AT the Monthly Meeting of the General Committee of this Association, held at the Association Rooms, on Wednesday, the 15th ult., numerous letters were read from Catholic Noblemen and Gentlemen, resident in various parts of England, desirous to shew their respect to the memory of the late Mr. Canning, by attending his funeral as a deputation from the Catholic body; but after some explanation from Mr. Blount, the Secretary, on the subject, it was moved by the Hon. Mr. Clifford, seconded by the Rev. Dr. Collins, and resolved unanimously,

"That this Committee having been specially summoned to take into consideration the propriety of adopting any measures in consequence of the death of the late Right Hon. George Canning; and having been officially informed that the proposition to attend his funeral, by deputation, would be inconsistent with the arrangements made for that melancholy occasion, cannot separate without deploring the death of the late Right Hon. George Canning as a heavy calamity; and that in this declaration of their feelings, they are persuaded they

express those of all their fellow-Catholics throughout his Majesty's dominions.

"And that this Resolution be published in the Times, Morning Chronicle, Globe and Traveller, and the Courier newspapers."

Ara Meeting of the New Catholic Association, held in the Great Rooms, Corn Exchange, Dublin, on Saturday, the 11th ult.,

NICHOLAS MAHON, Esq. in the Chair,

it was moved by John Lawless, Esq., seconded by A. Carew O'Dwyer, Esq., and resolved

"That in profound respect to the memory of that eminent and most eloquent statesman, the Right Hon. George Canning, whose splendid and unrivalled talents have ever been employed in the vindication of the right of the Catholics of Ireland to an equal participation in the law and constitution of their country, we do hereby resolve, that the Association shall forthwith adjourn for a fortnight."

SPEECH of the Rev. Mr. Edgeworth, delivered at the Bristol Bible Meeting, on Tuesday, the 29th of May last.

In a recent number we alluded to the speeches of the Rev. Mr. Williams, and the Rev. Mr. Edgeworth, on the above occasion. The speech of the former gentleman has already appeared in the Truthteller, and we think it due to the latter, and to all who, like him, stand forward to vindicate the principles of our holy religion, to avail ourselves of this opportunity, though somewhat

late, to insert it in our columns. The various charges preferred against us on that occasion, will be inferred from the Rev. Gentleman's speech in reply, which we insert verbatim as follows:

In rising to address you, sir, I am anxious to disclaim, in the most unequivocal manner, any intention or wish of interrupting the proceedings of the Association which has this day been brought into existence. To avoid even the appearance of doing so, I have patiently waited till this

late hour. Much less, sir, would I knowingly oppose the least obstacle to the attainment of the great and sacred object, which the societies that have been so eloquently recommended to our attention profess to have in view. If that object is simply the moral and religious improvement of Ireland, I beg to say, that I yield not to the noble lord, nor to any of the reverend gentlemen near him, in fervent wishes for their speedy and complete success, nor in anxiety to lend my feeble but hearty co-operation. (Hear.) I cheerfully avow my admiration of the zeal which animates the noble lord, and which inspires the glowing language that we have heard from his reverend associates. I impeach not their motives, which I am determined to think are perfectly pure, and have direct reference to the honour of God and the welfare of man. Yet, sir, I am compelled, by a sense of duty, to rise up in this enlightened assembly, to express my great disappointment, that in seeking to promote a cause avowedly of so sacred a nature, some gentlemen should have descended to malign and calumniate the Catholic, the ancient religion of this country, the religion of those whom they intend to conciliate and benefit. I acknowledge, sir, that I am one of those benighted papists whom the noble lord and his zealous companions are desirous of redeeming from error. Nay more, I am a Catholic priest, (some hisses;) and though some seem to think me bold in making this avowal, I make it without hesitation or fear, when I consider the increased liberality of the present day, and that I am surrounded by my fellow-citizens and fellowChristians; who will not withhold their indulgence from me on account of my conscientious attachment to the religion which I regard as the best. (Cheers.) I shall trespass upon that indulgence but for a few moments. (Hear, hear.) Aware that many are listening to me whose esteem I possess and value, and shall deservedly forfeit if I say any thing inconsistent with truth, feeling the responsibility which will attach to every word I may utter, I solemnly deny that the

