very well satisfy its cravings; and a sense of prudence, if not of justice, of decency, if not of benevolence, should restrain its appearing as the sole obstacle to the inclusion of Catholics in the equalization of civil rights, and the consequent pacification of the empire. But the clergy have plunged headlong into this unholy strife. And never has there been less scrupulosity in the means resorted to than on this occasion. County meetings have been made the most disgraceful scenes of confusion by the introduction of organized bands of vociferators to drown all discussion. Petitions have been manufactured and multiplied by the most shameless contrivances. It is enough to say that the signatures to them have repeatedly outnumbered the population of the places from which they professed to emanate. Placards directly inciting to riot and violence, have been profusely distributed in the metropolis and in other large towns. The Press has teemed with unprecedented abuse of public men, and the Throne itself has not been respected. The progress of the Bill has been obstructed in Parliament in, to say the least, a very unusual manner. A strange and monstrous co-operation has been established between our dignified but militant Church, and the veriest dregs of Dissenting fanaticism. Unheard-of preachers and congregations, who, in other times, would only have been raked into light to shew how intolerable their crudities were, have been blazoned forth before the Legislature as the Dissenting Interest, and their ill-scribbled rolls of parchment have flaunted among the banners of the armies of Intolerance. And, to complete the disgust of the spectacle, we have had A DUEL for the honour and glory of the Protestant Religion. It is all in vain. The Church will accomplish nothing but its own disgrace. Ministers are proceeding with a firmness which cannot fail. They will not fail. The liberal members of the Church of England, those who are its redemption in public opinion; the best known and most esteemed of all the Dissenting denominations; the leaders and pride of the Scottish Church; the distinguished of all political parties; these all have rallied round them, and are marching with them, like some noble and venerable procession of priests and heralds, in ancient times, advancing calmly between hostile armies; conflict ceasing at their presence; opposing warriors hearing the voice of truth and peace; and a thousand angry passions hushed into quietness, and giving way to union and affection. The Pamphlets, the titles of which are connected with this article, are merely such a chance specimen as has been forwarded to our office, of the manner in which the Liberals have "carried on the war." They are a very creditable specimen. Of the "Catholic State Waggon," which is a reprint of the first article of the recently published number of the Westminster Review, an immense quantity has been circulated; and so there should be. It is an article which Bentham might have written for its logic, and Swift for its humour. The "Appeal" is avowedly by a recent Convert. It is calm, moderate, and persuasive. The writer takes the same ground as Mr. Peel, and he thus illustrates the necessity of concession: "The law is become a dead letter; factious passions poison the very seats of justice, and openly resist the execution of its decrees. Society is utterly unhinged; there is neither confidence nor goodwill in any kind of human intercourse. Landed estates are unproductive-thus throwing the landlords into the scale against us; the people are destitute of employment, emigrating to England, overrunning us, and reducing to their own miserable level our peasantry, already sufficiently distressed; our two Houses of Parliament are violently disunited in themselves, and discordant also with each other. A strong Papist influence exists in each, and is likely to include nearly every Irish member of the Commons after another general election.* No united ministry can be found to conduct our Government, without the absurd expedient of taking raw and unknown men; the attention and energy of our Government are distracted and drawn away from all other important affairs of State, by this ever-urgent and hopeless topic; the heirs-apparent of many powerful men are at open variance with those whose places they expect to fill; even the heir-apparent of the throne avowing an opinion favourable to the claims of the Papists. All things, in fact, are at variance; disunion and disruption existing and increasing in every quarter, and in every rank amongst us. Affairs in Ireland are come to such a state, that no man, of any party, even pretends to suppose that a refusal of the claims of the Papists can have any other issue than rebellion and civil war."-Pp. 15, 16. The "Protestant" appears to be a Birmingham man, and writes primarily for his townsmen. He shews much good sense, seasoned with occasional smartness, in meeting the common objections to the safety of trusting Catholics with power. For instance : "How trifling the obedience is which the Catholics are disposed to yield to his papal majesty, history shews, even when the pope had a great deal of the substance of that power of which he now retains nothing but the shadow. Some of the severest laws that have ever been passed against the interference of the pope in the concerns of England, were passed in the reign of Edward the First, that is to say, more than two hundred years before the Reformation was even heard of, and when the pope was acknowledged to be the head of the church. These laws, called the laws of præmunire, impose very severe penalties on any one who shall venture to obey the authority of the pope, when opposed to that of government. And the king, by several direct acts, shewed how little he respected the directions of the representative of St. Peter. The pope forbad Edward's invasion of Scotland-Edward laughed at the pope, and marched northwards. The pope excommunicated an Englishman who had offended him-Edward ordered the messenger who brought the writ of excommunication to be hanged. The pope granted the English clergy an exemption from a tax that had been levied on the people generally-Edward seized on the property of the clergy in spite of the exemptions."