventy-four. 
 
 In May, a rescript arrived in Ireland, from the propa- 
 ganda, at Rome, signed J. 13. Quarantotti ; being an 
 answer to letters to Rome, from Doctor Poynter, of 
 London, and Doctor Troy, of Dublin, concerning the 
 provisions of the bill rejected in the last session. It 
 directs, that they shall " with willingness and gratitude,
 
 O? THE QUESTION. 599 
 
 receive and embrace the law which was proposed for 
 their emancipation last year;" and concludes with "the 
 hope, that they shall promptly and unreservedly conform 
 to the things which, in virtue of the power assigned," 
 have been decreed. 
 
 This rescript, whether " mandatory/' or not, at least 
 conveyed prudent advice ; among which, is ingeniously 
 interwoven, however, a sentence, which requires to be 
 pointed out to the attention of the reader : " It is suffi- 
 ciently evident, that by the divine law, the chief duty of a 
 minister of the church, is to attend every where to the pro- 
 pagation of the catholic faith, which can alone lead to eternal 
 happiness, and to contribute to the removal of error." > 
 
 This, the religious part of the advice, I shall leave to 
 the penetration of my readers, and the zeal of the Romish 
 hierarchy, and proceed to relate how the political counsel, 
 certainly far from unwholesome, except to hot-brained 
 priests, was accepted. 
 
 " Resolutions of the parish priests and clergymen of 
 the arch-diocese of Dublin. Bridge-street chapel, May 
 the 12th." 
 
 " We, the undersigned, parish priests and clergymen 
 of the arch-diocese of Dublin, feel it as a duty which we 
 owe to God and to our flocks, to make the following 
 public declaration :" 
 
 " Resolved, that we consider the document, or rescript, 
 signed Quarantotti, as not obligatory upon the catholic 
 church in Ireland, particularly as it wants these authori- 
 tative marks, whereby the mandates of the holy see are 
 known and recognised, and especially the signature of 
 the pope." 
 
 " That we consider the granting to an a catholic 
 government, any power," either direct or indirect, with 
 regard to the appointment and nomination of the catholic 
 bishops of Ireland, at all times inexpedient." 
 
 " Tha,t circumstanced as we are in this country, we 
 consider the granting of such a power, not only inexpe- 
 dient, but highly detrimental to the best and deaiv>t 
 interests of religion, and pregnant with incalculable mis- 
 chief to the cause of catholicity in Ireland."
 
 400 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 " That such arrangements of domestic nomination can 
 be made among the clergy of Ireland, with the consent 
 of the holy see, as will preclude that foreign influence, 
 against which those securities, so destructive to religion, 
 are called for." 
 
 " We therefore most humbly and respectfully do hereby 
 supplicate our venerable archbishop, and we hope that 
 the catholic clergy and laity of all Ireland, will join us in 
 praying, that he and the other Irish prelates will, without 
 delay, remonstrate against this document, and represent 
 to his holiness, and the sacred college of cardinals, now 
 happily re-instated at Rome, the peculiar situation of the 
 catholic church in Ireland, and the tremendous evils 
 which we apprehend would inevitably flow from the 
 adoption of the principles laid down in said document." 
 
 A similar meeting was convened in Cork, on the 20th 
 of May, by the "vicar-general," which passed the following 
 resolution : " That we have, for a length of time, felt 
 indignant at the imputations cast upon the loyalty of the 
 clerical body, by the repeated expression of the necessity 
 of guarding against the danger of their injuring the state." 
 
 The remaining resolutions were something similar in 
 substance to those in Dublin. 
 
 In Cloyne, the same day, a similar meeting declared 
 themselves " inviolably attached to the centre of catholic 
 unity, the chair of St. Peter ; but the integrity of the 
 lloman catholic religion in Ireland being paramount, in 
 their minds, and the restraints in the lately proposed bill, 
 being subversive of this vital integrity ; that, therefore, 
 the injunctions of the rescript are an unwarrantable 
 assumption of authority, and incompetent to bind them." 
 They state the rejected bill, as abhorred by the great 
 bulk of their community, with * a ferment of detes- 
 tation" and "convulsive alarm.'* Canonical election, 
 by the chapter or clergy of the diocese, in conjunction 
 with the bishop of Rome, is the substance of their last 
 resolution. 
 
 * Query. Who raided it? "The great hulk of their communky" are very inade- 
 quate judge* of the utility or inutility of either existing or proponsd >mutc.
 
 OF THE QUESTION*. 401 
 
 In Ossory, the same clay, a similar meeting declared 
 against the veto, and in favour of domestic nomination. 
 " We disclaim," said they, " the spiritual power of any 
 form of civil government; in our character of British 
 subjects, we disclaim as loudly the temporal power of the 
 pope we protest against the rescript, as we do against 
 the veto ; we reject the tincanonical interference of the 
 king, as Roman catholics ; we reject the unconstitutional 
 interference of the pope, as citizens. No government 
 can justly invade the rights of conscience ; no spiritual 
 authority, home or foreign, is competent to dispose of 
 mir civil rights." 
 
 This mode of reasoning, on a superficial view, would 
 appear specious ; but no hypothesis is tenable on false 
 premises ; for neither has the " civil government" exer- 
 cised " spiritual power," nor " the pope, unconstitutional 
 interference." On the contrary, when " spiritual power" 
 roused the nerves of "the columns of catholicity," into 
 " convulsive alarm!" and illustrated the honest and manly 
 avowal of the Irish priest, alluded to by the earl of 
 Liverpool, " that there is a great deal of flesh and blood 
 in this spiritual power," by exciting, in this suscep- 
 tible composition, which we are assured, on very high 
 authority, "lusteth against the spirit" "a ferment of 
 detestation !" and, when all this went on, without the 
 smallest opposition from the " civil government," it is 
 begging the question, to charge it, by inuendo, with the? 
 assumption of "spiritual power." V'hen, also, they had 
 received sound advice from Rome, pursuant to their ow; 
 desire, expressed by Doctor Poyntcr, and Doctor Troy, 
 is it not rather whimsical to charge on " the pope un< 
 stitutional interference ? The truth is, neither this, nor 
 the subsequent reply from Rome, with the "authoritative 
 marks," has pleased them. If the reply had been the 
 direct contrary, we should have heard nothing about 
 " unconstitutional interference ;" the " authoritative 
 marks" would have been " known ;" the " mandate 
 recognised ;" and " our holy church" would have been 
 the watch-word, to sound "convulsive alann" through 
 the bud. Uiit when, on the authority of " the centre of
 
 406 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 catholic unity, the chair of St. Peter," the spiritual ar- 
 gument fell to the ground, "civil rights" formed necessarily 
 the sole argument. With these, in a general sense, the 
 " cause of catholicity" cannot boast of congeniality. In 
 a particular sense, as to themselves, they fully possess 
 them. This, it is true, they themselves deny ; for they 
 call power a right, unrestricted by any of the conditions 
 by which other subjects, all members of the parliament, 
 or government, and even the crown itself, are bound, 
 which is absurd. 
 
 As I have given sufficient of the clerical proceedings, 
 except I were to tire the reader with repetition, I shall 
 summarily state, that in Navan, Dromore, Limerick, and 
 other places, resolutions of similar import were passed. 
 
 On the 17th of May, Sir J. Hippesley, on moving for 
 certain papers, tending to elucidate particular points of 
 discipline in the Romish church, said : " It had come 
 to his knowledge," that nearly thirty thousand pounds had 
 been remitted from Home, to Ireland, for the purpose of 
 purchasing lands. Of that money, sixteen thousand 
 pounds had been laid out, in buying a place called Castle 
 JBrowne ; and, on the site of Castle Browne, a building 
 had been erected, as a seminary, which was under the 
 fiuperintendance of a professed Jesuit. A gentleman of 
 the name of Browne, well known in the literary world, 
 had written very largely, within a short period, iu 
 defence of the Jesuits. He eulogised that body very 
 highly he spoke of their having establishments in Russia 
 and Naples and stated, that young men were sent from 
 this country, to the society at Naples, for their educa- 
 tion that they were there ordained and afterwards 
 jeturned to the United Kingdom. On the subject of an 
 oath, Mr. Browne observed, that he differed from the 
 common construction of that obligation. He held it to 
 be ' secundum intentionem deponentis,' and not * secundum 
 intentionem juramenli.' This gentleman argued very 
 strenuously, that the order of Jesuits ought, if possible, 
 to be established in every part of Europe. On the 
 subject of the introduction of the order into Ireland, he 
 had lately received a letter, fully confirming the fact,
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 40S 
 
 from which he would read an extract : ' It is,' said the 
 writer, * a plain fact, that the society of Jesuits have 
 purchased Castle Browne, and are about to establish 
 themselves among us. What their object is, I know no 
 more than you do, for they are not remarkable for disclo- 
 sing their designs. There is, however, quite enough to 
 alarm the British world.* * 
 
 The motion was agreed to* 
 
 On the 19th of May, an aggregate meeting in Dublin, 
 passed the following resolutions : 
 
 " That we have seen, without surprise, or even indigna- 
 tion, but with great contempt, resolutions and addresses, 
 published as from certain individuals of the grand juries 
 of some counties in Ireland, containing false and base 
 calumnies respecting the intentions, principles, and con- 
 duct, of the general board of the catholics of Ireland. 
 In these calumnies, we easily recognise that spirit of 
 bigotry and oppression, which, in violation of the faith 
 of treaties, and in opposition to the plain dictates of 
 justice, originally deprived the catholic people of Ireland 
 of their rights ; and which spirit, now that more direct 
 persecution is discontinued, exhibits itself in the propa- 
 gation of false imputations." 
 
 " That we deem it a duty to ourselves, and to our 
 country, solemnly and distinctly to declare, that any 
 decree, mandate, rescript, or decision whatsoever, of 
 any foreign power or authority, religious or civil, ought 
 not, and cannot of right, assume any dominion or 
 control over the political concerns of the catholics of 
 Ireland. ' 
 
 " That the venerable and venerated the catholic priests 
 of the arch-diocese of Dublin, hau> deserved our most 
 marked and cordial gratitude, as well for the uniform tenor 
 of their sanctified lives, as in particular, for the holy zeal 
 nnd alacrity with which, at the present period of general 
 alarm and consternation, they have consoled the people of 
 Ireland by the public declaration of their sentiments, res- 
 pecting the mischievous document signed B. Qtiarautotti, 
 and disposed them to await with confidence the decision 
 of our revered prelates, at the approaching synod."
 
 404- THE TRUE STATE 
 
 " That we do most earnestly and respectfully beseech 
 our revered prelates, to take into consideration at the 
 approaching synod, the propriety of for ever precluding 
 any public danger, either of ministerial or foreign influ- 
 ence, in the appointment of our prelates." 
 
 " That the enthusiastic gratitude of the Irish people is 
 due to that youthful model of splendid genius, and unri- 
 valled talent, Charles Phillips, Esq. barrister at law." 
 
 " That the cordial gratitude of the catholics of Ireland 
 Js due to George Lidwell, Esq. and the other enlightened 
 patriots who attended our meeting." 
 
 " That the resolutions of this day, be published in the 
 usual newspapers, as also in the Ulster Recorder, and 
 Impartial Observer." 
 
 We shall see just now, whether the government of the 
 country regarded the grand jury addresses with the 
 " contempt" expressed by the " august body." It would 
 be quite superfluous, except for the information of 
 English readers, to observe, that the " certain indivi- 
 duals," so slyly insinuated, were the grand juries of the 
 counties and cities throughout Ireland, with the excep- 
 tion of a very few "certain individuals," either Romanists, 
 or, which is much the same thing, advocates of " the 
 cause of catholicity." As to the point at issue between 
 the grand juries and the board, the "false and base 
 calumnies" by the former, of the latter, the reader will, 
 I apprehend, conclude, that he has sufficient of the acts 
 of the board before him, to enable him to determine ; 
 but, in a document of the llth of June, he shall " have 
 grounds more relative." As to " violation of the faith of 
 treaties," I refer the reader to the late earl of Clare's 
 statement, in 179-3, in the Irish parliament, of the 
 treaty of Limerick ; and also to the treaty itself, for 
 proof of the truth of this able lawyer's statement of its 
 articles. The phrase, "political concerns," substituted 
 for "our holy religion," claims the reader's particular 
 attention. 
 
 The next occurrence I have to relate, is the meeting 
 of the synod alluded to in the above resolutions. It met 
 on the 27th of May, and passed the following resolutions:
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 405 
 
 " That a congratulatory letter be addressed to his 
 holiness, Pius the seventh, on his happy liberation from 
 captivity." 
 
 " That we have taken into our mature consideration, 
 the late rescript of the vice-prefect of the propaganda j 
 we are fully convinced it is not mandatory." 
 
 " That \ve do now open a communion with the holy 
 see, on the subject of this document ; and that fur this 
 purpose, two prelates be forthwith deputed, to convey 
 our unanimous and well known sentiments to the chief 
 pastor ; from whose wisdom, zeal, ami tried magnani- 
 mity, we have every reason to expect such a decision, as 
 will give general satisfaction." 
 
 " That the two last resolutions be respectfully commu- 
 nicated to the Right Honourable the Earl of Donoughmore 
 and to the Right Honourable Henry Grattan, with an 
 earnest entreaty, that when the question of catholic 
 emancipation shall be discussed in parliament, they will 
 exert their powerful talents, in excluding from the bill, 
 intended for our. relief, those clauses which we have 
 already deprecated as severely, penal to us, and entirely 
 injurious to our religion." 
 
 As, on former occasions, <e he who runs may read" 
 coincidence between the " bishops" and the " board," 
 so, on the present, the conjunction may be as quickly 
 discerned between the "board" and the "bishops!" 
 For, though religion is in the end lugged in, contrary to 
 the infallible decision of the Roman see, contrary to 
 reason, to the scriptures, and even to the impeccable 
 and " august body" itself; who, by a fresh shullling of 
 the cards, have turned up " political concerns," as 
 trumps ; still, we may clearly perceive, that the "bishops" 
 have not left out of their estimate, " political concerns, a 
 bill intended for their relief, excluding deprecated clauses." 
 Now, the context shews this "relief" to be "political ;" 
 and I defy even th^ college of Jesuits, except by their 
 own species of logic, to draw any other conclusion ; 
 which the proceedings of this, and former synuds, would 
 ' not instantly rebut. These, and the general procedure 
 of the " hierarchy" in Ireland, are not proofs of the
 
 406 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 want of " relief" in religious liberty, but of the converse 
 of that proposition. 
 
 On the 1st of June, an aggregate meeting was held in 
 the South chapel, Cork, and resolutions were passed ; 
 one of them "noticing, with contempt, the peevish, petu- 
 lant, and illiberal attempts of a few members of grand 
 juries ;" the others are an echo of those by the Dublin 
 board, with the addition of thanks to their prelates, for 
 their resolutions of 29th ultimo, and thirty -seven members 
 appointed, "possessing their confidence." 
 
 While all these monstrous proceedings had been going 
 on, the rebels, under a new designation, " Ribbonmen," 
 had not been idle in the " cause of catholicity j" but, as 
 the relation of their exploits would be entirely too copious 
 for my limits, my readers must be contented with the 
 accounts of them which they have had in the newspapers. 
 
 On the 4th of June, the lord lieutenant and council 
 issued the following 
 
 PROCLAMATION, 
 
 " WHITWORTH." 
 
 " Whereas an assembly, under the denomination of 
 the catholic board, has, for a considerable time, existed 
 in this part of the United Kingdom, under pretence of 
 preparing petitions to parliament, on behalf of the Roman 
 catholics of Ireland." 
 
 " And whereas, under the provisions of an act made 
 in the parliament of Ireland, in the thirty-third year of 
 his present majesty, intituled, * An act to prevent 
 unlawful assemblies, under the pretence of preparing 
 public petitions, or other addresses, to his majesty or the 
 parliament, the said assembly is an unlawful assembly." 
 
