Lfs s 
 
 K^ r~> -
 
 TACK 
 
 A 
 LETTER 
 
 ADDRESSED TO , 
 
 SAMUEL WH1TRREAD, ESQ. M. P, 
 
 IN CONSEQUENCE OF 
 
 THE UNQUALIFIED APPROBATION 
 
 EXPRESSED BY HIM IN THE HOUSE OF COMMON^, 
 or 
 
 A/fl. LANCASTER'S SYSTEM OF EDUCATION, 
 
 &C. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 Price Two Shillings and Sixpence. 
 
 .OX CALIF. LIBRABY, LOS AMGELSS
 
 S. GOSKELV, Printer, Little Queen Street.
 
 L E JT T E R 
 
 ADDRESSED TO 
 
 SAMUEL JFHITBREAD, ESQ. M. P. 
 
 IN CONSEQUENCE OP 
 
 THE UNQUALIFIED APPROBATION 
 
 EXPRESSED BY HIM, 
 IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, 
 
 OF 
 
 MR. LANCASTER'S SYSTEM OF EDUCATION"; 
 THE RELIGIOUS PART OF WHICH 
 
 IS HERE SHEWN TO BE 
 
 INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE SAFETY 
 
 AND, IN ITS TENDENCY, 
 
 SUBVERSIVE OF CHRISTIANITY ITSELF. 
 
 INCLUDING ALSO 
 
 SOME CURSORY OBSERVATIONS ON THE CLAIMS OF THE IRISH ROMANISTS, 
 AS THEY AFFECT THE SAFETY OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH. 
 
 THE SECOND EDITION, 
 
 Corrected and enlarged. 
 
 BY JOHN BOWLES, ESQ. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HINTED FOR JOHN JOSEPH STOCKDALE, NO. 41, PALL MALI; 
 
 AND SOLD ALSO BY F. C. AND J. IUY1NGTONS, 
 
 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD. 
 
 1808.
 
 StacK 
 Annex 
 
 5 
 
 QXT7 
 
 &c. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 As the grand design of education is to 
 qualify youth for the stations which they are re- 
 spectively to occupy in after-life, it may justly he 
 considered as a most auspicious circumstance for 
 this country, that it is a prominent feature of the 
 plan which you lately presented to the House of 
 Commons for the amendment of the Poor Laws, to 
 make the education of the children of the lower 
 classes a national and a legislative ohject. For it 
 must be presumed, I hope, Sir, that in the pursuit of 
 this object, the Legislature will keep the true design 
 of education, as above described, constantly in 
 view, and endeavour to furnish the inferior orders 
 with such instruction, both in kind and degree, 
 and such only, as will be calculated to render them 
 useful members of society, in the humble rank 
 in which it has pleased Providence to place them. 
 B,ut in the speech by which you introduced your
 
 proposed measure to the notice of Parliament, 1 
 saw something which I cannot but consider as 
 affording just cause for alarm. In that speech 
 you are reported to have bestowed unqualified 
 praise on Mr. Lancaster's system of education, or, 
 to speak with more correctness, on that which 
 Mr. Lancaster borrowed, without any acknow- 
 ledgment of the obligation, from Dr. Bdl ; ancj 
 even to have expressed a hope that this system 
 will gradually be introduced into general practice. 
 The utility of the mechanical part of this system, 
 in affording most extraordinary facilities for in- 
 struction, no one is more disposed than myself 
 to admit ; though I must here be allowed to 
 observe, that its very excellence in that respect, 
 seems to impose the necessity of much caution, 
 Jest it should operate as a disqualification, rather 
 than a qualification, for the duties of the indus- 
 trious poor. But the religious part of the system, 
 which is almost the only part Mr. Lancaster has 
 not borrowed from Dr. Bell, I have long consi- 
 dered as liable to the most serious and weighty 
 objections ; and it is well known that persons of 
 distinguished eminence for their talents and useful- 
 ness view it in the same light. It is true, you 
 did not specifically advert to Mr. Lancaster's 
 system of education, as it regards religion ; but 
 as you applied the term bigotry to those persons 
 by whom it had been opposed, it must be pre- 
 sumed that you had in contemplation that part
 
 of it which relates to religious instruction, when 
 you bestowed unqualified approbation upon the 
 whole. I shall rejoice to find myself mistaken ; 
 but as the subject is indisputably of the highest 
 importance, it cannot be too seriously or delibe- 
 rately considered ; and I should pay yoii but a 
 very indifferent compliment, if I thought any 
 apology necessary for endeavouring by this ad- 
 dress to fix it upon your attention, and that of 
 the public, before you proceed farther in the great 
 measure in which you are engaged. In the dis- 
 cussion upon which I am about to enter, I have 
 only to request of those who may differ with me, 
 that my reasonings may not be encountered by 
 mere terms of reproach, as bigotry, prejudice, 
 fanaticism, and the like, but only by proof, 
 either that my principles and premises are erro- 
 neous, or that they do not authorize the conclu- 
 sions which I may deduce from them. 
 
 The avowed object of Mr. Lancaster's plan, as 
 it respects religion, is " the formation of a society 
 under whose patronage ALL the youth in these KING- 
 DOMS may be instructed to read their BIBLES ; and 
 to impress on their memories the knowledge of 
 those most essential parts which relate to the his- 
 tory and theory of Christianity*." The society 
 
 * See " Improvements in Education, as it respects the indus- 
 trious Classes of the Community; by Joseph Lancaster}'* 
 page 187. 
 
 B 2
 
 which he proposes to establish is to include all de- 
 nominations of professing Christians. " Let the 
 friends of youth," he says, "among every deno- 
 mination of Christians exalt the standard of educa- 
 tion." But a difficulty here naturally presents it- 
 self. As the different denominations of Christians 
 entertain very different opinions on religious 
 subjects, how can a society composed of all those 
 denominations agree in a plan of religious instruc- 
 tion ? Mr. Lancaster is fully aware of the diffi- 
 culty, and he thus meets it : " Let me add, that a 
 Society for this purpose should be established on 
 general Christian principles, and on them only. 
 Mankind are divided into sects, and individuals 
 think very differently on religious subjects, from 
 the purest motives : and that gracious common 
 Parent who loves all his children alike, beholds 
 with approbation every one who worships him in 
 sincerity. Yet it cannot be reasonably expected 
 that conscientious men should promote a religious 
 opinion directly contrary to their own. A Presby- 
 terian, Baptist, Quaker, or any other, cannot with 
 sincerity sacrifice his opinions to those of his ami- 
 able and Christian brethren in the establishment. 
 Neither can the last conscientiously unite entirely 
 in opinion with other denominations ; but the 
 grand basis of Christianity alone is broad enough 
 for the whole bulk of mankind to stand on, and 
 join hands as children of one family. This basis 
 is * Glory to God, and the increase of peace and
 
 'good will amongst men* *." In thus describing 
 the grand basis of Christianity, Mr. Lancaster mis- 
 takes the effect for the cause. Glory to God and 
 peace on earth ought certainly to result from Chris- 
 tianity, and they must result from it, if it be ge- 
 nuine. But they cannot with any propriety be called 
 its ground-work or "basis." It appears, however, 
 from the whole of the foregoing passage, that, 
 in order to unite all denominations of Chris- 
 tians, in a society for the education of youth, Mr. 
 L. proposes to refrain from promoting, by means 
 of such a society, any religious opinions which 
 are peculiar to any of those denominations, 
 or about which they differ, and to inculcate 
 those only in which they all agree. For he says, 
 "It cannot be reasonably expected that consci- 
 entious men should promote a religious opinion 
 directly contrary to their own." In another part 
 of his publication he says, " his object is to in- 
 struct youth in useful learning, in the leading and 
 uncontroverted principles of Christianity." And 
 he elsewhere most explicitly and most emphati- 
 cally lays it down as a kind of dogma, that "above 
 all things education ought not to be subservient to 
 the propagation of the peculiar tenets of any sect. 
 Beyond the number of that sect," he adds, " it 
 becomes undue influence, like the strong taking 
 advantage of the weak." By which I understand 
 him to mean, in reference to his own plan, that 
 
 * Page 184, Page a 5.
 
 although each sect, acting separately, may pro- 
 perly inculcate its own peculiar tenets, yet when 
 all sects unite in a society for the purpose of edu- 
 cation, they must act on what he calls " general 
 Christian principles," and propagate no opinions 
 which are peculiar to any sect, but only those which 
 are common to all. In page 11 of his Introduc- 
 tion, Mr. Lancaster says, " I long to see men who 
 profess Christianity, contend, not for creeds of 
 faith, or names, but in the practice of every hea- 
 venly virtue.'* 
 
 With Mr. Lancaster's religious opinions, or 
 " creeds of faith," I claim no right to meddle; but 
 I consider myself not only entitled, but bound to 
 say, that the system of religious instruction pro- 
 posed by him is highly objectionable, in a religious, 
 a moral, and a political view. It leads to conse- 
 quences of which, I should hope, Mr. Lancaster is 
 not aware, and which, if he were aware of them, 
 he would most earnestly deprecate. One of those 
 consequences is that his system, if universally 
 adopted, would tend, as far as such an effect is 
 capable of being produced, to the subversion of 
 Christianity itself. Strong as this assertion may 
 appear, I pledge myself to prove that it is well 
 founded. 
 
 It will appear upon examination that all systems 
 
 which in their nature and tendency are injurious 
 
 ft
 
 tosociety,have their foundation in error. This is the 
 case with that of Mr. Lancaster, which is evidently 
 built upon the supposition that the different deno- 
 minations of Christians differ only in the non-essen- 
 tials, but agree in the essentials of Christianity. 
 This supposition is the hasis of all his reasoning on 
 the subject now under consideration. It is clearly 
 implied in his general proposition, that c< the grand 
 basis of Christianity alone is broad enough for the 
 whole bulk of mankind to stand on ;" and it ap- 
 pears more distinctly when he proposes at once " to 
 instruct youth in the uncontroverted principles of 
 Christianity," and " to impress on their me- 
 mories the knowledge of those most essential 
 parts which relate to" its " history and the- 
 ory *." Indeed, one cannot willingly suppose, 
 that Mr. Lancaster would intentionally leave 
 youth uninstructed in what he deems to be the 
 essentials of Christianity. As therefore he pro- 
 poses, that his intended society shall consist of all 
 " sects," and as he argues that conscientious men 
 cannot be reasonably expected to inculcate opinions 
 contrary to their own, it must be presumed that he 
 considers the various denominations of Christians 
 as agreeing in essentials, and differing only in non- 
 ess&itials. But in truth the very reverse of this is 
 the case. The subjects upon which the various 
 denominations of Christians differ, involve the very 
 essentials of Christianity. They relate tj matte 
 
 * Page 187.
 
 of such high importance, that if all belief, and, 
 consequently, all instruction respecting them, were 
 excluded from a system of faith, that system could 
 not in any sense of the word be denominated Chris- 
 tianity. A single example may suffice to prove 
 the truth of this assertion. It is well known that 
 one of the principal differences which have agi- 
 tated the Christian world, relates to the blessed 
 Founder of our religion, respecting whose person, 
 character, and office, the most contradictory opi- 
 nions have been strenuously maintained. But as 
 Mr. Lancaster's proposed society is to consist of 
 all denominations of Christians, and as it cannot 
 be reasonably expected that " conscientious men 
 should promote a religious opinion directly con- 
 trary to their own," it necessarily follows, accord- 
 ing to such a scheme, that the Trinitarian doctrine 
 upon the subject in question is not to be inculcated, 
 because it is " directly contrary" to that maintained 
 by Socinians, and vice versa; and that, in relation 
 to a matter which is palpably and necessarily fun- 
 damental, in every possible system of Christianity, 
 youth are not to receive any information whatever. 
 But how can they justly be called Christians, if 
 they be uninformed whether the great Founder of 
 Christianity be a divine or a human person ? Nay, 
 how can they attend any place of Christian wor- 
 ship, if they be ignorant whether the Author of 
 their religion be an object of their adoration * ? 
 