Catholic church is an enemy to the reading and circulating of the Holy Scriptures. This unjust charge has been brought forward on the present occasion, not in plain and honest terms; it has been made in an indirect manner. By insinuation have the reverend and eloquent gentle.. men, whose discretion I must admire, thought it right to make an impression on the minds of the meeting, that the Catholic church denies to her children the use of the word of God. I put it to the good sense and candour of my Protestant brethren, whether I am not, from my education and profession, as capable as any of the reverend gentlemen who have spoken before me, of giving authentic information on this or any other point of Catholic doctrine. (Hear.) I have not at my command prepared and measured language, like that used by the advocates of this Association. Yet will I endeavour to discharge my duty, by fearlessly opposing my statements to their unjust insinuations. I hold myself, and every other Catholic clergyman intrusted, like myself, with the care of souls, to be under the strictest obligation of instructing my flock in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. It is known to many here that I endeavour to fulfil this obligation, however imperfectly, to the extent of my ability. Yet I am held up to this meeting as one who would seal the sacred volume, and prevent my people from knowing its contents. An injunction of the most solemn nature, from the highest authority in our church, has been laid upon us to be assiduous in encouraging our flocks in reading books of piety, but particularly the Holy Scriptures, because, says our chief bishop, nothing is better calculated "than the reading of the Scriptures, when understood in their true sense, to confirm the faith, support the hope, and to inflame the charity of the true Christian." Does this manifest a desire, on the part of the Catholic church, to lock up from her children the inestimable treasure preserved in the inspired writings? (Hear, hear.) I hold in my hand a document, which details the belief of Catholics on the

points of controversy between the two churches. It differs much in character, and consequently in weight, from the documents from which the reverend gentlemen have extracted many pleasant tales for the amusement of the meeting. The scenes and principal actors referred to by them are for the most part distant, and unnamed.

But this document is distinguished by the signature of all the Catholic prelates in England and Scotland, by the signature of the Duke of Norfolk, and the rest of the Catholic peers: it has been received and circulated by the clergy and people throughout the kingdom, as a correct statement of our principles on the subjects on which we have been misrepresented. I hope I give no offence in stating that this declaration' has been drawn up and widely circulated, chiefly to correct the prejudices, the lamented prejudices of our Protestant brethren, the existence of which we regard as the great bar, to the union and mutual charity which the Christian of every creed must be anxious to promote. It is put forth, not to convert you, sir, to the horrors of popery, (a laugh) but to give to our brethren, with whom we wish to be on better terms, an accurate idea of our principles as Catholics and as citizens. By this 'declaration,' therefore, we think it fair to demand to be judged, rather than by the fanciful anecdotes which the gentlemen before me have related. [Here Mr. Edgeworth read, from the pamphlet in his hand, the section regarding the Catholic doctrine of the authority and use of the Scriptures.] From this document I am convinced that the noble lord and those about him, if they have any portion of that benevolence, of that true and disinterested charity which they profess, [noise at the table] (and to which Í regret I must appeal for a patient hearing) (Hear, hear!)—if they have that heavenly virtue of charity glowing in their souls, most happy will they be to learn that the Catholic church is not as she has often been described an enemy to the reading and circulation of the Scriptures; but that she venerates it as profoundly as

