popish. In reply to this charge, Dr. Murray, the Roman-catholic Archbishop of Dublin, has published a letter, in which he vindicates the system from this aspersion; and other letters on both sides of the controversy have followed, whereby protestants may elicit some useful information. At present we will merely mention, that it appears that more than seven-eighths of the pupils are Roman-catholics; and that a still greater proportion of the inspectors are also of that class. How long is Protestant England to pay 50,000l. a year for the support of this system? IRELAND. We have heard much of late about " the tranquillity" of Ireland, and the pacifying effects of Lord Normanby's "liberal" measures. Let the following extracts from parliamentary returns speak to the boldness and falsehood of these pretences :— But if the committals had increased, the convictions had decreased, shewing increased difficulty in executing the law, and the augmented want of dependence on juries, &c. Again the proclamations issued by the Lord-lieutenant for the apprehension of criminals in 1836-7, numbered But of the rewards offered in these, there were only Leaving unclaimed altogether no less than 520 19 Thus does So that even money in that poor country cannot procure evidence. combination elude justice. This is not, however, the only mode of viewing the state of Ireland. It is necessary not only to regard the number, but the nature, of the crimes committed. In 1836, out of the 23,891 crimes, 620 were murders. Being an increase, in one year, of 102 murders-that is, an increase at the rate of 17 per cent. But it must be remarked, that in the ten most protestant counties—that is, in those counties where the numbers of protestants and papists are sometimes almost equal-the homicides committed in 1837 did not equal in number those committed in the popish county of Tipperary alone! In the Fermanagh,-a county in which the inhabitants are almost exclusively protestants,-only one murder out of 722 was committed. The same may be said of Londonderry. We trust these few facts will speak out plainly to the people of England as to the "tranquillity" of Ireland, and as to the unchangeable nature of persecuting popery. THE following is a list of the Roman-catholic members of the House of Commons: ENGLISH MEMBERS. The Earl of Surrey-East Sussex. Mr. C. Langdale-Knaresborough. Mr. W. Stanley-Pontefract. Mr. P. H. Howard-Carlisle. Mr. Archbold-Kildare. IRISH Mr. N. Fitzsimon-King's County. Mr. D. O'Connell-Dublin. Mr. M. O'Connell-Tralee. Mr. E. B. Roche-County of Cork. Mr. H. W. Barron-Waterford. MEMBERS. Mr. G. S. Barry-County of Cork. Mr. J. Power-County of Waterford. Mr. J. Wyse-Waterford. The O'Conner Don-Roscommon. Mr. J. J. Bodkin-Galway County. Of these persons, only Lords Surrey and Fitzalan have abstained from voting against church property; yet all have taken the following oath :-" I do swear that I will defend, to the utmost of my power, the settlement of property within this realm, as established by the laws; and I do hereby disclaim, disuvow, and solemnly adjure any intention to subvert the present church establishment us settled by law within this realm; and I do solemnly swear that I never will exercise any privilege to which I am or may become entitled, to disturb or weaken the protestant religion or protestant government in the United Kingdom." This oath, it appears, in the estimation of these members and their constituents, does not prevent them from voting for appropriation clauses, attacks on church rates, and the abolition of ten bishoprics in Ireland. The Rev. Hugh McNeile, of Liverpool, has kindly consented (D. V.) to attend the annual meeting of the Protestant Association in May next. NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. The communications of "Catholicus," Mr. Salmon, "No Flatterer," " Aleph," the Rev. J. Allport, and "Philo- Protestant," have been received. We have received some very valuable remarks on the judgment of Sir H. Jenner in the Widow Woolfrey's case, from an anonymous correspondent, who has our best thanks. We hope to notice the subject in our next number. "A Catholic," "J. C." "Amicus Justitiæ," and "A Sincere Friend of the Cause," are under consideration. As the following publications are at present out of print, the committee would feel greatly obliged to any member or friend of the society who may not want the copy they possess, to return it to the office of the Association : The Second Annual Report, 1837, 1838. The Claims of the Protestant Association on Public Support. The Uses of the Established Church to the Protestantism of Ireland. By S. C. Colquhoun. British Legislation-On the Admission of Roman Catholics to Power, &c. By K. Gordon. The Church Establishment-Speech of the Rev. Hugh McNeile. PROTESTANT MAGAZINE. MARCH 1, 1839. POPERY IN THE COLONIES. BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE PROGRESS OF POPERY." MUCH has been said in many recent publications and at many important public meetings concerning the power and alarming increase of Popery in the British Colonies. But not enough has yet been stated on this serious and momentous subject. Not enough, because the people of England appear still too ignorant of the facts, and because they are still indifferent to the national inconsistency of supporting abroad a religion which as a nation we profess to repudiate at home. We know not, therefore, that we could at the present time fulfil a more acceptable duty than to develope the truth on this matter, so far as it is possible to do so; and we sincerely trust that the facts we have collected, and shall enumerate, will assist in awakening the public mind, and in restoring some portion of the ancient Protestant spirit of the people. In Upper Canada it appears that there are thirty Roman-catholic missionaries, to each of whom £50 a year is paid by the government, and to whose bishop a pension of £100 per annum is assigned. Nor is this all. While the papists are allowed for Upper Canada one bishop, and for Lower Canada two, the protestants are compelled, notwithstanding their petitions, to be content with the solitary bishop of Montreal. Again, the grants to the papists are likely to be increased, in accordance with Lord Durham's suggestion; while the grant of £16,000 to the protestant clergy was during the last session of parliament withdrawn. In Lower Canada the protestants are about as numerous as the papists are in Upper Canada. Yet have the protestants, though with this claim to have as much aid as the papists enjoy in the other colony-have the protestants thirty missionaries allowed them? Far from it. Only seven protestant rectories are supported; and if it be true that £1000 a year is granted to the protestant bishop of Montreal, the papists are carefully kept in good humour, for the same sum is given to another of their prelates. But this thousand a year to the Romanists must not be considered all their allowance. Oh no! Popery in Lower Canada is the established religion; popery in that colony has the VOL. I.