a complete failure? Is anything left for the country but to insist at once on a withdrawal of the grant, as being so much money devoted by a Protestant empire to the encouragement of spiritual error and political treason?

In what has been written there has been no intention of treating the contest with Popery as a controversial theological question. This is for other hands. It has been spoken of as an ambitious, intriguing, political, temporal power, struggling for the conquest of Ireland, and the subjugation of the empire under its own political and religious tyranny. Religious controversy has comparatively little connexion with it. If mere political statesmen and the country at large will view it in this its true lightif those who can look higher and deeper, and who know that the abandonment of the cause of God's truth must be fatal to an empire, whether political evils seem mixed with it or not, will take this their own ground firmly-if the true Churchmen of England, instead of listening to the calumnies which have been poured on the Church in Ireland, will understand her true condition, her poverty, her persecution, her zeal, her piety, her selfdevotion-and dare, what they, as a body, did not dare to do when the first attack was made on her, to stand boldly forward as her defenders, and recognise one common interest, and common duty-if this be done, some step will be made to rescue Ireland from the grasp of its greatest enemy.

And when it is asked more particularly what is to be done by us in England, is the answer difficult? By our Clergy, everything which sympathy can suggest to extend the activity of their Irish brethren, to supply their wants, to encourage and assist their exertions-especially a cordial and immediate co-operation in obtaining the restoration of their bishops, whether with or without their revenues. Here was the first blow* aimed against them and the English Church sat by in silence: and when supplicated by the Irish clergy for assistance against it, she answered, and from a high place, that the two Churches (they are not two, but one) stood on wholly different grounds, and that the English branch could not endanger herself by undertaking to

*We cannot refrain from extracting a note from the journal of an officer in the Queen's service, on the subject of the suppressed bishoprics::

NOTE.-When the Bill passed that got rid of so many Irish bishops, I was one Sunday evening much astonished to see every mountain top simultaneously in a blaze; and not knowing what the signals meant, I was on the point of turning out my men, to be prepared for the worst, when I was informed that the priest at mass that morning had ordered the people to illuminate the mountains in the evening, for the victory they had obtained over a Church, which, I suspect, was not spoken of in very respectful terms, as a respectable member of the priest's flock afterwards told me "his reverence was certainly mad."'

defend

defend the Irish-a maxim false in fact, and fatal, as we have found it, in practice. Not a blow has been struck against Ireland which has not recoiled upon England. Not an assault has been attempted upon England, until it has first been tried, and has succeeded against Ireland.

If it be asked next what should be done by the English people? The answer is-petition at once without hesitation, and demand that which the Relief Bill (falsely so called) promised—that which those who introduced that Bill are bound to see performed-the banishment and suppression of the Jesuits, under whatever names they disguise themselves, Christian Brothers, or Sodalities of the Heart, or Confraternities of Faith, or any other masquerade. No country ever yet could tolerate Jesuits in its bosom without certain destruction. Even Romanism itself, again and again, by the mouth of Romish bishops, and Romish sovereigns, and the wisest and best of Romish philosophers, and Romish Universities, and Popes themselves, have warned us of the fact.

Add to this petition another for the enforcement of law against outrages-for the protection of converts from all injury, if only on the popular principle of civil and religious liberty-for a withdrawal of the grant to Maynooth-or, what would be equivalent to this-and attainable without offending the, as we think, mistaken views of some estimable men-such a rigid superintendence by the State over that Seminary's course of education as would exclude the mischievous influence which is now working within it. How opposed this influence is to all loyalty and order would be showed, there is little doubt, at once, by the immediate rejection of the grant, if accompanied with such a condition. Add to this, the withdrawal of the grant for Popish Education under the National Board;-a strict superintendence over priests;the prohibition of personal denunciations from the altar-of excommunication-except under such cases and with such restrictions as may be compatible with the legitimate exercise of Christian discipline, as in instances of proved offences—and, as the Romish bishops themselves declare that it should be limited, under the solemn permission of the bishop. Add to this petition a heavy penalty on any but purely spiritual interference with voters, tenants, prisoners, witnesses, jurors, and magistrates. Grant the Irish peasantry a bill to rescue them from the curse and crime of perjury; and none would welcome such a boon with so much gratitude as the peasantry themselves. They have not yet learned that political power is in itself a blessing-or that it is any power at all-when they dare not exercise it except at the

bidding

bidding of their priest; and their priest compels them to exercise it against their own interests and the wishes of their best friend, their landlord. Add strict impartiality in the government-yet, it may be, rewarding the Roman Catholic laity even more than the Protestant for acts of loyalty, order, and support of law, which the history of the past will justify us in expecting in very many of that body-and punishing Protestants even more than Romanists for any bitterness, or uncharitable, or violent aggression upon those who differ from them. In this we do not think there is anything which a candid mind can object to as sectarian or uncharitable. Upon this should follow a strict watch and inquiry into the schools of every class maintained by Roman Catholic bodies, male or female, to prevent the use of inflammatory books and treasonable doctrines. After that a proper encouragement should be demanded for priests, who are disposed to learn the errors of their system, and to abandon them;-an encouragement such as was once held out, sufficient to secure them against want, without being a temptation to hypocrisy. And, lastly, let the English people join in straining every nerve to procure 'real justice to Ireland' in all things, as to a part, and the vital part of England-justice in watching over her interests-justice in encouraging her manufactures and commerce-justice in maintaining quiet-justice in large expenditures upon public works— justice in the distribution of patronage-justice in granting every liberty, which can be granted without really introducing slavery. All this in the present state of parties may sound impracticable and visionary; but a course is not the less right because our own sins and follies may prevent us from following it.