-Pp. 16, 17. The "Rector of Alderly" endeavours, in a manner worthy of a minister of the gospel of peace, to enlighten his parishioners by an historical view of the conduct of the Catholics, intermixed with reflections of a truly Christian character. The Letter to the Rev. W. Thorpe is a most clear and cogent piece of argument, which we should gladly have inserted entire, had our limits allowed. We can only make two short extracts. The general principle stated : "Whatever annexes temporal evil of any kind to the exercise or profession of religious opinions, whether by the infliction of disgrace and obloquy, of pain and fear, or of hatred and suspicion,—by injury to the peace, the property, the domestic charities, the civil rights and privileges, the influence and respectability of another,―or, by the destruction of liberty or of life, is an infringement on the rights of conscience: and, however inflicted, whether by the power of the tongue, the pen, or the sword, by the strong arm of human law and temporal dominion, or by the no less powerful influence of the press or the pulpit,—such infringement on the rights of conscience is a spe "The recent election in the county of Clare reduces this probability almost to a certainty." cies of persecution. My peace and good name are dearer to me than money; my power of usefulness than my liberty, or even my life: if you destroy the former, you persecute me more pungently, though with more refined torture, than if you employ the arm of civil authority to inflict on me fines, imprisonment, and death."-P. 2. Apprehensions of danger unfounded: "But suppose the Catholics unchanged, and as much disposed as ever to that intolerant spirit which the Exclusionists manifest, how little is the alarm which you have shared and propagated, supported by the FACTS of the case! Is there any absurdity chargeable on what they call Popery, greater than that of maintaining that at most seventy or eighty Catholic members of the Commons could overpower the remaining mass of Protestants? And, IF they did, that a dozen Catholic noblemen could overpower the bench of Protestant Bishops, to leave out of reckoning the great bulk of Protestant Peers? And, IF they did, that a Protestant King would forget the rights of the majority of his subjects, and the tenure of his crown, and expose himself to that forfeiture of it which, for his now proposing to the Parliament to do justice to ALL, has been daringly held up to alarm him by some of the Journals of the day? And, IF all this did take place, that the Protestant influence of the great mass of intelligence, culture, wealth, and energy of our nation, would not outweigh the whole? I should rather say, that influence MUST PREVENT the whole, and renders every part impossible."-P. 6. The Report of the Edinburgh Meeting, which the London papers gave but a meagre account of, is exceedingly interesting. It should do something towards putting right the very incorrect notions commonly entertained about the state of opinion in Scotland. The list of distinguished men present, with the addition of Sir Walter Scott and Dr. A. Thomson, who both wrote to express their cordial concurrence in the object of the meeting which they were unable to attend, comprises the intellectual pride of that intellectual city. The meeting was intensely crowded, and the expression of its feelings was most enthusiastic. We give the 4th Resolution with the commencement and close of Dr. Chalmers' eloquent address : "That, though we entertain no doubt that the firmness and prudence of the distinguished Statesmen who have united to support this great measure, will speedily carry it into effect, without any considerable impediment, and that the partial clamours which have been excited against it will soon subside in general and permanent satisfaction, we think it right not only to offer our humble tribute of thanks for the good we believe it will effect, but earnestly to pray for its speedy and entire consummation, and to express our conviction, that its abandonment, if such a thing were possible after the hopes that have been raised and the pledges that have been given, would be the greatest of all national calamities, and would aggravate tenfold all the evils and dangers from which it promised to deliver us.' "Dr. CHALMERS rose to second the resolution which had just been read, and was received with enthusiastic acclamations. He waved his hand repeatedly to induce silence, which having been at length obtained, he spoke verbatim as follows:-I understand that the present meeting would not have been called, had it not been for certain anterior efforts made in this city, and the object of which was to obtain signatures for a petition against the Catholic Emancipation. We should have remained quiet; and this, perhaps, would have been as significant an expression as we could have given of our confidence in the measures proposed by his Majesty's Government. Had there been no public exhibition on their part, I understand that there would have been no public exhibition upon ours. And I advert to this simply for the purpose of remarking, how delusive the indication often is of the state of public sentiment, in as far as it is grounded either on the majority of petitions or on the majority of signatures. The truth is, that they are the non-contents, the alarmists, who are in motion: and the contents scarcely ever think of moving, but in the capacity of counter-alarmists. Meanwhile, if arithmetical deduction were to be made of all the petitioners on both sides of the question, it would be found that the great body of the public, the great body of the population, were in a state of rest-(Cheers)—and they count with us, not with our opponents. (Loud cheers.) We have read of expressive silence; and this is what their silence expresses. (Cheers.) There may have been a local effervescence here and there; but mainly and throughout the land, there is a general attitude of quiescence, perhaps the strongest demonstration that could be given of the reliance which the people of Scotland have on the wisdom and the safety of the measures now in agitation. "I am sensible of one advantage which our opponents have against us, and that is a certain command over the religious feelings of the population: and yet I am not aware of any public topic on which the popular and prevailing cry ever ran so counter as it does at present to the whole drift and spirit of Christianity. What other instruments do we read of in the New Testament for the defence and propagation of the Faith, but the Word of God, and the Spirit of God? How does the Apostle explain the principle of its triumphs in that age when truth was so mighty to the pulling down of strong holds? It was because the weapons of his warfare were not carnal. He confined himself to the use of spiritual weapons, the only ones by