WA i)j,» Hlr
7') '5

ft

fA 1

1 H'

tit

,<t

i.' . ' .'

-'#.T.-M<, ..
* ' 1 ^ ^ ''' . > ' *¦
ii'iiiMiii ¦• ¦¦ ¦ ¦ -' ;,:-¦
t •»'',<t"' *

* V.
fiffrH- -I %M,V.'"-- ¦->.-:<
, * * / » "^
! Vi.
-5>
.^*-
'•i'i -i4
- *¦ o
:'^';;;>-
«
S;
. SllS
-%'$
'</>.'.*
fii'. '< !.¦''*'
iH
*;; •
> ' '•
M'
«;!:/<
!in:
.1 • >
i t
mi f
¦Ii':
fif?t
'IIIill
fyhl-hi-! '
YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

HISTORICAL MEMOIRS

OF THE
ENGLISH, IRISH, AND SCOTTISH
CATHOLICS,
SINCE THE REFORMATION;
WITH
A SUCCINCT ACCOUNT 01' THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN THE
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY
ANTECEDENT TO THAT PERIOD,
,\ND IN THE HISTORIES OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH,
AND THE DISSENTING AND EVANGELICAL CONGREGATIONS;
AND SOME
HISTORICAL MINUTES RESPECTING THE TEMPORAL POWER
OF THE POPES; THE SEP-\RATISTS FROM THE CHURCH
OF ROME BEFORE THE RETORM-ITION ; THE SOCIETY
OF JESUS; AND THE GUELPIIIC FAMILY.

By CHARLES B.UTLER, Esq.
OP lincoln's-inn.
*nNANTA EniEIKESI.
 -,  . — .^ -_^
IN FOUR volumes:
VOL. IIL

THIRD EDITION,
CORHECTED, REVISED, AND CONSIDERABLY AUGMENTED.

LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
1822.

Quare quis tandem me reprehendat, si q-uantum ceteris ad festoa dies
ludorum celebrandos, quantum ad alias vbluptates, et ad ipsam j-equiem
animi et corporis conceditur temporis : quantum alii tempestivis conviviis,
quantum alese, quantum pilse, tautum mihi egomet, ad haec studia reco-
lenda, sumpsero. Cio. PRO. Akchia.
Le changement d'etude est toujours un delassement pour moi.
D'Agdesseau.

ftMW

Luke Hansard & Sons, near Lincoln's-Inn Fields.

< ii' )

CONTENTS

o F

VOLUME THE THIRD.

CHAP. LXIV.

Charles the Second — Commencement of his Reign — Declaration
at Breda — Persecution of' the Protestant Dissenters page i
1660.
CHAP. LXV.
Addresses of the English Catholics on the Accession of Charles
the Second— First Proceedings in their regard — Fire of
Lottdon — Gates's Plot --- .-..22
I. — Addresses presented by the English Catholics on
the Restoration of Charles the Second - - 23
2. — Proceedings in Parliament upon the Catholic Ad
dresses - - - - - - 34
3. — The Fire of London - - - - - - 45
1666.
4. — Lord Castlemain's Apology for the Catholics 47
5.— Oates's Plot  61
6.  The Act disabling Peers from sitting and voting in
the House of Lords . ^ - - . - 75
1677.
7.  Summary review, by a Protestant 'Writer, of the
religious Persecutions in England, from the Re
formation till the end of the reign of Charles the
Second. — General reflections on them 76
a2

iv CONTENTS OF
CHAP LXVL
James the Second - - - - - - - page 90
1685.
1 .—Miscellaneous observations on the Character of
James .----------91
2. — Principal circumstances which led to the Revolu
tion -  93
3. — The Visit of James to the Monastery of La
Trappe  100
4. — Death of James ---------109
5. — Historical Poems of Dryden, on the occurrences in
the reigns of Charles the Second and James the
Second, in which the English Catholics were
particularly interested --- --112

CHAP. LXVII.
William the Third --.- -- .--121
1688.
1. — Historical Minutes of religious Tolerance and In
tolerance - -------123
2. — Act of Toleration - -- ---130
3. — The Nonjurors ---------133
4. — Roman Catholics - - - - - - . 134

CHAP. Lxvm.
Queen Anne --- ...- .... ^gg
1702.
1. — The Latitudinarian Divines - - - - 141
2. — State ofthe Catholics under Queen Anne - 148

VOLUME THE THIRD.

CHAP. LXIX.
Accession of the House of Brunswick - - - . page 149
171-1-.
1. — Their Italian descent - - - - - 150
2. — - German Principalities - - - 151
3. — - - British Monarchy . . . - . 155
4. — Miscellaneous facts relating to the Guelphic fa
mily  157
CHAP. LXX.
George the First -----.---..- igg
1714.
1 . — Acts of Settlement - - - .... 160
2. — Probable general Population of England, and rela
tive proportion of the established Church, Pro
testants, Non-conformists, and Roman Catholics,
about the beginning of the reign of George the
First  ..... 162
3. — Acts passed against the Roman Catholics during
the reign of George the First - - - 165
4. — Negotiation for obtaining a partial repeal of the
Penal Laws ....... . 169
CHAP. LXXL
George the Second .-.......--173 1727.
The condition ofthe English Roman Catholics during his Reign, ib.
1. — General state of the English Catholics during this
Reign ...... .....ib.
2 — Contest between the High Church and Low Church
— Progress of religious Toleration - - 180
3. — Acts in favour of the Protestant Dissenters - 1 85
a 3

yi CONTENTS OF
4.-Doctor Courayer  page 187
5.— Correspondence between Archbishop Wake and
Dr. Dupin, for the re-union of the Church of
Rome and the Church of England - - 19»
CHAP. LXXIL
BuU of Pope Benedict the fourteenth, regulating the English
Mission  -¦¦' ^^
1753.

Jansenism

CHAP. LXXIIL
.... . - 201

CHAP, LXXIV.
The Methodists, Antinomians and Moravians - - - - 212
1.— The Methodists  213
2. — Antinomians -- -- .-- 224
3. — Moravians . - - - . . - 225
4.  The difference between the Roman Catholic Church
and the Lutherans and Methodists, on the subject
of Justification - -  229

CHAP. LXXV.
Suppression of the Jesuits - - .------234
1 .^The progressive Extension of the Order - - 235
2.  Their mode of Instruction and Education 236
3. — Their Missions in Paraguay - ... 241
4. — Their Missions in China - .... 244
5. — Their Antichristian and Anticatholic Adversaries 246
6. — Their Catholic Adversaries -...-. 249
7. — Their alleged advocation of the Pope's divine right
to temporal power in spiritual concerns - 252

VOLUME THE THIRD. vii
8. — Their alleged exemption from the civil power in
consequence of Papal Bulls and Briefs, - page 258
9. — The Dissolution of the Society - - - - 263
10. — The Restoration of tlie Society - - - . 271

CHAP. LXXVL
George the Third - ......... 275
1760.
General State qf the English Catholics in the reign qf George
fhe Third, before the Act passed in their favour in 1778 - ib.
1. — General condition of the English Catholics, from
the Revolution till the Accession of George the
Third   ib.
2. — The gradual amelioration in the situation of Ca
tholics- -^--.- ... 281
CHAP. LXXVIL
The Act passed in the eighteenth year of his late Majesty, for the
relief of the EngUsh Catholics .... -.286
1778.
1 . — The Petition presented by the English Catholics in
1778  ib.
2. — The Proceedings in Parliament on the Act of the
eighteenth of his late Majesty - . - » . 289
3. — The legal operation of the Act of the eighteenth
of his late Majesty ... - ... 293
4. — The Oath prescribed by the Act - . 294
5.— The Riots  298
1780.
CHAP. Lxxvm.
TheSocinians — Unitarians — Deists — French Philosophers - 31 z
1. — The Socinians ---- ... -313
2 — ^The Unitarians - -  -315

CONTENTS OF
3.— The Deists  page 317
4, — The French Philosophers .-..--318
5, — Reception in England of the French persecuted
Clergy  324

CHAP. LXXIX.
Principal public Men — State qf the public mind at the time of
the Application of the Catholics for the Bill of i'79i — Appli
cations to Parliament jor a repeal of the Laws requiring the
subscription of the Thirty-nine Articles - - 333
1 — Principal public Men at this period - - ib.
2. — State of the public mind at this time — Gradual re
laxation and final repeal of the Penal Laws in
France against the Protestants — Progress of civil
Liberty in England in consequence of the Ban-
gorian Controversy the Confessional — Favourable
results to the Claims of the Catholics - - 346
3. Applications to Parliament for a repeal of the Laws
requiring subscriptions of the Thirty-nine Ar
ticles -  354

CHAP. LXXX.
Historical Minutes respecting the Irish Catholics till the Revo
lution - ..... . .---. orq
1. — State of the Irish before the reign of Henry the
Second - ._.. . __ g^
2.— State of the Irish between the reign of Henry the
Second and the reign of Henry the Eighth - 364
3.— State ofthe Irish Cathohcs in the reigns of Henry the
Eighth, Edward the Sixth and Queen Mary 367
4.— During the reign of Queen Elizabeth - - 370
5. — James the First - - . _ . „i,^
6. — Charles the First . . . „g,

VOLUME THE THIRD. ix
7- — ^The Massacre in 1641 ... page 385
8. — The Confederacy of the Irish Catholics in 1G42, 392
9. — ^The interference of the Pope's Nuncio in the Pro
ceedings of the Confederates ... 395
10. — The Confiscations made by Cromwell ; and the
settlement of the confiscated Property, at the
Restoration - .... . . 409
11. — The remonstrance of the Irish Cathohcs presented
to Charles the Second in 1661 - - - 415
12.— Biographical Memoir of Father Walsh - 444
13. — Confiscation of Irish Property at the Revolution
in 1688 ----.. .... 454
14. — Tbe Irish Brigade - - - - - 458

CHAP. LXXXL
Historical Memoirs qf the Irish Catholics since the Revolution
in 1688, till the Act passed for their relief in 1793 - 460
1 . — William the Third — Articles of Limerick ib.
2. — Principal Acts passed in the reign of William the
Third against the Roman Catholics - - 461
3. — Molyneux's Work, intituled, " The Case of Ireland's
being bound by Acts of Parliament in Eng
land"  - - 464
4. — The conduct of William the Third in respect to the
Irish Roman Catholics ...... 467
5.  - of Queen Anne ..... 463
6. — - - - of George the First - - - - 474
7.  - of George the Second - - . 477
8.  . - of George the Third, in the early part
of his Reign -.-- ..... 484

( xi )

APPENDIX.

NOTE I. referred to in page 70,
On the Tract intituled, " Roman Catholic Principles in re
ference to God and the King" - - - - page 493
NOTE II. referred to in page 192.
The Symbol of Pius the Fourth - - - - - 510

HISTORICAL MEMOIRS
OF THE
ENGLIS^H CATHOLICS,
Src.
SINCE THE
REFORMATION.

CHAP. LXIV.
CHAKLES THE SECQND.
tJOMMENCEMENT OF HIS REIGN.  DECLAKATION
AT BREDA. — PERSECUTION OF THE PROTEST
ANT DISSENTERS. 1660.
THE events which led to the restoration of
Charles, or the means, by which it was ac
complished, are foreign to the subject of these
pages : it is sufficient to observe, that the nation
was divided, at that time, into three religious parties,
the roman-catholics, the members ofthe established
chwch, and the dissenters: the last copiprised the
presbyterians, the independents, and the anabap
tists. In the progress of this history, we shall have
VOL. III. ^

2 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
occasion to show, that the three last came by de
grees to differ from each other, in little more than
in name ; but, at the time of which we are now
speaking, the differences, which we have noticed
both in their doctrine and discipline, were real and
substantial *. All parties were reconciled to the
king, and vied in demonstrations of affection to
wards hirti : but no J)arty was reconciled to any
other. His majesty's declaration atBreda, was just, wise,
and conciliating. The promise, which it contained,
of oblivion of past offences, would, perhaps, have
been more judicious, if it had been without any
qualification. It is obvious, that no qualification,
however carefully expressed, would hinder the ap
plication of it from being arbitrary in many in
stances, or prevent the unavoidable g-enerality of
its terms from occasioning alarm in a multitude of
persons, whom it was not intended to affect, and
from thus keeping alive, for a length of time, those
jealousies, which it was so much the interest and
wish of govemment to compose. Still the declara
tion was free from substantial objection : the reli
gious toleration, which it held out, was complete,
and the terms, in which it was expressed, wfere
unequivocali
* " We do declare," said his majesty f, "" a liberty
"to tiender consciences ; and that no man shall be
¦'' disquieted, or called in question for differences
* The Righte of Protestant Dissenters to a complete Tole
ration, asserted, 8vo. 178^ p. 1.
-\ 25 October i.6e6t '

THE PNGLISH CATHOLICS. S
'-' of opinion in matters of religion, which do not
" disturb the peace of the kin-gdom ; and that we
" shall be ready to consent to such an act of parliai-
" ment, as, upon mature deliberation, shallbe
" offered to us, fpr the fiill granting that indulgence."
Such was the promise : — unfortunately, both for the
monarch and his subjects, it was completely vio
lated, in respect both to the protestant dissenters
and the roman-catholics :¦ — In this chapter we shall
succinctly state its violation in respect to the former.
During the fifteen years, that immediately pre
ceded the time, of which we are now speaking, the
hierarchy of the church of England was broken,
its liturgy set aside, a new form of worship esta
blished, acnd the constituted authorities, and almost
every individual of influence, either in church or
state, was presbyterian or independent. This was
reversed by the Restoration ; still, as several per
sons of distinction, and a large proportion of the
people, yet adhered to the dissenters, their interest
was considerable, and required management; it
was the more difficult to disregard it, a,s it was
impossible to deny, that the presbyterians had been
eminently usejftil in bringing about the restoration
X)f the monarch, or that his promises to them of
Ipleration were both ample and explicit.
At first, great attention was shown to them :
some even ofthe dissentmg ministers were retained
^mongthe royal chaplains, and preached before his
majesty. A deputation from them was introduced
to him by the duke of Manchester*. They sug-
* June 1660.
B 2

4 HIsrORlCAL MEMOlilS OF
gested, in firm but respectful language, the utility
T)f a general religious union; and that it could only
be effected, by confining the terms of communion
to points, which were deemed essential^ each party
conceding the rest; The king desired to see their
concessions ; these, they consented to deliver in
writing to his majesty^ but requested that the bishops
might do the same. ¦
The dissenters accordingly communicated their
proposial ; they began by four preliminary requests,
— that serious godliness might be countenanced ;
that a learned and pious minister, in each jparish,
should be encouraged ; that a personal public own
ing of the baptismal covenant should precede the
admission to the Lord's table ; and that the Lord's
day should be strictly sanctified. They then inti
mated that archbishop Usher's system of episcopal
govemment should be the gronnd-work of the ac
commodation. It provided, that the concems ofthe
church should be transacted by four graduated
synods, and a, national council, i . The rector or
pastor and churchwarden or sideman, w^re to form
a parochial synod, that should meet weekly, and
take notice of those who lived scandalously, and
admonish them ; and, if they were not reclaitoed,
report them to the monthly synod : 2. Every mral
deanery of the established church was to have a sur
perintendent called a suffragan : he and the rectors
or pastors within the circuit were to form the suf
fragan symd; it was to meet monthly, to receive
the report of the parochial synod ; to notice, and if
necessary, censure all new opinions, heresies, and

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. a
schisms within the district: 3. A certain number
of the deaneries or suffragancies was to constitute a
diocese, under the government of a bishop or super
intendent. Once or twice in every year he was to
hold an assembly of the suffragans, and rectors or
pastors, within his diocese. This was to constitute
a diocesan synod; here, matters of particular mo
ment were to be discussed ; and appeals from the
synod of suffragans and rectors were to be received,
and all questions in it were to be determined by a
plurality of the voices of the suffragans : 4. All the
bishops or superintendents within each of the two
provinces of Canterbury and York, and the rectors
or suffragans of their dioceses, and of a certain
number of the clergy, to be elected out of the dio
cese to which they belonged, were to form a pror
vincial synod, that should be held in every third
year. The primate of each province was to preside
over this assembly, as moderator. It was to receive
appeals fi-om the diocesan synod : 5. But the as
semblies of each province might unite, and form a
national council. Here, appeals from all inferior
synods might be received, all their proceedings ex
amined, and such ecclesiastical constitutions, as
concemed the state and church pf the whole nation,
might be established.
It is evident, that both the form and spirit of
this scheme of ecclesiastical economy, though some
-episcopalian words were introduced into it, were
presbyterian : it was rendered still more so by cer
tain proposals, with which it was accompanied :
in these, the dissenting ministers acquiesced in a
B 3

6 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
liturgy ; but, without absolutely rejecting^ the sur
plice, the use of the cross in baptism, the bowing
at the name of Jesus, and other ceremonies, they
observed, that the church service was perfect 'irith-
out them; that they were rejected by most ofthe
protestant churches abroad, and that they had been
the cause of much disunion and disturbance in Eng
land. They requested that none of their ministers
might be ejected from sequestered livings, the in
cumbents of which were dead ; that no oaths, sub
scriptions, or renunciation of orders might be re
quited of them, until there should be a general
settlement of the religious concerns of the nation*.
. The king received these propositions with kind
ness, aiid communicated them to the bishops; some
were for concessions to the dissenters ; others, for
an immediate and absolute rejection of their ad
vances. Lord chancellor Clarendon, who had the
sole direction, at this time, of the royal councils,
sided willi the latter. " It was," he always de
clared, " an unhappy policy, and. always unhappily
" applied, to imagine that dissenters could be re-
" covered or reconciled by partial concessions, or
" by granting less than they demanded. Their
" faction," he said, " was their religion "f."
The answer of the bishops was expressed iti
guarded terms. They observed,- that the law had
sufficiently provided for many of the regulations
solicited;— for those particularly, which Were meh-
l;ioned in the four preliminary requests ; that the
* Collier's Hist. vol. ii. p. 871, 872, 873.
t Life, vol.,ii, p. 128. !

TIIE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 7
bishops were willing to allow liberty of conscience,
but could not allow conventicles, as these were dan
gerous to the state ; that the Common Prayer was
altogether unexceptionable, and could not be top
strictly enjoined; yet, that they were willing to
revise it, if his majesty should think it proper : they
were willing that extemporary prayer might be used
both before and after the service ; — ^but they were
unwilling to part with any of the ceremonies.
The answer of the bishops being communicated
to the king, his majesty caused a copy of it to be
given to the dissenters, with an intimation, that he
would commit to writing the particulars pf the in
dulgence which he meant to show them; but that
they should receive a copy of the instrument, and
be at liberty to comment upon it before it was pub
lished. It was accordingly communicated to them :
diey returned a minute, which contained the heads
of their objections. A meeting took place at the
chancellor's; theking, accompanied by several of his
principal nobility, attended ; the established church
was represented by several prelates aiid some distin
guished private divines ; the dissenters, by Reinolds,
Calamy, Baxter, and other ministers of eminence.
The projected declaration of his majesty was read ;
each party was allowed to state succinctly their ob
jections ; and the dissenters availed themselves of
this liberty. When the perusal and' discussion of
the declarations were finished, the lord chancellor
read a supplemental clause, in which his majesty
signified a wish, " that others also might be per-
" mitted to meet for religious worship, provided
B 4

ff HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
"they gave no disturbance to the public peace j
" and that they might not be molested by any
" justice of peace, or other officer," It was sus
pected both by the prelates and the dissenters, that
this clause was introduced to bring roman-catho
lics and socinians within the projected toleration ;
both parties disapproved it for this reason ; a pro
found silence ensued ; but, after a short time,
Baxter rose, and protested against the toleration of
papists and socinians : — " The presbyterians," he
said, " desired not favour to themselves alone ;
" and rigorous severity, they desired against none.
" As they humbly thanked his majesty for his in-
" dulgence to themselves, so they distinguished
" the tolerable parties from the intolerable : for the
" former, theyhumbly craved just lenity and favour;
" butfor the latter, such as the papists and socinians,
" for their [parts, they could not make their
" toleration their request."
His majesty's declaration was then promulgated * :
the language of it announced principles of mode
ration and comprehension. The king promised to
provide suffragan bishops for the larger dioceses ;
that these should not confer ordination, or exercise
any other act of jurisdiction, without the advice and
assistance of presbyters, chosen by the diocese ; —
that l-easonable alterations should be made in the
liturgy ; that the church form of worship should not
be forced on those who were unwilling to receive
it ; and that the surplice, the cross in baptism, or
* 25 October 16G0. Collier has inserted it at length,
vol. ii. p. 874.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 0
the bow at the name of Jesus, shonld not be rigidly
insisted upon. — His majesty closed the declaration,^
by solemnly recognizing the promise of religious
indulgence, made by him at Breda. — It is a just ob
servation of Hume *, that this declaration was made
by the king as head of the church ; and that he
plainly assumed, in many parts of it, a legislative
authority in ecclesiastical matters t-
It generally satisfied the dissenters. Baxter, as
he himself declares, was overjoyed : he waited im
mediately on the chancellor, gave him many thanks
for the concessions, and added, that, if the liturgy
should be altered as the declaration promised, and
the declaration itself made a law, he should think
it a duty to encourage a general union J.
* Hist. c. Ixiii.
t Collier has a similar remark, vol. ii. p. 876.
I " The History of England during the reign of king
" 'William, queen Anne, and king George I, with an intro-
" ductory review of the reigns of the royal brothers Charles
" and James ; in whidi are to be found the seeds of the revo-
" lution; by a Lover of Truth and Liberty, 3 vols. foi. 1744."
Mr. James Ralph, a political writer of eminence in his
time, was the author of this history. — Mr. Chalmers thus
speaks of it in his Biographical Dictionary: — " This was
" always considered a very useful work. Ralph had read ^
" great deal, and was very conversant on the history and
" politics of the country. He applied himself, with great
" industry, to the study of all writings upon party matters :
" and had collected a prodigious number of pamphlets re-
" specting the contests of whig and tory,the essence of which
" he incorporated into his work, so as to make it a fund of
" curious information and opinions, of which more regular
" historians might afterwards avail themselves." — Mr. Fox^
in his late historical work, pronounces him to be " au

10 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
The trials of the regicides soon followed this
event; it appears, from what took place on them,
that the feelings ofthe king, in their regard, were
less vindictive than those of his parliament or his
people. The trials were attended with one cir
cumstance, which gave general disgust, — that
several of the popular party sat as the judges of
the criminals, and sentenced them to die for a
rebellion, to which they themselves had excited
them*. The civil dissensions of the kingdom appeared
now to be effectually composed : but a further set
tlement of its reUgious ' agitation was obviously
necessary.: the roman-catholics, the anabaptists,
and the quakers, would have been satisfied with tole
ration ; but prelacy and presbytery were striving
for the ascendancy. An attempt to effect an ami
cable arrangement of their claims was made by a
conference of twelve bishops and twelve dissenting
ministers, which took place, under the royal au
thority, at the Savoy f. It was unsuccessfiil ; and
" historian of great acuteness, as well as diligendfe ; but who
" falls sometimes into the common error of judging too much
" from the event." — To be thus spoken of by Mr. Fox, argues
no common merit. It appears to the writer of these pages,
that an abridgment of this work, in which this historian's noble
principles of whiggism should be allowed their place, with
a continuation of it on the same plan, would be a useful and a
popular work.
* Dalrymple's Memoirs, p. 21.
\ Mardi i66i. All the papers relating to the conference
at the Savoy^ are collected in the " History of Non-confor-
" mity." — A dear view is given of them by Mr. Neale, in his
History- of tte Puritans, vol. ii. c, vi.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. ii
was immediately followed by tiie act, which was
passed for restoring tiie bishops to their seats in
parliament, from which an act sanctioned by
Charles the first, immediately before the commence
ment of the civil war, had excluded them.
The corporation act*, passed in the same year,
was thecommencement of hostilities againstthe pro
testant dissenters. Powers were given by it to
commissioners, to be appointed by the king, to ex
pel firom corporations any officers they should think
proper, and to place other persons in their room :
it was further provided by it, that, for the future,
no person should be appointed to any office or place
relating to the govemment of corporations, ba-
roughs, or the cinque ports, who had not, within
the preceding twelve months, taken the sacrament
of the Lord's supper, according to the rites of the
church of England.
Hume gives the following account of the object
of this act : ' ' During the violence and jealous govem-
" ment of the parliament and of the protector, all
" magistrates liable to suspicions had been expelled
" the corporations, and none had been admitted,
" who gave not proofs of affection to the ruling
" powers, or who refused to subscribe the covenant.
" To leave all authority in such hands, seemed
"dangerous; and therefore the parliament em-
" powered the king to appoint commissioners for
" regulating the coiporations, and expel suchmagis-
t 13 Car. II. St. 2, c. 1. (1661.)— An act for the well
governing ^nd regulating of corporations. '

12 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" trates as either had obtruded themselves by vio-
" lence, or professed principles dangerous to the
" constitution, civil or ecclesiastical," These ex
pressions of Hume appear to justify an assertion of
the protestant dissenters and the advocates of their
cause, that, if the real object of the act was to be
collected from a fair construction of the tenris in
which it is expressed, it was levelled against the
civil, not against the religious, principles of those,
in whose regard it was designed to operate;—
against the evil spirits, mentioned in the preamble
of the act to be still at work, and not against the
presbyterians, whose actual loyalty was then ad
mitted, and who were then acknowledged to have
been particularly instrumental in placing his ma
jesty on the throne.
It is also important to consider, that, at the time
of the passing of this act, the negotiation for the
comprehension was still in progress, and that great
hopes of its success were still entertained. Hence
the act only required the sacrament to be taken ac
cording to the rites, which should be established,
when the terms ofthe comprehension, which it was
expected would be agreeable to both parties, should
be settled. It is certain that the corporation act
was viewed by many dissenters in this light, and
that several were reconciled to it by this circum
stance : but events quickly followed, which demon
strated, that it really was aimed at the general body
of dissenters, and that, though it was purposely
expressed in sudh terms, as to give it an appearance

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 13
^)f providing only for the eivil govemment of the
country, and, on that account, not to conflict with
his majesty's declaration at Breda, it was really
levfiiled at the presbyterians and the other dissent
ing sectaries, and intended to effect their ruin.
This was completed by the Act of Uniformity *
which was passed in the following year. It pro
vided, that all ministers, who had not been epis-
copally ordained, should be re-ordained by a bishop
of the established church ; that every minister,
having an ecclesiastical benefice, should on the then
next 2 2d day of August, (the feast of Saint Bar
tholomew), — read publicly and solemnly, in the
church belonging to his benefice, the morning and
levening service in the book of Common Prayer ;
and express, in the words prescribed by the act, his
tinfeigned assent and consent to the use of all things
contained in the book, under pain of instant depri
vation of all his spiritual preferments: that he
should take the oath of canonical obedience : and
that desuis, heads of colleges, professors, lecturers,
schoolmasters, and generally all persons having
ecclesiastical dignity or promotion, should, before
the same day, sign a declaration prescribed by the
act, by which they were to abjure the solemn league
and covenant, and testify their belief, that it was
not lawfiil to take arms against the king. Bishop
* 13 & 14 Car. II, c. 4. (1662.) — Ao act for the uniformity
of public prayer and administration of tbe sacraments, and
other rites and cerenumies ; and for establishing the form of
making, ordaining, and consecrating bishops, priests, and
deacons in the church of England.

14 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Burnet says, that " Saint Bartholomew's day was
" fixed on for the operation ofthe act, that, if the
" ministers were then deprived, they should lose
" the profits ofthe whole year, since the tythes are
" commonly due at Michaelmas. The presby-
" terians," he says, "remembered what Saint Bar-
-" tholomew's day had been at Paris ninety years
" before, and did not stick to, compare the one to
" the other,"
This celebrated act received the royal assent on
the 19th of May 1662- It has been mentioned,
that the book of Common Prayer had been com-
. mitted by the king to the bishppsfor their revision:
they altered it in some places, and added to it in
others; but it was not printed until some time after
the passing of the act of uniformity. If we believe
Neale*, not one divine in teti, that lived at any
considerable distance from London, had it in his
power to peruse it before Saint Bartholomew's
day : " The matter," says Burnet, " was driven on
*' with such precipitancy, that it seemed to be im-
" plied, that the clergy should subscribe to the
" book implicitly, witiiput having seen it; this,"
he says, " had been done by too many, as the
" bishops themselves confessedf."
The dissenitei'swere divided on some of. the
objections made to a compliance with the act; all,
however, protested that they could not conscien
tiously " give their assent and consent to all and
¦" every thing contained in the book of Common

* Hist. vol. ii. c,

VI.
t Hist. vol. i. p. 184,1^5.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLFCS. 15
" Prayer," and that no human power was authorized
to require such a declaration frotn them.
At length Saint Bartholomew's day arrived, and
two thousand ministers gave up their livings. This,
to use the words of Burnet, raised a grievous cry
ovar the nation. The ejected ministers, says Neale,
were driven from their houses, from the society of
their friends ; and, what was yet more affecting,
from all theit usefulness.
Undettheseseverities, by an inconsistency, which
their sufferings excused, they resorted to the dis
pensing power of the king for relief against the
operations of the act. Three days after it took
place, Mr. Calamy, and some other of their leading
divines, presented to his majesty a petition, to this
effect. It was debated in council on the follow
ing day ; his majesty was present, and declared
that " he mtended an indulgence, if it were at all
" feasible." — But Dr. Sheldon, who was then
•bishop of London, and afterwards archbishop of
Canterbury, argued against it : he declared that
the suspension of the law would be illegal, and
that the repeal of it would expose those, who had
passed it, tothe sport and scom ofthe presbyterian
faction. " Thus," says the historian Rxdph* " in this
" one event, we are furnished with two signal in-
" stances of <lie self-incotesistency of patties : the
" dissenters calling upon the king to exercise a
" dispensing power ; and a bishop disputing the
* Hist. p. 77.

16 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
'' wiU of his sovereign, and contending for the
" supremacy ofthe law."
The intolerants prevailed, and the petition of
the dissenters was rejected. His majesty, however,
was pleased to exercise his dispensing power in
fiavour of some protestant Walloons settied at
Thomey, in the isle of Ely, by granting them, by
his letters patent, leave to use their liturgy in their
own language, and to regulate their other religious
concerns, by their own discipline. About the same
time, by a strong exercise of his spiritual supre
macy, he addressed a letter to the archbishop of
Canterbury, by which he directed what topics the
established clergy should discuss, and what they
should avoid in their sermons; and made other
regulations respecting their discipline *.
The dissenters filled England with their com
plaints against the act. Perceiving that they made
a considerable impression on the public mind, his
majesty, about four months after his sanctioning it,
issued a declaration of indulgence f. He mentions
in it the promises of liberty of conscience contained
in his declaration at Breda ; he observes that he
had been zealous to settie the uniformity of the
church of England ; promises to maintain it, ^and
then, " as to what concemed those, who, living
" peaxjeaUy, did not conform themselves to it
" through scrupulous and misguided conscience,"
* Dated 14 October ,1662. Ralph has inserted it at length
in his History.
t 26 December 1662.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 17
he declares, that, in the approaching sessions, he
" would endeavour to induce parliament to concur
" with him in an act, which might enable him to
" exercise, with a more universal satisfaction, that
" power of dispensing, which he conceived to be
" inherent in him."
Whatever hopes were raised by this declaration,
they were of short duration : no alleviation of the
act of uniformity took place ; and two acts were
passed for suppressing conventicles, the name
usuaUy given to the religious meetings of the dis
senters*. By the first, persons preaching in them,
were prohibited fi:om coming within five miles of
any town corporate or borough, under the penalty
of 40/. The operation of this act was limited to
three years : — on its expiration, anotherwas passed,
which provided, that, whenever five persons, above
those of the same household, should assemble in a
religious congregation, each should be liable, for
the first offence, to be imprisoned for three months,
or to pay 5 /. ; for the second, to be imprisoned six
months, or to pay 10/.; and for the third, to be
transported seven years, or to pay 1 00 /.
In this manner,— to avail ourselves of the candid
acknowledgments of Humef " all the king's kind
" promises of toleration and indulgence to tender
" consciences, were eluded and broken." Lord
V * 16 Car. II, c. 1. (1664.) An act to prevent and sup
press seditious conventicles. 22 Car. II, c. 1. (1670,) with
the same title. The first of these acte expired at the end of
three years.
t Hist. c. xliii.
VOL. III. C

18 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Clarendon* defends the monarch against this
charge on three grounds ; — " The presbyterians,"
says his lordship, " complained that the king had
" violated his promise made to them in his declara-
" tion at Breda, which was urged with great unin-
" genuity and without any shadow of right, for his
" majesty had thereby referred the whole settlement
" of all things relating to religion, to the wisdom of
" parliament." — Hume justly replies, — " It is true
" that Charles, in his declaration from Breda, had
" expressed his intention of regulating that indul-
" gence, by the advice and authority of parliament:
" but this limitation could never reasonably be ex-
" tended to a total infringement and violation of
" all his engagements." To the noble historian's
two other excuses, — that the indulgence was pro
mised to the scrupulous, not to the factious ; and
that the sovereign was willing, and sought to per
form his promise, but that the decided hostility of
parliament put it beyond his power, — no answer is
necessary. Lord Clarendon mentions frequently
the malignity of the sectaries : Hume justly ob
serves, that the chief cause of that malignity was
the restraint, under which they laboured : in this,
as on all such occasions, the removal of the cause
¦would, though perhaps slowly, have removed the
effect. It is observable, that the monarch, in his decla
ration of indulgence, intimates those pretensions to
the dispensingpower, which were afterwards openly
avowed, both by him and his successor in the
*Life, vol. ii. p. 156.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 19
throne. From this circumstance, Hume and other
respectable historians have suggested, that, even at
this time, the monarch had formed a settled plan
of affording to the roman-catholics a legal tolera
tion of their religion ; and that his severities to
the protestant dissenters proceeded from refined
policy. He calculated, — if we should believe these
writers, — that, to avoid the grinding operation of
these severities, the protestant dissenters would
gladly avail themselves of any exertions of the dis
pensing power, which the crown should make in
their favour ; and thus, having themselves profited
of them, could not afterwards consistently call in
question, either the monarch's title tothe prero-*
gative, or the justice of his exercising it in favour
of others. A passage in Burnet's History may be
thought to render this probable* : but nothing cer
tainly could be more contrary to any views of this
nature, than the principles and feelings of Claren
don, by whose counsels his majesty was, at this
time, solely guided in all his measures, and parti
cularly in those, which were then taken against the
protestant dissenters. The minister's strong and
persevering hostility to them, and to the roman-
catholics, is the greatest blot in his character,
otherwise highly estimable.
One circumstance, of particular hardship, attended
the expulsion of the dissenting ministers from their
livings. When the monks and nuns were expelled
from their religious abodes by Henry tbe eigl»th,
and when the catholic clergy were deprived of their
* "Vol. i. p. 179.
c 2

20 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
benefices by Elizabeth, some allowances were made
to them ; and when the presbyterians ejected the
established hierarchy, a fifth of each living had been
left to the ejected clergymen ; but on the expulsion
ofthe non-conformist ministers, no such allowances
were made : it was recommended by the peers, but
was absolutely rejected by the commons.
The several acts of parliament , noticed in this
chapter, had the effect of changing the name of
puritans into that of protestant non-conformists.
The acts for suppressing conventicles considerably
increased their sufferings. By virtue of them, says
Neale*, the gaols in the several counties were
quickly filled with dissenting pro testants ; the houses
of the ministers were broken open, their hearers
taken into custody, the legal penalties of 20/. upon
the minister, 20/. upon the house, and 5/. on each
hearer, were exacted : if not paid, they were levied
by the sale ofthe cattie and goods of the offenders;
and if these did not suffice to answer them, the
parties were hurried to prison and kept in close
confinement for three or even six months. Several
were fined, several excommunicated, for not coming
to church, and some were sentenced to abjure the
realm. To avoid these severities, several occasion
ally frequented the churches ofthe establishment:
,this was termed Occasional Conformity : it was
defended by some presbyterian divines ; but the
independents, anabaptists, and quakers, universally
disclaimed it. The firmness of the quakers, always
* Hist. vol. ii. c. vii. In the present chapter we frequently
use his words.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 21
passive but never yielding, was singularly remark
able. The general sufferings of the non-conformists of
every denomination were certainly very great : it
has been asserted that eight thousand of them
perished in the reign of Charles the second, merely
for dissenting from the church *. This persecution
of them was attended by one singular circumstance :
In every other instance, where one denomination
of christians has persecuted another, it has been on
the ground, that the errors, which they professed
to punish, were impious, and led the maintainers
of them to eternal perdition ; and therefore ren
dered these wholesome severities, as the persecutors
termed them, salutary to the sufferers. But, when
the protestant of the church of England acted in
the manner which has been mentioned against the
protestant non-conformist, he persecuted a chris
tian, who agreed with him in all, which he himself
deemed to be substantial articles of faith, and
differed from him only in rites and ceremonies,
which he himself allowed to be indifferent f .
A temporary relaxation of these severities was
made by the declaration of indulgence which was
issued by his majesty soon after his alliance with
France against Holland J. By this, in virtue of
an authority, wliich he asserted to be inherent in
him, and to have been often recognized by the
' See the preface to De Laune's Plea for Non-conformists^
by the editor of that work.
t This is Neale's just remark, vol. ii. c. vi.
J 13 March 1672. C 3

22 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
nation, he generally suspended the penal laws, both
in respect to the protestant non-conformists and the
roman-catholic recusants, and granted to the former
a public, and to the latter a private exercise of their
religion. But, in the following year, the commons
having warmly remonstrated against this declara
tion, as an open and inexcusable violation of the
constitution, with an intimation, that its principal,
though concealed, object, was to favour the catho
lics, his majesty recalled it, and with his own hands
broke the seals.

CHAP. LXV.
ADDRESSES OF THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS ON THE
ACCESSION OF CHARLES THE SECOND.  FIRST
PROCEEDINGS IN THEIR REGARD. — FIRE OF
LONDON. — oates's PLOT.
1 HE events in this reign, in which the catholics
were deeply interested, are numerous.
We shall present the reader, I. With an account
of the addresses presented by the English catholics
on the restoration of Charles the second : II. Of
the proceedings in parliament, which, upon that
event, took place in their regard : III. Then men
tion the fire of London : IV. Then state some facts
and offer some observations on Oates's plot : V. Then
insert the apology addressed to the peers of England
by lord Castiemain, in consequence of the new
severities, with which the catholics were tiien
threatened: VI. Then notice the act preventing

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 23
catholic peers and commoners from sitting in par
liament : VII. And conclude the chapter With a
summary review given by a protestant writer of the
religious persecutions in England from the refor
mation till the end of the reign of Charles the
second ; — and some general reflections upon them.
LXV. I.
Addresses presented by the English Catholics on the
Restoration of Chctrles the second.
On the restoration of Charles the second, the
expectations of his catholic subjects were very
great, and were certainly very reasonable. In every
stage of the civil conflict, his father and himself
had found the lives and fortunes of the catholics
at their command : there was scarcely a catholic
family, some members of which had not perished in
the field ; or from whom a large proportion of their
property had not been confiscated, in consequence
of their loyalty. They presented three addresses
to his majesty.
The first was signed by the dean and chapter. —
" We hold," they say, "that the pope hath no
" power, directiy or indirectly, to lay commands
" on the king's catholic subjects in any thing be-
" longing to civil and temporal matters ; and con-
" trarywise, that the aforesayd supreame dominion
" and power of majestic extends over all his subjects,
" as well ecclesiasticke as layicke, and in all cases,
" not only temporall but also spirituall, as far forth
" as they may have respect to the civil and politick
c 4

24 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" government. And that therefore we hold our-
" seltes bound never to suffer or permit, as far as
" lyes in our power, that any person or persons,
" ecclesiastick or layick, exercise at any time, any
" jurisdiction, power, or authoritie in this kingdom,
" or in any other part of his majesty's dominions,
" over his majesty's subjects, in thinges appertain-
" ing to or reflectinge upon his civill govemment,
" without the knowledge and leave of his sayd
" majestic ; much less, without violence to the
" sacred principle aforesaid, can or doe wee hold
" that the pope either hath, by himselfe, or by any
" authoritie derived from his see, any rightful!
" power of deposinge kings, whether catholicke or
" not catholicke, disposinge of their dominions and
" kingdoms, or of authorizinge any externe prince,
" or other person or persons whatsoever, to invade
" or endammage either his majestie's sacred per-
" son, or any part of his dominions.
" But most of all wee detest from our harts that
" impious, damnable, and most unchristian position,
" that kings or absolute princes, of what belief
" soever, who are excommunicated by the pope, may
" be deposed, killed, or murthered by their sub-
" jects,, as clearly contrary to the word of God."
A second address was presented by the English
Benedictines and other regular clergy.— They cite
several sentences of foreign universities, condemn
ing the claim of the pope to temporal power by
divine right:— the principal of these are men
tioned in the opinions of the foreign universities
transcribed in the Appendix to these Memoirs:

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 25
The addressers conclude their protestation in thesfe
words. " This protestation we make in the presence of
" God and his holy angels, without any equivoca-
" tion or mental reservation whatsoever. The which
" doctrine of mental reservation wee doe deteste
" and abhorre as most unchristian and execrable :
" especially in professions of this nature ; as also in
" all promises and contracts made with any, or
" when wee are convened before any legall magis-
" strate, of what religion soever.
" And now, — our hope is, that this our profes-
" sion will be esteemed sufficient to satisfy the state
" and kingdome, (that the catholick religion does not
" desetve such imputations, as upon occasion ofthe
" writings or crimes of a few unhappy persons, have
" been undeservedly cast upon it. ; As likewise to
" demonstrate, that both for an acknowledgment
" of his majestie's just supremacy in all temporall
" power, as a civil governonr, and likewise^ur rea-
" diness to perform all due allegiance to him and
" his successours, according to the lawes of these
" kingdomes^ wee his distressed roman-catholick
" subjects, are by our religion as much obliged, and
" God willing, shall never come short of any other
" subjects, of what persuasion in matters of religion
" soever they be. However, in case that which is
"here written and protested shall not be esteemed
" sufficient for this purpose, our most humble suit
" is, that wee may be permitted further to explain
" ourselves, and against all exceptions to justify

26 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" out most unalterable fidelity, loyalty and sin-
" cerity." 3. Another address, composed by sir John Arun
dell, afterwards created baron Arundell of Wardour,
was presented by him in the name of himself and
the general body ofthe English catholics ; — a noble
appeal to justice and humanity ! — It is expressed
in the following terms :
" Most mighty Soveraigne,
" Your roman-catholique Subjects,— ^considering
in how miraculous a manner God hath preserved
and now sent your majestic to this desolate na
tion,! to redresse the aggrievances of your people,
and repaire the breaches made by the late unhappy
distempers both in the state and lawes, — have
thought this a convenient and seasonable tyme to
cast themselves at the feete of your mercy for a re-
pealeof those penal statutes, under which they and
their forefathers have long groaned ; — in order to
obteyning which signal favour from your most
bounteous hand, wee here present you some
equitable motives, nor are we diffident of your
acceptance thereof, especially at a tyme, when
you are pleased to afford a gratious hearing to
many sects and professors of new opinions under
a notion of tender consciences, promising a free
and full pardon of all such,— (some few excepted,
whose hands were deepest in your royal father's
innocent blood),— as should submit themselves
to your clemencie, which we here doe in a most
humble ms^nner, and therefore want not cause to

THE-v^NGLISH CATHOLICS. 27
" hope that the effects of your mercie and goodness
" will not be shortened or denied to us alone.
" Our first motive, — is, by proving to your ma-
" jestie, that all the causes of your predecessor's
" penal lawes are now ceased, and therefore in rea-
" son, mercie, and justice, the lawes themselves
" ought likewise to cease.! — We come to the par-
" ticulars. "Henry the eighth's penall statutes were made
" to remove the pope's authoritie,] which stood in
" his way, an insuperable impediment, to the enjoy-
" ment of his beloved mistris Anne of Bull en, till
" such time as he had removed it, by changing the
" religion of his ancestors, and assuming to himself
" the head-shipp of the church, that so, he might
" dispence with himselfe in the case, — (a thing the
" pope declared he could not doe), — and make all
" lawful to himselfe which hee listed. Hence he
" enacted alawe, that, whoever would not acknow-
" ledge him supreame head of the church and
" renounce the pope's authoritie, — (which was
" acknowledged by all his royal ancestors from
" England's conversion to that tyme) should loose his
" estate and be putt to death for an heretick. This
" reason reacheth not at all to your majestic, who
" are no way concemed in any such abominable
" case, nor swayed by sinfuU passion as he was ;
" but of just and equall christian temper, and there-
" fore neede not the defence or cloake of such a
" law. f^ Queen Elizabeth's penall statutes were made
" to strengthen and secure her title to the crowne, t

28 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" — (which was knowne to be but weake, Marie's
"mother being alive two yeares after she was
" borne), -^against the true and lawfiil titie of
" Mary queen of Scots, your great-grandmother,
" of blessed memory, ! of whom she alwaies had
" much jealousie, as well by reason of her alliance
" with France, and right declared by the sentence
" of the church against the devorce of her father
" from his lawfull wife, as also by reason of her own
" illegitimation declared by her father in parlia-
" ment, and the excommunications denounced
" against her. These were the reasons of her
"penall statutes, wliich can be no reasons to your
" majestie to continue, but rather to annuU and re-
" peal them, seeing the causes of her feares are just
" confirmation of your confidence in us, as plainly
" giving testimony to your rightfuU succession and
" most legitimate possession of the crowne, which
" wee have all endeavoured to defend during those
" late commotions, not onely to a sale and seques-
" tration of our estates, but deprivation also of our
" lives. [' The penall statutes of king James your roy all
" grandfather, of happy memory, were occasioned
" by that horrid and blackest of plotts, — (wee ex-
" cept none but this of fresher memory against your
" royall fatherandyourselfe),— thegunpowderplot,
" — which was construed and carried on by a few
" wretched men of broken and desperate fortunesj 
" the generalitie of roman-catholiques knowing
" nothing of it, and all protesting against it even
"to this day, as a most danmable designe, con-

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 20
" trary, to their faith and religion. And here,
" we humbly appeale to your gratious majestie,
" whether itbe consistent either with reason, mercie,
" or justice, that a multitude, of innocent persons
" should suffer so long under so many penall lawes
" for the fault and wickedness of an inconsiderable
"number, whom they have ever disclaymed and
" had nothing to doe with at all;- — may we not,
" now, at least, with much modestie petition your
" royall highness for a repeale thereof? We hope
" we may, and doe it at your feete ; -humbly be-
" seeching you that, whilst you offer pardon to
" desperate rebells, even such as have been stained
" with your father's blood, — (a demonstration Of
" your matchless clemencie), — it may not be denied
" to innocent subjects, whose blood hath often
" beene a sacrifice to his and your defence and
" safetie; which may, we hope, preponderate to that
" designe of a few impious plotters, seeing it is not
" the way of your clemencie to punish a multitude
" for the sinns of a few, but rather a few for a mul-
" tude; witness your overture of a general pardon.
" Let not, therefore, the crime ofa few catholiques
" be made the fault of aU !
" By what hath hitherto been said, it cannot but
" appear to your majestie, that all those penall lawes
" of your ancestors were merely particular, and
"related onely to the tymes they were made in;
" not being applicable to the present, and therefore
" the cause or reason of them ceasing, we humbly
" begg that the effects may likewise cease.