 * The following texts of Scripture are conclusive to prove 
 that the religious worship or adoration (and consequently it
 
 9 
 
 In relation to this most important and interesting 
 subject, Mr. Lancaster, as I think, most scriptu- 
 rally says, " To the name of Jesus all must bow, 
 in mercy or in judgment *." But the youth to 
 be brought up by his society must not be taught 
 to bow to that name; for, strange as it may appear, 
 there is a sect of professing Christians who con- 
 sider such adoration as idolatry. Indeed, all know- 
 might be added the divinity) of our Lord Jesus Christ is a 
 scriptural doctrine : " Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and y* 
 perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. 
 Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." Psalm ii. 12. 
 " And it came to pass while he blessed them, he was parted 
 from them, and carried up into Heaven. And they worshipped 
 him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy." Luke, xxiv. 
 51, 52. " For the Father judgeth no man, but hath com- 
 mitted all judgment unto the Son : that all men should 
 honour the Son, (x.a9u$) even as they honour the Father, He 
 that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which 
 hath sent him." John, v. 22, 23. Let not your heart be 
 troubled : ye believe in God, believe also in me." John, xiv. 1. 
 " And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord 
 and my God." John, xx. 23. And they prayed, and 
 said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, 
 shew whether of these two thou hast chosen." Acts, i. 
 24. " And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voiee, 
 Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had 
 said this, he fell asleep." Acts, vii. 60. " For this thing I 
 besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And 
 he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee : for my 
 strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore 
 will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ 
 may rest upon me." 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9. 
 * Introduction, p. 1 1 . 
 
 C
 
 10 
 
 ledge and belief upon the essential and fundamen- 
 tal doctrine above alluded to, must, according to 
 his plan of education, be withheld from youth, in 
 order that Trinitarians and Socinians may unite in 
 a society for general education . 
 
 In like manner most of the essential doctrines 
 peculiar to Christianity, not even excepting that 
 which is the very corner-stone of our faith, the re- 
 demption of the world by the sufferings and death 
 of Christ, have occasioned differences of opinion 
 or belief, and excited controversy among professing 
 Christians ; and the ardour of the controversy has 
 generally been in proportion to the supposed im- 
 portance of the question in dispute. Upon all 
 such doctrines, however, youth must remain 
 totally uninstructed, if Mr. Lancaster's principle 
 be carried into effect. But when, in conformity 
 with that principle, he has excluded from his sys- 
 tem of religious education all instruction upon 
 subjects about which the various denominations of 
 Christians differ, he will find that he has excluded 
 Christianity itself: for the religion which will re- 
 main, when, in compliment to the numerous sects 
 of professing Christians, all the doctrines in which 
 they do not agree are kept back, will certainly not 
 be Christianity. It will indeed be scarcely any 
 thing else than DEISM. I cannot conceive that 
 any sect would, upon mature consideration, pro- 
 mote such a system of religious education. For 
 persons of all sects, whatever their peculiar tenets
 
 II 
 
 may be, consider it necessary to form some belief 
 on the subject of those tenets ; and unless they 
 were of opinion that salvation is confined to those 
 of their own persuasion, they would rather see 
 youth educated in a faith from which they differ, 
 than in no faith at all ; or, which with regard to 
 Christian belief is the same thing, a faith in which 
 all Christians agree. Thus it appears that the ef- 
 fect of Mr. Lancaster's system would be, to make 
 youth Deists rather than Christians ; and that what 
 he conceives to be the broad basis of Christianity, 
 is, in reality, so narrow, that no Christian, of 
 any sect or persuasion, can stand upon it. 
 
 If the mischievous effects of such a system were 
 confined to the season of youth, the objections to 
 it on the grounds above stated, would be insur- 
 mountable. For, with regard to great numbers, 
 youth is the only period of existence in this world, 
 and it is impossible to say that it will not be so in 
 any particular case. And who that is a Christian 
 can reconcile himself to the thought, that this pe- 
 riod should pass without any knowledge of the 
 fundamental doctrines of the Gospel without 
 any belief in those doctrines ? But the influence 
 of such a system upon those who are educated in 
 it, must, in after-life, be of the most pernicious 
 Vinci . The best that can be expected of such per- 
 sons is, that they will not " hold fast" any form of 
 doctrine that they will never be firm, or steady,
 
 12 
 
 or long consistent in any system of faith ; and that 
 through life they will be wavering and inconstant, 
 and " blown about by every wind of doctrine." 
 But the danger, nay, the probability is, that, after 
 many fluctuations, they will become sceptics, and, 
 perhaps, complete infidels. 
 
 That one error is often the parent of another, is 
 a truth which is remarkably verified in Mr. Lan- 
 caster's system. The fundamental error of that 
 system, which consists in supposing that the va- 
 rious sects of professing Christians agree in essen- 
 tials, and differ only in non-essentials, has led to a 
 conclusion no less erroneous, that the plan of reli- 
 gious education which Mr. Lancaster proposes to 
 &dopt, will tend to produce the moral effects of 
 Christianity. This is a position which he assumes, 
 and on which he reasons with as much confidence 
 as he could do if it were fully established. Thus, 
 after laying down his grand principle, that " above 
 all things education ought not to be subservient to 
 the propagation of the peculiar tenets of any sect," 
 he says, " Yet a reverence for the sacred name of 
 God, and the Scriptures of truth ; a detestation of 
 vice ; a love of veracity ; a due attention to du- 
 ties to parents, relations, and to society ; careful- 
 ness to avoid bad company ; civility without flat- 
 tery ; and a peac'eable demeanour; may be inculcated 
 in every seminary for youth, without violating the 
 sanctuary of private religious opinion in any
 
 mind *." He proceeds, " When obedience to 
 the divine precepts keeps pace with knowledge in 
 the mind of any man, that man is a Christian ; and 
 when the fruits of Christianity are produced, that 
 man is evidently a disciple of our blessed Lord, let 
 his profession of religion be what it may. The 
 propagation of this knowledge, and the production, 
 of those fruits, increase the number of true Chris- 
 tians, which is far better than the increase of party 
 to any extent ; and at the same time proves bene- 
 ficial to society, in the improved principle and con- 
 duct of its members ; and in private life, by the 
 steadiness and amiable disposition of parents, 
 masters, and children, who are influenced by its 
 mild and benignant precepts j-." 
 
 All this is undoubtedly very specious, and its 
 Speciousness has, I dare say, contributed much to 
 the patronage which Mr. Lancaster has received 
 from the friends of good morals. But it is alto- 
 gether built upon fallacy. It is founded on the 
 supposition that an effect may be produced with- 
 out its appropriate cause. .Mr. Lancaster says, 
 " When the fruits of Christianity are produced,, 
 that man is evidently a disciple of our blessed 
 Lord." But how are the fruits of Christianity to 
 be produced, when the tree, of which those fruits 
 are the natural product, is not planted ? It is true, 
 according to Mr. Lancaster's system, a knowledge 
 
 * Introduction, p. 9. f Ib.
 
 14 
 
 of the divine precepts is to be inculcated ; for he 
 says, " When obedience to those precepts keeps 
 pace with knowledge in the mind of any man, that 
 man is a Christian:" but he most unphilosophi- 
 cally, as well as most un theologically, expects 
 te obedience" without the principle by which alone 
 obedience can, in any case, be produced. That 
 principle is faith. Lest the truth of this position 
 should not be obvious to those who have paid but 
 little attention to the subject, some illustration of 
 it may not be amiss. 
 
 The obligation of all laws arises out of the rela- 
 tive situation of the legislators and those on whom 
 the laws are obligatory. It does not consist 
 merely in the right to impose penalties on dis- 
 obedience, nor does it operate merely by the dread 
 of those penalties. The conscientious mind will 
 discover something which requires obedience to 
 lawful authority, independently of all penalties, and 
 even on the supposition that they may be evaded ; 
 it will discover that a right to command involves 
 a corresponding duty to obey. But before the 
 mind can be sensible of the obligation to obedi- 
 ence, it must believe two things: first, that there 
 exists, in the legislator, a right to command ; and 
 secondly, that this right has been exercised by the 
 promulgation of certain commands, which thereby 
 assume the force of laws. Such belief is but 
 another term for faith. Thus it appears that faith 
 
 4
 
 15 
 
 is the vital principle of obedience, even in a state 
 of human society. In such a state, however, the 
 relation subsisting between those who have a right 
 to command and those who are under an obliga- 
 tion to obey, though very extensive, is limited 
 within certain bounds, and consequently the au- 
 thority of the former and the duty of the latter 
 are limited also; for with the relation, the autho- 
 rity on the one side, and the obligation on the 
 other, must be commensurate. But the relation 
 which subsists between the Supreme Being and 
 His creature, is unlimited, and therefore involves 
 an unlimited right to command, and an unlimited 
 obligation to obey. That inexpressibly great and 
 glorious Being is the universal Creator. He made 
 all things by his almighty Fiat. He gave them 
 whatever form, nature, and qualities, he thought 
 proper to bestow. They are all, collectively and 
 individually, absolutely dependent upon Him, in 
 every moment of their existence. His will is, 
 therefore, in all respects, their law. To that law, 
 as far as relates to their physical existence, they 
 are compelled to conform ; a circumstance to 
 which is owing the undeviating order, the harmony 
 and regularity which reign throughout that im- 
 mense and complicated machine, the physical 
 world. In the moral world the obligation to obe- 
 dience is not less absolute, although the free 
 agency, which is an essential attribute of moral be- 
 ings, is necessarily accompanied with a power to
 