which to assail the strong holds either of Popery or Paganism. (Cheers.) The kingdom of God, which is not of this world, refuses to be indebted for its advancement to any other. Reason, and Scripture, and prayer-these compose, or ought to compose, the whole armoury of Protestantism; and it is by these alone that the battles of the Faith can be successfully fought. (Cheers.) It is since the admission of intolerance, that unseemly associate, within our camp, that the cause of the Reformation has come down from its vantage ground; and from the moment it wrested this engine from the hands of its adversaries, and began to wield and brandish it itself, from that moment it has been at a dead stand. (Applause.) We want to be disencumbered of this weight, and to be restored thereby to our own free and proper energies. We want truth and force to be dissevered from each other-(Cheers)-the moral and spiritual to be no longer implicated with the grossly physical; for never shall we prosper, and never shall we prevail in Ireland, till our cause be delivered from the outrage and the contamination of so unholy an alliance. (Cheers.) "It is not because I hold Popery to be innocent that I want the removal of these disabilities; but because Ỉ hold, that if these were taken out of the way, she would be ten-fold more assailable. (Cheers.) It is not because I am indifferent to the good of Protestantism that I want to displace these artificial crutches from under her- (Laughter)-but because I want that, freed from every symptom of decrepitude and decay, she should stand forth in her own native strength, and make manifest to all men how firm a support she has on the goodness of her cause, and on the basis of her orderly and well-laid arguments. (Loud cheers.) It is because I count so much-and will any Protestant here present say that I count too much?-on her Bible, and her Evidences, and the blessing of God upon her churches, and the force of her resistless appeals to the conscience and the understandings of men; it is because of her strength and sufficiency in these that I would disclaim the aids of the statute-book, and own no dependence or obligation whatever on a system of intolerance. (Cheers.) These were enough for her in the days of her suffering, and should be more than enough for her in the days of her comparative safety. (Loud cheers.) It is not by our fears and our false alarms that we do honour to Protestantism. A far more befitting honour to the great cause is the homage of our confidence; for what Sheridan said of the liberty of the press, admits of most emphatic application to this religion of truth and liberty. Give,' says that great orator, 'give to Ministers a corrupt House of Commons; give them a pliant and a servile House of Lords; give them the keys of the Treasury and the patronage of the Crown; and give me the Liberty of the Press, and with this mighty engine I will overthrow the fabric of corruption, and establish upon its ruins the rights and privileges of the people.' In like manner, give the Catholics of Ireland their emancipation; give them a seat in the Parliament of their country; give them a free and equal participation in the politics of the realm; give them a place at the right ear of Majesty, and a voice in his counsels; and give me the circulation of the Bible, and with this mighty engine I will overthrow the tyranny of Antichrist, and establish the fair and original form of Christianity on its ruins.(The delivery of this splendid passage, which was given with prodigious force, elicited a burst of applause so deafening and enthusiastic, that the effect was altogether sublime. The shouts and huzzas were thrice renewed, and it was with difficulty the speaker could proceed.) "The politics of the question I have left to other and abler hands. I view it only in its religious bearings, and I give it as my honest conviction, and I believe the conviction of every true-hearted Protestant who knows wherein it is that the great strength of his cause lies, that we have every thing to hope from this proposed Emancipation, and that we have nothing to fear. (The conclusion of the Rev. Doctor's speech was greeted with renewed shouts and huzzas, the whole audience standing and waving their hats in the air. This lasted several minutes, and it was not without difficulty that the tumult of admiration was allayed.)"-Pp. 17-20. And here we trust we take our final leave, except as a matter of history, of the discussion on the question of admitting Roman Catholics to the full possession of the rights of men and citizens in the British Empire. MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE. SIR, Co-operation. LETTER III. To the Editor. I COME now to shew why Unitarianism, if consistent, ought to be more favourable to Co-operation than any other religious persuasion. In this argument, it will not be necessary to advocate the truth of Unitarianism, but only to follow the assumption to its consequences, and to state as fairly as possible the contrasts of creeds. I assume, then, the simplicity of the creed unqualified respect for the rights of conscience: unlimited civil liberty: individual independence of mind: universal spread of knowledge. Those who have lived much among the orthodox, to use a distinctive name, have perhaps observed that the practical object of their creed is dogma, not happiness. It is to make all mankind think alike or profess alike, not to make them all happy alike. As they have undertaken to do this upon a vast number of points, extremely abstruse and difficult to be understood, and some of them professedly above comprehension, i. e. above human understanding; so, to effect their purpose, they assume the necessity of a class of men devoted to the study of these difficult aud metaphysical questions, who, having attained a sufficient knowledge of what it is that is above comprehension, are to make it plain to others this plainness being still of such a nature, that the hearer is not qualified to do without the teacher, or to pass a judgment upon his doctrine, or to reason upon it, or to think upon it, as a matter of truth or error. The peculiar doctrines of Christianity, as they are called, are few in number, and yet so lengthy and onerous in their explanation and illustration, if such it may be called, that perhaps it may be said, the preacher always ends where he begins, and that revolving years only bring with them the same perpetual motion of propositions, so varied, dissected, and recomposed, that while you recognize every feature, you can never per |