30 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" A second motive ioT repealing them, is,— from
" that expression of Mary queene of Scots,^your
" great-grandmother of blessed memory,— made
" at the tyme of her arraignment and execution
" before the lords there assembled, viz. 'Woeismee
" for the poore catholiques, and the miseries I fore-
" see they are like to suffer for their irremoveable
" affection to me and mine ; if I were free as mye
"stile and innocencie requireth, I would gladly
" redeeme their vexations with my dearestblood ! '
" &c.— Let .then your gratious mercie and autho-
" ritie-effect what she dying so earnestly designed,
" and lett not those be sufferers by and from you,
" whose chiefest sufferings have beene heretofore
" for you and yours, not to say any thing of those
" sequestrations and degradations layd upon them
" of late tymes, for meare performance of their
" dutie and allegiance to your royal father and
" yourself. Wee shall add onely to this motive,
" that gratious saying of king James, made in par-
" Iiament, viz. ' that he would have no blood for
" religion, nor no soule-money contrary to the word
" of God,' &c. humbly beseeching God, in whose
" hands the hearts of kings are, that his so pious a
" resolution towards his catholique loyal subjects,
" may make a deep impression on your heart.
"Ij. third tmtive, — "is from our religion, which
" strictly teaeheth and commaundeth us, under
", pain of eternal damnation, to render as to God
" the things that are God's, so to Csesar the things
" that are Caesar's, and to obey our temporall

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 31
" princes and magisti-ates, not for feare onely, but
" for conscience sake, seeing to resist their au-
" thoritie is to resist the ordinance of God, which
" we believe with a most steadfast faith ; nor are
" wee longer roman-catholiques, than wee so be-
" lieve. We believe also, and sincerely protest
" befpre God and men, without any equivocation
" or mental reservation, that we owe obedience
" and allegiance to our soveraigne lord king
" Charles, his heires and successors, and will per-
" form it faithfully to him and them, notwithstand-
" ing any absolution or dispensation to the con-
" trary whatsoever. We believe likewise, and
" swear from our hearts, that wee ought and will
" defend the person, rights, tities, and dignities of
" our said soveraigne lord king Charles, his heirs
" and successors, with the utmost hazard of our
" lives and fortunes against all plotts, conspiracies,
" and invasions of any power, foreine or domes-
" tique, whatsoever,/ even in case of papall depo-
" sition and deprivations
" As to the imputation of idolatrie and super-
" stition, so often charged on our religion by some
" defamatorie penns and tongues, wee humbly con-
" ceive the judgment to have beene given alreadie
" on. our side by so many generall councils abroad,
" and so many convocations and parliaments at
" home, — (fortie for one at the least), — command-
" ing and approving the religion we professe, that
" your majestie caimot doubt the authors of that
" imputation to be more zealous than knowing, and
" more malicious than mercifuU. I am sure your

32 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
"learned grandfather of happie memorie, king
"James, thought no lesse of them when he said,
" that ' such as affirmed roman-catholiques not to
"be in a way to salvation, deserved to be bumt,' &c,
" by which you may perceive what incendiaries
"they are, who endeavour to excite your royal
" highness and the good people of this nation
" against us, by falsely aspersing our religion with
" notes of superstition and idolatrie.
" A fourth motive, — isfromthe fidelitieof roman-
" catholiques in qneen Elizabeth's tyme, testified by
" the lords of the privie councell, who told them
" that the cause of their imprisonment was not for
" any doubt made of their loyaltie, but onely to pre-
" vent the Spaniard's hopes of their assistance in
" his intended invasion; nay, in that of 1588, they
" besought the lord North, then lieutenant of those
" parts, in the presence of the deane of Elye, that
" they might be employed in hastening forces to
" Tilbury campes, offering to serve in person, with
" their sonnes, tenants, and servants, at their owne
" charge, and to be placed in the front of the bat-
" tell, to testifie the loyaltie of their harts, and to
" stopp the mouthes of envious m.aligners ; all this
" was freely offered by them, notwithstanding the
" queene had been twice excommunicated: a de-
"monstirable argument, that they were not condi-
" tionall (as some objected) but absolute loyal and
" obedient subjects. : :
" A fifth motive,— is, from their immoveable
" f^delitie to your majestie s predecessors, and your
" titie in them strongly evidenced on all occasions.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 33
" witnes the act of queene Mary and her catho-
" lique subjects, cancelling the forged will of her
" father, extreamly prejudiciall to your right to
" this crowne, disproving it in parliament, and
" deposing the usurping queene Jane, sett up
" by protestants to the disinheriting of queene
" Mary and his* eldest sister's issue, in whose
" right the crowne descended to your ancestors
" and you, by the law of God, nature, and nations.
" We may add to this motive, that Hales his dis-
" loyal invective against your majestie's title in
" the beginning of queene Elizabeth's reigne was
" fully answered and confuted by sir Anthony
" Browne, one of the justices of the Common Pleas,
" andMr. Edmund Plowden, two famous catholique
" lawyers, and gentiemen of good qualitie.
" A sixth and last motive, — is, from our constant
" fidelitie, obedience, and affection towards your
" father of blessed memorie in all his late troubles,
' ' sufferings, and afflictions, as also to your own royall
" person, by zealously contributing to your mira-
" culous preservations and deliveries out of the
" hands of bloody and rebell enemies. — What have
" we not beene readie to doe and suffer to the utter-
" most of our abilities forpreserving your majestie's
" person, rights, and dignities ? — Whose life or
" fortune hatii been spared ?-HWhat one knowne
" catholique of note in your three nations hath ever
" home armes against you ?— Which of them hath
" ever betrayed the tmst reposed in them? Wee
" have beene ever constant to your just claim to the
* i. e. The issue of the eldest sister of Henry "VIII.
VOL. III. D

34 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" succession of this crowne ; not ebbing orflowmg
" in our affections, (like some others), according to
" the vicissitudes of your good or evil fortune, but
" alwayes resolute to live and dye with yourmajesty :
" nor did your father's or your majestie's declared
" zeale to the protestant religion, any way diminish
" the loyaltie of our hearts or hinder the perform-
" ance of our duties : than which what greater or
" more convincing testimonies of our fidelitie and
" allegiance can be given to you? —
" These thingsbeing so, — mostroyallsoveraigne,
" we cannot doubt but your majestie will, in your
" princely vvisdome, clemency, and justice, allow
" us to be now restored to that condition, which
" nature intended us, and is confirmed onus, as
" free borne Englishmen, by the great charlres of
" your royall ancestors, of which the violent passion
" of one princej the apprehended titie of another
" to the crowne, and the wicked, attempt of a few
" seduced persons, have so unluckily and so long
" deprived us. Permit us, therefore, mostgratkras
" soveraigne, to exercise securely that religion^ in
" which your pious and most famou&ancestors have
" so long flourished.
"And your petitioners shall pray, &c/'
LXV. 2.
Proceedings in Parliament upon the Catholic Addresses.
In consequence of these addresses, a committee
of the house was appointed, to examine and report
all the penal statutes, which reached to the tiaking

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 35
away ofthe life of any catholic for his religion. —
The committee met several times, but finally dis
continued their sittings, without making a report.
The writer has spared no pains to procure a full
and accurate account of them, but without effect :
The best information respecting them, which he
has been able to procure, is given by lord Claren
don, in his Historical Memoirs of his own Life :—
we shall transcribe the passage at length: — it is
both interesting and ill-natured. »
" Because we have mentioned the gracious pur-
" poses the king had to his roman-catholic subjects,
" of which afterwards much use was made to his
" dis-service, to which the vanity and presumption
" of many of that profession contributed very
" much; it may not be unseasonable in this place
" to mention the ground of that his majesty's
" goodness, and the reasons, why that purpose of
" him was not prosecuted to the purpose it was
" intended, after so fair a rise towards it by the
" appointment of that committee in the house of
" peers, which is remembered above.
" It is not to be wondered at, that the king, at
" the age he was of when the troubles began in
"England, and when he came out of England,
" knew very little ofthe laws which had been long
"since made, and were still in force, against ro-
" maii-eatholics, and less of the grounds and mo-
" tives which had introduced those laws. And
" from the time that he Was first beyond the seas,
" he could not be without hearing very much
" spoken' against the protectant religion, and more
D 2

36 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" for extolling and magnifying the religion ofthe
" church of Rome ; neither of which discourses
" made any impression upon him. And after the
" defeat at Worcester, and his escape from thence
" into France, the queen his mother, — (who had
" very punctually complied with the king her
" husband's injunctions, in not suffering anybody
" to endeavour to pervert the prince her son in his
" religion, and when he came afterwards into
" France after he was king, continued the same
" reservation), — used much more sharpness in hei-
" discourse against the protestants, than she had
" been accustomed to. The liberty that his ma-
" jesty formerly had in the Louvre, to have a place
" set aside for the exercise of his religion, was
" taken away : and continual discourses were
" made by the queen in his presence, ' that he had
" now no hope ever to be restored to his domi-
" nions, but by the help of the catholics ; and
" therefore that he must apply himself to them in
" such a way, as might induce them to help him.
" About this time there was a short collection
" and abridgment m^ade of all the penal laws,
" which had been made, and which were still in
" force in England, against the roman-catholics ;
" ' that all priests for saying mass were to be put to
" death;' the great penalties which they were to
" undergo, who entertained or harboured a priest
" in their house, or were present at mass, and
" the like ; with all other envious clauses, which
" were in any acts of parliament that had been
" enacted upon several treasons and-conspiracies of

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 37
" the roman-catholics, in the reigns of queen Eliza-
'' beth and king James. And this collection they
" caused to be translated into French and into
" Latin, aud scattered it abroad in all places ;
•' after they had caused copies of it to be presented
" to the queen mother of France, and to the
'• cardinal : so that the king came into no place
" where those papers were not showed to him, and
" where he was not seriously asked, ' whether it
" was a true collection ofthe laws of England,' and
" ' whether it was possible that any christian king-
" dom could exercise so much tyranny against the
" catholic religion.' The king, who had never
" heard of these particulars, did really believe that
" the paper was forged, and answered, ' he did not
" believe that there were such laws :' and when
" he came to his lodgings, he gave the chancellor
" the paper, and bade him read it, and tell him
" whether such laws were in force in England.
" He had heard before of the scattering of those
" papers, and knew well who had made the coUec-
" tion ; who had been a lawyer, and was a protes-
" tant, but had too good an opinion ofthe roman-
" catholics, and desired too much to be grateful to
" them. " The chancellor found an opportunity the next
" day to enlarge upon the paper to his majesty, and
" informed him of ' the reasons in which, and the
' ' occasions and provocations uponwhich, those laws
" had been made ; of the frequent treasons and
" conspiracies which had been entered into by some
" roman-catholics, always with the privily and ap-
D 3

38 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS, OF
" probation of their priests and confessors, against
" the person and life of queen Elizabeth ; and
" after her death, of the infamous and detestable
" gunpowder treason to have destroyed king James
" and his posterity, with the whole nobility of the
" kingdom : so that in those times, the pope having
" excommunicated the whole kingdom, and ab-
" solved the subjects from all their oaths of fidelity,
" there seemed no expedient to preserve the
" crown, but the using those severities against those
" who were professed enemies to it. But that
" since those times, that the romish-catholics had
" lived quietly, that rigour had not been used :
" and that the king his father's clemency towards
" those of that profession, — (which clemency ex-
" tended no further than the dispensing with the
" utmost rigour of the laws), — waS the ground of
" the scandal of his being popishly affected, that
" contributed as much to his ruin, as any particular
" malice in the worst of his enemies.'
" The king hearkened attentively to all that was
" said, and then answered, ' that he could not
" doubt but there was some very extraordinary rea-
" son for making such strange laws : but what-
" ever the reason then was, that it was at present
" and for many years past very evident, that there
" was no such malignity in the roman-catholics,
" that should continue that heavy yoke upon their
" necks. That he knew well enough, jthat if he
" were in England, he had not in himself the power
" to repeal any act of parliament, without the con-
" sent of parliament :|)ut, that he knew no reason

THE ENGLISil CATHOLICS. 89
" why he might not profess, jthat he did not like
"those laws which caused men to be put to death
" for their religion ;! and that he would do his best,
" if ever God restored him to his kingdom, that
" those bloody laws might be repealed. And that
" if there were no other reason of state than he
" could yet comprehend, against the taking away
" the other penalties, he should be glad that all
" those distinctions between his subjects might be
" removed; and that whilst they were all equally
" good subjects, they might equally enjoy his pro-
" tection.' And his majesty did frequently, when
" he was in the courts of catholic princes, and when
" he was sure to hear the sharpness of the laws in
" England inveighed against, enlarge upon the
"same discourse: and it had been a very un-
" seasonable presumption in any man, who would
" have endeavoured to have dissuaded him from
" entertaining that candour in his heart.
" With this gracious disposition his majesty re-
" tumed into England ; aud received his catholic
'.' subjects with the same grace and frankness, that
"he did his other : and they took all opportuni-
" ties to extol their own sufferings, which they
" would have understood to have been for him.
" And some very noble persons there were, who
" had served his father very worthily in the war, and
" suffered as largely afterwards for having done so :
" but the number of those was not great, but much
", greater than of those who showed any affection to
" him or for him, during the time of his absence,
D4

40 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" and the government ofthe usurper*. Yet some
" few there were, even of those who had suffered
" most for his father, who did send him supply when
" he was abroad, though they were hardly able
" to provide necessaries for themselves : and in his
" escape from Worcester, he received extraordinary
" benefit, by the fidelity of many poor people of
" that religion ; which his majesty was never re-
" served in the remembrance off. And this gra-
" cious disposition in him did not then appear
" ingrateful to any. And then upon an address
" made to the house of peers in the name ofthe
" roman-catholics for some relaxation of those laws
" which were still in force against them, the house
" of peers appointed that committee, which is men-
-" tioned before, to examine and report all those
" penal statutes, which reached to the taking away
" the life of any roman-catholic, priest or layman,
" for his religion : there not appearing one lord
" in the house, who seemed to be unwilling that
" those laws should be repealed. And after that
"committee was appointed, the roman-catholic
"lords and their friends for some days diligently
" attended it, and made their observations upon
"several acts of parliament, in which they desired
" ease. But on a sudden this committee was
* "What has been mentioned respecting the loyalty of the
catholics, in a preceding page, shows this insinuation to be
altogether unfounded.
t We have seen how little it was noticed by the noble
historian.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 41
" discontinued, and never after revived ; the ro-
" man catholics never afterwards being solicitous
" for it.
" The argument was now to be debated amongst
" themselves, that they might agree what would
" please them : and then there quickly appeared
" that discord and animosity between them, that
" never was nor ever will be extinguished ; and of
" which the state might make much other use than
" it hath done. The lords and men of estates were
" not satisfied, in that they observed the good-nature
" of the house did not appear to extend further,
" than the abolishing those laws which concerned
" the lives of the priests, which did not much affect
" them : for besides that, those spectacles were no
" longer grateful to the people : they were confi-
" dent that they should not be without men to dis-
" charge those fiinctions ; and the number of such
" was more grievous to them than the scarcity.
" That, which they desired, was the removal of
" those laws, which being let loose would deprive
" them of so much of their estates, that the je-
" mainder would not preserve them from poverty.
" This indulgence would indeed be grateful to
" them ; for the other they cared not. Nor were
" the ecclesiastics at all pleased with what was
" proposed for their advantage, but looked upon
" themselves as deprived of the honour of martyr-
" dom by this remission, that they might undergo
" restraints, which will be more grievous than death
" itself: and they were very apprehensive, that
" there would remain some order of them excluded.

42 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
as there vvas eyena mostunivergal prejudice against
thej^uits; or that there; would be some limi
tations of their numbers, which they well knew
the catholics in general would be very glad of,
though they could not appear to desire it.
" There was a committee chosen amongst them of
the superiors pf all orders,and of the;secular clergy,
that sat at Arundel-house, and consulted together
with some of the principal lords and others of
the prime quality of that religipny what they
should, say or do in such and such cases which
probably might fall out. \ They all concluded,- at
least apprehended, that they, should never be dis
pensed with in respect of the oaths, which were
enjoined to be taken by a,ll men, wiliout their
submitting to take some other oath, that might
be an equal security of and for their fidelity to
the king, a^d the preservation of the peace of
the kingdom^ And there had been lately scat
tered abroad some printed papers, written by
some regular and secular , clergy, with sober pro
positions tp that purpose, and even the form of
an path and subscription to be taken or made by
all catholics ; in which, jthere was an absolute re
nunciation or declaration against the temporal
autiiority of the pope, which, in all common
discourses amongst ,the protestants, all roman-
catholicjs made no scruple to renounce and dis^
claim: (but it comjn^ now to the subject-matter
,pf ith^ idie]?«Lte in thisiCPflamittee, the jfsSuits de
clared, yirjth piuch warmth, ' that they- ought not,
nor cQi»ld they, with a good Q0ji§i?ience,. as ,(jatho-

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 43
" lies, deprive the pope of his temporal authority,!
" which he hath in all kingdoms granted to him
" by God himself,' with very much to tiiat purpose •
" with which most ofthe temporallords, and very
" many of the seculars and regulars, were so much
'.' scandalized, that the committee being broken
" up for that time, they never attended it again ;
" the wiser and the more conscientious men dis-
" cerning that there was a spirit in the rest that
" was raised and governed by a passion, of which
" they could not comprehend the ground. Andthe
" trath is, the Jesuits, and they who adhered, to
" them, had entertained great hopes from the
" king's too much grace to them, and from the great
" liberty they enjoyed ; and promised themselves
" and their friends another kind of indulgence,
" than they saw was intended to them by the house
" of peers. And this was the reason that the com-
" mittee was no more looked after, nor any public
" address was any farther prosecuted.
"[And from this time there every day appeared
"so much insolence and indiscretion amongst the
" imprudent catholics, that they brought so many
" scandals upon his majesty, and kindled so much
" jealousy in the parliament, thatthere grew a gene-
" ral aversion towards them J And the king's party
" remembered, with what wariness and disregard
" the roman-catholics had lived towards tiiem in the
" whole time of the usurpation ; and how little
' ' sorrow they made show of upon the horrid murder
" ofthe king, (which was then exceedingly taken
" notice of) : and thiey, who had been abroad with

44 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" the king, remembered, that his majesty had re-
" ceived less regard and respect from his catholic
" subjects, wherever he found them abroad, than
" from any foreign catholics; who always received
"him with all imaginable duty, whilst his own
" looked as if they had no dependence upon him.
" And so we return to the parliament after its
" adjoumment." With the passage which we have just transcribed
from lord Clarendon's Memoirs, the account given
by bishop Burnet of the consultations of the catho
lics at this time *, seems to coincide. VTrom the
latter, it appears that two propositions were made to
the catholics, — that they should take James's oath
of allegiance, and that the regular clergy should no
longer have a place in the English mission!— On
these propositions, the catholics split, and their
meetings were discontinued. It also appears that
they were jealous ofthe earl of Bristol, and appre
hensive ofthe violence of his temper. — A minute
in the hand-writing of the unfortunate viscount
Stafford, — (for the perasal of which, and for many
other favours the vyriter is indebted to Mr. Edward
Jerninghani^-a descendant from his lordship), —
notices the meetings at lord Bristol's, and their
breaking up without coming to any settled plan
of conduct. In the controversial war among the
catholics of those times, the causes of the difference
alluded to by bishop Bumet are frequently men
tioned by each party, with great asperity ; those,
who disapproved of the proposals, branding the
• History of his own TirBleSj book ii. ad ann. 1663.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 46
approvers of them with a want of orthodoxy and a
due regard for religion and its best ministers ; while >
those, who approved the proposals, imputed to the
former, weakness of mind and bigoted attachment
to the holy see and its stipendiaries. Bumet in
timates that, from the first, it was the wish of lord
Clarendon to divide the catholics among themselves.
Some parts of his conduct render this accusation not
improbable, — yet an advocate for his lordship might
speciously contend, from some of his writings f,
that his lordship wished for no more, than to in
duce the catholics of his time to make that unequi
vocal and unqualified profession of allegiance, which
the catholics of the present day have expressed in
the oaths taken by the body in the late reign.
LXV. 3.
The Fire of London.
This melancholy event took place in the year
1666: the fire destroyed St. Paul's cathedral and
89 other churches; many public buildings ; 13,200
dwelling-houses, and laid waste 400 streets from
the Tower to the Temple church, and from the
north-east gate of the city to Holbom-bridge or
' Particularly his " Answer to Cressy," and his posthumous
publication, " Church and State," a verbose and illiberal
work, but containing some interesting facts and remarks. —
Surely his lordship's charge against the catholics, in the
passage cited in the text, that they disregarded his majesty
in his exile, and were indifferent to his restoration, are utterly
unfounded.

46 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Fleet-ditch: having thus ravaged the city for three
entire* days and nights, it stopped almost on a
sudden. " The causes of this calamity," says Hume,
" were evident. The narrow sfreets of London, the
" houses built entirely of wood, the dry season, and
" a violent east wind which blew ; these were so
" many concurring circumstances, which rendered
" it easy to assign the reason ofthe destmction that
" ensued. But the people were not satisfied with
" this obvious account. Prompted by blind rage,
" some ascribed the guilt to the republicans, others
" to the catholics ; though it is not easy to conceive
" how the burning of London could serve the pur-
" poses of either party. ; As the papists were the
" chief objects of public detestation, the rumour,
" which threw the guilt on them, was more favour-
" ably received by the peopft. No proof, however,
" or even presumption, after the strictest inquiry
" by a committee of parliament, ever appeared to
" authorize such a calumny ; ; yet in order to give
" countenance to the popular prejudice, the inscrip-
" tion, engraved by authority on the Monijment,
" ascribed this calamity to that hated sect. 3 This
" clause was erased by order of king James, when
" he came to the throne; but after the revolution it
" was replaced. I So credulous, as well as obstinate,
" are the people, in believing every thing, which
" flatters their prevailing passipn !":

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 47
LXV. 4.
Lord Castlemain's Apology for the Catholics.
It appears that the animosity ofthe public against
the catholics, in consequence of the calumnious
charge of their having set fire to the city of London,
rose, almost suddenly, to a prodigious height of
fury ; so that the catholics were justly terrified lest
extreme measures against them should be immedi
ately adopted and carried into execution. While
they were in this state of agitation, lord Castiemain
published the following manly and eloquent apo
logy*, in their behalf.
" To all the Royalists who suffered for his
" Majestie, and the rest of the People of
" England.
" My lords and gentlemen, the arms which
" christians can use against lawful powers in their
" severity, are only prayers, and tears.
" Now since nothing can equal the infinity of
* It seems to have been published in 1666, almost im
mediately after the fire.
A manuscript note, in a copy of it seen by the writer,
mentions, that the " printer was diligently inquired after by
" the house of commons, but not found; the printer fled,
" but his presses were broken by the command of the house.
" It was written, not by the earl of Castiemain, but by
" one Pugh, a catholic and physician."
Doctor Lloyd, afterwards-bishop of St. Asaph, republished
it, and an answer to it, with this title : " The late Apology on
" behalf of the Papists, reprinted andanswered. London, 4to.
" 1667. The doctor divides it into paragraphs, and, iat the
end of each paragraph, inserts his answer to it.

48 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" those we have shed, but the cause, viz. to see our
" dearest friends forsake us, we hope it will not
" offend you, if, (after we have a littie wiped our
" eyes), we sigh out our complaints to you.
" We had spoke much sooner, had we not been
" silent through consternation to see you inflamed,
" whom with reverence we honour, and also to show
" our submissive patience, which used no slights nor
" tricks to divert the debates of parliament: for no-
" body can imagine, where so many of the great
" nobility and gentry are concerned, but something
" might have been done ; when, as in all ages, we
" see things of public advantage by the managers
" dexterity nipt in the bud, even in the very houses
" themselves. Far be it from catholics to perplex
" parliaments, who* have been the founders of their
" privileges, and all ancient laws : nay. Magna
" Charta itself had its rise from us, which we do
" the less boast of, since it was not at first obtained
" in so submiss and humble a manner.
" We sung our Nunc Dimittis when we saw our
" master in his throne, and you in your deserved
" authority and rule.
" Nor could any thing have ever grieved us
" more but to have our loyalty called into question
" by you, [even at the instigation of our greatest
" adversaries.! " If we must suffer, let it be by you alone ; for
" that's a double death to men of honour to have
" their enemies not only accusers, but for their
" insulting judges also.
* i. e. Which catholics.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 49
" These are they that, by beginning with us, mur-
" thered their prince, and wounded you : and shall
" the same method continue by your approbation?
" We are sure you mean well ; though their
" design be wicked : but never let it be recorded
" in story, that you forgot your often vows to us,
" in joining with them that have been the cause of
*' so great calamity to the nation.
" Of all calumnies against catholics, we have
" admired at none so much, as that their principles
" are said to be inconsistent with government, and
" they themselves thought ever prone to rebellion.
"My lords and gentlemen, had this been a
' new sect, not known before, something perchance
" might have been doubted : but to lay this at their
" doors that have governed the civilized world, is
" the miracle of miracles to usT\
" Did Richard the first, or Edward Longshanks,
" suspect his catholics that served in Palestine, and
" make our country's fame big in the chronicle of
" all ages ? or did they mistrust (in their dangerous
" absence) their subjects at home, because they
" were of the same profession? Could Edward the
" third imagine those to be traitorous in their doc-
¦" trine, that had that care and duty for their prince,
" as to make them (by statute) guilty of death in
" the_ highest degree, that had the least thought of
" ill against the king? Be pleased that Henry the
" fifth be remembered also, who did those wonders,
*' of which the whole world does yet resound;
"and certainly all history will agree in this, that
VOL. III. E

50 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" 'twas. Oldcastle he feared, and not those that
" believed the bishop of Rome to be head of the
" church. " We will no longer trouble you with putting
" you in mind of any more of our mighty kings who
" have been feared abroad, and as safe at home as
" any since the reformation of religion. We shall
" only add this, that if popery be the enslaving of
" princes, France still believes itself as absolute as
" Denmark or Sweden.
" Nor will ever the house of Austria abjure the
" pope, to secure themselves of the fidelity of their
" subjects. '' We shall always acknowledge to the whole
" world, that there have been as many brave Eng-
" lish in this last century, as in any other place
" whatsoever : [yet, since the exclusion of the ca-
" tholic faith, there hath been that committed by
" those who would fain be called protestants, that
" the wickedest papist at no time dreamt of J
'¦' 'Twas never heard of before, that an abso^
" lute queen was condemned by subjects, and those
" styled her peers; or that a king was publicly tried
" and executed by his own people and servants.
" My lords and gentlemen, we know who were
" the authors of this last abomination, and how
" generously you strove against the raging torrent ;
" nor have we any other ends to remember you of
" it, but to show that all religions may have a cor-
" rapted spawn ; and that God hath been pleased
" to permit such a rebellion, which our progenitor^

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS.
" never saw, to convince you perchance (whom for
" ever may he prosper) that popery is not the only
" source of treason,j
" Littie did we think, (when your prayers and
" ours were offered up to beg a blessing on the
" king's affairs) ever to see that day, in which
" Carlos Gifford, Whitgrave, and the Pendrels,
" should be punished by your desires for that re-
" ligion which obliged them to save their forlorn
" prince ; and a stigmatized man (for his offences
" against king and church) a chief promoter of it.
" Nay, less did we imagine, that by your votes
*' Huddleston might be hanged, who again secured
" our sovereign; and others free in their fast pos-
" sessions that sat as judges, and sealed the exe-
*' cution of that great prince of happy memory.
" We confess we are unfortunate, and you just
*' judges, whom with our lives we will ever maintain
" to be so; nor are we ignorant the necessity of
*' affairs made both the king and you do things,
*' which formerly you could not so much as fancy.
" Yet give us leave to say, we are still loyal ; nay,
^' to desire you to believe so, and to remember how
" synonimous (under the late rebellion) was the
" word papist and cavalier;, for there was never no
" papist that was not deemed a cavalier, nor no
" cavalier that was not called a papist, or at least
" judged to be popishly affected.,
" We know, though we differ something in re-
" ligion (the truth of which let the last day judge)
" yet none can agree with your inclinations, or are
" fitter for your converse than we ; for as we.have
£ 2

52 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" as much birth among us as England can boast of,
" so our breeding leans your way both in court and
" camp : and therefore, had not our late sufferings
" united us in that firm tie, yet our like humours
" must needs have joined our hearts.
" If we err, pity our condition, and remember
" what your great ancestors were, and make some
" difference between us (that have twice converted
" England from paganism) and those other sects
" that can chaUenge nothing but intmsion for
" their imposed authority.
" But 'tis generally said, that papists cannot live
^' without persecuting all other religions within
" their reach.
'" We confess, where the name of protestant is
" unknown, the catholic magisfrates (believing it
" erroneous) do use all care to keep it out : yet in
" those countries where liberty is given, they have
" far more privileges than we, under any reformed
" government whatsoever.! To be short, we will
" only instance France for all, where they have
" public churches, where they can make what pro-
" selytes they please, and where it's not against
" law to be in any charge or employment. Now
" HoUand (which permits every thing) gives us,
« 'tis tme, our lives and estates, but takes away all
" trust in mle, and leaves us also in danger of the
" scout, whensoever he pleaseth to disturb our
" meetings. " Because we have named France, the massacre
" wiU perchance be urged against us: but the
" world must know, that was a cabinet plot, con-

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 68
" demned as wicked by catholic writers there, and
" of other counfries also : besides, it cannot be
" thought they were murthered for being protes-
" tants, since 'twas their powerful rebellion (let
" their faith have been what it would) that drew
" them into that ill machinated desfruction.
" May it not be as well said in the next catholic
" king's reign, that the duke of Guise and cardinal
""heads ofthe league, were killed for their reli^
" gion also? Now nobody is ignorant, but 'twas
" their factious authority which made that jealous
" prince design their deaths j though by unwar-
" rantable means.
" If it were for docfrine that Hugonots suffered
" in France, this haughty monarch would soon
" desfroy them now, having neither force nor town
" to resist his might and puissance. They yet
" live free enough, being even members of par-
" Iiament, and may convert the king's brother too,
" if he think fit to be so. Thus you see how well
" protestants may live in a popish country, under
" a popish king : nor was Charlemain more catho*-
" lie than this ; for though he contends something
" with the pope, 'tis not of faithy but about Gallican
" privileges, which perchance he may very lawfully
" do. " Judge, then, worthy pafriots, who are the best
" used, and consider our hardship here in England,
f^where it is not only a fine for hearing mass, but
" death to the master for having a priest in his
" house"; and so far we are from preferment, that by
" law we cannot come within ten miles of London;
E3

54 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" all which we know your great mercy will never
"' permit you to exact.
" It hath often been urged, that our misde-
" meanors in queen Elizabeth's days, and king
" James's time, were the cause of our punishment.
" We earnestly wish that the party had more
^' patience under that princess. But pray consider
" (though we excuse not their faults) whether it
" was not a question harder than that of York and
" Lancaster, the cause ofa war of such length, and
*' death of so many princes, — who had most right,
*' queen Elizabeth or Mary Stuart ; for since the
" whole kingdom had crowned and sworn allegi-
" ance to queen Mary, they had owned her legi-
" timate daughter to Henry the eighth ; and there-
" fore it was thought necessarily to follow by
" many, that if Mary was the true child, Elizabeth
" was the natural, which must then needs give
" way to the thrice noble queen of Scots.
" 'Twas for the royal house of Scotland that
" they suffered in those days ; and 'tis for the same
" iUustrious family we are ready to hazard aU on
" any occasion.
" Nor can the consequence of the former pro-
" cedure be but iU, if a Henry the eighth, (whom
" sir W. Raleigh, and my lord Cherbury, two
" famous protestants, have so homely characterized)
" should, after twenty years cohabitation, turn away
" his wife, and this out of scrapie of conscience
" (as he said); when as history declares j that he
" never spared woman in his lust, nor man in his
*' fury.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 55
" Now for the fifth of November ; with hands
" lifted up to heaven we abominate and detest.
" And from the bottom of our hearts say, that
" may they fall into irrecoverable perdition, who
" propagate that faith by the blood of kings, which
" is to be planted in truth and meekness only.
" But let it not displease you, men, brethren,
'' and fathers, if we ask whether Ulysses* be no
" better known? or who have forgot the plots
" Cromwell framed in his closet ; not only to de-
" sfroy many faithful cavaliers, but also to put a
" lustre upon his intelligence, as if nothing could
" be done without his knowledge. Even so did
" the then great minister, who drew some few
" desperadoes into this conjuration, and then
" discovered it by a miracle.
" This will easily appear, viz. how little the ca-
'' tholic party understood the design, seeing there
" was not a score of guilty found, though all ima-
" ginable industry was used by the commons, lords,
" and privy council too.
" But suppose, my lords and gentlemen, (which
" never can be granted), that all the papists of
" that age were consenting, will you be so severe,
" then, to still punish the children for the father's
"faults? " Nay such children that so unanimously joined
" with you in that glorious quarrel, when you and
" we underwent such sufferings, that needs we
" must have all sunk, had not our mutual love
" assisted. * Cecil, the earl of Salisbury, is here alluded to.
E4

66 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" What have we done that we should now de-
" serve your anger ? Has the indiscretion of some
" few incensed you ? 'Tis frue, that is the thing
" objected. " Do not you know an enemy may easily mistake
" a mass-bell for that which calls to dinner ?
" Ora sequesfrator be glad to be affronted, being
" constable ? when 'twas the hafred to his person,
" and not present office, which perchance egged a
" a rash man to folly.
" We dare with submission say, let a public in-
" vitatiOn be put up against any party whatsoever;
" nay, against the reverend bishops themselves, and
" some malicious informer or other will allege that,
" which may be far better to conceal.
" Yet all mankind, by a manifesto on the house
" door, are encouraged to accuse us ; nor are they
" upon oath, though your enemies and ours take
" all for granted and true.
" It cannot be imagined, where there are so many
" men of heat and youth (overjoyed with the happy
^' restoration of their prince), and remembering the
" insolencies of their grandees, that they should
" all at all times pradently carry themselves ; for
" this would be to be more than men. And truly
" we esteem it as a particular blessing, that God
" hath not suffered many, through vanity or fraUty,
" to faU into greater faults, than are yet, as we
" understand, laid to our charge.
" Can we choose but be dismayed (when all
" things fail) that extravagant crimes are fathered
" upon us ?

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. S7
" It is we must be the authors (some say) of firing
" the city, even we that have lost so vastly by it ;
" yet in this, our ingenuity is great, since we think
" it no plot, though our enemy, an Hugonot pro-
" testant, acknowledged the fact, and was justly
" executed for his vain confession. Again, if a
" merchant of the church of England buy knives
" for the business of his trade, this also is a papist
" contrivance to destroy the well affected.
" We must a littie complain, finding it, by expe-
" rience, that by reason you discountenance us,
" the people rage : and again, because they rage,
" we are the more forsaken by you.
" Assured we are, that our conversation is affa-
" ble, and our houses so many hospitable receipts
" to our neighbours. Our acquaintance, therefore,
" we fear at no time ; but it is the stranger we
" dread : that (taking all on hearsay) zealously
-" wounds, and then examines the business when it
" is too late, or is perchance confirmed by another,
" that knows no more of us than he himself.
" 'Tis to you we must make our applications ;
" beseeching you (as subjects tender of our king)
" to intercede for us in the execution, and weigh
" the dilemma, which doubtless he is in, either to
" deny so good a parliament their requests, or else
" ran counter to his royal inclinations, when he
" punishes the weak and harmless.
" Why may we not, noble countrymen, hope for
'" favour fr-om you, as well as French protestants
" find from theirs ? A greater duty than ours none
" could express, we are sure ; or why should the

58 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" united provinces, and other magistrates (that are
" harsh both in mind and manners) refrain from
" violence against our religion, and your tender
" breasts seeih not to harbour the least compassion
" or pity ?
" These barbarous people sequester none for
" their faith, but for transgression against the state.
" Nor is the whole party involved in the crime of
" a few, but every man suffers for his own and
" proper fault. Do you then the like, and he that
" offends, let him die without mercy.
" And think always, I beseech you, of Cromwell's
" injustice ; who, for the actions of some against his
" pretended laws, drew thousands into decimation,
" even ignorant of the thing, after they had vastly
" paid for their security and quiet.
" We have no other study, but the glory of our
•"! sovereign, and just liberty of the subjects.
" Nor was it a mean argument of our duty, when
" every catholic lord gave his voice for the restora-
" tion of bishops ; by which we could pretend no
" other advantage, but that twenty-six votes (sub-
i" sisting wholly by the crown) were added to the
" defence of kingship, and consequently a check to
¦' all anarchy and confusion.
" 'Tis morally impossible but that we, who ap-
" prove of monarchy in the church, must ever be
" fond of it in the state also.
" Yet this is a misfortune, we now plainly feel,
" that the longer the late transgressors live, the
" more forgotten are their crimes, whUes distance
" in time calls the faults of our fathers to remem-

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 69
" brance, and buries our own allegiance in eternal
" oblivion and forgetfulness.
" My lords and gentlemen, consider, we beseech
" you, the sad condition ofthe Irish Soldiers now in
" England ; the worst of which nation could be
" but intentionally so wicked, as the acted villainy
" of many English, whom your admired clemency
" pardoned. Remember how they left the Spanish
" service when they heard their king was in France;
" and how they forsook the employment of that
" unnatural prince, after he had committed the
" never-to-be-forgotten act of banishing his dis-
" tressed kinsman out of his dominions. These
" poor men left all again to bring their monarch to
" his home : and shall they then be forgotten by
"you? or shall my lord Douglas and his brave
" Scots be left to their shifts, who scorned to re-
" ceive wages of those who have declared war
"against England?
" How commonly is it said that the oath of re-
" nouncing their religion is intended for these,
" which will needs bring this loss to the king and
" you, that either you will force all of our faith to
" lay down thefr arms (though by experience of
" great integrity and worth), or else, if some few
" you retain, they are such whom necessity hath
" made to swear against conscience, and who
" therefore will certainly befray you, when a greater
" advantage shall be offered. By this test then you
" can have none, but whom (with caution) you
" ought to shun. And thus must you drive away

60 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" those who truly would serve you ; for had they
" the least thought of being false, they would
" gladly take the advantage of gain and pay to
" deceive you.
" We know your wisdom and generosity, and
" therefore cannot imagine such a thing ; nor do
" we doubt when you show favour unto these, but
" you wiU use mercy to us, who are both your fel-
" low subjects, and your own flesh and blood also ;
" if you forsake us, we must say the world decays,
" and its final transmutation must needs foHow
" quickly.
'¦ " Little do you think the insolencies we shall
" suffer by committee men, &c. whom chance and
*' lot hath put into petty power. Nor wUl it choose
" but grieve you to see them abused (whom formerly
" you loved) even by the common enemies of us
« both. " When they punish, how WUl they friUmph and
-f' say,— take this (poor romanists) for your love to
"kingship; — and again this, for your long doat-
" ing on the royal party, all which you shall receive
" from us commissioned by your dearest friends,
" and under this cloak we will gladly vent our
" private spleen and malice.
" We know, my lords and gentlemen, that from
" your hearts you do deplore our condition; yet per-
" mit us to tell you, your bravery must extend thus
" far, as not to sit still, with pity only, but each is
" to labour for the disfressed, as far as in reality his
^' ability will reach: some must beseech our gracious

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. ei
" sovereign for us, others again must undeceive
" the good, though deluded multitude : therefore
" all are to remember who are the prime raisers of
" the storm ; and how, through our sides, they would
" wound both the king and you : for though their
" hatred to us ourselves is great, yet the enmity out
" of all measure increases, because we have been
" yours, and so shall continue even in the fiery day
" of frial.
" Protect us, we beseech you, then, upon all your
" former promises, or if that be not sufficient, for
" the.sakes of those that lost their estates with you;
" many of which are now fallen asleep : but if this
" be still too weak, we must conjure you, by the
" sight of this bloody catalogue, which contains the
" names of your murthered friends and relations^
" who in the heat of the battie perchance saved
" many of your lives, even with the joyful loss of
" their own."
LXV. 4.
Oates's Plot.
We now reach the event in this monarch's
reign, in which the English catholics are most in
terested ; — the plot charged on them by Titus
-Oates. The facts relating to it, are so well known,
as to render any particular mention of them, in
this place, altogether unnecessary. — The account,
which Hume gives of it, is one of the most highly
finished parts of his history ; and probably has
been perused by every reader of these pages.
A more ample account of it, and a collection of

63 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
the principal documents relating to it, have lately
appeared, in an historical account of it recently
published*. , . n/r
In his History of James the second, the late Mr.
Fox presents the foUowing summary view of the
parties concerned in the fabrication or prosecution
ofthe plot. " Although, upon a review of this
"ti^ly shocking transaction, we may be fairly
" justified in adopting the mUder altemative, and
" in imputing the conduct of the greater part of
" those concerned in it, rather to an extraordinary
" degree of blind credulity, than the deliberate
<' wickedness of planning and assisting in the pre-
" paration of legal murders ; yet, the proceedings
" in the popish plot must always be considered aS
" an indelible disgrace upon the English nation, in
^' which the king, parliament, judges, juries, wit-
«< nesses, prosecutors, have all their respective, but
" certainly not their equal, shares. Witnesses of
" such a character, as not to deserve credit, in the
*< most trifling cause, — upon the most immaterial
" facts, — gave evidence so incredible, or, to speak
" more properly, so impossible, that it ought not to
" havebeen believed, if ithad come from the mouth
" of Cato; and, upon such evidence, from suchwit-
" nesses, were innocent men condemned and exe-
* " An Historical Account of the horrid Plot and Conr
" spiracy of Titus Oates, called the Popish Plot, in its various
" branches and progress ; selected from the most authentic
" Protestant Historians ; to which are added, some cursory
" Observations on the Test Act. London, published by M. E>
" Andrews, 5, Orange-street, Red-lion-square.

i(

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. ed
" euted. Prosecutors, whether attomies-general,
" and solicitors-general, or managers of impeach-
" ment, acted with the fury, which, in such cir-
" cumstances, might be expected. Juries partook
" naturaUy of the national ferment ; and judges *,
" whose duty it was to guard them against such
impressions, were scandalously active in con-
" firming them in their prejudices, and inflaming
" their passions. The king, who is supposed, to
" have disbelieved the whole ofthe plot, never Once
" exercised his glorious prerogative of mercy."
In this dreadful scene of wickedness, nt is diffi-
cult not to assign the pre-eminence of guilt to
Anthony Ashley Cooper, earl of Shaftesbury .j If
he did not first contrive the fictions of Oates, he
certainly availed himself of them, to work up the
nation to the fury, which produced the subsequent
horrors. The only objection to this supposition^
is, the absurdity of the circumstances, with which
Oates's narrative of the plot was stuffed; and
which, it is said, no man of sense could have
imagined. To this, his lordship's reply, in a con
versation, related in North's Examen f, is a com
plete answer : — " A certain lord;" says Mr. North;
" once asked lord Shaftfesburyj what he intended
* " Lord Chief Justice Scroggs took in with the tide and
" ranted for the plot, hewing down popery as Scanderbeg
" hewed down the Turks. The attorney-general used to say
" in the trials for murder, ' If the manibe a papist j then he is
" guilty, because it is the interest of papists to. murder us all.' "
North, Examen. p. 130. — Dr. MUner's Seventh Letter to Dr.
Sturges, p. 304, 6th edition.
t Page 95-

04 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" to do with the plot, which was so full of non-
" sense, as would scarce go down with tantum
" Tion idiot. — What, then, could he promise, by
" pressing the belief of it upon men of common
" sense, and especiaUy on parliament ? It is no
" matter," says the earl, — " the more nonsensical,
" the better. If we cannot bring them to swallow
" worse nonsense than that, we shall never do any
" good with them."
In extenuation of the delusion of the populace,
something may be offered. IThe defamation of a
century and a half had made the catholics the ob
jects of protestant odium and distrust^; and these
had been increased by the accusation, artfully and
assiduously fomented, — of their having been the
authors of the fire of the city of London. The pub
lication, too, of Coleman's letters, substantiaUy
harmless, but most imprudently expressed, certainly
announced a considerable activity in them to pro
mote the catholic religion ; and contained expres
sions, easily distorted to the sense, in which the
favourers of the belief of the plot wished them to
be understood, '^anby's correspondence, likewise,
which ha,d long been generally known, and was
about this time made public, had discovered, that
Charles was in the pay of Francei feese, with
several other circumstances, had inflamed the
imaginations of the public to the very highest
pitch.J A dreadful something,— (and not the less
dreadful because its precise nature was altogether
unknown), was generally apprehended. Omne,
ignotum pro magnifico, is equally trae, when the

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 65
imagination is shaken by terror, as when it is
elevated by admiration.
, While the minds of men were in this state of sus
pense and agitation, another event happened, which
wound them up to fury. Sir Edmondbury Godfrey,
a magistrate, who had taken Oates's informations,
was suddenly missed. After a search of several
days, his body was found in a ditch, at Primrose-
hill, near Hampstead. Who were the authors of
his murder, is even yet a secret ; neither has any
rational conjecture, respecting the manner of his
death, yet been suggested. Hume, however, un
equivocally declares, " that his assassination by the
" catholics is utterly improbable." To increase the
frenzy of the populace, the dead body was carried
into the city, attended by vast multitudes ; — pub
licly exposed ; and then buried, with great parade.
A funeral sermon was preached. Two able-bodied
divines ascended the pulpit ; and stood on each
side of the preacher, " lest," as it was said, " in
" paying the last duties to the unhappy magistrate,
" he should, before the whole people, be murdered
" by the papists." — The delusion was general :
the city prepared for its defence, as if the enemy
were at the gates. — " Were it npt," said sir Thomas
Player, the chamberlain, " for these precautions,
" all the citizens of London would rise with their
« heads off."
In this state of the public mind, the trials of
several persons, accused by Oates, came on. Cole
man was first brought to trial. He was condemned
VOL. III. F

(j(J HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
and executed,— persisting, to the last, in asserting
his absolute ignorance of the plot. The trial of
father Ireland immediately foUowed. " He proved,"
says Hume, " by good evidence, that he was in
',' Staffordshire, at the time, when Oates's evidence
" made him iri London ; and would have proved it
'.' by undoubted, had he not, most iniquitously,
" been debarred, when in prison, from all use of
" pen, ink, and paper ; and denied the liberty of
" sending fof witnesses." Several others were
executed, for their pretended share in the conspi-
ra,cy. They all died with great resignation ; de
claring, with their latest breath, in terms equally
modest and explicit, their innocence, and their
absolute ignorance ofthe plot.
The solemn declarations of these unhappy men,
the piety and meekness which they showed in
their last moments, made, at length, some impres
sion upon the public. It was increased by the
acquittal of sir George Wakeman, the queen's
physician; and by the outrageous conduct an(|
gross prevarications of Oates and his associates^
on that trial.
Some, however, still persisted in urging the
reality of the plot. Five catholic peers were im
prisoned in the Tpwer. " The viscount Stafford,'"
says Hume, " from his age, infirmities, and nar-
" row capacity, was deemed the least capable ' of
"defending himself, and it was therefore d^ter-
" mined that he should be the first victim. The
" elamour and outrage of the populace, during

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. fff
**his' frial, were extreme.] Great abilities arid
" eloquence, were exerted against him by the ma-
" nagers*, — sir William Jones, sir Francis Win-
• Bishop Burnet, in the History of his own Time, (foi. edi
tion, vol. i. p. 489,) records the following extraordinary
circumstance, which took place during this trial. " Tiirber-
" viUe," who was the principal evidence against lord Stafi'drd,
" upon discourse with some in St. Martin's parish, seemed
" inclined to change his religion : they brought him to Dr.
" Lloyd," — (who was bishop of St. Asaph, when the fact re
lated by Burnet took place,) — " then their minister : and he
" convinced him so fully, that he changed upon it: and aftSer
" that, he came often to him, and was chiefly supported by
" him : for some months he was constantl}:- at his table :
" Lloyd had pressed him to recollect all he had heard among
'* the papists,' relating to plots and designs againstthe king or
'' the nation. He "said that, which all the converts at that
", time often said, that they had it among them, that, within a
" very little while, their religion would be set up in England,
" and that some of them said, a great deal of blood would be
" shed before it could be brought about : but he protested
" that he knew no particulars. After some months depend-
" ance on Lloyd, he withdrew entirely'fi-ora him ; and he saw
" him no more till he appeared now, as evidence against lord
" Stafford : Lloyd was in great difficulties upon that occasion.
" It had been often declared, that the most solemn denials of
" witnesses, before they make discoveries, did not at all iavali-
« date their evidence, and that it imported no more, but that
" they had been so long firm to their promise of revealing
" nothing, so that this negative evidence against TurberviUe
" could have done lord Stafford no service t. On the. other
" hand, considering the load that already lay on Llpyd, on ac-
" count of Berry's business, and that his being, a little before
" this time, promoted to be bishop of St. Asaph, was imputed
" to that, it was visible that his discovering this against Tur-
' t Surely this conclusion was contrary to common sense, and the est^
lished rules of evidence of every civilized nation.
F 2

68 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" nington, and serjeant Maynard. Yet, did the'
" prisoner, under all these disabilities, make a
" better defence than was expected, either by his
" friends or his enemies. The unequal contest,
" in which he was engaged, was a plentiful source
" of compassion to every mind, seasoned with hu-
" manity. He remarked the infamy of the wit--
" nesses, and the contradictions and absurdities of
"their testimony; — and with a simplicity and
" tender;iess, more persuasive than the greatest
" oratory, he made protestations of his innocence,
" and could not forbear every moment expressing
" the most lively surprise and indignation at the
" audacious impudence ofthe witnesses.
" It wUl appear," continues Hume, " astonish-
" ing to us, as it did to Stafford himself, that the
" peers, after a solemn trial of six days, should, by
" a majority of twenty-six voices, give sentence
" against him. He received, however, with resig-
" nation, the fatal verdict.
" berville would have aggravated those censures, and very
" much blasted him.— In opposition to all this, here was jus-
" tice to be done, and a service to truth, towards the saving a
" man's life ; and the question was very hard to be determined.
" He advised with all his friends, and myself in particular. The
" much greater number was of opinion that he ought to be
" silent. I said, my own behaviour in Staly's afl^ir showed
« what I would do in that case; but his circumstances were
" very different: so I concurred, with the rest, as to him."
In perusing this passage, the reader will probably beat a
loss, whom most to admire, bishop-Lloyd, who withheld from
lord Stafford the benefit of a testimony, which, at Ifeast. might
have saved his life, or the cool indifference with which bishop'
Burnet relates the strange event, and his share in it. '

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 69
" He prepared himself for death, with the intre-
" pidity which became his birth and station ; and
" which was the natural result of the innocence
" and integrity which, during the bourse of a long
" life, he had ever maintained. His mind seemed
" even to coUect new force, from the violence
" and oppression under which he laboured.
" When going to execution, he called for a cloak
" to defend him against the rigour of the season.
" ' Perhaps,' said he, ' I may shake with cold ; but
" I trast in God, not for fear.' On the scaffold^ he
" continued, with reiterated and earnest assevera-
" tions, to make protestations of his innocence. All
" his fervour was exercised on this point. When
" he mentioned the witnesses, whose perjuries
" had bereaved him of life, his expressions were
" frdl of mildness and of charity. He solemnly
" disavowed aU those immoral principles,^ which
" over-zealous protestants had ascribed, without
" distinction, to the church . of Rome. And he
" hoped, he said, that the time was now approach-
" ing, when the present delusion would be dis-
" sipated ; and when the force of truth, though
" late, would engage the whole world to make
" reparation to his injured honour.
"The popidace, who had exulted at Stafford's
" frial and condemnation, were now melted into
" tears, at the sight of that tender fortitude, which
" shone forth in each feature, and motion,, and
" accent of this aged noblej Their profound
" silence was only interrupted by sighs and groans.
F 3

¦m HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
'^ .Witii difficulty they found sjpBech to asserit to
/*f-tiiose protestations of innocence, which he frd-
"quentfy repeated: 'We believe you, my lord!
^1 God bless you, my lord!' These expressions,
"-with a faulterihg accent, flowed from them. The
" .executioner himself was touched with sympathy.
" Twice, he lifted up the axe, with an intent to
" sfrike the fatal blow; and, as often, felt his re-
" solution to fail him. A deep sigh was heard
" to accompany his last effort, which laid Stafford,
" for ever, at rest. All the spectators seemed to
" feel the blow : and when the head was held up
"to them, with the usual cry, ' this is the head of
" atraitor,'no clamour of assent was uttered. Pity,
".remorse, and astonishment, had taken possession
" of every heart, and displayed itself in every
" countenance."
• ' It should be mentioned, that, to vindicate, the
principles of his {kith, from the heavy and injuri
ous aspersions, thrown out against them, lord
Stafford referred to a short treatise, written by
a jpriest ¦ df the church pf Rome, intituled, " Ro-
" mait Qatholic Principles, in reference to God and
"tiiEKing,*." . '
It is to be observed, that, in the following reign,
a biU W^sibrought into the house of lords to reversa
the Attainder of lord Stafford, and passed the
house oflords ; but failed in the house of commons.
* It has been often reprinted,, and recently, by the reverend
John Kirk, with an elaborate inquiry respecting the previous
edilions, aiid the authbr ;_8vo. 1815,— See Appenda, JJote L

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 71
Surely, the reversal of it, is an act of justice due
from the public to his posterity. - , . .
" The blood of lord Stafford was," says Hume,
" the last which was shed on account of the popish
" plot: — an incident, which, for the credit of tiie
" nation, it were better to bury in eternal oblivion ',
" but which it is necessary to perpetuate, as well
" to maintain the truth of history, as to waruj if
" possible, thefr posterity and all mankind, never
" again to fall into so shameful and so barbarous a
" delusion." With these reflections, Hume concludes his
account of this wonderfvd event.
For many persons, otherwise truly respectable,
who suffered themselves to be carried away by the
-general delusion, some excuse, perhaps, may be
found. But, for the judges, who presided at the
trials ; or, for the law officers, who conducted the
prosecutions, none, certainly, can be offered. AH
these must have known, that in the trials of men,
accused of treason, the only circumstances to be
considered, are, — whether the act, on which they
are indicted, be freasonable ; — and whether there
.be legal evidence to convict them of it. Now, it
was absolutely impossible, that either the judges',
or the officers ofthe crown, should not have been
completely sensible of the total want of legal evi;-
deuce of guilt, in every case that was brought
before the court. ' ¦ ^ " 3
In his assertion, that " the blood of lord Stafford
" was the last that was shed on account of thetpopish
" plot," Hume was mistaken ; as the execution of
F 4

11 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Dr. Oliver Plunkett, the catholic archbishop of
Armagh, took place in the following year. Several
protestant writers, as Burnet*, Echard t, and
Baker ;];, speak of this prelate in terms of great
respect. — " In the mean time," says the last of these
writers, " came on the trial of Dr. Oliver Plunkett, a
" popish titular bishop of Armagh, who called him-
" self primate of all Ireland. He was a worthy and
" a good man ; in low circumstances, living quietiy
" and contentedly, meddling with nothing but the
" concerns of his fiinction; and dissuading all about
" him from entering into any turbulent or factious
" multitude. But, while the popish plot was
" warm, some lewd Irish priests, and others of
" that nation, hearing that England was disposed
"to hearken to good swearers, thought themselves
" qualified for the employment. So they came
"over, with an account of a plot in Ireland ; and
"were well received by lord Shaftesbury." — The
archbishop was sent over, and brought to frial.
"The evidence swore, that,'uponhis being made
" primate of Ireland, he engaged sixty thousand or
" seventy thousand Irish to be ready to join with
"the French, to destroy the protestant religion;
" and loget Dublin, Londonderry, and aU the sea-
" ports into tiieir hands." He was first arraigned,
and brought to trial in Dublin ; and then, contiraiy
to every formality of law, sent over to England;
and, after six months close confinement, broughtto
* History of his own Times, vol. i. p. 50s.
t History of England, vol. iii. p. 631.
t Chronicle, p* 760,

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 73
the bar, condemned, and executed. — Standing on
the cart, which brought him to tiie place of execu
tion, he addressed the spectators at length ; — in
the most moving terms, unequivocally asserting his
innocence ; forgiving the judges and witnesses ;
and imploring the blessing of God on the king,
and on every branch of the royal family. — Echard
relates that " he had been assured, by an un-
" questionable authority, that the earl of Essexj
" (who had beeh lord lieutenant of Ireland), was
" so sensible of the poor man's hardship, that he
" generously applied to the king for a pardon ; and
" told his majesty, the witnesses must needs be
" perjured; for, that the things sworn against him,
" could not possibly be true. Upon which, the
" king, in a passion, said, why did you not attest
" this at his trial ? it would have done him good
" then. I dare not pardon any one. And so con-
" eluded with the same kind of answer, he had
" given another person formerly : his blood be
" upon your head, and not upon mine."
In 1680, while the memory of these fransactions
was stUl recent,— and while all the agitators of the
impositions were living, a most eloquent and ar
gumentative vindication of the sufferers was pub
lished, under the title of " The Papists Plea." It
was afterwards printed among lord Somers's Tracts ;
and several exfracts from it may be found in Mr.
Andrews's Historical Account, just cited. — But the
most eloquent vindication of the catholics from
the charge of being concemed in Oates's plot, is
the " Ajjologie pour les Catholiques, confre les

74 tllSTORICAL MEMOIRS^ OF
" fauseti^s, et les calomnies d'unlivre, intitid6, La
" Politique du Clerg6 de France : fait premi^rei
" ment en Francois, et puis traduit en Flamand.
" A Liege, 1681." 2 vols. 8vo. The celebrated
Amaud was the author of this work. In powerfril
reasoning, and splendid eloquence, it has seldom
been equalled. In these terms, cardinal Maury
mentions it, in his " Essai sur I'Eloquence de la
" Chaire." If any doubt remain upon any mind,
respecting the feibrication, or the imposture, of th6
plot, the perusal of Arnaud's Apologie must re
move it.
, In the following reign,"Oates was tried, and con
demned for perjury. "And never was a criminal,"
says Hume, " convicted on fuller, or more un-
" doubted evidence."
V For their supposed part in the plot, ten laymen
and seven priests, one of whom was seventy,
another eighty years of age, were executed. Seven
teen others were condemned, but not executed.
Some died in prison, and some were pardoned. On
the whole body of catholics, the laws were executed
with horrible severity. Individuals are still living,
whose fathers have told thern what their fathers
Used to relate of the wretchedness and misery of
tiie general body, whUst the delusion lasted. Even
at thart distance of years, few of these could speak
of itji vvithout evident agitation and horror. ) ' :
On^this occasion, Hume has certainly done jiis-
tice to the catholics :-^but the writer can assure
his rfeaders, tbatthey can form no cbnceptiorfof the
wicked ar^s t^t were practised to instil the be-

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. ^&
lief of the plot into the pniblic mind, and to induce
juries to find the catholic prisoners guUty of the
plot, and ofthe death of sir Edmondbury Godfrey^
without perusing the trials themselves. AUthe
information which the reader can desire, is col
lected in Mr. Andrews's publication,— ^yet, it prin
cipally was from these scenes, that the ancient
prejudice against the catholics originated,
LXV. 6.
Uie Act disabling Peers from sifting and voting in the
House qf Lords.
The calamities ofthe catholics, in the reign of
Charles the second, were aggravated- by the long
odium, which the infamous charges brought agaipst
themj had created ; and which it required nearly
a century to subdue. They were aggravated also
by a legislative act, which even yet subjects them
to several depressing and painful disabUities.
The Test and Corporation Acts have been men
tioned : to these, the roman-catholics are subject
in common with aU protestant dissenters : — the act
to which we now aUude, was passed in the thirtieth
year of Charles. : It contained a declaration, com
monly caUed the declaration against popery, —
denying transubstantiation ; and asserting the' in-
vocation of the Virgin Mary and other saints, and
the sacrifice of the mass, to be superstitious arid
idolafroiis. It prescrfbed that no peer should vote,
or make ias'prc^y in the house, or sit there, during
the'-debates ; and tiial no member «>f the house of
commons should vote in the house, or sit ther^,

76 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
during any debate, until he should first take the
oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and make and
subscribe the declaration, contained in the act.
The act passed the. commons without much op
position ; " but, in the upper house," says Hume,
" the duke of York moved, that an exception might
," be admitted in his favour. With great eamest-
" ness, and even with tears in his eyes, he told
" them, that he was now to cast himself on their
" kindness, in the greatest concern which he could
" have in the world ; and he protested, that what-
" ever his religion might be, it should only be
" between God and his own soul. Notwithstand-
" ing this strong effort, in so important a point, he
" prevailed only by two voices."
With the reign of Charles the second, the san
guinary part of the penal code againstthe roman-
catholics finally closes.
LXV. 7.
Summary Review, by a Protestant Writer, of the Religious
Persecutions in England, from the Reformation till the
end ofthe reign of Charles thesecond. — General Reflec
tions on them.
" It is," said Mosheim, " an observation often
" made, that aU religious sects, when they are kept
" under and oppressed, are remarkable for incul-
" eating the duties of moderation, forbearance,
"and charity, towards those who, dissent from
" them; but that, as soon as the scenes of persecu-
".tion are removed, and they, in thefr tiim, arrive