 10 
 
 disobey. Still, however, uniform and invariable 
 obedience to the will of the Supreme Being is their 
 indispensable duty, incapable, like the relation 
 from which it flows, of any limitation; a duty from 
 which no possible situation or circumstances can 
 absolve, and the performance of which constitutes 
 the very essence of virtue. In this case, as in 
 every other, the principle of obedience is faith ; 
 that is, according to the explanation already given, 
 a belief that there exists a Being who has an abso- 
 lute universal right to command, which implies an 
 unlimited obligation to obey, and also that this 
 right has been exercised. A knowledge of the 
 law, however, is an indispensable preliminary to 
 obedience ; the obligation to the latter, therefore, 
 necessarily implies the duty of endeavouring to 
 obtain the former ; and thus we are bound to at- 
 tend to every communication of the divine will, 
 our universal law, and to avail ourselves of every 
 opportunity of making ourselves acquainted with 
 it. The law which is written in our hearts, even 
 if we had no other, should be carefully studied by 
 us, for the hand which wrote it is Divine. But 
 \vhen an express revelation of the Divine Will has 
 been made, our first duty, and that which is the 
 basis of every other, is to endeavour, as far as our 
 limited faculties will extend, to obtain a thorough 
 acquaintance with it not merely with the moral 
 precepts by which we are commanded to regulate 
 our practice, but with every thing which the Deity
 
 17 
 
 has been pleased to reveal to us respecting his own 
 nature and attributes. Nothing that is thus re- 
 vealed can be unimportant, and it would be the 
 height of impiety so to consider any communica- 
 tion from God. In this view, faith or belief, inde- 
 pendently of its being the only spring of obedience, 
 is itself a maral duty, and the want of it is of the 
 very essence, as well as the main source, of vice : 
 and this observation applies no less to the doctri- 
 nal parts of Scripture, than to its moral precepts, 
 for both are equally revealed by God. Indeed 
 there is no subject upon which more stress is laid 
 in the Scriptures, than the importance of faith. 
 Nor is there any upon which the inspired writers 
 display more solicitude, than the preservation of it 
 from error and heresy. It is even represented by 
 those writers, when both pure arid productive 
 of obedience, as the operative means of salvation. 
 It is made the express condition on which alone 
 those to whom the revelation has been made, can 
 hope to be saved. And surely it ought not to be 
 forgotten that the Christian dispensation, as its 
 fundamental doctrines are explained by our Church, 
 and as they are believed by all Christians who are 
 known under the denomination of orthodox, pre- 
 sents to the mind and to the heart the most pow- 
 erful and captivating motives to love as well as to 
 obedience ; that it operates upon our affections 
 and our gratitude by the display of a scheme of Di- 
 vine goodness and mercy, so marvellous, that, had
 
 18 
 
 it not been actually realized, and proved to be go 
 by indubitable evidence, it would far exceed all 
 credibility ; and thus binds us with the cords of 
 love to a conscientious performance of our duty, in 
 all its parts. 
 
 But the doctrinal parts of Scripture, and even- 
 some which are generally considered as most 
 essential, have given rise to differences of opinion,, 
 and to controversy: they must therefore be ex- 
 cluded from Mr. Lancaster's plan of religious in- 
 struction, the object of which is to instruct youth, 
 only in " the uncoutroverted principles of Christi- 
 anity ." And thus it appears that the system in 
 question is not only philosophically false, inasmuch 
 as it leads to an expectation of Christian obedience 
 without Christian faith, but also essentially immo- 
 ral, since it would have the effect of bringing up 
 youth as unbelievers, and consequently in habitual 
 (f disobedience to the Divine will, which is of the 
 very essence of immorality or sin *." 
 
 * See " An Historical View of the Rise and Progress of IN- 
 FIDELITY, with a Refutation of its Principles and Reasonings, 
 in a Series of Sermons, by the Rev. W. Van Mildert, M. A. 
 Rector of St. Mary-le-Bow, London," vol. ii. p. ]C)2. I cannot 
 suffer myself to advert to these Sermons without expressing, 
 however feebly, the acknowledgments which, in common with 
 the whole Christian world, I owe to the reverend author, for 
 one of the ablest, most luminous, and most convincing refuta- 
 tions of the principles and reasonings of Infidelity that ever 
 issued from the press. In thus expressing myself I beg leave
 
 .Against a proposal to educate the youth of the 
 country, or any part of it, in such a manner, every 
 serious and considerate person must surely be ready 
 to enter his most formal and solemn protest. The 
 true principle of education is to " train up a child 
 in the way that he should go." The youth, there- 
 fore, who are to be trained up according to Mr. 
 Lancaster's system, must be intended to presevere 
 in the way which that system points out. And as 
 Mr. Lancaster expressly says, that the object 
 which he recommends is " the formation of a so- 
 ciety under whose immediate patronage all the 
 youth in these kingdoms may be instructed," his 
 plan, if its execution were to be commensurate 
 with such a design, would lead to the extirpation of 
 Christianity from these kingdoms, in the place of 
 which would be introduced an anomalous general- 
 izing system of religion, which no existing sect 
 could consent to denominate Christianity. It 13 
 true, Mr. Lancaster further proposes < to instruct 
 youth to read their Bibles, and to impress on their 
 memories those most essential parts which relate 
 to the history and theory of Christianity." But he 
 will hardly venture to deny that they stand in much 
 
 %to be understood, as uttering not merely my own opinion, but 
 what I know to be the opinion of men who are best qualified to 
 judge upon the subject. Earnestly do I wish that every infii 
 del, nay, that every person who entertains any doubt of the 
 great truths of Christianity, would diligently peruse this va- 
 luable work.
 
 20 
 
 need of assistance to enable them properly to 
 rf read their Bibles ;" in which, we are told, 
 there are " many things hard to be under- 
 stood :" and we have seen that his plan is of 
 such a nature as to exclude the most essential 
 parts of the " theory of Christianity," and conse- 
 quently to suppress the true and only efficient mo- 
 tives to the practice of its duties. In a word, he 
 might most aptly have applied to his religious sys- 
 tem, by way of motto, that most false and perni- 
 cious sentiment, 
 
 For modes of faith let graceless eealots fight, 
 His can't be wrong whose life is in the right. 
 
 The reason assigned by Mr. Lancaster for the 
 recommendation of such a plan (of the effects of 
 which I should hope he was not aware) is the 
 supposed necessity of. excluding from a system of 
 religious instruction the " peculiar tenets" of every 
 sect of Christians, in order to unite all sects in a 
 society for the instruction, under their joint pa- 
 tronage, of " all the youth in these kingdoms." 
 The ground of that supposed necessity is, accord- 
 ing to Mr. Lancaster, that " it cannot be reason- 
 ably expected that conscientious men should pro- 
 mote a religious opinion contrary to their own." 
 That ground, however, like all the grounds on 
 which Mr. Lancaster's system is built, is falla- 
 cious ; for, in certain situations, conscientious men 
 may most reasonably be expected to promote relU
 
 21 
 
 gious opinions directly contrary to their own, and 
 particularly in the case where, unless they do so> 
 no religious opinions whatever would be pro- 
 moted. Mr. Lancaster will scarcely deny that any 
 religion is better than none ; and if it depended on 
 him whether, in a Mahometan country, the youth 
 should be brought up as Musselmans or as Atheists, 
 I cannot doubt that he would prefer the former, in 
 order to preserve them from a far greater evil, 
 that of being educated without any religion 
 at all. In the case before us we find that if the 
 youth to be brought up, under the patronage of 
 the proposed society, be not instructed in the reli- 
 gious opinions of some one of the denominations of 
 Christians, of which the society is to be composed, 
 they will, in no sense of the word, be taught Chris- 
 tianity. There is therefore no other alternative 
 than, either to instruct youth in the religious tenets 
 of some one of those denominations, or to edu- 
 cate them in total ignorance of many of the essen- 
 tials of the Christian faith : which part of this al- 
 ternative the society may reasonabhj be expected 
 to prefer, is a question which I trust may safely be 
 referred even to Mr. Lancaster himself. 
 
 But another difficulty here presents itself: How 
 shall a society, consisting of all sects of Christians, 
 determine which of those sects ought to have the 
 preference, in the adoption of its religious tenets, 
 as a system of education ? How is such a selection
 
 22 
 
 to be made ? for it must be made if the youth to 
 be instructed are to be educated as Christians. 
 It certainly cannot be expected of any one sect of 
 Christians to admit that the faith of another sect 
 is preferable to its own. The converse of such an 
 admission is, or ought to be, the supposed basis 
 upon which every sect distinctively stands. The 
 difficulty, I own, appears to be insurmountable, 
 if the case be considered according to Mr. Lancas- 
 ter's statement. He says, "Mankind are divided into 
 sects;" but this is an illogical distribution, and the 
 whole difficulty arises from its being so. It is of more 
 importance than most people are aware, to ar- 
 range and classify our ideas of genera and species 
 in such a manner, as to correspond with the real 
 nature of things. If Mr. Lancaster had pursued 
 this course, he might have saved himself and his 
 readers a great deal of trouble. He would then 
 have found that mankind, considered as Christians 
 in this country, which denomination, with regard to 
 the subject in discussion, is the highest genus, are in 
 the first place divisible into those who belong to, 
 and those who dissent from, the established Church? 
 and that the latter are subdivisible into the various 
 sects of separatists or dissenters from that esta- 
 blishment. But Mr. Lancaster considers every 
 class or denomination of Christians as a sect, and 
 he most inaccurately applies that appellation to the 
 establishment itself. According to 'his mode of 
 dassification, it is impossible to discover any prin-
 
 23 
 
 ciple, by which the proposed society could be 
 brought to concur in any one system of Christian 
 faith, with a view to the religious instruction of 
 the youth patronized by them. For, considered 
 as sects, the various denominations of Christians 
 stand precisely on the same footing with regard to 
 each other ; and it cannot be reasonably expected 
 that they should recognize in any one of them the 
 least title to pre-eminence. But considered as 
 consisting of the established Church, and the va- 
 rious denominations of dissenters, properly called 
 sects, there are very obvious reasons, to which I 
 conceive Mr. Lancaster, unless he avows himself 
 hostile to the Church, must readily subscribe, 
 for assigning to the former such a pre-eminence. 
 Jt might, indeed, be regarded as a self-evident 
 proposition, that when education is made a " wa- 
 tional concern" which Mr. Lancaster says, in the 
 present instance " it ought to become," the youth 
 who partake of its benefits ought to be educated 
 in the national Church. Instead, however, of re- 
 lying on this proposition as a maxim which cannot 
 be controverted, I shall consider it as a principle 
 which ought to be established. 
 
 You, Sir, I am persuaded will admit that Mr. 
 Lancaster's system, and indeed every system of 
 education, ought to be so framed and conducted as 
 to be compatible with the safety of the established 
 Church. Now it is obvious that the strength, and
 
 24 
 
 consequently the safety of every establishment must 
 depend upon the numbers that are, upon principle, 
 attached to it But it would be absurd to expect 
 that youth should, upon principle, be attached to 
 the Church, or, indeed, that they should have any 
 attachment whatever to it, unless they are brought 
 up in it. And as Mr. Lancaster's , plan is of the 
 greatest magnitude, extending in its design to the 
 " formation of a society under whose patronage all 
 the youth in these kingdoms may be instructed ;" 
 it is undeniable that, unless it be conducted upon 
 the above principle, it must be fraught with the 
 utmost danger to the Church, by bringing up the 
 great mass of the population of this country with- 
 out any attachment., to say the least, to that Esta- 
 blishment. 
 
