tant Association assembled in Exeter Hall, this 3rd day of June, 1840, beg leave to approach your Majesty with an assurance of our deep and sincere affection for your Majesty's royal person, and of our devoted attachment to the Protestant principles which seated your illustrious family upon the throne of these realms. That they desire most humbly and earnestly to represent to your Majesty that they consider that religious instruction upon scriptural principles should form the basis of every system of National Education, and that that religious institution should be in accordance with the doctrines and under the direction of the Clergy of the Established Church.

That, entertaining these sentiments, we observed with great alarm and anxiety the proceedings of a Committee of Council, appointed by your Majesty during the past year to superintend the application of any sums voted by Parliament for the purpose of promoting public education; we regretted to observe by the minutes of that Committee as laid before Parliament, that it was intended to introduce a Romish Version of the Bible, to mingle all denominations in the same schools, to pay the Romish and other heretical teachers, and to divide religious instruction into two kinds, general and special, a division totally inconsistent with the inculcation of pure religion.

And while we were pleased to see that scheme relinquished, we had entertained the hope that nothing so repugnant to the feelings and consciences of your Majesty's people would have been again brought forward. But notwithstanding this, while that scheme was professedly abandoned, we perceive with regret from a report drawn up by the Committee of Council, that the same objects seem still to be had in view, and to be deferred, as stated therein, only till a greater concurrence of opinion upon that subject is found to prevail, and that they avow therein their intention of making grants to schools without reference to what or whether any religious creed is there inculcated.

We therefore humbly pray that your Majesty will be graciously pleased to relieve the minds of your Majesty's faithful Protestant subjects from their present anxiety, by revoking the order which constitutes that Board of Council on National Education.

PETITION.

"TO THE HONORABLE THE COMMONS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.

"The petition of the undersigned members and friends of the Protestant Association, and others,

"Humbly showeth-That your petitioners having viewed with great alarm the plan of education originally laid before parliament, by the Committee of Privy Council, appointed to superintend the application of any sums voted by parliament for the purpose of promoting public education,' in which plan proposals were made for introducing a Romish version of the Bible, for dividing religious instruction into two kinds, 'general and special,' for mingling all denominations in the same schools, and for paying Romish and other heretical teachers, petitioned your honorable house not to sanction that scheme, or support it by a grant of public money.

"That your petitioners were gratified when that scheme seemed to be relinquished, and had entertained the hope that nothing so repugnant to the feelings and consciences of the British Public would have been again brought forward. But, while that scheme was professedly abandoned, your petitioners perceive with regret, from a report drawn up by the committee of council, that the same objects appear still to be contemplated, and to be deferred, as stated therein, only till a greater concurrence of opinion upon that subject is found to prevail, and that the intention is therein avowed of making grants to schools, without reference to what or whether any religious creed is there inculcated.

"Your Petitioners, therefore, considering that religious instruction upon scriptural principles should form the basis of every system of national education, and that that religious instruction should be in accordance with the doctrines and under the direction of the clergy of the Established Church, humbly pray your honorable house to refuse your sanction to the committee of council, and to withhold any grant of public money to be applied under their superintendence.

"And your petitioners," &c.

4th, by Lord Bolton, seconded by Sir D. Mackworth, Bart.:

"That the cordial thanks of this meeting be given to the Earl of Winchelsea for his kindness in presiding on this occasion."

FINSBURY OPERATIVE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION.-The second lecture was delivered to this Society on the 10th of June, by the Rev. M. Hobart Seymour. W. S. Blackstone, Esq. M.P., was in the chair. The lecture was a most valuable one (on Idolatry), and will we believe be published; a vote of thanks for it, and to the worthy chairman was moved by M. Wylie, Esq. and seconded by J. Lord, Esq., after which the meeting sang the doxology. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, the 8th July, when (D.V.) a lecture will be delivered by Mr. Callow on Popes and Anti-Popes; the place of meeting fixed is the Collegiate School, No. 23, Finsbury-square, and we hope from the great pleasure given by the last meeting that the attendance will be

numerous.

The annual meeting of the Derby Protestant Association was held on the 4th June, at which Sir Matthew Blakiston, Bart. presided. The Rev. Hugh McNeile, of Liverpool, and the Rev. E. Tottenham, of Bath, assisted the clergy and gentry of the neighbourhood by able and eloquent speeches. Among the other speakers were W. Newton, Esq., Rev. J. G. Howard, Colonel Clowes, Rev. Philip Gell, Rev. Tenison Cuffe, and the Rev. Mr. Greeves, Wesleyan minister. Among those present were the Hon. and Rev. T. Cavendish, C. R. Colville, Esq., H. S. Wilmot, Esq., and Mr. James Montgomery the Poet.