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 11
" at power and pre-eminence, they forget their
" own precepts and maxims ; and leave both the
" recommendation and practice of charity to those
" that groan under their yoke." The events, which
form the subject of the present pages, too well
exemplify the truth of this observation.
Of the persecution alternately inflicted upon,
and inflicted by the protestant non-conformists,
Robinson, in his History of the Persecutions of
Christians, gives the foUowing extraordinary ac
count: " On the death of queen Mary, Elizabeth suc-
" ceeded to the throne. Elizabeth being a pro-
" testant, and being likewise taught by suffering,
" under the reign of her sister, — ^the protestants
" blessed themselves, that now their cause was
" established ; and every friend of mankind hoped
" persecution would now cease. A church, calling
" itself protestant, was indeed established; but,
" this queen imitated her father, in persecuting
" both protestants and papists. Elizabeth was a
*' princess of most arbitrary principles and charac-
" ter ; ambition was her ruling passion ; and he,'
" who contradicted her,^-died. The protestant
" bishops were continually employed in preaching
" in favour of arbitraiy power, and persecuting all
" who dissented either from thefr political or
" theological creed. If any one wrote any thing
" against arbifrary power, either in church or
" state, he was immediately condemned and put
" to death, as an author of seditious publications ;
" against which, convenient laws were enacted, to

78 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
V please the queen and- the ;priests. If any one'
'^refused to conform to tiie least ceremony, in
*' worship, he was east into prison, where, for this
" offence, many of the most excellent men im the
" land perished, . . - .
" Two protestants, of the anabaptist feith, tiiis
"accomplished qiieen bumt for heresy; and many
*' more of the same denomination she banished
'' for the same crime. She also put two heretics to
" death, who had adopted the faith of Brown, the
*' father of the independents ; and, a little before
" this, she butchered'some papists for their ancient
*' heresy. The archbishops Parker and Whitgift
*f are ' damned to eternal fame,' for the brutal part
*' they took in this orael carnage. \ Indeed, thi^
" whole reign of Elizabeth, though distinguished
'^ by the political prosperity of En^and, as far a^
" great fame and good fortune abroad can be called
" prosperity, is nothing but a series of arbitrary
^' and flagitious conduct, pointing to the destruc-
f tion of aU liberty, civil and reli^ous, and ftdl of
'.' murder for religious opinions, i Elizabeth herself
" had no ireligion ; but was openly profane, and
'^ addicted to common cursing and swearino-;
{' Without the weakness of Mary, she had Mary's
" h^sart, thirsting for human blood,
" James the first succeeded Elizabeth on th6
" throne of England; and united the two kingdoms
" of England and Scotland. ; Educated a presby-
t' terian, .^the friends of reformation expkted, at
^' once,, a cessation of persecution,- and thfeproted-
I'tjon and countenance bf the young kifig. In

^HE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. »J0
5' both, they were grievously disappt>inted. TThe
" protestant churches of England and Scotland
** had laid down persecution as a mark and evi-
" d^nce of a false church ; but, if their mark were
"a just one, neither of them merited the'honour-
" able appellation of a ttue church. When James
" ascended the throne, his first concern appears to
"have been the maintenance of his pi'erogative,
" and the extension of his power. He eagerly
" looked around him for those who were best in-^
" clined to secure him these advantages.— Expe-
" rience had taught him, that the rough manners
" of the presbyterian clergy showed them to be
" Ul adapted to this purpose. They had tpo^ often
" been to "him the instruments of restraint; and
"had shown too little disposition to flatter his
" vateiity, or assert the omnipotence of his power.
" — In' the English clergy, and especially the
^"'bishops, he found men every way fltted fdr his
" purpose. Every tyrant is, in his turn, a syco-
"phant; and every sycophant is, in his turtij a
" tyrant, --^is a> maxim founded on experience ;¦ aind
" James perceived that those, whose pleasure "^as
"the burning of others, would conform to any
"thing to please him, from whom they deirived
" thefr power. His standing maxirn 'soStt' Was',
" * no bishop, no king;' few*, he found "no -6thef
" men, whose endeavours were equ-afly -tO- be-de-
" pended Upon, in securing uiilimitled'-Ob^dieflce
" in the people, and asseiting'unlimitlSd authority
" in the prince. Tobribe their exertion's in faVour

80 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" of despotism, he published edicts, fuU of the old
" spirit of persecution.— Bancroft, the piousbishop,
" was at once his adviser and agent. The king
" published a proclamation, commanding all pro-
." testants to conform strictiy, and without any
" exception, to all and singular the rites and cere-
" monies of the church of England ; and granted
" indulgence to tender consciences to none, but
" roman-catholics, of all his numerous subjects in
" England. " The spirit of this proclamation was directed
" by Bancroft to the heads of thousands of pro-
" testant non-conformists. Above five hundred
" clergy were immediately silenced or deprived,
" for not complying with some slight ceremonies.
" Some were excommunicated, and some banished
" the country. Every means was used to disfress
" dissenters. They were deprived, censured, fined
" in the star-chamber, and used in the most violent
" and arbitrary manner. Worn out with endless
" vexations, and unceasing persecutions, many
" retired to,jHolland, and from thence to America,
" seeking, amongst untutored savages and roaring
" wild beasts, that mercy they were denied by pro-
" t€ii?tanjM}ishops and priests in their native land.
" Amongst the most iUustrious of these fugitives
" was Mr. Robinson, the father ofthe independents
" in America.— James, dreading the consequence
" of such numerous emigrations, prohibited them ;
" but without effect. It is witnessed, by a most
" judicious historian, that in this, and some follow-

THE ENGUSH CATHOLICS. 81
" ing- reigns, twenty-two thousand persons were
" banished from England, by persecution, to
" America. " To stifle the spfrit of inquiry, hostUe, at all
" times, to arbitrary power, in church and state,
" and to promote universal thoughflessness and
" ignorance, James published the Book of Sports,
" to be read in churches, which, on thefr refusing
" to comply with the requisition to read it, was the
'¦ means of depriving and sUencing all the clergy
" of honour and conscience in the nation.
'• When Charles the first ascended the throne,
" he early discovered very arbitrary principles of
" govemment ; and, ^reeably to the schemes of
" such as have ever attempted to enslave mankind,
" he flattered the priesthood, in thefr most daring
" usurpations. It is an observation of the authors
" of the Independent Whig, that where there are
" no dissenters from the established worship, there
" exists not a free man in the nation. This is an
" observation, founded on the experience of ages,
" that the power of the clergy is the death-warrant
" of liberty.— Charles soon discovered his whole
" heart, by marrying a roman-catholic, and placing
** the infamous Laud at the head of both state and
" church. Laud was another Thomas-^-Becket ;
" and had powers equaUy formidable, being arch-
" bishop of Canterbury, and the first man in the
" state. He, indeed, lived in times not quite so
"benighted; yet ignorance, bigotry, and super-
" stition, were even yet almost universal. A proof
" of fliis may be found in the conduct of the better
VOL. III. G

82 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" sort of priests in Ireland, in this reign. A number
" of pious bishops, with the famous archbishop
" Usher at their head, published a protest against
" the toleration of roman^tholics, not on account
" of their political principles being supposed dan-
" gerous, but because they did not dare to concur
" in, the toleration of catholics, lest they (the pro-
" testant bishops), should be involved in the sin of
" i(iola,try. Here are men, prepai;ed to exterminate
" the human race, because they do not adopt
" their creed ; and piously acknowledge their in-
" faUibility !— Laud pushed the great business of
" persecution to its utmost bounds, and gave the
" nation more exercise in this way, than it was
" inclined to suffer. Numbers, torn to pieces by
" this protestant bishop, in their families and pro-
" perty, fled to America, and founded the settlement
" of Massachusetts Bay. They were the fathers of
" the first asserters of liberty, in the last war.
" A. D. 1630, the learned Dr. Leighton wrote
" a book against the hierarchy ; and felt, to his
" cost, that his good mother was inclined to chas-
" tise as much as to cherish her offspring ; when
" they called in question her high authority.^He
" was sentenped in the high commission, in a fine
"of 1,0,000/. perpetual, imprisonment^ and whip-
" piftg. istj He was whipped, and then placed in
" the pillpry. 2dly, One of his ears cut off.
" sdly, Ope side of his nose slit. 4thly. Braiided
" on the cheek with a red hot iron, with the letters
" S. ^. : whipped, a ^ecpnd time, and plftpejij in
" the pillory ; about a fortnight afterwards, hi»

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 83
" sores being yet uncured, he had the other ear
" cut off; the other side of his nose slit, and the
" other cheek branded. He continued in prison,
" till the long parliament set him at liberty. Arch-
" bishop Laud had the honour of conducting this
" prosecution." The singular feature of the persecutions, thus
inflicted by the protestants of the establishment on
the puritans, is, (to use the expression of Neale *)
that, " in point of faith, there was no substantial
" difference in doctrine, between the church of
" England and the puritans ; so that these Were
" turned out of the church, for things, which their
" adversaries acknowledged to be of mere indiffer-
" ence ; whereas the puritans took it in their con^
" sciences, and were ready to aver, in the most
" solemn manner, that they deemed them unlaw-
" ftil. Incredible as it may appear, the point
" which principally occasioned this animosity was,
'^ the habits,- — that is, the dress, ^-particularly the
" surplice, — ofthe 6lergy.
But no sooner were the presbyterians possessed'
of the power of the state, than in their tum they
became persecutors f.
^' In 1-643, t^6 ^^^S parliament," continues
Mr. Robinson, " interdicted the freedom of the,
* Chap. iv.
t Dr. Gauden, in his petitionary remonstrance to the pro-,
tector, states the number of sequestered clergy to have been
between 6,060 and 7,000.
- - . G 2

m HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" press ; and appointed licensers of the press, —
"a singular introduction this, — to the establish-
" ment of the liberty they promised.
" In 1645, an ordinance was published, subject-
" ing all, who preached, or wrote against the pres-
" byterian directory for public worship, to a fine,
" not exceeding fifty pounds ; and imprisonment,
" for a year, for the third offence, in using the
" episcopal book of common prayer, even in a
" private family.— Such was the spirit of presby-
" terian toleration !
" The following year, when the king had sur-
" rendered to the Scots, the presbyterians applied
" to parliament, pressing them to enforce unifor-
" mity in religion, and to extirpate popery, pre-
" lacy, heresy, schism, agreeably to the solemn
" league and covenant ; and to establish presby-
" terianism, by abolishing all separate congrega-
" tions, and preventing any, but presbyterians,
" from all offices under government. A resolution
" of greater folly, madness, and persecution, was
" never formed by any fanatics, which have dis-
" graced the world. The parliament did not
" approve of this madness; and the independents,
" (a sect, which first asserted general toleration),
',' opposed it, with becoming spirit.
" Those infallible teachers, the London presby-
" terian ministers, and the ministers in Glouces-
" tershire, published their protest, and testimony
"-against aU errors; and especiaUy that greatest
" of aU errors, toleration. They seem to be at a

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 85
" loss for words to express their deep abhorrence
" of the damnable heresy, called toleration, or an
" indulgence to tender consciences." They call
it, " the error of toleration, patronizing an(d pro-
" moting all other errors, heresies, and blasphemies
" whatsoever, under the grossly-abused notion of
" liberty of conscience, ^hese wise gentlemen
" needed no liberty of conscience : — they were
" right; — others were blasphemous heretics, to
" be damned for their pleasure hereafter ; and
" who ought to have been burnt, for their satis-
" tisfaction and delight here.
" On the 2d of May 1648, the English parlia-
" ment, being ruled by the presbyterians, published
^' an ordinance against heresy, as follows ; viz.
" ' that all persons, who shall maintain, publish,
" or defend, by preaching or writing, the foUow-
" ingheresies,with obstinacy, shall upon complaint,
" or proof by the oath of two witnesses, before two
" justices of the peace, or confession of the party,
" be committed to prison, without bail or main-
" prize, tUl the next gaol delivery ; and in case the
" indictment shall be found, and the party on his
" frial shall not abjure his said errors, and his de-
" fence and maintenance of the same, he shall
" suffer the pains of death, as incase of felony, with-
" out benefit of clergy ; and if he recant or abjure,
" he shall remain in prison till he find securities,
" tiiat he will not maintain the said heresies or
" errors any more; but if he relapse, and becon-
" victed a second time, he shall suffer death.' "
Such: were the offences of each party against
G3

86 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
the sacred duty of religious toleration. Much has
been said, and is still daily said, of the persecuting
spirit of the cathohcs.— That they have been fre
quentiy guilty of persecution, must be acknow
ledged :— but, is the spirit of persecution less
discernible, in the instances which Robinson has
enumerated, and which we have just cited from
him ?
It is not a littie remarkable, that, while the puri
tans were suffering iinder these laws, and fiUing the
world with their just complaints against them|jthey
were, by an unaccountable inconsistency, uniformly
clamorous for the execution of the laws against
the catholics, and even for fresh enactments against
themi, They also repeatedly forced, both the first
James and the first Charles against their own views
of policy, and their own natural dispositions, into
the most sanguinary measures. The fact is, that
the doctrine of toleration was neither understood,
npr felt, by any party: all were equally guilty:
men, otherwise most humane and charitable,-: —
many of them leamed, and, in other respects, en
lightened in the highest degree, were the warm
advocate^ of persecution.
A fairer, or a more honourable name than that
of ar^hbi^shop Usher, or a more learned man, the
church of England cannot produce : — yet, did this
venerable nxan, with a file of musketeers, enter the
catholic chapel, in Cork-street Dublin, durii^ the
celebration pf diyiiie service, seize the priest in
his vesfrneuts, and hew down the crucifix: yet,
did this venerable man, with eleven other Irish

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS, 87
prelates, sign, what is termed, " the judgment of
" divers of the archbishops and bishops of Ire-
" land, on the toleration of religion," — and de
clare by it, " that the religiPn of the papists Was
" superstitious and idolatrous ; their faith and
" doctrine erroneous and heretical; their church,
" in respect to both, apostatical : that, to give them,
" therefore, a toleration, or to consent that they
" may freely exercise their religion, is a grievous
" sin." It is observable too*, that the circumstance,
we have just mentioned, took place, at a time
when Charles the first was in his greatest distress ;
and the catholics of Ireland were straining every
nerve to assist him. — Surely, the archbishop must
have forgotten the just rebuke, which, not long
before this time, himself bad given to a clergyman,
fot a want of charity. — Being wrecked on a deso
late part of tiie Irish coast, he applied to a clergy
man for relief; and stated, without mentioning his
name, or rank, his own sacred profession. The
clergyman rudely questioned it, and told hitn
peevfehiy, that " he doubted, whether he knew
" tiie number of the commandments." " Indeed I
" do," replied the archbishop mUdly," there are
" ^even." " Eleven !" said the clergyman ; " tell
" me tiie eleventh, and I will assist you." — " Obey
" the eleventh," said the archbishop, " and you
" dfettainly will. — A new commandment I give
" unto yPu,-^that ye love one another."
* See Mr. Plowden's Historical Review of the State of
IVelan'd, vol. i. c. iv.
G 4

8S HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
It is pleasing, however, to add, that while
Usher declaimed against toleration in Ireland, Dr,
Jeremy Taylor advocated it in England, in his
" Discourse on the Liberty of Prophesying," — an
immortal work; abounding in passages of the
closest reasoning and sfrains of eloquence seldom
equaUed. It was published in 1 647 ; and, there
fore, long preceded the liberal treatise of Grotius
" De Jure summoram principum circa sacra," pub
lished in 1661 ; Bayle's " Commentafre Philoso-
" phique, sur ces paroles de J^sus Christ, con-
"traignezles d'enfrer," first published in 1686, —
and Locke's Six Letters upon Toleration, the first of
which appeared in 1689. — By preceding the frea-
tises of Grotius and Bayle, Dr. Taylor has conferred
on his country the honour of having produced the
first regular treatise on toleration. Long, how
ever, before this time, its existence in Utopia had
been supposed by sir Thomas More : — and long
before Utopia was imagined, St. Martin of Tours
had refiised to communicate with the persecutors
of the PriscUlianists, on account of their relio-ious
intolerance ; and long before Tours was edified by
the virtues of St. Martin, the Son of Man had re
buked the sons of Zebedee for wishing that a
shower of fire might descend on the incredulous
Samaritans. A new edition of Dr. Taylor's Liberty of Pro
phesying has been recentiy published. The work
concludes with the foUowing apologue ; it would
be weU that every chUd should leam it by heart.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS- 89
— " When Abraham sat at his tent-door, according
" to his custom, waiting to entertain strangers, he
" espied an old man, stooping, and leaning on his
" staffe, weary with age and ttavel, coming towards
^' him, — who was an hundred years of age ; he
" received him kindly, washed his feet, provided
" supper, caused him to sit down ; but, observing,
" that the old man eat and prayed not, nor begged
" for a blessing on his meal, asked him, why he did,
" not worship the God of heaven ? The old man
" told him, that he worshipped the fire only, and
" acknowledged no other god : at which answer,
" Abraham grew so zealously angry, that he thrust
" the old man out of his tent, and exposed him to
" all the evUs of the night, and an unguarded con-
" dition. When the old man was gone, God called
" to Abraham, and asked him where the stranger
" was : he replied, ' I thrust him out, because
"he did not worship thee:' God answered him,
" ' I have suffered him, these hundred years,
" although he dishonoured me ;, and couldst not
" thou endure him one night, when he gave thee
" no frouble?' Upon this, saith the story, Abraham
" fetched him back again, and gave him hospita-
" ble entertainment and wise instraction. — Go
" thou and do likewise ; and thy charity wiU be,
" rewarded by the God of Abraham !"

90 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF

CHAP. LXVL
JAMES THE SECOND.
1685.
Notwithstanding his imprudence and weak
ness, — notwithstanding even his offences against
the constitution, a generous mind will always read
tiie history of James the second *, with compas
sion ; and this compassion will rise to a higher
feeling, when he considers, that the misfortunes of
the monarch were owing, in a great measure, to
his sincere and undissembling mind ; and to the
treacherous counsels of his principal minister, —
the earl of Sunderland, — who even formally em
braced and most openly professed the roman-
catholic religion, in order to deceive his royal
master the more effectuaUy. We shall present our
readers, I. With some miscellaneous observations
on his character : II. With some account of the
principal events, which led to the revolution in
1688 r III. Of the visit of James to the monastery
of La Trappe : IV. Of his death : V. And with
transcripts of those parts' of the historical poems of
Dryden, which relate to the occurrences in the
reigns of Charles the second and James the second,
in which the English roman-catholics were parti
cularly concerned.
* The fragment of the history of this reign, by the late
Mr. Fox, though open to objection, is a noble production,
and does honoul- to his memory.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 91
LXVL 1.
Miscellaneous Observations on the Character of James.
The sincerity, which we have ascribed to James,
has generally been admitted. His industry, per
severance, and skill in the official details of busi
ness, have been universally allowed. Never, since
his reign, has the nation been without obligations
to him : " It does not appear," says Mr. Clarke?,
" that the difficulties, which James had to struggle
" with, have always been sufficientiy considered by
" historians ; nor does it appear, that the essential]
" and lasting service, which James rendered to his
" counfry, in compacting, and, as it were, building
" up itsnaval power, havebeen sufficientiy weighed.
" It is not generally known, that the naval regula-
" tions, now in force, are taken, almost verbatiaatt,
" from those which he established ; or that, when
" lately the board of naval revision wished to add
" to, and improve the naval regulations, they sent
" for the papers of Pepys, the marine secretary of
" James, as being the best materials whence they
" could obtain the abject they had in view."
The sincerity of James, has, it is issue, been
questioned in those reiterated promises, which he
made of preserving the liberties of the nation ; and
which, in every part of his short reign, he ue-
* In the preface to his edition of the " Life of James the
" second, collected out of Memoirs written with his own hand^'"
p.. xxxi.

92 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
peatedly violated. This objection is, however,
satisfactorily answered, by observing, that these in
vasions of the national rights were perfectly recon-
cileable with the monarch's own notions, however
erroneous, of the constitution ; so that, although
they were certainly gross infractions of it, still they
were not such in his opinion.
His disturbing the legal settlement ofthe religion
of his country, has been a subject of still more
severe reprehension, i Had he maturely examined
what was the greatest degree of toleration, which
the actual temper of the times, and the welfare of
his country, would allow him to procure for his
Catholic subjects i; had he prepared the public mind
to receive this favourably ; and had he established
it by a legislative act, — then, it would have been a
salutary measure, and have placed him among the
benefactors of humanity. But, — (even if he con
templated nothing beyond complete toleration), —
he yet aimed at more than the times would bear ;
and he attempted to accomplish his aim by means,
which were wholly repugnant to the constitution.
His aim may, perhaps, admit of some excuse ; the
means,, to which he resorted, admit of none.
Still, one circumstance should be related, which
seems to show, that he possessed the true spirit of
toleration. On the revocation of the edict of Nantes,.
a large proportion ofthe Hugonots took refuge in
this country. The hospitality, with which they were
received, was most exemplary ; and James himself
animated the spirit of the nation, both by his ex-;

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 93
hortations and his example. — A silent reproof of
his great aUy, Lewis the fourteenth, and his
wretched advisers*.

LXVL 2.
Principal Circumstances which led to the Revolution.
Few circumstances, however, had a greater effect
than this measure of Lewis, in increasing the
alarm, which already subsisted in a high degree,
of the designs which James was then more than
suspected to have conceived, for introducing the
free exercise of the roman-catholic religion into
his kingdoms. If the nation had reasoned justly, it
would have occurred to them, that the oppressions,
which had driven the French sufferers from their
native country, were considerably less than those,
to which the English catholics had been subject
during more than a century, and which had re
centiy been inflicted on them with extreme rigour.
This reflection should have suggested the justice
and propriety of an immediate repeal of the most
* In the Life of James the second, -written by himself, (Mac-
pherson's State Papers, vol. i. p. 51,) we find this passage :
" The duke of York, at Tunbridge, assured Dr. Owen, that he
" had no bitterness against the non-conformists. He was
" against all persecution, merely for conscience sake, looking
" on it as an unchristian thing and absolutely against his
" conscience." — The same -writer observes, (ib. 576.) from
thh Nairne Papers, " that notwithstanding the enthusiasm of
" the prince and his submissive obedience in spirituals, it
" appears that he never intended to acknowledge the pope's
" supremacy in temporal concems."

04 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
obnoxious of those laws : but the public feeling
took a different direction, and dwelt altogether on
the alleged persecuting spirit of the religion, which
Lewis professed, and a dread of its horrors, if the
schemes imputed to James should be realized, and
catholics obtain the ascendancy. This naturally
increased the jealousies ofthe monarch's views, and
the apprehensions entertained of their consequences.
j The first step taken by James to carry them into
effect, was an attempt to intimidate the parliament
In his speech from the throne to the two houses
at the opening of the sessions, he openly avowed
his claim to the dispensing power. The house of
commons voted an address to him against it : in his
answer, he insisted on his right ; after it was read
by the speaker, a silence of some moments ensued :
¦ — at length Coke, the member for Derby, rose in
his place and boldly said, " I hope we are all Eng-
" lishmen, and not to be frightened by a few hard
" words." He was reproved, and ordered to the
Tower; but the sullenness ofthe house continued.
The lords, after voting thanks generally to the
king for his speech, appointed a day for taking it
into consideration, with an avowed intentiori of
discussing the obpoxious passage.
Thus foUed in his hopes of the subserviency of
parliament, the next effort of James was made
through the medium; of the courts of justice. He'
gfive tp sir Edward Hales a commission of colonel :
sir Edward accepted it, and entered on the duties.
of the rank without qualifying himsfelf for it, ac
cording to the provisions of the test act: with'

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 96
these James dispensed : it was contrived, that the
coachman of sir Edward should prosecute him for
the penalty of 500/. which the test act gave to the
informer. Sir Edward pleaded the dispensation ;
and thus, by a feigned action, the general question
was bix)iught to a dfrect issue. The decision of the
judges was unanimous in its favour : but James
had previously displaced four of them, and sub
stituted in their stead, four on whose pliancy he
could rely.
Encouraged by this success, and either unaware
that public opinion was against him, or ignorant of
its importance, James proceeded to bolder mea
sures; he brought five catholic lords, Powis, ArUn-
deU, BeUaayse and Dover, and father Petre a Jesuit,
into the privy council. , He conferred the office of
privy seal on lord Arundell, and putting his trea
sury ijato commission, placed lord Bellasyse at its
head : he also advanced some catholics in the army
a^ navy.
He then sent the earl of Castiemain ambassador
exfraordinary to Rome : the pope received him very
cooUy, but sent a nuncio to England : the king gaViC
the nuncio a public and solemnreceptionat Windsor.
Four catholic bishops were publicly consecrated by
the nuncio ; a pastoral letter, framed by then^, and
^dressed to tiie lay catholics of England,, was
published by the king's allowance, and several of
the regular, clergy were permitted tp appear pub
licly in the habits of their order. The pastoral
letter is intituled, " A Pastoral Letter from the
" Cathalip Bishops to the Lay Catholics of Eng-

D6 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" land," 4to. Holyrood-house, by P. B. engraver :
it is comprised in eight pages. They begin it by
observing to them, that " Episcopal authority, to
" which they and their catholic ancestors had long
^' been deprived, had been lately, by a merciful
"« providence of God, and the piety of his majesty,
" restored to them."
They exhort the faithful " to charity, to unity
" of spirit, to love their protestant neighbours, to
" inoffensiveness, to assiduousness at the divine
" service, in imitation of his majesty, to passive
" obedience. — After observing that his majesty
" had favoured many among them with a share
" in the government, they recomriiended loyalty,
" and an active discharge of duty : — and conclude
" with a blessing. Signed, John, bishop of Adru-
'^ mete, v. a. Bonaventure, bishop of Madoura,
" V. A. Philip, bishop of Aureliopolis, v. A. James,
^^ bishop of Callipoli, v. a,"
James then ventured on the step which made an
irreparable breach between him and the established
church. Having required the bishop of London to
suspend Dr. Sharpe from his clerical functions,
for a sermon, in which he had mentioned conver
sions to the roman-catholic religion in terms of con
tumely, and the bishop having refused to comply,
James issued an ecclesiastical commission, by which
seven commissioners were appointed, with unli
mited authority over the church of England, and
with the same inquisitorial and arbitrary powers, as
had been vested in the court of high commission
established by queen Elizabeth, and abolished in

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 97
the reign of Charles the first. The commissioners
instantiy proceeded against the bishop and the
doctor, and, by a majority of votes, suspended both
from their functions.
His majesty then attempted to impose a catholic
president on Magdalen college in Oxford, and to
procure seven bishops, who had presented a petition
to him against some of his measures, to be con
demned for the libel supposed to be expressed by
the petition. ,' This completed the alienation ofthe
public mind.
Finally, he issued a proclamation, by which he
suspended all the penal laws in ecclesiastical affairs,
and granted a general liberty of conscience to all
his subjects*. Hume, — but for this he cites no
* It is idle to contend, that these acts were justifiable iij
consequence of a dispensing power inherent in the monarch,
as part of his legal and constitutional prerogative.
No respectable advocates for the existence of this power
ever contended, that the exercise of it was lawful except on
extraordinary occasions, when the public welfare rendering
such an exercise of it necessary, it was justified by this very
necessity, and limited to the occasion : they also admitted,
that it could only be exercised in favour of particular persons,
in particular instances, and for a particular time. Such a
general exercise of it, as amounted to a total repeal of an
existing law, they considered inadmissible : it evidently was a
-violation of the first principle of our constitution, by which
powers of legislation cannot be exercised by the king, without
the two houses of parliament. Most of its advocates allowed
that the king could not dispense with the common law ; and
most of them also contended that he could dispense with those
statutory provisions only, which concemed his own profit and
interest. Those who wish to have an accurate notion of this,
important question, may usefully peruse the case of Thomas
VOL. III. H

98 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
authority, — asserts that the catholics, at this time,
were scarcely the hundredth part of the people,
against Sorrell, in Vaughan's Reports, 330 ; sir Edward Hale's
case, the case of the Seven Bishops, in the State Trials : —
and the treatises written on the subject by lord chief baron
Atkins and Mr. Atwood.
In 1767, an important question on the dispensing power
became a subject of parliamentary discussion. A scarcity
of wheat in the preceding summer induced the late king, by
the advice ofthe privy council, to issue a proclamation against
the importation of corn till the advice of the ensuing parlia
ment could be taken. The conduct of the ministers in advis
ing this proclamation was severely arraigned in parliament.
The necessity of the measure was allowed, and the minister
justified its legality by the statute ofthe 15 Charles II, which
permits a prohibition ofthe exportation of corn and grain,
when they are under a certain specified price. But doubts being
entertained on the construction of this act, it became necessary
to justify the measure on the broad ground that, " wlienever the
" public is in imminent danger, and the concurrence of parlia-
" ment cannot be obtained, the king has an inherent discre-
" tionary legal prerogative of suspending or dispensing -with
" the law." This doctrine, or something certainly which sound
ed very like it, was avowed by lord Chatham, and, which was
thought more surprising, by lord Camden, It was opposed by
lord Mansfield : he showed, with equal power of eloquence and
argument, that according to the true principles of the con
stitution, the king has no power, absolutely discretionary, of
suspending or dispensing with the laws ofthe country; that,
in the supposed case of imminent danger, he ought to exert
such a power, and the constitution authorizes him to exert
it ; but that he then exerts the power at the peril of the
ministers, who advise the measure; and that it is for parlia
ment afterwards to determine whether the danger exi^t^d,
and the public safety rendered the exercise, which was made
of the prerogative, a measure of necessity: on their being
satisfied of the necessity, they should indemnify both those

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 99
and that the protestant non-conformists were little
more than the twentieth. If this calculation be
even tolerably exact, it is evident, that, even though
James had possessed every talent, which he wanted,
his means for the accomplishment of his object
would still have been very inadequate.
Itshould also be observed, that none disapproved
of the arbitrary measures of the monarch, more
than the catholics themselvesl, " All judicious per-
" sons of the catholic communion," says Hume,
" were disgusted with those measures; and foresaw
" thefr consequences. Lord Arandell, lord Powis,
" and lord Bellasyse, remonstrated against them,
" and suggested more moderate councils." — The
Spanish ambassador, and even the pope himself,
pointed out to James the indiscretion of his pro
ceedings. When lord Tyrconnel disclosed his
plans for catholicising Ireland, lord Bellasyse de
clared, " he was fool and madman enough to ruin
" ten kingdoms."
by whom it was advised, and those by whom it was executed ;
but still, that, until this indemnity is obtained, all concerned
in the proceeding are legally punishable.
It was universally admitted, that lord Mansfield, who had
often showed an unwillingness to combat with his noble adver
saries singly, obtained on this occasion a complete triumph
over their united powers. His lordship's speech was printed
separately, and is inserted in Almon's Parliamentary Debates
ofthe year 1767. The result was an act of indemnity: the
preamble expressly recited, " that the embargo could not be
" justified in law." This was one ofthe most important con
stitutional adjudications that have occurred in our history.
H 2

100 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Yet,— with aU his misconduct, James had aft
English heart :— his exclamation, at the sea-fight
of La Hogue, wiU ever be remembered. — Seeing
the seamen in swarms scrambling up the lofty sides
of the French ships from the boats, he cried, —
"Ah! none but my brave English could do so
" brave an action!"
Who, therefore, that reflects on these, and on
some other passages, in the monarch's life, does
not sympathize in his agonizing woe, when he was
told, that ChurchiU, whom he had raised from a
page tp a high rank in the army, and on whom he
had conferred a peerage, had fled, — taking with
him to the prince of Orange, the princess Anne,
whom the monarch tenderly loved ? — " Oh my
" God!" exclaimed the afflicted father, "what will
" become of me ! even my own children have for-
" saken me ! " — On one occasion, sir Charles Lit
tleton observed before him, that " he was ashanied
" to say, his son was with the prince of Orange."
— James gently interrupted him with these words :
— " Alas ! sir Charles, why ashamed ! are not my
" daughters with him too?"
LXVI. 3.
The Visit of James to the Monastery of La Trappe.
The subsequent history of the exiled Stuarts, sir
John Dalrymple has comprised in a few words.
" Retiring from the view ofthe battle of La Hogue,
" the monarch said, — Heaven fought against him!
" All his attempts, and those of his famUy after-

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 101
" wards, to recover the throne of their ancestors,
" were either disappointed by the insincerity of
" French friendship, or were the mere efforts of
" despair." " The attempt," says Voltaire *, " to make, or
" to establish a state religion, is sometimes very
" easy. By different methods, and without en-
" countering any dangers, Constantine, Clovis,
" Gustavus Vasa, and queen Elizabeth, established
" a new religion, in their several kingdoms : but,
" for such changes two things are absolutely neces-
" sary, great political talents, and favourable cir-
" stances : James the second had neither."
The complete triumph of the British fleet at
the sea-fight of La Hogue, was a death wound to
the hopes of James : " Slowly and sadly," says sir
John Dalrymple "f, " he returned to bury the remem-
" brance of his former greatness in the monastery
" of La Trappe."
The following account of his visit to that cele
brated monastery, is given by a contemporary
French writer of eminence J.
" James had heard of La Trappe, in the days of
" his prosperity. After his misfortune, he resolved
" to visit a solitude, he had so long felt a curiosity
" to see.
" As soon as M. de Ranc6 heard of his arrival,
" he advanced to meet him, at the door of the
* Sifecle de Louis XIV. c. 15.
t Memoirs of Great Britain, vol. i. p. 509.
t MarsbUier, « Vie de Jean Baptiste Armand de Ranee
" abbe de la Trappe."
H 3

102 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF ,
" monastery. The king was on horseback. As so,pn
" as he alighted, the abbot prostrated himself be-
" fore him. This is the custom with respect to
" all strangers. Nevertheless, it was in this in-
" stance, performed in a manner expressive of
" peculiar respect.
" The king felt pain at seeing the abbot in this
" humiliating posture before him. He raised him
" up, and then entreated his benediction. This
" the abbot gave, accompanying it with a speech
" of some length. He assured his majesty, that he
" thought it a great honour to see a monarch, who
" was suffering for the sake of Christ ; who had
" renounced three kingdoms, from conscientious
" motives. He added, that the prayers of the
" whole community had been constantly offered up
" in his behalf. — They had continually implored
" Heaven, to afford him renewed strength, that he
" might press on, in the power of God, till he should
" receive an eternal aUd immortal crown.
" The king was then conducted to the chapel.
" They afterwards conversed together for an hour.
" James joined in the evening service, by which he
" appeared much edified and consoled.
" The king's supper was served up by the monks,
" and consisted of roots, eggs, and vegetables. He
" seemed much pleased with all he saw. After
'* supper, he went and looked at a fcoUection of
" maxims of christian conduct, which were framed
" and hung up against the waU.— He perused them
" several times; and, expressing how much he ad-
" mired them, requested a copy.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 103
" Next day, the king attended the chapel. He
" communicated with the monks. This he did,
" with great devotion. He afterwards went to see
" the community, occupied at their manual labour,
" for an hour and a half. Their occupations
" chiefly consist of ploughing, turning, basket mak-
" ing, brewing, carpentery, washing, transcribing
" manuscripts, and book-binding.
" The king was much struck with their silence
" and recollection. He, howes^er, asked the abbot,
" if he did not think they laboured too hard? M. de
" Ranc^ replied, ' Sire, that, which would be hard
" to those, who seek pleasure, is easy to those, who
" practise penance.' — In the afternoon, the king
" Walked for some time oh a fine terrace, formed
" between the lakes, surrounding the monastery.
" The view from this spot is peculiarly striking.
" His Britannic majesty then went to visit a
" hermit, who lived by himself in a small hut,
" which he had constructed in the woods surroundt
" ing La Trappe. In this retreat, he spent his time
" in prayer and praise ; remote from all intercourse
" with any one, excepting the abbot dela Trappe.
" This gentleman was a person of rank : he had
" formerly been distinguished, as one of the bravest
" officers in king James's army. On entering his
" cell, the monarch appeared much strack, and
" affected with the entire change in his demeanor
" and expression of countenance.
" In a ^hort time, he recove^-ed hirnself. — After
" a great variety pf questions, the Ising a,sked him,
" ' at what hqijr in the morning, he ,J»ttended the
H 4

104 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
service of the convent, in winter?' He answered,
' at about half past three.'
" ' But,' said lord Dumbarton, who was in th^
king's suite, ' surely that is impossible. HoW
can you traverse this intricate forest in the dark?
Especially at a season of the year, when, even
in the day-time, the road must be undiscemible,
from the frost and snow.'
" ' My lord,' replied the hermit, * I should
blush to esteem these trifles as any inconvenience,
in serving a heavenly monarch, when I have sO
often braved dangers, far more imminent, for the
chance of serving an earthly prince.'
" ' You are right,' the king said. ' How won
derful, that so much should be sacrificed to
temporal potentates ; whilst so little should be
endured in serving Him, the only King, immortal
and invisible, to whom alone true honour and
power belong— that God, who has done so much
for us ! '
" ' Surely, however,' continued lord Dumbarton
to the hermit, ' you must be thoroughly tired
with passing all your time alone in this gloomy
forest ? '
" ' No,' interposed the king, himself replying to
the question; 'he has, indeed, chosen a path
widely different to that of the world. Death,
which discovers all things, wiU show that he has
chosen the right one.'
" The king paused for a reply ; none being
made, he continued : ' There is a difference,' said
he,- turning to the hermit, ' between you, and

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 105
" the rest of mankind : you will die the death
" of the righteous ; and you will rise at the resur-
" rection ofthe just. But they,' — here he paused ;
" his eyes seemed full of tears, and his mind absent,
" as if intent on painful recollection.
" After a few moments, he hastily rose, and
" taking a polite and kind leave ofthe gentleman,
" returned with his retinue to the monastery.
" During his whole stay, the king assisted at all
" the offices. In all of them he manifested a deep
" and fervent devotion. His misfortunes seemed
" to have been the means of awakening his heart,
" to worship God in spirit and in truth.
" Next day, the king prepared to depart at an
" early hour.
" On taking leave, he threw himself at M. de
^' Ranee's feet ; and, with tears, requested his part-
" ing benediction.
" The abbot bestowed it in a most solemn and
" affecting manner.
" The king, on rising, recognized the monk on
" whose arm he leant, to get up. He was a noble-
" man who had long served in his army, (the
" honourable Robert Graham). ' Sir,' said the
" king, addressing himself to him, ' I have never
" ceased to regret the generosity, with which you
" made a sacrifice of a splendid fortune in behalf
" of your king. I can, however, now grieve at it
" no longer ; since I perceive that your misfortunes
" in the service of an earthly monarch, have proved
" the blessed means of your having devoted your
" heart to a heavenly one.'

100 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" The king then mounted his horse and de-
" parted. " James the second, from tiiat period, repeated
" his visits to La Trappe annually.
" On these occasions, he always bore his part in
" the exercises ofthe community. He often assisted
" at tiie conferences of the monks, and spoke witii
" much unction. It is said, that the kings character
" appeared to undergo a strikingly perceptible,
" though a progressive change.
" He, every year, appeared to grow in piety and
" grace ; and he evidentiy increased in patience and
" submission to the Divine will.
" In 1 696, the queen accompanied the king to
" La Trappe. She was accommodated for three
" days, with all her retinue, in a house adjoining
" the monastery, built for the reception of the com-
" mendatory abbots. She was much pleased witii
" her visit, and expressed herself to be not less
" edified than the king.
" Both of them entertained sentiments of tiie
" highest veneration for M. de Ranc^. Their ac-
" quaintance, thus begun, was soon matured into a
" solid friendship.
" They commenced a correspondence, which was
" regularly maintained on both sides, till M. de
" Ranch's death.
" The following are the terms, in which tiie
" king expressed himself, respecting M. de Ranc6 :
" ' I really think nothing has afforded me so much
" consolation, since my misfortune, as the conver-
" sation of that venerable saint, the abbot de la

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 107
" Trappe. When I first arrived in France, I had
" but a very superficial view of religion ; if I might
" be said to have any thing deserving that name.
" The abbot de la Trappe was the first person, who
" gave me any^ solid instraction with respect to
" genuine Christianity.
" * I formerly looked upon God as an omnipotent
" creator, and as an arbitrary govemor. I knew
" his power to be irresistible : I therefore thought
" his decrees must be submitted to, because they
" coidd not be withstood. Now, my whole view is
" changed. The abbot de la Trappe has taught
" me to consider tiiis great God as my father ; and
" to view myself as adopted into his famUy. I now
" can look upon myself as become his son, through
" the merits of my Saviour, applied to my heart by
" his Holy Spirit. I am now convinced, not only
" thatwe oughttoreceivemisfortunes with patience,
" because they are inevitable ; but I also feel as-
" sured, that death, which rends the veil from all
*' things, wdl probably discover to us as many new
" secrets of love and mercy in the economy of God's
" providence, as in that of his grace. God, Who
" gave up his only Son to death for us, must surely
" have ordered all inferior things by the same spirit
" of love.'
" Such were king James's sentiments respecting
" M. de Ranc6. The abbot, on the other hand,
" entertained as high an opinion of him. The fol-
" lowing passage, concerning the unfortunate king
" of England, occurs in one crfM. de Ranch's letters
" to a fiiend.

108 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OP
" * I will now speak to you, conceming the king
" of England. I never saw any thing more sfriking,
" than the whole of his conduct. Nor have I ever
" seen any person, more elevated above the tran-
" sitory objects of time and sense. His tranquillity
" and submission to the Divine will, are truly mar-
" vellous. He really equals some ofthe most holy
" men of old, if indeed he may not be rather said
" to surpass them.
" ' He has suffered the loss of three kingdoms ;
" yet his equanimity and peace of mind are undis-
" turbed. He speaks of his bitterest' enemies,
" without warmth. Nor does he ever indulge in
" those insinuations, which even good men are apt
" to fall into, when speaking of their enemies.
" He knows the meaning of two texts of scripture,
" which are too much neglected : — ' It is given you
" to suffer;' and, 'Despise not the gift of God!'
" He, therefore, praises God for every persecution
" and humUiation which he endures. He could
" not be in a more equable state of mind, even if
" he were in the meridian of temporal pros-
," perity. " ' His time is always judiciously and regularly
" appropriated. His day is filled up in so exact a
" manner, that nothing can weU be either added
"to or retrenched frPm his occupations.
" ' AU his pursuits tend to the love of God and
" man. He appears uniformly to feel the Divine
" presence. This is perhaps tiie first and most
" important step in the divine life. It is the
" foundation of all which follow.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 109
" ' The queen is in every respect influenced by
" the same holy desires.
" ' The union of these two excellent persons,
" is founded on the love of God.
" ' It may be truly termed, a holy and a sacred
" one.' " LXVI. 4.
Death of James.
The last moments and death ofthe unfortunate
monarch are tiius described by sir James Macpher-
son from the papers in the Scottish college at
Paris* : —
" The steps taken by William and the States,
" against the house of Bourbon, were no secret at
" the court of France. But intelligence of the
" conclusion of the treaty could not have arrived
" at Versailles, when an incident happened, which
" induced Lewis, perhaps too precipitately, to de-
" clare himself in opposition to England. The
" unfortunate king James, having ever since the
" peace of Ryswick, lost every hope of being re-
" stored to the throne, had resigned himself to all
" the austerities of religious enthusiasm. His con-
" stitution, though vigorous and athletic, had, for
" some time, begun to yield to the infirmities of
" age, and to that melancholy, with which super-
" stition, as well as his uncommon misfortunes,
" had impressed his mind. In the beginning of
" September, when he was, according to his daUy
" custom, at public prayers, he fell suddenly into
* History of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. ii. p. 214.

110 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" a lethargy ; and though he recovered soon after
" his senses, he languished for some days, and ex-
" pired on the 6th of September. The French'
" king, with great humanity , paid him several visits
" during his sickness; and exhibited every symptom
" of compassion, affection, and even respect.
" Lewis being under a difficulty how to proceed
" upon the expected death of James, called a coun-
" cil to take their advice, whether he should own
" the prince of Wales as king of Great Britain and
" Ireland. The king himself had hesitated long
" on this delicate point. But the dauphin, the
" duke of Burgundy, and all the princes of the
" blood declared, that it was unbecoming the dig-
" nity of the crown of France, not to own that the
" titles of the father devolved immediately upon
" the son. Lewis approving of a resolution to
" which he had been of himself inclined, resolved
" to inform the dying king, in person, of the-de-
" termination of the council. When he arrived at
" St. Germain's, he acquainted first the queen, and
" then her son of his design. He then approached
" the bed in which James lay, almost insensible
" with his disorder. When James, rousing him-
" self, began to thank his most christian majesty
" for all his favours, the latter interrupted him,
" and said : ' Sir, what I have done is but a small
" matter. But what I have to say is of the utmost
" importance.' The people present began to re-
" tire. ' Let no person withdraw,' he said, ' I
" come to acquaint you, sir, that when God shall
"please to call your majesty from this world, I
'' shall take your family into my protection, and

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. Ill
" acknowledge your son, as then he will certainly
" be, king of Great Britain and Ireland.'
" The voice of a Divinity could not have made
^' a greater impression on the unfortunate servants
" of James, who were all present, than this unex-
" pected declaration from the French king. They
" burst at once into a murmur of applause, which
" seemed to be tinctured with a mixture of grief
" and joy. Some, threw themselves, in silence, at
" his feet. Others wept aloud. All seemed to:be
" so much affected, that Lewis himself was melted
" into tears. James, in a kind of ecstacy, half-
" raised himself on the bed, and endeavoured to
" speak. But the conftised noise was so great, and
" he so weak, that his voice could not be heard.
" The king himself, as if unable longer to bear this
" melancholy scene, retired. But, as he passed
" through the court of the palace, he called the
" officer of the guard, and ordered him to treat the
" young prince as king, whenever his father should
" expire. Though James survived this declaration
" but one day, he sent the earl of Middleton to
" Marli to thank his most christian majesty for his
" kindness to himself and his promised protection
" to his family. Upon his death, his son was ac-
" knowledged by the court and the nation. Lewis
" himself visited him in form, and treated him with
" the name of majesty. But the adherents of the
" nominal king, chose not to proclaim him with the
" usual solemnity, not knowing how the title of
" France would be taken by that prince, who was
" the only support of his cause. '^

112 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF

LXVL 5.
Historical Poems of Dryden, on the Occurrences in the
reigns of Charles the second and James the second, in
which the English Catholics were particularly interested,
Drvden's historical poems, — Absalom and
Ahithophel, the Medal, Religio Laici, and the Hind
and Panther, contain several passages, which throw
light both on the religious and political feuds, by
which the reigns of Charles the second and his
successor were agitated. These splendid monu
ments of genius,— in their kind, without a rival or
a second, — are inserted in the ninth and tenth
volumes of the edition of the poet's works by sir
Walter Scott, and frequently Ulustrated by his
learned and ingenious annotations.
The condition of the roman-catholics at the time
when Dryden wrote, is thus described by him :
" The inhabitants of Old Jerusalem
" Were Jebusites*, — the town so call'd from them;
" And theirs the native right. —
" But, when the chosen people + grew more strong,
" The rightful cause at length became the -wrong ;
" And every loss the men of Jebus bore,
" They still were thought God's enernies the more.
" Thus worn and weaken 'd, well or ill content,
" Submit they must to David's government ;
" Impov'rish'd and depriv'd of all command,
" Their taxes doubled, as they lost their land ;
" And what was harder yet to flesh and blood,
" Their gods disgrac'd, and burnt like common wood.
• The Catholiqs. t The Protestants.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 113
Dryden seems to have thought, when he wrote
his Absalom and Ahithophel, that Oates's plot was
not wholly a fabrication : he describes it,
" The nation's curse,
" Bad in itself, but represented worse :
" Prais'd in extreme, and in extreme decried ;
" With oaths aifirm'd, by dying vows denied.
" Some truth there was, but dash'd andbrew'd with lies.
And that,
" Succeeding times did equal folly call,
" Believing nothing, and believing all."
It now seems clear, that the plot, as it was de
scribed by Oates, was a mere fabrication ; and that
the greatest faults which could, with any degree of
justice, be charged upon any catholics, were, — their
entertaining too sanguine an expectation of the
immediate conversion of the kingdom to their faith ;
an occasional injudicious activity in promoting it ;
and the unguarded language, by which some, — as
father Coleman in his well known letters, — de
scribed their prospects and expressed their hopes.
^ir Walter Scott observes, that, from the " time
" of the execution of lord Stafford, the popish plot,
" like a serpent which has wasted its poison,
" though its wreathes entangled many, and its
" terrors held their sway over more, did little ef-
" fectual mischief : but that even, when long life-
" less and extinguished, the chimera, far in the
" succeeding reigns, continued, like the dragon
" slain by the red-cross knight, to be the object
VOL. III. I

114 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" of popular fear, and the theme of credulous ter-
" rorists :
" Some fear'd and fled ; some fear'd and well it fain'd. —
" One, that would wiser seem than all the rest,
" Wam'd him not touch ; for yet, perhaps, remain'd
" Some ling'ring life within his hollow breast,
" Or in his womb might lurk some hidden nest
" Of many dragonettes, his fruitful seed ;
" Another said, that, in his eyes did rest
" Yet sparkling fire, and bade thereof take heed ;
" Another said, he saw him move his eyes indeed."
It is known that several of the witnesses for the
plot afterwards became witnesses against lord
Shaftesbury and the whigs. " This," sir Walter
Seott observes*, "was triumphantiy urged by the
" tories. Are not these men good witnesses, upon
" whose testimony, Stafford and so many catholics
" have been executed, and whom you yourselves
" have so long celebrated, as men of virtue and
"veracity? You have admitted them into your
" bosom ; they are best acquainted with your trea-
" sons." — " To this," sir Walter observes, " there
" was but one answer : ' We have been duped by
" our own prejudices, and the perjury of these
" men.' — But this, though the whigs trae defence,
" required a candid disavowal of the popish plot,
" and reprobation of the witnesses ; and that, no
" true protestant would submit to."
The Religio Laici of Dryden is aUowed to be
one ofthe most admfrable poems in the language.
* Medal, note g.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 116
It is observed by the editor, that, " at the time,
" in which it appeared, the nation was divided
" into the three great sects, of churchmen, papists,
" and dissenters. To the catholics, the dissenters
" objected their cruel intolerance and Jesuitical
" practices ; to the church of England, their servile
" dependence on the crown, and slavish docfrine
" of non-resistance. The catholics, on the other
" hand, charged the reformed church of England
*' with desertion from the original doctrines of
" Christianity, with denying the infallibility of gene-
" ral councils, and destroying the unity of the
" church ; and against the fanatics, they objected
" their antimonarchical tenets, the wild visions of
" their independent preachers, and their seditious
" cabals against the church and state. While the
" church of England was thus assailed by two foes,
" who did not at the same time spare each other,
" it probably occurred to Dryden that he, who
" could explain her tenets, by a plain and philosO-
" phical commentary, had a chance, not only to fix
" and reg-ulate the faith of her professors, but of
" reconciling to her, as a middle course, jthe catho-
" lies and the fanatics. — A rational and philoso-
" phical view of the tenets of the national church
" liberaUy expressed, and decorated with the oma-
" ments of poetry, seemed calculated to produce
" this effect."
Every christian reader who perases the following
lines, in the poem, of which we are now speaking,
wiU respect both the talents of the poet, and the
purpose, to which, on this occasion, he devoted
them : I 2

110 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" If on the bpok itself* we cast our view,
" Concurrent heathens prove the story true :
" The doctrine, miracles ; — which must convince ;
" For heaven in them appeals to human sense ;
" And though they prove not, they confirm the cause,
" When what is taught agrees with nature's laws.
" Then, — for the style, — majestic and divine,
" It speaks no less than God, in every line ;
" Commanding words, whose force is still the same
" As the first fiat that produc'd our frame.
" All faiths beside, or did by arms ascend,
" Or sense indulg'd, has made mankind their friend ;
" This only doctrine does our lusts oppose,
" Unfed by nature's soil, in which it grows;
" Cross to our interests, curbing sense and sin;
" Oppress'd without, and undermin'd within,
" It thrives through pain ; its own tormentors tires,
" And, with a stubborn patience, still aspires ;
" To what can reason such effects assign,
" Transcending nature, but to laws divine ? "
As yet, Dryden was within the protestant pale :
but several parts of the poem show that he was
pacing to the catholic side. He intimates that the
Bible should be received with the interpretation of
the early fathers : still, he asserts the right of private
judgment, but expresses a strong wish for an in
fallible guide.
This, by becoming a convert to the roman-catho
lic religion, he afterwards found ; and to this cir
cumstance we owe " The Hind and the Panther,"
probably the best controversial poem in any lan
guage. [The object is to recommend an union be
tween the milk-white hind, — (the catholic religion,)
— who must be loved as soon as seen and known,
* The Bible.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 117
— and the panther, — (the established church), —
the noblest next the lion, and too good to be a
beast of prey, — against their common enemies, the
bear, the hare, the ape, the boar, and the fox, or
the independents, the quakers, the free-thinkers,
the anabaptists, and the unitarians, lit is justiy ob
served by sir Walter Scott, that the object of the
poem shows that Dryden was not in the secret of
James the second, as the purpose of the monarch
was to introduce a free exercise of the catholic re
ligion, not by an union between its adherents and
the members of the established church, but by
uniting the dissenting congregations in a common
interest, with the hind, against the exclusive power
and privileges of the panther and her subjects.
The poet thus describes, with exquisite beauty,
his own wanderings and final settlement : —
" What weight of ancient witness can prevail,
" If private reason holds the public scale !
" But, gracious God ! how well dost thou provide,
" For erring judgments an unerring guide !
" Thy throne is darken'd in th' abyss of light-;
•' A blaze of glory that forbids the sight.
" O ! teach me to believe thee, thus conceal'd,
" And search no further than thyself reveal'd :
" But her alone for my direct'ress take,
" Whom thou hast promis'd never to forsake I
" My thoughtless youth was wing'd with vain desires ;
" My manhood, long misled by wand'ring fires,
" Follow'd false lights; and when their glimpse was gone
¦' My pride struck out new sparkles of my own.
" Such ivas I,— such by nature still lam ;
" Be thine the glory and be mine the shame,
" Good hfe be now my task,— my doubts are done !—
I 3

118 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Two fables of exquisite beauty, close this noble
poem. The first, is founded on an historical anec
dote ; the fact it relates, if trae, now seems to be
forgotten.— The hind, warmed with the prospect
ofthe near accomplishment of her hopes, indulges
herself in some lines of decent exultation. To
Check it, the panther recounts to her, with a sneer,
the disastrous tale of the swaUows, who long had
possessed " Their summer seat, and feather'd well their nest ; —
when yellow leaves and bitter blasts admonished
them, " To remove betimes,
"And seek a better heaven and warmer climes."
A councU was held ; and a speedy removal to a
more genial clime appeared to be the wish of the
majority of the tribe ; but the marten, their house
hold chaplain, moved for a delay and carried his
motion. On the very following night a bitter frost
came on,
" And Boreas got the skies, and pour'd amain
" His rattling hail-stones, mix'd with snow and rain.
" The joyless morning late arose, — and found -.
" A dreadful desolation reign around : L
" Some buried in the snow, some frozen to the gr6und;J
" The rest were struggling still with death, and lay
'" The crows and ravens right, — an undefended prey :
" Except the marten's race, for they and he
"- Had gained the shelter of an hollow tree."
These lines, we are informed by sir Walter Scott,
refer to a secret consultation, held in 1686, by the
principal roman-catholics at the Savoy. Perceiving

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 119
the general temper of the nation, the catholics had
taken alarm; and the meeting was called " tocon-
'^ suit how the favourable crisis might be most im-
" proved to the advantage of their cause. Father
" Pefre had the chair; and at the very opening of
" the debate, it appeared that the majority were
" more inclined to provide for their own security,
" than to come to extremities with protestants.
" Notwithstanding the king's real power and suc-
" cess, they were afraid to push the experiment any
" fiirther. The people were already alarmed, the
" soldiers could not be depended upon, and the
" very courtiers melted out of their grasp. — Upon
" these considerations, some were for a petition to
" the king, that he would only so far interpose in
" their favour, that their estates might be secured to
" them by the parliament, with exemption from all
" employments, and liberty to worship God in their
" own way in their own houses. Others were for
" obtaining the king's leave to sell their estates, and
" transport themselves and their effects into France :
" — all, but father Petre, were for a compromise of
" some sort or other ; but he disclaimed what-
" ever had a tendency to moderation, and was for
" making the most of the voyage, while the sea
" was smooth and the wind prosperous. All these
" several opinions, we are further told, were laid
" before the king, who was pleased to answer, ' That
" before their desires were made known to him, he
" had procured a sure retreat and sanctuary for
" them in Ireland, in case all those endeavours,
", which he was making for their security in
1 4

120 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" England, should be blasted, and which as yet
" gave him no reason to despair.' "
To the monitory tale of the panther respecting
the swallows, the hind opposes thetale of the poultry,
or the catholic priests, whom, for his own imme
diate service, the king kept in a private farm, but
whom the pampered pigeons,— or the clergy of
the established church, beheld with malignant eyes,
and, " Though hard their fare at evening and at morn,
" A cruse of water or an ear of corn,
''¦ Yet still they grudg'd that modicum, and thought
" A sheaf in every, single grain was brought;
" And much they griev'd to see so nigh their hall,
" The bird* that wam'd St. Peter of his fall ;
" That he should raise his mitred crest so high,
" And clap his wings, and call his family
" To sacred rites, and vex th' ethereal powers
«' With midnight matins at uncivil hours."
Dryden proceeds to mention the achievements
of the buzzard, or bishop Burnet, who put himself
at thehead ofthe pigeons, and made a furious attack '
on the poultry. — Still, however, were they protected
by the sovereign. — But the buzzard anticipated his
future triumph, — (an anticipation too well and too
often realized), over the miserable pigeons,
" When, rent in schism, — (for so their fate decrees,)
" Like the tumultuous college of the bees,
" They fight their quarrel — ^by themselves opprest ; 
" The tyrant smiles below, and waits the falling feast t."
* The cock, — emblem of the regular clergy of Rome, on
account of their nocturnal attendance at matins.
t We feel that the extracts, which we have made from these

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 121

CHAP. LXVIL
WILLIAM THE THIRD.
1688.
1 HE reign of William the third, so far as it par
ticularly affected his roman-cathol' ; subjects, is
admirable poems, are too long; — one more, however, we
cannot refuse to ourselves the pleasure of transcribing ; we are
confident that our readers will peruse it with delight  Allud
ing to the slanders of his character, by bishop Stillinglleet,
the bard thus expresses himself in strains, —
" .  Far,
" Above the flight of Pegasean wing."
Milton.
" Be vengeance wholly left to powers divine,
" And let heaven judge between your sons and mine!
" If joys hereafter must be purchas'd here,
" With loss of all that mortals hold most dear,
" Then, welcome infamy and public shame !
" And last, — a long farewell to worldly fame ! —
" 'Tis said with ease ; — but O ! how hardly tried "|
" By haughty souls, to human honour tied ! >
" O ! sharp convulsive pangs of agonizing pride! J
" Down then thou rebel ! never more to rise ! "j
" And what thou didst and dost so warmly prize, >
" That fame, — that darling fame, — make that thy sacrifice.J
" 'Tis nothing thou hast given :— then add thy tears
" For a long race of unrepenting years : —
" 'Tis nothing yet : — yet, all thou hast to give :
" Then add, those may-be years thou hast to live : —
" Yet nothing still !— then, poor and naked come, "j
" Thy Father will receive his unthrift home, >
" And thy blest Saviour's blood discharge the niighty8um."J Happy

122 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
remarkable on this account, that, while the attach
ment, which they were supposed to entertain for
the exiled family, rendered their allegiance to his
majesty suspected, and thus furnished anew pretence
for the persecution of them, the spirit of religious
liberty, which had for some time been gaining
ground in several parts of Europe, began to operate
in their favour, and thus rendered the reign of this
monarch, though some new laws were enacted in
it against them, the sera from which the commence
ment of their enjoyment of religious toleration
may be dated. — As leading to this subject, we
shall now endeavour to present our readers, with
Happy is the man who receives calumny with these senti
ments ! " Did a person," the celebrated abbot de Ranc& used
to observe, " but know the value of an enemy, he would
" purchase him with gold, that he might pardon him, and
" thus entitle himself to the pardon, which the eternal truth
" has promised to those, who pardon their enemies." — Life of
the abbot de Ranee, c. xiii.
We have made every exetion in our power to procure for our
readers further information, on the interesting, if real, consul
tations mentioned in the preceding annotation. The authori
ties which sir Walter Scott adduces to support his account of
them, are, " Ralph's History," and a work cited in it, under
the title of " Catholic Consults." For the last, the writer has
made the most diligent inquiries, without success.
The passage cited in the text from Dryden 's « Tale ofthe
" Poultry," contains such an exact account ofthe consequences
of the resolution in respect to the catholics, that the writer
suspects it was written after that event. If this conjecture be
just, thetale will be found only in those editions ofthe poem,
which yere printed after the revolution.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 123
a very succinct outiine, I. Of the history of reli
gious tolerance and intolerance : II. Ofthe act of
toleration passed in the reign of William in favour
of the protestant dissenters : III. Of the schism of
the non-jurors : IV. And of the laws enacted
against the roman-catholics. LXVII. 1.
Historical Minute of religious Tolerance and
Intolerance.
1 . The advocates of religious intolerance justify
it by several passages in the history of the Old
Testament, in which the Mosaic code punishes the
inobservance of religious precepts by severe penal
inflictions, and sometimes by death.
But they forget the theocracy ofthe Israelites. —
By their own free consent, God was their king. —
" God was king in Israel*:" — and when, in the
time of Samuel, the Jews asked for a mortal sove
reign, God announced to them, that " they rejected
" him, — that he should not reign over them f ."
The whole territory of the Jews was his property :
they were his vassals ; they were only usufructuaries
of their lands, they could not dispose of them in
perpetuity [f : the escheat or ultimate reversion, as
an English lawyer would term it, of all the land in
Judaea, belonged to God, as their legal sovereign.
Thus the injunction of some practices, and the
prohibition of others, were, by the law of Moses,
*"Deut. xxxiii. 5. ¦)• i Sam. viii, 7 ; x. 18, 19.
J Gen. xlvii. 19,20; Lev. xxv. 23.