 Mr. Lancaster seems to be aware of the in- 
 fluence which any general plan of education, fa- 
 vouring a particular system of religion, is calcu- 
 lated, on that account, to possess in the state. 
 For he says, " It has been generally conceived, 
 that if any particular sect obtained the principal 
 care in a national system of education, that part 
 would soon be likely to possess the greatest power 
 and influence in the state. Fear that the clergy 
 should aggrandize themselves too much, has pro- 
 duced opposition from Dissenters to any pro- 
 posal of the kind ; on the other hand, the clergy 
 have opposed any thing of this nature which might
 
 operate with iMssenters, locally or generally, fear- 
 ing an increase of the dissenting influence might 
 prove likely to prejudice the interests of the esta- 
 blishment *." This is a full recognition, oh the 
 part of Mr. Lancaster, of the alternative, that a 
 plan of national education, within the scope of 
 which religious instruction is comprised, must 
 tend either to the security or the destruction of 
 the national church. Mr. Lancaster alludes, in- 
 deed, to the former part of the alternative, by the 
 illiberal expression, " Fear that the clergy should 
 aggrandize themselves." The question, however, 
 is not, whether our clergy shall aggrandize them- 
 selves of that event, in the present state of so- 
 ciety, Heaven knows, there is little danger but 
 whether the security of the Church- shall be con- 
 sulted. My position is, that, by Mr. Lancaster's 
 system, the Church would be exposed to the most 
 imminent danger ; for as it is no part of that sys- 
 tem to bring up the youth instructed by it in the 
 Church, there can be no certainty that the case 
 which he describes will not happen, and that a 
 particular sect will not obtain the principal care in 
 the proposed " national system of education ;" in 
 which case he admits that such sect <f will be 
 likely to possess the greatest power and influence 
 in the state," an event necessarily leading to the 
 subversion of the Church. But if no sect should 
 thus predominate, yet, as the system is now con- 
 
 * P. iss. 
 
 V
 
 structed, it would have the effect of bringing up 
 youth without any attachment to the Church ; 
 and then, although they might be totally indiffeT. 
 rent with regard to " sects," and even to religion 
 itself, still the Church would be deprived of that 
 support which is essential to her safety. On such 
 grounds I feel myself authorized to conclude, that 
 whatever degree of " power and influence in the 
 state" belongs to a plan of national education, 
 ought to be thrown into the scale of the national 
 Church, and that this establishment is entitled to 
 all the aid which it is capable of deriving from 
 such a source ; not, indeed, with a view to ag- 
 grandize the clergy, but to secure the Church 
 against the danger to which it would otherwise in- 
 evitably be exposed, from the operation of the 
 system itself. If the youth of the country be 
 not brought up in the Church, it cannot be ex- 
 pected that they will ever find their way into it. 
 And if some of them should do so, their connexion 
 with it will not be cemented by the strongest of 
 all ties-r- early attachment. But of such ad- 
 ventitious adherents, the number would probably 
 be very small. And thus the national Church 
 would be subjected to the danger which must at- 
 tend it in that state of society, in which a majo- 
 rity of the population is brought up in separation 
 from it. 
 
 If, therefore,, Mr. Lancaster's system be really 
 intended to be compatible with the safety of the
 
 27 
 
 national Church, it must be made subservient to 
 the propagation of the faith of that Church : and 
 indeed it must be founded on the principle, that 
 the youth who partake of its benefits must be brought 
 up as members of the establishment. In Scotland 
 this principle is invariably acted upon, in the pa- 
 rochial schools, In that country the education of 
 the children of the lower classes is a national 
 concern, provided for by legislative authority ; 
 and you, Sir, seem fully sensible of the great na- 
 tional benefits which a due attention to it has 
 produced. But all the children so educated are 
 brought up in the national church, which, there, 
 is Presbyterian. 
 
 It cannot be justly pretended that the adoption 
 of such a principle would in the least encroach 
 upon parental rights. For the object is to.supply 
 the lamentable defects of parental education among 
 the lower classes, the children of which are, as 
 Mr. Lancaster observes, " left destitute of a 
 suitable education." The parents of such children 
 are as unqualified to give them a religious, as any 
 Other kind of education ; and by far the greater 
 part of them are, as Mr. Lancaster's experience 
 must have convinced him, totally indifferent re- 
 specting the religious education of their offspring. 
 With regard even to the very few who feel any 
 concern upon this subject, and who wish their 
 children to be brought up in a particular persuasion, 
 
 E 2
 
 if they would obtain for them the advantage of 
 charitable instruction, they cannot reasonably ex- 
 pect any deviation, on their account, from the 
 system of religious education which is adopted in 
 the school where that advantage is bestowed. A 
 conformity to such system is a necessary condition, 
 on which alone they can hope to partake of the 
 benefit of a charitable institution for the education 
 of youth. This condition is invariably adhered 
 to in charity-schools, whenever religious in- 
 struction is one of their objects ; but it is, in 
 the most striking manner, reasonable and ne- 
 cessary, with regard to institutions of a na- 
 tional kind ; in which, as has been shewn, no 
 faith but that of the national Church can be 
 taught, without danger to that Church, and con- 
 sequently to the State. Surely when the important 
 object "of supplying the deficiency of " a suitable 
 education" among the lower orders is made a na- 
 t.ional concern, that object should be pursued in 
 such a manner, as to be consistent with the gene- 
 ral interests of the country, and the safety of its 
 establishments. 
 
 Nor should it be forgotten, that besides the 
 necessity of adopting, in such a concern, the 
 principle upon which I am insisting, its adoption 
 is necessary, as I trust has been sufficiently shewn, 
 to render a national system of education subservient 
 to the propagation, in any fonii; of the essential 
 
 4
 
 doctrines of Christianity, and consequently of 
 Christianity itself: since, as " it cannot reasonably 
 be expected" that the peculiar tenets of any sect 
 should be inculcated by a society composed of 
 persons of all religious persuasions, unless such a 
 society consent to inculcate the faith of the esta- 
 UisJied Church, the youth educated under its aus- 
 pices will not be instructed in any faith at all, and 
 consequently they will not receive a Christian edu- 
 cation. If, however, under all these circum- 
 stances, an objection should still be made to the 
 principle in question, because it would promote 
 the faith of the established Church, I feel myself 
 authorized to say, that such an objection can only 
 be attributed to that " sect-making spirit" which 
 Mr. Lancaster so severely and so justly censures. 
 I most cordially agree with Mr. Lancaster, that 
 the professors of Christianity should cultivate " a 
 spirit of brotherly love and peace ;" but when a 
 national religion is inseparably interwoven with the 
 constitution itself, and particularly when it 
 breathes, as is the case in this country, a most 
 mild and pure spirit of universal toleration, the 
 friends of such an establishment arc surely not 
 chargeable with any want of Christian charity, if, 
 while they secure, by all the means in their power, 
 a full enjoyment of the rights of conscience to all 
 who differ with them, they take the necessary 
 means of securing also their own establishment. 
 On the contrary, if those who dissent from such
 
 an establishment, will not, while they enjoy such 
 inestimable privileges, cordially assent to what- 
 ever is essential to its safety, they only subject 
 themselves to the censure so justly and so forcibly 
 applied by Mr. Lancaster to the " sect-making 
 spirit of party ;" and they would do well to im- 
 bibe the wish expressed by him, " that the pro- 
 fessors of Christianity would cultivate a spirit of 
 unity, brotherly Jove, and peace ; bearing one 
 with another in love ; avoiding all differences from 
 party spirit ; and, when they cannot unite in reli- 
 gious opinions, their dissent would be with Chris~ 
 tian meekness, and respect to the opinions of 
 others*." 
 
 Such, however, is the zeal by which sects are 
 generally animated in favour of their own distinc- 
 tive persuasion, that I fear their general and cor- 
 dial concurrence in a national system of education, 
 upon the principle which I havejshewn to be essen- 
 tial to the safety of the established Church, is an 
 event rather to be desired than expected. I there^. 
 fore think it fortunate, Sir, that the Legislature, 
 through your intervention, is about to take into 
 its own hands, the great and important busi- 
 ness of national education. For in the case 
 to which we are now authorized to look for- 
 ward, the safety of the national Church, we 
 
 -* Introduction,, p. 10.
 
 31 
 
 are bound to presume, must be an object of 
 most earnest solicitude. Of that Church the 
 Legislature is a constitutional guardian ; and 
 throughout the wide and extensive range of its 
 multifarious and complicated duties, there is not 
 one, I will venture to say, paramount to that of 
 protecting an establishment, which is the hallowed 
 bond of our religious and civil liberties, and the 
 preservation of which involves (as direful expe- 
 rience has proved) the existence of the throne, 
 and the safety of the constitution, in all its 
 parts. So anxiously has the constitution provided 
 for the security of that establishment, that, in 
 case the two Houses of Parliament should ever 
 forget that it is their boundcn duty to protect it, 
 the King cannot forget that duty, since he is 
 obliged to swear, in the fundamental contract 
 which he enters into at his coronation, to main- 
 tain the Protestant reformed religion, established 
 ly law* 
 
 When I had written nearly thus far, I saw a pub- 
 lication, containing a reply on the part of Mr. 
 Lancaster, to the objections which have been 
 urged against his system, under the catching title 
 of " An Appeal for Justice in the Cause of ten 
 thousand poor and orphan Children, and for the 
 Honour of the holy Scriptures." In this reply, 
 which is one of the most desultory performances 
 I have ever seen, is contained much illiberal and
 
 32 
 
 unfounded censure on two of the most distin- 
 guished characters of the present day: the one 
 an eminent theologian, and a most able champion 
 of the Church ; to whom that establishment is 
 indebted for having, on various occasions, most 
 successfully vindicated her truly apostolical consti- 
 tution, and her truly orthodox doctrines* : the 
 other a lady of distinguished talents, and, what 
 is far better, of the soundest principles ; who has 
 contributed more than almost any other indivi- 
 dual of these times to check the progress of infi- 
 delity and vice, and whose correct views of Chris- 
 tian education are particularly deserving of Mr. 
 Lancaster's attention -f~. Mr. Lancaster's main ob- 
 ject in this publication seems to be to vindicate 
 himself against the charges brought against him by 
 the above writers, by an appeal to the practice of 
 his school, and a profession of his faith. He en- 
 deavours to shew that neither the former nor the 
 latter justifies the charge of his favouring a deistical 
 svstein of education. But the true question in 
 issue relates neither to Mr. Lancaster's practice, 
 nor his .particular bdief, but merely to the system 
 of education which he recommends to the nation. 
 This, as I trust I have satisfactorily shewn, is in 
 . substance a deistical system ; at least it certainly 
 is not a Christian one. If his practice be not con- 
 
 * Rev. Charles Daubeny, Archdeacon of Samm. 
 f Mrs. Trimmer, author of the Guardian of Education, and 
 of many other valuable works.
 