 " And whereas great artifice has been employed, in 
 order to persuade the public generally, and his majesty's 
 Roman catholic subjects in Ireland, in particular, that 
 such an assembly is lawful and necessary to the exercise 
 of the right of petitioning." 
 
 " And whereas the law hath not hitherto been enforced 
 Against the said assembly, in the expectation that those
 
 OP THE QUESTION. 407 
 
 who had been misled by such artifice, would become 
 sensible of the error, and in the hope that the said 
 assembly would be discontinued, without the necessity of 
 legal interposition." 
 
 " Now, we, the lord lieutenant, by and with the advice 
 and consent of his majesty's privy council, being satisfied 
 that the permanence, or the farther continuance of the 
 said assembly, can only tend to serve the ends of factious 
 and seditious persons, and to the violation of the public 
 peace, do hereby strictly caution and forewarn all such 
 his majesty's subjects as are members of the said assembly, 
 that they do henceforward abstain from any farther 
 attendance at or in the said assembly ; and do hereby 
 give notice, that if, in defiance of this our proclamation, 
 the said assembly shall again meet, after the date hereof, 
 the said assembly, and all persons acting as members of 
 the same, shall be proceeded against according to law. ' 
 
 " 3d of June, 1811." 
 
 I have extracted the following particulars from the 
 Cork Mercantile Chronicle of the 8th, which it reports 
 as having occurred in Dublin on the 44,h, the very day 
 the proclamation was issued. 
 
 " At three o'clock, a few members assembled ; about 
 four o'clock, the petition was handed to Daniel O'Connell, 
 Esquire, who read it to the members present, (sixteen.) 
 A conversation took place, which tended to say, that if 
 twenty-one members were present, the chair should be 
 taken; however, twenty-one members did not attend, 
 and at half-past five o'clock, the persons present retired." 
 On the llth of June, an aggregate meeting in Dublin 
 passed the following resolutions: 
 1st...*' That Mr. Hay be requested to continue to act as 
 
 secretary to the catholics of Ireland." 
 2nd..." That the catholic board appointed for the purpose 
 of preparing our petitions to parliament, and in UK* 
 formation of which, the principle of representation was 
 studiously guarded against, and has been repeatedly- 
 disclaimed, was instituted with the direct intention to
 
 408 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 avoid giving just offence, or to fall within the prohi- 
 bition of penalties of any known law of the land, even 
 in the most rigorous interpretation of such law." 
 
 3d..." That the catholic board was not elected, or in any 
 manner constituted or appointed to represent the people 
 of this realm, or any number or description of the 
 people ; neither did it, nor does it, assume or exercise 
 any right or authority of representing the people, or 
 any description of the people." 
 
 4th..." That we, therefore, utterly deny that the catholic 
 board is an unlawful assembly, either within the provi- 
 sions of the convention act, or otherwise, and espe- 
 cially as the Convention Act contains a saving provision 
 in the words following : ' Provided also, that nothing 
 herein contained shall be construed in any manner to 
 prevent or impede the undoubted right of his majesty's 
 subjects of this realm to petition his majesty, or both 
 houses, or either house of parliament, for redress of 
 any public or private grievance/ 
 
 5th..." That in the acts of the catholic board, we recognise 
 unwearied diligence, distinguished talent, and inviolable 
 fidelity in the performance of its arduous duties. The 
 catholic people have found in it, a legitimate organ of 
 their opinions and feelings. Their rights have been 
 advocated, and their wrongs proclaimed with truth and 
 earnestness. The results have proved eminently bene- 
 ficial ; for while the friends of religious freedom have 
 augmented in numbers, and triumphed in argument, 
 the votaries of intolerance have been humbled, abashed, 
 and nearly silenced. General calumnies against our 
 moral principles have been exploded, and our opponents 
 are now compelled to resort to the despicable substitute 
 of personal defamation. Much has been done by the 
 catholic board, towards cheering and cementing the 
 catholic people guiding them by constitutional prin- 
 ciples protecting them, in many instances, from Jocal 
 oppression checking ministerial delinquency in others 
 warningthem seasonably against the snaresof insidious 
 foes -and, with a presiding spirit of benevolent patriot- 
 ism, the wants of the native artisan and neglected
 
 P THE QUESTION. 409 
 
 manufacturer have been affectionately consulted, and 
 their interests cherished with parental solicitude. The 
 very existence of such a board has frustrated the in- 
 trigues, and crushed the profane speculations of such as 
 would traffic upon a venal misrepresentation of catholic 
 sentiments. Its candour and publicity have baffled all 
 unworthy attempts upon our honour and interests 
 ample freedom of discussion has proved our most 
 effectual ally ; eliciting the talents upholding the 
 virtues, and advancing the fame of our country. 
 Finally, the great cause of our rightful petitions has 
 been judiciously placed upon the firm basis of universal 
 
 . good the religious freedom of all mankind." 
 
 6th. ,." That for these, and many other valuable services, 
 rendered to Ireland, and to religious freedom, we 
 sincerely thank the merribers of the catholic board, 
 and recommend them to the respect and gratitude 
 of their country." 
 
 7th..." That his excellency the lord-lieutenant, having 
 thought proper to forbid the meetings of said board, 
 at the moment when the discussion of our claims in 
 parliament is immediately to be expected, and when, 
 of course, important and most necessary communi- 
 cations with our noble and honourable advocates in 
 both houses may, from day to day, be indispensably 
 called for ; such a prohibition is, by its nature and 
 unavoidable consequences, (whatever be the motives 
 which dictated it,) calculated to obstruct and embarrass, 
 in various ways, the success of our humble application 
 to the legislature, and to surround it with difficulties, 
 not warranted by any circumstance that we can discover, 
 and altogether adverse to the spirit of the British con- 
 stitution difficulties which seem too likely to render 
 the right and act of petitioning, for a session, inefficient, 
 and of consequence, and in elect, nugatory, and of no 
 value." 
 
 Sth..." That we are solemnly and deeply impressed with 
 the conviction, that measure* should be forthwith 
 taken, for causing our several petitions to be proceeded 
 on, so as to ensure that inquiry and effectual discussion
 
 410 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 in the present sessions, which the honour and interests 
 of the catholic body imperatively require." 
 
 9th..." That solemnly protesting against the unrelenting 
 system of intolerance, which the catholics of Ireland 
 appear to be doomed in this enlightened age to endure, 
 we are yet stedfastly determined to persevere in claim- 
 ing our emancipation ; and by our constancy in this 
 just pursuit, and by availing ourselves of all warrantable 
 means for this purpose, to prove oarselves worthy of 
 those equal rights and liberties which we demand, and 
 can never consent to forego 1" 
 
 10th..." That a subscription be immediately opened for 
 defraying the expenses attending our petitions, and that 
 Daniel O'Connell, Esq.be requested to collect the same." 
 
 llth.. ."That the most cordial and grateful thanks of the 
 catholics of Ireland are pre-eminently due and hereby 
 given, to that incorruptible patriot, the Right Honour- 
 able John Philpot Curran, who has this day honoured 
 our meeting by his presence, and with whose uniform 
 exertions in the cause of religious freedom, we have 
 ever seen connected the fairest and proudest recollec- 
 tion of catholics and Irishmen." 
 
 12th..." That this meeting do adjourn to the 24-th of June 
 instant, then to take into consideration the form of a 
 petition to parliament, praying that the catholics of 
 Ireland may, during any further continuance of the 
 penal and disabling laws, obtain the benefit of that 
 principle of the constitution, which gives aliens a jury 
 of one-half foreigners." 
 
 In my relation of the " board's" proceedings of the 19th 
 of May, I intimated to the reader conclusive demonstration 
 to be given on the llth of June, touching the charges, by 
 the grand juries, of usurped functions, on the part of this 
 " august body." The fifth of the present resolutions, 
 proves, that these were not " false and base calumnies," 
 with mathematical precision." 
 
 Soon after, an aggregate meeting in Cork, resolved on 
 unqualified repeal exertions for the return of Mr. 
 Hutchinson and thanks to sundry persons.
 
 OF THE QUESTION 1 . ill 
 
 On the 23d of June, in a debate on the bill for the 
 better execution of the laws in Ireland, Mr. Peel read 
 an oath, by which those combining, bound themselves 
 ' to suffer death rather than give any information against 
 their companions, before judge or jury ; to join the 
 French upon their landing in Ireland ; &c.' " At the 
 last assizes of Roscommon," he said, " nine persons were 
 tried and convicted, for having taken and administered 
 oaths, binding them not to inform against Threshers, 
 and not to deal with protestants, and to conform to the 
 rules and regulations of the commanders, under whose 
 directions they acted." -"James Connell had given 
 informations against some pHsons for administering un- 
 lawful oaths : it was found necessary, after he had given 
 information, to keep him in gaol for his personal security, 
 until he was brought up to Dublin to give evidence. He 
 afterwards saw this man, and cautioned him against going 
 back to his own country : he was, however, so desirous 
 of returning, that no advice could restrain him, and he 
 went home. When his return was known, from three 
 adjoining parishes delegates were actually appointed to 
 murder him. It was proved, upon the evidence ef one 
 of the delegates, that in^ach of the three parishes, six 
 delegates were chosen to commit the murder ; that these 
 delegates met at the appointed time, and selected nine 
 of their number to perpetrate the act. They attacked 
 the house of the poor man, and murdered both him and 
 his wife. After the overthrow of Buonaparte, the 5th 
 of the present month, seven persons had been taken up, 
 engaged in a political conspiracy. In the Queen's County 
 also, serious disturbances prevailed." 
 
 On the 8th of July, in a debate on the Irish preserva- 
 tion of the peace bill, termed the Insurrection Act, 
 Mr. Peel stated : " that in many parts of Ireland, the 
 inhabitants were obliged to sit up whole nights, to guard 
 themselves from assassination; that the Caravats were 
 levying contributions of thirty and forty shillings each, 
 from the little farmers every night, and sci/ing arms and 
 ammunition wherever they could be found ; that the 
 Carders were in constant activity throughout the county of
 
 \\& THE TRUE STATB 
 
 Westmeath, and that a band of them had broken into the 
 fcouse of a poor man, and carded both himself, his wife, 
 and two daughters, in the most dreadful manner. The 
 operation was performed with a wool card, with which 
 the flesh was literally torn from the bones of the unfortu- 
 nate creatures who happened to be exposed to the torture. 
 He had in his hand, he said, a memorial dated November 
 the 29th, 1813, signed by thirty-six magistrates of the 
 county of Westmeath, stating, that the most daring 
 outrages were committed in open day, and that assassi- 
 nations were perpetrated at the places of worship, and in 
 the face of a large congregation, without the slightest 
 resistance. A series of resolutions, passed at the last 
 assizes, confirmed the contents of the memorial. A variety 
 qf letters also stated the excesses everywhere committed, 
 and the necessity of protecting the inhabitants." 
 
 On the 13th of July, on the same bill, Mr. Peel stated, 
 " the necessity, in some of the disturbed districts, to 
 dispense with juries, in order to secure the due admi- 
 nistration of justice; because the cruel alternative in 
 which a juryman, in such a case, might be placed, was 
 this he must either acquit the guilty to secure his 
 own safety, or he must risk his life by performing 
 his duty. But the bill did not necessarily take away 
 the trial by jury; it only gave the court a power to 
 dispense with it in cases in which such appeared abso- 
 lutely necessary." 
 
 On the 14th of July, on the same bill, in committee, 
 $r. Peel vindicated the Orange societies from the unjust 
 aspersions cast on them. He stated that they had existed 
 more than twenty years ; that they had been grossly 
 calumniated by the disaffected, who had dared to represent 
 their views to be nothing less than to destroy the catholics, 
 burn the chapels, and exterminate their religion. But so 
 far from these societies being liable to the imputations cast 
 en them, it was but justice to declare, that their only fault 
 was an exuberance of loyalty. Their oath only bound 
 them to support, by lawful means, the protestant ascen- 
 dancy, and the government of his majesty King George, 
 the third, and never to join with United Irishmen."
 
 OP THE QUESTION. 41S 
 
 On the 20th of July, on the third reading of the same 
 bill, Mr. Peel stated : " that six convictions took plac6 
 at Westmeath for oaths to be true to Buonaparte ; that 
 he had hoped, that peace would have overpowered all 
 such absurd speculations, as adherence to the despot of 
 another country ; but he had recently learned that similar: 
 combinations were still forming in Ireland, and that an 
 oath was now administered and taken in the county of 
 Westmeath, hostile to the public peace and tranquillity." 
 
 Mr. Butterworth stated : " that he had received a 
 letter from a correspondent in the county of Longford, 
 which mentioned, that a jury, consisting often catholics, 
 and two protestants, had been chosen to try some persons 
 of the catholic persuasion. Though the case was perfectly 
 clear, and the judge had so stated it to the jury, the ten 
 catholics would not agree to a verdict of guilty ; and as 
 the two protestants would not consent to a verdict of 
 acquittal, in a case that was, to them, perfectly clear, 
 the jury was obliged to be discharged." 
 
 On the same bill, in the lords, July the 27th, Lord 
 Viscount Sidmouth said : " The oath lately taken, 
 differed from that before the restoration of peace. The 
 former enjoined secrecy, truth to the ' committee,' a 
 solemn bond to pursue informers to death, either by 
 hanging, drowning, or ' laying under ground,' dead or 
 alive ; and finally, to assist the French on their landing. 
 The latter retained the original clauses of secrecy, bound 
 to demolish government, to 'root up pride and tyranny,' 
 to abolish tithes and taxes, and plant the tree of liberty." 
 
 From a brief, by the bishop of Rome, for the restoration 
 of the Jesuits, I have extracted the following passages. 
 
 " The catholic world demands with unanimous voice 
 the re-establishment of the company of Jesus. We daily 
 receive to this effect, the most pressing petitions from 
 our venerable brethren the archbishops and bishops, and 
 the most distinguished persons." 
 
 " We ordain, that the present letters be inviolably 
 observed according to their form and tenor, in all time 
 coming ; that they enjoy their full and entire effect ; that 
 they shall never be submitted to the judgment or revision
 
 414 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 of any judge, with whatever power he may be clothed ; de- 
 claring null and of no effect, any encroachment on the pre* 
 sent regulations, either knowingly or from ignorance, &c." 
 
 " It is also our will, that the same credit be paid to 
 copies, whether in manuscript or printed, of our present 
 brief, as to the original itself, provided they have the 
 signature of some notary public, and the seal of some 
 ecclesiastical dignitary ; that no one be permitted to 
 infringe, or by an audacious temerity to oppose any part 
 of this ordinance ; and that should any one take upon 
 him to attempt it, let him know that he will thereby 
 incur the indignation of Almighty God, and of the holy 
 apostles, Peter and Paul.'* 
 
 I dare say the " authoritative marks" of this document 
 have been " recognised !" 
 
 Soon after, the bishop of Rome issued a decretal, for 
 suppressing Freemasons, denouncing penalties " corporal 
 and severe." 
 
 On the 13th of September, an aggregate meeting in 
 Kerry resolved on " total and unqualified emancipation." 
 
 On the 27th of September, the Dublin Evening Post 
 prescribed, as afirstand leading principle, " to put Orange- 
 men out of the market:" " to deal with no man who 
 
 would not formally renounce the association, and inscribe 
 his name among the friends of civil and religious liberty." 
 
 On the 18th of November, the Cork Mercantile Chro- 
 nicle newspaper reported as follows : 
 
 " A circular letter, of which the following is a copy, 
 has been sent by Counsellor O'Connell to the principal 
 gentlemen of the catholic body : " 
 
 " Merrion-square, Nov. 16, 1814." 
 