124 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
not merely precepts ofthe Divine law : — such they
certainly were, — but they were also laws of the
state; and disobedience to them was both a sin
against God, the supreme Lord of all, and a crime
against God, their accepted king. — Thus the
idolater was not merely a spiritual delinquent;
he was also a national traitor *. God is temporal
king in no other state : — no argument, therefore,
in favour of religious persecution in any other king
dom, is offered by the penal inflictions on idolatry
by the Mosaic law.
2. Religious liberty was not allowed by the
pagan legislation of antiquity, in so extensive a
degree as has been often represented f . By the law
of Athens, the act of introducing foreign deities was
punished with death : the law of Rome was not so
severe ; Mosheim and Bynkershoek seem to prove,
that, though the Romans would not allow any
change to be made in the religious worship, pub
licly professed in the empire, nor any new form
to be openly introduced, yet that, except when it
threatened danger to the state, they granted a free
tolerationof foreign worship, not only to individuals,
but to bodies of men.
* See " Commentaries on the Laws of Moses, by the late
« sir John David Machaelis, k. p. s. f. r. s. professor of philo-
"sophyin the university ofGottingen; translated from the
" German, by Alexander Smith, d. d. minister ofthe chapel
" of Garcock, Aberdeenshire, 1814," vol. i. art. xxxiii. xxxiv.
xxxv. t See the late sir George Colebrook's excellent Letters on
Toleration.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 125
The christians, whose mild, unassuming, and be
nevolent morality entitled them to universal good
will, were alone denied the benefit of this general
toleration. From the reign of Nero, till the triumph
of Constantine the great over his rival Licinius,
they were always treated with harshness, and
repeatedly suffered the severest persecutions.
3. The favour of Constantine to the christians,
was shown immediately after his first successes, by
his repeal of the laws enacted against them. He
restored them, by the edict of Milan, to all their
civil and religious rights ; and he allowed them,
in common with the rest of his subjects, the free
choice and exercise of their religion. In the gene
ral dispensation of his favours, he held, with an
impartial hand, the balance between his christian
and heathen subjects. His successors, except
during the short interval of the reign of Julian,
sfrongly encouraged Christianity, and discounte
nanced heathenism. Finally, by the edicts of
Theodosius, the ancient worship of Rome was pro
scribed, and Christianity became the established
religion of the empire. TUl those edicts, the spirit
of polytheism had lingered among the principal
-nobility of Rome ; after them, it lingered among
the Grecian phUosophers : but by his edict in 529,
Justinian silenced the schools of Athens ; and to
thataera, the final extinction of paganism is always'
assigned. 4. It is distressing to reflect how large a portion
ofthe annals of the christian (Era must be dedicated
to thehistory of persecution : particularly as nothing

126 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
is more contrary to the language or the spirit of the
Gospel. These prescribed, first, that the offender
should be privately admonished ; if this should
prove ineffectual, one or two of the brethren were
to give their sanction to the justice of the admoni
tion; if this failed, the matter was to be brought
under the cognizance of the church ; if the offender
then proved refractory, he was to be excommuni
cated; — thatis, — expelled from the communion of
the faithful. It was thought, that the sentence was
generally ratified in heaven. The primitive churches
might judge erroneously, but while they retained
their original sanctity and purity, the probability
was in favour of the justice of their proceedings. —
In proportion as they degenerated, error became
more probable ; still, a sentence of excommunica
tion was always, among serious christians, a just
cause of alarm. No rank exempted a person
from it : even the emperor Theodosius was excom
municated by St. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan,
and submitted to a penance of eight months, before
the prelate restored him to the communion of the
faithful. Generally speaking, a person excommunicated in
a particular church was not admitted into commu
nion in any other: where a subordination was
adopted, the excommunicated person sometimes
appealed to the next higher tribunal : it was always
lawful for him to appeal to the see of Rome, as the
highest. StiU, aU was regulated by the power of the keys;
—or the spiritual power. The first interference

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 127
ofthe temporal power in spiritual concerns seems to
have been against Paul, bishop of Samosata, when
the emperor Aurelian, on the application of a chris
tian synod, expelled him from the episcopal man
sion*. — The emperor Constantius proceeded against
the Arians by imprisonment, and ordered their
books to be burned: his son Constantius pro
ceeded in the same manner against the orthodox.
Honorius, the emperor of the east, was the first
sovereign who made heresy a capital crime ; but it
does not appear that this law was ever carried into
execution. In 376, all the heathen temples in
cities were ordered to be shut up ; in 382, sacri
fices were prohibited to be offered in temples or
villages. — At first, St. Augustine declared against
compulsion in matters of religion : " When the
" emperor Honorius," says Mr. Alban Butler, in his
Life of St. Augustinef, " published new severe de-
" crees against the Donatists, condemning them to
" heavy fines and other penalties, St. Augustine
" at first disapproved such a persecution ; though
" he afterwards changed his opinion, when he saw
" the sincere conversion of many, who, beingmoved
" by the terror of these laws, had, by examining,
" opened their eyes to discover the trath, and
" heartily embraced it."
By degrees, it became a frequent practice to
annex civil penalties to the censures ofthe church.
* Fleury's Seventh Discourse.
t Lives of Saints, Augustine, p. 482 ; Murphy's edition.

128 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
This was done by many imperial constitutions* ;
the penalties of heresy were aggravated in the juris
prudence of the nations, who invaded the Roman
empire; burning alive, and finally the inquisition f,
— that greatest triumph of fanaticism over huma
nity, — were introduced by them :{;.- — It should not,
however, be forgotten, that in some cases, as those of
the Donatists and the Albigenses, the persons thus
punished for heresy, had deserved severe punish
ments, for their seditious practices.
5. The first penal statute enacted hy an English
parliament against heresy, was passed in the fifth
year of Richard the second §; it enacted, that
" heretics should be kept in prison, tiU they justified
" themselves, according to law, and the reason of
" holy church." By an act passed in the second
year of the reign of Henry the fourth ||, convicted
* See ante, c. x. s. 4.
t The writer is sensible that, during the last century, the
horrors of the inquisition were greatly softened in Italy and
Spain, and in other places : he speaks of it as it was originally
formed, and, with little variation, continued till the close of
the 17th century. X Nee lex justior uUa est
Quam necis artifices arte perire sua.
The emperor Frederick ordained that, if any temporal lord,
when admonished by the church, should neglect to clear the
territories of heretics within a year, it should be lawful to
seize and occupy the lands, and exterminate the heretical
possessor. Upon the authority of this very constitution, the
pope afterwards expelled this very emperor Frederick from
his kingdom of Sicily, and gave it to Charies of Anjou
^ ^'O- 1382. II A.D. 1.400.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 129
heretics might be imprisoned and confined at the
discretion of the diocesan, or his commissary ; and
those, who refiised to abjure, or who relapsed,
were ordered to be burned to death, in some con
spicuous place. — In the beginning of the reign of
Henry the fifth*, an act was passed against the
Lollards or Wickliffites, by which it was decreed,
that they should forfeit all their goods and chattels.
In this reign the writ " de haeretico comburendo"
was frequentiy issued from the court of chancery ;
but it should be observed, that this was not a writ
of course, — or, to use the legal phrase, ex debito
justitice ; it was only issuable by the special direc
tion of the kingin council "f" ; so that if it was some
times obtained from the kingto persecute an heretic,
it was often issued to save him.
6. The reformation arrived : — looking to this
circumstance with an eye towards the tolerating
feelings and habits of the present times, we should
easily suppose that the primitive reformers were
tolerant : but history shows, that, wherever the re
forming banner triumphed, along reign of intoler
ance was certain to ensue. " The reformers," says
Mr. Gibbon J, " were ambitious of succeeding the
" tyrants, whom they had dethroned. They imposed,
" with equal rigour, their creeds and confessions ;
'* they asserted the right ofthe magistrate to punish
* A.D. 1414. — See ante, c. x. s. 6.
t 1 Hale, P. C. 395. On the subject of these laws, see
Neale's Hist. vol. i. c. 1 . '
t Hist. ch. liv.
VOL. III. K

130 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" with death." Another- able writer*', has observed,
" that the free exercise of private judgment was
" most heartily abhorred by the first reformers>
" except only, when the persons, who assumed it,
" had the good fortune to be exactly of their
" opinion."— From the former pages of this pub
lication it appears, that they persecuted both the
catholics, and all those protestants, whose religious
creeds differed from their own, with merciless
severity. — In the curious conference between Mait>-
land of Lithington, the secretary of state, and Knox "j:,
both the secretary and the reformer agreed that
idolatry ought to be suppressed, and that " the
" idolater ought to die the death:" — the only point
in difference between them was, whether mass was
idolatry, and the hearer of it an idolater.
Thus, intolerance may be charged on every party.
T/'eatholics be justly chargeable with a greater share
of it than any denomination, of protestants, it should
not be forgotten how much longer time, how much-
greater means, the catholics have possessed forperse-.
cution, than have yet been enjoyed by protestants,
LXVII. 2.
Act of Toleration.
The claims of the protestant dissenters,, at, the
time of the revolution, to complete toleration, were
* The author of the critique on Cook's History of the
Church of Scotland, in the Edinburgh Revie^j vol. xxvii.
P- J 62. t Knox, p. 357.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 131
weU founded ; and William's own disposition in
duced him to accede to them in their full extent :
but his wishes were opposed by a powerful party
in each house of parliament, and the measure of
toleration, which was granted to the dissenters,
was exfremely limited. The corporation act and
the test act, were left to operate on them ; but, on
taking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and
subscribing the declaration against popery, they
were exempted from all the laws passed, in any of
the preceding reigns, against persons reftising or
neglecting to attend the service of the established
church, and the exercise of their own religious
worship was allowed them under certain easy regu
lations; those who denied the Trinity, were, how
ever, excepted from the benefits ofthe act*
A fiirther indulgence was shown to the feelings
of the protestant dissenters, by the alteration which
was made in the oath of supremacy. The oath
prescribed by the act passed in the first year ofthe
reign of Elizabeth, remained in force till the revo
lution. That oath contained, as we have seen, a
clause, by which the person taking it was made to
" testify and declare, on his conscience, that the
" queen's highness was the only supreme governor
" of tiiis realm, and all otiier her highness's domi-
" nions, as well in all spiritual things or causes, as
" temporal." The clause, thus explicitly afiirming
the supremacy of the queen in spiritual causes and
things, was foUowed by the negative clause, by
» See the history of the passing of this act, in " The
" Rights, of the Protestant Dissenters," c. iil. s. 3-
K 2

132 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
which the authority of any foreign power in them,
was denied. To this, the presbyterians had no ob
jection; but the afiirmative clause was offensive to
them in the highest degree, as it expressed a
doctrine diametrically opposite to their high notions
ofthe independence ofthe church of Christ on the
civil p6wer, in every thing that regards religious
doctrine or discipline : on this account, a humane
and politic attention to their tenets and feelings
dictated to the govemment of William the justice
and propriety of the omission of the afiirmative
clause from the oath. In the same spirit of in
dulgence, a clause was introduced, by which pro
testant dissenters in holy orders, and preachers and
dissenters in dissenting congregations, who should
subscribe the declaration against transubstantiation
and popery, and testify their approbation of the
thirty-nine articles, except the thirty-fourth, thirty-
fifth, and thirty-sixth, and these words of the
twentieth articles, — {the church hath power to de
cree rites or ceremonies, and authority in contro
versies of faith),— -were exempted from certain
penalties in the act for restraining non-conformists
from inhabiting corporations*, and from some in
the act of uniformity f.
If we reflect on all the circumstances, under
which this act was passed, we must admit, that the
general cause of civil liberty gained by it consider
ably : if we view it without reference to these, we
shall be more scandalized by the niggardliness,
than edified by the liberality of the boon, which
• 17 Car. II, c. 2. 1 13 & 14 Car, II, c. 4.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 133
the protestant dissenters then received from the
new government. LXVII. 3.
The Nonjurors.
It has been the practice of most governments to
bind their subjects to allegiance, by requiring them
to profess it, in a solemn manner, by a certain form
of words, accompanied by an oath. The English
oath of aUegiance, administered for upwards of six
hxmdred years, contained a promise, " to be frue
" and faithful to the king and his heirs, and truth
" andfaithtobear, of life, limb, and terrene honour,
" and not to know or hear of any ill or damage
" intended, without defending him therefrom." —
At the revolution, the oath was thought to savour
too much of the notion of passive obedience ; the
convention-parliament, therefore, prescribed a new
form, by which the subject promised no more than
that "he would be faithful and bear true allegiance
" to the king ;" without mentioning " his heirs,"
or specifying in what that allegiance consisted.
Some, however, both among the members of the
established church, and the dissenting congrega
tions, held it unlawful to take the oath of allegiance
to the new king, from a persuasion that James the
second, though banished from his dominions, re
mained their lawfid sovereign, and consequentiy
retained his right to their allegiance. This gave
them the appellation of Nonjurors. Sancroft, the
archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Lloyd, bishojp of
K3

134 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Norwich, Dr. Turner of Ely, Dr. Kenn of Batii
and Wells, Dr. Frampton of Gloucester, Dr-
Thomas of Worcester, Dr. Lake of Chicester, and
Dr. White of Ely, — all distinguished by learning
and virtue, — entertained this opinion : and per
sisting in it, were deprived of their ecclesiastical
dignities, and their sees were filled by men of
acknowledged merit. — The nonjurors considered
the deposed prelates as the lawful bishops of their
respective sees, and the new prelates as intruders.
They proceeded to" form a new episcopal church,
differing, in some religious tenets and rites, from
that established by law. Several, as Hicks, Collier,
and DodweU, were eminent for profound and ex
tensive erudition. For a time, the body attracted
notice and esteem, both by the number and re
spectability of its members; but it gradually
declined: in the middle ofthe last century, their
congregations were extremely few, and not one,,
perhaps, is, at this time, to be found.
LXVH. 4.
Roman-catholics.
It was impossible that the roman-catholics should
not grieve at the revolution : it was the trixnnph of
the protestant over the catholic establishment. The
Stuart family had no claim on their gratitude or
personal regard, yet their attachment to it was
great : a similar and an equal attachment to it, Was
felt by the general body of the nonjurors, and by a
considerable proportion, both of the established

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 135
church and the dissenting congregations. It arose
equally from principle and affection*.— The right,
even in theory, of cashiering kings, was, at this time,
advocated by few, and most of those, who disap
proved of the proceedings of James, thought that
the innovations meditated by him, and all the con
sequences of his catholicity in respect to the pub
lic, might have been effectually prevented, without
disturbing the legal succession ofthe crown.
From circumstances, which cannot be divined,
the Stuarts enjoyed the personal attachment, bor
dering on enthusiasm, of a large proportion of the
nation, in a degree, and it should be added for a
length of time, perhaps unknown in the annals of
the world. For almost half a century after the re
volution, this attachment continued ; their errors,
and even their ingratitude, were forgotten ; but
their names were mentioned and their healths
drank, with a fervour, which however erroneous^
evidently flowed from an amiable feeling.
It was easy, on the accession of William, to fore
see that the new reign would be marked by addi
tional severities against the catholics. — Immedi
ately after the commencement of it, an actf was
passed for removing aU catholics ten miles from
the cities of London and Westminster : another J,
prohibited them from keeping arms ; a third §,
* See Johnson's Memoirs of the Rebellion in 1745, recently
published; and the excellent preface of the editor.
t 1 W. & M. c. 9. t I W. & M. c. 15.
§ 1 W. & M. c. 26.
K4

13«S HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
vested the presentations of benefices, belonging to
them, in the two universities.
The act " declaring the rights and liberties of the
" subject*," enacted, that every person, who should
be reconciled to, or hold communion with the see or
church of Rome, or profess the popish religion, or
marry a papist, should be excluded from the crown.
By an act of the seventh and eighth year of the
reign of William^, persons refusing to take the
oaths of allegiance and supremacy, tendered by
persons lawfully authorized to administer them,
were made liable to suffer as popish recusants.
It is observable, that both during James's actual
invasion of Ireland, and his meditated invasion of
England, in which he was to have been assisted by
the French, with a formidable fleet, the catholics
remained quiet. Two plots were formed against
William, one of which was for his assassination : it
does not appear that any catholic, or at least, that
any catholic of note, was engaged in either.
StiU, in the eleventh year of his. reign, the parlia
ment passed an act of extreme severity against the
catholic body. A reward of i oo /. was offered for ap
prehending priests or Jesuits;— any priest or Jesuit
convicted of exercising his functions, or keeping a
school, was made liable to perpetual imprisonment;
and persons not taking the oaths of aUegiance and
supremacy, within six months after their attaining
the age of eighteen years, were disabled from taking
any estate or interest in any species of landed
* 1 W. & M. sess. 2, c. 2. t 7 & 8 W. c 27.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 137
property : persons convicted of sending a child be
yond seas, to be educated in the romish religion,
were to forfeit 100/; and the chancellor was autho
rized to compel the catholic parent of a protestant
chUd to allow him a competent maintenance.
The last clause was defensible : — the other en
actments were of unexampled severity. The causes
of it are fully explained, in the account given by
bishop Bumet, ofthe circumstances which attended
the passing of this act,
" Upon the peace of Ryswick," says he, (two
years before,) " a great swarm of priests came over
" to England ; not only those, whom the revolu-
" tion had frightened away, but many more new
" men, who appeared in many places, with great
" insolence ; and it was said, that they boasted of
" the favour and protection, of which they were
" assured. Some enemies ofthe govemment began
" to give it out, that the favouring of that religion
" was a secret article of the peace ; and so absurd
" is malice and calumny, that the Jacobites began to
" say, that the king was either of that religion, or at
" least a favourer of it. Complaints of the avowed
" practices and insolence ofthe priests were brought
" from several places during the last session of par-
" Uament; and those were maliciously aggravated
" by some, who cast the blame of all on the king.
" L^pon this, some proposed a bill, that obliged
" all persons, educated in that religion, or saspected
" to be of it, who should succeed to any estate, be-
" fore they were of the age of eighteen, to take the
" oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and the test,

138 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" as soon as they came to that age; and, untU they
" did it, the estate waS to devolve to the next of
" kin, that was a protestant ; but was to return
" back to them, upon their taking the oaths. AU
" popish priests were also banished by the bill, and
" were adjudged to perpetual imprisonment, if they
" should again return to England ; and the reward
" of 100 1, was offered to every one, who shoidd
" discover a popish priest, so as to convict him.
" Those, who brought this into the house of com-
" mons, hoped, that the court would have opposed
" it ; but the court promoted the bill ; so, when the
" party saw their mistake, they seemed willing to
" let the bill fall ; and when that could not be
" done, they clogged it with many severe, and some
" unreasonable clauses, hoping that the lords would
" not pass the act ; and it Was said, that if the lords
" should make the least alteration in it, they, in the
" house of commons, who had set it on, were re-
" solved to let it lie on the table, when it should be
" sent back to them. Many lords, who secretiy
" favoured the papists on the Jacobite account, did,
" for this reason, move for several alterations; some
" of these importing a greater severity ; but, the
" zeal against popery was such in that house, that
" the biU passed, without any amendment ; and it
" had the royal assent." — Such is bishop Burnet's
account of this extraordinary bill.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 130
CHAP. Lxvni.
QUEEN ANNE,
1702.
1 0 a reader of these pages, who has noticed the
number and severity of the laws which were passed
againstthe catholics in the reign of WiUiam, it may
have appeared extraordinary, that the writer should
assign this a^ra for the commencement of the reli
gious toleration of the catholics : but he should
carry back his reflections to the commencement of
the reformation under Elizabeth; and then, if he
contrast the sufferings of the catholics during the
reigns of that princess and of the three succeeding
moiiarchs, with their condition during the reign of
William, he must be sensible that, throughout the
whole of it, their situation was considerably amelio
rated. If we except the reign of James the second,
it was the first, after the reformation, in which no
new sanguinary law was enacted against them, or
in which no catholic suffered capitally for his reli
gion ; the govemment showed nothing like a wil
lingness to carry into execution, either the former
penal laws, or even their own milder, yet still
severe ienactments. The press teemed with pub
lications against the catholics, but no fictitious
plot was imputed to them, and no informer against
them was encouraged. Some exceptions from this
representation, (as the restoring of Oates to credit,

140 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
and rewarding him with a pension), may be cited :
but these are so few as not to detract, in any respect,
from its general accuracy; and, speaking also gene
rally, the laws against positive recusancy were al
lowed to fall insensibly into disuse. This system of
toleration did the greater honour both to William
and the nation, as the glaring pretension ofthe ex-
Ued family would have furnished a govemment less
wise or less liberal with a plausible excuse for per
secution. The tolerating spirit of the times, was
greatly owing to the eminent latitudinarian divines,
who formed, at this time, a considerable proportion
ofthe English church : I. Of these we shall attempt
to give some account* : II. Then, show the gene
ral state of the catholics under the princess, to
whose reign we have now brought our history.^
* What is said on this subject we have principally taken
from " A brief Account of the new sect of Latitude Men,
" together with some reflections upon the new philosophy,
" by S. P. of Cambridge, in answer to a letter from his friend
" at Oxford ; London, 1662 ;" Burnet's History of his own
Times, vol. i. p. 188; Mosheim's History, cent. xvii. c. 2,
sect. 27 ; and " The Principles and Practices of certain
" moderate Divines of the Church of England, (greatly mis-
" understood), truly ¦ represented and defended, in a free
" discourse between two intimate friends, in three parts, 8vo.
" i67o,"byDr.Fowler, afterwards bishop of Gloucester; and
" The Design of Christianity, 8vo. 1671," by the same author :
both are written with learning, ability, and method.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 141,
LXVIIL 1.
The Latitudinarian Divines.
The intolerance of the first reformers has been
mentioned ; but it must be acknowledged, that
though religious liberty was not their object, it
was yet a consequence ofthe reformation. Always
discountenanced, and generally persecuted by au
thority, the reformers appealed to the people, and
submitted their arguments and their feelings to
the understanding and sympathy of the public.
At first, each party asserted truth to be exclusively
and unquestionably on their side, and claimed the
whole church establishment for their own partisans.
In the course of time, this lofty claim was aban
doned, and the weaker party, professing to leave
the esta,blished clergy in possession ofthe dignities
and the wealth conferred on them by the state,
sought no more than a reasonable toleration. They
contended, that Christ sent his disciples to propa
gate his religion by instruction, not by the aid of
the secular power : — -and, as a subsidiary argu
ment, observed, that, among the points in difference
between them and their adversaries, those, which
either party considered to be essential, were few ;
and that, wherever trath resided, the error was not
of a nature to disturb the state or injure individuals^
This strain of argument seems to have been used,
if not for the first time, at least vvith the greatest
abUity and success, by the Arminians of Holland.
The synod of Dort, as we have mentioned, decided

142 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
against them, but public opinion decided in their
favour, — and, by degrees, obtained the victory.
In the mean time, the latitudinarians of Cam
bridge arose : the description which Bumet gives
of them is very interesting. Perceiving that the
minds of men required to be more liberally enlight
ened, and their affections to be more powerfu%
engaged on the side of religion, than was formerly
thought necessary, these set themselves, as the
doctor expresses it, " to raise those, who conversed
" with them, to another sort of thoughts, and to
" consider the christian religion, as a docfrine sent
" from God, both to elevate and to sweeten human
" nature.-r-With this view, they laboured chiefly
" to take men from being in parties, from narrow
" notions, and from fierceness about opinions.
" They also continued to keep up a good corre*
" spondence with, those who differed from them in
" opinion, and aUowed a great freedom both in
" philosophy and in divinity."
The founders of this school were the ever me-
mofiable John Hales ofEton, and the imijaortalGhilr
lingworth: we describe them by the appellations^
which they now universally receive from protestant
writers. Of the former, sir David Dalrymple, in
th&fine edition of the works of that divine, says,
ttataU^ " who are acquainted with the literary and
" political history of England,; wiU perceive, that
" the leading men of aU parties, however different
" and discordant, have, with a wonderful unani-
'^ n^ty, concurred in praise of the vfrtues and
" abilities, of the:.ever memorable Mr. Jbhn Hales

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 143
" of Eton," — We need not add, that ChiUingworth
is now the univ^ersal theme of protestant praise.
In their theological coutaoversies with the catho
lics, the reformers had been much perplexed by the
authority of the ancient coimcils and ancient fa
thers, which the catholics brought against them ;
and by the discrepancies and contradictions, which
occurred in their own various creeds, confessions,
articles, and fbnmularies of faitii. — ^From these, they
were entirely relievedlbjr ChiUingworth. — " By tiie
" protestant faith'," says this celebrated man, " I
" do not understand the: doctrine of Luther, or
" Calvin, or Melancthon; nor the confession of
"Augusta, or Geneva, on the. catechism of Hei-
"^ delbeig, nor the. ajsdcies of the church of Eng'
" land ; no, nor the haimony of protestant confes-
" sions ; but tiiatj wherein theyr alli agree, and
" which they all subscribe with a, greatesr harmony,
" as a perfect! rale of tiiefr. faitlt and their actions,
" thatis, — The^ Bible; — -thebiible, and. tke bi-
" BJiBONLY, rs "rHJEBEIilGIONQFPROTESTANXSi
" Whatsoever else they believe besides it,, and the
" plaittj irrefragable, indubit^le consequences lof it,
" wfillmay tibey hold it as a.matter of opinion ;, but,
" as matter of faith and religionj,neitheE can they?
"with coherence totheir-own grounds, believeit
" thenaselvies, nor reqiyii«the< belief of it of othesrsj
" witiioutthe most/sohismatical^presumption. I, for
"my part, after alongv (and I verily believe and
" bope)i impartial search of the way to etemalhap-*
'-'ness, do profess plamly that I cannot find' any
" rest forthe sole of Boy-fftol?, hvAiMpon this rock

144 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" only. — This, therefore, and' this only, I have rea-
" son to believe; this, I wUl profess ; according to
" this, I will live ; and for this, if there be occ^sion^
" I wUl not only wUlingly, but gladly lose my life,
" though I should be sorry that any christian should
" take it from me. Propose me any thing out of
" this book, and require whether I believe it or not,
" and seem it never so incomprehensible to human
" reason, I will subscribe it with hand and heart,
" as knowing no demonsfration can be stronger
" than this, — ' God hath said so, therefore it is
" trae.' — In other things I will take no man's
" liberty of judgment from him ; neither shall any
" man take mine from me. I am fully assured that
" God does not, and therefore that men ought not,
" to require any more of man than this, to believe
" the scripture to be God's word, to endeavour to
" find the true sense of it*."
Thus, tiiis one article, — " The Bible, and the
Bible only, is the religion of protestants, " — contains,
according to these eminent men, — the protestant
religion. Still, they subscribed the thirty-nine articles; —
but with a great latitude in the interpretation of
them, and with an allowance of equal latitude to
the other subscribers. — They considered them
merely as an instrament of peace ; but the precise
nature or extent of this latitude, seems never to
have been defined with precision ; they certainly
did not require absolute mental assent ; and pro
bably allowed discussion, if it were not of a nature
* Religion of Protestants, ch, vi. s. 56.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 145
to disturb or. weaken the external fabrick of the
establishment. With archbishop Usher*, they main
tained, that " the church of England did not define
" any of the questions, as necessary to be believed,
" either ex necessitate medii, or ex necessitate prce-
" cepti, which is much less ; but only bindeth
" her sons, for peace sake, not to oppose them. —
" W£ do. not," continues the learned prelate,
" suffer any man to reject the thirty-nine articles
1' of the church of England at his pleasure ; yet
" neither do we look upon them as essentials of
" saving faith, or legacies of Christ and his apostles ;
" but in a mean, as pious opinions, fitted for the
" preservation of unity ; neither do we oblige any
" man to believe them, but only not to contradict
" them." The latitudinarians were friendly to liturgies,
and preferred that of the church of England to all
others, for its solemnity, gravity, and simplicity; its
freedom from affected phrases and expressing vain
or doubtful opinions ; they also approved of what
they termed the virtuous mediocrity of that church,
in its rites and ceremonies of divine worship ; they
professed a deep veneration for the hierarchical
oeconomy ofthe established church, and considered
it to be in itself the very best form of ecclesiastical
government, .and the same that was practised
in the time of the apostles f . They reprobated no
* Schism Guarded, p. 396. — See the Principles and Practice
of moderate Divines, p. 191.
t Account of the new Sect of Latitude Men, p. 6, 7, 8.
VOL. HI, L

146 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
doctrine more than the predestinating decrees of
Calvin. We have mentioned the founders of the latitudi
narian school : Taylor, Cudworth, Wilkins, Tillot-
son, Stillingfleet, and Patrick, were among its
brightest ornaments. — A writer in the Edinburgh
Review*, says, that by their liberal and enlarged
views of religion, their great powers of reasoning,
and above all, " by the gentleness and reasonable-
" ness of their way of explaining things^, they re-
" claimed the great body of the people both from
" the dregs of fanaticism, and the folly of impiety ;
" and may be said to have rescued the nation from
" a long night of spiritual and moral darkness."
But, — even these liberal men were unjust to the
catholics : they both received and transmitted seve
ral of the charges unjustly brought against them ;
often misrepresented their doctrines ; almost always
expressed themselves of them with harshness;'
sometimes admitted into their controversial attacks
of them the language of abuse and contumely ; and
too frequently, when they were criminated for the
laxity of thefr own opinions, ingloriously made a
show of orthodoxy, by abusing catholicity and
catholics. Still, — the services which they rendered to the
catholics, were great : they softened the general
fierceness of polemic warfare ; their exhortations to
the different sects of protestants, to abstain from
** Vol. xiv. p. 82.
t The words of JBurnet, in the passage referred to before.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 147
mutual crimination, and to respect each other, and
their frequent and eloquent advocation of liberty
in matters of religion, had some effect in disposing
the public mind to abstain from a wanton execu
tion of the penal laws against any sect of christians,
and to extend to all, the benefits of religious toler
ation. — Of these salutary effects of their writings,
the catholics, — though for a long time, indirectly
and by slow degrees, — still in some measure, and
to some extent, participated.
Some friends, however, of the established church
were alarmed at the liberal and free notions of these
moderate divines, as they were generally called.
They prognosticated that their systems and writings
led to indifference, the greatest enemy of religion",
and would insensibly undermine the national creed :
they termed it, a philosophical presbyterianism*.
* In these sentiments, Dryden makes tbe hind thus address
the panther : — (part iii.)
" Your sons of latitude, that court your grace,
" Though much resembling you in form and face,
" Are far the worst of your pretended race.
" And, — (but I blush your honesty to blot,) —
" Pray God you prove them lawfully begot :
" For in some popish libels I have read,
" The wolf," — {the presbyterian,)— '' has been too busy
" in yoift bed."
In an interesting note to this passage, sir Walter Scott men
tions some curious particulars of the men of latitude : he
informs us, that it was with a view of promoting their views of
pacification and comprehension, that Stillingfleet published his
celebrated Irenicum ; at which, he says, the house of commons
took such a fright, that they passed a vote, prohibiting even
the introduction of any measure, for such a purpose, into
L 2

148 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
LXVIII. 2.
State of the Catholics under queen Anne.
The depression ofthe catholics continued through
the whole of this reign. If the sovereign had con
sulted her own inclination, she probably would.have
repealed several of the laws, under which her ca
tholic subjects laboured ; for she must sometimes
have reflected on their tried attachment to her
family, and their sufferings in its cause : but her
particular situation placed this beyond her power,
as the slightest step, which she should take towards
it must have had a tendency to reveal the designs,
which, in a less or greater degree, she always en
tertained in favour of the descendants of her
dethroned father.
One law* was passed against the catholics, in
her reign : it disabled them from presenting to
ecclesiastical benefices, and vested the right of pre
senting to them in the universities. This, perhaps,
is the penal law, of which the catholics have least
reason to complain, as it may be alleged that there
is, an evident incongruity in allowing any denomi
nation of christians to appoint the religious func-
parliament. He also mentions the antipathy-and opposition of
these divines to the church of Rome : it was owing, he says,
to their indifference to the rites, feasts, and ascetic observances
of that church, which the church of England, though the
members of it set no real value upon them, partially adopts,
-so that they serve for a wall of separation between her and the
other protestant churches.
* 12 Anne.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 149
tionaries of another : yet it should not be forgotten,
that, as the law of England now stands, the un-
baptised quaker, and even the jew, may present to
benefices in her church.
This reign was as little favourable to the protes
tant dissenters as to the roman-catholics. Some of
the former did not object so seriously to receiving
the sacrament of our Lord's-supper according to the
church of England, as to neglect it, when it was
absolutely necessary for qualifying them to hold
offices : this was termed Occasional Conformity ;
and an act* was passed to prevent it. — In the last
year of the reign of her majesty, a bill was intro
duced, to prevent, as it was termed, the growth
of schism, and to impose, for that purpose, some
further restraints on nonconformists; it passed
through both houses of parliament, but, in conse
quence ofthe decease ofthe queen before the day
on which it was to have received the royal assent,
never became a lawf .

CHAP. LXIX.
ACCESSION OF THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK.
1714-
The English catholics, and all the other subjects
ofthe united empire, are so greatly interested in the
fortunes and fates of this illustrious house, that the
* 11 Anne. t Rights of Protestant Dissenters, p. 45.
^3

1.50 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
writer believes the following historical digression,
which gives a very succinct account of it, will be
generally acceptable to his readers.
It has been said, that not fewer than one thou
sand works have been written on the genealogy and
history of the Guelphs : the points to be particu
larly attended to, are their Italian origin, German
principaUty, and English monarchy*.
LXIX. 1.
Their Italian Descent.
The Italian descent of this illustrious family
from Azo, who married Cunegunda, the heiress of
the Guelphs of Altorf, is unquestionable. With
great learning and clearness, Scheidius, in his
Origiiies Guelphicce, has attempted to show the
Guelphic extraction of Azo.
According to him, two brothers, Ethico and
Guelph, were princes of the Skyrri, a nation in
Holsace, not far from the southern bank of the
Eider. The former was a general of AttUa's
army, and had two sons, Odoacer, who, by his con
quest of Italy, put. an end to the Roman empire of
the west, and Guelph, who settied in the Tyrol.
* This article is chiefly taken from the " Origines Guelphicae
" of Scheidius ; Hanoverae, 1759, et seq. 7 vol. foi." After a
fruitless search for it in the London and French markets, the
writer was indebted for the loan of an imperfect copy of it to
the late earl of Leicester. That a work of such importance to
the family history of its sovereign, and by no means rare in
Germany, should not be on sale in London, may be thought
remarkable.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 151
Odoacer, with Thilanes his only son, were killed
in 493. A count of Bavaria, whose name is not
known, and who died in 687, was seventh in suc
cession to Guelph. He had issue two sons, Adal
bert, count of Bavaria and patriarch of the mar-
quisses of Tuscany, and Ruthard, an Alemannian
count. Azo was ninth in succession to Adalbert ;
Cunegunda was heir and ninth in succession to
Ruthard. Azo and Cunegunda intermarried about
1 050 ; and thus, if the scheme proposed by Schei
dius be relied on, the two branches of the Guelphic
stem were re-united after a lapse of three centuries.
A son, called Guelph, was the issue of Azo and
Cunegunda. After the decease of Cunegunda,
Azo married Gersenda, a daughter of Hugh count
of Maine, and had issue by her, a son called Fulk,
from whom the dukes of Modena are lineally de
scended. Guelph, the son of Azo by Cunegunda,
had two sons, Guelph, and Henry the black : the
former married the princess Mechtildis, the heiress
of the elder branch ofthe house of Este, renowned
for her celebrated donation to the see of Rome.
She died without issue, but her husband retained
some part of her hereditary possessions, and died
without issue. LXIX. 2.
Their German Principalities.
He NEY the black was the founder ofthe German
principalities possessed by his family; He married
Wolphildis, the sole heiress of Herman of Billung,
the duke of Saxony, and of his possessions on the
L 4

152 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Elbe. His son, Henry the proud, married Ger
trude, the heiress of the dutchies of Saxony, Bruns
wick, and Hanover. Thus Henry the proud,
1st. As representing Azo, his great-grandfather,
— inherited some part of the Italian possessions of
the: younger branch of the Estesine family : they
chiefly lay on the southern side of the fall of the
Po into the Adriatic :
2d. As representing count Boniface, the father
ofthe princess Mechtildis, — he inherited the Ita
lian possessions ofthe elder branch of the Estesine
family : they chiefly lay in Tuscany : — some part
of the possessions of the princess MechtUdis also
devolved to him :
3d. As representing Cunegunda, his grandmo
ther, he inherited the possessions of the Guelphs
at Altorf :
4th. As representing his mother, the sole heiress
ofHerman of Billung, — he inherited the possessions
of the Saxon family on the Elbe :
5th. And through his wife, — he fransmitted to
his descendants the dutchies of Saxony, Bruns
wick, and Hanover.
AU these possessions descended to Henry the
lion, the son of Henry the proud. He added to
them Bavaria, on the cession of Henry Jossemargott,
— and Lunenburgh and Mecklenburgh by conquest.
Thus he became possessed of an extensive territory ;
— he himself used to describe it in four German
verses, which have been thus translated :
Henry the Lion is my name :
Through all the earth I spread my fame.
For, from the Elbe, unto the Rhine,
From Hartz, unto the sea,— all's mine.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 153
In other words, his possessions filled a consider
able portion of the territory between the Rhine,
the Baltic, the Elbe, and the Tyber.
Unfortunately for him, in the quarrels between
tiie pope and the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, he
sided with the former. The emperor confiscated
his possessions ; but returned him his allodial
estates in Brunswick, Hanover, and Lunenburgh :
he died in 1 1 95. By his first wife, he had no issue
male : his second, was Maud, the daughter of
Henry the second of England. By her, he had
several sons ; all of whom died, except William,
called of Winchester, from his being born in that
city. William of Winchester had issue Otho, called
puer, or the boy.
At the decease of Otho the boy, the partition of
this illustrious house commences. An outline of
it appears in a table, in the writer's History of the
Revolutions of the German Empire : it shows the
Guelphic genealogy, from the marriage of Azo with
Cunegunda to the present time.
The subject of these sheets leads only to the
Lunenburgh branches of the Guelphic shoot of the
Estesine line.
On the death of Otho the boy, Brunswick and
Lunenburgh, the only remains of the splendid pos
sessions of William the proud, were divided between
his two sons, John and Albert : Lunenburgh was
assigned to the former, Brunswick to the latter :
thus the former became the patriarch of what is
called the old house of Lunenburgh. Otho his son,
received Hanover, as a fief from WiUiam Sigefred
the bishop of Hildesheim. Otho had four sons ;

164 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Otho his first son, succeeded him; and dying with
out issue, . was succeeded by his brother William
with-the-large-feet. He died in 1369, without
male issue ; the two other sons of Otho the father,
also died without male issue.
Thus, there was a general failure of issue male
of John, the patriarch of the old house of Lunen
burgh. By the influence of the emperor Charles
the fourth, Otho elector of Saxony, who had mar
ried Elizabeth, the daughter of William, succeeded
to the dutchy. He died without issue, and left it,
by his will, to his uncle Winceslaus elector of
Saxony. It was contested with him by Torquatus
Magnus duke of Saxony : — the contest ended in a
compromise ; under which Bernard, the eldest son
of Torquatus Magnus, obtained it, and became the
pafriarch ofthe middle house of Lunenburgh : he
died in 1434. After several descents, it vested in
Ernest of Zell : — he introduced the Lutheran reli
gion into his states.
After his decease, his sons Henry and William
for some time reigned conjointly ; but William p.er-
suaded his brother to content himself with the
country of Danneburgh, while he himself reigned
over all the rest, and thus became the patriarch of
the new house of Branswick-Lunenburgh.
He left seven sons ; they agreed to cast lots
which should marry, and to reign according to their
seniority. The lot feU to George, the sixth of the
sons : Frederick was the survivor.
. On his decease, the dutchy descended to Ernest-
Augustus, the son of George, with whom the elec
toral house of Lunenburgh commences. His reign

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 155
is remarkable for two circumstances; — his advance
ment to the electoral dignity, and the act of the
British parliament, which appointed his wife Sophia
tobe the royal stem of the protestant succession to
the throne of Great Britain and Ireland.
LXIX. 3.
Their British Monarchy.
On the demise of queen Anne, George, the son
of Sophia, then dutchess dowager of Hanover,
succeeded to the British monarchy.
The house of Brunswick-Lunenburgh is now
divided into two branches, the German and the
English. The former, under the title of Bruns
wick-Lunenburgh and Wolfenbottel, possesses the
dutchies of Brunswick and Wolfenbottel, and the
countries of Blanckenburgh and Reinskin, and
reckons 160,000 subjects : — the English, under the
title of Brunswick-Lunenburgh and Hanover, pos
sesses the electoral dignity, the electorate of Han
over, the dutchies of Lunenburgh, Zell, Calemberg,
Grabenhagen, Deepholt, Bentheim, Lawenburgh,
Bremen, and Verdun; and connts 740,000 subjects.
The most remarkable events in the history of
the English line of the house of Lunenburgh, are
thus summarily mentioned by Mr. Noble, in his
Genealogical History ofthe present Royal Families
of Europe :
" Ernest- Augustus, duke of Branswick-Lunen-
" burgh, married, 1650, to Sophia, grand-daughter
" of king James the first, and daughter ofEliza-
" beth, princess-royal of Great Britain. By the

156 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" treaty of Westphalia he obtained, that, one of
" his family should be elected bishop of Osna-
" burgh alternately with one of the roman-catholic
" religion; and accordingly, upon the death, of
" cardinal Wirtemberg in 1668, he became bishop
" of that see : in 1692, he was raised to the dignity
" of elector, which was to descend to his family;
" the office of great standard-bearer was to have
" been added to it by the emperor Leopold, but
" he was prevented doing it by the ducal house of
" Wirtemberg's protesting against it ; the house of
" Hanover now is the only electoral family without
" an hereditary office ; but they have assumed that
" of arch-treasurer of the empire. He died at
" Herenhausen, February 3, 1698.
" George-Lewis succeeded his fatherin the elec-
" torate of Hanover and dutchy of Brunswick-
" Lunenburgh ; and upon the death of his uncle
" and father-in-law, George- WiUiam, to that of
" ZeU, and upon that of queen Anne, to the king-
" dom of Great Britain : he died suddenly at
" Osnaburg, June 11th, 1727. He was one ofthe
" most fortunate princes that has lived in Europe,
" which his prudence and valour entitled him to :
" his predUection for Hanover, though natural, was
" much disliked by his other subjects.
" George- Augustus the second, created prince
" of Wales 1714, succeeded to Great Britain and
" Hanover, and died suddenly, October 25, 1760,
" in the height of glory : he was a just and merci-
" ful prince, but resembled his father in his too
" great attachment to his electoral dominions.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 167
" Frederick-Lewis, prince of Wales", came into
" England 1729, died March 20th 1750, univer-
" sally regretted.
" George the third, created prince of Wales
"1751, succeeded October 25, 1760, crowned
" September 22, 1761, gave peace to Europe 1762,
" to the blessings of which he devoted his reign
" till it was fatally disturbed by the rebellion in
" America. France and Spain having espoiised
" their cause, a war was declared against them,
" aild' lately his majesty found it expedient to com-
" mence hostilities with Holland, for her perfidious
" conduct to her old ally. His majesty is, in an
" eminent degree, religious, jiist, arid merciful; his
"conjugal arid paternal tenderness, his taste for
" and pafronage of the fine arts, are universally
" known and acknowledged." "
LXIX. 4.
Miscellaneous Facts relating to the Guelphic Family.
The contests between the popes and the empe
rors, to which we have referred, in a preceding
part of this article, divided both Italy and Germany
into parties. The Guelphs took part with the
former, and were among their greatest supports.
One of the most important battles in this conflict,
was fought between Guelph, the eighth of that
name, and Frederick of Weiflingen duke of Suabia,
a partisan of the emperor; — the opposite shouts
of Hye Guelph ! Hye Ghibellin ! — (so the Italians
pronounced Weiflingen),^-gave those names to the

158 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
contending parties, through the remainder of the
war. Soon afterwards, the town of Urmsberg was
besieged by Conrad the third. There, the cfr
cumstance so agreeably related by the Spectator,
really took place : the town being reduced to the
last extremities, the emperor announced his design-
of putting the garrison to the sword, but permitted
the women to depart from it, with such of their
precious effects as they themselves could carry.
The gates were thrown open ; and a long proces
sion of matrons, each bearing a husband on her
shoulders, appeared, and was permitted topass in
safety through the camp.
To Guelph the eighth, Henry the lion, the for
feiture of whose extensive principalities we have
mentioned, was grandson. Even after this disaster
he was powerful ; fought batties and made con
quests. In 1172, he undertook a pilgrimage to
the Holy Land ; — several eminent persons of the
clergy and nobility attended him, and his camp
was composed of 1,200 knights, or soldiers inured
to arms. They passed from Brunswick through
Ratisbon to Vienna ; there, the duke committed
himself, with a select portion of his attendants, to
the Danube; but a detachment from his suite,
marched on the banks of the river. At Belgrade,
he quitted the Danube ; — advanced through the
morasses of Servia and Bulgaria, to Nissa : not
far from it, an ambassador from the Byzantine
emperor met him, and accompanied him to Con
stantinople. From Constantinople, the duke and
his foUowers saUed in ships, furnished them by the

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 159
emperor, to St. John of Acre. Thence, he pro
ceeded to Jerusalem ; was respectfully received by
the pafriarch and the military orders, visited the
holy sepulchre, and made large presents to the
churches and the knights templars. Then, follow
ing the sea coast of Syria, in a northern direction,
he reached Tarsus in Cilicia, and crossing Asia
Minor, in a central line, again reached Constan
tinople, and again was hospitably entertained by
the emperor. The duke loftily refused some pre
sents of gold and silver, which the emperor offered
him, but gracefully accepted from him some costly
articles, more valuable for their workmanship than
their materials. He brought many relics of the
saints from the east ; they were destroyed at the
reformation, but the cases, in which they existed,
are yet shown. — After an absence of about atwelve-
month, he returned in safety to Brunswick, his ca
pitel ; and after a further reign of twenty-three
year«, died in 1195.

CHAP. LXX.
GEORGE THE FIRST.
1714.

