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to theet and all that slander thee would worship the steps of thy feet." To you, to you we address ourselves with the entire affection of our apostolic heart, whom we bewail as separated from the true church of Christ and the road of salvation. In this common exultation this alone is wanted; granted it to your most loving parent, that at length called by the inspiration of the Spirit from above into his admirable light, and bursting asunder every snare of division, you may have one consentient mind with this church, the mother and mistress of all others, out of which there is no salvation. Enlarging our heart, we will joyfully receive you into our fatherly bosom, and will bless the God of all consolation, who, in this greatest triumph of Catholic faith, shall enrich us with these riches of his mercy.

But you, venerable brethren, patriarchs, primates, archbishops, bishops, co-operate with these our cares and desires ; call a solemn assembly, gather the people, that your children may be prompted to receive those gifts which the Father of mercies has entrusted for distribution amongst the children of his love, through the ministry of our humility; remind them, that short are the days of this our pilgrimage; and since we know not at what hour the Father of the household may come, that we must therefore be on the watch, and bear in our hands burning lamps full of the oil of charity, so that we may readily and cheerfully meet the Lord's arrival. To you it belongs to explain with perspicuity the power of indulgences; what is their efficacy, not only in the remission of the canonical penance, but also of the temporal punishment due to the divine justice for past sin; and what succour is afforded out of this heavenly treasure, from the merits of Christ and his saints, to such as have departed real penitents in God's love, yet before they had duly satisfied by fruits worthy of penance for sin of commission and omission, and are now purifying in the fire of purgatory, that an entrance may be opened for them into their eternal country, where nothing defiled is admitted. Courage and attention, venerable brethren; for some there are following that wisdom which is not from God, and covering themselves with the clothing of sheep,-under the usual pretence of a more refined piety, are now sowing amongst the people erroneous comments on this

subject. Do you teach the flock their several duties; in what deeds of piety and charity they ought to employ themselves; with what diligence, with what sense of sorrow they ought to examine themselves and their past life; that they should remove and correct what is pernicious in their conduct, so that they may obtain the most abundant and proper fruit of this most sacred Indulgence.

But it becomes you, venerable brethren, principally to attend to this, that the members of your respective flocks, who undertake the pilgrimage, may perform it with a religious spirit ; that they should avoid every thing on the journey which can disturb their pious purpose, or withdraw them from their holy resolutions; and that they should diligently follow up whatever is conductive to animate and inflame devotion. If, taking into consideration your persons and places, you be at liberty to visit this capital of religion, much splendour will be reflected by your presence on this solemnity; you will accumulate the most abundant riches of the divine mercy, and on your return will delightfully share the same, as most valuable treasures amongst your people.

Nor can we doubt but that all our dearest children in Christ, the Catholic princes, will assist us on this great occasion with their powerful concurrence; that these our views, so beneficial to souls, may have the desired effect. For this purpose we entreat and exhort them, by their commendable zeal for religion, to second the ardour of our venerable episcopal brethren, to co-operate diligently with their exertions, aud to provide safe conduct and protection, and houses of hospitable reception, along the roads throughout their several dominions, that they may not be exposed to any injury in the performance of this most pious work. They must be fully aware what a general conspiracy was formed to root up the most sacred rights of the altar and the throne, and what wonders the Lord has wrought, who, stretching forth his hand, has humbled the arrogance of the strong. Let them reflect, that constant and suitable thanks ought to be rendered to the Lord of Lords, to whom we are indebted for the victory; that the succour of the divine mercy is to be obtained by humble and frequent prayer; and that as the

wickedness of the impious is still creeping like a cancer, He may accomplish, in his clemency towards us, that work which he himself has begun. This, truly, we had chiefly in view, when we deliberated on the celebration of the Jubilee; well persuaded of the importance of such a sacrifice of praise to the Lord, in this common consent of all Christian people, for obtaining those heavenly gifts, all the treasures of which we now throw open. Let, therefore, the Catholic Princes labour for this purpose; and as they are endowed with great and generous minds, let them protect this most sacred work with earnest zeal and perpetual care. Assuredly they will learn, by experience, that by this means particularly they will secure to themselves the mercies of God; and that they certainly add to the support of their own government by whatever they do for the protection of religion and the encouragement of piety; so that having destroyed every seed of vice, a delightful crop of virtues may succeed.