Of the course which ought to be pursued by government, of whatever party, we are unwilling to speak. Few things have so injured the cause of peace and of religion in Ireland as the introduction of party politics into questions of a far higher order. But we will venture to point out the course by which James II.-a name set as a beacon upon our history to warn us against Tyranny and against Popery-endeavoured to subvert the liberties and constitution and religion of England. There are warnings in history what Government should not do. Let us take up The State of Protestants in Ireland, 1692,' and mark, page by page, the steps which the author there successively enumerates as so many preparations made by James for the establishment of Popery in Ireland.

1. The employment of Public Ministers who, having no fortunes of their own, could scarcely afford to adopt rigid measures, by which they might risk their places (p. 24). 2. The forcing men of low birth and education on the bench of magistrates, to the disgust

of

3. The resting for support

of the gentry of the country (p. 29). of government upon men who, though they seemed to make conscience of hearing masses and not eating flesh on Fridays,' were notoriously knaves,' and yet the publicly declaring that they must make use of such' (p. 31). 4. The permitting men to exercise powers under law from which they were excluded by law (p. 43). 5. The encouragement of a party who took pains to conceal the real oppression of the Protestants in Ireland, and ' to run down and discredit all relations to the contrary' (p. 49). 6. The peculiar selection of Roman Catholics for offices of trust. 7. The filling the army (there was no constabulary then) with a preference to Roman Catholics (p. 60). 8. The same with respect to the bench of Judges (p. 65). 9. The placing some few Protestants in commissions, but enough only to give a colour of impartiality, without allowing them any real power (p. 68). 10. Annoying and insulting the magistracy (p. 85). 11. Destroying the Protestant corporations, and putting them into the hands of Roman Catholics (p. 88). 12. The introduction of perjuries into courts of justice and juries, so that neither life nor property was safe (p. 101). 13. The disarming of Protestants, by permitting nightly marauders to rob them of arms, and by putting down quiet and peaceable associations of Protestants combined for self-defence (p. 119): a proceeding on which the author makes a pertinent observation, that if one should tie a man's hands, and turn him naked among wild beasts, all the world would believe that he designed they should devour him' (p. 118). 14. The permitting the landlords and Protestants to be attacked in their houses and lives, until it was no longer safe for them to live in the country (p. 133). 15. The giving great discouragement to the most eminent Protestant lawyers' (p. 135). 16. The multiplication of friars, nuns, monks, and priests (p. 138). 17. The permitting Protestant property to be destroyed, without adequate efforts to secure it:-(The author is speaking of lay property, such as might be embarked in manufactures or in estates-not of tithes, as we might speak :)-Chief Justice Nugent confessed it was a necessary piece of policy" (p. 143). 18. The putting it into the power of Roman Catholics to ruin Protestants by imposing taxes on them (p. 149). The poor-laws were not then in Ireland; the writer confines his remarks to other cases.* 19. King James had a parliament, and a papist majority in it, who passed various striking laws affecting Protestants, which it must be needless to mention. 20. This same Irish parliament were very anxious to remove

*Now we have the poor-laws,' said a priest to a friend, when thrown off his guard, 'won't we tax the landlords, and drive them fairly out of the country? This, by the by, will account for the anxiety of the priests to secure the poor-law guardians.

every vestige of their subjection to the crown of England; they were, in fact, Repealers (p. 173). 21. The tenants were set against their landlords, and taught to deny their right to their estates (p. 182). 22. There were a number of private murders and assassinations of Protestants, and government was supposed not to be very active in the persecution of them (p. 188). 23. The priests were active; fearing to shock their friends in England and Scotland,' when they encouraged people to rob their Protestant neighbours, they charged them not to kill them (Dr. Doyle's recommendation in the tithe war)— assuring them that everything else would be forgiven them (p. 211). 24. People were kept very much in the dark, both in England and Scotland, as to the real sufferings of the Protestants in Ireland; and when travellers came over to Ireland and found the Protestants persecuted, they seemed to stand amazed at what they saw, and could hardly believe their own eyes' (p. 213). 25. Protestants, in large numbers, emigrated (p. 210). 26. The Protestants were numbered (p. 202): a step which, in modern times, Mr. Wyse has not hesitated to consider as one of the most important taken by the so-called Catholic Association, as preparatory to the enforcement of its demands. 27. The king commenced his reign with a solemn declaration that he would protect the Church of England; but the Romanists took care to observe that in this was no specific mention of Ireland (p. 216). It is a singular coincidence that observers have remarked at this day on the studied exclusion of Ireland from similar declarations of the crown. 28. One of the first of James' plans was to introduce Jesuit schools; 29. to discourage the former schools of Protestants; and to place the education of the country in the hands of Papists; though not under the name of a national system, professing no religion whatever. In this he surpasses ourselves (p. 217). 30. He tampered with the statutes of Trinity College (p. 218). 31. He diminished the number of the bishops by refusing to keep up the succession (p. 220). 32. Their revenues were seized on, and applied to the use of Papists-though in a more direct way than by relieving them from the payment of a just debt. 33. And Cashel, Clogher, Elphin, and Clonfert, were expressly accepted by the Papists 'as an instalment of the whole (p. 221). 34. The people were taught to refuse the dues, and the priests forbade the payment of tithes; so that for two years scarcely any were recovered by the clergy, or recovered with so much difficulty and cost, that they turned it to little account' (p. 223). 35. The principle was publicly recognised that every man ought to pay the ministers of his own religion (p. 223). 36. The crown-rents reserved upon livings