Several circumstances render this reign of par
ticular importance in the history of the English
catholics : I. We shall briefly state the acts of
settlement, under which the illustrious house of
Hanover acceded to the throne of Great Britain :

IflO HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
II. Then insert an official document which may be
thought to show the general population of England,
and the relative proportions, at a time, not long
antecedent, of the protestants of the established
church, of the protestant non-conformists, and of
the catholics of England : IIL Then state the se
vere penal law against the catholics passed in this
reign : IV. And then mention an attempt made
in it, to obtain a relaxation of the laws in forpe
against them. LXX. 1.
Acts of Settlement.
The revolution proceeded on the supposed abdi
cation of James the second, and the consequential
vacancy of the throne. In a full assembly of the
lords and commons, who then met in a convention,
both houses came to a resolution, that James,
" having violated the fundamental laws, and witii-
" drawn himself out of the kingdom, had abdicated
" the government, and that the throne was thereby
" vacant." On the 12th of February 1688-9, t^ey fiUedup
the throne by their declaration*, that, " William
" and Mary, prince and princess of Orange, were
" and should be declared king and queen, to hold
" the crown and royal dignity during their lives,
" and the life of the survivor of them ; and that
"the sole and full exercise ofthe regal power was
" only in, and should be executed by, the prince. of
" Orange, in the names of him and the princess
* Commons Journals, 12 Feb. 1688-9.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS, 161
*' during their lives ; and that, after their deceases,
" the crown and royal dignity should belong to the
" heirs of the body of the princess ; and for default
" of such issue, to the princess Anne of Denmark
" and the heirs of her body ; and for default of such
" issue, to the heirs of the body of the prince of
" Orange." Towards the end of the reign of king WiUiam,
all hopes of issue of any of these princes, expired
with the duke of Gloucester. — The parliament,
therefore, thought it advisable to make a new set
tlement of the crown. We have noticed the act*
excluding catholics, and persons marrying catho
lics, from the throne : — The protestant posterity of
Charles the first being extinct, the old law of regal
descent directed the attention of parliament to the
descendants of James, his father. The princess
Sophia, the youngest daughter of Elizabeth queen
of Bohemia, who was the daughter of James, being
the nearest of the ancient blood royal, not incapa
citated from the throne by professing the catholic
religion, the parliamentf, in conformity to their
general principle, limited the crown, on failure of
issue inheritable to it under the former act, to that
princess and to the heirs of her body, being pro
testants : — it also enacted that, " whoever should
" thereafter come to the possessiistn of the crown,
" should join in the communion of the phurch of
" England by law established."
Thus the settlement of the crown of the united
empire now stands.
* 1 W. & M. St. 2. c. 3. t 12 & 13 W. Ill, c. 8.
VOL. III. M

162 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF

LXX. 2.
Probable general Population of England, and relative
proportion of the Established Church, Protestants, Non-
conformists, and Roman-catholics, about the beginning of
the reign of George the first.
It appears that king WiUiam* once conceived
the arduous but salutary project of reconciling the
religious differences in England, and, with that
view, endeavoured to ascertain the proportions of
the three principal denominations of christians in
England. The following report of thern was made to him : —
we apprehend that the same relative proportions
continued till the accession of George the first.
" The number of Freeholders in England.
Conibi'misls. Non-conforms. Papists.
Province of Canterbury - - 2,123,362 93,151 11,878
of York- - - 353,892 15,525 1,978
In both - - 2,477,254 108,676 13,856

Conformists - - - 2,477,254
Non-conformists - 108,676
2,585,930
Papists - - - 13,856
 ^ —
In all England - 2,599,786

According to which account, the proportion of
conformists to non-conformists, is - - 22 4 to one.
Conformists to papists, is - - - 1784° -
Conformists and non- conformists together to
papists, is  186 I -

Dalrymple's Mem, 2ded. vol. ii. app. to part ii. p. 10.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 168
"" Papists in the sevei'al provinces above the age
of sixteen.
Canterbury - - . . . 142

jjonaon -
Winchester

'.

- 2,009
- 968

Rochester

-

64

Norwich

...

671

Lincoln

.

- 1,244

Ely

.

14

Chichester

-

- 385

Salisbury

-

- 548

Exeter

-

398

Bath and WeUs

176

Worcester

-

719

Coventry and Litchfield -

~ ^,949

Hereford

-

714

Gloucester

-

124

Bristol -

-

199

Peterborough

-

163

Oxford

-

358

St. David's

-

217

Landaff

-

551

Bangor -

19

St. Asaph

Total of these

275

- 11,867

" There are in the province of Canterbury,
*' 23,740 papists ; half of these is under the age of
" sixteen years, viz. 11,870 ; a seventh part of these
*' are aged and above sixty, — 3,391. Taking out of
"" the said number of papists the two last sums, which
"" make in all 15,261, there remains then 8,479,
'" of which the one half is women : — there remains
" therefore in the province of Canterbury, fit to
bear arms, 4,239 papists.
" The province of York bears a sixth part of the
M 2

<i

164 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" taxes, and hath in it a sixth part of the people,
" as that of Canterbury hath, viz. 3,956, whereof
" half are under the age of sixteen, viz. 1,978;
" and a seventh part above sixty, viz. 565; and of
" the aforesaid sixth part one half is women.
" The total, therefore, of the papists of the pro-
" vince of York fit to bear arms, is 701 ; joining
" which to the total of the papists in the province
" of Canterbury fit to bear arms, makes the total
" ofthe papists throughout all England fit to bear
" arms to be 4,940.
" There being every where as many under the
" age of sixteen as above it, the total ofthe whole
" papists, in the whole province, is 23,740."
" An account of the province of Canterbury.
" In the taking of these accounts, we find these
" things observable :
" 1 . That many left the church upon the late
" indulgence, who before did frequent it.
" 2. The sending for these inquiries, hath caused
" many to frequent the church.
" 3. That they are Walloons chiefly that make
" up the number of dissenters in Canterbury, Sand-
" wich, and Dover.
" 4. That the presbyterians are divided, some of
" them come sometime to church, therefore such
" are not wholly dissenters upon the third inquiry.
" 5. A considerable part of dissenters are ^ot of
" any sect whatsoever.
" 6. Of those that come to church, very many
" do not receive the sacrament.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 10.5
" 7. At Ashford, and at other places, we find a
" new sort of heretics, after the name of Muggleton,
" a London taylor, in number thirty.
" 8. The rest of the dissenters are presbyterians,
" anabaptists, independents, quakers, about equal
" numbers, only two or three called self-willers
'* professedly. " 9. The heads and preachers of the several fac-
" tions, are such as had a great share in the late
" rebellion." LXX. 3.
Acts passed against the Roman-catholics during the reign
of George the first.
III. 1. The first of these acts*, was most dread
ful : it prescribed an oath of allegiance, an oath of
supremacy, and an oath for abjuring the Stuart
family. These oaths were required to be taken by all
persons holding civil or military offices ; or any fee
or wages by patent or grant from his majesty ; or in
his navy, or of his household ; by all ecclesiastical
persons, members of colleges, teachers, preachers,
Serjeants at law, counsellors, barristers, advocates,
attornies and notaries, and by various other per
sons : — the neglect or refusal to take these oaths
incapacitated the parties from holding any oflUce or
employment, or receiving fee or wages, from his
majesty. Thus far the enactment was sufficiently severe -.-r-
but it proceeded to authorize any two justices to
tender the oaths to any person disaffiected to govern
• 1 Geo. I, St. 2, c. 13.
M 3

166 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
ment ; and, on his refusal of them, directed, that
he should be considered as legally convicted of
popish recusancy, and subject to all its penalties and
disabilities. This was termed Constructive Recusancy : it was^
not the offence itself of recusancy, which, as we
have already observed, consisted merely in the
party's absenting himself from church ; it was the
offence of not taking the oath of supremacy, and
the other oaths, prescribed by the act of which
we are speaking ; the refusal of which was, by
that statute, placed on the same footing, as a legal
conviction on the statutes of recusancy ; and sub
jected the party refusing, to the penalties of those
statutes. Of all the laws passed against the catho*Hcs, after
the revolution, this was the most severely felt by
them. The punishment of recusancy was penal
in the extreme ; and the persons, objecting to the
oath in question, might be subjected to all the pe
nalties of it, merely by refusing the oaths when they
were tendered to them. It added to the grievous
operation of these laws, that the oaths might be
tendered, at the mere will of two justices of peace,
without any previous information, or complaint, be
fore a magistrate, or any other person. Thus it
had a silent, but a dreadful operation : it left catho
lics at the mercy of every one who wished to in
jure or insult them. Frequently, they were with
held by it from asserting the rights, which the law
had left them : and even from urging pretensions,
which were not subjects of legal cognizance. It

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 167
depressed them so much below their legitimate
rank in society, that they hardly entered, with the
look or attitude of freemen, into the meetings of
their protestant neighbours.
III. 2. By statutes passed annually throughout
this reign, the catholics were subjected to the pay
ment of double the amount of the land-tax which
they would have otherwise paid.
III. 3. Two statutes passed in this reign imposed
on the catholics the unpleasant and humiliating
necessity of making public all the circumstances
of their landed property, and their dealings with
it : — the first* obliged them to register their names
and estates, — the second f obliged them to enrol
their deeds and wills, — under heavy penalties.
III. 4. The discontented of every party, civil or
religious, engaged in the rebellion, rashly concerted
in the year 1715, to restore the pretender. It was
visited:]; on the catholics at first exclusively, but
afterwards on the general body ofthe nonjurors, by
a pecuniary mulct of 100,000/. — Mr. Coxe gives,
in his able Life of sir Robert Walpole §, the follow
ing interesting account of this circumstance.
" In November 1722, Walpole introduced a bill
" for raising 100,000/. by laying a tax on the
" estates of papists, which was afterwards extended
" to all nonjurors. The liberal spirit ofthe present
" age, condemns a measure, which tended to in-
" crease the disaffection of a large body of subjects ;
* 1 Geo. I, c. 53. t 3 Geo. I, c. 18.
I 9 Geo. I, c. 18 ; 13 Geo. I, c. 28. § Vol. i. p. 305-
M 4

168 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" and which the arg-uments, advanced by the minis-
" ter in its favour, were calculated only to palliate,
" but could not justify. For, on being urged by
" several members, and particularly by Onslow,
" who declared his abhorrence of persecuting any
" set of men, because of their religious opinions,
" Walpole represented ' the great dangers incurred
" by this nation, since the reformation, from the
" constant endeavours of papists to subvert our
" happy constitution, and the protestant religion,
" by the most cruel, violent, and unjustifiable me-
" thods; that he would not take upon him to charge
" any particular persons among them with being
" concerned in the horrid conspiracy: that it was
" notorious, that many of them had been engaged
" in the Preston rebellion ; and some were executed
" for it; and that the present plot was contrived
" at Rome, and countenanced in popish countries ;
" that many of the papists were, not only well-
" wishers to it, but had contributed large sums for
" so nefarious a purpose; and, therefore, he thought
" it but reasonable they should bear an extraordi-
" nary share of the expenses, to which they had
" subjected the nation.' Whatever opinions may
" be formed of this measure, according to the strict
" rules of theoretical justice, the policy was unques-
" tionable. This instance of rigour effectually dis-
" couraged the catholics from continuing their at-
" tempts against the govemment, and operated as
" a constant check on the turbulent spirit of the
" nonjurors."

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 169

LXX. 4.
Negotiation for obtaining a partial Repeal of the Penal
Laws.
The imputed attachment of his majesty's roman-
catholic subjects to the exiled family, raised a new
obstacle to their hopes of relief : all, it is probable,
would have signed an explicit declaration, that they
would do no act that should offiend or disturb, in
any manner, his majesty's person or government ;
but the profession of allegiance, which was required
from them, seemed to recognize the theoretical jus
tice of his majesty's possession ofthe throne; — and
to this, not catholics alone, but a considerable porr
tion of the protestant part of the kingdom, at this
time conscientiously objected.
At the time, of which we are now speaking,
these scruples, however honourable to those who
entertained them, on account of the conscientious
feelings which gave rise to them, were evidentiy iU-
founded. The rights and duties of protection and
allegiance are correlative : no one is entitled to the
aUegiance ofa person, whom he wants either power
or will to protect. Most frequently it is difficult
to determine the precise moment at which a mo
narch, once legally possessed of this power and this
will, is so completely dispossessed of either, as to
forfeit his right to the allegiance of his subjects :
but, after some lapse of time, a period usually ar
rives, when, in consequence of the general submis-

170 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
sion of the people, the acquiescence of foreign states?
and the annihilation of the power and resources of
the discarded monarch, it becomes evident that he
no longer possesses any probable means of restoring
himself to his former sway. — The power of protec
tion then ceasing, the duty of allegiance ceases with
it, and the new order of things is, for every prac
tical purpose, legitimated. — On this ground pope
Zachary crowned Charlemagne, — a successor of
Zachary acknowledged Hugh Capet, — and the pre
sent pope submitted to Buonaparte, assisted at his
coronation, and blessed him and his empress. This
was at no remoter period than eleven years after
the expulsion of the Bourbons* : but, almost three
times the same number of years had, at the time of
which we are now speaking, elapsed subsequentiy
to the revolution of 1688. — On this ground, all
catholics of information and judgment perceived,
that the dynasty of the Stuarts had no longer any
claim to their allegiance or political attachment ;
and that the adopted monarch had a perfect title
to the allegiance of every Englishman, and might
justiy claim a profession of it, and a rejection of all
political connection with foreigners.
It happened that, at this time. Dr. Strickland
the bishop of Namurf was in London, he was per-
* The reader is invited to rea^' what is said on this subject
by the writer in his Revolutions of the German Empire, notes
i. and ii.
t This gentleman was an adherent of the pretender, and
had been promoted, by his interest, to the abbey of St. Pierre
de Prou, in Normandy. During the quarrel between the

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 17-1
sonally known to George the first, and greati}^
esteemed both by him and his favourites. After
conferring with them, he drew up certain requisi
tions, intending to submit them to the principal
catholics, and to procure their acquiescence. We
shall transcribe them, and two letters of Mr. secre
tary Craggs, giving an account of the result of the
negotiation : — after much inquiry, we can procure
no farther information respecting it.
" Requisition.
" In order to put the roman-catholics in a way
" of deserving some share in the mercy apd protec-
" tion of the government, 'tis required that some of
" the most considerable among 'em depute a proper
" person with a letter to the pope, to inform him,
" that whereas they must otherwise be utterly
'•' ruined, they may yet obtain some liberty and se-
" curity for their religion, upon four conditions, all
emperor and George the first, in 1726, be maintained a cor
respondence with the leading members of the opposition to
sir Robert Walpole. These, in conformity with the emperor's
wishes, unwiselj' strove to engage Great Britain in a war with
France. By their interest, Strickland was made bishop of
Namur, and the emperor sent him on a private mission to
the English monarch, with credential letters, and various
documents justifying his own measures and views, and crimi
nating those of sir Robert Walpole. The bishop arrived in
London under a feigned name, was graciously received by
the king and the queen, and had many conferences with
lord Harrington, a leading member in the opposition cabinet.
But the minister was soon informed of the negotiation, and
frustrated the attempt. Strickland was soon after civilly dis
missed. " Coxe's History of the House of Austria," vol. ii.
P- '45-

17-2 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" in his own power, and all evidentiy consistent with
" roman-catholic principles.
1. " 'Tis required he order his former decree*
" about the oath of allegiance, now dormant in the
" hands of his internuncio at Brussels, to be pub-
" lished and executed by proper delegates, and in
" the most eff"ectual manner, for the information of
" the people.
2. " That he take away the name and ofiice of
" protector of England from cardinal Gualterio,
" the pretender's public and declared agent, and
" confer the same upon some other, no ways engaged
" in any factions, or obnoxious to this government.
3. " That he revoke the indult granted to the
" pretender for the nomination of the Irish bishop-
" ries, and solemnly promise the emperor to govern
" these missions without any communication direct
" or indirect with the pretender, or regard to his
" interests. 4. " That any person employed in these missions
" shall be revoked or called away bond Jide by his
" respective superiors, upon intimation of any of-
" fence by him given to the government. — As the
" emperor has engaged to bring the pope to these
" terms, it wUl be necessary to send also to him with
" a letter to desire his mediation in this aff'air."
" It will be sufficient these letters be subscribed
" by the duke of Norfolk, lord Stafford, lord Mon-
" tagu, lord Walgrave for the nobility, and by sir
" John Webbe, Mr. Charies Howard, Mr. Stonor,
" and Mr. Arundell Bealing for the gentry.
" As any delays or tergiversations in coming into
• Of this decree, the writer can learn nothing.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 173
" these measures, can never be coloured with any
" pretence of religion or conscience, so if any should
" be made by persons obstinately disaffected, the
" government would then have no means left to
" secure the peace of the kingdom, but in the real
" and full execution of the penal laws, and more
" particularly of the act for transferring the right
" of succession to the next protestant heir, upon the
" immediate heir not conforming at the age of
" eighteen ; and of the late register act, for taking
" away the two thirds. But 'tis hoped that the
" roman-catholics, by a ready concurrence in what
" is equally their duty and their interest, will make
" it practicable for a mild government to treat 'em
"with moderation and lenity, if they endeavour to
" deserve it as well as other dissenters."
" My lord, " Whitehall, 30 June 1719,
" This private letter is to inform your lordship
*' that doctor Strickland arrived here some days
" ago, during which time he bent all his thoughts
" upon the matter which your lordship knows he
" had in hand. He came to me with a paper,
" whereof the inclosed is a copy, which he thought
" was digested into the properest manner, to be
'' shown to the roman-catholics therein mentioned.
" At his request and persuasion I carried a copy of
" that paper, not signed, to a meeting, where the
" duke of Norfolk, lord Walgrave, and Mr. Charles
" Howard, assisted.
" After having discoursed with those gentlemen
" upon the contents of it, I found the two noblemen

174 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
". inclinable to come into the proposal therein madfe ;
" and though Mr. Howard showed an un wiUingness,
" yet I came away with hopes that the aff'air would
" be done in the manner proposed : and the doctor
" believed no less ; for it went so far, that they even
" desired him to prepare the two letters to the
" emperor and. the pope. This happened three
" days ago.
" But since that time, I understand those gentie-
" men have had several consultations, and by their
" behaviour begin to show a coolness, as if they
" would depart from what they had appeared ready
" to subscribe to; thatthey have behaved themselves
" with reservedness to the doctor, and have not sent,
" as they said they would, for Mr. Stonor, the best
" intentioned of them all, to consult him. The
" doctor expects to be told this night the result of
" their deliberations, which he believes, after all the
" hopes he had conceived, will end in an absolute
" refusal of what has been proposed, or at least of
" some part of it. This alteration, if it prove to be
" so, he imputes to the insurmountable resistance
" of Mr. Charles Howard, and perhaps to the en-
" couragement of some tories, who were possibly
^' consulted on this occasion. However the success
" of that aff'air is like to be, I thought proper to ac-
" quaint your lordship wholly with it and whatever
" comes of it hereafter. I shall then also let your
" lordship know it. I should have added, that the
" doctor seems so piqued at this usage, and so
" heartily in the business, that in case the gentle-
" men come to the resolution he apprehends, he

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 175
" would be for taking up immediately bishop
" Gifford, Mr. Grey (the trueearl of Shrewsbury who
" enjoys the estate, though another possesses the
" title), and some other heads of that set of people,
" and by that glaring instance exerta power which
" may eff"ectually and quickly terrify them into a
" compliance. — 1 am with great respect, my lord,
" your lordship's most obedient humble servant,
" R. H. Eari Stanhope." " /. Craggs."
" It is now past ten o'clock at night when I re-
" ceived this news so diff'erent from what I write
" you in my private letter of this date. /. C."
" Sir, July 1, 1719.
" In pursuance of the directions you left with
" me when I had the honour of seeing you at
" Mr. Strickland's, I showed the paper you gave me
" to those of the gentlemen named in it that were
" in town. The shortness of the time in which we
" were to give our answer, and the secrecy you en-
" joined in the aff'air, has put us under very great
" difficulties. We were all very unwilling to let
" any opportunity slip, in which we might show our
" readiness in coming into any thing, that would
" show our good intentions ; but being but four of
" those named in the paper, could not venture to
" answer for the other four, whose signing was re-
" quired ; much less to engage for so many others
" that are not in town, and if they were, could not
" be consulted. This being the chief difficulty, at
" present it will be needless to trouble you with the

176 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
' objections made to some of the articles, particu-
' larly that of application to foreign powers, and
' we would much rather owe, whatever favours we
' receive, to your generous disposition, than to any
' other solicitation whatsoever ; and we cannot but
' flatter ourselves, that when more of the parties
' concerned are in town, you will retain the same
' favourable intentions towards us you were so good
* as to own ; and I am bold to say for my own
' part, and I believe may answer not only for those
' I have spoken to, but even for numbers, that when-
* ever time gives us an opportunity to meet, and
' you leave to acquaint them, you will find so suit-
' able and unanimous a disposition in them to re-
' ceive the favourable and generous indulgence you
' are pleased to off"er : for my own part, I cannot
' but conceive great hopes of success in this aff'air,
' since it is undertaken by so generous a person as
' yourself, for the relief of so many distressed
' people, and which shall always be remembered
' as the greatest obligation done to, sir,
" Your most obedient humble servant,
' Mr. Secretary Craggs." " Norfolk."
' The paper you gave me I left with Mr. Strickland."
" My lord, Whitehall, 7th July 1719.
" I promised your lordship, in one of my private
" letters of the 30th past, that whatever became of
" the aifair relating to roman-catholics, I would give
" you an account of it. It happened as I did then
" imagine it would, that the duke of Norfolk and

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 177
" lord Walgrave were overswayed by Charles
" Howard, who continued obstinate to the last, and
" that from a mere spirit of opposition, for Strick-
" land says his intentions at bottom are otherwise
" good, but he is a wrong-headed fellow and spoiled
" all. However, I afterwards met with lord Wal-
" grave, who began to excuse himself upon what had
" passed, and would have proposed some other ex-
" pedients to me upon the aff'air ; but I showed an
" indiff'erence, and told him that if he had anything
" to say, he must consult Dr. Strickland, for I
" would meddle no more in it. They had aff'ected
" to be reserved towards the doctor in all their
" deliberations, but this answer made them alter
" their course; they went to his house ; where they
" gave their reasons of fear, conscience, honour, &c.
" all which the doctor combated strenuously, and
" at last convinced them of the necessity of signing
" the two letters, which they agreed to, and desired
" him to draw them up immediately and they would
" come in the afternoon to sign them. The letters
" being prepared, they came according to appoint-
" ment, but their resolutions changed. Charles
" Howard and the duke withdrew several times
" into the back room to consult, where no doubt the
" former got the better again of the latter, for they
" determined at last not to sign, and so left the
" doctor. The duke went immediately afterwards
" out of town, but first sent me a letter of which I
" inclose a copy : that wUl best show your lordship
" what he had to say for himself, and the copy of
«' mine, also inclosed, what answer I made him upon
VOL^ III. N

178 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" it. The matter being thus broke off', I have deter-
" mined to put the thing in execution which I said
" in my former letter I intended in that case, by
" tendering the oaths to Howard and seizing bishop
" Gifford and Grey (the earl of Shrewsbury). But
" because this proceeding is chiefly with a view to
" make them squeak, I would contrive to do it in
" such a manner as not to put them Out of my power,
" by over acting it, into that ofthe law. For which
" end I have desired Delafaye to pick out a couple
" of discreet justices of peace of his acquaintance,
" that will, as of themselves, take up Howard and
" Giff'ord, and afterwards do just what Delafaye
'' shall bid them, without carrying their zeal too far.
" And as for Grey, I think some trusty and under-
" standing messenger must be sent to manage him,
" for he is seventeen miles off'. Strickland persuades
"" this method will have its effect, and make them
" ready to sign even stronger letters than those
" already proposed to them; and as they know the
" doctor intends very shortly for France, and that
" they are aUowed no other conferant but him, it
" may be expected we shall quickly know what
" they will do.
" I take this occasion to send your lordship' a
" private letterfromthe dukeof Bolton to me, which
" was omitted in my last, and likewise another I
" received last night, which will show your lordship
" what temper Ireland is in upon the opening of
" that parliament. — I am, my lord, your lordship's
" most obedient and most humble servant,
" R. H. Eari Stanhope." " J. Craggs f

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 179
CHAP. LXXL
GEORGE II.
1727-
THE CONDITION OF THE ENGLISH ROMAN-
CATHOLICS DURING HIS REIGN.
IJUR subject now leads us, I. To mention in a
few words the state of the catholics at this period :
II. We shall then notice the contests between the
high church and the low church, and the conse
quences favourable to the catholics, with which
they were attended : III. Some acts in favour ofthe
protestant dissenters : IV. The dispute occasioned
by the work of Dr. Courayer on the validity of
the ordinations of the English protestant clergy :
V. And the correspondence between archbishop
Wake and Dr. Dupin, for the re-union of the
roman-catholic and the English churches.
LXXL 1.
General State of the English Catholics during this
reign.
The reign of George the second is remarkable
for its being the first, after the reformation, in
which no new law was enacted against the roman-
catholics. This circumstance does the monarch and his
govemment the greater honour, as the rebellion
in 1745, in which several roman-catholics w^ere
N 2

180 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
engaged, furnished the enemies of their religion
with a pretence for calling down upon them a
severe execution of the existing code, and even an
extension of its severities. Better councils pre
vailed : the whole penal code was continued in
force ; but the instances, in which it was put into
activity, were not very numerous. When they oc
curred, they were produced either by the mis
chievous activity or the selfish feeling of indivi
duals ; — but were very seldom, if ever, countenanced
by the government. — Some freedom was allowed
to the catholics in the exercise of their religion :
still, through the whole of this reign, the catholics
were molested by informers, their lands were
doubly taxed, their enjoyment of them was inse
cure, sometimes they were wrested from them by a
protestant next of kin ; and, (which was a dread
ful calamity), they continued subject to the con
structive recusancy mentioned in the preceding
chapter, and to all its terrors.
In 1729, the second year of this reign, Matthew
Aticinson, a missionary priest, died in Hurst castle,
after an imprisonment, in it during thirty years, for
the exercise of his religious functions.
LXXL 2.
Contest between the High Church and Low Church f—
Progress of religious Toleration.
The latitudinarian divines have been mentioned :
tiie spirit of religious liberty, by which they were
animated, was spread by their writings over the

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 181
nation ; it reached the continent, and often returned
from it, enriched and invigorated.
. We must however observe, with Mr. Gibbon*,
that three writers, by whom the rights of toleration
were nobly defended, Locke, Boyle, and Leibniz,
were laymen and philosophers ; — they had been
preceded by Grotius ; but, by a strange inconsist
ency, while that great man condemned the tribunal
ofthe inquisition, he approved the imperial law of
persecution f. Locke's " Letters on Toleration,"
exhausted the subject : they are unanswered and
unanswerable, and seem to have set the question
at rest for ever. The principles of the revolution
embodied both the friends of civil and the friends
of religions liberty, and united them in the general
cause. We have mentioned the opposition between
the political principles of the latitudinarian and
those of the nonjuring divines : each soon received
anew religious appellation. Before this time, the
advocates for the lawfiilness of resistance to govern
ment had been called whigs, the opposers of this
doctrine had been called tories; the latitudinarians
joined the. former, the nonjurors the latter ; and,
so far as politics were concerned, received their
respective denominations. But their diff'erent opi
nions in religious matters, particularly on the
authority of the church and her dependance on
the civil magistrates,- — which dependance was
asserted by the whigs, and denied by the tories,
— introduced a new distinction ; the advocates
* Ch. liv. note 39.
t De rebus Belgicis Annal. 1. i. p. 13, 14. i2mo.
VOL. III. 4_ N 3^

182 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
for its dependance, were called the low churdh;
the advocates for its independance, were called
the high church. For a time, the distinction v^as
strongly marked ; — -by degrees, the nonjurors dis-"
appeared, but the whig divines, — whigs both in
politics and divinity, — filled their camp, and
perpetuated in the church, both their own civil
and their own religious principles- Liberty was
their constant theme ; they proved by arguments,.
which could neither be answered nor evaded, that
liberty of belief in religious concerns was^ in re
spect to the civil magistrate, a common benefit, an
unquestionable and undeniable right. They ex
cluded the catholics alone from it: — But they
candidly and unequivocally admitted that one rea
son only, — " the supposed enmity of the catholics
" to civil government, as then settled in the land*,"
— ^justified the exclusion.
The advantages, which the catholics derived from
this concession, were incalculable. — So far as re
spected their title to a participation in the blessings
of the constitution, all questions respecting their
religious tenets became unnecessary ; as, to prove
their titie to be delivered from the penal laws, and
to be placed on an equality of civil right with their
feUow subjects, nothing could now be required
of them, but to show, that they equalled them in
loyalty to their king, affection to their fellow sub
jects, and attachment to the constitution.
Dr. Hoadley, bishop, first of Bangor and after
wards of Winchester, was at the head of the whif
* Hoadley's Common Rights of Subjects.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 183
divines ; and, under his auspices, after a contro
versy of more than twenty years, to which the
prelate's first see gave the name of the Bangorian
controversy, the doctrines of the whig divines both
on civil and religious liberty obtained a complete
friumph : — the principle of the revolution was' re
ceived by the protestant church, and its religious
creed was reduced to two articles, — one, that a
christian acknowledges no law but the scripture,
no interpreter of it but his own conscience ; — the
other, that the magistrate should regulate the rest,
and that confessions and formularies of faith should
be considered as edicts of the state, not as articles
of doctrine ; and may be subscribed without assent
or belief, as mere terms of civil concord*. Hence,
though they signed the thirty-nine articles, they
treated them very cavalierly. They " are not,''
says Dr. Balguy f, " exactly what we wish them :
" some of them are expressed in doubtful terms ;
" others are inaccurate, perhaps unphilosophical ;
" others again may chance to mislead an igno-
" rant reader into some erroneous opinions." Dr.
Sturges J, the friend of Balguy, expresses as little
admiration of them.
The friumph of Hoadley and his disciples over
the antient principles ofthe established church may
be assigned to the year 1720. In that year Hoadley
* See Discourses on various subjects, by Thomas Balguy,
archdeacon, prebendary of Winchester, &c. dedicated to
the king, 1785; particularly Discourse VI.
t " Discourses," p. 293.
I " Considerations on the Church Establishment," p. 27, 28.
N 4

184 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
preached his famous sermon " On the Nature
" of the Kingdom or th& Church of Christ :" he
maintained that the clergy have no pretensions to
any temporal jurisdiction, and that temporal princes
have a right to govern in ecclesiastical politics. So
great offence was taken by the clergy, at these
doctrines, that it was resolved to proceed against
him in convocation as soon as it should sit. The
lower house of convocation accordingly drew up
their representation; but, before it could be brought
into the upper house, the king prorogued the as
sembly by a special order, and the convocation
never met afterwards. Hoadley always declared
that this was done not only without his seeking, but
without his knowledge or suspicion. He rejoiced
however in it ; as the debate was, by this means,
taken from the bar of human authority, and brought
to that of reason and the scripture. Removed from
a trial by a majority of voices, (which, could not,
he said, be a trial to be contended for either by
truth or by the church of England), and brought to
that of argument.
Some serious protestants, however, were alarmed
at this scanty creed : they observed its discrepancy
from the creeds ofthe first reformers, and trembled
for the consequences. — The catholic smUed at the
controversy, and claimed, for his church, that right
of interpreting the scriptures, which each individual
protestant claims for himself.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 185
LXXL 3.
Acts in favour of the Protestant Dissenters.
The general rejection of the doctrine of passive
obedience, was one of the greatest achievements of
bishop Hoadley.
" Passive obedience," says Mr. Hume*, " is ex-
" pressly and zealously inculcated in the homiliesf,
" composed and published by authority in the reign
" of queen Elizabeth." The corporation act:|; pre
scribed, that all magistrates should testify both their
belief that it was not lawful, upon any pretence
whatever, to resist the king, and their abhorrence
of the traiterous position of taking arms, by the
king's authority, against his person, or against those
who were commissioned by him. — The decree of
the university of Oxford, passed in convocation,
in 1683^, mentions the positions, that " all civil
" authority is derived originally from the people ;"
— and that, " there is no obligation upon christians
" to passive obedience, when the prince commands
" any thing against the laws of our country,"
among — " damnable doctrines, destmctive to the
^' sacred persons of princes, their state and govern-
" ment, and all human society." In a similar strain,
the address ofthe university of Cambridge ||, pre
sented, about the same time, to Charles the second,
declares, that "no earthly power, no means or
" misery, should ever be able to make them re-
* Hist. vol. viii. note (R.) p. 161. t Homil. x. 28.
I 13 Car. II. § Coll. Hist. vol. ii. 90a. 1) lb. 903.

186 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" nounce or forget their duty ; that they would still
" believe and maintain, that our princes derive not
" their title from the people, but from God; that
" to him only, they are accountable ; that it belongs
" not to subjects either to create or censure, but to
" honour and obey their sovereign, who comes to
" be so, by a fundamental hereditary right of suc-
" cession, which no religion, no law, no fault or
" forfeiture can alter or diminish."
Counterpositions were maintained by Hoadley,
-—and we have mentioned his triumph. In conse
quence of it, by an act of the 5th of George the
first, the clause, in the corporation act, which
asserts the doctrine of non-resistance, was repealed.
In 1736, anactofindemnity mitigated the effect
ofthe test act, by giving time to persons to qualify
themselves to hold offices under the provisions of
that act, till the 1st of August in that year. — .An
indemnity act, passed in 1 743, was more compre
hensive, as it mitigated the eff'ect both of the cor
poration and the test acts. From that period, to
the present time, similar acts of indemnity have
been passed annually as a matter of course, and they
extend to both the restrictive acts. — By this an
nual act, after mentioning the corporation and test
acts, it is provided, that persons, who, before the
passing of it, have omitted to qualify themselves m
the manner prescribed by those acts, shall, if they
properly qualify themselves for them, before the
25th of the ensuing December, be indemnified
against aU penalties, forfeitures, incapacities and
disabUities ; and their elections and the acts done

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 187
by them are declared to be valid. — The act ex
presses nothing, which excludes roman-catholics
from the benefit of its provisions. — Considering the
annual indemnity act as a matter of course, which
it evidently is, the protestant dissenters are thus
virtually exempted from the corporation and test
acts ; and as they have no objection to the oath of
supremacy, they are not affected by the act of the
1st of George the first, which requires, as we have
mentioned, all persons, bearing offices civil or
military, or holding command or place of trust,
or receiving pay or wages under any patent or
grant from his majesty, to take the oath of supre
macy under a penalty of 500 /. and under other
penalties. But the conscientious scruples of catho
lics to take this oath, continued to subject them,
though they are relieved by the annual act of
indemnity from the corporation and test acts, to
the act of George the first, and its disqualifi
cations.
LXXL 4.
Doctor Courayer.
Soon after the reformation was established in
England by queen Elizabeth, a controversy arose
on the validity of the ordinations of the clergy of
the church of England. Dodd gives, in his Church
History*, a full view of the principal facts and
arguments produced by the writers on each side.
The confroversy was renewed by Mr. Thomas
* Vol. ii. p. 269, et eeq.

188 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Ward in 1719 : a work*, written by him on this
subject, was much read, and produced several an
swers. Some publications on the same subject, —
as the ' " MSmoires sur la validiti des Ordinations
" des Anglois," of the abb^ Renaudot, — appeared
on the continent. They attracted the attention of
Peter Francis Courayer, a canon regular of St.
G6nevi^ve at Paris. In the disputes on Jansenism
he had taken an active part, and was among those,
who appealed from the bull Unigenitus. In 1 723,
he published his " Dissertation sur la validiti des
" Ordinations des Anglois, et sur la Successiofi des
" Eviques de V Eglise AngUcane," — which was im
mediately translated into English. — Replies to it
were published by the abb^ Gervaise, Mr. Fennel,
and the fathers Hardouin and le Quien of the
society of Jesus : that, of father le Quien, was con
sidered to be the most ably written. Father Cou
rayer published a defence of his work in 1726.
The university of Oxford presented him with
a diploma, conferring upon him the degree of
doctor of laws.
Understanding that his liberty was in danger, he
took refuge in England, and was kindly received by
Dr. Wake, then archbishop of Canterbury, and
by Dr. Sherlock, bishop of London : a pension
was settied upon him. His work was censured in
France, first, by the cardinal de NoaUles; then, by
two different assemblies of bishops, one at Paris
another at Embrun ; and finally, by a bull of pope
Benedict the fourteenth. As a reply to these, he
* " The Controversy of Ordination truly stated." 8vo.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 189
published his " Relation historique et apologetique
" des Sentimens et de la Conduite du pire le Cou-
" rayer, chanoine reguUer de Ste. Gineviive." — He
afterwards published French translations, with
notes, of " Father PauVs History of the Council of
" Trent," and Sleidan's " History of the Refor-
" mation." He died in 1776, at the advanced age
of ninety-five, retaining to the last his mental
facidties. He was well received at the court of
George the second, and particularly noticed by
queen Caroline and the princess Amelia. Having
lived in intimacy with many persons of distinction,
both in France and England, and being possessed
of extensive literary information, his conversation
was singularly pleasing and instructive. He always
pi-bfessed himself to be a sincere member of the
roman-catholic religion, and attended mass regu
larly on Sundays and holydays when his health
permitted, and an opportunity of doing it offered ;
but, when this was not the case, he attended the
service ofthe parish church*.
After the decease of le Courayer, Dr. Bell, pre
bendary of Westminster, published his last senti
ments, under the title of " Declaration de mes
" dernier s Sentimens sur les diffirens Dogmes de la
" Religion, par feu Pierre Francois le Courayer"
The manuscript of it had been given by him to the
* On the controversy occasioned by doctor Courayer, a,
work published on the continent, " Commentatio Historico-
" Theologica de Consecratione Anglorum Episcoporum, ab
" Olao Kiomingio, Hehnstadii, 1739, 4to.," may b6 usefiilly
consulted.

190 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
princess Amelia about nine years before his death.
He professes in it to die a member of the roman-
catholic church ; but the contents of it make it evi
dent that he could not be accounted a member of
that, or any other established church. In 1814, a
more full exposition of his religious sentiments;
intituled, " Traite, oil Von expose ce que VEcriture
nous apprend de la Divinite de Jesus Christ," was
published by Dr. Bell. From these works, the
general laxity of the opinions of pfere le Courayer
on religious subjects clearly appears.
LXXL 5.
Correspondence between archbishop Wake and Dr. Dupin,
for the Re-union of the Church of Rome and the Church
of England.
A VIEW of the, fatal effects which this animosity
has produced in the christian world, has often
made wise and peaceful men endeavour to re-unite
all denominations of christians in one, religion.
With this view, at an early period of the reforma
tion, Melancthon formed his celebrated distinction
of the points in dispute between roman-catholics
and protestants, into the essential, the important,
and the indifferent : — in a later period of the re
formation, Grotius, the most learned man of his
age, employed the last years of his life in projects
of religious pacification : towards the end of the
seventeenth century, a correspondence for the re
union of the roman-catholic and lutheran churches
was carried on between Bossziet on one side, and

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 191
Leibniz and Molanus on the other ; it may be seen
in the Benedictine edition of the works of Bossuet,
and Mr. Duten's edition of the works of Leibniz.
That such men as Melancthon, Grotius, Bossuet,
Leibniz, and Molanus, should engage in the pro
ject of re-union, is a strong argument in favour of
its practicability; that it failed in their hands, may
show that it is more than an Herculean labour ; but
does not prove it utterly impracticable. It is evi
dent, that, at one time more than another, the pub
lic mind may be disposed to peaceful councils, and
to feel the advantage of carrying mutual conces
sion, as far as the wise and good of each party
wish them carried. Perhaps the time is now come :
" The soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd,
" Lets in new lights through chinks which time has made."
Waller.
Through the flaws and breaches, the yawning
chasms, (as they are termed by Mr. Burke), which
the events of the times have made in the civil and
ecclesiastical institutions of almost every country,
a flood of light seems to break in, and to point out
to all who invoke the name of Christ, the expe
diency of mutual forbearance, mutual good humour,
and a general coalition in defence of their common
Christianity *.
All christians believe, 1st. That there is one
* A short account of the epistolary correspondence between
Bossuet and Leibniz, for the re-union of the roman-catholic
and lutheran churches, is given in the author's life of Bossuet. —
A very interesting account of the attempts which have been
made. to effect an union of the protestant churches among
themselves, is given by Mosheim, cent. xvii. sec. ii. part ii. ch. i.

192 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
God ; 2d. That he is a Being of infinite perfection;
3d. That he directs all things by his providence ;
4th. That it is our duty to love him with aU our
hearts, and our neighbour as ourselves ; 5th. That
it is our duty to repent of the sins we commit ; 6th.
That God pardons the truly penitent ; 7th.- That
there is a future state of rewards and punishments,
when all mankind shall be judged according to
their works ; Sth. That God sent his Son into the
world to be its Saviour, — the author of eternal sal
vation to all who obey him ; 9th. That he is the
true Messiah; loth. That he taught, worked mi
racles, suffered, died, and rose again, as is related
in the four gospels; 11th. That he will hereafter
make a second appearance on the earth, raise all
mankind from the dead, judge the world in right
eousness, bestow eternal life on the virtuous, and
punish the workers of iniquity. T
In the belief of these articles, all christians,
roman-catholics, lutherans, calvinists, socinians,
and unitarians, are agreed. In addition to these,
each division and subdivision of christians has its
own tenets *. Now, let each settle among its own
members, what are the articles of belief peculiar
to them, which, in their cool deliberate judgment,
they consider as absolutely necessary that a person
* " The Creed of pope Pius the fourth,'- expresses the whole
of the roman-catholic creed; we have therefore inserted it in
the Appendix, Note II.
A more full statement of the points in controversy between
catholics and protestants, is found in Bossuet's " Exposition
" de la Doctrine de I' Eglise catholique sur les matieres de Con-
" trovers^." i2mo.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 193
should believe, to be a member of the church of
Christ: — let these articles bedivested of all foreign
matter, and expressed in perspicuous, exact, and
unequivocal terms ; — and, above all, let each dis
tinction of christians eamestiy wish to find an
agreement between themselves and their fellow
christians : — the result of a discussion, conducted
on this plan, would most assuredly be, to convince
aU christians that the essential articles of religious
credence, in which there is a real difference among
christians, are not so numerous as the verbal dis
putes and extraneous matter, in which contro
versy is too often involved, make them generally
thought. Of aU protestant churches, the national church
of England most nearly resembles the church of
Rome. It has retained much of thfe dogma, and
much of the discipline of roman-catholics ; it pre
serves down to the subdeapon, the whole of thefr
hierarchy; and, like them, has its deans, rural
deans, chapters, prebends, archdeacons, rectors and'
vicars ; a liturgy, taken in a great measure from the
roman-catholic liturgy; and composed, like that, of
psalms, canticles, the three creeds, litanies, episties,
gospels, prayers and responses. Both churches have
the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist, the ab
solution of the sick, the burial service, the sign of
the cross in baptism, the reservation of confirma
tion and order to bishops, the diffierence of epis
copal and sacerdotal dress, feasts and fasts. With
out adopting all the general councils of the church
of Rome, the church of England has adopted the
VOL. III. o

194 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
first four of them ; and, without acknowledging
the authority of the other councils, or the authority
of the early fathers, the English divines of the
established church allow them to be entitled to a
high degree of respect. On the important article
of the eucharist, the language of the thirty-nine
articles sounds very like the docfrine of the church
of Rome. — Add to this, that of all protestant
churches, the church of England alone is, in the
tme sense of the word, episcopal.
At the time of which we are speaking, the doc
trines of the high church, which are generally con
sidered to incline to those of the roman-catholics
more than the doctrines of the low church, were in
favour with several great dignitaries of the esta
blished church of England ; and in France, where
the ultramontane principles on the power of the
pope had always been discountenanced, the dis
putes of Jansenism were supposed to reduce it very
low. On each side^ therefore, the time was thought
favourable to the project of the re-union.
It was also favourable to it, that, a few years be
fore this period, an event had taken place, which
naturaUy tended to put both sides into good
humour. On the occasion ofthe marriage of the princess
Christina of Wolfenbottie, a lutheran,-— with the
archduke of Austria, her court consulted the faculty:
of theology of the university of Helmstadt on tiie
question, " whether a protestant princess^— des-
" tined to marry a catholic prince, could, without
" wounding her conscience, embrace the roman-

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 195
*• catholic religion?" The faculty replied, '• that
" it could not answer the proposed question in a
" solid manner, without having previously decided,
" whether the catholics were or were not engaged
" in errors that were fundamental, and opposed to
" salvation ; or, (which was the same thins), whe-
" ther the state of the catholic church was such,
" that persons might practise in it the true worship
" of God, and arrive at salvation." The divines
of Helmstadt discussed this question at length;
and concluded in these terms : '¦ After having
" shown, that the foundation of religion subsists
" in the roman-catholic religion, so that a person
" may be orthodox in it, live weU in it, die weU in
'¦ it, and obtain salvation in it, the discussion of
" the proposed question is easy. We are, there-
" fore, of opinion, that the most serene princess of
'• WoKenbottie, may, in favour of her marriage,
" embrace the cathoUc religion. ' This opinion is
dated the 28th of April 1707. and was printed in
the same year at Cologne. The journalists of
Trevoux inserted both the original and a French
translation of it in thefr journal of May 1 708.
Lender these cfrcumstances, the correspondence
in question took place. It began in 1 71 8, through
Dr. Beauvofr, chaplain to lord Stafr, his Bri
tannic majesty's ambassador at Paris. Some con
versation on the re-union ofthe two churches having
taken place between Dr. Dupin and him, he ac-
cpainted the archbishop of Canterbury with the
sabject of them. This communication produced
some compliments from the archbishop to Dr.
o 2

196 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Dupin, and these led the latter to address to his
grace a Ifetter, in which he mentioned generally,
that, on some points in dispute, the supposed differ
ence between the two communions was recon-
cUeable. The correspondence getting wind. Dr.
Piers pronounced a discourse in the Sorbonne, in
which he eamestiy exhorted his colleagues to pro
mote the re-union, by revising those articles of doc
trine and discipline, which protestants branded with
the name <}f papal tyranny ; and contended, that by
proscribing the ultramontane doctrines, the first
step to the re-union would be made. The discourse
was communicated to Dr. Wake : in his answer,
he pressed Dr. Dupin for a more explicit declara
tion on the leading points in controversy.
In compliance with this requisiticwa, Dr. Dupin
drew up his " Commonitorium," and communicated
it to several persons of distinction, both in the state
and church of France. He discussed in it the
thirty-nine articles, as they regarded doctrine, mo
rality and discipline. He insisted on the necessity
of tradition, to interpret the scriptures, and to esta
blish the canonicity of the books ofthe Old and New
Testament. He insisted on the infaUibUity of the
church in faith and morals ; he contended tiiat the
sacrifice of the mass was not a simple sacrament,
but a continuation of the sacrifice of the cross.
, The word " transubstantiation," he seemed wUl-
ing to give up, if the roman-catholic docfrine, in
tended to be expressed by it, were retained. He
proposed, that communion under both kinds, or;
under bread alone, should be left to the discretioa

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 197
ofthe different churches ; he consented that persons
in holy orders should retain their state, with such
provisions as would place the validity of their ordi
nation beyond exception. The marriage of priests
in the countries, in which such marriages were
allowed, and the recitation of the divine service in
the vulgar tongue, he allowed ; and intimated that
no difficulty would be found in the ultimate settle
ment of the doctrine respecting purgatory, indul
gences, the veneration of saints, relics or images.
He seems to have thought that the pope can exer
cise no immediate jurisdiction within the dioceses
of bishops, and that his primacy invested him
with no more than a general conservation of the
deposit of the faith, a right to enforce the observ
ance of the sacred canons, and the general main
tenance of discipline. He allowed, in general
terms, that there was little substantially wrong in
the discipline of the church of England ; he de*
precated all discussion on the original merit of the
reformation, and professed to see no use in the pope's
intervention, tiU the basis of the negotiation should
be settied.
The answer of the archbishop was not very ex
plicit : it is evident from it, that he thought the
quarrels on Jansenism had alienated the jansenists
and their adherents from the pope, much more
than they had done in reality. He was willing to
concede to the pope a primacy of rank and honour,
but would by no means allow him a primacy of
jurisdiction, or any primacy by divine right. On
the other points, he seemed to have thought that
o 3

198 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
they might come to an agreement on what they
should declare to be the fundamental doctrine of
the churches, and adopt, on every other point of
doctrine, a general system of christian toleration.
The correspondence, which is very interesting,
may be seen in the last volume of the English
translation of Dr. Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History.
To facilitate the accomplishment of its object,
Dr. Courayer published a treatise, which Wj! have
mentioned, on the validity of English ordinations.
Both Dr. Wake and Dr. Dupin were censured
by the members of their respective communions,
for the parts which they had taken in this business.
Several rigid members of the English church, and
even some foreign protestants, blamed Dr. Wake
for what they termed his too great concessions.
In France, the worst of motives were imputed to
Dr. Dupin and his associates ; they were accused
of making unjustifiable sacrifices in order to form
an union between the jansenists and the members
of the English church. Even the regent took the
alarm : he ordered Dr. Dupin to discontinue the
correspondence, and to leave all the papers respect
ing it with the minister. This was done ; but the
most important of them have been printed in the
interesting and extensively circulated publication^
which has been mentioned.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 199

CHAP. LXXIL
BULL OF POPE BENEDICT THE FOURTEENTH,
REGULATING THE ENGLISH MISSION.
1753-
The period, which this compilation has reached,
now calls our attention to this internal history of
the catholics.
In a former page of these Memoirs we mentioned
the differences, which, at the time of which we were
then speaking, subsisted between the secular and
regular clergy in England, on the expediency of
the appointment of bishops, and the extent of the
powers with which the prelates appointed had been
invested: these differences were composed by a
bull of pope Benedict the fourteenth*. No per
son was better qualified by learning, good sense,
and pacific views, for effecting such' a measure,
than this amiable and respectable pontiff.
His hoUness derogates by this from the bulls
" Brittania" aud " Plantata" which we noticed in
^ former page ; those having, as he observes, been
issued before the establishment of the four vica-
riats, and not being calculated for that arrange
ment. He. decrees, that no missionaries, secular
or regular, should, whatever might be their privi
leges, administer the sacraments, or exercise any
* 5 May 1753.
o 4

200 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
other parochial duty, without the licence of the
vicars apostolic within whose districts they resided.
He considerably enlarges the spiritual powers of
fhe vicars apostolic and their rights to communi
cate or delegate them. On the other hand, he de
clares that the regular clergy are to be considered
as residing within their monasteries, so far as
respects their intemal economy : if therefore they
fail in duty or give scandal, their superior is to
punish them. The vicar apostolic, if the scandal
be of a public nature, may require the superior to
proceed against the offender, and, if the superior
neglect it, he is to be deprived of his ofl&ce, and
the bishop himself may act. This, he says, is con
formable to the canon law, and to the councU of
Trent. The vicars are to see that the secular
clergy do not frequent taverns, or other haunts of
idleness, and to proceed by suspension against
those who frequent them. If a difference arise
between a vicar apostolic and the superior of a
religious order respecting the conduct of any of its
members in the discharge of parochial duty, or in
the administration of the sacraments, the sentence
of the former is to be preferred to the opinion of
the latter. When a superior wishes to remove a
member of his order from the cure of souls, or the
administration of the sacraments, he may do it,
giving previous notice to the prelate; — and the
prelate in ordinary may do the same. In such
cases, it is not necessary that either should assign
his reasons forthe removal. " The vicars aposto-
" lie are particularly directed to punish in any

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 201
*' manner, but always witii severity, those of tiie
*' clergy, who talk, without due honour, of the
" national govemment. For the clergy should
" know that they reside in England, not to spread
" reports, or.to excite tumults, but forthe good of
" religion." His holiness imposes the same obli
gation on the superiors of the regulars, in respect
to lite members of their orders.

CHAP. LXXIIL
JANSENISM.

The writer has attempted to give, in his
" Historical Memoirs of the Church of France," a
succinct view ofthe principal events in the history
of Jansenism. After it had disturbed that church
for more than a century, the catholics of England
had the mortification to hear, that his holiness had
been informed that Jansenism had found its way to
them and to their principal foreign college. Never
was a charge less grounded or more triumphantly
refiited ; but, for a time, it occasioned considerable
agitation in the catholic body. — We shall present
an account of it to our readers : but to give them
even a slight sketch of the nature of Jansenism, it
is necessary to take them back to a very distant
period.