 " DEAR SIR," 
 
 " I have been requested by several catholic 
 gentlemen to inform you, that it is intended to have a 
 meeting held at No. 4, Capel-street, at two o'clock in 
 the afternoon of Saturday the 26th inst. The gentlemen 
 who propose meeting on that day, have manv of them 
 differed as to the manner of conducting our petitions, 
 but they mutually acknowledge and respect the purity
 
 OP THE QUESTION'. 415 
 
 of intention of those who entertained different opinions, 
 and they all agree in the propriety, nay, the necessity 
 of combining the efforts of all the petitioners in the 
 furtherance of our great object : perfect freedom of 
 conscience.'* 
 
 " It is intended to meet on that day, merely as indivi- 
 duals, and for the sole purpose of collecting individual 
 opinions, so as to shape all further proceedings in the 
 mode most likely to deserve and ensure unanimity/* 
 
 " I am directed respectfully to request your attendance 
 and assistance." " I have the honour to be, sir, 
 
 Your very obedient, humble servant," 
 
 " DANIEL O'CONNELL." 
 
 On the Qoth of November, a meeting of catholic 
 gentlemen in Cork, resolved, " That the catholic body 
 should be solicited to form a fund, to defray the expenses 
 of the petition." 
 
 In the beginning of December, \Villiam Baker, Esq. 
 of Lismacue, Caher, a magistrate, stated the following 
 murders and outrages, committed in the county of 
 Tipperary and barony of Middlethird, in justification 
 of " the district of Ardmayle particularly requiring the 
 immediate interposition of some new authority to restore 
 and preserve its peace." 
 
 ]\fai/ ( 2Q...Mr. Robins murdered. 
 June ^-2... Mr. Smitluvick fired at. 
 
 iM-...Mr. Givens and Son fired at, and desperately 
 
 wounded. 
 
 Jw/y4...Mr. Long murdered. 
 August l...Meany Bordered. 
 
 l ( J...Gleeson murdered. 
 
 i>7...Fawcett murdered. 
 
 On the 21-th of January 181.1, an aggregate meeting in 
 Dublin passed resolutions. From the 1st to the 6th of 
 these, the only thing material is " unqualified repeal." 
 Oth. .."That it is manifestly impossible to petition parlia- 
 ment with effect, unless some limited number of persons 
 shall either be appointed or voluntarily associate them-
 
 416 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 selves together for the purposes of preparing the form 
 and procuring signatures to such petitions, and of trans. 
 mitting, when signed, to our advocates in parliament, 
 and of giving the necessary information of the nature^ 
 and extent of our grievances, the mode in which the 
 several penal laws operate, directly and indirectly, to 
 our exclusion, and the most practical and effectual 
 provisions for our relief, and of transacting the other 
 business naturally and necessarily connected with the 
 success of ouf petition to parliament. 
 7th..." That as we are from experience fully aware that 
 every means which the ingenuity of very zealous 
 bigotry can suggest, will be resorted to, in order to 
 impede and hinder us from claiming success in our 
 constitutional cause, of seeking redress by petitioning 
 parliament, we do not, therefore, and for other reasons 
 sufficiently obvious, deem it expedient to nominate any 
 committee or number of persons for that purpose ; but 
 \ve do most earnestly recommend to such of the noble- 
 men and gentlemen, members of the board of the catho- 
 lics of Ireland, as shall be inclined to exert themselves for 
 the attainment of the above object, to form themselves 
 into a voluntary association, as individuals, for the old, 
 single, and exclusive purpose of managing and con- 
 ducting our petitions to the legislature, and the busi- 
 ness necessarily and indispensably connected there- 
 with." 
 
 The remaining resolutions contain little, except ad- 
 journment to 13th of February, and a subscription 
 determined on. 
 
 On the 1st of February, the following advertisement 
 appeared in the Cork Mercantile Chronicle. 
 
 " CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION." 
 
 
 
 " Those gentlemen who were appointed members of 
 the 1 Roman catholic board of 'this county and city, at the 
 different aggregate meetings, and are desirous of now 
 becoming members of the voluntary association of Roman 
 catholics of Ireland, formed for the purpose of forward-
 
 *>F THE QUEST! 01?. \. J 7 
 
 ing our petition to parliament, at the present most im- 
 portant crisis of our affairs, are requested immediately to 
 send in their names to me, at my house, George's quay, 
 in this city, that I may transmit them to Mr* Hay, the 
 secretary in Dublin." 
 
 CORK, FEB. 1, 1815. " JAMES N ' MAaoi * SECRET**?." 
 
 I have transcribed tta following from the Cork Mer- 
 cantile Chronicle of 6th of February : 
 
 CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION." 
 
 Dublin, February 4>th t 1815. 
 
 " This day the sessions opened, in the apartments lately 
 occupied by the board in Capel-^treet. Sc vorai new 
 members were enrolled. The chair was taken l>v Owen 
 O'Conor, esq. The aggregate fixed for the 16th." 
 
 I think it necessary to state here, intelligence which 
 the press communicated at this period, that " his holiness" 
 had commenced tiie year 1815 by a remonstrance, com- 
 plaining, among other matters, oi the emperor of Austria 
 having permitted a Lutheran diurch to be opened at 
 Venice. 
 
 On the 16th of February, the adjourned aggregate 
 meeting in Dublin resolved : 
 Jd..." That the association do report to an aggregate 
 
 meeting on Thursday the 23d instant." 
 5th..." That the catholic people of Ireland are justly 
 
 tenacious of the long tried purity and spotless integrity 
 
 of their venerated clergy." 
 
 The other resolutions state, that any arrangement in 
 the mode of nominating their clergy, cannot be contem- 
 plated bv the catholics, without alarm and abhorrence; 
 and stimulate " the catholics to redeem the pledge of one 
 thousand guineas to Daniel O'Connell, Esq. for the intre- 
 pidity, &c. with which, in despite of power and intoleran- 
 ce has uniformly asserted the rights, and vindicated the 
 calumniated character of his catholic c men."
 
 418 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 On the 13th of March, the Cork Mercantile Chronicle 
 published the dedication to a sermon, which, on the l 2Uh 
 .of February, was preached by Mr. Ryan, a Dominican 
 friar, in Townsend-street chapel, Dublin, on the conse- 
 cration of Doctor Plunkett, and Doctor Waldron. This 
 dedication, I think it necessary to give, verbatim. 
 
 " DEDICATION" 
 
 '* To .Doctors O'Reilly, Troy, Kelly, Murray, Pltm/sett; 
 Murphy, Ryan, Plunlcetl, Waldrou" 
 
 " MY LORDS, 
 
 " In obedience to your wish, this discourse, which 
 was delivered in your presence, is now published. In 
 your character of bishops, you, are the only persons to 
 whom, as to judges, a minister of religion may render an 
 account of his faith, without degrading his sacred office. 
 Of the doctrines inculcated in the following discourse, 
 you have unanimously approved. Under such circum- 
 stances, I can claim little merit for resignation, amidst 
 the frantic vituperations of the catholic church, and 
 even the unfounded reproaches of some weak and false 
 brethren." 
 
 " He who is bound to shed his blood in the mainte- 
 nance of those truths, may well submit to contumely in 
 their defence." 
 
 " I remain your lordships* devoted humble servant," 
 "DUBLIN, MARCH 3, 1815." " JOHN RYAN." 
 
 On the 15th of March, the same newspaper published 
 the entire sermon, from which 1 give some extracts. 
 
 Alluding to Buonaparte "He consigns the sovereign 
 pontiff of the Christian world to a dungeon. Unable to 
 extort from his victim any concessions prejudicial to the 
 cause of religion, he assembles the prelates of a nation, 
 then lying in trembling subjection to his power; he 
 jHtempts to .raise up a schism in the church ; to seduce 
 those successors of the apostles' from their acknowledg- 
 ment of that supremacy which is .in the chair of Peter."
 
 OF THE QUESTION; 4-19 
 
 " Defeated in this impious attempt, he determines that 
 his vengeance shall be felt throughout the universal 
 church. His venerable captive is hurried from prison to 
 prison ; he is deprived of all communication with the 
 faithful ; the vicar of Christ is debarred access even to 
 the most humble of his temples, where he might seek 
 consolation at the altar of Him, in whose cause he is. 
 suffering ; the sympathy of his spiritual children fails 
 to find its way to him ; no accent*? reach his ear, during 
 a period of six years, except the blasphemies of a rude, 
 and obscene, and impious soldiery. Churches, widowed 
 of their pastors, seek in vain the means of approaching 
 this great source of spiritual authority. The enemies of 
 our faith hailed the expected fall of the see of J'eter, 
 and the extinction of episcopacy. Even their det 
 tation of a man, who threatened to overwhelm their 
 national grandeur and independence,* was tempered by 
 the pious assurance of his success, in the ruin of.that^ 
 church which was the object of their hatred." 
 
 ; " Yes, my brethren, you have beheld tins won- 
 derful deliverance of the church ; you now behold nations 
 which had panted for her fall, indebted for thqir preser- 
 vation, to those -events by which Divine Providence 
 relieved her from persecution." 
 
 " The vicar of Jesus Christ has come forth from his 
 captivity. To this event we owe the present solemnity. 
 One of the h'rst acts of his spiritual authority testifies Ins 
 solicitude for this portion of the church, perhaps speci- 
 ally endeared bv its sufferings, to him who has experienced 
 in his own person, the bitterness of protracted mar- 
 tyrdom." 
 
 " In this sacred character,*' eternal high pri' 
 
 4> Christ offered the great sacrifice of his blood. He 
 imparts this 'dignity to his apostles siiuling them, as his 
 heavenly father had sent him, to continue the same* 
 sacrifice in the mysteries of our sikar ; to forgive the sins 
 of ivpeiitant man to govern his church to teach all 
 
 , Quay. Whote national prai.J p'r aiuj ' A to c; 
 
 :h;u-cli of England hohhilm; hut !\: of th^ 
 
 chti 
 Roiui.h
 
 420 THE TRUZ STATE 
 
 nations to establish the succession of the priesthood to 
 the consummation of all time." 
 
 " The apostles soon found it necessary to impart this 
 sacred commission to others. Accordingly, we find 
 Mathias, Paul, Barnabas, and others, raised to the epis- 
 copal dignity, and Stephen, with his companions, to the 
 order of deacon.** 
 
 " The fathers of the church not only speak of the 
 priestly character thus communicated, but likewise of its 
 indelible nature- St. Gregory, of Nyssa : ' It is this 
 same efficacy of the divine word, which renders the 
 priest august and venerable, and separated from the 
 community by a change wrought through blessedness. 
 For he who was of yesterday, and all former days of his 
 life, of the multitude, and one of the people, becomes 
 suddenly a teacher and ruler, having within him a soul 
 exalted in dignity, changed from what it had been by 
 divine grace and power.' 
 
 " The Christian ministry, thus essentially distinct from 
 the faithful in general, consists of several orders : the 
 first of which is the order of bishops, who are the suc- 
 cessors of the apostles ; and who, having at their head 
 the successor of Peter, the prince of the apostles, do 
 constitute that living tribunal, to which Christ has pro- 
 mised the superintendance of the spirit of truth. To 
 them does it belong, to bear a perpetual and unerring 
 testknony as to that faith which cannot change. To 
 them, as the sources of all spiritual power, does it belong 
 to confer orders to appoint the ministers of religion to 
 the care of souls to legislate for the church in its disci- 
 pline, which may be changed and, on this point, as well 
 as on points of faith, they are exclusively competent to 
 judge and to decide/' 
 
 ** The fortieth of the apostolic canons speaks : * Who- 
 ever is bishop, is your prince and leader--your king and 
 ruler : he holds in your regard the place of God here on 
 earth. Let your bishop preside over you, as one whom God 
 himself has deigned to make a partaker in his dignity/ 
 
 " The Christian church was to consist of an immense 
 number of congregations, each of which would require
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 the superintendance of ministers of religion, for the 
 administration of the sacraments essential to salvation, 
 and for other duties of the sacred office. If, in this 
 countless host of Christian ministers, each were enti- 
 tled to the right of judging and deciding on faith and 
 discipline, by what means could that unity in faith be 
 ascertained, and that uniformity in discipline be preserved, 
 so essential to a church, the pillar and ground of truth, 
 instituted for the purpose of extending itself throughout 
 every region ? By what means could such a body be 
 governed? Miracles, repeated from hour to hour, would 
 be necessary to save from inextricable confusion, a mass so 
 heterogeneous. But the wisdom of God does not adopt, 
 as its means, continued miracles ; it does not prescribe to 
 itself plans which are the sources of confusion, and then pro- 
 ceed to remedy that confusion by miraculous interference. 
 And therefore it is, that we find that infallibility of judg- 
 ment in matters of faith and morals, which was promised 
 by ourKedeemer, placed in that portion of the hierarchy, 
 which must be comparatively limited in its number.- 
 We find the right of spiritual government and legislation, 
 the sources of spiritual power and jurisdiction, exclusively 
 confined to the bishops of the church ; and as they cannot 
 lay claim to individual infallibility, even as judges in 
 faith and morals, this prerogative being promised to them 
 in their collective capacity only ; and that, consequently, 
 some of them might, through error or malice, become 
 dangerous or traitorous guides : the same eternal wisdom 
 has guarded us from being thus led astray, by the esta- 
 blishment of that centre of unity, the see of Peter. The 
 most humble among the faithful ascertain* whether hid 
 pastor be of that church founded by Christ, and guided by 
 the Holy Ghost, when he ascertains the simple fact of that 
 
 pastor being in communion with the chair of Peter. " 
 
 " He" (Christ,) " had foretold that heresies should 
 
 exist ; he had foreseen those countkss sects which w 
 to rise from age to age, tossed to and fro by every wind 
 of doctrine. Yet, nutter these circumstances, we will 
 find him insisting on one faith, as nee > salvation, 
 
 placing those who should refuse to hear hi* churcli, ou
 
 TfcE TRUE STATE 
 
 'level with the idolatrous heathen, and the remorseless 
 extortioner. Is it not evident, that in thus binding man 
 to one church, he bound himself to afford to man the 
 means of distinguishing that church, of ascertaining that 
 faith so essential to his everlasting repose ? And was this 
 to be effected, by leaving his written word as a subject of 
 controversy amongst men, without any tribunal to decide 
 between them, except the private, judgment of each 
 individual ?" 
 
 It speaks of the "success" of " the catholic church," 
 " in bearing to the most distant climes, the light of faith ; 
 whilst the efforts of sectarians, even when directed to this 
 end, are found fruitless. Fallen from that body in which 
 alone that germ of fruitfulness and life is to be found, the 
 curse of sterility is upon them. They can only impede 
 the dissemination of faith in that soil on which they lie 
 prostrate, and on which they must decay. "^ 
 
 " However powerful the enemies of the catholic church 
 were at that day,'* (the fourth century,) "for, my bre- 
 thren, it is not in modern times only, that our faith has 
 found its most bitter enemies in possession of great power, 
 yet the doctrines of Arius could rind no protection. The 
 apostolic ages were not yet sufficiently remote, to enable 
 him to raise up any doubts touching the divine institution 
 and pre-eminence of the episcopacy. He did not find it 
 easy to cast his leaven of disaffection and anarchy .among 
 the second order of the clergy in his country ; he might 
 have found many a titled protector to administer to his 
 ease, whilst he should employ himself in avenging on the 
 church his merited rejection from its highest dignity, if 
 his errors had not been too obvious to detection, in an 
 age when it was yet too early for tradition to be subjected 
 to cavils. The common belief of Christians was so opposed 
 to this error, that ecclesiastical history niibrds no instance 
 of its revival, until ten centuries after Arius, when it was 
 again introduced by Wickiifie.* Even then, it scarcely 
 
 * This upright and able man did, indeed, oppose the usurpations and tyranny of 
 bishops, in matters not belonging to them ; at wcil ;ts those ot the Rom:in see, o prr- 
 valenc in his time, and related in die English abstra a of thi? Treatise. Query Is ih'n 
 disputing episcopacy ?
 