We are happy to inform our readers that during the past month Branch Protestant Associations have been formed at Chelmsford, Colchester, and Sudbury, through the instrumentality of one of the agents of the London Association, and with every prospect of active exertion.

THE QUEEN OF TAHITI. We are happy to hear that a subscription to enable the Queen of Tahiti to pay the fine which the Captain of a Popish King's Frigate lately demanded from her, has been raised in London by some friends of the London Missionary Society. Thomas Wilson, Esq., of Highbury, is the Treasurer.

PROGRESS OF POPERY IN FOREIGN PARTS.-" In British Guiana a branch of the Catholic Institute has been formed. More missionaries are about to be sent out to New Zealand, where there were previously a Romish bishop with ten priests. Seven missionaries left Bordeaux in January last to proceed to Valparaiso, and from thence for the Gambier or Marquis Islands."- From the Catholic Magazine for June.

EAST INDIES.-Two priests left Turin in August last, for the Apostolic Vicariate of Pegu and Ava.

Seven Popish Periodicals are published every week in the United States. -From the Catholic Magazine for June.

ROMISH CATHEDRAL, ARMAGH.-The first stone of this edifice is announced in the Catholic Magazine as having been laid on the 17th March last. The site is stated to be the gift of Lord Cremorne.

MAYNOOTH.-The late period of the month at which Mr. Plumptre's motion on this subject was brought forward, prevents us noticing it as we hope to do in our next number. We have now space and time only to say, that the debate on that motion pretty clearly shows that a motion for enquiry into the education afforded at Maynooth College will be carried next session. Much good has been done by Mr. Plumptre in making this evident, by eliciting from Sir Robert Peel and others, the opinions favorable to enquiry which they expressed; and to Mr. Plumptre for this, for the manner in which he vindicated the truth, for his christian temper and firmness in the whole discussion, much gratitude from all sincere Protestants is due. We trust and believe that he will thank God and take courage; that he will " go forward" nothing doubting, knowing that the triumphing of the wicked is short. We trust also that our friends throughout the country will now augment their exertions, and support Mr. Plumptre still more vigorously in the ensuing session by more petitions; or, if a dissolution of parliament occur, by returning true Protestants as their representatives.

As an encouragement and example, we may mention that the Manchester petition against Maynooth, presented by Mr. Plumptre, had 21,000 signatures.

OBSTACLES TO THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN FRANCE.-" Obstacles, however, were thrown in the way of the work of evangelization, by the French authorities and the opposition of the Romish clergy, and it was next to impossible to obtain a payment from the State for any new congregation of Protestants, and among all the congregations which had been brought together by the exertions of the Sociétés Evangéliques, there were only the instances of Soiuville, Tours, and Troyes, where the application for a State payment for the minister had been successful. It was calculated that if the French Government were fairly to execute the law in favour of Protestants, there would be 600 stations at this moment in France which would be entitled to the maintenance of the State."-Report of the Committee of the Sociétés Evangéliques of Paris and Geneva.

POPISH CHAPLAINS IN PRISONS.-The visiting justices of the House of Correction, Coldbath Fields, have in a report dated May 1st, refused an application from Thomas Griffiths, styling himself Catholic Bishop and Vicar Apostolic residing in London, dated April 10th, and transmitted through Lord Normanby's Office, April 16th, for the appointment of a Roman Catholic chaplain to the above prison.

IRISH SOCIETY OF LONDON.-The Anniversary Meeting was held on Wednesday the 13th ult., at the Hanover Square Rooms. Earl Galloway in the chair. The number of Schools in connection with this Society is 710. The pupils amount to 18,782; of these 14,501 are adults. Respecting the progress of this highly useful Society, we have been favoured with the following extract of a letter from the Rev. Robert Daly:

"I visited Dingle and Ventry and found that all that had been stated of the work of the Lord there was strictly true. I saw the spacious schoolhouse, the parsonage for the Irish-speaking minister, then first located in Ireland, and the walls of the new church in progress, to hold the congregation of converts brought out of Rome by the instrumentality of the Irish Scriptures."

THE REPEAL OF THE UNION.-Lord Ebrington, we are happy to observe, has dismissed from the Irish magistracy Count de Salis, a gentleman of French descent, possessing a small property in Armagh, for joining the Repeal agitation. This is all very well. But why is not Mr. O'Connell himself dismissed? Why was Mr. Shiel made a Privy Counsellor, and Mr. Wyse a Lord of the Treasury? And why were Mr. Fain, Mr. Morgan O'Connell, Mr. Lynch, and Mr. O'Doyle, who voted in 1834 for the Repeal of the Union, rewarded with valuable Government places?