202 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
We feel thatwe are free: if we were not, con-
sbience would not exist ; for, if a man had not free
dom of action, conscience could not intimate to
him, either its approbation or its disapprobation of
his actions.
But hm are we free ? How is free-wiU recon-
cfleable either with the influence of motive on wiU ;
or with the order of the universe prescribed by the
Deity ; or with his prescience ? For that, which his
infinite mind has prescribed, or foresees, must be
fixed. These questions soon engaged the attention
of the Greek phUosophers : some advocated the
free-will of man ; others denied it, and ascribed all
his actions to fate or destiny, a being or an energy,
which they were never able to describe or define.
Among the jews, the sadducees embraced the for
mer opinion, the pharisees, the latter. Among the
lhahometans a like division prevailed betweeii the
foUowers of Omar, and the followers of Ali. It is
not a little remarkable, that, in all these instances,
superior sanctity and severity were uniformly
affected by the maintainers of fate ; — we should
naturally look for them among the maintainers of
free-will. Unfortunately, the christians engaged in these
perplexing speculations : — their disputes chiefly
tumed on the effect, which motive, suggested by
grace or the divine favour, has on human will.
Does it necessitate? then, there is no free-will.
Does it not necessitate ? then there is a good, of
which God is not author: This dispute was

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 203
brought to an issue by Pelagius and his disciples,
in the beginning of the fifth century. They held,
that man acts independently of divine grace, both
in the choice and execution of good. St. Augus
tine was the advocate of grace against the Pela
gians : he successfully contended, that divine grace
begins, advances, and brings to perfection every
thing in man, which can be justly called good,
but does not force him to act against his inclination,
and may therefore be resisted by his perverse
wUl.
This is the docfrine of the catholic church. Cal
vin professed to adopt the doctrine of St. Augus
tine ; but pushed it beyond its legitimate bearings,
by maintaining that God, from all eternity, has
determined, in respect to each individual, that he
should be lost or saved : and that Christ died for
those oiUy, whom he thus designs to save : — that
on them God bestows graces, which necessitate'
them to perform such actions, as are crowned by
eternal salvation, and withholds them from all others *,
so that, as all are bom in sin, all, from whom these
graces are withheld, continue objects of divine
reprobation both in time and etemity. — Thus Cal
vin pushed the system of St. Augustine, into the
dreary doctrine of absolute predestination.
The system of Jansenius lies between the con
flicting doctrines of St. Augustine and Calvin, but
veers considerably to the latter. It is fully detaUed
in a work composed by Jansenius, which, from the
alleged conformity of its docfrine with that of the

204 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
learned father, he intituled, " Augustinus." Five
propositions, containing the essence of that work,
were extracted from it, and condemned at different
times by pope Innocent the tenth, and some suc
ceeding popes. The doctrines of Jansenius were
afterwards adopted by Quesnel, a priest of the
congregation of the oratory. — A work written by
him, intituled " Moral Reflections," was greatly
admired on its first appearance : but, when it was
attentively examined, was found to contain the
doctrines of Jansenius, blended, in an elegant and
artful manner, with much, that was really good.
It was condemned in 1713 by pope Clement the
thirteenth, by a bull intituled, from the first word
of it, " Unigenitus." Four French bishops and
several of the French clergy appealed from this
bull, and acquired by it the name of appeUantg.
A controversy ensued, which has subsisted, in a
less or greater degree, to the present time.
Other opinions were charged on the disciples of
Jansenius ; and these were the more dangerous,
because bad practical consequences were deducible
from them, and because, to use an expression of
Bossuet, their mischief chiefly lay in pushing sound
doctrine to extreme consequences ; so that it be
came difficult to fix on the point at which the di
vergence from the line of tmth began, and the first
step into error was made. "Jansenism," said a
gentieman, whose words Fleury * cites with respect,
* Opusculea de Fleury, p. 227.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 205
*' is the most subfle heresy that the devU ever wove-
" The jansenists saw, that the protestants, in sepa-
*' rating from the church, subscribed to thefr own
" condemnation, as this separation was always a
^' matter of reproach. The jansenists therefore laid
" it down, for a ftmdamental rule of their conduct,
** never to separate themselves extemaUy fi^m the
" church, and always to make a profession of sub-
*' mitting to her decisions, taking care, however,
" to be furnished with subtieties that would ex-
*' plain them away ; and thus, without real change
*' of thefr opinion, they had the appearance of
¦" submission." But the accusation of Jansenism was of^nmade
without sufficient ground : — aU, who adopted the
five propositions, or any of them, — or asserted that
tiiey, or any of them, were not contained in the
Angu^inus ; and aU, who adopted the propositions
condemned in the work of Quesnel, or any of them,
in the sense in which they were condemned, — or
who appealed from the buU Unigenitus, were pro
perly termed jansenists ; and the same ^peUation
might be given with propriety to those, who main
tained doctrines substantially the same, or fafrly
deducible, as consequences, from the propositions,
which we have mentioned. — But, whether a doc
trine was thus the same, or thus deducible, was not
always clear. Hence, the imputation of Jansenism
was sometimes unguardedly, sometimes unjustiy,
and sometimes wickedly applied. This happened
the more frequently on account of the proscription
of Jansenism by Lewis &e fourteenth, and his

206 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
dourt * ; " From his youth," sayS a well informed
writer f, " the jansenists had been described to
" him, and he uniformly considered them, as a
" dangerous cabal ; a sect that was inimical to
" every kind of authority. Madame de Maintenon,
'* if we are to judge of her real sentiments, by a
" kind of profession of faith, which she sent to a
" young lady of St. Cyr, entertained the same
" opinion of them." " You will find in the New
"Testament," says the discerning lady, with her
usual good sense, " that a good tree produces gopd
" fruit; you will also find that the jansenist^s pro-
" duce bad fruit that they shake off the yoke of
" the church ; that, openly enough, they despise
" the pope ; that they avoid indirect blame of the
" king, but that they say he is mistaken:]:. That
" they principally affect moderation, to gain over
" the ladies to them. They announce to the sex
" that they are capable of passing judgment on
" doctrinal matters. In this, you see nothing of
" christian humility and obedience ; particularly in
" regard to us women, who, whatever wit we may
" have, are ignorant. We are too happy to be
" obliged by our sex and inexperience, to sim-
"" plicity and submission ; for this is the safest and
* " La definition que le Marechal d'Harcourt donnoit du
" jansenisme, 6toit, ' qu'un janseniste n'6toit souvent autre
t' chose, qu'un homme qu'on vouloit perdre k la cour,'— -car il
" suffisoit alors d'en rfepandre lesoupfon pour perdre les meil-
" leurs sujets dans I'esprit du roi."— (Euvres du Chancellier
d'Aguesseau, tom. xiii. p. 123.
' f Louis Quatorze, et sa Cour et la Regent, vol. iii, p, 87.
X Surely this was not heresy.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 207
" surest road : but we are not wise enough to avaU
" ourselves of our happiness." — It is impossible
not to admire the general good sense of these
observations. The consequence of the dislike of Lewis the
fourteenth, to the jansenists was, that the words
"Jansenism" and "jansenist" were often whoUy
misapplied ; and that even, when they were used
to designate real heresy or real error, the heresy
or the error had nothing in common with the doc
trines peculiar to Jansenism. Sometimes excessive
zeal, sometimes sinister views barbed the dart,
which carried the imputation. This, all moderate
men lamented : — it grew at length to such a height,
that in 1694, pope Innocent the twelfth addressed
a bull to the bishops of Flanders, in which he
ordered, in the most explicit terms, "thatthey
" should not permit any person to be traduced, or
" marked out, by the vague accusation and invidious
" name of Jansenism, unless it had been previonsly
'.' ascertained, thathe had taught or held one of the
" five propositions; and that they iShould nOtpermit
" any one, except in a due course of Idw, to be
" excluded, under this pretext, from offices, gra-
" tuities, benefices, degrees, or the pulpit." By a
subsequent brief, in the year 1 696, the same pope
severely censured those, who spread the charge of
Jansenism from private views. In the same spirit,
the clergy of France declared, at their general as
sembly in 1 700, " their reprobation of those busy
" and malevolent persons, who fixed on good men,
" or on men zealous in ecclesiastical duty, a vague

208 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" and undefined charge of Jansenism, because they
"harshly declaimed against the actual comiption
" of manners."
Jansenism, even in the loosest sense, which can,
with any kind of propriety, be given to that word,
seems never to have made any serious progress,
either among the clergy or the laity of the English
catholics : yet, it was charged on the former, parti
cularly on the clergy of Douay college ; and tbe
charge was conveyed to the congregation depropa-
ganddjide at Rome*. Grimaldi, their secretaty,
transmitted it to the internuncio at Brussels, with
an order to communicate it to the English catholic
prelates, — that the accused might have an opportu
nity of defending themselves. In consequence of
it, Dr. James Smith, the vicar apostolic of the
northern district, addressed a letter to cardinal
Caprara, dated the 23d of September 1 707. He
first gives an absolute denial to the general charge;
then, descending into particulars, gives a denial,
equally absolute, to each. The clergy, in the mean
time, collected testimonials of their innocence,
from all the vicars apostolic, and the superiors of
the regular clergy. — " The vicar apostolic of the
" London district," according to a letter which
Mr. Dodd has inserted in his History, — " accom-
" panied by one of his vicars-general, made the
" good father-provincial of the Jesuits a visit, and
"-desired him freely to declare, if he knew of any
" priest in his district, who might be justiy accused
" or suspected of Jansenism. The reverend fether,
* Dodd, vol. iii. p. 519.

HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF 209
" as a person of worth and integrity, answered,
" ' that he knew not, nor heard of any such person,
"in his lordship's whole district:' — and further
" added, ' that he was newly returned from his
" visit in the northern parts, and that he neither
" had heard, nor did know any person in that dis-
" trict, who could be accused of the said opinion
" of Jansenism.' "
StUl, the charges continued to be made, and the
coUege at Douay continued to be involved in them.
A letter of Dr. Witham*, the vicar apostolic of
the midland district, to Dr. Paston, the presi
dent of that college, acquaints him that " cardinal
" Paulucci had lately written to the two senior
" vicars apostolic and to him, to acquaint them, that
" his holiness had been informed, or, as the letter
" has it, that notice had come to him, that many
" and divers teachers and scholars in his college
." publicly taught and learned the false doctrine of
" Jansenius; and had commanded the said Pau-
." iucci to signify to him, that he should, with all
"diligence possible, procure them to be removed,
" that others might be substituted in their room, of
^' singiilar piety, and particularly professors ofthe
," catholic doctrine,^(for so he expresses himself,)
" — -to the end that the see apostolic might not
^* otherwise be necessitated to suspend the pension
^' or rents usually allowed to the coUege, and
" convert them to other uses." — The same circum^
stance is noticed,- in the letter from Dr. James
:Smith to cardinal Caprara, ;
... . , * Dodd, vph iii, p. 520.
VOL. III. P

210 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
To defend themselves against these charges, th«
gentiemen of Douay college first made a firm and
modest protestation of their innocence, and an ex
plicit profession of their adherence to the holy see,
and their absolute and unequivocal submission to
the pontifical decrees on the subject of Jansenism. —
They then transmitted to Rome a testimonial from
the heads of the university and town of Douay, in
favour of their piety and learning, the purity of
their doctrine, and their equal freedom from loose
morality and affected severity. — A testimonial was
afterwards subscribed by the duke of Berwick, the
duke of Perth, and other distinguished persons at
the court of St. Germain, by which they declared, —
i(as-they said they were bound to do injustice and
charity), — their perfect conviction that the charges
brought against the college were falSe, invidious,
and ofa tendency to subvert peace and religiottin
the catholic church of England *.— -At length, a
visitation of Douay college took place, by the order
of his holiness. A strict inquiry)" was made into
its docfrine and discipline ; and two formal sub
scriptions to ali the decrees of the holy see, on the
subjectof Jansenism, were made, — one in 1710, by
the four vicars apostolic, and the other in 1714,
by the superiors of the college. With these, his
holiness, in two letters written at his direction by
cardinal PauluGci,declared himself tobe abundantiy
satisfied. Here the matter ended. — A serious and certainly
an impartial examination ofthe proceedings of tiie
* Dodd, vol. iii. p. 521. f Ib.480.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 211
jansenists, has led the writer to think that they
were uniformly wrong : — wrong, in averring that
the five propositions were not contained in the Au
gustinus ; wrong, in maintaining that the church
did not condemn them in the sense which the lan
guage of that work imported ; wrong, in denying
the right of the church to pronounce on the true
sense of an author's writings on religious subjects ;
wrong, in all their distinctions and evasions ; and
wrong, in the excessive severity of their morality.
This was the decided and avowed opinion of Bos
suet, F(6nelon, Fldchier, and Fleury ; and the opi
nions of these eminent lights of the church are of
the greater weight upon this point, as, with the
exception of F^n^lon, all of them abstained from
the controversy.
That Lewis the fourteenth entered into it as he
did, is greatiy to be lamented : if he had left Jan
senism to the church, janse&ism would, in all pro
babUity, have soon died away ; it is difficult to find
in history, a single instance, in which, if persecu
tion has stopped short of extermination, it has not
botii increased and perpetuated the opinions which
it was meant to jH-oscribe.
It is also to be lamented, that the charge of Jan
senism was often inconsiderately made. It was a
serious charge; and, in proportion as it was serious,
should have been slowly and cautiously urged.
Vague and indistinct imputations x)f it should have
been avoided. We have seen the terms in which
these were condemned by popes and prelates ;
those who made them should have reflected, that,
p 2

212 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
if bulls and briefs of the holy see condemned Jan
senism, bulls and briefs equally condemned these
vague and indistinct imputations.

CHAP. LXXIV.

THE METHODISTS,  THE ANTINOMIANS, — AND
MORAVIANS.
Jansenism was more successful in intmding
itself into the protestant than into the catholic
church of England.
About the time, which these Memoirs have now
reached, Methodism began to attract the notice
of the public. The celebrated John Wesley, its
patriarch, was hostile to the leading doctrines of
Jansenism ; the celebrated George Whitfield, a rival
chief of the same denomination, was their advo
cate ; and the difference has been perpetuated be
tween their disciples. Some account, in this place,
of the JNIethodists, and of the Antinomians, and
Moravians, with whom their history is intimately
connected, will not, it is apprehended, be deemed
foreign to the subject. We shall add a succinct state
ment of the difference between the roman-catholic
church and the lutherans and methodists, on the
subject of justification.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLIC?. 213
LXXIV. 1.
The Methodists.
Talents of no ordinary kind, and a devotional
temper, were hereditary in the family of Wesley.
He was born in 1 703, at Epworth, in the Lmdsay
division of Leicestershire. Two books, " The
" Following of Christ," usually ascribed to Thomas
k Kempis"*, and Dr. Jeremy Taylor's " Rules of
" Holy Living and Dying," made an early and
a lasting impression upon him. The taking up of
the cross, as it is inculcated by these writers, at first
revolted him : — mentioning this to his mother, a
woman of uncommon intellectual powers, she gave
him this excellent lesson : " Would you judge of
" the lawfulness or unlawfulness of pleasure, — take
" this rule ; — whatever weakens your reason, im~
" pairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures
" your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiri-
" tual things; — in short, — whatever, increases the
" strength and authority of your body over your
" mind, — that thing is sin inyou, however innocent
* A Life of Thomas h. Eempis has been published by the
writer of these pages, 1 vol. 8vo. Numerous are the treatises
written to ascertain who is the author of The Imkation ;
this, even now, is the subject ofa literary controversy at Paris,
^See " Dissertation sur soixante Traductions Franfaises de
" rimitation de Jesus Christ, dedine h sa Majeste ITmperatrice
" et Reine. Par Ant. Alex. Barbier, bibliothecaire de sa ma-
" jeste Fempereur et roi, et de son cqnseil d'etat. Suivie des
" considerations sur la question relative d I'auteur de ITmita-
" tion. Paris, 1812, 8vo."
P 3

214 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" it may be in itself." Wesley afterwards became
acquainted with the celebrated WiUiam Law, and
was much affected by his conversation and writings.
One expression of that gentleman sunk deep into
Wesley's heart, — " You would have," Law said to
him, " a philosophical religion : — but the^ e can be
" no such thing. Religion is the most plain, simple
" thing in the world : — it is only,— TFe love Hii/i
" because He first loved us*."
, Charles Wesley, the younger brother of Johnj
juid soipe of his associate?, acquired at Oxford, by
their piety and mortified habits, the appellation of
JVIethodists. John soon became their leader. He
addicted himself with great earnestness to theolo
gical study, obtained a fellowship in Lincoln college,
and was appointed a Greek lecturer and moderator
ofthe classes. He then traveUed to New Georgia^
to convert the Indians, and, at the end of two
ye.ars, returned to England. i
Mr. Soutjiey, from whose valuable Life of Wes->
ley we have eXitracted the foregoing passages, has
given in it a curipus jacpount of the church of Epg-
laiid, frprn.the reformation till the time of Wesley's
predication. He closes it with the following re
markable passage, which, tiiough we do not acqui
esce in every part of it, we transcribe with pleasure.
* '- Law is a powerful writer : it is said that few books have
" ever made so many religious enthusiasts as his Christian
" Perfection anihis Serious CaU: indeed the youth who should
« read them without being perilously affected, must have either
" a light mind, or an unusually strong one." — The Life of
Wesley, and the Rise and Progress of Methodism, by Robert
Southey, esq. — 1820, 2 vols. 8vo.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 215
Speaking of that period of the reformation, which
immediately followed its establishment by the first
parliament of Elizabeth, he says,-^" The evil was,
" that, among the educated classes> too little care
" was taken to imbue them early with this better
" faith ; and too littie exertion used for awakening
" them from the pursuits and vanities of this world,
" to a salutary and hopeful contemplation of that,
" which is to come. And there was the heavier
" evil, that the greater part of tbe nation were
" totally uneducated ;^-christians no farther than
^' the mere ceremony of baptism could make them,
" — being for the most part in a state of heathen
" or worse than heathen ignorance. In truth,'
" they had never been converted ; for, at first, one
" idolatry had been substituted for another : in
" this, they had followed the fashion of their
" lords; and when the Romish idolatry was ex-
" peUed, the change on their part was stiU a matter
" of necessary submission ; — they were left as ig-
" norant of real Christianity as they were found.
" The world has never yet seen a nation of
" christians. " Three measures then were required for com-
" pleting the reftmnation in England : that the
'^ ©ondition of the inferior clergy should be im-
" proved ; that the number of religious instructors
** should be greatiy increased ; and that a system
" of parochial education should be established and
" vigilantly upheld. These measures could only
" be effected by the legislature. A fourth thing
** was needful,— that the clergy should be awakened
P 4

216 HISTORICAL Memoirs of'
" to an active discharge of their duty ; and this
" was not within the power of legislation. The
" former objects never for a moment occupied ^
" Wesley's consideration. He began life with
"ascetic ' habits and opinions; with a restiess"
" spirit, arid a fiery heart. Ease and comfort were
" neither congenial to his disposition nor his prin-
" cipleS : wealth was not necessary for his calling,^
"and it was beneath his thoughts : he could com-'
" mand not merely respectability without it, but'
" importance. Nor was he long before he dis-
" covered what St. Francis and his followers and
"imitators had demonstrated long before, that
" they, who profess poverty for conscience-sake,'
" and trust for daily bread to the religious sympa-
" thy which they excite, will find it as surely as
" Elijah in the wilderness, and without a miracle.'
" As littie did the subject of national education
" engage his mind : his aim was direct, immediate,'
" palpable utility. Nor could he have effected
'' any thing upon either of these great legislative'
" points : the most urgent representations, the
" most convincing arguments, would have been
"^ disregarded in that age, for the time was not
'-come. The great sfruggle between the destruc-'
" tive and conservative principles, — between good
" and evil, — had not yet commenced ; and it was
" not then foreseen that the very foundations of
" civil society would be shaken, because govern-
" ments had neglected their most awful and most
" important duty. But the present consequences
" of this neglect were obvious and glaring; the'

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS: 217
" mdeness of the peasantry, the brutality of the
" town populace, the prevalence of drunkenness,
" the growth, of impiety, the general deadness to
" religion. These might be combated by indivi-
" dual exertions, and Wesley felt in himself the
" power and the will both in such plenitude, that
" they appeared to him a manifestation,, riot to be
" doubted, of the will of Heaven. Every trial
" tended to confirm him in this persuasion ; and
" the effects which he produced, both upon body
" and mind, appeared equally to himself and to his
^'.followers miraculous. Diseases were arrested Or
" subdued by the faith which he inspired,— ^mad-
" ness was appeased, and, in the sound and sanej
" paroxysms were excited, which were new to pa-
" thology, and which he believed to be supernatural
" interpositions, vouchsafed in furtherance of his
" efforts by the spirit of God, or worked in opposi-
" tion to them by the exasperated principle of evil.
" Drunkards were reclaimed, sinners were cOn-
^' verted; the penitent who came in despair was
" sent away with the full assurance of joy ; the
" dead sleep ofindifference was broken; and often^
" times his eloquence reached the hard brute heart,
" and opening it, like the rock of Horeb, made
" way for the living spring of piety which had been
"pent within. These effects he saw,— they were
" public and undeniable ; and looking forward in
" exultant faith, he hoped that the leaven would
=" not cease to work till it had leavened the whole
" mass; that the impulse which he had given would
"surely, though slowly^ operate a national refor-

218 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" mation, and bring about, in fulness of time, die
" fiilfihnent of those prc^iecies which promise us,
" that die kingdom of our Father shall come,- and
^' His wiU be done in earth as it is in heaven.
" With all this, there was intermingled a large
" portion of enthusiasm, and no small one of su-*
" perstition; much, that was erroneous, much, that
" wasmischievous, much, that was dangerous. But,
" had he been less enthusiastic, of an Aumbler spirit,
" or a quieter heart, or a maturer judgment, he
" would never have commenced his undertaking:
'^ SensUale only of the good which he was pro-
" ducing, and whidi he saw produced, he went on
" cGurageonsly and indefatigably in his career.
*' Whithei it was to lead he knew not, nor what
" form and consistence the societies which he was
" coile^ing would assume ; nor, where he was to
" find labourers, as he enlarged the field of his
" operatiqas ; nor how the scheme was to derive
" its temporal suj^ort But these considerations
" neither froubled him, nor made him for a moment
" foreslackhis course. God, he beUeved, had ap-
-' pointed it, and God would always provide means
''for accomplishing his own ends."
Such was John Wesley, — such were his endow
ments and his views l— the conversion of George
Whitfield was of a prior date : lie also had joined
the Oxford methodists, and had prayed much : — stiU
he wanted feith : — he thus speaks of himself:. —
" And the faith, whicli I wanted, was a sure trust
^' and confidence in God, that, through tiie merits
" of Christ, my sins were forgiven, and that I was

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 219
'^ reconciled to God. — At the end of a sickness of
" seven weeks, after having undergone innumerable
" buffetings of Satan, and many months inexpres-
" sible frials, night and day, under the spirit of-
" bondage, God was pleased at lengtii to remove
" the heavy load, — the weight of sin went off, and
' an abiding sense of the pardoning love of God,
" and a full assurance of faitii, broke in upon my
" disconsolate soul. — At first, my joys were like a
" spring-tide, and, as it were, overflowed the banks.
" Go where I would,. I could not avoid singing
" psalms almost aloud ; afterwards, they became
" more settied, and, blessed be God ! saving a few
" casual intervals, have abode and increased in my
" soul ever since.
"At length, on the 24th of May 1738, about
" a quarter before nine,-^! felt my heart strangely
" warmed. I felt that I did trust in Christ, — ^^in
" Christ alone, — for salvation ; and an assurance
" was given me, tiiat Christ had taken away my
" sins, even my sins, and saved me from the law of
" sin and death."
The leading article, the key of the religious sys
tem of both is the same. Mr. Southey*, using their
own language, announces it in the following terms,
— " Whosoever thou art, O man ! who hast the
" sentence of death on thyself, unto thee saith the
" Lord, — not, — ' Do this, — perfectly obey all ray
" commandments, and live,' — but, — ' Believe in
" the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
" saved.'" — Mr. Southey premises, that according
• Vol. ii. p. 120.

220 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
to the system of each, — " this belief is the firee
" gift of God ; no merit, no goodness in man,
" precedes the forgiving love of God."
Most persons who have read these and other
passages of a Uke nature in the writings of these
fathers of the methodist church, standing as they
often do, single and unexplained, will immediately
conclude tiiat they lead to a frightful conclusion ; as
they appeal- to import, that a wicked man, if he be
lieve what should be believed, becomes, though he
continue in his sin, justified in the sight of Grod,
and assured of his salvation.
Butthis, say the followers of ^Vesley, is a mistake,
arising from a misapprehension of the true import
of the word " faith." — In tiie sense in which it is
used by Wesley, it does not signify an opinion, or a
collection of opinions: " it is a feeling ofthe soul
" whereby, through the power of the Highest, —
" who overshadows him, — the person, who has this
" feeling, perceives the presence of Him, whom he
" loveth, in whom he lives, moves, and has his be-
" ing; and feels the love of God shed in his heart.
" — I feel by it,"" he says *, " an inward impres-
" sion on my soul, whereby the Spirit of God, im-
" mediately and directiy witnesseth to my spirit
" that I am a chUd of God ; — that Jesus Christ
" has loved me ; has given himself to me ; that all
" my sins are blotted out, and that I am reconciled
" io God." — This feeling, or experience as it is
termed by the methodists, is not, by their account,
the result of reasoning ; it is the voice of the Spfrit,
• Sermon on « The Witness of the Spirit."

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 221
announcing its presence antecedentiy to any reason
ing. They add, that none should presume to rest
on this testimony of the Spirit, unless it is accom
panied by charity, and its inseparable fruits, the
love of God, and the love of our neighbour.
Now, — if we divest these doctrines of the me
thodists of the language of exaltation, in which
they are generally expressed, is there not some
groimd to contend, that it is substantially the same,
or nearly the same, as the doctrine received by all
christians, that he who loves God, keeps his
commandments ; and that such a person has a good
conscience, and therefore a consciousness of divine
favour ? — The misfortune seems to be, that the ge
nerality of the preachers of this school dwell com
paratively so much on the feeling of divine favour,
and so little on the works, which, as they acknow
ledge, must, if it be true, accompany it, as to make
it thought, that this saving faith may subsist with
out them. — In justice, however, to the methodists,
it is necessary to add, that this consequence exists
among them in theory more than in practice ; as,
wherever methodism prevails, a general improve
ment of morals, a general increase and extension
of industry, frugality, and other useful virtues and
habits, ordinarily follow.
On the great points of grace and the atonement,
the doctrines of Wesley and Whitfield were diame
trically opposite. — Wesley held with Arminius,—
1st, that God has not fixed the future fate of mankind
by an absolute unconditional decree ; but that he
determined, from all eternity, to bestow salvation

232 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
on those, whom he foresaw would persevere to -tiie
end in their faith in Jesus Christ : and to inffict
punishment on those, who should continue in th^
unbelief, and resist to the end his divine assistance :
— 2dlv. that Jesus Christ by his death and suffer-*
ings made an atonement for tiie sins of aU mankind
in general, and of every individual in particular;
but that those only, who believe in him, can be
partakers of this divine benefit.
"S^Tiitfield held with Calvin, — 1st, that God has
chosen a certain nmnber in Christ to everlasting
glory, before the foundation of the world, according
fC^ his immutable purpose, and of his free grace and
love, without any regard to the faith, good works^
or any other conditions, to be performed by the
creature ; and that he was pleased to pass bv the
rest of mankind, and to ordain them to dishonour
and wrath for their sins, to the praise of vindic
tive justice : — 2dly, that Jesus Christ suffered and
died for the elect only, and atoned only for thefr
sins. But however Wesley and Whitfield disagreed
on the two imporlant points which have been men
tioned, — therie was a perfect s^eement between
them on the two^ distinguishing principles of me
thodism : 1 st, the salvation by feitii in Jesus Chris^-
— 2dly, a. perceptible, and in some cases, an instan
taneous conversion, with a feeling assurance of
reconciliation to God.^This, they term the nev^
birth. A war of words took place between Wesley and
Whitfield, on the points in difference between

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 223
them. They were afterwards reconciled. " I love
" you and honour you," Whitfield says in a letter
to Wesley ; " and, when I come to judgment, will
" thank you before men and angels for what you
" have, under God,, done for my soul. There,
" I am persuaded, I shall see dear Mr. Wesley
" convinced of election and everlasting love. And
" it often fills me with pleasure to think, ho\^ I
" shall behold you, casting your crown down at the
" feet of the Lamb, and, as it were, filled with a
" holy blushing, for opposing the divine sovereign^
" in the manner yon have done. "
The eloquence of these extraordinary men was
wonderful, — but rather equal than alike ; — Whit
field was commanding, — ^Wesley was insinuating :
Whitfield had littie reading, — Wesley was both a
gentieman and a scholar.
Psalmody was employed by each with great ef*
feet ; but it was of the simplest kind: — it is one of
Wesley's injunctions, that different words- should
never be sung at the same time by differentperfeonSj
and that no syllableshould have niore than one ndte.
On different occasions, Wesley wrote against
the catholics, and " one of his writings," says
Mr. Southey, his biographer, " gave the cathoHcS
" an advantage, because it defended the protestant
"association of 1780; and the events, which
" speedily followed, were turned against him* Butj
" upon the great points in dispute, he was clear
" and cogent, and the temper of this, as of his
" other controversial fraets, was such, that, some
" years afterwards, when a common friend invited

224 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" him to meet his antagonist, father O'Lcary, if
" was gratifyino- to both parties to meet upon'
" terms of courtesy and mutual good will."
LXXIV. 2.
Aiilinotiiirtni.wi.
Tjie doctrines of Wesley are said to have a re
mote, those of Whitfield a much nearer tendency t(y
antinomianisra*. The English antinomians arede-'
scendants of a certain sect of presbyterians, who'
arose in the civil war. Thoy maintain, as principles,'
certain consequences which they draw from the
doctrines of Calvin, but wliich he himself rejected,
and which tho rational part of his followers equally
reject. — According to the antinomians, — as those,
whom God has elected to salvation, will, by the
irresistible impulse of divine grace, be led to piety
and virtue, it necessarily follows that instruction,
admonition, and exhortation, ai-e, in their regard,
absolutely unnecessary.
Some carry this doctrine to a more frightful
length, — they maintain that, as the elect cannot for
feit the divine favour, their violations of the divine
law will not be charged upon them, and they need
not, therefore, repent of them.
Some even maintain, tiiat the violations, however
enormous, by the elect, of the divine law, are not
sins, in the sight of God; because it is one ofthe
* See Toland's Letter to Le Clerc, in tho BibliothOque Uni-
verselle et Critique, tome xxxiii. p. 505. Mosheim. Ecc. Hist.
cent. xvii. sec. 3. p. 2.

THE ENGUSH CATHOLICS. 225
essential and distinctive characters ofthe elect, that
they cannot do any thing, which is either displeasing
to God, or prohibited by his law. Against the an
tinomians, Wesley uniformly preached and acted :
his successor, Mr. Fletcher of Madeley*, was their
ablest opponent. — Itmustbe added, that the calvin
ists themselves deny, that any of these antinomian
tenets are justly inferrible from their doctrines.
The tendency, however remote, of his avowed
doctrines, to antinomianism, did not escapeWesley's
own observation. Mr. Southey "j" cites from his
works, this remarkable passage : " The true gospel
" touches on the very edge both of Calvinism and
" antinomianism, so that nothing but the mighty
" power ofGod can prevent our sliding into one or
" the other." LXXIV. 3.
The Moravians,
To this denomination of christians, Wesley once
had nearly aggregated himself; he afterwards de
clared against them, and finaUy separated himself
and his disciples formally from them : at that time
a degree of fanaticism, which does not now belong
to them, was justly imputed to them.
The foUowing is a succinct outiine of their his
tory and tenets.
In 1570, a congress of Bohemian, Polish, and
Switzer protestants, some of whom were lutherans,
some calvinists, and some socinians, was held at
• In his Four Checks, to Antinomiamsm.
t Life of Wesley, vol. iL p. 189.
VOL. III. ft

226 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Sendomir*. They agreed on a formulary called
" The Consent of Sendomir." But the agreement
was of short duration ; for almost immediately
after it was signed, the majority of the Bohemians
entered into communion with the Helvetic churches.
In 1620, a general union of all the Bohemian
churches was effected at Astrog, under the name of
The Church of the United Brethren.
The original settlement of these churches was in
Bohemia and Moravia. Persecution scattered the
members of them : a considerable number of the
fugitives settled at Herrnhut, a village in Lusatia,
There, under the protection and guidance of count
Zinzendorf, they formed themselves into a newcom-
munity, which was designed to comprehend their
actual and future congregations, under the title of
" The Protestant Church of the Unitas Fratrum,
" or United Brethren of the Confession of Augs-
" burgh." That Confession is their only symbolic
book; but they profess great esteem for the eighteen
first chapters of the synodical document of the
church of Berne in 1532, as a declaration of tme
christian doctrine. They also respect the writings
of count Zinzendorf, but do not consider themselves
bound by any opinion, sentiment, or expression,
which these contain. It is acknowledged, that,
towards the middle of the last century, they used
in their devotional exercises, particularly in their
* This document, and a curious account of the congress at
which it was framed, was published by Jablonski, at Beriin, in
1731, in one vol. 4to. with the title Historia Consensus Sendo-
mirensis.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 227
hymns, many expressions justiy censurable : but
these have been corrected. They consider luther
ans and calvinists to be their brethren in faitii, as
according with them in the essential articles of
reUgion ; and therefore, when any of their mem
bers reside at a distance from a cono-reo:ation
of the united brethren, tiiey not only attend a
lutheran or calvinist church, but receive the sacra
ment from its ministers, without scruple. In this,
they profess to act in conformity to the convention
at Sendomir.
The union, which prevaUs both among the con
gregations, and the individuals which compose
them, thefr modest and humble carriage, their
moderation in lucrative pursuits, the simplicity of
thefr maimers, thefr laborious industry, thefr frugal
habits, thefr ardent but mUd piety, and thefr regular
discharge of all thefr spfritual observances, are
universaUy acknowledged and admfred. Thefr
charities are boundless, thefr kindness to thefr poor
brethren is most edifying : there is not among them
a beggar. The care which they bestow on the
education of thefr chUdren, in forming thefr minds,
chastening- thefr hearts, and curbing thefr imagina
tions, — ^particularly in those years,
" _  When youth, elate and gay,
" Steps into life, and follows, unrestrained,
" Where passion leads, or reason points the way ;" —
LOWTH ;
are universaUy acknowledged, universaUy admired,
and deserve universal imitation.
But, it is principaUy by the extent and success of
thefr missionaiy labours that they now engage the
a 2

228 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
attention of the public. These began in 1732. In
1812, they had thirty-three settlements in heathen
nations — one hundred and thirty-seven mission
aries were employed in them : they had baptized
twenty-seven thousand four hundred converts : and
such had been their care in admitting them to that
sacred rite, and such their assiduity in cultivating
a spirit of religion among them, that scarcely an
individual had been known to relapse into pa
ganism. All travellers who have visited their set
tiements, speak with wonder and praise of the
humility, the patient endurance of privation and
hardship, the affectionate zeal, the mild and perse
vering exertions of the missionaries ; and the inno
cence, industry, and piety of the converts : — the
European, the American, the African, and the
Asiatic traveller, speak of them in the same terms :
and, that they speak without exaggeration, the con
duct both of the pastor and the flock, in the different
settlements of the united brethren in England, in-
contestibly proves. Whatever he may think of
their religious tenets. Talis cum sis, utinam noster
esses, must be the exclamation of every christian,
who considers their lives *.
* Those who desire further knowledge of this amiable and
worthy denomination of christians, will find it in David
Crantz's Ancient and Modern History ofthe Brethren, printed
at Earby, 1771, andthe two Continuations qfit, Barhy, 1791,
and 1 804. The History has been translated into English, and is
become exceedingly scarce : the Continuations have not been
translated. Mr. La Trobe, the pastor of the united brethren
in London, has published & Concise Historical Recount ofthe
Protectant Church of the United Brethren adhering to the Con
fession of Augsburgh.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 229

LXXIV. 4.
The Difference between the Roman-catholic Church and
the Lutherans and Methodists, on the subject of Justi-
JicatioH. With a short statement of this difference, we
shall close this chapter.
" The justification ofthe sinner," to use Luther's
own language, " was the principle and source
" from which all his doctrine flowed." So great, in
his opinion, was the importance of this article of
christian faith, that he thought himself warranted
in asserting, that, " while the doctrine upon it was
" pure, there would be no reason to fear either
" schism or division ; but that, if the true doctrine
" of justification were altered, it would be impossi-
" ble to oppose error, or to stop the progress of
" fanaticism*." It is far from the object of these
pages to enter into any thing like controversial
discussion ; but the writer thinks his readers wiU
not be displeased to find in this place, an accurate
statement of the doctrines of the roman-catholic
and lutheran churches upon this important tenet of
their respective creeds. It is expressed with ex
treme accuracy, in the Letters of father Scheffmacker,
a work highly celebrated on the continent f . The
* Luth. Op. ed. Jenae, 1561, tom. vi. p. 13. Ibid. tom. iii.
p. 189.
t Lettres d'un Docteur Catholique h. un Protestant, sur les
principaux Points de Controverse. Rouen, 1769. Deuxi^me
lettre, sur la justification. ^3

230 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
writer of these letters begins that, which relates to
the point in question, by observing to his lutheran
correspondent, " if there be a point, on which
" persons have disputed with warmth, and without
" sufficiently understanding one another, on either
" side, it must be acknowledged, that the question
" on the justification of a sinner, is a point of that
" description. '' You teach," he proceeds to observe, " that the
" sinner is solely justified by faith ; that, after hav-
" ing offended God, and lost his grace, we obtain
" the remission of our sins, and are restored to the
" friendship of God, by means only of an act of
" faith : — every other act of virtue, as acts of con-
" trition, good resolution, hope, charity, &c. having,
" as you pretend, no part in the sinner's justifica-
" tion. " Now, to form a just idea of the faith, which
" you maintain to be the only means of reconciling
" us with God, it is to be remarked, that it is not
" the faith, which is understood by that word, in
" its common acceptation ; that is to say, a gene-
" ral faith, by which we believe all that God has
" revealed to us. You require, that it should be a
"' special faith, on the merits of Christ ; and this
" faith, as your doctors explain it, contains first, an
" act of the understanding, by which we acknow-
" ledge that Jesus Christ has died for us ; that
'* he has fuUy satisfied for our sins ; and that he
" presents to us his merits, his satisfaction, and his
" remission of our sins : and secondly, an act ofthe
" wiU, by which we accept aU this, in applying apd

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 231
" appropriating to ourselves what is offered to us,
¦^ by Jesus Christ, — I mean his merits and the re-
" mission of our sins.
" It is, however, necessary, that we do you the
" justice to acknowledge, that you require justify-
" ing faith to be fruitful in good works ; for you de-
" clare explicitiy, that if faith be not accompanied
" by good works, it is not a ti'ue faith ; that we
" must be careful to avoid imagining, that justify-
" ing faith can subsist with a wish to persist in sin J
'' that those, who have not contrition, and are re-
^' solved to continue to live in their disorders, have
" not the faith which justifies and saves them.
** Luther's expression is, ' faith and good works are
" inseparably connected ; it is faith only which
" justifies, but justifying faith is never single, and
" without good works.'
" We believe, — First, that faith, taken in the
" ordinary sense of that word, that is, for the vir-
" tue which makes us believe revealed truths, is
^' absolutely necessary for the justification of the
" sinner. We are fully persuaded that no works
" done before faith, or without faith, by the mere
" sfrength of free-wUl, or human reason, can have
" any part in the justification of the sinner.
" Secondly, — We believe, that faith alone does
" not suffice to justify the sinner; that, in addition
" to it, there must be a sincere sorrow for sin, a
" firm resolution not to relapse into it, a salutary
" fear of the judgments of God, with a true confi-
" deuce in the merits of Jesus Christ, and in the
¦" Divine mercy.
Q4

232 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" Thirdly, — ^We believe, that though the sinner
" may obtain the grace of justification, in bringing
" the dispositions which 1 have mentioned, still he
" cannot merit them ; so that he is justified, gra-
" tuitously, by the pure mercy of God, and solely?
" in the view of the merits of Jesus Christ. I ex-
" plain myself : — the sinner, after he has lost the
" grace of God, can do nothing, which is sufficiently
" agreeable to God, to entitle him to be restored to
" his friendship. All the good works which he
" does, in such a state, are dead ; and of too little
"Value to exact from the Divine Justice that the
" grace of reconciliation should be restored to him
" as the fruit of his works. When God justifies
" us by restoring his friendship to us, it is not in
"consequence of the goodness of our workp; it is
" solely in consequence of the infinite price of the
" passion and death of Jesus Christ ; it is gratuit-
" ously ; it is from the pure effect of his mercy,
" that he applies to us the fruit of the merits and
" the infinite satisfaction of his Son. It is true, that
" God requires certain works, without which he
"does not justify the sinner ; and in consei:iuence
" of which, he does justify him : but he does not
" require them as meritorious works ; he requires
" them as conditions, or as necessary dispositions,
" without which, he does not receive the sinner
" into favour, or admit him to participate in the
" merits of Jesus Christ, as to their effects in the
" remission of sins. According to the doctrine of
" the councU of Trent *, nothing that precedes
* Sess. vi. c. 8.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 233
" justification, either of faith or works, can merit
" the grace of justification.
" Fourthly, — ^We believe, that though the sinner
" can only owe his justification to the merits of
" Jesus Christ, yet the merits of Jesus Christ are
" not the formal justice of the person justified : —
" he is not just of the justice of Jesus Christ ; that
" is extrinsic to him. He is just, by an inherent
" justice, — a justice which, at the same time, is the
" justice of God, and the justice of man ; — the
" justice of man, because, having obtained it of
" the Divine liberality, it is within him, and not out
" of him ; — the justice of God, because it comes
" from God alone ; he alone gives it to the sinner,
" by a pure effect of his mercy, gratuitously, and
" only in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the
" sinner being altogether unable, on his part, to
" merit the justice by any imaginable work, what-
" ever it may be."
We leave the reader to his own reflections : if
he be a roman-catholic, he must concede to the
protestant, that he believes no sinner to be justified
without good works ; if he be a protestant, he must
concede to the catholic, that he believes no good
works of the sinner entitie him to justification ;
and whether he be a roman-catholic or a protestant,
he must concede, that both equally believe, that,
where either faith or good works are wanting, the
sinner will not be justified, — and that when he is
justified, his justification is not owing either to his
faith or his good works, or to both : for though both

234 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
abound, still would not the sinner be justifieid^ if it
were not for the infinite mercy of God, and the
infinite merits and satisfaction of his Son*.

CHAP. LXXV.
SUPPRESSION OF THE JESUITS.
In the history of the society of Jesus, all English
catholics have an interest : invaluable and nume
rous are the services which the English members
of it have rendered them, by their colleges^ their
missionary labours, their excellent writings, and
their exemplary lives.
The rise and first progress of the society have
been noticed : — we shall now briefly mention,
I. Its progressive extension : II. The mode of in
struction and education used by the members of
the society : III. Their missions in Paraguay :
IV. Their mission in China : V. Their antichristian
and anticatholic adversaries : VI. Their catholic
adversaries : VII. Their alleged advocation of the
pope's divine right to temporal power in spiritual
concerns : VIII. Their alleged exemption from
the civil power, in consequence of papal bulls and
briefs : IX. The dissolution of the society: X. And
their restoration.
* The author ofthe Letters, to which the writer has referred
in this article, was father Scheffinacker, a Jesuit, at Strasburgh,
The reader of them, whatever be his creed, will be delighted
with their truly christian politeness, their elegance, and tiieir
perspicuity.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 286
LXXV. 1.
The progressive Extension of the Order.
St. Ignatius survived the approbation of his
institute no longer than sixteen years : but, during
this short period, St. Francis Xavier, and his com
panions, had converted thirty nations to the faith of
Christ, and baptised, with their own hands, a mil
lion of idolaters : above one hundred schoolsj un
der the direction of the Jesuits, had been founded
in Italy, in Germany, in Portugal, and Spain ; and
incessant applications were received for others.
The whole catholic world was delighted with the
good that was doncj and the good that was pro
mised : " Let us not despair," said cardinal Com-
mendon, one of the brightest ornaments of the
sixteenth century, on his return from his German
legation, — " all difficulties that impede the pro-
" gress of religion and virtue, may be overcome by
" the means of the fathers of the society of Jesus.
" This is the opinion of his imperial majesty, of
" the princes, and even ofthe people of Germany.
" What these fathers have already done, shows
" what may be expected from their zeal. Their
" exemplary lives, their sermons, their colleges,
" have supported and will ever support religion.
" Multiply then the Jesuits, multiply their colleges
" and their academies ; you will find that the
" fruits, which religion will gather from them, wiU
" exceed your expectations." The advice was uni
versaUy accepted ; the church and state of every

236 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
catholic nation called for the Jesuits. In 1537,
when St. Ignatius presented himself and his com
panions to the pope, their number did not exceed
six ; at the expiration of the first century of the
order, it reached nineteen thousand.
LXXV. 2.
Their Mode of Instruction and Education.
Of Socrates, it was said, that he brought down
phUosophy from the heavens to common life : of
the Jesuits, it may be truly said, that, in imitation
of their divine model, they made the knowledge of
religion and the practice of it familiar to every rank
and order of society. They spread themselves over
towns and over villages, to teach the catechism to
chUdren, in their very earliest days ; to afford them
more solid instruction, as their years increased ;
and to prepare them, at a more advanced age, for
the sacrament of the holy table. To excite them
to devotion, and to confirm them in their good
resolutions, they established certain devotional
practices, which impressed them with religious feel
ings ; and formed religious associations, which, by
uniting several in the observance of the same pious
exercises, excited emulation, restrained the wander
ing, animated the tepid, and inflamed the fervent.
Their schools were equally open to the noble
and the ignoble, to the wealthy and the poor. All
were subject to the same discipline ; rose at the
same early hour, were fed by the same plain diet, —
received the same instmction, might attain the same

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 237
rewards, and were subject to the same punishments.
Surveying the school, the refectory, or the play-
garden of a Loyolan college, no person could dis
tinguish a boy of sixteen quarters from a peasant's
son. At the college de Clermont, the grand Conde
said his lesson and did every other exercise, in the
ranks, as a common boy. — His impetuous mind,
which, at a future time, disdained and burst througl}
every restraint, showed all its fire, but burned with
regulated heat, whUe he remained within the walls
of Clermont. It may be added, that, through life
he preserved his affection for the society, and that,
in his last very edifying hours, he was attended
by one of its fathers.
It is admitted, that the Jesuits were singularly
pleasing to their scholars. " Their polite manners,"
says M. de Chateaubriand, " banished from their
" lessons the tone of pedantry, so displeasing to
" youth. As most of the professors were men of
" letters, whose company was sought by the world
" at large, their disciples thought themselves in a
" polite academy ; friendships were formed between
" them and their masters, which ever afterwards
" subsisted for their mutual good."
No attachment could exceed that of aboy brought
up under them, to his master. " I myself," says
" one of the authors ofthe Riponse aux Assertion^,
speaking of their final banishment from France,
" was present at the moment of the separation of
" the scholars from their masters in the college de
" Louis le Grand. Stupified with grief, they tore
" themselves, either in silent sorrow, or with tears

238 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" and sobs, from the embraces of their masters.
" Our enemies know that I exaggerate nothing.
" Tliey themselves beheld it, and it increased their
" irritations : they comforted themselves by hoping
" that, in time, the impression would die away."
But the zeal of the Jesuits was not confined to the
catechism or the college. The pulpits resounded
with their predication; confessionals abounded with
their penitents ; the sacred tables with their disci
ples, and repentance and resignation flocked with
them, at all hours, into hospitals and prisons.
They had their ascetics and their contemplatives ;
but the devotion of common life, — that devotion, in
describing and inculcating which, in his " Intro-
" duction to a Devout Life," St. Francis of Sales
was so eminentiy successful, — the Jesuits had a
particular talent in disseminating. The most usefiU
of all pious practices, but, till then, too much con
fined to the cloister, pious meditations on the life
of Christ, on the four last things, and the motives
of loving or fearing God, they adapted to the most
ordinary capacities. The exercises of St. Ignatius,
a course of meditations composed by him for the
general use of the faithful, are equally suited to the
highest and the meanest capacities ; no one has
yet read them without fruit.
" Simple and easy exercises of piety," says the
cardinal de Bauss^t, " familiar insfructions, pro-
" portioned to every condition, and nowise inter-
" fering with the labours or duties of society, served
" to uphold, in every state of life, that regularity of
" manners, that spirit of order and subordination,

TKE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 320
" and that wise economy, which preserve peace
" and harmony in families, and assure the pros-
" perity of empires. The principal towns of France
" still remember, that there never was more order
" and tranquillity, more probity in dealings, fewer
" failures, or less depravity, than while these con-
" gregations lasted. The Jesuits had the merit of
" attracting honour to their religious and moral
" character, by a severity, a temperance, a nobleness
" of manners, and an individual disinterestedness,
" which even their enemies could not deny." These
expressions of the cardinal are particularly remark
able, as they were written more than thirty years
after the destruction of the order ; and many years
before the slightest expectation of its renovation
was entertained.
Learning has not been more ably cultivated or
more actively diffused than by the Jesuits. They
possessed, in the supreme degree, the art of un
folding talent, and directing it to the object, in
which nature designed its owner to excel. Did a
young Jesuit possess a talent for the pulpit — his
masters were sure to discover it, and he became a
Bourdaloue, a la Rue, a Segaud, a Neuville, or a
Beauregard. Did he discover a turn for serious
studies, for literary discussion, for philosophy, for
mathematics, for theology, for profound research —
to these he was directed, and became a Petau, a
Sirmond, a Cossart, a Bougeant, a Toumemine, a
Rossweide, or a Papebroch. Was he enamoured
with classical lore, or with poetry — he was con
signed to the muses, and became a Bmmoi, a

240 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Cerifeau, a Bouhours, a Rapin, a Commire, a
Casimir, a Vanier, a Juven5;i, or a Berthier ; and
the fruits of his pen, always elegant, but always
chaste and always moral, found their way into the
hands of every man of taste and letters.
But they had no philosophers ! So said d'Alem-
bert, and so said la Chalotais. " When I read this
" assertion," says la Lande, the celebrated astro
nomer, " I was employed in framing the index to
" my History of Astronomy. I immediately drew
" up a list of Jesuits eminent in that science ; I was
" astonished at their number. Afterwards, in 1 773,
" I met la Chalotais at Saintes ; I reproached him
" with his injustice, and he admitted it. But tiie
" Jesuits were then no more ! Two men, Cavalho
" and Choiseul, had destroyed the most beautiful
" edifice constructed by man ! An edifice, to which
" no establishment under heaven will ever ap-
" proach ! The eternal object of my admiration,
" my gratitude, and my regrets." Such is the
candid language of la Lande. — " Men of learning!"
a true and impartial friend of the Jesuits*, once
exclaimed, " whatever be your pursuits, your
" counfry, or your creed, ask your own hearts if you
" have not some obligation to the Jesuits ? Have
" they not opened to you some door to knowledge?
" Some to science? Some to taste ? Have they not
" abridged to you some literary labour ? Soothed
" to you some scientific toil? — Men of learning ! —
* The writer of a Letter signed S. in the Catholic Gentle
man's Magaame of August 1818.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 241
• wherever you are,— love the Jesuits ;— to all of
" you they have been friends."
It should be remarked, that the system of edu
cating chUdren, in graduated bands, taught and
inspected by one of themselves, for which Lan
caster and Bell enjoy so much rival fame, was in
universal use among the Jesuits before the seven
teenth century. Nor should it be forgotten, that
they had preceded this country, in noble efforts for
the abolition of the slave trade. No friend to that
measure can read the twenty-third chapter of Mr.
Southey 's History of Brazil, without venerating
tiie exertions of father Lorenzana in this glorious
cause.
LXXV. 3.
Their Missions in Paraguay.
But, to appreciate justiy the merits of the Jesuits,
we must traverse the ocean, and contemplate the
Jesuit missioner with his breviary under his arm,
his beads fastened to his girdle, and his crucifix in
his hand, presenting himself to the barbarous, sus
picious, and cruel inhabitants of the Indian woods
or morasses. Sometimes, he is immediately massa
cred* ; sometimes, the savages fly from him : — he
• From two works of character,— Societas Jesu, asque ad
sanguinem et vitae profusionem militans, pro Deo, fide, eccle-
si4, pietate : — sive vita et mors eorum, qui ex societate Jesu,
in causa fidei et virtutis propugnatas, violent^ morte sublati
sunt: auctore, H. p. Matthia Tanner, e soe Jesu, s. s. theolo-
giae doptore, Pragae, 1675: and Fasti Societatis Jesu; opera
et studio, R. p. Joan. Drewe, s. s. Pragas, anno 1750 ; — it ap-"
VOL. IIT. R

242 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
runs after them, and, by words or signs, points at
the heavens, and announces to them his wish to
render them worthy of being the inhabitants of that
better world. He shows them his crucifix ; he in-
fomis thern that the Son of God, whose image they
behold on it, died on the cross for them, to free
them from darkness, and to obtain for them ever
lasting life. He makes them little presents, or sings
to them a pious canticle : by degrees, h.e obtains
their affection and confidence. Theh, he pro
pounds to them the saving truths of the gospel ;
these penetrate their hearts. — Finally, like the
eunuch, in the Acts of the Apostles, they pray for
the sacred water of regeneration : one after another
they flock to the sacred fount ; by degrees, the
whole community becomes christian. Their rude
ness, savageness, barbarisni, and immorality dis
appear; they become mild, benevolent, humane,
and holy. Other communities join them.
Thus were 300,000 Indian savages, collected in
Paraguay, reclaimed from barbarism and vice, and
exhibited, in the simplicity of their manners, aiid
the purity of their minds, the mild and unpretend
ing virtues of the primitive christians. To the
happiness and piety of this fortunate portion of
humanity, several writers of the first eminence, a
pears that, — in Africa 68, — in Asia 131,— and in America 55,
Jesuits, had,before that time, suffered death, often after grievous
torments,— for propagating the faith of Christ. — The number
of those who have since suffered death in the same cause,
cannot be inconsiderable.— See also Montesquieu, Esprit des
Loix, livre iv. c. 6.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 248
Muratori, Montesquieu, Raynal, and Leibniz, bear
ample testimony. — Mr. Southey, the poet laureat,
though generally hostile, in his writings, to the
catholic religion and to catholic institutions of every
kind, observes, tha!t "the Indians could not con-
^' template without astonishment the conduct of
" the Jesuits; their disinterested "enthusiasm, ' their
" indefatigable perseverance, and the priva,tion and
" 4anger which they endured for no earthfy'reward.
" They, who had only heard of these wonderfulmen,
*' became curious of seeing them; but they, who
" once came within the influence of such supeibiGi'
" ininds, and felt the contagion" of example, were
" not long before they submitted to the gaiflftil
" sacrifice of their old superstitions*." In ia sub
sequent part ofthe same work, Mr. Southey notices
the pOmp, with which the secular year of the
foundation of the society of Jesiis was solemnized
in South America. " At one place," we are told
by him, "six hundred triumphal arches were erected
" by the Indians, and 'decorated with all the orna-
" ments and good things which they possessed ; a
" display of tiie benefits which they, above all
" men, derived from the society : the centenary of
'* their institution could not be celebrated by these
" tribes with more gratitude and joy than were
"justly duef."
* History of Brazil, vol. ii. p. 299, 300.
+ Ibid. p. 331, 332.