 QP THE QUESTION, 
 
 raised its feeble head. It was not, however, extinguished* 
 it was preserved in a neighbouring country, until, amidst 
 the other phenomena accompanying an attempt at reform- 
 ing an infallible church, it was called into open light by 
 Calvin. The history of the world, from that period, 
 exhibits its progress in maturity. We ourselves are Wit- 
 nesses to the most impious and monstrous effects resulting 
 from it. We have seen the ministry of heaven assumed 
 by the verjr outcasts of the earth ; the written word of 
 God tortured into the support of blasphemy against itself; 
 and when it might have seemed that human fatuity must 
 have been exhausted of its extravagancies, we have beheld 
 a climax to these horrors, in a nation calling itself the 
 most enlightened in the world. We have seen no small 
 portion of its inhabitants hanging from the lips of a 
 wretched and superannuated maniac,* proclaiming herself 
 pregnant of a second Messiah, who was approaching for 
 the purpose of completing that redemption which Christ 
 Ijad left imperfect, t 
 
 " My lords, when we behold such consequences flow- 
 ing from the principle to which I have been adverting, it 
 is not easy to divest ourselves of apprehension, at finding 
 any symptoms of a tendency to that error amongst catho- 
 lics." " You have seen meetings consisting of mere 
 
 laymen, assuming an authority which the church cannot 
 claim ; an authority to repeal an article of catholic faith. 
 Such an article has been formally disclaimed ; and a 
 spirit at once dastardly and presumptuous, has sent forth 
 to the world, as the result of repeated deliberations, the 
 disavowal of that tenet of our religion, which teaches u.s 
 that there is only one faith by which man is to seek 
 salvation. The catholic voice of Ireland has already 
 rebuked this act ; but the perturbed spirit to which 
 it owed its existence, remains. Driven from it first 
 lodgement, it returns with seven-fold activity andstrengtl . 
 
 Curioji* association in a sermon; the virtuout ai;4 learned John Wickhffc, vtf 
 Joanna Soiuhcott. Jt U a pity Mai tin Luther w-s omitted in the group. 
 
 f While the frantic aluurditic* of an unfortunate old finjalc iuiot, i 
 serving of notice, it may be r-as 
 sacrifice" which a* ncc offc;
 
 With the most whining professions of attachment to 
 the catholic doctrine and the prelacy, it actually pro- 
 ceeds usurping the exclusive rights of the episcopacy ; 
 fbr, iny lords, it has already become a matter of 
 serious discussion, whether a solemn decision of the 
 head of the church, on a question of spiritual concern, 
 itsent, though it should issue from that authority, and 
 be received by our bishops, shall not be resisted by our 
 laymen." 
 
 On the 22nd of March, in Limerick, and on the 25th, 
 itt Kerry, aggregate meetings resolved on " unqualified 
 emancipation." 
 
 On the 7th of April, an- aggregate meeting in Cork 
 passed resolutions, which are merely a repetition of the" 
 substance of former resolutions. Similar resolutions were 
 also passed in Galway, on the 7th of May. 
 
 On the 30th of May, the question was brought on in 
 the house of commons, by Sir Henry Pafnell. It would 
 be quite unnecessary to extract copiously from this debate. 
 It was truly observed, that the question had undergone 
 ample discussion before. Mr. Yorke observed : " It 
 was argued in favour of such concessions, that it was by 
 our catholic ancestors our constitution had been formed. 
 But it was with our pagan and Saxon ancestors that it had 
 originated." Serjeant Best said : " The catholics them- 
 selves had circulated all over the country a bill, the 
 contents of which were like saying- * Give us all, OF we 
 will take nothing.' " The motion for a committee was 
 rejected by a majority of eighty-one : there having been 
 for it, one hundred and forty-seven ; and against it, two 
 hundred and twenty-eight. In the house of lords, it was 
 rejected by a majority of twenty-six : contents, sixty; 
 iK>n-contents, eighty-six. 
 
 In the months of July and August, aggregate meet- 
 ings in Dublin, Clare, Limerick, Waterford, Kerry, 
 Tipperary, Cork, Kilkenny, and Queen's County, passed 
 resolutions, which require not insertion here, as they 
 are similar, in substance, to those before given. 
 
 On the 21st of August, the following resolutions were 
 passed by the " Catholic Association," in Dublin :
 
 Of TrfB QUESTION. 
 
 " That a committee of five be appointed to wait uporr 
 the most reverend and right reverend tlia catholic prelates 
 of Ireland, and to lay before them, in the most respectful 
 manner, the several resolutions entered into by the catholic 
 body, expressive of their hostility to any interference on 
 the part of the crown, or the servants of the crown, in 
 the nomination or appointment of the catholic bishops 
 of Ireland." 
 
 " That an aggregate meeting of the catholics of Ireland 
 be held in Dublin, on Tuesday the I 29th instant, to take 
 into consideration the measures most useful, under the 
 pressure of circumstances, towards obtaining unqualified 
 emancipation." 
 
 " That this association do adjourn until to-morrow, at 
 nine o'clock precisely, and that all the members in town 
 be summoned to attend." 
 
 On the 2(2nd, the adjourned meeting passed resolutions, 
 appointing five members, to inquire from their prelates, 
 the particulars of the communication from Home j also, 
 whether there be a catholic church recognised at Rome 
 as existing in Ireland ; or if Ireland be considered! in 
 any, and in what respect, a missionary country. One 
 of the resolutions was, to meet every day throughout 
 the week. 
 
 The answers to the inquiries from the deputation were: 
 " The catholic hierarchy in Ireland certainly existed 
 unbroken, and in full possession of its ecclesiastical and 
 spiritual rights, powers and authority ; and those rights 
 were recognised and admitted at Home. But Ireland 
 was in some respect a missionary country also, not as 
 qualifying or diminishing the rights of her bishops, biit r 
 on the contrary, of giving them additional powers "that 
 is, Ireland had several privileges of a mission ; for 
 instance, the privilege of ordaining secular .priesU, ^ 
 lititfa missionis,' without requiring any qualification of 
 patrimony or property. In short, the hierarchy^ was 
 complete 1 ' and recognised, though, by reason of the 
 persecution it had sustained, it was _ also privileged in 
 many respects, as if it weiv a mere mission," 
 
 The ne'it proceeding was us follows :
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 "At a meeting of the Roman catholic prelates of 'Ireland, 
 held in Dublin, on the ^3d and ^ith of August, 181J, 
 the following resolutions were unanimously agreed to." 
 
 " THE MOST REV. DOCTOR o'KELLY, PRESIDENT." 
 
 "That it is our decided and conscientious conviction, 
 that any power granted to the crown of Great Britain, 
 of interfering, directly or indirectly, in the appointment 
 of bishops for the Roman catholic church in Ireland, must 
 essentially injure, and may eventually subvert, the- Roman 
 catholic religion in this country." 
 
 "That with this conviction, deeply and unalterably 
 impressed on our minds, we should consider ourselves as 
 betraying the dearest interests of. that portion of the' 
 church which the Holy Ghost has confided to our care ; 
 did we not declare most unequivocally, that we wrtl, at. 
 all times, and under all circumstances, deprecate and 
 oppose, in every canonical and constitutional way, any 
 such interference." 
 
 " That though we sincerely venerate the sovereign 
 pontiff, as visible head of the church, we do not conceive 
 that our apprehensions for the safety of the Roman 
 catholic church in Ireland, can, or ought to be removed, 
 by any determination of his holiness,* adopted, or intended 
 to be adopted, not only without our concurrence, but in 
 direct opposition to our repeated resolutions, and the 
 very energetic memorial presented on our behalf,' and so 
 ably supported by our deputy, the most Rev. Doctor 
 Murray, who, in that quality, was more competent to 
 inform his holiness of the real state of the Roman catholic 
 church in Ireland, than any other with whom he is said 
 to have consulted." 
 
 "That declaration of these our sentiments, respe'ctful, 
 firm, and decided, be transmitted to the holy see, which 
 we trust, will engage his holiness to feel and acknowledge 
 the justness and propriety of this our determination." 
 
 " That our most grateful thanks are due, and are 
 hereby given, to the most Rev. Doctor Murray, and the 
 
 * The reader will bear in recollection, that in their pastoral afidress in 1813, they 
 stated their " supreme pa^or's concurrence, upon catholic -. > be indispensably
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 Right Rev.Dr. Milner, our late deputies to Rome, for their 
 zealous and able discharge of the trust reposed in them." 
 
 "OLIVER KI.LLV, " 
 
 " Richard O'Riclly, p. Ryan, Ferns. 
 
 J. T. Troy, ('hark* Tiohij, Limerick. 
 
 P. Ererard, Coadjr. Cashd. G, Plunkctt, Elphin. 
 
 D. Murray, Coadjr. Dublin. John Murphy, Cork. 
 
 1\ J. Plunkett, Meat/i. P.. V Mulkn, Doxiu ^Connor. 
 
 W.Copmger,Ckyne8Ros$. Kyran Mannn, Ossory. 
 
 T.Costello, Clonftrt. Peter M'LoughUn, Raphoe. 
 
 C. Sughrue, Kerry. James Murphy, CY.^7 
 
 John Power, U'atcrford. Ednwml Dcrry, Droawre. 
 
 Charles 0' Donncll, Dcrry. Michael Corcoran, (Elect,} 
 John O'Flynn Adionry. Kildare $ Lei/tlifi. 
 
 Peter Waldron, Killala. J.Magaiiran,(e1ect}Ardali. 
 Jas.O'Shaug/iriessy,Killaloe. Edmund Fjremli, U'ardcn 
 Farrell O'Riclly, Kilmore." 
 
 This document wa^ succeeded on the ^Dth, by the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 " At a meeting of the conference of the city district of 
 the diocese of Cork, held at the vestry room of the 
 North parish chapel, '29th of August, 181.3." 
 
 " Resolved, that \ve receive with respect and gratit , 
 the resolutions of our venerated prelates, condeun 
 every species of government interference in the noininatjplb 
 of catholic bishops for Ireland; by which they lu\c 
 evinced their pastoral solicitsule for the welfare of their 
 flocks, their zeal for the maintenance of our faith, anil 
 have calmed the tears of the inhabitants of this land, 
 whose apprehensions had been excited by the mi<chie\ 
 intrigues of the enemies of our rei 1 mir coimi 
 
 " That we recognise, in our bishops, the wort 
 eessprs of those prclat .y, in the midst of bi
 
 persecution, have proved the purity of their principles by 
 iheir constancy ; and who have, through many struggles, 
 transmitted to us the sacred deposit of the faith, deco- 
 rated with their apostolic virtues ; and who, unawed by 
 power, and unseducecl by blandishment, have preserved 
 the rights of our national church, with the integrity of our 
 hierarchy, and thus enables us to exhibit, at this day, to 
 the world, the singular and glorious spectacle of an unin- 
 terrupted line of bishops, preserved under unparalleled 
 calamities, throughout a series of nearly fourteen hundred 
 years." 
 
 " That should circumstances demand from us the 
 sacrifice even of our lives, we pledge ourselves to our 
 prelates, that we will adhere to them with fidelity, under 
 persecution, as our predecessors have adhered to theirs, 
 dnd that whilst they are engaged in the defence of our 
 canonical and constitutional rights, whether they be 
 assailed from abroad or at home, they shall always find 
 us zealously co-operating with them, in that spirit of 
 Obedience which emanates alike from duty and respect." 
 
 " That these resolutions be published in the Cork 
 Mercantile Chronicle, and in the Dublin Chronicle." 
 
 Signed by 37 Priests. 
 
 Various otlier meetings of priests, in Dublin, and other 
 places, passed resolutions, in substance similar to these. 
 
 On the 29th of August, the aggregate meeting, fixed 
 by the " Association," assembled in Dublin. Of the 
 resolutions passed, there is but one which I think neces- 
 sary to insert, as the rest are repetition of the substance 
 of former resolutions. 
 
 7tb..,." That a deputation, consisting of Sir Thomas 
 Esmond, Baronet, and Owen O'Conor, Esq. with the 
 Rev. Mr. Hayes, as their secretary, be requested to 
 present to his holiness the pope, a remonstrance, on the 
 part of the catholic laity, stating our entire concurrence 
 with our venerable and revered prelates, in perpetual 
 and unremitting opposition to any measure which would, 
 directly or indirectly, authorize the crown, or the ser.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 42$ 
 
 vants of the crown, to interfere with the appoint, 
 ment of our bishopsand praying his holiness, not to 
 countenance, directly or indirectly, the plane of the 
 bitter and unrelenting enemies of our religion." 
 The succeeding resolution appoints the individuals 
 composing the catholic association to prepare sucli 
 remonstrance. 
 
 This remonstrance was subsequently published, entitled, 
 " Address and remonstrance of the Roman catholics of 
 Ireland, to his holiness Pope Pius the seventh, resolved 
 upon at their aggregate meeting, held in the city of 
 Dublin, August^), 1815. Sir Thomas Esmond, baronet, 
 iu the chair." 
 
 It is signed, J THOMAS E8MOND ' "'""*- 
 
 ( KDWARD HAT, SECRETARY. 
 
 And underneath these signatures, is 
 
 " I certify that the above address and remonstrance was 
 framed by the- association of the Roman catholics of Ire- 
 land, pursuant to the directions of the aggregate meeting, 
 held on Tuesday the 29th day of August hist." 
 
 "NICHOLAS MAIION, CHAIRXAX OF THE ASKOCUTION" 
 "Dublin, Sept. 10, 1815." 
 
 
 
 From this remonstrance, I select the following passages c 
 *' We deem it unnecessary, most holy father), to remind 
 the sovereign pontiff of our church, of our peculiar claims 
 to his protection and support; for we cannot, fo* a moment, 
 imagine, that your holiness is unmindful of tht)' constancy 
 and devotion manifested towards the holy see, by the 
 Roman catholics of Ireland, in clesmto of the most san- 
 guinary and unrelenting perse cutiou that ever aggrieved 
 a Christian people." 
 
 " We cannot, however, abstain from reminding our 
 most holy father, that although the persecution which we 
 and our ancestors endured, was notoriously anil avowedly 
 inrlictcd ujM)H us, on account of our adherence to, and 
 connexion with the lioJy see ; nevertheless, Hie Roman 
 catholics of Ireland never solicited the predecessors oi your 
 holiness, at any period of that jxnsecution, to alter iu the
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 slightest degree, that connexion, or make any modification 
 of the existing discipline of our holy church, to obtain 
 for the Roman catholics of Ireland, the repeal or mitiga- 
 tion of those laws which proscribed them." 
 
 They have heard, they say, that he has favoured a 
 measure, " which would enable a. protcstant government 
 to control the appointment of their prelates ; against 
 which the catholic voice of Ireland has protested, and ever 
 will protest with one accord." 
 
 They say, " Although .the penal laws have been con- 
 siderably relaxed) nevertheless the hostility to our holy 
 religion continues to exist in full force : and every artifice 
 is practised* and every inducement held out, to 'seduce 
 the Irish catholic from the practice and profession of his 
 religion. Rewards are given to every catholic clergyman 
 who apostatizes from his faith. Public schools and hospitals 
 are maintained at great expense, in which hostility to the 
 creed and character of Roman catholics, constitutes the 
 first principle of instruction. Commissioners are appointed, 
 to prevent catholic institutions receiving any benefit from 
 the donations of pious persons. Societies are established, 
 under the favour of our rulers, for proselyting the catholic 
 poor; at the same time that every effort of bribery and 
 corruption is exerted, to influence Roman catholic school- 
 masters to seduce the Roman catholic children intrusted 
 to their care, from an attachment to their creed. Every 
 member of the legislature, every minister of the govern- 
 ment, every judge of the land, every superior naval, 
 military* or civil officer, and almost every individual in 
 official station, is. obliged to swear, and has actually sworn 
 in the following words :" [here follows the declaration 
 against transubstantiatioi;,] 
 
 " It is to persons who have taken these offensive oaths 
 of hostility to our holy religion, that we are now required, 
 most holy father, to confide the selection and appointment 
 of the prelates of our church ; and thus the efforts of 
 persecution having been found unsuccessful, it is now 
 sought to accomplish, by intrigue, the destruction of that 
 church whose pre-eminent perfection has excited the 
 jealousy am] the 1 wired of our religious opponents.'*
 
 Ol- THE QUESTION. 
 
 I'licy state, that tlic first consequence of this measure 
 would be, ."-a general indignant revolt against the framers 
 or favourers of the detested system, without regard 'to 
 rank or station." 
 