 33 
 
 formable with it, that circumstance evinces hif. 
 own inconsistency, and thereby furnishes a con- 
 clusive argument against his system, by proving 
 that upon experiment he found it not fit for prac- 
 tice. In such a case he surely ought to have taken 
 the earliest opportunity of publicly renouncing it, 
 and of acknowledging his error. But instead of 
 doing this, he publishes edition after edition of his 
 original work, in each of which his pernicious 
 theory is repeated ; and it is a remarkable circum- 
 stance, that at the end of the sixth edition, from 
 which the passages here cited are extracted, ap- 
 pears an advertisement of his " Appeal to Justice," 
 which of course must have been published previ- 
 ously to the edition in question. Thus does he 
 nt the same time persist in promulgating an anti- 
 ckriatian theory, while he endeavours to vindicate 
 'himself from the charges which, on that very ac- 
 count^ had been brought against him, by pleading 
 that his practice and his faith are Christian* What 
 is this but blowing hot and cold with the same 
 mouth ? Let it not, however, be supposed that 
 the practice in his school, with regard to religious 
 instruction, comes up to the standard which, for 
 the reasons above stated, can alone be permitted 
 to regulate a system of national education. It 
 is far from sufficient for the purpose of instructing 
 youth in the faith of the Church. Mr. Lancaster 
 intimates, indeed, that the Apostles' Creed, with 
 the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments,,
 
 34 
 
 are received in his school. If this be the case, 
 Mr. L. is at variance with himself, and he forgets 
 his attack on the professors of Christianity, who 
 <c contend for creeds of faith and names." He 
 also violates his engagement, not to inculcate any 
 but the uncontr over ted doctrines of Christianity, 
 forlie cannot but know, that some of the doctrines 
 in the Apostles' Creed are controverted. But the 
 Church has other creeds besides that of the Apos- 
 tles ; she has also a Catechism : and these, 
 though they are excluded from Mr. Lancas- 
 ter's practical system, must, I conceive, be 
 taught where education is carried on as a national 
 concern *. 
 
 * I am sorry to see in this publication of Mr. Lancaster some 
 very malignant and indecent sneers against one of the creeds of 
 the Church (the Athanasian), which has been received in the 
 Greek and Latin Churches for more than a thousand years, 
 on account of what are called its damnatory, but which would 
 more properly be termed its declaratory, clauses ; which at the 
 same time he misrepresents, by applying the penalty expressed 
 in them to the not comprehending or believing the whole of the 
 creed. Those clauses, according to the soundest construction, 
 relate to the Catholic Faith, as it is contained in Scripture, and 
 to the Athanasian explanation of that Faith, only so far as it 
 agrees with Scripture ; the parts of. the Creed which are intro- 
 duced by the word " For," in the fifth verse, being merely like 
 a sermon, explanatory or illustrative of what precedes j and 
 the whole being intended as a preservative from heresy, by 
 guarding against particular errors which had been known to pre- 
 vail. The clauses in question, moreover, even with the above 
 limitation, are rather to be construed in an admonitory than a de-.
 
 35 
 
 Bat turning from a theory so pernicious, and a 
 practice so defective, let us look forward with pleas- 
 ing confidence to the protection which, it cannot 
 foe doubted, the Legislature is about to afford the 
 Church against the danger, to which she was ex- 
 posed by the inconsiderate benevolence of Mr. 
 Lancaster and his supporters. I trust, Sir, that 
 effectual means will now be taken to secure the 
 full operation of the principle, the necessity of an 
 invariable adherence to which has, I flatter my- 
 self, been sufficiently proved ; that when edu- 
 cation is made a national concern, youth must 
 le brought up as members of the national Church. 
 The necessity of a strict adherence to this principle 
 is, at present, the more urgent, on account of 
 the alarming success with which a wild and fanati- 
 cal spirit is endeavouring, by the grossest abuse of 
 
 nunciatory sense. They are to be considered in the light of an 
 .awful warning, by which the Church admonishes her own 
 members of the danger to which they must expose themselves, 
 by a departure from the Faith which has been committed tp 
 them, and which they are bound to "keep whole and undefiled ;'* 
 and by no means as an anathema pronounced on those who, 
 like the heathen, or persons labouring under involuntary igno- 
 rance, have never learned the truths of the Gospel. To all 
 persons who are prejudiced against the Athanasian Creed, I 
 strongly recommend the perusal of a Sermon on the origin and 
 utility of Creeds, with a vindication of the Athanasian Creed, 
 by William, Lord Bishop of Bangor (now Bishop of St. 
 Asaph), Rivingtons ; also a letter signed Laicus, in the Ortho- 
 dox Churchman's Magazine, for February 1807. Rivingtons. 
 
 F 2
 
 36 
 
 toleration, to draw away the lower classes of thp 
 community from the established church. Tolera*- 
 tion, in its genuine sense, consists in a full allow- 
 ance, by the supreme authority in the state, to all 
 persons, of whatever religious persuasion, to wor- 
 ship their Maker according to the dictates of theiu 
 own conscience : but the most complete enjoyment 
 of this privilege does not require that all persons, 
 however unqualified, should be permitted to exer- 
 cise the important functions of preachers and 
 teachers. By the Toleration Act, 1 W. and M. 
 c. 18. and the JQth Geo. 3. c. 44. all persons 
 are permitted to exercise those functions who, at 
 the quarter sessions, take the oaths of allegiance and 
 supremacy, and subscribe the declaration against 
 Popery (recited in the 30 Car. 2. st. 2.), and also 
 a declaration that they are Christians and Protes-- 
 tants, and that they believe that the Scriptures do^ 
 contain the revealed will of God : and the justices at 
 the sessions are required to tender and administer the 
 said oaths' and declarations to all persons who offer 
 to take, make, and subscribe the same, and to 
 keep a register, and grant a certificate thereof 5 
 for entrv in which register the sum of sixpence 
 only is to be paid, and the like sum for the certiw 
 ficate. The effect of these provisions is, that aft 
 incredible number of illiterate persons of the low- 
 *est rank, many of whom cannot even write their 
 names, but subscribe only their marks to their de* 
 i-Tarntions, repair -to the quarter sessions, and
 
 3? 
 
 without any other ordination than the mere cerer 
 inony of passing through the above forms, and 
 without any other qualifications than they acquire 
 by the double payment of the sum of sixpence, 
 are at once metamorphosed into preachers and 
 teachers ; and in that character they not only, 
 by their fanatical rant, seduce great numbers from, 
 the Church, and from every other place of wor- 
 jship where sense accompanies devotion ; but also, 
 by their mischievous superstition, they not unfre- 
 quently drive their deluded followers to despera- 
 tion, insanity, and even suicide. This evil has of 
 late years been rapidly increasing, and to check its 
 progress is an object which demands the serious 
 consideration of the Legislature. As the abuse of 
 whatever is excellent tends to its destruction, every 
 true friend of toleration must be anxious to see so 
 gross and mischievous an abuse of it, restrained by 
 efficient remedies. What remedies should be ap- 
 plied for that purpose, this is not the place to in- 
 quire. It may not, however, be useless even here 
 to observe that one of the most operative causes of 
 the evil complained of is itinerancy. For the dis- 
 courses of most of those rhapsodists, who, by their 
 vehemence and vociferation, draw together im- 
 mensc numbers, and estrange a large proportion, 
 not only of the lower, but even of the middle 
 orders, from the established Church, are so frothy, 
 so extravagantly wild and absurd, and at the same? 
 time so destitute of variety and comprehension, 
 that the uniform nonsense of a single preacher
 
 S3 
 
 could not keep together a congregation for six 
 weeks in any one place. Care is therefore taken, 
 by an incessant change of these illiterate declaimers, 
 to gratify the idle curiosity of their deluded fol- 
 lowers with novelty of face and of gesticulation. 
 This statement obviously suggests the expediency, 
 and, indeed, the necessity of imposing some re- 
 straint upon itinerancy, by restricting licensed 
 preachers to particular congregations. This could 
 not be considered as an hardship, since it would 
 only place such preachers with regard to the ex- 
 ercise of* their functions, upon the same footing 
 with the ministers of the established Church, and, 
 indeed, with all educated ministers who officiate 
 out of the Church. The rights of conscience 
 would in no respect be violated by a legislative re- 
 quisition, that each congregation should have its 
 regular officiating minister, who should be re- 
 quired to make it appear, by proper testimonials, 
 that he is desired to fill that station before he is 
 permitted to assume it. And if, in addition, some 
 evidence were required of a suitable education, and 
 of a good moral character, before any one be per- 
 mitted to become a religions instructor ; such a 
 regulation would evidently be for the benefit of 
 those who are instructed, without any infringe- 
 ment upon the right of toleration. 
 
 It ought also to be remembered that the use- 
 fulness of the Church is greatly circumscribed, be- 
 pause care has not been taken to make the esta-
 
 39 
 
 blishment keep pace with the population of the 
 country. The latter has increased in an astonish- 
 ing degree, with scarcely any increase in the num- 
 ber of Churches belonging to the former *. The 
 
 * To a Fast Sermon preached before the House of Lords 
 Feb. 25, 1807, by the present Bishop of Salisbury, then Bishop 
 of Exeter, are appended the following awful statements of the dis- 
 proportion between the population of six of the principal parishes 
 in the western part of the metropolis, and the provision made 
 for divine worship, according to the rites of the established 
 Church, within those parishes. 
 
 1. Parish of St. James. 
 
 Number of inhabitants, about - . 32,000 
 
 The Church will contain about - - 2,300 
 
 King Street Chapel 1,000 
 
 Berwick Chapel - - - - - 400 
 
 3,700 
 
 2. Parish of St. Giles -*,,.,- 23,OOO 
 
 The Church will contain - - - - 1,OOO 
 The free Chapel - - - - - - 1 ,OOO 
 
 2,000 
 
 3. Parish of St. George, Bloomslury - - 13,000. 
 
 The Church will contain - r - - 860 
 One Chapel -------- 400 
 
 1,260 
 
 Parish of Pancras ,------ 32,OOO 
 
 The Church can contain - - - - 20O 
 Kentish Town Chapel - ~ * - - 30O
 
 40 
 
 surplus population, which, in many places, cannot 
 he accommodated at church (where, indeed, the 
 
 Woburn Chapel - * - - 900 
 
 Fitzroy Chapel - - - - - J ,000 
 
 Percy Chapel -----*- 1,000 
 
 3,400 
 & Parish of Marylont * - - - * - 64,000 
 
 The Church contains - - - - ^ 250 
 
 Oxford Chapel, Vere Street - - - 60O 
 
 Portland Chapel -----*. 706 
 
 Welbeck Chapel 80O 
 
 Portman Chapel - - * - - - 1,10O 
 
 Bentinck Chapel -----* 1,10O 
 
 Quebec Chapel ------- l,4OO 
 
 Branswick Chapel ------ 700 
 
 St. Margaret's Chapel ----- 400 
 
 7,050 
 
 Parish of St. George, Hanover Square - 40,000 
 
 The Church will hold - - - - J,OOO 
 
 Grosvenor Chapel ------ 900 
 
 Park Street Chapel SOO 
 
 Trinity Chapel, Conduit Street - - 50O 
 
 Charlotte Street Chapel, Pimlico - - 750 
 
 Ebury Chapel in the Five Fields - - /OO 
 
 Berkeley Chapel, John Street - - - 80O 
 
 Knightsbridge ---,,.- 500 
 
 5,950 
 
 A Chapel belonging to St. James's parish, 
 
 situated in Pangras, contains - - - - .800
 
 41 
 
 accommodation of the lower orders is, alas ! lout 
 little consulted), must be expected, if there exist 
 among them any sense of religion, to attend irre- 
 gular places of worship. To supply this lament- 
 able deficiency no measure would, perhaps, be at 
 once so safe and so efficacious, as the erection, 
 under the superintendence of the Bishop of each 
 diocese, of free churches. A strong recommenda- 
 tion of this measure is to be found in Christ Church, 
 at Bath ; the whole area of which is allotted to the 
 reception, gratis, of the lower orders, and which 
 has had the happiest effects in drawing away mul- 
 titudes of that description from the empty and 
 unprofitable declamation of fanatics. By the 
 building of churches of this description, wherever 
 they are wanted, a most effectual step would be 
 taken, at once to promote the genuine influence 
 of religion, and to attach the mass of the people to 
 the established Church. 
 