E 2

244 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
LXXV. 4.
Their Missions in China.
In China their religious labours were equally
successful. In 1552, St. Francis Xavier reached
Macao. In 1715, the number ofthe christians in
China amounted to 300,000, and they possessed
300 churches. Intheir propagation ofthe gospel
in China, the Jesuits showed great good sense.
They did every thing to conciliate public and indi
vidual favour ; they carefully abstained from every
thing that had a tendency to draw on them public
or individual dislike ; and, so far as it could be done
without trenching on the essentials of religion, they
accommodated their instructions to the opinions
and feelings of the country. In some instances,
they were supposed to carry this spirit of accommo
dation too far, and by a papal bull, they were obliged
to retrace some steps of their conciliating advances.
Their readiness to comply with the bull did them
honour. Between the years 1581 and 1681, — one hun
dred and twenty-six European Jesuits were em
ployed in the missions in China. '' It must," says
sir George Staunton*, "appear a singular spectacle
" to every class of beholders, to see men, actuated
" by motives, different from those of most human
" actions, quitting for ever their country and their
" connections, to devote themselves for life, forthe
" purpose of changing the tenets of a people they
* Embassy to China, vol. ii. p. 159.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 245
" had never seen ; and, in pursuing that object, to
" run every risk, suffer every persecution, and sa-
" crifice every comfort; insinuating themselves, —
" by address, by talent, by perseverance, by humi-
" lity, by application to studies, foreign from their
" original education, or by the cultivation of arts,
" to which they had not been bred, — into notice
" and protection ; — overcoming the prejudice of
" being strangers in a country, where most strangers
" were prohibited, and where it was a crime to have
" abandoned the tombs of their ancestors; and
" gaining, at length, establishments necessary for
" the propagation of the faith, without turning
" their influence to any personal advantage. Every
" European," sir George adds from his own expe
rience, " was greeted by them as countrymen,
" entitied to regard and service."
All the information, which the missionaries could
acqufre of the learning, the arts, and the sciences of
China, they transmitted to Europe. It is princi
paUy to be found in thefr " Lettres Edifiantes et
" Curieuses," of which FonteneUe said, that " he
" had never read a work which answered better to
" its titie." To the general accuracy of these let
ters, and of the works of father du Halde and
father GaubU, the interesting account published by
sfr George Staunton of his embassy to China bears
testimony ; and the writer of these pages has often
heard him speak of them, in terms of high com
mendation. La Croze* mentions with praise tha
* HistoIre du Christianisme de I'Ethiope et de I'Ann^nie,
p. 269, 402.
R3

24B HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
acfcotint given of Armenia; fn the thfrd voluihe of
their., " Nou¥eaux.M6mofres des Missions du Le
vant:" and, las Mr-. Gibbon juStiy observes*, the
work of a Jesuit must have sterling merit when it is
praised by la Croze. — Suchwas the conduct of ,fte
Jesuits in China.— May it not be. confidentiy asked,
whether history records an instance, in whi*h
sbience has been made more subservient to the faitii
of Christ?
LXXV. 5.
Thdr Ahiichristian and Anticatholic Adversaries.
Such have been the services rendered by the
Jesuits to religion, to letters, to civilized and unci
vilized society. With such titles to gratitude, is it
not surprising that they should have had so many
enemies ? But, — such has been the general fate of
benefactors to humanity ! — how few of these have
closed their labours, without
"  a sigh, to find

" Th' unwillmg gratitude of low mankind! " Pope.
Among tiie enemies of the Jesuits, several are
fonnd, whoiSe hostility must be thought, by all chris
tians, to reflect honour on the society. When we
open the correspondence of Voltaire and his inti
mates, and observe their furious and determined
hatred of Christianity, and their schemes and efforts
for its desfrilction, and find at the same time thefr
avowed enmity to the Jesuits, as their most formi-
d^tble dppdnentsj shffely all, who invoke the iiame
* Chap, xlvii. note 148.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS; 241
of Christ, must think with respect and gratitude of^
the Jesuits, as the ablest defenders, in the opinion
of its bitterest enemies, of their common Christi
anity? By the same principle, when a catiiolic
finds the polemic hatred, which the early disciples
of Luther and Calvin discovered, in all their writ
ings, against the Jesuits, it should elevate them in
his opinion, as the hatred evidently proceeded from
its being felt by the lutherans and Calvinists, that
the Jesuits were, in their time, the most powerful
champions of the catholic faith.
Great, however, is the force of truth ! When
antichristian and anticatholic feelings have not
guided their iudgments, the atheist, the deist, and
the protestant, has equally done justice to the Jesuits.
Ardent for their expulsion from every other king
dom, Frederic of Prussia prudently pi-eserved them
in his own, and heartUy laughed at the vagaries of
the philosophers, who solicited their banishment.
" I cannot," says lord Bacon, " contemplate the
" application and the talent of these preceptors, in
" cultivating the intellects, and forming the manners
" of youth, without bringing to my mind the ex-
" pression of AgesUaus to Phamabazus ; — ' Being
" such as you are, is it possible that you should not
" belongto iis.' " — " I am persuaded," said Leibnitz,
the most universal scholar, and one of the most
profound mathematicians and metaphysicians of his
age, " that the Jesuits are often calumniated, and
" that opinions, which have never come into their
" minds, have often been imputed to them." The
count dfe Merbde, having informed Leibnitz thathe
R 4

as HISTORICAL MliMOIRS OF
had pui-chased the Acta SanctorutJi of the Flemish
Jesuits, now fiUing eighty volumes folio, and stUl
unfinished, Leibnitz pronounced a panegyric on the
work, and declared that, " if the Jesuits had pub-
" lished no other, that work alone entitled them to
" existence, and to be sought for and esteemed by
" the whole world. " — We have already cited one
passage from la Lande, the celebrated but infidel
astronomer. In another, after mentioning several
ridiculous charges which had been made against
himself, he speaks of the Jesuits as follows : " Among
" other crimes imputed to me, it is asserted, that in
" my travels, I served the mass of a Jesuit. All this
" is too idle to answer ; but I must freely own td
" you, that the name of Jesuit interests my heart,
" my mind, and my gratitude ; and revives my
" regret for the blindness of the persons in power,
" in 1762. — No! the human species has lost for
" ever, and it never will regain, that precious and
" wonderful re-union of twenty thousand men, un-
" ceasingly and disinterestedly occupied in in-
" structing, preaching, missions, reconciliations,
" attending the dying, and other exertions of the
" tenderest and dearest functions of humanity.
" Retirement, frugality, renunciation of pleasure,
" made this society a surprising assemblage of sci-
" ence and virtue. I have been a near observeit
" of them; they were a people of heroes in the
' ' cause of religion and humanity ; religion furiiishied
"theni with means which philosophy does not
" supply, m my fourteenth year, I admired them '
" I asked" to be admitted among them : I regret

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 249
^' that I did not persist in my vocation; innocence
" and the love of study inspired me with it."
LXXV. 6.
Their Catholic Adversaries.
Such were the antichristian and anticatholic ad
versaries of the Jesuits : some adversaries, however,
and these as terrible as any, they had, within the
catholic pale. But this leads to a variety of subjects.
All the accusations which these urged against them,
"may be found in the " Histoite generale des Jesuites
" of la Coudrette,"— the " Provincial Letters," —
the " Rapports of Montclar, and la ChMotais," —
the " Morale Pratique des J6suites," and the
" Exttaits des Assertions dangdreuses et pemi-
" cieuses en tout genre, que les soi-disant j6suites
" out, dans tons les tems, et perseverament, soute-
" nues, enseign^s, et publi6es dans leurlivres, avec
" approbation' des superieurs et g6n6raux." On
-each of these works, we shall trouble our readers
with a single observation. Those who wish to see
fiiUer answers to the charges brought against the
esuits, should pemse the " Apologie de I'lnstitut
" des Jesuites."
1 . With respect to la Coudrette ; — that he was
^a party man cannot be deiiied. Like those of all
parfy writers, his works should, therefore, be read
with some distmst; and nothing- resting on hi^
"single assertion, should be admitted. Without som6
hesitation. ' ¦ - ' ' "

360 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
, ,2. With respect to the Pretjmcjffl? Letters ; — feW"
have rettd or meditated upori&em, with^ mote, at
tention than the writer of these lines ; but he has
also read and meditated upon the answer to them
of father Daniel, in his " Dialogues de Cleandre
" et d'Eudoxe ; " and, previously to his perusing
either, he placed himself in that perfect state of
doubt and impartiality, which Descartes requfres
from a disciple, who enters on his meditations.
The result was, that father Daniel appeared to him
so of^en victorious in the combat, as to leave littie
tha^ could be justly charged on the individual
members, and nothing that could be charged on
the body of the society. If any of his readers have
proceeded in the same manner, and arrived at a
different conclusion, far be it from the writer of
these lines to question his sincerity : but he claims
an equal allowance of sincerity for himself, and
for all, — (they are both respectable and numerous),
-^who agree with him in opinion, that the author
of the Provincial Letters is as often inaccurate and
unfafr) as he is witty or eloquent.
" The whole of these letters" says M. de Vol
taire, " is buUtupon a false foundation, as the ex-
" travagant notions of a few Spanish and Flemish
" Jesuits, are artftdly ascribed in them to the whole
"body." This, to every one who peruses father
Daniel's answerSj must appear evident. A better
answer to them, however, is supplied by the sermons
of fether Bourdaloue. To the whole of his doc
frine every Jesuit subscribes ; from the whole ofthe

THE ENGLISH GATHOLIGS: 25J
docfrine iniputed to them by Pascal^ every jesnii
(Ji^sents :— which should.be thought the docfrine
ofthe, order? , ,. _
. We mti&t add the testimony of Fenelon. — " As
" to tiie Provincial Letters , of Pascal,"— thus the
arshbishop writes to. the duke, de BeauvUliers, " I
" thitik the , diike of Burgundy should, read them :
" in fact, sooner or later, he wiU read them. .Hik
" curiosity, his taste for entertaining books, and thfc
" great reputation of. the Letters, will not suffer
" him to remain long in ignorance of thfem. - But
" I wish all possible prdcautiohs shduld be taken,
" that he should kndw what measure of truth the^
" contain, and not be seduced by the appearance of
" fruth which thfey wear. Part of the memorial,
" which I sknfl yoh, furnishes an aiitidotd agdinst
" the two first letters. _of Pascal. It is more thail
i' sufficient tdshbw the hidden poison ofthe Letters,
" and to pri3ve_that, in her censures of Jansenism^
" the church does not combat a phantom."
3. With respect to the Morale Pratique, the
Rapports, and the Extraits des Assertions : — May
the writer be permitted to observe, that no one
should form any conclusion from these, if he has not
read the Riponse aux Assertions*. In this work,
the Jesuits charge the author of the Assertions, with
seven hundred and fifty-eiglit falsifications and alte
rations ofthe text cited by him. They produce froni
tiie text, every passage pronounced by them to be
falsified br altered, arid confront it with the corres
ponding passage in the work of their adversaiy.
» Published in 1763, in 3 large 4to. volumes.

252 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Now, both in courts of law and out of them, it is a
received axiom, that a person who denies a charge,
is to be reputed innocent of it, until it is proved on
him by proper evidence. Surely, therefore, none,-
who have not examined a large proportion, at least,
of these passages, and found them misrepresented
by the Jesuits, should pronounce them guilty of
the doctrines imputed to them, by the author of
the Assertions. It cannot be expected of many,
that they should read the three ponderous volumes,
to which the writer has referred ; if, however, any
person should be disposed to give a serious consi
deration to the subject, he should, at least, read
the pages, not very numerous, that compose the
Examen du Proch Verbal, which concludes the
work. . Greatly surprised indeed will the writer of
these lines be, if a single person, who reads them,
should not concur with him in thinking that the-
persons, who drew up the Procfes Verbal, possessed
no ordinary share of intrepidity.
LXXV. 7.
Their alleged Advocation of the Pope's Divine Right to
Temporal Power in Spiritual Concems.
One further charge against the Jesuits, requires
notice. — It is objected to them, that the president
de Thou discovers, in many parts of his History, a
spirit of hostUity towards them. — But this does
not prejudice them in the opinion of any person
acquainted with the history of France during that
period. While the president was employed on his

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 253
immortal work, France was just delivered from the
horrors of the league, and a numerous and powerful
party, fomented within the kingdom, by PhUip
the second, still abetted its views. In the prosecu
tion of them, the leaguers had availed themselves,
and their remaining partisans still continued to
avail themselves, of the, ultramontane doctrines on
the pope's deposing power. To these, the regular
clergy were supposed to be particularly favourable ;
now, among the regulars, the talents, activity, and
popularity of the Jesuits, had elevated them, both
in merit and in public opinion, to a considerable
eminence. This exposed them to the president's
severities, from which the obscurer destinies of the
others protected them. But it has been proved to
demonsfration, that their conduct was more mode
rate than that of any other religious body engaged
in the league^ — It is evident that they were soon
taken into favour by Henry the fourth, and that he
warmly protected them : but it is not sa generally
known, that the chancellor I'Hdpital *, whose mind
was as loyal, whose principles were as friendly to
civil and religious liberty as those of de Thou, and
whose talents for business were greatly superior,
was favourable to the Jesuits, and a decided
encourager of their schools.
This leads us to consider the general charge of
ultramontane doctrine respecting the temporal
power of the pope in spiritual concerns, which has
been often brought against the sons o^ Loyola.
* See the Life of the Chancellor I'Hopital, by the writer
of these pages.

254 HISTORICAL' MEMOiRS OF
Ujjon ihis chsifge, we -beg' leave to present • owr
refers vvith the foUawing short exculpatory obser
vations. ' -' • '¦ ¦ '¦¦<=•¦' - -^
1 . It is certain that the laelief bf the pope's^ right
^ direct supreme temporal power was once pre-?
valdnt in every state, and among every description
of men in Christendom. ' This opinioii -the Jesuits
did not infroduce ; tiiey found it fully estkblishedi
it would therefore be monstrous to' attribute the
origination of it to them. ¦^"- •" "^ ¦' r"-
' 2f Especially as, so far from infrodueitog,'tl|e5[
were the first who opposed it." 'BfUarinine, one of
their most eminent liglits, absolutely denied; that
the pope," by divine right; possessed directiy^ but- of
his own state; any temporal power : he taught that
the temporal power ofthe pope was merely indirect,
being confined to a right of exercising a teirij^oral
power, or of causing it to be exercised,- when this
was absolutely necessary to effect a great spiritual
gonad, or to prevent a: great spiritual evil. "This was
a considerable reduction of the power ascribed, tiH
that time," to the pope ; and it gave great offence
to the Roman see*; "
3. Even this mitigated doctrine was never taught
by the Jesuits in a,ny state by the govemment of
which it was not avowedly tolerated. It was tole^
rated, and the Jesuits therefore taught it, in Rome,
Spain, Germany, Hungary. Poland^ and several
states'of Italy : but it was not tolerated, and the
* " Ayarit pris un sentiment mitoyen touchant Ie pretendu
« ppuvoir du pape sur le temporel des rois, il ne plut ni k Rome
" IU en France." — L'Advocat, art. Ballarmine.

THE ENGLISH C-4^THOLICS. 26&
Jesuits therefore did not teach it, in France, or the
Venetian states.
4: Where it was formally proscribed by the state,
it was formally disclaimed by the Jesuits. Several
instances of this wUl be produced in the following
section*. '
' 5. To this,— England Unhappily Jfifr-ms an excep
tion. There, the deposing doctrine was proscribed
by the state ; and, for a period, — much too long, —
Was not disavowed, either by the Jesuits or the
general body of the clergy : but the ca,use of thi.S
protracted delay of the disavowal, is its excuse.
iTie heap of sanguinary, penal, and disabling Ia!ws,
enacted by EUzabeth, and &e three first princes of
the house of Stuart, against the paitholics, drove all
persons intended for the priesthqod, to the terri
tories of the pope or the Spanish monarch. This
rendered them, in a great measifre, dependent, for
their subsistence and education, on those powers j
they were therefore taught the doctrines of tbeiiT
schools. This circumstance we may lament, but
no person of candour who does lament it, will ever
\)e inattentive to its exculpating cause.
6. He wUl also acknowledge, that no sooner did
England cease to be cmel, than every idea of the
pope's temporal power began to vanish. The catho
lics crowded to take the oaths prescribed by the
acts of 1778, 1791, and 1793; and the Jesuits
* See the excellent defence of the society against this.
charge, in father Griffet's Reponse aux Assertions, vol. iii.
ch. ii. art. 2. >

256 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OP
took them as readily and unreservedly as the
others*. 7. It should be added, that the constitutions of
the order most explicitly prohibited to its members
every kind of interference in state concems, or
temporal matters ; and that this was specially pro
hibited by Aquaviva, general of the order, to the
English Jesuits : therefore, if Persons or any other
* After all, — the indirect power ofthe pope, though a doc
trine absolutely insupportable in argument, was not found to
be in practice quite so mischievous as it is generally described,
Ithad even this advantage, that, on several occasions, during
the boisterous governments ofthe feudal princes, it often proved
an useful restraint, in the absence of every other, both on the
king and the great nobility, and protected the lower ranks of
society from their violence and oppression. Add to this,—
that, when the pope proceeded to extremities against any
soyerleign, the clergy generally rallied round the monarch,
and the people adhered to the clergy .: — This produced a sus-.
pence of aggression : — the pontiff had time to . think of his
rashness, the monarch of his violence ; and some expedient
was devised which led to good.
Contraries often meet in extremes.--^ Many a bitter word
has been applied to the deposing doctrine ^of Persons and
Mariana; but it bears a nearer affinity to the whiggish doc
trine of resistance, than is generally supposed. The whigs
inaintain that the people, where there is an extreme abuse
of power, — of which abuse, the people themselves are to be the
judges, — may dethrone ,the offending monarch. The good
fathers 'assigned the same power to the people, in the same
extreme case, but contended that, if there were any doubts
of the existence of the extremity, the pope should be the
judge.— Of the two systems, when all Christendom was catho
lic, was not the last, speaking comparatively^ the least objec
tionable ?

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 257
individual offended in this respect, the offence was
his own, the order was blameless.
8. It is idle to pursue the subject further. To
quarrel with the Jesuits of the nineteenth century
because some of the order advocated the pope's
temporal power in the reign of queen Elizabeth, ot
her immediate successor, is as preposterous, as to
charge the present presbyterians with maintaining
the lawfulness of religious persecution, because
Calvin consigned Servetus to the flames, and Beza
lauded him : or to impute the belief of sorcery to
his majesty^s present judges, because lord Hale
convicted some witches capitally in the seventeenth
century ; or to impute the doctrine of passive obe
dience to the present bishops, because the divine
right of kings was maintained by some of their
predecessors in the eighteenth*.
* " I mention this oversight," says the late learned Richard
Porson, — in one of his letters to Travis, in which he speaks
of a mistake of an eminent writer, — " merely to strengthen an
" opinion which I have long entertained and will always reso-
" lutely defend, that all men are liable to error." — If the
writer of these pages might be pernutted to add liis aphorisiq
to that of Mr. Porson, he would, to use the language of that
gentleman, say, that, " it is an opinion, which he has long
" entertained, and will always resolutely defend,, — that no
" maij is so bad as his polemic adversary describes him."

VOL. III.

-258 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
LXXV. 8.
Their alleged Exemption from the Civil Power in conse
quence of Papal Bulls and Briefs.
We have now to notice the charge brought
against the Jesuits from the bulls and briefs, by
which popes have affected to exempt the Jesuits
from the civil power.
But these bulls and briefs, so far as they have
this tendency, make no part of the institute of the
society. In the Apologie de I'lnstitut des Jesuites,
one of their standard works of defence*, this is
explicitly asserted. The author of it proves, by
numerous examples, that, while the Jesuits would
rather die, than give up their institute, they resign,'
without reserve, all claims to these exemptions,^
when they are repugnant to the laws of any counfry
in which they settie.'
Thus, — in iGii, 1626 and 1713, they recog
nized the absolute civil independence of the sovct
reign on the pope, in solemn instruments, signed
by them, with every legal formality, and entered on
the records of the parliament of Paris.
In a former part of this work, the writer has
mentioned the declaration ofthe Gallican clergy in
1682. Thefirst article of it proclaims the absolute
civil independence of the sovereign on the pope.
Now, these articles were taught in all the schools
ofthe French Jesuits, and in 1757 and 1761 they
formally and explicitly avowed their adherence to
• Tom. ii. c. 37.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 259
tliem. It has been related, that this was certified
to the court, by the bishops of France ; — it ought
to have been added, that, at this time, the gale of
promotion veered in the opposite direction, so that
a certificate of the contrary was then much more
likely to obtain the favours of court.
Finally, — " In the year 1761," say the authors
ofthe Riponse aux Assertions*, " at which time,
*' the Jesuits were most bitterly attacked for their
" institute and doctrine, — a model of a declaration
" was sent to the five provincials of the Jesuits in
" France, by tiie chancellor Lamoignon ; and a
" copy of it was desired to be returned to him,
" signed by the priests and young Jesuits of all the
" colleges and houses in the kingdom. All their
" signatures were accordingly given and trans-
" mitted to the chancellor." — The declaration is
thus expressed :
" First, that they hold and profess, and will
" ever hold and profess, that, in no circumstance,
" in no place, under no pretence of tyranny, or
" vexation from persecution, on no account of re-
" ligion, under no other possible pretence, it is
" lawftd, or can be made lawful, for any person,
" whatever be his state or condition, to make any
" attempt, directiy or indirectly, on the persons of
" sovereigns; or to speak, write, insinuate, favour,
" or do any other act, which can tend to endanger
" their safety : — that they condemn and detest, as
*' pernicious and deserving the execration of aU
" ages, any doctrine to the confrary, which may be
* Vol. iii. p. 597-
s 2

260 HISTORICAL MEAIOIRS OF
" found in any works, that may have been com-"
" posed, either by any member of thefr society, cff
" by any other person, whosoever he may be.
" Secondly, — That they hold and profess, and
" wiU ever hold and profess, the doctrine of the
" clergy of France, declared in their assembly of
" 1682: — consequentiy, they teach, andalways wiU
" teach, that the power, given by Jesus Christ to
" St. Peter, to his successors, and to the church
" itself, is purely spiritual, and extends to that only,
"which belongs to eternal salvation; that they
" have no power over any thing that concems tem-
" porals ; and that thus the power of sovereigns in
" temporals is so totally independent of every spi-
" ritual power, that in no case, for no cause, and
" on no pretence whatever, can they, either directiy
" or indirectiy, be deposed by the power of the
" keys, or their subjects absolved, from thefr oath'
" of allegiance.
" Thfrdly, — That they are, and always will be;
" subject to the laws, ordinances, regulations, and
" usages of the kingdom, in the same manner as all
" other subjects ofthe king, either spiritual or lay :
" as also, to the i-ules ofthe discipline and the com-
" mon law ofthe church, in the same manner as
" these are binding on the other religious persons
" in the kingdom, and that they cannot attempt
" any thing contrary to the rights of the bishops,
" curates, universities, or others : — or make any use'
" of any privUege, whatever it may be, except so'
" far as it is conformable to the import of the laws
" and maxims of the kingdom.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 261
" Fourthly, — That, if itshouldhappen,— (which
' ' may God forbid), — that they should be ordered by
" their general, orby any otherperson, invested with
"^ny authority, whatever it may be, to do, (contrary
" to the declarations above expressed), any thing
" against the laws ofthe church or the state, to their
" duty to their sovereigns, or to the public welfare
" or tranquillity, they declare, that they hold, and
" ever will hold, such decrees or instruments to be
" null, — on every ground of right, (deplein droit);
" and that they would be'^ and would consider
" themselves obliged to disobey them*."
* Tlie Monita Secreta, or Private Instructions, — a publi
cation sometimes brought forward against the Jesuits, — is a
most infamous work, and wholly beneath notice. — It supposes,
that the society has a deliberate plan of subjugating the uni
verse to its sway, with a settled determination that, where any
villainy would avail towards the accomplishment of this object,
its members should adopt any villainy : that this horrid pro
ject was reduced to system ; that this system is expressed in
the Monita Secreta ; and that these were put into the hands
of the elect, to be used by them, whenever occasion should
make it expedient.
Is this possible ? Has it entered into the mind of. man to
conceive such an infernal plan ? — When the queen of France
was charged with corrupting the morals of her son, she nobly
appealed for the impossibility of the charge, to the feelings of
every mother;— and the feelings of every mother absolved her.
— For the impossibility of the genuineness of the Monita
Secreta, the Jesuits may appeal, with equal confidence, to the
feelings of every gentleman in the universe — There does not
live the Jesuit, or the scholar of a Jesuit, who, if any one ofthe
doctrines which it inculcates, or any one practice which it
recommends, were proposed to him, would not spurn it with
indignation. J q Neither

262 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Even in those exemptions from episcopal juris
diction, which the religious of all orders have
pought to enjoy, the Jesuits have been moderate.
This is evident from the tenor of the. foundation
of their house at Liege. On that occasion, flie
count de Velbronck, the prince bishop of Liege,
presented a petition to the pOpe, in which he
noticed the establishment of that institution, its
dotation ; and the suppression of the society of
Jesus by pope Clement the fourteenth ; that, to
prevent the English catholics from being deprived
of the benefits of this college, he formed by his
letter's patent a new kind of institute to preserve the
salutary effects of the former ; that he had directed
that the members of the college should remain
subject to this ordinary authority of himself and
his successors while they should be at Liege, and
that when they should be on the English mission,
they should be subject to the jurisdiction of the
vicars apostolic ; that the superior of the house
should be chosen by the principal members of the
house, the English vicars apostolic, and the English
catholic nobUity, and presented to the bishop of
liege for the time being for confirmation. And
that he had annexed some houses and other pro
perty to the college, and finally sanctioned the
whole by his letters patent. The pope granted the
petition of the prince bishop, and confirmed tbe
Neither the original, nor any certified copy, of this vile
book was ever produced ; no circumstance respecting its dis
covery, ever proved ; no collateral fact to establish its auAen-
ticity, ever published.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 263
establishment by a formal brief, beginning with
the words, ''Catholici Pr^sules," dated the i7tii
day before the calends of October 1778.
It was confirmed to the college at Stonyhurst
by briefs ofthe 14th of February 1796, and 14th
December 1818. LXXV. 9.
The Dissolution of the Society.
It does honour to Christianity, that the first per
secution of her was set on foot by Nero : it does
similar honour to the Jesuits, that the first perse
cution of them was set on foot by the marquis de
Pombal, the most sanguinary and remorseless mi
nister of state, that appeared in the last century.
The charge, which he brought against the Jesuits,
was, that they were parties to a plot, for the assas
sination of the Portuguese monarch. Now, that
such a plot existed, is very doubtful : — that the
Jesuits were concemed in it, has not been shown by
the slightest evidence. For their supposed parti
cipation in it, they were banished from Portugal
in 1759-
In the following year, the attack was made upon
them in France. Father de la Valette, the pro
curator of their house of St. Peter in Martinique,
and the superior-general of their missions in the
Leeward Islands, had the direction of some plan
tations which belonged to the society ; and, from
the produce of which, their missions in those islands
were altogether supported. He made a large con-
S4

264 HISTORICAL. MEMOIRS OF
signment of colonial produce to the house of Lion^ys
and Gouffre, at Marseilles, and drew on them for
the amount of two-thirds of it, by bills payable at a
distant day. The Lionfys and Gouffre accepted
the bills ; the ship, charged with the consignment,
was captured by the English ; the bills became due,
were dishonoured and protested : the Lioufys and
Gouffre became bankrupts ; and their effects were
assigned, in the usual manner, to the syndic of
Marseilles, for the benefit ofthe creditors. It was
contended, on the part of the creditors, that, under
the circumstances of the case, the general body of
the society was answerable for the debt. This, ^e
Jesuits denied, and the cause was brought before the
parliament of Paris. In support of their defence,
the Jesuits alleged their constitutions. Here, their
enemies awaited them ; and the pari lament instantiy
ordered them to produce their constitutions in court
and deposit . them in the GrMe. On the 8th. of
May 1761, the cause was decided in favour ofthe
creditors. The parliament did not rest there ; it proceeded
to an examination of the constitutions, and by an
arr^t of the 6th of August 1 762, declared thebuUs,
briefs, constitutions, and other regulations ofthe
society, to be abusive; and dissolved the. society
within the limits of their jurisdiction. , Some other
parliaments of France proceeded in the same man
ner. Finally, by an edict of 1 763, Lewis the fifth-
teenth suppressed the society withinhis dominions.
They were banished by the king of Spain, in 1767;
by the king of Naples, the duke of Parma, and the

«

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 265
grand master of Malta, in 1 768 ; and where wholly
suppressed by pope Clement the fourteenth, in
1773- " In general," says the author of the " Vie
" privie de Louis XV.*" — and he certainly cannot
be accused of partiality to the order, — ¦" the more
" numerous and respectable portion of the nation
" regretted the Jesuits. If this great cause had
" been heard, with the solemnity and gravity due
" to its importance, the Jesuits might have thus
addressed the magistrates ; — ' You ! all you,
" whosehearts and understandings we have formed,
" answer, before you condemn us, these questions !
" We appeal to the judgment, which you formed
" of us, in that age, when candour and innocence
" reigned in your hearts. Now, therefore, come
" forward ! Declare ! — Did we in our schools^ in
" our discourses, or in the tribunal of penance,
" ever inculcate to you, any of those abominable
" maxims, with which we are now reproached ?
" Did you ever hear them fall from our lips ? Did
" you ever read them in the books, which we put
" into your hands? Did you ever observe in our
" public or private conduct, any thing approaching
" to them ? Is it upon a few passages, tom and
" twisted from books, long buried in the dust of
"libraries, that we should be judged? Should it
" not rather be on the doctrine which you heard
" from us, — ^when you fiUed our coUeges, when
" you frequented our schools, our pulpits and our
"confessionals? Is there among you, one, who
* Tom. iv. p. 61.

266 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" has heard from us, even a single maxim, witb
" which we are now charged ? Why,' — the Jesuits
" might have continued, ' did you send your sons
" to our schools, if you had been taught, or did
" seriously suspect u^ of teaching,, in them, bad
" morality.' " Alas ! " continues the same writer, "the ma-
" gistrates said all this to one another: — in private
" they held no other language ; but they were
" no sooner seated on the bench of justice, than
" they were overpowered by their fanatical and
" louder brethren."
At the time of its dissolution, father Ricci, of an
illustrious house in Florence, was the superior-
general ofthe society. He, and several others of its
most distinguished members, were, on a sudden,
imprisoned, by the order of pope Clement the four
teenth, and, after some changes of prison, con
veyed to the castle of St. Angelo, and closely
confined. They underwent separate interroga
tories. Two questions only, in these interrogatories,
seem to deserve notice.— The general was asked
" If there were abuses in the order?" He replied,
" that, " through the mercy of God, there were no
" abuses, that could, in anywise, be called gene-
" ral ; — on the contrary, there were great regu-
" larity, piety, zeal, and particularly great union
" and charity ; this was demonstrated by the cir^
" cumstance, that, during fifteen years of exfreme
" tribulation, there was no internal trouble or
" tumult ; and that all remained attached to their
" state, though excessively persecuted. This did

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 267
" notprevent particular abuses from rising, through
" human frailty, — to which proper remedies were
" applied." The other question, which we shall notice, re
spected the wealth ofthe society. — Its enemies had
foretold that its dissolution would lead to the dis
covery of immense treasures. — In no country, from
which they were expelled, was this wealth, or the
slightest vestige of it, discovered. This, the ene
mies of the society accounted for, by supposing,,
that, foreseeing the storm which was to burst upon
them, the persons entrusted with the management
of its funds, had transmitted them to Rome.
" Their avidity for the good things of this world,"
says the author of the celebrated treatise, Du
Pape et des Jesuites*, " is one of the greatest re-
" proaches made to the society, in the brief of
" Clement the fourteenth ; and yet, at the moment
" of their dissolution, they were encumbered by a
" heavy debt. This is an enigma, which can only
" be explained by a fact sufficientiy known,-^that
" they were obliged to send, eyery year, to Rome,
" the frait of their economy and savings ; that
" these sums were put under the disposition ofthe
" general ; who, by their constitutions, was the
"sole proprietary of the -ectopanyj By these
"¦means, aportioBj not inconsiderable, of the reve-
" nues ofthe state flowed, fiirtively, through secret
"canals to sweU a foreign freasure, and often
"served suspicious purposes."
* 2d edit. p. 17.

268 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
: The supposed treasures were, however, quite as
invisible at Rome, as in any other place. — At the
interrogatory which has been mentioned, the gene
ral was strictly questioned respecting the amount
of the wealth ofthe society, and his sending it from
Rome to prevent its seizure ; — " Neither I myself,"
answered the general, " nor any person, within my
" knowledge, has sent a single penny of our pro-
" perty out of Rome, or placed it in any bank.
" The.persuasion of our treasures, either hidden or
'' invested, is extremely false,— a popular rumour
" without a foundation ; probably invented by our
'^enemies, or arising from the splendour of our
^' churches. The belief of it is a mere dream, a
'•' delirium, — a real mania. I am surprised to find,
" even honourable persons give credit to this fable;
" they should be convinced of its falsehood by the
" multiplied and strange searches so fruitlessly
" made, both in Rome and other countries, todis-
*' cover this imaginary wealth. The amount ofthe
" money, subject to my free disposition, was very
" inconsiderable." On the 19th of November 1775, feeling himself
near his end, the general desired to receive the sa
crament of the holy eucharist. The chaplain of the
castie brought it to him; and just before he re^
ceived the salutary host, the genersJ, in the pre
sence of the viccTgovemor of the castie, of. don
John, his secretary, of the brother Orlandi, an ex-
jesuit, the serjeant Veimini, the corporal Piannarra,
nine soldiers, and some other persons, who assisted

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 2ea
at the ceremony, — solemnly pronounced, from a
written paper, which he held in his hands, a de
claration, of which the following is an extract :
" Considering myself on the point of being pre-
" sented before the tribunal of infallible trutli and
*' justice, which is no other than the divine fri-
" bunal, — after long and mature consideration, after
" having humbly prayed my most merciful Re-
" deemer and terrible Judge, not to permit that I
' ' should allow myself to be led away by any passion,
" particularly in one of the last actions of my life,
" — without any bitterness of heart, or any vicious
" motive or end, and only because I hold myself
" to be obliged to do justice to truth and inno-
" cence, — I make the two following declarations
" and protestations :
" First, — I declare and protest, that the sup-
" pressed society of Jesus, has given no ground for
" its suppression: I declare this, with all the cer-
" titude, that a superior, well informed of his order,
" can morally have.
" Secondly, — I declare and protest, that I have
" not given any ground, not even the slightest, for
" my imprisonment. I declare and protest this,
" with that rectitude and evidence which every one
" hath of his own actions. I make this second
" protestation, only because it is necessary to the
" reputation of the society of Jesus, of which I was
" superior-general."

<c

270 HISTORICAL MEiMOlRS OF
That the society fell with dignity, is admitted
even by their enemies. " Let not,"— (wrote father
NeuviUe, in a letter to one of his brethren), — " a
" word, a look, a single sigh of complaint or mur
mur escape you. A respect, which should not
" fail you during an instajit, for the holy see, and
"for the pontiff, who fills it; perfect respect for
"the rigorous, but always adorable decrees, of
" Providence, and for the powers whom she em-
" ploys in the execution of her designs, — the depth
" of which it is not for us to fathom ; — these are our
" duties. Let our sorrows,. our groans, our tears
" never escape us, except in the presence of God,
" and in his sanctuary ; let our grief be expressed
" before men, no otherwise, than by the silence of
" modesty, peace and obedience ! Let us forget,
" neither the instructions, nor the examples, for
" which we are indebted to our society ! Let us
" show, by our conduct, that she deserved a better
" fate ! And let the words and actions ofthe sons
" vindicate the mother ! This will be her most
" powerful and able defence : it is the only defence
" which is permitted to us. We wished to serve
" religion, by our zeal and talents ; let us endea-
" vour to serve her, by our fall and sufferings !
" You cannot doubt the painful feelings of my
" heart, in beholding the humiliating destruction of
" the society, to whom I owe, whatever I possess;
" of virtue, talent or reputation. I may tmly say,
" that every moment I drink the cup of bitterness :
" — but when we look on Jesus crucified, is it
" lawful for us to complain?"

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 271
The epitaph of the order might have been writ
ten in the few following lines : —
In humble hope of the Divine favour.
The Society of Jesus now reposes :
Education languishes ;
Irreligion and Insubordination increase :
A Revolution,
The horrors qf which it enters not iiUo the heart of Man
to conceive.
Advances rapidly.

LXXV. 10.
!%€ Restoration ofthe Society.
The writer has now to write, what he trusts all
his readers wiU deem some pleasing lines. In
August 1814, the pope re-established the society of
Jesus, by his buU, solicitudo omnium ecclesiarum.
By this, he derogated from the brief of Clement
the fourteenth. He mentions the numerous re
quests, for the re-establishment ofthe Jesuits, which
he had received from persons of every class ; praises
ihefr aeal and Conduct in the countries, in which
they had been re-established ; and authorizes
Thaddeus Borrozowski, thefr superior-general, to
re-unite them in community, in order to employ
themselves on education, in coUeges, and semi
naries, and in the functions of the ministry, con
formably to the rule of St. Ignatius.
On the sixth of August, he communicated this
bull to a consistory of cardinals : on the seventh.

272 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
he repaired, in great state, to the church of Jesus,
in the ancient convent of the Jesuits ; and, after
celebrating the sacrifice of the mass, on the altar
dedicated to St. Ignatius, and assisting at another
mass, he went into a large chamber. There, seated
on a throne, and surrounded by the sacred college,
and many prelates, he ordered the bull to be read
by the master ofthe ceremonies, and then delivered
it with his own hands into those of father Pannizoni,
a provincial of the order.
Let us now suppose that we hear Bossuet ad
dressing to the Jesuits, assembled on this occasion,
the very words which he addressed to their fathers,
in a sermon preached by him, in 1607, in their
church at Paris * : " You ! — O celebrated society,
" — you, who bear, with so good a title, the name
" of Jesus, —whom the grace of God has inspired
" with the important design of leading children to
" him, from their infancy, to the maturity of man,
" in Jesus Christ, — to whom God, in these last
" ages, has given doctors, apostles, and evangelists;
" in order to make known, throughout the universe,
" and even to the extremity ofthe earth, the glory
" of the gospel, — cease not in its service, (con-
" formably to your holy institute), to exert all the
" talents of your minds, all your eloquence, all
" your politeness, and all your learning : — and the
" better to accomplish so great a work, receive
" with all this assembly, in testimony of eternal
" charity, the holy benediction of the Father, the
" Son, and the Holy Ghost ! "
* CEuvres de Bossuet, ed. Ben. vol. iv. p. 459.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 273
f His holiness, since the publication of this bull
for the restoration ofthe society, has twice formally
signified that " it was not his intention that it
" should have the effect of restoring it to any state
" which should not recal it, or express a wish for
*' its return."
We shall conclude this article with the verses
which Gresset addressed to the Jesuits when he
quitted their order.
" Je dots tous mes regrets aux sages queje quitte :
" J'enperds avec douleur Fentretien vertueux ;
" Et, si dans leur foyers desormaisje n'habite,
" Mon cceur me survit aupres d^eux.
" Car ne leurs crois point tels, que la main de Venvie
" Les peint a des yeux prevenus :
" Si tu ne les connois que sur ce qu'en public
*' La tenebrease calomnie,
" lis te sont encore inconnus:
" Lis, — et vois de leurs mceurs des traits plus ingenus :
" Qu'il est doux de leur rendre un temoignage
" Dont Tinteret, la crainte, et Fespoir sont exclus !
*' A leur sort le mien ne t lent plus : —
" L'impartialite va tracer leur image.
« Oui, jai VU des mortels, — (fen dois ici I'aveu), —
" Trop combattus, connus trop peu ;
" J'ai VU des esprits vrais, des mceurs incorniptibles,
" Voues d la patrie, ^ leur roi, ci leur Dieu ;
" A leurs propres maux insensibles;
" Prodigues de leurs jours, tendres, parfaits amis;
" Et souvent bienfaiteurs paisibles
" De leurs plusfougeux ehnemis;
" Trop estimes enfin pour etre moins hats :
" Que d'autres s'exhalant, dans leur haine insensee,
" En reproches injurieux,
" Cherchent, en les quittant, ^ les rendre odieux:—
" Pour moi,—Jidele au vrai,—Jidele ^ ma pensie,
" C'est ainsi qu'en partant,je leur f ais— Mes adieux."
VOL. III. T

274 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
It may be naturally asked in this place — if the
Jesuits were such friends to humanity, rendered
such services to religion and literature, and were
individually so honoured and loved, as they are
represented in these pages, — why had they so
many and such violent enemies ?
The answer is plain : —
Talents and merit producfe power and influence;
- — power and influence produce envy and Ul-will.
The power and influence of an individual operate
generally within a limited circle, and therefore ex
cite the envy and ill- will of few ; — and these expire
with their objects. — The power and influence of a
body, numerously and strongly constituted, and
spread over the whole world, as was the society of
Jesus, are not thus limited ; they are not only
permanent, but a,lmost always on the increase *.
The consequence is obvious.
A young gentleman complained to the late sir
Alexander Strachan, a distinguished member ofthe
society, of the undeserved malevolence which he
had received from some, whom he had served :
" My dear friend," said the worthy father, " you
" know the Jesuits : think of us, and be satisfied."
He might haVe involved the observation higher:
he might have said, — " Think of the fate of, him,
" qui pertransiit benefaciendo."
The writer hopes these historical minutes of
this very interesting society will displease no en
lightened or candid reader. No one can be more
* See the Apologie de ITnstitftt des Jesuites, ch. iii. sep-
tifeme objection, — from which this remark is taken.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 2^i
independent of its members, less connected with
them, or have fewer calls on him to advocate their
cause. — But,
'• Pleas'd to spread friendships, and to cover beats,"
Pope, —
he could not refiise himself the satisfaction of
offering, in this place, a few words in their eulogy.

CHAP. LXXVL

GENERAL STATE OF THE ZXGUSH CATHOLICS,
TX THE REIGX OF GEORGE THE THIRD, BE
FORE THE ACT PASSED IX THEIR FAVOUR JX
I77S. 1760.
J.N the preceding part of this work^ we have
brouffht the history ofthe English catholics to the
reign of George the thfrd : we shaU now briefly
mention, I. Thefr general condition, from the re
volution tiU that period: H. And its gradual im
provement
LXXVL 1.
General Condition of the English CathoUcs, from the Re
volution till the Accesaon of George the third.
DuRiXG the first part of his reign, the catholics
suffered a considerable degree of persecution.-r-
T 2

276 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Attempts were sometimes made to carry into execu
tion the sanguinary laws against their clergy. In
1 769, the honourable James Talbot, the brother of
the late, and uncle of the present earl of Shrews
bury, was tried for his life, at the Old Bailey, for
saying mass ; and only escaped conviction from
the want of evidence. Other priests were prose-,
cuted ; and some imprisoned for life. On an in
quiry made by the writer of these pages, in 1 780,
respecting the execution of the penal laws against
the catholics, he found, that the single house of
Dynely and Ashmall, attornies in Gray's Inn, had
defended more than twenty priests, under such pro
secutions ; and that, greatly to their honour, they
had generally defended them gratuitously. To
avoid these prosecutions, several priests fled be
yond the sea, or removed to remote parts of Eng
land. In many instances, the laws which deprived
the catholics of their landed property, were en
forced : cases of this nature are mentioned in the
law reports.
So lately as in the year 1782, two very poor catho
lic labourers and their wives were summoned before
one of his majesty's justices of peace in tiie county
of York, and fined one shilling each, for not re
pairing to church; and the constable raised it by
distraining, intheliouse of one them, an oak table,
ahd a plate shelf, — in the house of the other, a
shelf and two dozen of delf plates, one pewter dish,
with some pewter plates, one oak table, and an
arm chair. The sale was publicly called, at the

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 277
market day, and the goods were sold by auction
at thefr respective houses *.
In other respects, the catholics were subject to
great vexation and contumely. No person, who
was not alive in those times, can imagine the de
pression and humUiation under which the general
body of roman-catholics then laboured. Often, in
his early life, has the writer heard the ancestors of
the catholic youth of that period tell them, that
they could form no idea of the sufferings of the
catholics in the beginning of the last century. He,
in his tum, can now aver, that the present cathoUc
youth can form no idea of the lamentable state of
tiie catholics, so lately as in the reign of George
the second, and the first years of George the third.
They caimot picture to themselves the harsh, the
contemptuous, and the distressing expressions,
which, at that time, a cathoUc daily heard, even
from persons of humanity and good breeding. At
a court baU, a roman-catholic young lady of very
high rank, distinguished by character, by beauty,
and even by the misfortunes of her famUy, was
treated with marked slight by the lord ehamber-
* The constable's bill was in these words : —
To not attending church ---£.- 2 -
To a warrant - - _ - _ j -
To constable's expenses - - - - 2 -
£¦- 5 -

See " A Letter to tiie author of the Review of the Cases of
« the Protestant Dissenters, with a short Address to the most
« reverend the Lord Bishop of St. David's, by Sir Henry
« Englefidd, bart.— 1790, p. 61, 62."
T 3

278 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
lain. " It is very hard," she exclaimed, " to be sa
" tieated ; — after all, I was invited ; " — and buist
into tears. They were noticed by queen Cairo-
line ; and, when her majesty leamt the cause, there
was not a kind, a generousj or a soothing excuse,
which she did not make to her. WhUe this com
passionate gentieness showed the amiable mind of
the queen, the unfeeling mdeness of the chamber
lain as strongly showed the temper of the times. A
Norfolk gentieman took a young catholic friend to
his seat in that county, and told him he should
make it a point to introduce him to all his friends;
" but," said he, " you must permit me to inform
" them that you are a catholic, for I do not think it
" fair to introduce a catholic to any one, without
" first mentioning his religion."— Yet, this gentie
man possessed a cultivated understanding, and had
travelled.^ — The writer doubts, whether, during the
first years of the late reign, any catholic permitted
his son to travel in a stage-coach, without pre
viously cautioning him j^ainst saying any thing
that might discover his religion.— Such was the
general fear of abuse and contumely, in which the
catholics then lived.
Twocircumstancesparticularlycontributedbothto
preserve and increase the national prejudice against
the roman-catholics. From the time of the revo
lution, the state had been divided into a whig and
a tory,— the church, into a high and a low church,
party ; and each had its subdivisions. Agreeing
in nothing else, all united in professing an abhor
rence of popery; and each strove to outdo the

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 279
other in its crimination. The passage, which jve
have cited from bishop Burnet, shows the effect of
this rivalry, while the penal enactment of the
lOth and llth of WiUiam the third, was in its
passage through the parliament. — Mr. Burke's de
scription of it is as accurate as it is eloquent. —
" A party," said this eloquent senator, in his
speech to the electors of Bristol, — " in this nation,
" enemies to the system of revolution, were in op-
" position to the government of king- William.
" They knew, that our glorious deliverer was an
" enemy to all persecution. They knew, that he
" came to free us from slavery and popery, out of
" a country, where a third of the people are con-
" tented catholics, under a protestant government.
" He came, with a part of his army, composed of
-' those very catholics, to overset the power of a
" popish prince. Such is the effect of a tolerating
" spirit: and so much is liberty served, in everyway,
" and by all persons, by a manly adherence to its
" own principles. Whilst freedom is true to itself,
" every thing becomes subject to it ; and its very
" adversaries are an instrument in its hands.
" The party I speak of," continues Mr. Burke,
" (like some among us, who would disparage the
" best friends of their country), resolved to make
"the king either violate his principles of tolera-
" tion, or incur the odium of protecting papists.
" They, therefore, brought in this bill ; and made
" it, purposely, wicked and absurd, that it might
" be rejected. The then court party, discovering
" their game, turned the tables on them ; and re-
T4

280 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" turned their bill to them, stuffed with still greater
" absuiidities, that its loss might lie upon its ori-
" ginal authors. They, finding their own ball
" thrown back to them, kicked it back again to
" their adversaries. And thus this act, loaded
" with the double injustice of two parties, neither
" of whom intended to pass, what they hoped the
" other would be persuaded to reject, went through
" the legislature, contrary to the real wish of all
" parts of it, and of all the parties that composed
" it. In this manner, these insolent and profligate
" factions, as if they were playing with balls and
" counters, made a sport of the fortunes and the
" liberties of their fellow creatures. Other acts of
" persecution have been acts of malice ; this was
" a subversion of justice, from wantonness and pe-
*' tulance. Look into the history of bishop Bumet.
" He is a witness without exception.
" The effects ofthe act have been as mischievous,
" as its origin was ludicrous and shameful. From
" that time, every person of that communion, lay
" and ecclesiastic, has been obliged to fly from
" the face of day. The clergy, concealed in gar-
" rets of private houses, or obliged to take a shelter,
" — (hardly safe to themselves, but infinitely dan-
" gerous to their country), — under the privileges
" of foreign ministers, oflSciated as their servants,
" and under their protection. The whole body of
" the catholics, condemned to beggary, and to
" ignorance, in their native land, have been obUged
" to leam the principles of letters, at the hazard of
" all their other principles, from the charity of

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 281
" your enemies. They have been taxed, to their
" ruin, at the pleasure of necessitous and profli-
" gate relations ; and according to the measure of
" their necessity and profligacy."
The other circumstance, particularly serving to
preserve and increase the popular odium against
the catholics, was their estranging themselves from
general society : but this was their misfortune,
not their faiUt. We have noticed the constructive
recusancy, to which the catholics were liable by
the statute of George the first, and the dreadful
proscription to which it exposed them. We shall
not repeat what we have said on this subject, — we
shall only transcribe Mr. Burke's description of its
effects : " Such," says that great man, " was the
" situation of the catholics at this time, that they
" not only shrunk from the frowns of a stem ma-
" gistrate, but were obliged to fly from thefr very
" species ; — a kind of universal subserviency, that
" made the very servant behind their chairs the
" arbiter of their lives and fortunes."
LXXV^. 2.
The gradual Amelioration in the situation of Catholics.
The first approximation of catholics to the notice
of their sovereign, took place in consequence of
some attentions, which Edward duke of Norfolk,
(to whom the present duke is third in succession),
and Mary, the wife of duke Edward, had an
opportunity of showing to Frederick prince of
Wales, during the variance between his royal

282 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
highness and George the second, his father. The
late king was bom at Norfolk House. It is known
that, at this time, George the second and the
prince were at variance. The duke and duchess
conducted themselves, on this occasion, in a man
ner highly pleasing both to the parent and the
son, and to the consorts of each. It was signified
to them, that their frequent attendance at court
was expected; and queen Caroline often invited
the duchess to her private parties. The duchess
was gifted with great talents : was easy, dignified,
and, when she pleased, singularly insinuating.
Her grace, lady Clifford, and the lady of Mr.
Philip Howard, were daughters and co-heiresses
of Mr. Edward Blount, the early patron and cor
respondent of Pope. Through Pope, she became
acquainted with Mr. Murray, afterwards lord
Mansfield — in his early life, — while he yet lived at
No. 5, in King's Bench Walks, — where he is so
well described by the bard —
" To number fve direct your doves :
" There, spread round Murray all your blooming loves ;
" Noble and young, who strikes the heart,
" With every sprightly, every decent part :
" Equal, the injured to defend,
" To charm the mistress, or to fix the friend."
She loved business. Her talents for it, and her
high rank, made her the refuge ofthe catholics in
all their vexations ; .and she availed herself of her
intimacy with lord Mansfield to render them every
service in her power.— Her house was the cenfre
of whatever was great and elegant, in either com-

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 283
munion ; and, by familiarising them with one
another, their prejudices were softened, and their
mutual good will increased.
Lord Mansfield had the great merit of being
the first public character; who openly advocated
the catholic cause, and expressed a decided opi
nion in favour of a relaxation of the penal code.
On everj^ occasion, he discountenanced the prose
cutions of catholic priests, and took care, that the
accused should have every advantage that the
forms of proceeding, or theletter or spirit of the
law could afford. He omitted no opportunity of
inculcating the salutary doctrine of toleration ; Or
of impressing on the minds of his hearers the im
portant fact, — stiU, perhaps, too little regarded,—
that the circumstances, which provoked the enact
ment of the penal code, had long ceased to exist ;
and that the time was come, when mutual forbear
ance, and mutual benevolence, -should anticipate
its legislative repeal. His speech- in favour ofthe
dissenters, in the case of Mr. Alien Evans,— ^finally
heard in the house of lords, on the 4th of February
1767, — is an eternal monument, both of his en
larged and comprehensive notions on the subject
of religious toleration, ind of his peculiar style of
oratory. " What bloodshed and' confusion," says
his lordship, " have been occasioned from the
" reign of Henry the fourth, when the first penal
" statutes were 'ena:cted, down to the revolution, in
" this kingdx^m, by laws made to force conscience !
" There is nothing certainly more unt^iasOnable,
" more inconsistent with the rights of human

264 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" nature, more confrary to the spirit and precepts
" of the christian religion, more iniquitous and
" unjust, more impolitic, than persecution. It is
" against nature, revealed religion, and sound
" policy.— Sad experience, and alarge mind, taught
" thatgreatman, thepresidentdeThou,this doctrine.
" Let any man read the admirable things, which,
" though a papist, he has dared to advance upon
" the subject, in his dedication of his history to
" Henry the fourth of France, (which I never
" could read without rapture), and he wUl be fiiUy
" convinced, not only how cmel, but how impolitic
" it is to persecute for religious opinions."
It may be added, that those who wish to form
true notions of the charges brought against James
the second, for his abuse of the dispensing power,
should read his lordship's speech on the embargo
in 1766; — a luminous and complete tieatise on
that very delicate, and very littie understood
branch of constitutional law.
The honour of first calling the attention of the
legislature to the situation of the catholics, was
reserved to lord Camden. The owner of an estate
in the north of England, subject to a jointure rent-
charge of a catholic lady, who had treated him
with great kindness, — disputed her titie to it, on
the ground, that, being a roman-catholic, she was
disabled, by the act ofthe loth and 11th of king
William, from taking any estate or interest in land.
On advising with her lawyers, the lady found her
case remediless, in any court of law or equity.
By the advice of a respectable and powerfiil neigh-

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 285
bour, she procured a bill to be brought into the
house of lords, for her relief. Lord Camden, on
reading her petition, declared himself, without
hesitation, the advocate of her cause. Generally,
his lordship's style of public speaking was that of
coUoquial and pleasing, though dignified oratory.
Occasionally, however, he rose to the frue sublime ;
and it was then the more impressive, as it appeared
to come from the heart. On the occasion which
we have mentioned, his lordship was eminentiy
great. When he spoke of the harshness of the
case, and the harshness of the laws which pro
duced it, and the claims of the catholics on the
humanity and the wisdom of the house for their
repeal, he was heard with an unanimous burst of
applause ; and his speech produced a correspond
ing sensation on the public. — To this circumstance,
Mr. Burke, in his speech which we have cited,
alludes, when he says, " so ineffectual is the power
" of legal evasion against legal iniquity, that it
" was but the other day that a lady of condition,
" beyond the middle of life, was on the point of
" being stripped of her whole fortune by a near
" relation, to whom she had been a friend and
" benefactor ; and she must have been totally
" mined, without a power of redress or mitigation
" from a court of law, had not the legislature itself
" rushed in, and by a special act of parliament
" rescued her from the injustice of its own sta-
" tiites."