-March, 1839. D tithes, and not only the tithes, but an immense territorial possession also. * In Newfoundland the case is worse still. The protestants here have nothing at all but a paltry grant from the English parliament of £300 a year for an archdeacon. And what has popery? Why £75 a year for a bishop from the British parliament. And is she content with that sum? Are the popish advocates of the voluntary principle willing to support themselves? Not at all. The population of the colony is equally divided; half of the people being protestants, and the other papists. But the latter class has succeeded in returning a majority to the House of Assembly, because Lord Glenelg in his wisdom thought proper to establish something like household suffrage, and therefore the mobs carry the elections as they please; and the repectable portion of the community being protestants, are excluded from all influence. The consequence is, that the sum of £7000 is annually granted to the popish bishop and priests, and not one single shilling to any other religious ministers. Recently it appears that success has emboldened the bigoted and deluded colonists, and they have made arrangements for building a Roman-catholic cathedral, for which government has granted eight acres of land. In the Mauritius the papists enjoy from the government funds £2520 a year; while the protestants are disposed of with less than half that sum, namely, £ 1081. In Trinidad popery has £2487 per annum, and protestantism about a third as much, namely, £ 860 only. In St. Lucia there is one protestant minister of the gospel, and three papists; in Gibraltar the papists have £196 a year, the protestants £465; in Malta popery reigns supreme and triumphant, while protestantism has been so scandalously neglected, that our excellent and truly religious and gracious Queen Dowager on visiting the island, instantly gave orders for the building of a noble protestant church, to the erection and endowment of which she appropriated £8000. In the Ionian Islands the papists are allowed to share equally with the protestants the bounty of the crown; in Ceylon, the Cape of Good Hope, and many of the West India Islands which * We cannot mention the name of Lord Glenelg without congratulating all friends of the protestant cause on his retirement from office. It is not too much to say that there never was a colonial minister who did more to thwart protestantism and assist popery-witness the creation of popish bishops in the Cape of Good Hope and Australia, and India, the state of Newfoundland; the attempt to impose the Irish system of education on New South Wales; the suppression of Windsor College in Nova Scotia; the withdrawal of the grant to the protestant clergy in Upper Canada; and the paltry trick about the salary of the bishoprick of Quebec. We willingly would speak differently of his lordship, or suffer him to pass into obscurity without notice, but truth must be spoken, and we at least will not consent to conceal it. we have not mentioned, this is also the case. In other places the government altogether neglects the spiritual wants of the colonists, and leaves the protestants to the care of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. In New South Wales popery received in 1833, £1,200. In 1836 this sum had risen to £3,040; and besides this, the control of the system of education has been taken from the protestant clergy, and the Irish bible-mutilating system has been forced upon the colony in compliance with the request of the late popish governor, Sir Richard Bourke. In India, in 1836, £ 1669: 14: was paid to the papists, besides the stipends allowed to the popish missionaries for ministering to the Roman-catholic soldiers in the army. What will our readers say to these things? Are they not too bad? If the reply be in the affirmative, we go on to say, that if this statement be deplorable, it contains not one half of the whole truth. At present the parliamentary returns respecting some of the colonies are extremely defective and imperfect; and consequently a very considerable portion of the amounts paid to popery are unknown. For instance, the extent of aid given to popery in Jamaica, Barbadoes, Bermuda, Honduras, St. Vincent, Mont Serrat, Dominica, &c. is not as yet before parliament. But we trust that before the session is over, we shall be able still more fully to acquaint our readers with the facts of this important matter. In the meantime we ask them to view our statements as samples and specimens, rather than as complete and sufficient descriptions of the truth. But it may be said, that these are mere temporary arrangements, and that they are not intended to continue. The fact however is otherwise. Instead of the existing succour to popery being a thing likely to be diminished, the fact really is that it is only a promise, and the seed of something worse hereafter. For what is the government plan, as developed and passed into a law in New South Wales? Why simply this: wherever any body of Christians," no matter what they call themselves-papists, socinians, or freethinkers-choose to subscribe £300 to build a chapel, the Governor will issue all the rest that may be wanted to the amount of £1000; and if that be not sufficient, he may increase the sum with the assent of his legislative council. Again, wherever 100 adults subscribe a declaration of their desire to attend any proposed church or chapel, no matter what its sort, the governor may allow the minister £100 a year. If 200 shall subscribe such a declaration, then £150 a year, and so on. Such is the state of things-such is the conduct of the government in the British Colonies. We ask the professedly protestant people of Great Britain, how long this is to continue? What blessing can rest on a nation that thus divides its patronage be D 2 |