 They state, that " they look up to their prelates and 
 priests, not merely as spiritual guides, but also, us con- 
 fidential friends and faithful advisers. The trials of 
 persecution created a system of mutual affection and 
 support, which enabled them to bear up against the severity 
 of sanguinary laws. These mutual services are not for- 
 gotten the sentiments which they generated remain 
 unchanged and, therefore, \ve inner can consent, that 
 our pure and pious hierarchy should be contaminated by 
 such a connexion as must endanger thoir just influence, 
 and render them objects of dislike and distrust among 
 their faithful flocks." 
 
 On the kh of September, an aggregate meeting in Cork 
 echoed concurrence in the deputation to Rome. 
 
 The following document is so applicable to the general 
 nature of my subject, that I think it necessary to insert it. 
 
 " At a special general meeting of the committee of the 
 Protestant Society for the protection of religious liberty, 
 held in London, i^lst of November, to consider the 
 situation of the persecuted protestants in France; the 
 following resolutions were passed:" 
 
 1st..." That this committee, which includes several mem- 
 bers of the national church, and who represent many 
 hundred congregations of prolotant dissenters and of 
 friends to religious liberty of all denominations, through- 
 out Kngland and Wales, have been taught by their 
 forefathers, and ever will continue to regard the rights 
 of every man, in even age, and every country, t<> 
 worship God according to bis conscience, as an invio- 
 lable, sacred, and unalicnable right, whu li no individual, 
 or government, or legislature, can, without injustice and 
 oppression, directly or indirectly infri. 
 
 Cud..." That although this commiftee be principally ap- 
 pointed to protect the religious freedom of their fellow
 
 43S THE TRUE STATE 
 
 Qjuntrymen in their native land ; yet, they should be 
 undeserving of the name of Britons, of protestants, of 
 Christians, and even of men, if their philanthropy was not 
 as extensive as the world if they did not sympathize 
 with all who suffer for conscience sake- if they did not 
 regard persecution by any sect, with alarm and abr 
 hojrrence-p-rand if they did not endeavour to effect its ex* 
 tinction, by the exertion of every energy which they 
 possess." 
 
 3d*,." That at this period, when instruction is so exten- 
 sively diffused when liberal principles are so generally 
 proJfessed-^-wlien the most solemn treaties and the most 
 powerful monarehs have recognised the rights of con- 
 science and when nations of every Christian denomi- 
 nation have united in resistance to oppression, and for 
 the' restoration of permanent peace and prosperity to 
 Europe and to the world this committee did hope that 
 perfect religious liberty would have been regarded a* 
 an hallowed plant and that all nations would have 
 participated in the beneficial fruits which that liberty 
 must produce." 
 
 4th.. "That even if this committee could have apprehended 
 that persecution would have revived, they could not 
 have expected that revival, and especially the revival 
 of a persecution of protestants, under princes, whose 
 obvious interests demand conciliation whose prede* 
 cessors had devastated their own countries by former 
 persecutions some of whose charters had declared, 
 'that all religions should be protected by the Jaw, and 
 that all men, of all religious professions, should be 
 eligible to the offices of state' and whose restoration 
 and continued authority have been chiefly effected and 
 upheld by protestant liberality, protestant perseverance, 
 protestant valour, and protestant support !" 
 
 5th..." That the committee have therefore learned, with 
 astonishment and deep regret, that at Nismes, and 
 other places in the south of France, a systematic 
 persecution of protestants has existed, since the res- 
 toration of the present monarch to the throne of that 
 country : that their property has been seized or des-
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 443 
 
 troyed that many persons, interesting for their youth 
 and sex, or respectable tor tlieir industry, their loyalty, 
 llieir virtue, and their piety, have boon assassinated 
 that an aged, venerable, and excellent minister of 
 religion has been put to death and all the enormities 
 which superstition, interest, and cruelty, have effected 
 in former ages, have there been re-performed : and that 
 they have learned, with augmented sorrow, that these 
 barbarities yet continue to be perpetrated, as they have 
 not been suppressed with that promptitude and firm- 
 ness, which wisdom, gratitude, benevolence, and 
 Christianity, indispensably require." 
 
 ftth..." That against deeds, so full of horror, this com- 
 mittee must publicly protest ; and they assure the 
 unhappy surviving sufferers, by such conduct, that 
 they commiserate their destiny ; and that, if such 
 assistance should be unfortunately necessary, they 
 will endeavour, in this country, to provide for them 
 an asylum, to mitigate their sorrows, and to supplv 
 relief.'" 
 
 7th..." That altlwnigh the committee are not insensible to 
 the principles which, under ordinary circumstances, 
 might restrain the government of this country from 
 direct interference, on this subject, with the govern- 
 ment of France, yet they cannot forget that in former, 
 and even in less enlightened times, such interposition 
 has repeatedly and usefully occurred, under our best 
 princes and al/iost statesmen ; that such persecution^ 
 are inconsistent with general peace, and violate those 
 universal rights which all nations are bound to protect ; 
 and that this committee, who know the liberal princi- 
 ples of their own government, and who have repeatedly 
 .\\perienced their attention and their aid, will humbly, 
 but earnestly entreat them to remonstrate against the 
 evils which they announce, and to exert their influence 
 to prevent the' continuance of .1 system which they 
 cannot but deprecate and abhor." 
 
 8th. .."That these resolutions be respectfully communi- 
 cated by the secretaries to the principal membe 
 administration ; and that they be inserted in the daih 
 
 ',' E
 
 434f THE TRUE STATE 
 
 papers, and periodical publications, and be circulated 
 
 throughout Europe, as farther circumstances may 
 
 require." 
 
 The latter end of November, \Villiam Baker, Esq. of 
 Lismacue, Caher, whose statement of murders and out- 
 rages in Tipperary, I have given in 1814, was himself 
 murdered, with circumstances of savage cruelty. The 
 cause of this respectable and upright magistrate's assassi- 
 nation, the reader cannot fail to discern in the statement, 
 page 415 of this treatise, which indicates his honourable 
 and manly line of conduct, but which was sufficient to 
 seal his death warrant, by the barbarians. 
 
 I have considered it necessary to particularize this 
 crying deed, as well as those shnilar deeds, which its 
 amiable and lamented victim stated, in December, 1814, 
 with reference to their obvious link of concatenation, in 
 moral depravity, and systematic villany. But it is not 
 thence to be inferred, by those unacquainted with Ireland, 
 that these can constitute the thousandth part of the black 
 catalogue of .crimes ; for, as I have already observed, 
 page 406, this would entirely transcend my limits. 
 Among the murdered, are many tithe proctors ; whose 
 murderers, in jest, as well as defiance, of divine and 
 human laws, have been termed " Kill-proctors." 
 
 Beside the murders, and other shocking cruelties 
 inflicted, and a very general robbery of fire-arms, through- 
 out every part of the country, not well protected by the 
 royal army, an immense quantity of the property of 
 protestants, in specie, and otherwise, has been systema- 
 tically plundered and destroyed j which may help to 
 account for the assertion so current in political circles, 
 " that the property of the country has got into new hands." 
 This position, though, in a general sense, directly con- 
 trary to the truth, would, however, be likely to have 
 been realized in the end, it' the " industrious" efforts of 
 the " illumiuati" were not to have experienced re-action, 
 now sufficiently manifest to the blind and the deaf, or at 
 least those who have been wilfully so. 
 
 Before I quit this part of the subject, I think it neces- 
 sary to notice another branch of the system. Such, of the
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 poorer farmers, or cottagers, of the Romish persuasion, 
 as have had too much prudence, and, I trust, too much 
 virtue, to join 'in the infamous schemes of the banditti, 
 have been visited by night, and plundered of sums, 
 though small, great to them ; and have received from 
 the "patriots" the ridiculous consolation for their indigent 
 families, that such plunder was for "the cause .'" 
 
 I have now to furnish some extracts from a late publi- 
 cation in Cork, of which the title page is : 
 
 " A Sketch of Irish History, compile.! by \vav of ques- 
 tion and answer, for the use of schools." 
 
 " Cork : printed by J. Geary, at the Stanhope-press 
 Printing-office, King's-arms, Exchange 181.5." 
 
 One of the answers contains the following atrocious 
 libel: "Nicholas Sheehy, parish priest of Clogheen, in 
 the county of Tipperary, was selected as a h't object for 
 their wicked, though ultimately ineffectual purpose, of 
 implicating the catholic religion, the pope, the French, 
 arkd the Pretender, in the tumultuary outrages of tl 
 desperadoes, (Whiteboys.) Three hundred pounds were 
 set on his head. He was tried and acquitted. His ene- 
 mies being determined on his destruction, indicted him 
 for the murder of a man, named iJridge, * whose dead 
 body,' s;i\s O'Leary, 'could not be found in Ireland, 
 but whose living body was discovered in Newfoundland, 
 whither he was privii'clv sent.' l ; or this imaginarv 
 crime, he was tried and condemned, in Clonmel, to be 
 hanged and quartered, which senteiK .ccordingly 
 
 executed in 1^ 
 
 " Q. What were the principles of the Orangemen ?" 
 
 " J. They ailected to unite in support of tin :u- 
 
 tion, as established by King William, at the revolution of 
 1()S8 ; and their original object and obligation are stated 
 1o have been, the extermination of the catholics < f 
 Ireland, as far as in them lay. This oath of ex;ermi- 
 nation they afterwards changed into that of support 
 the king, as long as he should support the protistaitt 
 ascendancy." 
 
 " Q. Was not this society composed principal 1 ; 
 Roman catholics ?"
 
 4-36 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 11 A. No. Their partial emancipation in l?9-% caused 
 them to be generally satisfied for some time, and but 
 few of them joined the association, until some years 
 after." 
 
 Another of the answers asserts : " Seven thousand 
 individuals were exterminated by these wretches, (Orange- 
 men,) in the county of Armagh alone, whose only crime, 
 as Lord Gosford asserted, * was the simple profession of 
 the Roman catholic faith." 
 
 " Q. How did government act on this occasion ?" 
 
 " A. It protected the associated perpetrators of these 
 horrors, anxiously propagated their principles throughout 
 the realm, and promoted the formation of new lodges, for 
 the express purpose of keeping up distinctions in title 
 people, inflaming religious discord, and turning the public 
 mind from the pursuit of constitutional objects." 
 
 "Q. What was the result of this rebellion?" (1?9S.) 
 
 "A. It deprived his majesty of seventy thousand most 
 useful subjects, whom wiser counsels would have preserved 
 to fight the battles of the British, empire against its most 
 potent enemy, and it laid the foundation for the legislative 
 union." 
 
 " Q. Was this a popish rebellion ?" 
 
 " A. The original founders, the chief promoters, and 
 the conductors of the rebellious union were all protestants, 
 (except Esmond, M'Xevin, and some few others,) but 
 the great mass of the unfortunate and wretched peasants, 
 who had been seduced or goaded into insurgency, \vere 
 undoubtedly mostly Roman catholics." 
 
 " Q. Were not the threats of a French invasion indus- 
 riously kept afloat at this period, in order to decry the 
 loyalty of -the Irish?" 
 
 " A. Yes; and ministry thus justified the expense 
 of their public measures of defence, and affected to 
 sanction the necessity of internal coercion. Many per- 
 sons were taken into custody, under the suspension of 
 the Habeas Corpus act, and the rigorous treatment of 
 state prisoners, who had been for several months in 
 confinement, was sharpened, without any visible or known 
 cause."
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 4.37 
 
 ' Q. Did not the resolutions of several country meet- 
 ings of catholics, with reference to their total emancipation 
 hold a language of confidence and assurance which was as 
 new as it was offensive to the castle?" 
 
 "A. Yes; but nothing so alarmed government, as the 
 rising harmony and concert of the protestants with their 
 catholic countrymen." 
 
 " Q. Was not the catholic petition presented in due 
 form to the imperial parliament in 1SUS ?" 
 
 "A. It was; and at that time was brought about the 
 the discussion of the Veto, which threw the public mind 
 into universal agitation." 
 
 " Q. Did not this attempt to intermeddle with a national 
 religion, preserved with a virtuous hierarchy, without any 
 civil establishment or state interference, through centuries 
 of oppression and persecution, produce alarm in every 
 reflecting mind ?" 
 
 * : A. Yes ; the laity abhorred the idea of the ministers 
 of their religion becoming open to court influence and 
 intrigue, and shuddered at the prospect of prostituting 
 the sacred function of the apostolic mission and jurisdic- 
 tion, to which they had hitherto submitted, as of divine 
 institution, to its revilers, persecutors, and sworn enemies." 
 
 "Q. How did the catholic prelates act on this occasion?" 
 
 The answer to this question contains synodical pro- 
 ceedings which I have already given. 
 
 " Q. Did not many and unequivocal proofs, bespeak 
 the determination of the Richmond administration to rivet 
 catholic Ireland with degradation and despondency ?" 
 
 " //. Yes ; a fostering countenance was particularly 
 given to the Orangemen, that tended rather to foment and 
 encourage, than to put down or punish their at.ror; 
 
 " (). Did not Orange ferocity sensibly incivaM* in the 
 year ISO})?'* 
 
 " //. It did. The native leaders t the Orange aocfUtei 
 rendered their at that period so additionally ; 
 
 cious, that some of the- less blood thirsty withdiv 
 names, who nevertheless adhered to the general principle* 
 of their institution, that is, to a prescriptive and implacable 
 hatred fto catholicity."
 
 438 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 " Q. Was not the king incapacitated from attending to 
 business, towards the close of the year 1810 ?" 
 
 " A. Yes ; it pleased the Almighty to revisit his majer>f y 
 -with a return of the illness which has suspended his exer- 
 cise of the executive authority since that period." 
 
 Any comment on this publication would be superfluous. 
 After the full exposition which I have given in this work, 
 it would be absurd to defend the jurisprudence and 
 government of the country, against the contemptible 
 incendiary, whoever he be, that has discharged from his 
 polluted heart, this malignant, but impotent venom. 
 
 Before I finish my historical sketch, it is indispensably 
 necessary, that I notice a subject, which has been not onlv 
 urged, latterly, as a tenable pretence for rebellion, but 
 Avhich h,as, through the long period of the present reign, 
 agitated Ireland: I mean tithes. On this subject, the 
 people have been deceived, by those who, from designing 
 or interested motives, wished to deceive them. In 
 advocating tithes, I shall confine myself to paramount 
 authorities, without losing time in noticing any speculative 
 arguments on the subject. 
 
 First, tithes are jure divino; and, secondly, they are 
 an inalienable species of property, which can no more be 
 transferred from the right owners, than any other specie* 
 of property in his majesty's dominions. 
 
 That they are jure diti/w, I have selected the following 
 proofs : 
 
 GENESIS, 14. ch. 18, 19, 20 verses Melchisedek, the 
 priest of the most high God, blessed Abram. And he 
 (Abram) gave him tithes of all. 28 ch. 22 v. Of ajl that, 
 tliou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto ther. 
 LEVITICUS, 27 ch. SO v.-r All the tithe of the land, 
 whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the 
 tree, is the Lord's : it is holy unto the Lord. 32 v. 
 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the fiock, 
 oven of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall 
 be holy unto the Lord. 
 
 NUMBERS, 18 ch. 21, 24 v. Tithes of the children of 
 Vrael, given the children of Levi, for an inheritance for 
 liieir service.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 CHRONICLES, 31 ch. 5 v. Of all the increase of the 
 field, and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly. 
 NEHEMIAH, 13 ch. 12. v. AH Jndali brought the tithe 
 of the corn, and the new wine, and the oiJ. 
 
 MALACHI, 3 ch. 8 v. Will a man rob God ? yet yq 
 have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed 
 thee ? In tithes and offerings. 10 v. Bring ye all the 
 tithes. 
 
 ST. MATTHEW, 23 ch. '23 v. Woe unto you Scribes and 
 Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, 
 and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters 
 of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith : these ought ye 
 to have done, and not to leave theother undone. 
 