 This discussion will not, I trust, be considered 
 as entirely digressive; as the subject to which -it 
 relates, is here introduced for the purpose of shew- 
 ing that the dangers to which the Church is ex- 
 posed by the spread of fanaticism, impose the ne- 
 cessity of a steady adherence to the principle which 
 I have endeavoured to establish, with respect to 
 national education, in the great measure in which 
 you, Sir, are now engaged.
 
 42 
 
 But the actual state of Ireland furnishes a stil! 
 more cogent reason for a steady adherence to this 
 principle. In that country the Church, though 
 it has long been in an alarming state of inferiority 
 and weakness, with regard to the proportionate 
 number of its adherents, is daily losing ground, 
 and declining. Popery has there of late years in- 
 creased, and is still increasing, in a manner of 
 which few persons have any suspicion. I am told 
 by a gentleman who has taken great pains to in- 
 form himself, by means of personal observation, 
 on this interesting subject, that the Protestants, 
 who in the year 1731 constituted more than one 
 third of the population of Ireland, do not now 
 amount to one fifth * ; in which are included a 
 considerable number who dissent from the esta- 
 blished Church. On the other hand the Ro- 
 manists, who are to the Protestants, collectively, 
 more than four to one, and whose relative num- 
 bers are constantly increasing, by means of those 
 arts of proselytism which they have ever been so 
 prone to exercise, are systematically endeavouring, 
 with all the aid which they can derive from num- 
 bers, union, zeal, and c onfidence, to get rid of 
 all the remaining restrictions and disabilities, by 
 which they are excluded from a full participation 
 of power with the members of the Protestant esta- 
 
 * For a more detailed statement of the information which 
 I have thus received, respecting the growth of Popery in Ire- 
 land, see die Postscript, 
 
 3
 
 43 
 
 Tblisbment. Such is the real object of those claims 
 to which is most insidiously applied the term, 
 Catholic Emancipation ; a term expressive of as 
 gross a falsehood as language is capable of con- 
 veying, since it intimates that millions of persons, 
 on each of whom has descended the inestimable 
 inheritance of British liberty, stand in need of 
 emancipation. 
 
 It is admitted by some of the most zealous ad- 
 vocates for the allowance of such claims, that the 
 restrictions and disabilities, which it is their wish 
 to remove, were necessary for the protection of the 
 Church, and the quiet of the State, at the time 
 when they were imposed. But it is urged in fa- 
 vour of their removal, that they have ceased to be 
 necessary for those purposes, in consequence of the 
 great change which has since taken place in 
 Popery. Admitting, however, that this religion is 
 materially different from what it once was, in re- 
 gard to those qualities by \\hich it became an in- 
 strument of such extensive mischief, and that its 
 professors have renounced the obnoxious tenets 
 and principles which rendered it essentially hostile 
 to both civil and religious rights admitting all 
 this ? still those professors are in a state of separa- 
 tion from the established Church ; and therefore 
 they cannot, with safety to that Church, be ad- 
 mitted to a participation of power with those 
 who belong to it. If the axiom, on which I have 
 
 G 2
 
 44 
 
 so much insisted, be entitled to that appellation i 
 that the strength, and, consequently, the safety of 
 every establishment, depend chiefly on the relative 
 number of those who are attached to it ; it ne- 
 cessarily follows that, in proportion to the number 
 of those who dissent from a religious establishment, 
 such an establishment must be weak and insecure. 
 The mere circumstancepf separation necessarily sub- 
 jects it to danger ; for in proportion as the separatists 
 from it are numerous, the number of those on whom 
 alone it can rely for support must, of course, be 
 small, while that of those who have no interest in 
 its preservation, and who are apt to suppose 
 that they have an interest in its overthrow, is 
 formidable. When this is the case, the percep- 
 tion of numbers inspires a consciousness of strength, 
 and encourages a hope of that pre-eminence, 
 which sects always view with jealousy in an esta- 
 blishment, and which, on all occasions that pro- 
 duce division, and especially when religion is con- 
 cerned, mankind are desirous of attaining. But 
 when the strength which is derived from numbers 
 is accompanied with the possession of power, the 
 temptation to use that power to promote the as- 
 cendancy of those who possess it, may fairly be 
 presumed to be irresistible ; and it would denote 
 the grossest ignorance of human nature to doubt 
 that they will employ it, in its fullest extent, for 
 that purpose. If they neglected to do this, they 
 would cease to be men. But when, as is now the 
 case in Ireland, a vast majority of the inhabitants
 
 45 
 
 of a country are in a state of separation from the 
 established Church, and when, moreover, they are 
 firmly united in a sect, be it what it may ; to 
 assert that such a majority may, with safety to 
 that Church, be admitted, in common with its 
 members, to a participation of power in the state, 
 is to advance one of the most extravagant 
 propositions that can possibly be presented to the 
 notice of the human understanding. I confidently 
 defy the most expert reasoner now alive to re^ 
 concile such a proposition with common sense. 
 Such, however, is the absurdity in which the ad- 
 vocates for the claims of the Irish Romanists in- 
 volve themselves, when they declare that they 
 mean nothing hostile to our ecclesiastical establish- 
 ment. It is not, therefore, merely because those 
 formidable claimants are of a particular religion, 
 but because they are not of the established religion, 
 that their claims are inadmissible. And I beg it 
 may be remembered, that the question is found to 
 be susceptible of a most satisfactory solution on 
 the supposition (which I state merely hypothetic 
 cally,and for the sake of argument), thatPopery has 
 really undergone the change which is attributed to 
 it. But who that remembers what Popery once 
 was, can, in investing it with power, be free from 
 alarm, lest its metamorphosis may not be quite so 
 complete as has been supposed lest it should 
 hereafter resume somewhat of its former cha- 
 racter ? Not to insist in this place on the in j 
 tant circumstance, that the members of that re-
 
 46 
 
 ligion recognize a foreign jurisdiction, which, 
 though they affect submission only to its spiritual 
 authority, yet considering how close a connection 
 there is between spiritual and political power, and 
 how naturally, in a state of human society, the 
 former leads to the latter, cannot but be fraught 
 with danger to national independence ; not to 
 insist, I say, on this circumstance, the essen- 
 tial nature of the religion bestows on its priests an 
 ascendancy over the minds of the ignorant and 
 countless multitude, which is subversive of the 
 legitimate authority of government. That ascen- 
 dancy constitutes what may most properly be 
 termed imperium in imperio. It produces a state 
 of vassalage and dependence, no less hostile to 
 civil freedom, than destructive of the ties which 
 unite subjects to government. It is incompatible 
 with the safety of the State, collectively, as well as 
 of the individuals who profess the Protestant faith. 
 It even carries with it a power of life and death, 
 for it is supported by the right of excommunication ; 
 the sentence of which exposes the unhappy victim 
 ty> perish for want of subsistence, which 3 in such a 
 case, not a single Romanist can safely, or consci- 
 entiously, bestow. 
 
 It is also a striking feature in the case of 
 the Irish Romanists, and should never be lost 
 sight of in a discussion of their claims, that 
 they consider themselves entitled to a very large 
 portion of the landed property of Ireland, of which
 
 47 
 
 |hey have at different times been deprived by for-* 
 feiture, and the right to which, though lawfully 
 vested in other proprietors, they consider as 
 descending in their families from generation to 
 generation, in the hope that the time will arrive 
 when it may be successfully asserted. 
 
 It having been shewn that the claims of the Irish 
 Romanists are incompatible with the safety of the 
 established Church, and, consequently, with that 
 of the constitution itself, of which that Church is 
 an essential and an inseparable part, it follows that 
 they are not only inadmissible, but also, in the 
 highest degree, unreasonable ; for as their object 
 is nothing else than to relieve the persons, in 
 whose favour they are urged, from certain dis- 
 abilities and restrictions which are imposed for 
 the sake of the general good, they amount to 
 nothing less than a demand, that partial inte- 
 rests shall be preferred to the welfare of the 
 community, and, indeed, that the latter shall 
 be sacrificed to the former. If such a sacrifice 
 were even solicited as a boon, the request would 
 clearly be most unreasonable ; but the claim is 
 advanced as an indefeasible right : and it is even 
 urged with such pertinacity, that some persons are 
 induced to favour the grant, lest a refusal should 
 lead to another rebellion. But, independently of 
 every other consideration, would it not be mad- 
 ness to arm with power that disposition, whichj it
 
 48 
 
 is feared, may be prompted to rebel by the re* 
 fusal of concessions, that cannot be made consist -> 
 ently with the public safety ? Other persons, ab- 
 staining from the argument in terrorem, content 
 themselves with urging the expediency, at such a 
 time, of conceding what is thus demanded, for the 
 purpose of quieting the minds of the Irish Roman- 
 ists, and with a view to conciliation. But the ill suc- 
 cess which has attended past attempts at conciliation, 
 by means of concession, is far from encouraging a 
 repetition of the experiment** And with re* 
 gard to the necessity of quieting the minds of the 
 Romanists, I conceive that, in point both of jus- 
 tice and sound policy, it is at least as desirable 
 to quiet the minds of the members of the es- 
 tablished Church, who have certainly much cause 
 for disquietude and alarm, and who have just 
 cause to apprehend the utmost danger to their es- 
 tablishment, from a removal of those barriers 
 which their ancestors established for its protec- 
 tion. And it ought not to be forgotten, that 
 these persons desire no more than that the law may 
 continue as it is; while the others ask, not only for 
 
 * To convince any one of the tendency of concession, when- 
 made with a view to conciliation, to engender fresh and exor- 
 bitant demands, nothing more is necessary, than to compare 
 the present claims of the Irish Romajiists with those which 
 were advanced by them in the year 1792 ; and a statement of 
 which the reader will find in the Author's " Letter to Lord Vis* 
 count Howick," on the motions of the Marquis of Stafford and 
 Mr. Brand, " respecting the Pledge which His Majesty wds 
 under the necessity of demanding from his late Ministers,"
 
 49 
 
 nn alteration of the law, but for a fundamental 
 change in the constitution itself. 
 