THE SHREWSBURY PEERAGE.-In a former number of the Magazine we mentioned the extraordinary position of the heir to the Earldom of Shrewsbury. As more light has since been thrown on the working of Popery in the matter, we now re-state it. By an Act of Parliament procured by the great Duke of Shrewsbury (a Protestant, whose heir was a Papist), it was settled that the heir in all cases should at the age of twentyone be called upon to declare his religion: if it were Protestant, he was to take the estates in fee, that is, discharged of all entails; if Popish, he was to take them for his life only without any power of disposing of them. The present Earl of Shrewsbury is a Papist, and has no son. His brother, the late Mr. Talbot, who lived separate from his wife, a very amiable Protestant lady, (now Mrs. Berkeley), died leaving a son and daughter, and these he left to the guardianship of a Popish priest named Doyle! So the young heir by Mr. Doyle was taken off to Rome, and Mr. Doyle procured an order from the Court of Chancery to take from Mrs. Berkeley her daughter also. Young Talbot (now about ten we believe) has lately returned to England, and Mrs. Berkeley being naturally desirous to see him, asked leave for him to stay with her a month. This was refused by Mr. Doyle, who consented however to allow the mother an interview in his presence. Whereupon Mrs. Berkeley has applied to the Court of Chancery, praying for an order to compel Mr. Doyle to give her the liberty she requires. How the Lord Chancellor will decide we know not; but this we know, that a more flagrant specimen of Popery's real spirit never was developed than in this case. Here is a Popish priest who has induced poor Mr. Talbot on his deathbed to deprive a mother of her children, and to give them with the prospect also of the guardianship of a great property, to him; and then this priest proceeds to keep the son so completely under his own eye, that he will not allow that mother (because she is a Protestant) liberty to speak with him, save in his presence! What an awful but instructive story. Who now will say that Popery, whose priest can thus act, whose Magazines and Papers and public advocates can defend such conduct, is changed into a tolerant and enlightened system? Alas, those who do so, must, to use Scriptural language, be under "strong delusion that they should believe a lie."

THE SCOTCH CHURCH AND EDUCATION.-At the last sitting of the General Assembly it was agreed to submit the parochial Schools to Government inspection. Of this concession the ministerial papers of course have liberally and ingeniously availed themselves. We greatly regret it. The tone of the speeches made on the occasion in favor of the concession was very lamentable, and the inconsistency of this General Assembly, which had talked so much about civil interference in other matters, consenting to this, was remarkable indeed. Our friends in Scotland we fear know very little of the discouraging effect in England of their conduct both in this instance and in the case of the Perthshire Election. The present Ministry exists by Popish favor, yet they treat all its professions as if this were not so, or as if they themselves had not been grossly duped by it in the matter of Church Extension.

Every Subscriber of 10s. may receive a copy of the Magazine on calling at the Society's Office, 2, Exeter Hall.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS,

We had rather that the communication of "W. T. V." on the Temperance Procession, had not been anonymous. The other communications are under consideration.

The Letter from Croydon has been received.

We hope to notice the proceedings of the Catholic Institute in our next. Notices of several books which are in type, are left over till our next for want of room.

THE

PROTESTANT MAGAZINE.

AUGUST 1, 1840.

CHURCH EXTENSION.

SIR ROBERT INGLIS'S motion for an Address to the Crown in favor of some scheme of Church Extension, has been defeated for this Session by a majority of nineteen-seventeen Papists having voted in the majority. We deeply regret this result as indicative of an unfortunate ignorance in the House of Commons of the real interests of the nation, or of a disregard of them if they are understood.

The plain fact is, that Christians when they become Legislators do not cease to be Christians, do not cease to be responsible for the talents or power committed to their stewardship, and are as much bound in the sight of God to endeavour to provide for the religious wants of the people, as a father for his family, a master for his servants, a landlord for his tenants, or a wealthy citizen for his neighbours. Stripped of all sophistries and technicalities, this is the sole point in the much debated question of Church Establishments. Such institutions tend, in the words of Lord Eldon, not to make the Church political, but to make the State religious. If our ancestors had not known this truth and felt their duty, what (humanly speaking) would now be the condition of Great Britain?

Now-a-days, however, it seems to be agreed by too many, to leave religion outside the door of the Cabinet or the Houses of Parliament. Such was not the system of Mr. Perceval, Lord Bexley, Lord Harrowby, Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Thornton, when they adorned the senate, or influenced the councils of the nation; such is not now we believe the conduct of our Bishops, or of those good men, Mr. Plumptre and Sir Andrew Agnew, and others, who through good report and evil report have spoken for God more recently, and we hope not less usefully. It is indeed sad to hear of men who are professors of religion act as the ministers of this country and their supporters have done of late years. They have increased the endowments of Popery in the Colonies, they grant large sums for ornamental purposes or for war, (£70,000. for Stables at Windsor, &c. &c.), but they oppose most strenuously all grants to spread abroad true religion at VOL. II.-August 1840.

Q