all tithes payable by the Roman Catholics to the Protestant clergy were taken away and given to Popish priests; and in order to make the recovery of them more easy, and to save the trouble and expense of suing under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the priest might bring his action at common law. The appropriate tithes belonging also to bishops and other dignitaries of the Church were wrested from them and given to the Papists, and the revenues of the vacant bishopricks were also expended in maintaining the Roman Catholic clergy.

"But it was not enough to deprive the Protestant clergy of the means of maintenance, the jurisdiction of the Church was also destroyed by an act of the same Parliament, and all Dissenters were declared free from the punishments cognizable in the ecclesiastical courts; but as the finishing stroke to the Protestant religion, and the most effectual specimen of the reform which Dr. Doyle has so much at heart, an act of this same Parliament deprived the Protestants of their churches, and the cathedral of Christ Church in Dublin, with twenty-six churches in that diocese, were immediately seized by the Roman Catholics; orders were sent to the provinces for the same purposes, and no doubt every church in Ireland would have been in their possession if the career of this Roman Catholic Parliament had not been stopped by the battle of the Boyne. "Why do I mention these events? It may be

said that the revival of these circumstances serves only to rip open old wounds, and to perpetuate the unfortunate causes of irritation which have so long agitated Ireland. I have no such intention; I wish they could, but they will not be forgotten; and when the Attorney General for Ireland (Mr. Plunkett) appeals to history, and in his forcible diction says, that it is nothing better that an old almanack unless we take warning from its illustrations and examples, I am forced, unwillingly forced, to draw my inference of Roman Catholic principles from Roman Catholic precedents, and to confess that I cannot view the Roman Catholic petition of 1824 as anything but the corollary of the acts of the Roman Catholic Parliament of 1689."

"But the Whigs will tell us that ulterior views are entertained only by a few who are either bigots in religion or enthusiasts in politics; and that the great and respectable body of the British and Irish Roman Catholics desire no more than what they ask, and when that shall have been granted will be contented and thankful. "Permirum videatur, quemquam extare qui etiam nunc credat iis quorum prædicta quotidie videat re et eventis refelli! Cicero did not more justly say this of those who believed in the Chaldæan astrologers, than it may be applied to those who give credit to this class of politicians. There are, undoubtedly, among our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, many who

in their secret hearts lament that this dangerous question ever should have been moved; many who were contented with the toleration which they enjoyed, and would have been glad still to have lived in peace with all men, and in as much charity as is permitted by their creed. In these kingdoms time had done much toward abating the acrimony of religious differences. Our controversial warfare had ended; satisfied with victory, as well as thankful for the deliverance which by victory had been achieved-we had laid down our arms, willing, as far as possible, to let the points of difference pass out of mind, and look only to those in which we were agreed. This was the disposition of the Protestant church when the Romanists renewed the war; when Milner planted his batteries, and Lingard opened his mines, and the corps of sappers commenced their operations under Mr. Butler, and the Baddeleys and Andrewses cast their stinkpots over our walls. And now even the most moderate among them feel those latent principles of their religion in action, which, if they had not been thus disturbed, might have remained latent and consequently harmless through life. Once more with the British Roman Catholics, their religion is become their faction, and they have found allies among the men whose faction is their religion. They would not and could not be satisfied with what it is proposed to grant, even if the utmost that has yet been proposed

were to be granted. So surely-and as reasonably also as they now argue that because so much has already been conceded, therefore more must be granted-so surely the next concessions would supply them with grounds for a further demand. The more they gain, the more strongly will it be considered a point of honour for them to pursue their advantage. If legislators, why not judges? If in the Parliament, why not in the cabinet? If qualified to enact laws for the people, wherefore not qualified for offering counsel to the king? One absurdity having been granted, the rest follow in proper consequence. There would remain but one step more, and that step would then have been rendered easy :Why is the sovereign to be the only person in these kingdoms to whom liberty of conscience is refused? Why should the king, queen, heir or heiress, apparent or presumptive, of this empire, be the only persons in it who, after having examined into the reasons of their faith, may not vary its form, if they think good, and choose another for themselves, without incurring pains and penalties? Is it just-is it reasonable, that they should be under this restriction? Is it consistent with those imprescriptible rights of conscience, which above all other rights ought to be held sacred; or with the liberality of this enlightened nation?

"Suppose (and, without referring to what Lord Plunket calls the old almanack,-who that

looks upon the ephemerides of the last year, will deem it an impossible supposition?)-suppose there should be a sovereign in these kingdoms, or a successor to them, who should be verily persuaded that the Holy Roman Catholic and apostolic Church, as it styles itself, is the true church, and the only one in which salvation is to be obtained. Against such a danger (for it is a possible danger) we have a security in our Protestant constitution; but if the legislature were no longer Protestant, who shall say that that security might not be annulled?-as some securities, which by our forefathers were deemed equally essential, have been; and as others must be before men whose bounden religious duty it is to subvert that constitution, can be admitted into parliament. What could be replied to their arguments for extending liberty of conscience to the royal family, but that the existing laws upon this point are expedient and necessary for the safety and welfare of these nations; and how can it be expected that we should stand upon that principle then, if we abandon it now? The throne, as well as the altar will be shaken, if we suffer ourselves to be driven from that ground by clamour, or seduced by that spurious liberality which makes those who are deluded by it, at once the tools and the jest of the true Papist. The Protestant succession was established, because it had been found, by experience, that it is inconsistent with the safety or welfare of this Protes