 It is sometimes urged in favour of the claims in 
 question, that, in consequence of the extent of past 
 concessions, what remains to be conceded is of com- 
 paratively trifling importance. What is this but to 
 argue that, because the fortifications of a city have 
 been abandoned, the citadel should alsobe given up ? 
 I am ready to admit that the extent of past con- 
 cessions renders it more difficult to defend what 
 remains, and that a considerable degree of em- 
 barrassment is hereby produced. But this embar- 
 rassment serves only to confirm a truth, of which 
 history furnishes so many lamentable proofs, that 
 it is never safe to deviate from principles for the 
 sake of expediency. For though, abstractedly, no 
 inconvenience be produced by such deviation, the 
 sacredness of the principle is violated : and the 
 mischief is the greater, because no immediate evil 
 ensues ; for thereby mankind are induced to think 
 that the principle may be violated with impunity. 
 An occasional relaxation of principle is further 
 mischievous, because it tends to unsettle the 
 minds of men. Those who arc really interested in 
 maintainingthe principle, are at a loss what to think, 
 or how to act they have no settled rule to enable 
 them to judge how far they may concede ; while 
 those who wish to subvert it are emboldened by every 
 deviation, however minute, to hope ultimately to 
 
 H
 
 50 
 
 triumph over the principle itself. Every refusal 
 to give it up then seems to be unreasonably harsh 
 and rigid, because they have been taught that it is 
 not inviolable. It is, therefore, much better, even 
 for those upon whom it operates as a restric- 
 tion, that it should be considered as a barrier 
 which can never be passed'. They are thereby 
 induced the more readily to acquiesc c ; and, 
 instead of being encouraged to wish for what, 
 perhaps, the safety of the state requires to be put 
 beyond their reach, they set themselves quietly to 
 enjoy the advantages which they possess, and 
 the security of which, as in the case before us, is 
 enhanced by the restriclions to which they are 
 subjected. 
 
 Thus it appears that the true cause of the em- 
 barrassment under which we now labour, with 
 regard to the claims of the Irish Romanists, and 
 of the danger which we apprehend from their dis- 
 position to persist so pertinnciously in those claims, 
 is to be found in the concessions which have been 
 made to them, from time to time. If the Legisla- 
 ture had contented itself with relieving them from 
 nil penalties on account of religion, and, securing 
 to them full toleration, had iirmly stood on the 
 constitutional ground of the test laws, our situa- 
 tion would, there is abundant reason to conclude; 
 have been most enviable in comparison with what 
 it now is. In that case the Romanists themseh
 
 51 
 
 knowing that they had no chance of obtaining an 
 admission to power, would naturally have endea- 
 voured to reconcile themselves to an exclusion 
 from it ; and instead of demanding, as they now do, 
 to be put upon an equal footing, in all respects, with 
 the members of the Establishment, they would 
 have discovered and prized the inestimable privi- 
 leges which they actually enjoy, and which are 
 secured to them by the very disabilities of which 
 they complain. 
 
 But the embarrassment which we experience in 
 consequence of having conceded so much, should 
 enhance, in our estimation, the value of what still 
 remains ; as, with the destruction of some of the 
 Sibyl's books, the price of the remainder was in- 
 creased. It is high time, at length, to make a stand 
 ami to convince the Irish Romanists that, while 
 their religious and civil rights are securely pro- 
 tected, the sacred barriers of the constitution must 
 no further be encroached upon. Instead of in- 
 flaming their, hopes, as has lately been done, by 
 a system of timid compliance, the wise statesman 
 will endeavour, by .all fair and honourable means, 
 to strengthen the Protestant establishment. For 
 that purpose he will labour to ascertain the causes 
 which have impeded the progress 'of the principles 
 of the Reformation in Ireland, and to remove the 
 obstacles which are still in their way ; and, in- 
 jstead of depriving the national Church of any of
 
 * 52 
 
 its remaining bulwarks, he will thus provide for its 
 more complete security, by an extension of its 
 worship, and a diffusion of its mild and tolerant 
 spirit. Such a system of conduct will be found 
 much better calculated to civilize the lower classes 
 of our Irish fellow-subjects, to ameliorate their 
 condition, and to produce general harmony and 
 strength, than the rash and empirical experiment 
 of further concession; an experiment far less likely 
 to afford satisfaction, than to enlarge expectation, 
 and to invite demands, which, unless we sacrifice the 
 very existence of our Church, as an Establishment, 
 must be rejected, and the rejection of which will ex- 
 cite discontents, far more formidable, as they will be 
 accompanied with power, than any which now 
 exist. 
 
 Such, I trust, Sir, is the system which <5ur 
 statesmen, impelled by principle, and taught by 
 experience, will hereafter pursue, with regard to 
 Ireland. Nay, I do not hesitate to say, that an 
 inflexible determination to pursue that system, and 
 to oppose claims which are incompatible with the 
 safety of the Church, ought to be considered as 
 an indispensable qualification for a British Minis- 
 ter. A difference between the King and his 
 Ministers, on a subject of this major importance, 
 is an anomaly in government, which should never 
 be permitted to recur. The Sovereign should 
 never again be compelled to appeal to his 
 
 4
 
 53 
 
 Coronation oath, against a measure brought 
 forward in Parliament by his own Ministers. 
 His paternal heart, which would rejoice to dif- 
 fuse satisfaction through every part of his em- 
 pire, should never again be reduced to the 
 painful necessity of resisting the wishes of a part 
 of his people, for the sake of the whole for the 
 maintenance of those establishments, in Church 
 and State, which it is his first duty to protect. 
 He should never again be obliged to stand alone, 
 until the sense of the country can be declared, as 
 it now unquestionably is, and as, I hope, it soon 
 will be in a more solemn manper, by the warmest 
 assurances of gratitude and support as a defender 
 of the Church ; which, by an express, original, 
 and fundamental compact, enforced by the sanc- 
 tions of religion, as well as by implied obligation, 
 inseparably attached to the royal character, he is 
 pledged to maintain. It cannot be supposed that 
 a Sovereign of these realms will ever be unmindful 
 of these accumulated obligations ; it ought, ne- 
 vertheless, to fill our hearts with gratitude to Di- 
 vine Providence, to reflect, that, at the critical 
 period which we have recently witnessed, so con- 
 scientious, so enlightened, and so firm a defender 
 pf the Church, was seated on the Throne. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient Servant, 
 
 . JOHN BOWLES. 
 
 Bath, 
 $tarch 23, 1807.
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 MUCH uncertainty exists respecting the actual 
 population of Ireland, and the relative numbers of 
 the Protestants and Romanists in that country. 
 All persons, however, agree, that the latter consti- 
 tute an immense majority of that population ; a 
 fact which, whether the majority be greater or 
 less, affords, I conceive, a solid foundation for the 
 reasoning which is built upon it in the foregoing 
 pages. It may not be amiss, however, to sub- 
 join to this Tract the result of a communication 
 which I have received from an intelligent friend, 
 resident in Ireland, respecting the state of the po- 
 pulation, and the increase of Popery in that coun- 
 try ; together with his opinion as to the causes 
 which have led to such increase, and the means 
 by which so great an evil may most effectually be 
 checked. The calculations of my friend are, 
 I understand, founded, in a great measure, on the 
 publication entitled, " A Statistical and Historical 
 Inquiry into the Progress and Magnitude of the 
 Population of Ireland, by Thomas Newenham, 
 Esq."
 
 56 
 
 Population of Ireland in 1731 - - 2,010,221 
 
 Ditto in 1805 ------- 5,395,456 
 
 Number of Romanists in J 73 1, ac- 
 cording to a return made to the 
 House of Lords ------ 1,309,768 
 
 Number of Protestants at the same 
 
 period, as per return - - - - 700,452 
 
 Number of Romanists in 1805 - - 4,300,000 
 Number of Protestants at the same 
 
 period -------- 1,080,000 
 
 Increase of Romanists from 1731 to 
 
 1S05- 2,990,240 
 
 Ditto of Protestants during the same 
 
 interval -------- 379,548 
 
 Thus it appears, first, that in 1 73 1 the Romanists 
 were to the Protestants not quite in the propor- 
 tion of two to one ; and that in 1805 the former 
 were to the latter in the proportion of more than 
 four to one. Secondly, That from ]731 to 1805, 
 the population had more than doubled ; that 
 its positive increase, during that interval, was 
 3,385,235 ; and that the increase of the Ro- 
 manists, in comparison with that of the Protestants, 
 has been in the proportion of more than seven 
 to one. 
 
 This truly alarming decline of Protestantism 
 is owing to the great exertions of the Popish 
 priests and their agents, in making proselytes, and
 
 57 
 
 the gross ignorance of the lower orders, which 
 exposes them to be easily perverted ; to the zed 
 with which Popery is encouraged and promoted by 
 all its adherents, who possess any power or influ- 
 "' ence while, comparatively, little or no exertion 
 is made on the other side ; to the great increase 
 of Popish places of worship in most counties and 
 towns, where splendid chapels are erected, while 
 the Protestant Churches are suffered to fall to 
 decay ; and to the want of Protestant school- 
 masters, and the abundance of those of the Po- 
 pish persuasion, who are perpetually perverting 
 the Protestant children. 
 
 It is obvious that the proper remedies for the 
 evil would be the building and maintaining of 
 Protestant Churches, together with means to se- 
 cure the residence of the clergy ; the establish- 
 ment of Protestant seminaries; and the circulation 
 of Bibles, Testaments, and tracts against Popery. 
 The people are extremely eager to obtain Bibles 
 and Testaments, while the priests, adhering to 
 their ancient arts of delusion, are no less vigilant 
 and active in preventing them from acquiring 
 such means of information. I am assured that 
 in the South, there is scarcely a Bible in five, hun- 
 dred Popish families. 
 
 If such remedies were properly applied, there 
 is reason to hope that the Protestant religion^ 
 
 I
 
 58 
 
 which is the strength and security of a Protestant 
 government, would gradually obtain an increasing 
 influence, without affording any just cause of 
 complaint to the Romanists, and without the least 
 symptom of intolerance. 
 
 IT was foreign from the design of the foregoing 
 Letter to enter into any examination of the mea- 
 sure which has led to a dismissal of the late 
 Ministers from His Majesty's executive councils, 
 Some observations, however, upon that measure, 
 will not, I trust, be deemed irrelevant, even with 
 regard to my principal subject, as both are closely 
 connected with so important an interest in this 
 country, as the safety of its established Church. 
 