 I. CORINTHIANS, 9 ch. 11 ver. If we have sown unto 
 you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap 
 your carnal things. 13th and 1-tth Verses, Do \e not 
 know, that they which minister about holy things, live of 
 the things of the temple? and they which wait at the 
 altar, are partakers with the altar ? Even so hath the 
 Lord ordained, that they which preach the gospel should 
 live of the gospel. 
 
 GALATIANS, (j ch. 6 ver. Let him that is taught in the 
 word, communicate unto him that tcacheth in u-11 good 
 things. 
 
 HEBREWS, 7 chap. 5th and 6'th verses. They that are 
 of the sons of Levi, who receive the oiiice of the priest- 
 hood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people 
 according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though 
 they come out of the loins of Abraham. But lie whose 
 descent is not counted from them, received tithes of 
 Abraham, and blessed him that had the pionn 
 
 Of tithes, as a legal tenure, and an inalienable spcn , 
 of property, Sir Edward (.' tes, that the fir>i Ki 
 
 of the realm had all the lands of England in deiue 
 and lea grands maihiur.^ and t 
 
 to the..:- :i!id with ti ed tht 
 
 barons of the real in, for the defence thereof, with .suck 
 jurisdiction as the crown baron now hath. And, at this 
 time, when ail the lands of England wero the kin 
 demesne, Ethelwoif, th/j second nrjiKuch of
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 race, after the heptarchy, conferred the tithes of all the 
 kingdom upon the church, by his royal charter, which is 
 extant in Abbot Ingulf, and in Matthew, of Westminster. 
 All the lands in the kingdom, thus charged with the 
 perpetual payment of tithes to the clergy, as a rent- 
 charge thereon, before any part thereof was demised to 
 others, came with this incumbrance to the lords and 
 gentlemen of the realm, and have been so transmitted 
 down to the present proprietors. The purchase money 
 must have been higher, and the rents to tenants larger, if 
 the lands had not been thus charged. No landholder, 
 therefore, has a right to any part of the tithe. He can 
 no more legally withhold it, jure Jntmano, and by the 
 nature of his contract, than he can, in a moral sense, 
 without having to answer for " robbing God." In either 
 sense, human or divine, there is no other term can be 
 applied to keeping back tithe, but robbery 1 For the 
 clergy hold by the double tenure, (the highest of all 
 others,) jure divinoj and jure human o, which I have 
 sufficiently proved. 
 
 I have now drawn to a close, the summary of the 
 English and Irish histories; which, I trust, I have exe- 
 cuted with fidelity, accuracy, and conciseness. I have" 
 concentrated every material event, in both, applicable to 
 the subject in question. It remains, only, to draw such 
 inferences as flow from the premises. As I have inter- 
 spersed the summary with occasional observations, such 
 as, in their respective places, appeared to me to be not. 
 only suitable, but imperiously called lor by the particular 
 parts of the subject ; I can compress such inferences into 
 the more brief compass ; and can thence be enabled to 
 arrive the sooner and the easier at the required conclusion. 
 Particular recapitulation, as the treatise itself combines 
 "historical recapitulation of every thing connected with 
 the point in question, would be but useless protraction. 
 I shall, therefore, elicit my arguments briefly and gene- 
 rally from the whole. 
 
 First, it is proved, by the clearest demonstration, that 
 a temporal dominion a kingdom that was of this world 
 Sowed from, and was the inseparable concomitant of, the
 
 OF THE QUESTION, 
 
 ecclesiastical jurisdiction ; or, as it lias been termed 
 " the authority of the church." Thus, the first and most 
 essential principle of religion, lias been overthrown by the 
 very -x stem, which the ignorant and bigoted people were 
 taught to believe to be religion itself: and these countries 
 have exhibited the mortifying spectacle ot'the most super- 
 cilious pride and arrogance, the most disgusting hypoci i 
 and the most unrelenting cruelty ; together with the utmost 
 thirst of riches and power, gratified with the most immense 
 possession of both ; on the one hand ; in the conduct of 
 men towards their fellow men : and, on the other, the most 
 degrading abasement, servility, ami bowing clown of such 
 men, created after the image of God, to presumptuous 
 fellow mortals. Thus, the civil rights of men, in society, 
 have been infringed and destroyed, under the pretence 
 of religion ; while, in reality, religion is the parent of 
 free-will, or liberty, from its very nature, and as affecting 
 us in a future state of existence, according to our use 
 of that free-will. 
 
 Secondly, it is demonstrated, that this hierarchy, with 
 the bishop of Rome at its head, under the appellation, 
 "pope," which has falsely and presumptuously denorni* 
 uated itself "the catholic church," sprung up long after 
 the true catholic church of Christ and his apostles that it 
 differs from it, and stands manifestly opposed to it. 
 
 Thirdly, it is demonstrated, that this Homan hierarchy 
 is the individual establishment which has, in all these 
 recounted ages of the Christian a i ra, since its fabrication, 
 usurped both the spiritual and temporal dominion, over 
 the minds and bodies of men, described in these pages : 
 the individual power which has not only circumscribed 
 "the liberty with which Christ has made Us five," and 
 which he will make us answerable that we "use as not 
 abusing;" but that has also destroyed the civil right!;, 
 liberties, properties, and lives of ti.e most considerable 
 part of the human 
 
 These inductions, from premi >nd the power of 
 
 cavil, are, I apprehend, sufficient and conclusive ; and 1 
 should think it an insult to the undemanding* of that part 
 of my readers, whose approbation of this work I am the most
 
 442 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 anxious to obtain, were I to attempt to add to their force 
 by using any other. I hasten then to the next part of the 
 inquiry how far we can separate the men professing the 
 Romish religion from the religion itself? This, I am 
 ready to grant, wherever it can be done, we are bound 
 in charity to do. But charity and weakness of judgment 
 are two very different things. Perhaps, of all other human 
 concerns, the principle of charity, in the admis&ibility 
 of Romanists to offices of state of power of trust of a 
 protestant government, would least assimilate with reason. 
 As far as the amount of the privileges which have been 
 granted, up to 1793 inclusive, perhaps charity and liberality- 
 required the grant. If there be an exception among these 
 privileges, the eligibility of granting which was doubtful, 
 that exception was certainly the elective franchise. But, as 
 matters now are, nought remains but a question of power : 
 and it behoves all who are not exactly interested in " the 
 cause of catholicity," whether they be individuals intrusted 
 in any of the departments of government, or not, to consi- 
 der well, how power can be granted to them. I wish to be 
 clearly understood : I mean, granted with propriety and 
 safety; for the physical possibility I will not dispute; as 
 many tilings are, abstractedly, possible, which are very im- 
 probable, and would be very improper. But it has been the 
 device of modern ingenuity, in aid of "the cause/' to repre- 
 sent as officious and presumptuous any individual?, uncon- 
 nected with the state by either parliamentary or official ties, 
 who have ventured to oppose this cause ; or have dared to 
 express disapproval of " unqualified emancipation :" and 
 against their characters, interests, and peace, malice and 
 calumny have directed their darkest shafts, with the un- 
 ceasing industry of "hatred immortal and unrelenting :" 
 while those who are "friends to the cause," and support 
 it bv seditious speeches, are affected to be considered as 
 neither officious nor presumptuous; but honest! virtuous 1 
 
 eloquent ! talented ! patriotic ! Xor do those intrusted 
 
 with the important and onerous concerns of government, 
 escape their share of the foul-mouthed slander neither. 
 " Envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness," 
 with unmitigated perseverance, continue to pursue, to
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 oppress, to stigmatize them, for their most constitutional 
 and conscientious measures, for the conservation of the 
 constitution of tlie empire ; and by the propagation of the 
 most artful falsehoods, and the most ba.e and slanderous 
 revilings of the individuals intrusted with the powers of 
 the government, endeavour to brin<r into contempt, and 
 to subvert, the constitution of the jrovernmeut itself. 
 " But," as St. Peter declares, "the Lord knowe.th how 
 to deliver tlve godly out of temptations, and to reserve 
 the unjust unto the day of judgment, to be punished; 
 but chiefly them that walk after the flesh, in the lust of 
 unclennness, and despise government. Presumptuous 
 ure they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of 
 dignities." Now, in direct contradiction to the shameful 
 prevarications, the false positions, and the hypocritical 
 pretences of agitators and incendiaries, the express intent 
 of this treatise is to prove, that the presumption lie.? 
 with themselves ! and that it is equally the concern of 
 protestants who are not in office, nor likely, nor desirous, 
 to be in office, as it is of the individuals themselves filling 
 offices, being protestants, that the pride and presumption 
 of these agitators should not be gratified. This I have 
 undertaken to prove, first, by true historical preni.i 
 and next, by consecutive and inevitable conclusions. 
 History developcs fully, not the doubtful, undetermined 
 probability, but the actually ascertained re.sitll of Komish 
 jurisdiction. Whether, then, the massive, and, thank 
 God, as yet, invulnerable gates of the British consti- 
 tution, shall be forced from their ponderous hinges, ' to 
 grate harsh thunder," and to make room again for such 
 detested tyrannv .-* Whether our surest bulwark--, i 
 to, anil under, the almighty providence of (i.nl, shall be 
 lenoved? Whether our true and tried fences shall be 
 levelled; our experienced protection, on: -.tillable 
 
 possession, our dearest birth-right, the Biitish ron 
 tution, surrendered? are now tl .;ian! questions lor 
 
 the solution of the mill. hey really may be termed, 
 
 of the protestaut* of the liiiti>h empire, and which it h:is 
 been deemed oilicious and presumptuous in them to 
 meddle with. 1 repeat, the IJritUh constitution: far,
 
 444 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 grant the insolent claims which are termed " unqualified 
 emancipation," and a vestige of that constitution will no 
 longer exist. This is unquestionable, and requires no far- 
 ther proof than the description of the settlement of 1688, 
 given in this treatise, which regenerated that constitution, 
 and restored the body politic to its pristine health, which 
 had been debilitated by the Romish usurpation, and all 
 its concomitant evils of priestcraft and despotism. 
 
 But, it will be demanded, is every Romanist involved 
 in these conclusions ?T I answer, I hope, and believe 
 not. But it will be recollected, that Romish theologians 
 will not allow those who profess moderation, to be " com- 
 petent expounders" of " catholic doctrine ;" nor will 
 Romish leaders, in executive, civil, and political affairs, 
 allow them to be capable of deciding in this department. 
 To what, then, could the inquiry amount ? Romanists, 
 of this description, instead of convincing or reforming 
 the " catholic church," would be severely punished for 
 their own " schismatical" efforts. It is true, under an 
 " a-catholic government," they have protection from the 
 consequences which would inevitably ensue, under a 
 "true," "orthodox," "catholic" government; under 
 which, they must take especial care how they meddled 
 with either " catholic doctrine," or " discipline." I 
 would beg leave here, to remind this interesting, respect- 
 able, and, 1 hope, far irom inconsiderable class of society, 
 of the remarkable declaration of Doctor M'Nevin : 
 "For my part, I would as soon establish the Mahometan 
 as the popish religion, though I am myself a Roman 
 catholic." But, however this matter be, it is of no 
 importance. The particular opinion of any individual of 
 the Romish persuasion, unauthorized by the "authority 
 of the church," has no more to do with the general ques- 
 tion, than the particular opinion of any person, who 
 may please to call himself a protestant, would have, 
 whether in or out of office, who may take it into his head, 
 that he may compliment away the inestimable birth-right 
 of the protestant millions of the British empire, their 
 laws, rights, liberties, religion, properties, and lives, "for 
 H mess of pottage" for himself.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 415 
 
 But I shall place this matter beyond question or argu- 
 ment, by recounting some of the decrees of Council*, 
 the paramount authority with Romanists, which are 
 particularly applicable to this point. 
 
 In 1^1.5, the fourth council of Lateran decreed : 
 " Heretics of every kind against the true orthodox faith, 
 shall be condemned ; and if they shall not prove their 
 innocence by a proper purgation, they shall be excom- 
 municated, and their effects shall be confiscated. All 
 secular powers shall be compelled, by ecclesiastical cen- 
 sures, to take an oath, to extirpate within their respective 
 territories, such of their subjects as shall be condemned, 
 ns heretics, by the church. But if any temporal prince 
 shall refuse to purge his territories of heretical pravity, 
 when required to do so by the metropolitan, and his 
 suffragan bishops, let him be excommunicated ; and if 
 he shall not make full satisfaction in one year, let it be 
 notified to the sovereign pout ill', that he may absolve his 
 subjects from their oaihs of allegiance, and transfer hi* 
 territories to any other catholics, who may enjoy them 
 without contradiction, provided they exterminate all 
 heretics in them, and preserve the purity of the catholic 
 faith." 
 
 " All catholic*, who shall take up arms for the purpose 
 of extirpating such heretics, shall enjoy the same indul- 
 gence, and the like holy privilege, with those who visited 
 the Holy Land." 
 
 " When any temporal lord or people denied the supre- 
 macy of the pope, their subjects were to be absolved from 
 their oath of allegiance, and other princes were com- 
 manded to conquer their territories, and reign in their 
 Head/' 
 
 This same council, and the council of Constance also, 
 in 111*, both decreed : ' That no faith is to be kepi 
 with heretics." 
 
 Of the religious observance of this principle, the 
 council of Constance gave an example on the spot, 
 prevent the possibility of "competent expound 
 "true members" of 'the "catholic church," mi-t:t 
 the point, either in principle or practice, in the case yt
 
 446 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 John Hu.ss, and Jerome, of Prague, \\lio were 'burned 
 alive, notwithstanding a safe conduct which had been 
 granted to them, to and from the council, bv the emperor, 
 to propound their doubts and objections. Of the crime 
 for which they suffered, /Eneas Sylvius, denominated 
 Pius the second, bishop of Home, gives the following 
 account, in his history of Bohemia : 
 
 " The deputies of the council having admonished the 
 parties accused, to forsake their errors, and conform to 
 the church's sentiments, they made answer, that ' they 
 were indeed lovers of the holy gospel, and true disciples 
 of Christ ; that the church of Rome, and all the other 
 churches in the world, were far gone from the apostolical 
 traditions; that the clergy ran alter pleasures and riches; 
 that they lorded it over the people, affected the highest 
 seats at entertainments, and bred horses and dogs; that the 
 revenues of the church, which belonged to the poor mem- 
 bers of Christ, were consumed in vanity and wantonness ; 
 that the priests were ignorant of the commandments of God, 
 or if they did know them, they lightly regarded them/ ' 
 
 " The fathers of the council," continues the historian, 
 " perceiving and knowing the invincible obstinacy of 
 these people, judged that the corrupted members of the 
 church, that were incurable, ought to be cut off, lest 
 they should infect the rest of the body. Accordingly, 
 sentence was passed upon them ; all the fathers unani- 
 mouslyagreeing, that persons who rejected sound doctrine, 
 approved of by the church, deserved to be burned." 
 
 This curious specimen of faith in, and worship of, that 
 all-merciful, just, and omniscient Being, whom the scrip- 
 tures declare to be " Love," affords a double proof. 
 These men were not only burned alive, for their accord- 
 ance with the infallible decisions of revealed religion, 
 which secures to them the ample compensation, and 
 eternal reward of such conformity, but they were so 
 burned, in defiance of the safe conduct on which they 
 had depended for protection. But, in this, it must he 
 confessed, " the fathers" were but consistent with their 
 own decision, that " all oaths to" heretics were null and 
 void, as tending to the prejudice of the church."
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 44-7 
 
 In the city of Sienna, in 1 i -J, a council passed severe 
 decrees against the Wickliffites ami Hussites. The tem- 
 poral princes were enjoined to drive them out of their 
 dominions; and the same indulgences that v. ned 
 
 by those who went in person to the Holy Land, were 
 granted to all who should inform against any heretic 
 whatsoever, or deliver him into the hands of the inqui- 
 sitors. It was also ordained, that the decree, granting 
 these indulgences, should he read yearly to the people, 
 with an audible voice, on the first and fourth Sundays in 
 Lent, and on the festivals of the nativity and the resurrec- 
 tion of our Lord, to the end none might be ignorant of it. 
 
