ancient, of the votaries of that religion to which they are now called upon to make a partial and tardy restitution. There is one patent fact in history, which alone should suffice to shut the mouths of Protestants whenever they dare to murmur against the threatened spoliation of their overgrown establishment. For centuries there was a law by which any member of a Catholic family might, by renouncing the paternal faith, take possession of all the paternal estates; and a large amount of property, by this dishonourable system of legalised theft, passed from the votaries of one Church to those of the other.* A Church which, till very recently, did not scruple to enrich itself by such scandalous dishonesty, has for ever forfeited its right of remonstrance or complaint, were it even forced to disgorge every farthing thus wrongfully acquired.

But it will be urged, that however fair and wise it may be to endow the Catholic clergy out of the surplus revenues of the Protestant Church in Ireland, there can be no justification for endowing them out of a fund to which the main contributors are Englishmen and Protestants, who revolt at the idea of being thus forced to maintain a religion which they regard as idolatrous and pernicious. Unhappily they, like the Irish establishment, have forfeited their right to exclaim against the injustice of such a measure. For not only have English churchmen for centuries back compelled-not only do they still compel-both Catholics and dissenters in this country, to support a religion which they renounce and condemn (and that which is just in England cannot be unjust in Ireland, -that which is

*The "Quarterly Review" says: :- "The Roman Catholics of Ireland, being above four-fifths of the population, do not, we believe, possess one-tenth of the soil; and the penal laws have for above one hundred years been directed in every way to prevent the accumulation

present required by the Roman Church, but he is as certainly wrong in conceiving that these payments are not at times severely burdensome to the destitute peasantry of Ireland. There is moreover, we believe, little doubt that the payments extorted by the priests, for the various offices and consolations of the Church, are much greater than the sums respectively prescribed by the canon, and we may at least hope that this enhancement would be relinquished when the clergy had independent means of support. Still, however, it must be confessed, that, if his view of the matter be correct, one of the chief arguments by which endowment has been recommended, is deprived of much of its validity. That by endowing the Catholic clergy, you will materially augment their power or their pretensions, we see no reason to believe. The English nation, as the Irish may be well aware, will not long tolerate the endowment, if, as Mr. Laing imagines, it would be so grossly and ungenerously abused: and any trouble likely to arise from the claims on the children of mixed marriages (if more probable than at present, which we greatly question), must be obviated by a distinct concordat with the Head of the Catholic Church.

The aversion of English churchmen to endow a religion they disapprove out of the revenues of the Irish establishment, and of both churchmen and dissenters to endow it out of the produce of general taxation, we are not disposed to treat with the deference which Mr. Laing thinks to be its due. There can, of course, be no question that, if such an endowment is to be provided, justice requires that it should be taken out of the surplus revenues of an establishment, whose superfluity is a ceaseless and irritating sore to the population of Ireland, and a large proportion of whose wealth, disguise it and deny it as we may, is derived from robbery more or less direct, more or less

ancient, of the votaries of that religion to which they are now called upon to make a partial and tardy restitution. There is one patent fact in history, which alone should suffice to shut the mouths of Protestants whenever they dare to murmur against the threatened spoliation of their overgrown establishment. For centuries there was a law by which any member of a Catholic family might, by renouncing the paternal faith, take possession of all the paternal estates; and a large amount of property, by this dishonourable system of legalised theft, passed from the votaries of one Church to those of the other.* A Church which, till

very recently, did not scruple to enrich itself by such scandalous dishonesty, has for ever forfeited its right of remonstrance or complaint, were it even forced to disgorge every farthing thus wrongfully acquired.

But it will be urged, that however fair and wise it may be to endow the Catholic clergy out of the surplus revenues of the Protestant Church in Ireland, there can be no justification for endowing them out of a fund to which the main contributors are Englishmen and Protestants, who revolt at the idea of being thus forced to maintain a religion which they regard as idolatrous and pernicious. Unhappily they, like the Irish establishment, have forfeited their right to exclaim against the injustice of such a measure. For not only have English churchmen for centuries back compelled-not only do they still compel-both Catholics and dissenters in this country, to support a religion which they renounce and condemn (and that which is just in England cannot be unjust in Ireland, -that which is

* The "Quarterly Review" says: "The Roman Catholics of Ireland, being above four-fifths of the population, do not, we believe, possess one-tenth of the soil; and the penal laws have for above one hundred years been directed in every way to prevent the accumulation

just when committed by Protestants, cannot be unjust when committed against them);-but it must never be forgotten, that every act of oppression and persecution committed against the Catholics of Ireland, has uniformly met from the mass of English and Scotch Protestants with the most zealous and cordial encouragement, and the more earnest the Protestantism, of course the more vehement has been the encouragement. In every step which the Irish government or the Irish Church have taken for the last three centuries in their course of unhallowed bigotry towards Romanism, they have been hounded on by the answering bigotry of English sectaries and English churchmen. It was this very sympathy and support that so long enabled them to persevere in a system which has at length brought Ireland into a condition requiring, in the opinion of our statesmen, the endowment of the Catholic clergy as a healing balm;—and we affirm, therefore, that neither English sectaries nor English churchmen have a right to demur to whatever payment may be necessary to remedy the mischief they have caused. No plea of conscientious scruple can entitle those who have inflicted the injury, to shrink from the reparation. The religion which permits a man to rob and to oppress, and forbids him to make restitution and atonement, is entitled to no respect. In such a case, the mere mention of religious difficulties is a mean and pitiful evasion.

LAING ON PEASANT PROPRIETORSHIP, &c.*

MR. LAING has now been before the public as an author for many years. His first work, "Travels in Norway," at once procured for him a high reputation, which his subsequent writings confirmed rather than impaired. The "Notes of a Traveller," published seven or eight years ago, attracted general and deserved notice, and was a really valuable contribution to our knowledge of continental countries. The events of 1848 induced Mr. Laing to enter on a re-examination of the political and social condition of those countries, with special reference to the subjects treated of in his former volume; and the work now before us is the result. Mr. Laing is a shrewd, intelligent, and competent observer, with an inquisitive habit of mind, and considerable logical powers. He has a strong tendency to question and controvert every received opinion-a disposition which is valuable as stimulating inquiry, but dangerous as generating a love of paradox. His intellectual training has evidently been incomplete; he has thought much more than he has read; and this may perhaps account for a dogmatic and dictatorial style, and a contemptuous tone towards far sounder and deeper thinkers than himself, which are at once unbecoming and offensive. In spite of these faults, however, his work is one of great interest and value; still it is more suggestive than instructive, and should be read, not in a passive and recipient, but in an active and question

Observations on the Social and Political State of the European People in 1848 and 1849; being the second series of" The Notes of a Traveller." By SAMUEL LAING. London: Longmans. 1850.