those gentlemen themselves, that she watches over its integrity and true sense with the greatest solicitude, and that she differs from them only in her greater caution that it should be read with due dispositions, and understood in its real sense. I assure the noble lord who is pleased to meet my observations with a smile, that it is unquestionably the fact, that from this very church, the misrepresented, the Catholic church, he and his brother reformers have received the sacred treasure of the scripture. To a higher depository he cannot trace it. I am particularly surprised at one Rev. Gentleman on the right of the chair, (Rev. Robt. Daly), who, I imagine, has had more reason than many to know that Catholics are not quite ignorant of the scripture. His contest with a learned barrister on the other side of the water, I did think had left a clear, perhaps a sore recollection, that even a Catholic layman could sometimes scan the sacred volume, and make an efficient use of its contents. The great difference between Catholics and Protestants, as far as Scripture is concerned is this: the Catholics submit their individual and fallible interpretation to an authority which, it is their lot to believe, God has established to guide them to truth, and preserve them from error.-You are satisfied, that each one's interpretation, though, in fact, leading to an endless variety of opinions even on the essential doctrines of Christianity, is a substantially correct, or at least a sufficient and safe guide.-This, Sir, is the point of difference, and one I am sure of great delicacy in the estimation of the Rev. Gentlemen at the table, and of every other member of the Established church. If I, Sir, do not circulate the holy Scriptures among my flock for the purpose of inducing each one to read and judge for himself, it is because the slightest knowledge of human nature tells me, that if they acted upon this principle, if each one interpreted the Scripture for himself, the flock, which I feel it my duty to keep together, would be scattered in one week ;-(loud cries of yes, yes, and laughter,)-to me it

seems there would be as many religions as readers of the Scripture; that each one could appeal to his right of private judgment, and tell me that he could dispense w th my officious、ness, with the instructions of the church, and the expense of supporting it. (Hear, hear!) --Those Rev. Gentlemen must have heard in the course of their experience, language to this effect How they can answer it, it is not for me to say. But the situation of a Catholic minister is different from their s. He will tell you, that bound as he is to spread the knowledge of the holy Scriptures to the utmost of his abilities, he must discharge this duty without violating another equally sacred, that of preserving his flock in the unity of faith.

(Hear!) that of keeping unchanged by human caprice, the faith established by Christ, delivered to the saints,' and transmitted through every age to the present day. (Hear, hear!)-Dissolve this unity, then each one, (even the gentleman on my right who delights in interrupting me), (laugh)-may, without being invested with any ecclesiastical power from ordination or otherwise, first frame his own religion, and then for charity sake teach it to others. This state of things the Rev. Gentlemen can hardly desire, yet I humbly submit it flows from the principle on which they are now acting. I will not be so rash as to say they are inconsistent, but if they are not, if they do not show two faces according to circumstances, I pity the embarrassed situation in which they must find themselves, between beuighted papists on the one hand, whom they are so anxious to induce to read the Scriptures at all risks and in defiance of their church, though they find something in the Scriptures about a church which they are commanded to hear, and the various, highly respected, and influential classes of dissenters on the other, whose numbers are daily and hourly increasing at the cost of the establishment, in consequence of bowing to private judgment as supreme arbiter of religious doctrine, and who, as the Rev. Gentlemen must have learned, are not to

be stopped or influenced in their course by the authority of the church, even of the church established by law. If the Rev. Gentlemen attempt to interpose such an authority, they are met with taunts of their conduct being nothing better than rank popery. (Hear.) Some bold spirits even go so far as to hint the uselessness of any church, but particularly of a church whose ministers are so highly salaried as the ministers of that to which I understand those gentlemen belong. And, indeed, if each man is to judge for himself, if it is tyranny to seek to control him in the exercise of his judgment, even by the wisdom and experience of a church, then, in my opinion, do the seceders from the establishment argue unanswerably. (Hear, hear) But if the church may raise her voice and insist on the right of guiding her children, of preventing dissensions and schism amongst them, of keeping them united together as sheep under one shepherd,-if those gentlemen think and teach this, then I have a right to ask them to speak tenderly and discreetly of their Catholic brethren, who act upon the same sound principle in submitting to the authority of their ancient church. (Cheers.) These observations are made not to provoke controversy; but to shew that the caution, the authority, or the something so much like authority that I cannot see the difference, which they would fain use themselves, to prevent defection from the esta blishment, is not to be reprobated in Catholics. My object, I hope, is not mistaken. Do I oppose the good end you have in view? No, Sir. I, also, as well as the noble lord and the gentlemen around me, have connections with Ireland; and feebly do I express myself when I say that my heart warms as much as their's, whenever in this country, the source of Ireland's wrongs,-(Hear, hear !) --any project, any rational plan is brought forward to ameliorate her condition, moral, religious, or political; and Í am as eager as any one who listens to me, to take an humble share in so sacred a cause. (Cheers.) I thought it due to myself, and to the religion