 A council at Toledo, in Spain, 1173, decreed : " If 
 a temporal prince shall neglect to purge his territories of 
 heretical pravity, notice must be given to the pope, that he 
 may, thenceforth, pronounce his subjects discharged of 
 their oaths of allegiance, and give his dominions to 
 catholics." 
 
 The decrees of the council of Trent, 154o to 1 
 confirmed the decrees of these councils. 
 
 To these expressive documents, I subjoin an extract 
 from the oath of Romish bishops, to the bishop of Rome : 
 
 " The rights, privileges, and authority of the holy 
 Roman church, and of our Lord the pope, and his* suc- 
 cessors, I will be direful to preserve, defend, enlarge, 
 and promote/' 
 
 "All heretics, schismatics, ami rebels against our >aid 
 lord and his sn- -, I will, to the utmost of my po\\ 
 
 persecute and impugn." 
 
 It is true, indeed, that in the yr.-r 17!>1, the Irish titular 
 bishops applied to the bishop of Rome, who consented to 
 expunge from this oath, the words " hareticos pcrxc^uar 
 ct impugnabo*" JJut the policy of l his, with a view to the 
 privilege* subsequently granted, is obvious. 
 
 I have to add, too," that ever) priest, when he gets a 
 parish, swears obedience to the see of Home, and t th.* 
 decrees of general councils, and anathematizes all herein s 
 whom the church had anathematized. 
 
 Thus is demonstrated t he essential spirit, which lr 
 operated so dreadful I v in the kingdoms of this world, ot
 
 THE TRUE" STATE 
 
 what has been, by the most absurd solecism, termed 
 
 FAITH! and the proof of its operation is of the fullest 
 
 and highest nature; the continued experience of all the 
 successive ages of bloodshed, cruelty, and slavery, which 
 have passed since Christianity was perverted from its 
 legitimate and primitive institution. 
 
 The important, the vital question, then, lies before us : 
 whether the DEMAND to be invested with POWER, by persons 
 professing this form of fiiith, shall be granted ? that is, 
 whether the British constitution, connected in church 
 and state, " fundamentally protestant," and ascertained, 
 for the long and happy period since the revolution, as the 
 preservative of protestantism and of liberty ; for which 
 purpose it was then so formed, in its regenerated 
 state, by men who had experienced, as well as their 
 predecessors for ages back, the tremendous evils arising 
 from the want of liberty, and the establishment of popery 
 whether this constitution shall be abrogated? Whether, 
 on the one hand, our religious freedom, our Christian 
 liberty to preserve " the true religion established among 
 us ;" and on the other, not only our civil rights, liberties, 
 and properties, but even our existence, shall be all all 
 surrendered, so as that " nothing shall survive but the 
 memory of the MISCHIEFS 1" 
 
 It must be acknowledged, that this demand of power, 
 on the part of the claimants, particularly those of them 
 who are " competent expounders," or " true members '' 
 of the " catholic faith," is quite characteristic : but it 
 would not be equally consistent, on the part of protestants, 
 to surrender the only earthly security for every thing 
 valuable to them, particularly, under the help of God, 
 with the power of retaining it. The language of menace 
 has indeed been resorted to. We have been repeatedly 
 told, that " the catholic claims cannot be resisted ;" and 
 yet they have been, repeatedly, and continue to be, 
 resisted. These menaces have been intended to operate 
 on the ignorant and timid among protestants, while others 
 have been artfully worked on by the grand master-key, 
 their interest. The menaces are really beneath notice, 
 and Calculated to produce, in better informed minds.
 
 OF Trifi QUESTION. 4 lf 
 
 nothing but contempt, for the disgusting exhibitions of 
 the savage minds indicated by the speeches of the orators, 
 if their power did but equal their zcai ; and for th" ridi- 
 culous affectation of a power, which, it is obvious, they 
 would abuse, if they had it. The irresistible property 
 which has been absurdly attributed to the " catholic 
 claims," when properly examined, will be found to h 
 no existence. When brought to the test of reason, of 
 revelation, or of history, not the smallest sanction is 
 discoverable ; nay, nor of civil liberty neither ; for civil 
 liberty, equally as common sense, abhors recognition of a 
 sect which affects to consider itself dominant. "When 
 considered with reference to numbers, and, by impli- 
 cation, consequently, to force, (if such had not 1> 
 even plainly hinted, in some of the applauded speeches,) 
 what proportion does their number bear to the protestant 
 population of England, Scotland, and whatever may be 
 their proportion in Ireland ? If, indeed, the talented 
 chapel orators were able to effect their point, of "restoring 
 Ireland to her rank among the nations/* why, it must be 
 granted, that the irresistible property may be better 
 comprehended. But the matter cannot assume this 
 shape to the eye of reason. Stubborn and uncompro- 
 mising truth will still, unfortunately, oppose its uncouth 
 intrusions, and rough obstacles, to the mellifluous intona- 
 tions of "eloquence," the bright flashes of "illumination," 
 the resplendent irradiations of "talents," the prog; 
 sive advances of "liberality," and the holy "cause of 
 catholicity." The comparative preponderance of the 
 protestants, generally, in the whole United Empire, (the 
 true aspect i:i which to view the matter,) is greater, in 
 the proportional estimate, than the comparatively local 
 preponderance of Romanists in Ireland. The Romanists 
 are not four fifths of the people of Ireland ; whereas, the 
 protestants are four-fifths of the empire at larire. Of 
 what avail, then, would force be ? and are not the orators 
 sufficiently sensible of this? The act of three millions 
 directing 'force against twelve millions, backed with the 
 powers of government, and the fleets and armies ot 
 England, in which arj innumerable heroes, fully equcl
 
 450 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 to those who fought, and conquered their liberties before, 
 when the other party was stronger than it is now, would 
 be similar to the act of a maniac, directing the missil 
 against his own breast. The navy of England, alone, 
 protestant, with a very trifling exception, would, in a 
 question of force, be more than sufficient to reduce 
 Ireland to ashes, or prevent any design to effect separa- 
 tion into "rank among the nations," or connexion with 
 a foreign power. 
 
 This argument of numbers, and another of services, 
 constitute what have been chiefly relied on, in " the 
 cause of catholicity." The services in the army and 
 navy, for which, I must take the liberty of reminding 
 the orators, Romanists are paid, in common with protest- 
 ant soldiers and sailors, and into which their motive for 
 entering, is to obtain bread, constitute neither title to, 
 nor fitness for, the situations of generals or admirals, 
 much less of ministers of state, privy counsellors, mem- 
 bers of parliament, and judges of the land. 
 
 But there is another matter to which I am now arrived, 
 conclusive of the fate of " catholic claims," and with 
 which I will conclude this treatise ; a matter which, if 
 all other motives, of self preservation, defence, security, 
 expediency, deducible from history, could be totally 
 laid aside, and all utterly forgotten, is, of itself, fatal 
 to these claims, and reduces the demand of offices of 
 trust to the most whimsical absurdity. The Roman- 
 ists will not take the oath of supremacy. They look, 
 then, for offices under a government, the supremacy 
 of which they do not acknowledge. But striking as 
 is this absurdity, as applicable to the offices sought for, 
 there is a consistency in their conduct, touching the 
 person whose supremacy they do hold ; namely, the 
 bishop of Rome ; whose " authority," doubtless, they 
 would wish to " enlarge and promote," which they 
 could better effect by being in offices, than by remaining 
 out of them. 
 
 This maintenance of the supremacy of a foreign power, 
 while the lawful and constituted supremacy of the state is 
 disallowed, renders the supposition truly ridiculous, that
 
 F THE QUESTION. 451 
 
 offices of sUjte cz*n ever be granted to persons who thus 
 conscientiously think and act ; or, what is in effect 
 the same thing, the eligibility to fill them. The ineli- 
 gibility, as I before observed, proceeds from themsch 
 Those who will not submit to the qualifications which 
 the constitution, of a government prescribes to, ami 
 requires from, those admitted to otficv> of trust under 
 it, cannot reasonably, no more than they can con^tilnti- 
 onally or legally, demur to that decision which exclude* 
 them. It was appositely observed by the great L 
 Chatham, that "parliament had no more right to alter 
 the oatli of supremacy, than to repeal the Great Charier, 
 or the Bill of Rights!" 
 
 But I shall here prove, that there is no pretence, which 
 could be safely avowed, for refusing the oatli of supre- 
 macy, even if offices of trust were out of the question ; 
 for, as to an oih'ce, a man has the alternative, if the 
 condition were even hard, which is not the case, of 
 remaining content without it. 
 
 In one of the articles of religion, in the beginning of 
 Queen Elizabeth's reign, and afterwards, in an act of 
 parliament, the supremacy is set forlh as a civil power 
 merely. By these, it was declared, that "this gave her 
 not the ministry of God's word, or of the sacraments j 
 but only that prerogative wi: ; < !i \ .; by God him- 
 
 self, in the .scriptures, to godly princes that they should 
 rule all committed to their charge by God, whether they 
 be ecclesiastical or temporal ; and restrain, with the civil 
 sword, the stubborn and evil doers." 
 
 :, then, th.- supremacy is not a spiritual authority; 
 or, in other \vorii.-i, it assumes not the power of compelling 
 nt to dogmas, whether true or false. In the king, 
 whom the constitution invests with it, it is no usurpation; 
 Mine, who take- the hints of their arguments from the 
 lather of lies, have insinuated: for the constitution does 
 no more than had been already done by the highest 
 authorities in the sacred script u us St. Paul, >i. Peter, 
 and our Blessed Lord and Saviour himself. Sr. I';i i .. 
 " Let every soul be subjeci. unto the higher powers, for 
 theie is no power Jmt of God. The powers thut be, arc
 
 452 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 ordained of God." ST. PETER. " Submit yourselves to 
 every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake ; whether it 
 be to the king, as supreme, or unto governors, as unto 
 them that are sent by him, for the punishment of evil 
 doers, and for the praise of them that do well." Our 
 SAVIOUR." Render unto Caesar the things which are 
 
 Caesar's." Besides, in the protestant church, Jesus 
 
 Christ is the supreme spiritual head the " chief corner 
 stone" the " rock /" and " other foundation can no 
 man lay." In vain, then, is all Jesuitical quibbling, and 
 "paltering with us in a double sense ;" for, in neither 
 way, spiritual or temporal, can power which is not of 
 God, be supported. The spiritual power of the bishop 
 of Rome melts into " thin air :" and, I defy the utmost 
 efforts of malignant subtilty, to point out one expression 
 in the oath of supremacy, which assumes to vest the king 
 with this. On the contrary, it does not mention the 
 king's name at all. Power, ecclesiastical, or spiritual, is 
 only mentioned for the purpose of abjuring the usurped 
 double authority of the bishop of Rome, blasphemous in 
 the spiritual sense, illegal and subversive in the temporal, 
 and, in the combined sense, monstrous, unspeakable, 
 and astonishing that it should ever have been submitted 
 to ! The words impious, heretical, and damnable, are 
 applied, in this oath, to the doctrine of deposing and 
 killing kings, by the authority of the see of Rome ; and 
 what can be more impious, heretical, and damnable, than 
 
 rebellion and murder ? St. Paul says, in the verse 
 
 immediately succeeding that which I have quoted 
 " Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth 
 the ordinance of God : and they that resist, shall receive 
 to themselves damnation." This may be allowed to 
 authorize the expression, damnable ; and, impious and 
 heretical any doctrine must be, which involves crimes of 
 lesser magnitude than rebellion and murder. What is 
 impiety ? Deviation from virtue or rectitude. The Lord 
 of Light and Life says " If ye love me, keep my com- 
 mandments." " If you will enter into life, keep the 
 commandments." What is heresy ? -Any doctrine which 
 contradicts religion, as revealed in the sacred scriptures.
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 Again, that part of the king's title " Of the united 
 churches of England, Scotland, and Ireland, on earth 
 the supreme head," is but an appendage. " Defender of 
 the faith," is also an appendage, which had been con- 
 ferred by the bishop of Rome on Henry the eighth, lor. 
 a book he had written in defence of the Romish religion, 
 and which has been since continued. 1 believe few, 
 either protestants or Romanists, will contend, that th^ 
 contains much meaning, in a spiritual sense ; though, in 
 a temporal sense, our present upright monarch gave us, 
 in the year 1807, a noble proof of defence of that faith, 
 which, at his coronation, he was sworn to maintain. So, 
 with the title of supreme head. Spiritually, I have 
 shewn, that it is not assumed by the king. In this part 
 of the title, indeed, supreme head of the church is men- 
 tioned ; but it is mentioned, on earth: and the title so 
 worded, is just and indisputable. What is a visible church:' 
 A congregation of mortals. Now, every individual, lav or 
 ecclesiastic, is to be subject to the higher powers. The 
 king is supreme. " The church is in the state, and not 
 the state in the church," as Optatus Milevitanus well 
 expresses; else why the direction, as to earthly concerns 
 " Render unto Caesar the things which are Cesar's ?" 
 Ecclesiastics are not to rule over kings, but kings over 
 ecclesiastics. The authorized kingdom of ecclesiastics 
 " is not of this world !" This is the substance and amount 
 of the title " supreme head of the church on earth." 
 
 To this exposition, I think it necessary to add, that 
 pursuant to an act of parliament, at the settlement of the 
 L'nion, the king, in council, settled the royal title in the 
 following words : " George the third, by the grace of 
 God, of the United Kingdom of (heat Jiritain and 
 Ireland, king, defender of the faith." This places the 
 matter bevond cavil, however unsupported by ivuM>n any 
 cavil could have been, at any time before ; except, indeed, 
 in the reign of Henry the eighth ; to the events ofwl; 
 reign, I have adverted in their proper place. 
 
 Having thus attempted to describe what the supremacy 
 is not, as to spirituals, I shall next attempt to describe 
 what it is, as to temporals.
 
 TftE TRUE STATIC 
 
 It is, in the eye of the constitution, and in the eye of 
 the law, as it is in the eye of reason, and in that of reve- 
 lation, an inseparable and essential part of the royal 
 authority j to separate the integral parts of which, without 
 dissolving the whole, would be impossible. Of this 
 authority, sovereignty, or supremacy, which the consti- 
 tution lodges in the executive, to deny or oppose any 
 part, is, therefore, denial of, and opposition to, the 
 whole. The crime which is constituted by committing 
 such overt acts, I shall forbear hero to mention. It is 
 sufficient that the law pronounces it. 
 
 But I cannot dismiss this concluding part of a subject, 
 which, by the gracious permission of Divine Providence, 
 I have been enabled to compass, amid many avocations 
 and interruptions, without briefly noticing a matter which 
 has been already noticed by others j among the rest, by a 
 venerable and estimable character, in his judicial capa- 
 city, distinguished for his virtues, real talents, and manly 
 candour and spirit. This is the supposed connexion 
 between the speeches of the orators, and the midnight 
 deeds of the " collecting columns/' But let me not be 
 misunderstood. I do not mean a legal connexion in 
 crime. It is, perhaps, fortunate in a double sense ; first, 
 for the credit and vindication of the protecting laws of 
 our constitution, which stentorian voices have decried ; 
 and next, for the safety of the " talented orators" them- 
 selves, that these laws do not recognise constructive 
 robbery or constructive murder ! any more than they do 
 constructive treason. A man must be either specifically a 
 principal, or accessary to a particular act, to constitute 
 crime. Thus stands the matter as to its legal grounds ; 
 and it so stands very consistently with the piinciples 
 uhich ought to regulate all human laws, and tribunals, 
 and which do regulate ours ; for it \vould be very hard, 
 if one man were to be accountable for the act of another, 
 with which there is no proof that he has had any thing to 
 do, even though his orations should have contained some 
 unfortunately exciting expressions, (perhaps not so 
 intended,) which may have stimulated the wretched 
 perpetrator - r who, however, should have consulted the
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 X 
 
 internal monitor, and fled from the fascinating strains of 
 the charmer. As to the connexion, in a moral sense, 
 between strong speeches, and strong deeds, He " to 
 \vhom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from 
 whom no secrets are hid ;" who, in the words of Sir 
 Isaac Newton, " is all eye, all ear ;" and who cannot be 
 deceived by either " pretences or pnrp at l" is the great 
 and infallible judge. But never did relation between 
 cause and effect appear more conspicuous, in this world, 
 than that between the speeches and the deeds. How- 
 ever, appearances are sometimes fallacious. 
 