 The object of the proposed measure, when it 
 assumed the form of a Bill, was to conciliate the 
 Irish Romanists, by relieving them from every re- 
 maining restriction of a military nature, and ren- 
 dering them admissible to the highest ranks in the 
 army and navy. It is true, the measure also ex- 
 tended to an admission of the Dissenters of this 
 country, of every description, to the same privileges 
 which it '.vas proposed to confer on the Irish Ro- 
 manists ; but it is obvious that those Dissenters
 
 59 
 
 would not have been thought of, on their own ac 
 count, and that thejr interests were attended to 
 merely to facilitate the passing of the Bill. With 
 regard to the provision for securing to the soldiers 
 and sailors, who belong to the Romish Church, 
 the free exercise of their religious opinions, that 
 right is already fully enjoyed, and therefore a 
 legislative provision for it was quite unnecessary. 
 
 Considering, therefore, the measure as having for 
 its real object the opening of the highest military 
 ranks to the Irish Romanists, it cannot be viewed 
 in any other light, than as a direct concession of 
 the most objectionable of what are called the 
 Catholic claims, and as an implied concession of 
 the whole of those claims, by a dereliction of the 
 principle upon which alone they can be resisted. 
 Those claims amount to a demand of admissibility 
 to all situations of power and trust, civil and mili- 
 tary, in the British empire. In both respects they 
 are incompatible with the safety of our ecclesias- 
 tical establishment, because, on the principles 
 already laid down, the possession of power, whe- 
 ther civil or military, by so numerous a body of 
 separatists from the established Church, must, in, 
 the nature of things, be fraught with danger to 
 that establishment. But it is obvious that greater 
 danger would be produced by the grant of military, 
 than of civil power, to such a body. For the ex- 
 ercise of the latter may be checked and counter- 
 
 z 2
 
 66 
 
 acted, though not without much difficulty and in- 
 cessant vigilance, by a Parliament composed chiefly 
 of Protestants ; but it requires no great exertion 
 of fancy to suppose a case, in which a General of 
 the Romish persuasion, possessing the command of 
 an army in Ireland, might have, not only the Pro- 
 testant Church, but the Protestant government it- 
 self, in his power. Would the Protestants in such 
 a case think any of their establishments safe, even 
 on the supposition that, at present, the Romanists 
 intend nothing hostile to those establishments ? 
 Nor should it be forgotten that when, for the 
 'purpose of conciliation > the Romanists are put on 
 the same footing as the Protestants with regard to 
 military rank, that purpose will be defeated if they 
 should be, or even conceive themselves to be 
 (which they will be very apt to do), objects of jea- 
 lousy or apprehension. The most solid proofs 
 in ust. be given that they are thought deserving of 
 unlimited trust and confidence ; and the slightest 
 doubt upon this subject, however unfounded, may 
 produce a flame which it will not be easy to stifle. 
 
 But besides the strong and insurmountable ob- 
 jections to which, in the case supposed, the grant 
 of military power, distinctly considered, is liable, 
 it should be remembered that such a grant would 
 greatly increase the danger of refusing those claims 
 which it was proposed for the present to withhold \ 
 and that, therefore, the measure in question really 
 involved an acquiescence in all the demands of the
 
 6i 
 
 Irish Romanists, in their utmost extent. For it is 
 well known that those claimants would not be sa- 
 tisfied with the concessions contained in the Bill 
 lately before the House of Commons, and that they 
 demand to be placed on the same footing, in all re- 
 spects, with the members of the established Church ; 
 a demand, the principle of which could not be ac- 
 ceded to unless their Bishops were admitted to share 
 with the Protestant Bishops, a right to sit in the 
 House of Lords. Without, however, attributing 
 to them, at present, so extensive a view, it is evi- 
 dent, from the indisputable extent of their claims, 
 that the object of conciliation, even if the late Bill 
 had passed, would have failed in limine ; and that 
 the persons for whose satisfaction it was intended, 
 would only have been encouraged, by such part ia 
 success, to require a full compliance with their 
 wishes. But in making this requisition they 
 would have appeared in a new, and a most formi- 
 dable character. They would have been in posses- 
 sion of military power. They would have taken 
 their stand on their acknowledged right of admis- 
 sibility to the highest ranks in the army and navy. 
 They would, in short, as has been been most justly 
 observed *, have had the power of the sword. Whe- 
 ther it would then have been safe to refuse them 
 any thing which would have been necessary to quiet 
 their minds, or whether such refusal would not 
 rather have been attended with more danger than 
 
 * 'By Lord Hawkcsbuiy, 
 4
 
 6-2 
 
 ever, -are considerations well deserving the atten- 
 tion of those persons, who are desirous of grant- 
 ing them the siuord, for the purpose of concilia- 
 tion. Thus is that weak and temporizing policy, 
 which, in order to get rid of present difficulties, 
 makes a sacrifice of permanent principles, sure 
 to defeat its own object, and to produce an in- 
 crease, rather than a diminution, of difficulty and 
 danger. 
 
 To justify a' concession of so alarming a nature, 
 it has been urged, that the state of Ireland ren- 
 dered it a necessary defence against invasion ; and 
 a Noble Lord * is reported to have argued in its 
 favour, that its object was not to invade, but to 
 secure the establishments of the empire ; and that if 
 Ireland were rendered incecure, the establishments of 
 England would be exposed to greater danger, than 
 any which could possibly result from such a boon to 
 the Catholics^-. Another Noble Lord J is reported 
 
 * Lord Viscount Howick. 
 
 f It is remarkable, that in the discussions which have taken 
 place on the subject under consideration, the term Catholics 
 should have been so generally applied to the description of 
 persons whose claims have produced those discussions. The 
 assumption of that term by the persons in question, as their 
 exclusive and appropriate title, savours of arrogance, and in- 
 deed of insult, for it implies that the Protestants of our Church 
 have no right to the appellation ; but the allowance, by the 
 latter, of such a title to the former, is both preposterous and 
 
 injudicious. 
 J Lord Grenville.
 
 63 
 
 to have contended, that, in the prospect of a peace 
 betiveen France and the Continent, and a contimi 
 aqce of the war with England, the boon would be 
 necessary, in order to conciliate and engage the po- 
 pulation of Ireland in the defence of the empire. 
 That is to say, it cannot be denied that the boon 
 would be productive of danger to our ecclesiastical 
 establishment, but this danger must be incurred 
 for the security of the state against perils from 
 without. Indeed, the mere resorting, in such a 
 case, to an argument founded on general policy, 
 is a clear though tacit admission, that the Church 
 has something to apprehend from the proposed 
 concession. If it could be shewn that such a con- 
 cession is compatible with the safety of the Church, 
 all difficulty would vanish, and it would be quite 
 unnecessary to argue the question on the grounds 
 of general security. For while, on the one hand, 
 no individuals have a right to complain of any re- 
 strictions to which it is necessary they should be 
 subject for the general good; so, on the other, no 
 restrictions ought to exist in a state, unless they are 
 conducive to that object. If, therefore, it could 
 be shewn, that the restrictions in question are not 
 necessary for the safety of the Church, which is 
 the true reason of their being created, it would 
 
 injudicious. These considerations have induced me to use 
 the term Romanists throughout this publication. A correct 
 use of terms of denomination is of more importance to the 
 cause of truth, than is generally supposed.
 
 64 
 
 follow of course that they ought to be removed ; 
 and men of the first-rate talents, with so conclu- 
 sive an argument for the removal in their power, 
 would not reason on the ground of general po- 
 licy. It behoves those persons, however, who 
 contend that the Church must be exposed to 
 danger, for the sake of the State, seriously to con- 
 sider what would become of the State without the 
 Church. 
 
 But in what a light does the above reasoning 
 of the Noble Lord e-xhibit those persons in whose 
 favour it is urged ? For it is founded upon the 
 supposition that four millions of His Majesty's 
 subjects, who are already admissible to all ranks 
 in the army below that of stafF-orfrcers, a rank 
 which very few individuals among them can ever 
 hope to attain, and from which they are ex- 
 cluded for the sake of the public welfare, cannot 
 be prevailed on to stand forward in the defence of 
 their King and country, unless such a restriction 
 be removed. If this be not a libel on the Irish 
 Romanists, I think it furnishes a conclusive argu- 
 ment against the recognition of their claim to a. 
 full participation of power with their Protestant 
 fellow-subjects. 
 
 It is not a little calculated to excite surprise, that 
 the question before us, as it relates to the Corona- 
 tion oath, should have been argued so much on 
 the ground of that respectful and loyal deference
 
 to the scruples of the King's conscience, which is 
 undoubtedly clue from all his subjects, and of a 
 laudab!-:Ml'.:::..ire to C3OHSii.lt His Majesty's personal 
 ease and comfort ; as if it \vere really one of those 
 nice questions of casuistry, on which conscientious 
 men may think and feel diiFere-ntly. But the re- 
 verse of this, unless the principles which I have 
 endeavoured to establish ean be overthrown, is s.o 
 clearly the case, that it seems impossible for any 
 mind that is not enslaved by prejudice to enter- 
 tain a doubt upon the subject. So confident, in- 
 deed, do I feel of the impregnable strength of 
 those principles, that I defy the most strenuous 
 advocate for the claims of the Irish Romanists to 
 controvert the proposition that a compliance with 
 these claims would be incompatible with the 
 safety of the established Church ; and unless this 
 proposition can be successfully controverted, it 
 leads unavoidably to the conclusion, that the King's 
 assent to those claims would be a violation of the 
 Coronation oath. 
 
 Let us hope, Sir, that this important question 
 will not be again argued on grounds, which imply 
 any doubt of the propriety of those scruples by 
 which the Royal Mind was actuated on a late 
 occasion. That those scruples are entitled to the 
 utmost respect, and that the firmness of His Ma- 
 jesty, in acting up to them, deserves the highest 
 admiration, are truths which no one ventures to 
 deny ; but it is no less indisputable, that the
 
 6(5 
 
 judgment of our beloved Sovereign, on that occa- 
 sion, was as correct, as his conduct was firm, or 
 his mind conscientious ; and that, in resisting the 
 claims which have been so unwarrantably pressed 
 upon him, he has afforded a most seasonable sup- 
 port to the established Church, and, thereby, has 
 nobly sustained the exalted character of DE- 
 FENDER of the PROTESTANT FAITH. 
 
 March 31, 1807. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 S. GOSNLI.L, Printer, Little Queen Street.
 
 The following Publications are by John Bowles, Esq. 
 
 i: CONSIDERATIONS on the respective Rights of Judge and 
 Jury, particularly upon Trials for Libel. 
 
 a. A Letter to the Right Hon. C. J. Fox, on the Libel Bill. 
 2- A Second Letter to the Same. 
 
 4. Brief Deductions from First Principles, applying to the 
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 The real Grounds of the War. 
 
 Objections to the Continuance of the War, examined and 
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 Reflections submitted to the Consideration of the combined 
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 Farther Reflections addressed to the Same. 
 ^ Thoughts on the Origin and Formation of political Constitu- 
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 ' The Dangers of premature Peace. 
 
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 Publications by John Bowles, Esq. 
 
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 x 6. Reflections at the Conclusion of the War. 
 
 37. Remarks on modern Female Manners. 
 
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 forward by that Gentleman, in the House of Commons, for the 
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 4
 
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