But in order that all may prosper to our wishes, we entreat your prayers with God, dear children, who are of the fold of Christ; for we confide in your common vows and supplications which you put forth to the divine mercy, for the welfare of the Catholic Religion, and for the return of those that err to the truth, and for the happiness of Princes; and that you will hereby powerfully assist our infirmity in supporting our most weighty functions.

And that these presents may more easily come to the knowledge of all the faithful in every place, we will that precisely the same credit be paid even to printed copies, signed nevertheless by the hand of some public notary, and certified by the seal of a person invested with ecclesiastical dignity, as would be paid to these presents, if they should be produced or shown.

Be it, therefore, utterly unlawful for any man to infringe, or by any rash attempt to gainsay, this page of our ordinance, promulgation, grant, exhortation, demand and will. But if any one shall presume to attempt it, let him know that he shall incur the indignation of Almighty God, and of his blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul.

Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, in the year of our Lord's incarnation one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, on the twenty-fourth of May, in the first year of our pontificate. A. G. Cardinal, Pro-Datary.

J. Cardinal Albani.

SIR,

ON TRACT SOCIETIES.

The success which has always attended impostors in this country, and particularly religious impostors, is a melancholy proof that the people of England are most liberal, but deprived of fixed principles to guide their judgment in the dispensation of their liberalities. From the same cause spring all those multifarious and heterogeneous societies, with which we are at present so grievously pestered-afflicting us on every side more graniverous and more grievous than the plagues of Egypt. Societies in which the grand movers are chiefly designing knaves, and the grand supporters, weak dupes. Let a profligate nobleman like Lord Roden, become a bibleman, and his sins are effaced, or a half-pay Scotch captain, like Gordon, undertake a missionary cruise, and his fortune is made. No matter how stupid or ridiculous are the pretensions of the Society, no matter how absurd are the relations by which they support their pretensions, the thing goes on, and the most thinking people in the world lavish their money on these mountebanks. I rejoice, however, to see some symptoms of a change in the late exposures which have lately taken place in Ireland. There they are meeting the missionaries and the Biblers in a proper spirit. And I take this opportunity of assuring my Catholic readers, in order to guard them in future against the assertions, however bold, of all such men as have any connection with these societies, that this very naval missionary, Gordon, whose mask has been so handsomely torn off him of late, once assured me in my own house, that his only object was to make good Catholics, that he was acting in perfect unison with Dr. Troy and the Catholic clergy of Dublin, and that he went hand in hand with Mr. Scott, the worthy missionary of Glasgow, in helping him to convert his congrega

tion from ignorance to knowledge.* To lend my feeble aid to expel the delusion, I will make a few remarks upon the Tract Society.

I cannot begin my observations better than by complimenting the Rev. R. Towers for his spirited attack upon this Society in Taunton, where the Catholic name was scarcely known, and the judicious manner in which it was carried on. Nothing can possibly be written in a better taste than the concluding remarks of his pamphlet, and as to the whole of it, he may boast of a triumph which seldom attends controvertists, having obtained the good will of the President whom he attacked, and driven from the face of the day the injurious tracts which he complained of. Surely this is honour enough for him, and we are sorry to see him tarnish his laurels by descending to notice the cavils of every would be wit, or starving schoolmaster, who, for want of better employment may scribble against him. Without meaning any disrespect, we would recommend to the Rev. gentleman a re-perusal of the fable of the old man and his ass. Does he not see that he is feeding the vanity of such writers by noticing their productions? In the Tract Magazine which is published monthly, price only one penny, I find this notice under the head Taunton: "With respect to this town and neighbourhood during the past year, much vile and superstitious trash has been removed from the cottages of the poor, which are now furnished with broad sheets, &c." Whether this be meant as a fair statement of Mr. Towers' having driven the obnoxious tracts from circulation there, I know not-but if it be, what a gentle intimation is it! Not one word is said of that gentleman's attack.

The Catholic reader should know that there is a Society for distributing tracts among the people; which society boasts of having distributed during the last year alone, above ten millions twelve thousand tracts, which is equal to thirty thousand every day of the year! The last year's income exceeded eleven thou

* See Gordon's late speech, and O'Connel's comments, (Miscellany, page 456) If Mr. Scott ever remembers to have spoken with this Gordon, we wish he would communicate his interview with him through the Miscellany to complete the exposure.