 But, to sum up the subject, neither deeds nor speeches 
 will ever effect, what is, by a solecism, termed " catholic 
 emancipation." The attempt is impracticable, to get 
 into offices of state, by men who will not comply with the 
 necessary qualifications prescribed by that state. These 
 qualifications are not peculiar, neither. " All protestants 
 admitted to offices of trust, or taking their seats in either 
 house of parliament, must take the oaths of allegiance, 
 supremacy, and abjuration, and make and subscribe the 
 declaration against transubstantiation. 
 
 Now, it is held, by " competent expounders," that 
 the oath of supremacy is incompatible with " the purity 
 of catholic faith and doctrine," and with " the integrity 
 of the catholic church ;" and that he who should take it, 
 would, in effect, be no longer one of its members. Tin; 
 truth of this can be readily granted. It is sufficiently 
 obvious. And this is the essential argument, which, 
 above all others, without the smallest fear of premature 
 or hasty decision, conducts me, directly and fully, to a 
 certain and safe arrival at my proposed end ; namely, an 
 explicit answer to the question with which this treatise 
 commences in the title page; the indisputable truth of 
 which answer, I proposed to myself, should be demon- 
 strated, from the general proofs contained in the body of 
 the treatise, and also from this particular proof which 
 they furnish against themselves* 
 
 Whence is it, that this oath, so unexceptionable, spi- 
 ritually, in the proper sense of the word, is cavilled at 't 
 The objection rests not on such conscientious and tenable
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 grounds as the society of friends, called quakers, offer ; 
 who will not take any oaths ; deduced from the precep.t, 
 " swear not at all :" and yet there have been fewer in- 
 stances of perjuries in courts of justice, in the affirmations 
 of quakers than in the oaths of .Romanists. I have never 
 heard of one instance in the case of this society. In the 
 case of Romanists, how numerous have been the instances 
 in Ireland? Of the character of some of these, the pro- 
 secution of the Rev. Mr. Griffith, a clergyman of the 
 church of Ireland, and a magistrate, affords a signal 
 instance ; for the particulars of which I must- refer such 
 of my readers as are not already in possession of them, to 
 the assizes reports in the Irish newspapers, a little time 
 back. The security of oaths, indeed, in some instances, 
 is very slender. He whose word cannot be depended on, 
 can, perhaps, afford but little additional security by his 
 oath. The doctrines of u dispensation," " absolution," 
 andthat " all oaths to heretics are null and void, as tending 
 to the prejudice of the church," are much against the 
 security of oaths from members of the Rornish church : 
 and, though there is not a doubt, but some Roman isls 
 are men of the strictest honour, and fully to be depended 
 on, either as to their words or oaths, these are men of 
 strong minds, unfettered by the trammels of priestcraft. 
 Romanists, however, have no such objection to oaths, 
 generally, as that of the society of friends. They are 
 .sufficiently free in their use of them : and, among the rest, 
 they boast that they take the oath of allegiance, though 
 they will not take the oath of supremacy. They take the 
 oath of allegiance, indeed, to qualify themselves for voting 
 at elections. And how are their votes usually disposed 
 of? Are they conscientiously given to true and tried 
 friends of the British constitution ; to which I dt-fy all tlu* 
 casuists of the schools to maintain, that there is not an 
 implied obligation in the very nature of the oath of alle- 
 giance, and the freeholder's oath? IT we believe theni- 
 selvejs they are. But experience has demonstrated, lhat 
 this is not the case. If, indeed, for ihe British constitution, 
 we read "the cause," this restores the sense; and ail is 
 right, without the necessity of absolution. Ln Queen 

 
 OF THE QUESTION. 457 
 
 Elizabeth's time, Sixtus the fifth sent the Romanists, in 
 England, a dispensation from the rigorous observance 
 of a bull, which his predecessor, Pius the fifth, had issued 
 against her. They were allowed, by this dispensation, to 
 APPEAR obedient and respectful to her, until their party 
 was strong enough to rise against her. 
 
 Farther, whence is it, that the supremacy itself the 
 fulness of sovereignty which the constitution* vests in the 
 king, is incompatible with " catholic doctrine ? " Religion, 
 properly so called, institutes it positively. 1 have proved 
 this from the authorities of our Saviour, St. Peter, and 
 St. Paul. Now, what can be the source of the " catholic 
 doctrine," which contradicts, at once, this species of 
 authority, and all the legal and constitutional temporal 
 
 authorities also? Has it been found iu the sacred 
 
 scriptures? O! perhaps tradition furnishes one! 
 
 Council*, too, have issued their decrees ; and " a heretic 
 
 is unworthy ami incapable of wearing a crown :" "let 
 
 him be excommunicated; and transfer his territories to 
 a catholic !" But our Saviour asks " Why do ye trans- 
 gress the commandments of God through your traditions?" 
 Again " In vain do they worship me, teaching, for 
 doctrines, the commandments of men : for laying aside 
 the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, 
 as the washing of pots and cups : and many other such 
 like things ye do. Making the word of God of none 
 effect through \our tradition." The Holy Spirit speaks 
 bv the prophet : "Bring no more vain oblations : incense 
 is an abomination unto me ; the new moons and sabbaths, 
 the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, 
 
 even the solemn meeting. Wash you, make you clean, 
 
 put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes j 
 cease to do evil ; learn to do well." 
 
 Again whence is it, that an objection to the cxerci>e 
 
 of the supremacy of the kin::r\M- O! it o\ CM throws 
 
 " the authority "of I he rhuich," rim! " the supivnncy of 
 the pope !" Why this is the very tiling intended by the 
 British constitution; as far as touches its own "tcrriton 
 which it will not permit to he "transferred to a catholic." 
 Out of its own territories, it assnmou not ought. It
 
 458 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 meddles not, in any sense, with the person of the bi.shop 
 of Rome ; nor with his authority, except to prevent its 
 usurping encroachments within British ground. But, I 
 crave pardon, Ireland is, forsooth, a "catholic country !" 
 with a regular hierarchy of its own : the " catholic 
 prelates" are, "your graces and your lordships; the 
 <* catholic vicars general," formidable authorities : the 
 protestant primate, plain Mr. Stewart, &c. &c. Neither 
 does the British constitution retaliate, nor aasume the 
 power to dispose of his (the bishop of Rome's) territories ; 
 as some of his own "true sons of the church" have done; 
 Buonaparte, for instance, who himself received the " im- 
 perial crown" from " his holiness ;" and who^e orthodoxy, 
 talents, and virtues have been so much admired in Ireland, 
 that some of the " faithful" have been victims of " san- 
 guinary and unrelenting persecution", in courts of justice; 
 \vhich have sent them on a voyage of discovery, to try if 
 they can find out their emperor, after having taken oaths 
 of allegiance to him. The British government has not 
 meddled with the Roman territory, except to protect it, 
 and the legitimate title and property of its pontiff, as a 
 temporal prince. 
 
 A few words remain, on securities, before I conclude. 
 Of these, as equivalents for the admission of Romanists 
 into parliament, and the offices of government, it has been 
 well observed, that "perhaps, the best security is to keep 
 them out." A great stress has been laid on the Veto. I 
 cannot discover the efficacy of this security, if security it 
 be. I cannot comprehend, how vesting the crovvu with 
 a negative, in the appointment of the individuals who 
 may be, from Romish priests, made Romish bishops, 
 would be better than matters now are, on this point. In 
 the present case, though these bishops are permitted to 
 exist, de facto, among their own communion, consistently 
 with the principles of toleration of their form of religious 
 worship, in their own chapels: yet, the constitution does 
 not, dejure, recognise them in tbeir episcopal functions. It 
 recognises but one bishop of Cork, for instance, namely, 
 the protestant bishop, established by law ; but one arch- 
 bishop of Dublin but one primate, &c. In the case
 
 or THE QUESTION. 459 
 
 of the Veto, the crown, the first estate of the constitution, 
 would be found recognising this species of anamolr, and 
 contradiction to the principles of the constitution a 
 Romish hierarchy ; and, consequently, the juridical 
 powers of its bishops ; dependant on the " authority" of 
 " their lord the pope;" which such bishops are sworn to 
 " promote and enlarge ;" and whose person the cardinals, 
 at Rome, adore, in the conclave, the same night they have 
 elected him. It would be found recognising the principles 
 of canonical obedience, which constitutes an essential 
 part of Romish faith, in the regular steps of subordination, 
 and blind submission ; as well of the Romish inhabitants 
 to their clergy, and of the clergy to their bishops, as of 
 those bishops to the Romish usurper on the rights and 
 b'bertics of nations, and the supremacy of their govern- 
 ments. Finally, it would be found recognising, as an 
 inevitable consequence^which must How from these recog- 
 nitions, the admission into the kingdom, in their official 
 and authoritative capacity, immediately derived from the 
 papal power, of Legates a lalere, nuncios, apostolical 
 vicvirs ! Now what could constitute the principle of 
 "" impcrium in imperio," improved, sanctioned, and recog- 
 nised, more essentially than these consequences, which 
 inevitably flow from the Veto.-' 1 know not, therefore, 
 how the Veto could be equally eligible with the state of 
 things now existing, putting the supposition of the grant 
 of * catholic claims" out of the question. But to call it 
 equiponderant with the admission of Romanists to the 
 parliament and government of the country, without the 
 oath of supremacy too, is, to my judgment, absurd. It 
 is equally necessary to the integrity of the constitution, 
 that tfte parliament, and the confidential advisers of tin- 
 crown, should be protest ant, :n it is that the crown itself 
 should "descend to the heirs of t!u> Princess Sophia, 
 being protestanN :" even although " the integrity of the 
 catholic church" should be left to take care of itself. 
 Besides, how could security hi- provided against the 
 intricacy of the l.ur.nn Ueaii : J If the \\to were even 
 granted to be an efli-. 0', in the case of the 
 
 Romish bishops, when raided by the absence of thif
 
 -460 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 negative, appearing sufficiently grateful and well affected, 
 how could tergiversation be provided against ? Before 
 Becket was raised to the archbishopric of Canterbury, he 
 was not alone merely loyal and faithful to Henry the 
 second, and, to all appearance, inviolably attached to 
 his interest and dignity, but he was even cringing and 
 subservient, and supposed to be entirely his creature, and 
 solely at his disposal. When Henry, induced thereby, 
 exerted his utmost influence, and succeeded in procuring 
 for him the archbishopric ; lo ! the scene was changed 
 Becket, emancipating himself from the royal authority, 
 and believing " the integrity of the catholic church," 
 that is, the authority of the Romish hierarchy, to be 
 paramount to it, rebelled against his benefactor and 
 sovereign, and lost sight, at once, of all sense of gratitude, 
 of the king's interest, dignity, and safety of every 
 principle of the British constitution, and of submission 
 to the divine laws, in the superior interests and duties to 
 which he was bound down by oath to the bishop of Home, 
 in his new calling. This is a case directly in point. It 
 cannot be asserted, that the difference of time constitutes 
 irrelevancy : for, it will be recollected, no length of time 
 can have any thing to do with what is " unchanged and 
 unchangeable.'* Besides, George the third is an "a-catholic 
 sovereign." The supposition, the r efore, cannot be very 
 violent, or very opposite to reason and analogy, that what 
 has happened, in things " unchanged and unchangeable," 
 may happen again. The reader will also recollect the 
 instance which 1 have laid before him, of tergiversation, 
 in our own time, in the resolutions of " catholic prelates," 
 on this very point of the Veto. A case has recently 
 occurred, too, of a protestant bishop, who directly owes his 
 high station to his majesty's bounty, having corresponded 
 publicly with, and attempted to justify the proceedings 
 ofj that very Romish convention, which the court of king's 
 bench had, by the solemn decision of all its judges, pro- 
 nounced to be illegal. Xo\v if this bishop felt no restraint, 
 civil or religious, here, how could it be reasonably assumed 
 that such could be expected from prelates, only sanc- 
 tioned indirectly, and holding hostile religions tenets ?
 
 OF THE QUESTION. 46l 
 
 The inquiry uo\v only remains, whether, if the oath 
 of supremacy would be taken by Romanists, it would 
 constitute a sufficient security for admission to offices, 
 and seats in parliament. Mr. Perceval, at one time, 
 expressed an opinion, in the house of commons, something 
 favouring this supposition j and Mr. Perceval was pos- 
 sessed of great literary, legal, and political acquirements; 
 and very capable of forming a sound judgment. It cer- 
 tainly would be a better security than the Veto, or any 
 other that has been started. It is a security which protes- 
 tants must give, and which they freely give. Mr.Percevai 
 put the case hypothetical ly, and did not assume as 
 probable, that the whole body of Romanists would take 
 the oath of supremacy, or that their hierarchy would 
 permit them : nor did he, probably, take into account 
 " the integrity of the catholic church ;" as this does not 
 constitute one of the duties of a servant of the crown ; 
 one of the most faithful of which he was. If any number 
 of individual Romanists would take this oath, it may, he 
 suggested, become mutter for consideration, whether 
 such Romanists may not be granted admissibility. 
 Doubtless, a step so bold and independent, would remove, 
 at least as to those who should take it, a veiv important 
 and formidable part of the objection to their admissibility. 
 Rut would it remove all ? Would there remain to con- 
 stitutional foresight, defence, precaution, nothing to fear? 
 Is any oath an ultimatum of this nature? The British 
 constitution has not so decided. And, as the " catholic 
 faith," including the doctrine relating to oaths, is " un- 
 changed and unchangeable," I see no new argument, 
 why this decision should be altered, amended, revised, 
 or abrogated. 
 
 By this enviable and envied form of government, the 
 sacramental test, to those holding offices, is prescribed : 
 and this essentially and substantially constitutes security^ 
 or else I have misapprehended both the real and etymo- 
 logical meaning of the \\ui\l, sr.cuun Y, and also the 
 nature of that constitution which lias provided it. " The 
 throne, the parliament, and the government of the 
 country, are fundamentally piotustant." There is no
 
 THE TRUE STATE 
 
 other SECURITY. He, therefore, who is ambitious of an 
 office of trust, or a seat in parliament, or, more appro- 
 priately, the eligibility to fill such, (for no man, protes- 
 tant or Romanist, can force himself into office,) must 
 emancipate himself; or remain content with every other 
 civil freedom and privilege, under our happy and free 
 constitution, and with the uninterrupted and free exercise 
 of his religious worship also, fullv secured to him by law. 
 Having thus, by the intermediate and regular steps, ar- 
 rived at my proposed conclusion ; the premised answer will 
 have been anticipated. I trust I shall be found to have 
 executed my task, to the conviction and satisfaction of my 
 readers : and I flatter myself, that he shall be considered 
 a much more "competent expounder" of " catholicity,*' 
 than of British law, or British polity, who shall dissent 
 from the answer, that ADMISSIBILITY OF ROMANISTS TO 
 THE HIGHER OFFICES OF THE STATE, is NOT COMPATIBLE 
 WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 1 
 
 THE END. 
 
 P.I wards fc Savage, Printers.
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 8, Lines 23 and 27 for " dangerous novelty" -/ " norelty." 
 Page 18, Lines 32 and 33 for " dangerous novelty" read- " novelty." 
 
 Page 18, Lines 33i &c. read thus and, by the Romish ecclesiastical 
 
 authorities, that the Romish is the only road to eternal life. 
 
 Page 1 8, Lines 35, &c. read thus and that " nothing but the memory 
 
 of the mischiefs which it has created shall survive." 
 
 Page 31, Line 6 -for himself read him. 
 
 Page 44, Line 8 -for confidence rca<l complaisance. 
 
 Page 175, Lines 2 and 3 for "dangerous novelty" read "novelty."