286 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF

CHAP. LXXVIL
the ACT PASSED IN THE EIGHTEENTH YEAR OF
• HIS LATE MAJESTY, FOR THE RELIEF OF THE
ENGLISH CATHOLICS.
It is now the pleasing duty of the writer of
these pages, to mention the acts, passed during the
late reign, for the relief of the English catholics.
The first was passed in the eighteenth year of his,
late majesty. The writer wiU state in this chapter,
I. The petition presented, in that year, by the Eng-<
lish catholics : II, The proceedings in parliament,
upon the act: III. Its legal operation : IV. The
oath, which it prescribed: And, V. The riots in
1780. -
-.:<;,- 1 :'y'iu-u "^'lXXVII. l.
The Petition presented by the English Catholics in 1778.
" To the king's most excellent majesty.
" The humble address of the roman-catholic peers
" and commoners, of Great Britain.
i.Tj " Most gracious sovereign, ^ j .
"We, your majesty's dutifiU and loyal subjects,
" the roman-catholic peers and cbmmoners of your
^' kingdom of Great Britain, most humbly hope,
" that it cannot be offensive to the clemency of
" your majesty's nature, or to the maxims of your
" just and wise government, that any part of your

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 287
" subjects should approach your royal presence, to
" assure your majesty of the respectful affection
" which they bear to your person, and thefr true
" attachment to the civU constitution of thefr coun-
" try ; which, having been perpetuated through
•¦ aU changes of religious opinions and establish-
" ments, has been, at length, perfected by that
" revolution which has placed your majesty's U^
" lustrious house on the throne of these kingdoms ;
" and inseparably united your title to the crown,
" with the laws and liberties of your people.
" Our exclusion from many of the benefits of
" that constitution, has not diminished our rever-
*' ence to it. We behold, with satisfaction, the
" felicity of our feUow subjects ; and we partake of
" the general prosperity, which results from an
" institution so fuU of wisdom. We have patientiy
" submitted to such restrictions and discourage-
" ments, as the legislature thought expedient. We
" have thankfuUy received such relaxations of the
" rigour of the laws, as the mUdness of an en-
" lightened age, and the benignity of your ma-
" jesty 's government, have graduaUy produced :
" and we submissively wait, without presuming to
" suggest either time or measure, for such other
" indulgence, as those happy causes cannot faU, in
." their own season, to effect.
" We beg leave to assure your majesty, that our
" dissent from the legal establishment in matters
" of religion, is purely conscientious ; that we hold
" no opinions adverse to your majesty's govem-
" ment, or repugnant to the duties of good citizens.

288 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" And we trust, that this has been shown more
" decisively, by our irreproachable conduct for
" many years past, under circumstances of public
" discountenance and displeasure, than it can be
" manifested by any declaration whatever.
" In a time of public danger, when your ma-
" jesty's subjects can have but one interest, and
" ought to have but one wish and one sentiment,
" we humbly hope it will not be deemed improper
" to assure your majesty of our unreserved affec-
" tion to your government, of our unalterable at-
" tachment to the cause and welfare of this our
" common country, and our utter detestation of
" the designs and views of any foreign power
" against the dignity of your majesty's crown, the
" safety and tranquillity of your majesty's subjects.
" The delicacy of our situation is such, that we
'' do not presume to point out the particular means,
"by which we may be allowed to testify our zeal
" to your majesty, and our wishes to serve our
" country ; but we entreat leave, faithfully to assure
" your majesty, that we shall be perfectiy ready,
" on every occasion, to give such proofs of our
" fidelity, and the purity of our intentions, as your
" majesty's wisdom, and the sense of the nation,
" shall at any time deem expedient."
This address was signed by the duke of Norfolk,
the lords Surrey and Shrewsbury ; — By lord Linton,
(for the Scotch) ; and by lords Stourton, Petre,
Amndel, Dormer, Teynham, Clifford, and one
hundred and sixty-three commoners.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 289

LXXVIL ¦?.
Tlie Proceedings in ParUament on the Act of the Eighteenth
of his late Majesty.
" The lateness ofthe season, — (say the writers
" ofthe Annual Register ofthe year 1778), — did
" not prevent sir George SavUle from endeavouring
" to profit of the lenient temper, and liberal spirit
" of the times, in favour of a long oppressed body
" of men, almost forgotten, in the patience and
" silence with which, for many years, they endured
" thefr grievances. However necessary the penal
" laws against roman-catholics originally were,
" whilst the constitution was yet struggling into
" reformation, and afterwards confirming itself in
" that happy settlement, — as the causes of perse-
" cution had long ceased to operate, men of hu-
" manity could not avoid lamenting, (as all true
" policy forbad), the keeping up of such standing
" memorials of civU rancour and discord ; and per-
" petuating a line of division, by which one part
" of the people, being cut off from the rights of
" citizens, could scarcely be said to possess any
" share in the common interest ; and were rendered
" incapable of forming any part of the common
" union of defence. Indeed, the laws seem cal-
" culated to compel a considerable body of people
" to hold an hereditary enmity to govemment ;
" and even to wean them from all affection to their
" country. On the 14th of May, 1 778, sfr George
" SaviUe moved accordingly, for leave to bring in
VOL. iir. u

290 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" a bill, for the repeal of certain penalties and
" disabilities, provided in an act of the loth and
" llth of William the third, intituled, an act to
" prevent the further growth of popery. He stated,
" that one of his principal views, in proposing this
" repeal, was, to vindicate the honour, and to assert
" the principles, ofthe protestant religion, to which
" all persecution was, or ought to be, wholly ad-
" verse : that this pure religion ought not to have
" had an existence, if persecution had been lawful;
" and it ill became us to practise that which we
" reproached in others : that he did not meddle
" with the vast body of that penal code ; but
" selected that act, on which he found most of the
" prosecutions had been formed ; and which gave
''. the greatest scope to the base views of interested
" relations, and of informer-s for reward. The act
'^ had not, indeed, been regularly put in execution ;
" but sometimes it had ; and he understood, that
" several lived under great terror, and some under
" actual contribution, in consequence of the powers
" given by it. As an inducement to the repeal of
" those penalties, which were directed with such
"a violence of severity against papists, he stated
" the peaceable- and loyal behaviour of that part
" of the people, under a government, which, though
" not rigorous in enforcing, yet suffered such in-
" tolerable penalties and disquaMfieations to stand
" against them on the statutes-.
" A late loyal and exceUent address, whieh they
" had presented, to the throne, stood high a«iong
"the instances which sir George pointed outj of

The ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 291
" the safety and good consequences which were
" likely to attend this liberal procedure of parlia-
" ment.— He observed, that, in the address, they
" not only expressed their obedience to the go-
" vernment under which they lived, but their
" attachment to the constitution, upon which the
" civil rights of this country have been established
" by the revolution, and which placed the present
" family upon the throne of these kingdoms. As
" a further guard and security, however, agairist
" any possible consequence of the measui*e, he
" proposed, that a sufficient test might be formed,
" by which they should bind themselves to the sup-
" port ofthe civil government, by law established.
" The motion was seconded by Mr. Dunning,
" who, with his well known ability and knowledge
" ih such subjects, went into a legal discussion of
" the principal objects, and past operation of the
" bill, which was intended to be repealed. The
" following he stated as the great and grieVOUs
" penalties; — the punishment of popish priests or
" Jesuits, who should be found to teach or officiate
" in the services of that church; which acts vvere
" felony in foreigners, and high treason in the
" natives of this kingdom; — the forfeitures of po-
" pMi heirs, who had received their education
" abroad, and whose estates went to the next pro-
" testant heir :-^the power givein to tbe son, or
'• other nearest relation, being a protestant, to take
" possession of the father's or other relation's es-
" taite, during the life of the real proprietor :— and
" the depriving of papists of the power of ac-
U 2

29-2 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" quiring any legal property by purchase; — a
" word, which, in its legal meaning, carried a
" much greater latitude than was understood, (and
" that perhaps happily), in its ordinary accepta-
*' tion ; for it applied to all legal property, acquired
" by any other means than that of descent.
"These, he said, were the objects of the pro-
" posed repeal. Some ofthe laws, he remarked,
" had now ceased to be necessary ; and others
" were, at all times, a disgrace to humanity. The
" imprisonment of a popish priest, for life, for offi-
" elating in the service of his religion, was horrible
" in its nature ; and must, to an Englishman, be
" worse than death. Such a law, in times of so
" great liberality as the present, and when so little
" was to be apprehended from these people, called
" loudly for appeal ; and he begged to remind the
" house,' that even then, they would not be left at
" liberty to exercise their fiinctions ; but would
" still, under the restriction of former laws, be
" liable to a year's imprisonment, and to the pun-
" ishment of a heavy fine. And although, he ob-
" served, the mildness of government had hitherto
" softened the rigOur of the law in the practice, it
" was to be remembered, that the roman-catholic
" priests constantly lay at the mercy of the basest
" and most abandoned of mankind, common in-
" formers ; for, on the evidence of any of these
"wretches, the magisterial and judicial powers^
"were, of necessity, , bound to enforce all the
" shameful penalties of the act. Qthers of these
" penalties held out the most powerfril temptations

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 293
•' for the commission of acts of depravity, at the
** very thought of which our nature recoils with
'* horror. They seem calculated to loosen all the
•• bands of society ; to dissolve aU civU, moral, and
" religious obligations and duties ; to poison the
" sources of domestic felicity ; and to annihUate
" every principle of honour. The encouragement
" given to chUdren to lay thefr hands upon the es-
•' tates of thefr parents ; and the restriction, which
" debars any man from the honest acquisition of
*' property, need, said he, only to be mentioned to
" excite the utmost indignation of this house.
" The motion was received with universal ap-
** probation ; and a bUl was accordingly brought
" in. It passed both houses without a single ne-
" gative." LXXVIL 3.
The legal Operation cfthe Act ofthe eighteenth of his late
Majesty.
The legal operation ofthe act ofthe 18th year
of his late majesty was very limited. It repealed
the clause ofthe loth and 12th of WUliam the
third, which disabled the English-catholics from
taking lands by descent ; and some clauses in the
same act, which related to the apprehending of
bishops and priests, and which subjected them and
catholics, who kept schools, to perpetual impri
sonment The other clauses of the act of king
WiUiam, and every pain, penalty, and disabUity^
inflicted by other acts, remained in all their force
u 3

294 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
against them. But, though the legal benefits,
which the catholics derived from the act, were
limited, the advantages which they derived from it
in other respects were both substantial and exten
sive. It shook the general prejudice against them
te its centre : it disposed their neighbours to think
of them with kindness ; it led the public to view
the pretensions to further relief with a favourable
eye ; and it restored to them a thousand indes<;rib-
able charities in the ordinary intercourse of social
life, which they had seldom experienced. No ca
tholic, who recollects the passing of the bill, will
ever forget the general anxiety of the body, while
it was in its progress through the parliament ; or
the smile and friendly greeting, with which his
protestant neighbour met him, the day after it had
passed into a law. LXXVIL 4.
The Oath prescribed by the Act.
The boon, however, was burthened with an
oath.— Every such oath, so far as it requires from
catholics a. solemn profession of moral or civil
principle, not required from any other subject, is
felt by them as an humUiation. StiU, as the oath,
of which we are now speaking, contained nothing
offensive to their religious principles, and their
frie]?,ds ?i,dvised them to submit to it, as a necessary
sacrifice to popular prejudice, they acquiesced in it,
— and the oath was taken universally.
' As soon as tl*e terms of it were arranged, to the

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 29;>
satisfaction of his majesty's ministers, it was com
municated to the four vicars-apostolic, and ad
mitted by them all. Lord Petre. and some other
gentiemen, waited upon the late bishop Challoner,
and put it into his hands. He perused it with
great deliberation, and explicitly sanctioned it.
He observed, however, that it contained some ex
pressions, contrary to the Roman stj le ; that these
might create difficulties at Rome, if Rome were con
sulted upon it beforehand : but that Rome would
not object to the oath, after the bill was passed.
He therefore recommended to the gentiemen, who
waited upon him, to avoid aU unnecessary delay
in procuring the act. This fact is known to every
person who has lived in habits of intimacy with
lord Petre, or with any gentieman who accom
panied his lordship to the venerable prelate. For
the truth of it, the writer has leave to cite Sfr John
Throckmorton, who repeatedly heard it from lord
Petre, and Mr. Joseph Berington, who repeatedly
heard it from Mr. Stapleton. The writer himself-
has repeatedly heard lord Pefre mention it
The oath is expressed in tihe following words :
" I, A. B. do sincerely promise and swear, that
• I wiU be faithfid, and bear true allegiance to his
•¦ majesty king George the thfrd; and him will
¦' defend, to the utmost of my power, against aU
•' conspiracies and attempts whatsoever that shaU
•' be made gainst his person, crown, or dignity;
•' and I wiU do mv utmost endeavour to disclose
" and ifiake known to his majesty, hi« hetrS
'•' and success*^ aU treasons and^tfaitoroas oon-
V 4

296 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
' ' spiracies, which may be formed against hini or
" them; and I do faithfully promise to maintain;
" support, and defend, to the utmost of my power,
" the succession ofthe crown in his majesty's fa-
" mily, against any person or persons whatsoever ;
" hereby utterly renouncing and abjuring any
'' obedience or allegiance unto the person taking
" upon himself the style and title of prince of
" Wales, in the life-time of his father ; and who,
" since his death, is said to have assumed the
" style and title of king of Great Britain, by the
"name of Charles the third; and to any other
" person, claiming or pretending a right to the
" crown of these realms ; and I do swear, that I do
" reject and detest, as an unchristian and impious
'-' position, that it is lawful to murder or desfroy
" aiiy person or persons whatsoever, for or under
" pretence of their being heretics ; and also that
" unchristian and impious principle, that no faith is
" to be kept with heretics : I further declare, that it
" is no article of my faith, and that I do renounce,
" reject, and abjure the opinion, that princes ex-
" communicated by the pope and council, or by
" any . authority ofthe see of Rome, or by any
" authority whatsoever, may be deposed or mur-
" dered by their subjects, or any person whatso-
" ever ; and I do declare, that I do not believe
" that the pope of Rome, or any other foreign
'' prince, prelate, state, or potentate, hath, or ought
" to have, any temporal or civil jurisdiction, power,
" superiority,or pre-eminence, directly or indirectiy,
" within this realm. And I do solemnly, in the

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 297
" presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that
" I do make this declaration, and every part there-
" of, in the plain and ordinary sense of the words
" of this oath, without any evasion, equivocation,
" or mental reservation whatever ; and without
" any dispensation already granted by the pope,
" or any authority of the see of Rome, or any
" person whatever ; and without thinking that I
" am, of can be, acquitted before God or man, or
" absolved of this declaration, or any part thereof,
" although the pope, or any other persons or
" authority whatsoever, shall dispense with or
" annul the same, or declare that it was null or
" void." A more complete and unreserved disclaimer of
the deposing doctiine, than is contained in this
oath, language cannot express. Worthy of im
mortal memory, are the prelates who took it, and
exhorted their flocks to take it. To these venera
ble men, we owe the free exercise of our religion,
and the security of our property, which we now
enjoy : should we succeed in our hopes of further
relief, to them, primarily, we shall owe our suc
cess. For want of their better spirit, how often
did our ancestors experience, that ultra-catholicism
is one ofthe worst enemies of catholicity*?
* The reader will be pleased to read the following letter,
written on the subject of this oath, by the late bishop Challoner,
to the late bishop Hornyold, and which has been copied from
the original. " Honoured dear sir, — In compliance with yours
" to Mr. Browne, I here send you my thoughts with regard to
" the oath proposed by the late act of parliamient, which I

298 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
LXXVIL 5.
The Riots in 1780*.
The following account of this singular event we
transcribe from the Annual Register of that year-
" While these matters," say the wi-iters of that
valuable historical work, " were agitated with so
" much warmth, in and out of parliament, and
" with so many extraordinary turns of fortune, an
" affair totally separate, was, at the same time,
" carried on, for a long time, with little notice ;
" but which, in due season, broke out with so much
" fury and violence, as entirely to bear down all
" designs, either for reforming or for strengthening
"government; and at once overwhelmed, and
" bore away before it, both majority and minority,
" with an irresistible torrent of popular fanaticism
" and phrenzy.
" Every body knows the circumstances, as well
'• have examined and seriously considered on, coram Deo^
" iH^loring also his light and assistance ; and I am fully con-
" vinced, that it contains nothing, but what may be taken witb
" a safe conscience, both by priests and people. The same
" are the sentiments of my m'  " (bishop James)
" Talbot, and our brother," (bishop) " Walton, and of the
" generality of our clergy, both secular and regular; a great
" many of whom have taken the oath in our courts of West-
" minster. I remain, honoured dear sir, ever yours in our
" Lord, " Richard Challoner.
* Mention of the riots; in Scotland will be made in the
second supplementary chapter to this work.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 299
^' as the event, of this shameful and unhappy affair;
" and that lord George Gordon, who had been
" early placed at the head of the Scotch associa-
" tion for the support of the protestant religion,
" was likewise appointed president to an associa-
" tion in London, formed in imitation or emula-
" tion of the former. The public summons in the
" newspapers, by which he assembled fifty or sixty
" thousand men, in St. George 's-fields, under an
" idea of defending the religion of the country
" against imaginary danger, by accompanying the
" presentment, and enforcing the matter of a peti-
" tion to parliament, demanding the repeal of the
" late law which afforded some relaxation of the
" penal statutes against popery, — are likewise fresh
" in every body's memory.
" The extraordinary conduct of that noble per-
" son in the house of commons, during the present
" session, and the frequent interruptions which he
" gave to the business of parliament, as well by
*' the unaccountable manner in which he continu-
" ally brought in and treated matters relative to
" religion, and the danger of popery, as the ca-
" price with which he divided the house, upon
" questions, wherein he stood nearly, or entirely
" alone, were passed over, along with other singu-
" larities in his dress and manner, rather as sub-
" jects of pleasantry, than of serious notice or
" reprehension. Even when he involved matters
" of state with those of religion, in a strange kind
'^ of languagcj boasting that he was at the head of
" a hundred and twenty thousand able men in

300 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" Scotland, who would quickly remedy their own
" grievances, if they were not otherwise redressed ;
" and little less than holding out destmction to
" the crown and government, unless fnll security
'* was given to the associations in both countries,
" against those imminent dangers, with which they
'• were immediately threatened by popery. Such
" things, and others, if possible, still more extra-
" ordinary, were only treated merely as objects of
" laughter. It is, however, possible that this care-
" lessness, or complacence, of the house, was at
" length carried too far.
" Besides the advertisements and resolutions,
" the inflammatory harangue of the president, at
^' the preceding meeting of the protestant associa-
" tion, was published in the newspapers, and was
" full of matter, which might well have excited the
" most instant attention and alarm. In that piece,
" the president informs his enthusiastic adherents,
" among other extraordinary matter, that, for his
" part, he would run all hazards with the people ;
" and, if the people were too lukewarm to run all
" hazards with him, when their conscience and
" their country called them forth, they might get
" another president ; for he would tell them can-
" didly, that he was not a lukewarm man himself;
" and if they meant to spend their time in mock
" debate and idle opposition, they might get £^n-
" other leader. He afterwards declared, that if
" he was attended by less than twenty thousand,
" on the appointed day, he Would not present their
" petition ; and he gave orders, under the appear-

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 301
" ance of a motion, for the manner in which they
" should be marshalled in St. George's-fields ;
" appointing that they should be formed in four
" bodies ; three of them regulated by the respec-
" tive boundaries of the great divisions of the me-
" tropolis ; and the fourth composed entirely of his
" own particular countrymen. To prevent mis-
" takes, the whole were to be distinguished by blue
" cockades. If this were not sufficient to arouse
" the attention of govemment, lord George Gordon
"gave notice to the house of commons, on the
" Tuesday, that the petition would be presented
" on the following Friday, and that the whole body
" of protestant associators were to assemble in
" St George's-fields, in order to accompany their
" petition to the house.
" These notices ought to have given a more
" serious alarm, than they seem to have done, to
" govemment. The opposition afterwards charged
" them with little less than a meditated encou-
" ragement to this fanatic tumult, in order to dis-
" countenance the associations which had more
" serious objects in view, and to render odious and
" contemptible all popular interposition in affairs
"of state! They reminded them of their activity
" in giving orders to hold the military in readiness,
" on a peaceable meeting in Westminster-hall, and
" their utter neglect of the declared and denounced
" violence of this sort of people.
" The alarming cry against popery, with the
" continual invective and abuse which they disse-
" minated through newspapers, pamphlets, and

302 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" sermons, by degrees drew over to a meeting,
" originally small and obscure, a number of well-
" meaning people, from the various classes of pro-
" testants, who seriously apprehended their reli-
" gion to be in danger. These, however deficient
" they were in point of consideration, being, for
" the far greater part, poor and ignorant people,
" many of whom could not write their names, they
" became formidable with respect to numbers. It
" is, however, to be at all times remembered, that
" the conduct of these associators was not more
" execrated, than the intolerant principle, to^ which
" they owed their union and action, was con-
*' demned by the sound and eminent divines, both
" of the established church and of the dissenters.
" On the 2d of June, the grand division of asso-
" ciators being drawn off, by different routes, from
" the rendezvous of St. George's-fields, filled the
" ways, through which they marched in ranks,
" with a multitude which excited wonder and
" alarm. Having arrived at the place of their
" destination, and filled up all the stieets and ave-
" nues to both houses, they began the exercise of
" the new authority, derived fi-om their numbers
" only by compelling the members, as they came
" down, to cry out, ' no popery ;' to wear blue
" cockades ; and some, as it is said, to take an
" oath to contribute all in their power to the re-
' peal of the new law, or, as they called it, the
" popery act. But,^ upon the appearance of the
" archbishop of York, and other of the prelates and
" court lords, their rage and violence were in-

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. ,103
" creased to the highest pitch. During this dread-
" ful tumult, which continued, with more or less
" interruption, for some hours, the archbishop, the
" duke of Northumberland, the lord president of
" the council, with several others of the nobility,
" including most or all of the lords in office, were
" treated with the greatest indignities. The bishop
" of Lincoln, in particular, most narrowly escaped
" with his life ; first, by being suddenly carried
" into a house, upon the demolition of his carriage,
" and then being as expeditiously led through, and
" over its top, into another. Lord Stormont's life
" was also in the most imminent danger ; and he
" was only rescued, after being half an hour in
" their hands, by the presence of mind and address
" of a gentleman who happened to be in the
" crowd. " It would be impossible to describe the asto-
" nishment, sense of degradation, horror, and dis-
" may, which prevaUed in both houses. Attempts
" were twice made to force their doors ; and were
" repelled hy the firmness and resolution of their
" door-keepers and other officers. In this scene
" of terror and danger, the resolution and spirit
" with which a young clergyman, — who acted as
" assistant, or substitute, to the chaplain of the
" house of commons, rebuked the outrage of the
" mob, and told their leader, in their presence,
" that he was answerable for all the blood that
" would bfr shed; and aU the other fatal conse-
" sequences that might ensue, — merited some other
" reward, besides mere applause.

304 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" In the mean time, the author, mover, and
" leader of the sedition, having obtained leave, in
" the house of commons, to bring up the petition,
" afterwards moved for its being taken into imme-
" diate consideration. This brought on some de-
" bate ; and the rioters being in possession of the
" lobby, the house were kept confined, for several
" hours, before they could divide upon the
" question. The impediment being at length re-
" moved, by tiie arrival of the magistiates and
" guards, the question was rejected, upon a divi-
" sion, by a majority of one hundred and ninety-
" two to six only, by whom it was supported. —
" During this time, lord George Gordon frequentiy
" went out to the top of the gallery-stairs, from
" whence he harangued the rioters, telling them
" what passed in the house ; that their petition
" would be postponed ; that he did not like delays ;
" and repeating aloud the names of gentiemen,
" who had opposed tiie taking it into consideration
" under their present circumstances ; thus, in fact,
"holding them out as obnoxious persons, and
" enemies, to a lawless and desperate banditti.
" The house of commons have been much cen-
" sured, for the want of resolution and spirit, in
" not immediately committing, upon the arrival of
" the guards at night, their own member to the
" Tower, who had, by so shameful a violation of
" their privileges, involved them in a scene of such
" unequalled danger and disgrace. It has even
" been said, that a measure of such vigour, might
" have prevented all the horrid scenes of confla-

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 305
"gration, plunder, military slaughter, and civil
" execution, that afterwards took place : and it has
" been argued, from the passive conduct of the
" mob, some years ago, upon the committal ofthe
" lord mayor, Crosby, and of alderman Oliver, to
" the Tower, that it would not have been attended
" with any Ul consequence.
" It is, however, to be remembered, that danger
" is considered in a very different manner by
" those who are entfrely out of its reach, and even
" by the same persons, under its immediate
" impression. The circumstances were likewise
" widely and essentiaUy different. Religious mobs
" are, at all times, infinitely more dangerous and
" cruel than those whieh axise on civil or political
" occasions. What country has not groaned under
^ the outrages and horrors of fanaticism ? or where
" have they ever been quelled but in blood ? This
" mob was much more powerfiil and numerous, as
" well as dangerous, than any other in remem-
" brance. The force of the associates was, on
" that day, whole and entire, which it never was
" after. The intense heat of the weather, which
" necessarUy increased thefr inebriation, added
" fire to their reUgious fury ; and rendering them
" equaUy fearless and cruel, no bound could have
" been prescribed to thefr enormities.
" The situation of the lords was stUl worse than
" that of the commons. Besides that the malice
" of the rioters was pointed more that way, they
" were not uiider the restiaint of any application
" to them for redress. The appearance of the
VOL. III. X

306 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" lords, who had passed through their hands,
" every thing about them in disorder, and their
" clothes covered with dirt, threw a grotesque aii-
" of ridicule upon the whole, which seemed to
" heighten the calamity. A proposal was made to
" carry out the mace; but it Was apprehended,
" that peradventure it might never retum. In a
" word, so disgraceful a day was never beheld
" before, by a British parliament.
" In the midst of the confusion, some angry
" debate arose, the lords in opposition charging
" the ministers with being themselves the original
" cause of all the mischiefs, that had already, or
" might happen, by their scandalous and cow-
" ardly concessions to the rioters in Scotland;
" and, at the same time, calling them loudly to
" account, for not having provided for the present
" evil, of which they had so much previous notice;
" by having the civil power in readiness for iU
" prevention. To this it was answered, by a noble
" earl in high office, that orders had been given,
" on the preceding day, for the attendance ofthe
" magistrates ; but two of those gentlemen, whd
" happened to be in the way, being sent for and
" examined, declared they had neither heard of;
" nor received, any such order.
" Before the rising of the house of commons;
" several parties ofthe rioters had filed off, and pro-
<' ceeded to the demolition of the chapels, belong-
" ing to the Sardinian and Bavarian ministersl
" The commons adjourned to the sixth ; but the
" lords met on the following day ; and agreed to

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS; 307
" ^ a motion for an address,' made by the lord pre-
" sident, * requesting his majesty to give imme-
" diate orders for prosecuting, in the most effectual
" manner, the authors, abettors, and instruments of
" the outrages committed the preceding day, both
" in the vicinity of the houses of parliament, and
" upon the houses and chapels of several of the
" foreign ministers.' On the sixth, above two
* ' hundred members of the house of commons had the
" courage, notwithstanding the dreadful conflagra-"
" tions and mischiefs of the two preceding nights,
" the destmction threatened to several of them-
" selves, in their persons and houses, and which
" had already fallen upon the house of sir George
" SaviUe, in Leicester-fields, to make thefr way
" throuffh the vast crowds which filled the streets-
" and which were interlaced and surrounded by
" large detachments of the military on foot and on
" horseback. They found Westminster-hall, and
" the avenues to the house, lined with soldiers ;
" upon which, a celebrated member observed in
" his speech, bewaUing the deplorable situation to
" which parliament was reduced, that they had a
" bludgeoned mob waiting for them in the street,
*' and a mUitaiy force, with fixed bayonets, at
" their doors, in order to support and preserve
" the freedom of debate.
" They, however, passed some resolutions; one,-
" being an assertion of their own privUeges ; the
" second, for a committee to inquire into the late
" and present outrages; and for the discovery of
" their authors, promoters, and abettors ; the third,
X 2

308 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
"for a prosecution by the attorney-general ; and
" the fourth, an address to his majesty, for the re-
" imbursement of the foreign ministers, to the
" amount of the damages they had sustained by
" the rioters. Another resolution was moved by
" the minister, for proceeding immediately. When
" the present tumults were subsided, to take into
" due consideration the petitions from many of his
" majesty's protestant subjects. Intelligence be-
" ing received of the conflagrations, which were
" commenced in the city, it threw every thing into
" new confusion ; and a hasty adjoumment took
" place* " Some ofthe lords likewise met, but the impro-
" priety of their proceeding upon any public busi-
" ness, in the present tumult, and surrounded by a
" military force, being taken into consideration,
" and an account arriving, at the same time, that
" the first lord of the admiralty, in his way to the
" house, had been set upon, wounded, and his life
" only critica;lly saved, by the mUitary, they ad-
" journed to the 19th.
" Never did the metropolis, in any known age,
" exhibit such a dreadful spectacle of calaanity
" and horror; or experience such real danger,
" terror, and distress, as on the following day and
" night. It is said, that, it was beheld blazing, in
" thirty-six different parts, from one spot. Some
" of these conflagrations were of such a magnitude,
" as to be fruly tremendous. Of these, the gaol of
" Newgate, the King's Bench prison, the newBride-
" well in St. George's-fields, the Fleet prison, and

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 300
" the houses and great distilleries of Mr. Langdale
" in Holborn, where the vast quantity of spirituous
" liquors increased the violence of the flames to a
" degree, of which no adequate conception can be
" formed, presented spectacles of the most dreadful
" nature. The houses of most of the roman-catho-
" lies were marked ; andmany destroyed or burned;
" as well as those of the few magisfrates, who
" showed any activity in repressing those tumults.
" The outrages grew more violent, and general,
" after the breaking open of the prisons.
" The attacks, made that day, upon the Bank,
" roused the whole activity of the government.
" Great bodies of forces had, for some time,, been
" collecting from all parts* They were at length
" employed, and brought on the catastiophe ©f that
" melancholy night which followed. Strong de-
" tachments of troops being sent into the city,, and
" the attempts on the Bank, and other places, re-
" newed, a carnage then inevitably ensued, in which
" a great number of lives were lost. Nothing could
" be more disinal than that night. Those who
" were on the spot, or in the vicinity, say, that the
" present darkness, the gleam of the distant fires,
" the dreadfiil shouts in different quarters, the
" groans of the dying, and the heavy, regular,
" platoon firing ofthe soldiers, formed altogether a
" scene so terrific and tremendous, as no descrip-
" tion, or even imagination, could possibly reach.
" The metropolis presented on the foUowing
" day, in many places, the image of a city recentiy
" stormed and sacked ; all; business at an end,
x3

810 "HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
/'houses and shops shut up; the Royal Exchange,
" public buildings; and sfreets possessed and occu-
" pied by the troops; smoking and burning mins ;
" with a dreadful void and silence, in scenes of the
." greatest hurry, noise, and business.
" The house of commons met on the following
¦".day ; but, although the rioters were entirely
" quelled, it was immediately noticed, that the city
" of Westminster was under martial law ; and they
" accordingly adjourned to the igth. On the
" afternoon of the same day, lord George Gordon
" was taken into custody, at his house in Welbeck-
" street, and conveyed to the Horse-giiards ; and,
" after a long examination before several lords of
" the privy council, he was, between nine and ten
"in the evening, conducted, (under the sfrongest
" guard that ever was known to attend any state
" prisoner), totheToWer, wherehe was committed
" to close confinement."
It is needless to pursue the consequences of this
afflicting event:— Itshould, however, be mentioned,
that lord George Gordon was tried for his life and
acquitted ; that several others were tried and con
demned, but that the most guilty only were exe
cuted. Under the provisions ofthe act of George
the first, several roman-c&tholics recovered the
amount of their losses from the county.
Those: who wish to see all that philosophy and
•eloquence can say on this singular and melancholy
eventi — or on the general subject of the penal laws
against the roraan-datholics, or on the repfeal of
•those laws,' will find it in the "speech of Mr.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 811
" Burke, at the GuUdhaU, in Bristol, to the electors
" of that city, upon certain points relative to his
" parliamentary conduct, — published by him in
" 1782." A more able or more sincere advocate,
the roman-catholics never had. No orator could
ever pronounce on himself a more eloquent or a
more dignified, and, at the same time, a more
merited panegyric than that, with which Mr. Burke
closes this address ; perhaps, the most beautiful
specimen, that is extant, of modem eloquence.
" And now, gentlemen, on this serious day,
" when I come, as it were, to makeup my account
¦' with you, let me take to myself some degree of
' honest pride, on the nature of the charges that
' are against me. I do not here stand before you,
' accused of venality, or of neglect of duty. It is
' not said, that in the long period of my service,
• I have, in a single instance, sacrificed the slightest
¦ of your interests to my ambition, or to my for-
' tune. It is not aUeged, that, to gratify any anger
' or revenge of my own, or of my party, I have
' had a share in wronging or oppressing any de-
' scription of men, or any one man in any descrip-
' tion. No! the charges against me are aU of one
' kind, that I pushed the principles of general
' justice and benevolence too far ; — farther, than
' a cautious poUcy would warrant; and farther,
' than the opinions of many wovdd go along with
' me. — In every accident which may happen
through life ; in pain, in sorrow, in depression,
and disfress, I wiU caU to mind this accusation,
and be comforted."
X 4

312 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
While the riots were at the highest, some per
sons recommended to his late majesty a repeal of
the act which had passed forthe relief of the catho
lics in 1778; it is said that the queen supported
this recommendation by her entreaties; but his
majesty rejected it, and desired it not to be re
pealed. A petition for the repeal had been circu
lated, but obtained very few signatures : the late
Dr. Priestley, in a sensible and animated publica
tion*, showed its unreasonableness and inexpe
diency.

CHAP. LXXVIIL

THE SOCINIANS,  UNITARIANS,— DEISTS, 
FRENCH PHILOSOPHERS.
We have given some account of the successive
reformations of the established creed by the lati
tudinarians, by the low-church men, and by Hoad
ley and his disciples : the subject now leads us to
notice, I. The Socinians : II. The Unitarians :
III. The Deists : IV. And the French Philosophers.
V. We shall then mark the reception of the French
emigrants in this country.
* " A free Address to those who have petitioned for the
" Repeal ofthe late Act of Parliament in favour of the Roman-
" catholics."

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 313
LXXVIIL 1.
The Socinians.
The reformation had scarcely dawned, before
some persons secretly promulgated antifrinitarian
opinions. Thefirst of these was Martin Cellarius, a native
of Stutgard, in 1499 ; John Campanus, who main
tained the same doctrine, was his contemporary,
and is better known. Soon afterwards, the cele
brated Michael Servetus, an Arragonese, published
his first work on the Trinity * : it produced a
powerful sensation among the leaders of the re
formation : they all openly professed their abhor
rence of its doctrines. Undismayed by their cla
mours, he published a second workf, of the same
tendency, and afterwards his last and most cele
brated work, intituled " Christianity Restored ;|;."
By the treachery of a person employed in printing
it, several sheets of this work fell into the possession
of Calvin. He forwarded them to the inquisition
at Lyons, with an intimation that Servetus was the
author of them, and that he was in the neighbour
hood of the inquisitor. Upon this information,
Servetus was arrested, and thrown into prison, but
soon effected his escape and wandered to Geneva.
* " De Trinitatis Erroribus, libri septem, per Michaelem
*< Servetum, alias Reves, ab Aragonia, Hispanum, 1531," 8vo.
t " Dialogorum de Trinitate, libri duo :" " De justitia Regni
" Christi, capitula quatuor, 1532," 8vo.
X " Christianismi Restitutio, 1553," 8vo.

314 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
There, he was recognized, and, at Calvin's instiga
tion, committed to prison : he was afterwards sen
tenced by the council to be burned alive ; and the
sentence was executed with circumstances that
aggravated his sufferings. Calvin never denied or
disguised the partwhich he took in this transaction :
it was defended by Beza*.
StiU, the ahtitiinitarians increased : particularly
in the Italian territories bordering on Germany.
Meetings of them are said to have been held at
Vicenza, a smaU town in the Venetian state ; the
inquisition seized several who attended these meet
ings, and put some of them to death : others escaped
into Switzerland, Moravia, Poland, and Transylva
nia : they found catholics and protestants equally
hostile to them : the most eminent of the wanderers
were John Valentine Gentilis, who was tried for
his heresy and beheaded at Beme, and LebHus
Socinus. The latter concealed his opinions and
lived peaceably at Zurich : there he died, and left
many conttoversial writings. Faustus Socinus, his
nephew,possessed himself of them, and imbibed their
principles : this became generally known, and he
was obliged to quit Zurich. He settied in Transyl
vania : there, and in Poland, his disciples obtained
a legal settiement — In 1658, they were banished
for ever from the state by a solemn act of the diet :
f In his celebrated treatise " De Hereticis a civili Magis-
" tratu puniendis, 1554, 8vo."— Beza also advocated the
severe measures of the magistrates of Zurich against the
celebrated Ochin : Bayle exposes the futility of Beza's argu
ments, in a happy mixture of ridicule and reasoning. Art.
Ochin, note l.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 315
but they have always preserved their Transylvanian
settiement. They hold Christ, though the son of Mary, to
have been bom of her without a father, by the ex
traordinary power of God: and, as such, to be,
though in a qualified sense, tmly God, and entitied
to worship. LXXVIIL 2.
The Unitarians.
From the socinians, the unitarians differ prin
cipally in this,— that while they consider Christ
as a teacher sent of God, and afterwards raised by
him from the dead, they hold him to have beeh a
mere man.
-The founder of them appears to have been Fran
cis David, a divine of great learning and eloquence
at Coloswar. After having been successively a
roman-catholic, a lutheran, and a calvinist, he settled
ffally in unitarianism. He was persecuted by the
trinitarian divines of Hungary. At a meeting of
the state, they denounced him to the prince, and
concluded a long address to him in these words :
— " We, this day, by virtue of our office, cite
" thee, O thou illustrious prince, the keeper of both
" tables, with thy consort, thy chUdren, and all thy
" posterity, before the tribunal of the awful judge,
" Jesus Christ, whom this man has blasphemed, —
^' if 'thou' suffer him to live.'' — The prince, proba
bly with a view to evade the scandalous requisition^

316 . HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
condemned David to close confinement: after a
short time, he died in prison*.
The socinian exiles from Poland dispersed them
selves into the adjacent provinces, and penetrated
into Denmark, Holstein, Holland, France, and Eng
land. The celebrated Jurieu discovered, that, before
the close of the seventeenth century, socinianism
abounded in the United Provinces, and that the dis
persion of the French hugonots, in consequence of
the edict of Nantes, had revealed to the terrified re
formers ofthe pririiitive schools, the alarming secret
of the preponderance of socinianism in the reformed
churches of France f. In our times, d'Alembert
proclaimed the socinianism of Geneva; the defence
of the Genevan pastors rather confirmed than
weakened the charge.
" The socinians in England, "says Dr. Maclaine J,
" have never made any figure as a community : but
" have rather been dispersedamong the great variety
" of sects thathave arisenin a country, where liberty
" displays its most glorious fruits, and at the same
" time exhibits its most striking inconveniences."

* What has been said on socinianism, has been from the
historical sketch prefixed by Mr. Rees to his " Racovian
" Catechism, with notes and illustrations, translated from the
"Latin, Bvo. 1818."
f See the fourteenth book of Bossuet's " H'story of the
" Variations." He avails himself with great skill of the con
fessions and lamentations of his antagonist.
X In his translation of Mosheim's " History of the Church,"
vol. v. p. 55, note rk.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. ail
Unitarianism has been more successful : in the
reign of Charles the first, and during the protecto
rate, the famous John Biddle maintained, both in
public and in private, the unitarian system, and at
length established an unitarian congregation in
London : there, since this time, it has been always
on the increase. The unitarians have now several
congregations; a society for promoting christian
knowledge and the practice of virtue by the distri
bution of books, and a fund for sending mission
aries to preach their docfrines over England*.
Probably also, we may say of them, what Mr.
Gibbonf says of the arminians, that " they must
^' not be computed from their separate congrega-
" tions." Lxxvni. 3.
The Deists.
The first disciples of modem infidelity appeared
among the classical enthusiasts of Italy. Thence,
they passed into France, and made a settlement, from
which they have never been dislodged. Bayle's
Dictionary operated as a signal to call them into
action: the writings of Voltaire enlisted thousands ;
the Encyclopedic embodied them ; after this, it was
too evident, that in France the new opinions had,
in every order, too many friends.
In England, sir Walter Raleigh was suspected of
infidelity; and, about the same time, lord Herbert
* See Mr. Lindsay's " View of Unitarianism."
t " History ofthe Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,"
ch. 54.

31B HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
of Cherbury published two works, in which, if he
did not absolutely deny the divine origin of the
gospel, he maintained that it was not absolutely
necessary to the salvation of mankind; — unhappily,
he had a multitude of followers, and few imitated
his reserve.
The deists profess to believe a God, but show no
regard to Jesus Christ, and consider the doctrineof
the apostles and evangelists as fables and dreams.
They profess a regard for natural religion; some
acknowledge, some deny a fiiture state*.
In France, Julius Caesar Vanini, in Holland,
Benedict Spinosa, professed atheism. In England,
it was professed by Toland, who would have dis
graced any creed; and we are sorry to add, by one
at least, whom science loves to name — an historian
often cited in the preceding pages.
LXXVIIL 4.
The French Philosophers.
If we are to judge of the public mind in France
by its appearances at the time of the revolution,
atheism was much more common there than in
England ; and the attacks on revealed religion had
been conducted in it with a degree of concert and
co-operation, unknown in this country. The leaders
acquired the appellation of the French Philosophers.
* The reader will be pleased with the " Histoire critique
" du PhUosophisme Anglois, by the Abbe Tabaraud," 8vo.
i8iff.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 319
Their objects and their labours are thus described
by one of themselves *.
" There was a class of men, which soon formed
" itself in Europe, with a view not so much to dis-
" cover and make deep research after truth, as to
" diffuse it ; whose chief object was to attack pre-
" judices, in the very asylums where the clergy,
" the schools, the governments, and the ancient
" corporations had received and protected them ;
" and who made their glory to consist rather in
" desfroying popular error, than extending the
" limits of science : this, though an indirect
" method of forwarding its progress, was not, on
" that account, either less dangerous or less useful;
" Assuming every tone and every shape, from
" the ludicrous to the pathetic, from the most
" leamed and extensive compilation to the novel,
" or the petty pamphlet of the day, covering truth
" with a veil, which sparing the eye, that was too
" weak, incited the reader's curiosity by the plea-
" sure of letting him surmise what was meant, in-
" sidiously caressing prejudice in order to sttike
" it wfth more certainty and effect ; seldom me-
" nacing more than one at a time, and then only
" in part, sometimes flattering the enemies of rea-
" son, by seeming to ask but for a half toleration
" in religion, or a half liberty in polity; respecting
" despotism, when they impugned religious absur-
" dities, and religion when they attacked tyranny;
" combating these two pests in their principles,
* Condorcet.

3-20 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" though apparently inveighing against ridiculous
" and disgusting abuses; — striking at the root of
" those pestiferous trees, whilst they appeared only
" to wish to lop the straggling branches ; at one
" time marking out superstition, which covers des-
" potism with its impenetrable shield, tothe friends
" of liberty, as the first victim which they were to
" immolate, the first link tobe cleft asunder; at
" another, denouncing religion to despots as the
" real enemy of their power, and frightening them
" with its hypocritical plots and sanguinary rage ;
" but indefatigable when they claimed the inde-
" pendence of reason and the liberty of the press,
" as the right and safeguard of mankind — inveigh-
" ing with enthusiastic energy against the crimes
" of fanaticism and tyranny, reprobating every
" thing which bore the character of oppression,
" harshness, or barbarity, whether in religion, ad-
" ministration, morals, or laws ; commanding kings,
" warriors, priests, and magistrates, in the name of
" nature, to spare the blood of men ; reproaching
" them in the most energetic strain with that, which
" their policy or indifference prodigally lavished
" on the scaffold or in the field of battle ; in fine,
" adopting reason, toleration, and humanity, as
" their signal and watchword.
" Such was the modern philosophy, so much de-
" tested by those numerous classes, whose very
" existence was drawn from prejudices ; — its chiefs
" had the art of escaping vengeance, though exposed
" to hafred ; of hiding themselves from persecu-

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 321
" tion, though sufficiently conspicuous to lose
" nothing of their glory."
It, would, however, be a great injustice to con
found together, all the writers, whose works have
contributed to the French revolution. They may
be divided into three classes : — under the first, may
be ranked those, who were satisfied with pointing
out to sovereigns, the duties, which they owe to
their subjects, and the motives which religion and
reason suggest to excite sovereigns to a faithful dis
charge of them. These writers, though by making
subjects feel their rights, they co-operated remotely
in producing the general ferment which led to the
revolution, are not only free from blame, but are
entitied to the thanks of mankind. Such were
F^n^lon and Massillon : the general duties of a
sovereign, the wickedness and infamy of an oppres
sive, exttavagant, and voluptuous reign, are no
where more eloquently, more pathetically, or more
forcibly exposed than in the Telemachus of the
former, or the Petit Car^me of the latter. So much
was this the case, that, during the contests of
Lewis the fifteenth . with the parliaments, large
editions of the Petit Car^me of Massillon were
repeatedly printed and circulated throughout the
kingdom. The same, (if allowance be made for some indis
creet expressions), may be said of Montesquieu ;
and he had the additional merit of pointing out the
general revolution of opinion which the diffusion of
knowledge had produced, and was every day pro-
VOL. III. Y

322 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
ducing in France, and the necessity of appeasing
it by the sacrifice of some abuses. Those, who are
acquainted with that great man's writings, must be
surprised to see him ranked among the conspirators
against monarchy.
The general body of writers called the French
Philosophers, then come for consideration; they
may be divided into two classes, — at the head of
one we may place Voltaire, at the head of the other,
Rousseau. From a settled plan, and even a serious wish of
overturning the monarchy, justice requires us to
acquit the former : a slight limitation of the arbi
trary power of the crown, and the privileges of the
nobility, would have satisfied him : but the utmost
he would have left to the church, was a decent
maintenance for her ministers. — On the other hand,
Rousseau thought mankind could not be happy till
every distinction of rank was abolished, and pro
perty was held in common.
In the different assemblies each of these classes
of writers had their disciples. The venerable bishop
of Aries, the bishops of Clermont and Nancy, and
a few more of the royalists, may be reckoned
among the disciples of Fenelon and Massillon :
M. Malouet, M. Mounier, M. Lally, and the general
body of monarchists and constitutionalists, may be
reckoned among the disciples of Voltaire : the abb6
Sieyes, Danton, Marat, Robespierre, and the general
body of jacobins, may be reckoned among the dis^
ciples of Rousseau.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 323
When the hour of action came, the spirit of the»
masters appeared in their disciples. Like F^n^lon
and Massillon, the bishop of Aries, and tiie royal
ists of his character, thought it a sacrilege to touch
either the altar or the throne. Like Voltaire, the
Malouets, Mouniers, and Lallys, wished much al*
teration in the church, and some in the state ; but
like him, they wished these alterations effected
without violence ; and were ready to fly at the first
beat of a democratic drum : — to use an expression
atttibuted to Mirabeau, they wished une revolution
^laGrandison. — The jacobins despisedhalf reforms
and half measures ; they thought nothing would be
quite right till the church and state were destroyed,
and the golden year should arrive, when, according
to the expression attributed to Diderot, the last
king should be strangled with the bowels of the
last priest. — In the schemes of the jacobins, the
monarchists and constitutionalists unfortunately
co-operated ; but it was unintentionally ; they were
the first to appeal to the people ; but their appeal
was certaiiUy accepted beyond their wishes.
Of all the charges, which have been brought
against the catholic religion, that, which requfred
the greatest intrepidity, was, its being the cause of
the French revolution. — So far was this from the
fact, that Mirabeau, than whom no one most as
suredly was better acquainted either with the means
or aim ofthe revolutionists, expressly declared, that
before the . revolution could be effected, France
must be uncatholicised, ilfaut premihrement dica-
tholiser la France. In conformity with this opinion,
y 2

324 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
the religious persecution which ensued, was solely
dfrected against the catholic clergy and laity. The
writer does not recollect the name of a single person,
professing a conscientious adherence to that reli
gion, who was actively engaged in the revolution-.
ary measures : Necker, Chenier, Barnave, Emeri,
Rabaud, were not catholics *.
LXXVIIL 5.
Reception in England of the French persecuted
Clergy.
The writer has attempted to give, in his Histo
rical Memoirs of the Church of France f, some
account of the massacres and banishment of the
French nonjuring clergy. To this we beg leave to
refer our readers.
Towards the end of the month of August 1 792,
the national assembly of France passed a decree,
which ordered that all ecclesiastics, who had not
taken the civil oath, — an oath, which no consci
entious and well-informed ecclesiastic could law
fully take, — or who, having taken it, had retracted
it, should within the term of eight days quit their
dioceses, and, within the term of fifteen, leave the
kingdom, underpain of imprisonment for ten years.
This decree, the massacres of the second and
third of the following September, the subsequent
massacres, a subsequent decree of deportation, and
* See " Les veritables Auteurs de la Rewlution de France,
" de 1389, kNeufChatel, S*ro. 1797."
f Ch. xvii.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. ^5
finally, the French invasion of Holland, where large
numbers of the lay emigrants and deported priests
had taken refuge, occasioned the arrivals of them,
in large numbers, in England ; so that, in the end,
the number of deported priests exceeded eight
thousand ; and that of lay emigrants, exceeded two
thousand; we may add to them, the foreign and
English nuns who took reftige in this country.
At the respectable and afflicting spectacle, which
so many sufferers for conscientious adherence to
religious principle, presented, the English heart
showed all its worth. A general appeal to the
public was resolved upon. The late Mr. John
Wilmot, then member of parliament for the city of
Coventry, took the lead in this work of beneficence.
The plan of it was concerted by him, Mr. Edmund
Burke, and sir Philip Metcalfe. An address to
the pubhc was accordingly framed by Mr. Burke,
and inserted in all the newspapers. It produced a
subscription of 33,775/. 15s. g^d. This ample
sum, for a time, supplied the wants of the sufferers.
At length, however, it was exhausted ; and in the
foUowing year, another subscription was set on foot.
The venerable name of king George the third, ap
peared first on this list. This subscription amounted
to the sum of 41,304/. 12*. did. But this, too,
was exhausted.
The measure of private charity being thus ex
ceeded, parliament interposed ; and from December
1793, voted annuaUy a sum for the relief of the
ecclesiastic and lay emigrants. This appears, by
an account which the writer received from Mr.
Y3

32^ HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Wilmot, to have reached, on the 7th day of June
1806, the sum of 1,864,825/. gs. 8d. The
management of these sums was left to a committee,
of which Mr. Wilmot was the president; and the
committee confided the distribution of the succours
of the clergy, to the bishop of St. Pol de L6on.
A general scale for the distribution of the succours
was fixed : the bishops and the magistracy received
an allowance somewhat larger than others ; but the
largest allowance was small; and none was made to
those who had other means of subsistence. The
munificence of parliament did not, however, sus
pend the continuancte of private charity. Indivi
dual kindness and aid accompanied the emigrants
to the last. Here, the writer begs leave to mention
an instance of the splendid munificence of the late
earl Rosslyn, then chancellor of England. It was
mentioned, at his lordship's table, that the chan
cellor of France was distressed, by not being able
to procure the discount of a bill, which he had
brought from France. " The chancellor of Eng-
" land," said lord Rosslyn, "is the only person
" to whom the chancellor of France should apply
" to discount his bills." The money was immedi
ately sent ; and, while the seals remained in his
hand?, he annually sent a sum of equal amount to
the chancellor of France.
At Winchester, at Guildford, and in other
places, public buildings were appropriated for the
accommodation of the clergy. In the hurry in
whieh they had been forced to fly, many of them
had been obliged to leave behind them their books

THE ENGUSH CATHOLICS. 327
of prayer. To supply, in part, this want, the uni
versity of Oxford printed for them two thousand
copies of the Vulgate version of the New Testa
ment, from the edition of Barbou ; and the late
marquis of Buckingham printed an equal number
of copies, of the same sacred work, at his own
expense. Every rank and description of persons exerted
itself for their relief. There is reason to suppose,
that the money contributed for this honourable
purpose, by individuals, whose donations never
came before the public eye, was equal to the largest
of the two subscriptions which have been men
tioned. To the very last, Mr. John Wilmot con
tinued his kind and minute attention to the noble
vork of humanity. — It adds incalculably to its me
rit, that it was not a sudden burst of beneficence :
it was a cool, deliberate, and systematic exertion,
which charity dictated, organized, and continued
for a long succession of years ; and which, in its
last year, was as kind, as active, and as energetic,
as in its first.
Among the individuals who made themselves
most useful, one unquestionably holds the first place.
" At the name," says the ahhi Barruel, "of Mrs.
" Dorothy Silbum, every French priest raises his
" hand to heaven, to implore its blessings on her,"
The bishop of St. Pol took his abode in her house ;
and it soon became the central point, to which every
Freiichman in distress found his way. It may
easily.be conceived, that,, great as were, the sums
appropriated for the relief of the French clergy,
Y4

328 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
the number of those, who partook of them, was so
large, as to make the allowance of each a scanty
jirovision even for bare subsistence ; so that all were
obliged to submit to great privations, and, from one
circumstance or other, some were occasionally in
actual want. Here, Mrs. Silbum interfered. Where
more food, more raiment, more medicine, than the
succours afforded, were wanted, it was generally
procured by her, or her exertions. Work and la
bour she found for those who sought them. The
soothing word, the kind action, never failed her. —
All the unpleasantness which distress unavoidably
creates, she bore with patience. Her incessant ex
ertions she never abated. — The scenes thus de
scribed by the writer, he himself witnessed : and
all who beheld them, felt and remarked, that much
of the success, and the excellent management,
which attended the good work, was owing to her.
^— To use the expression of a French prelate, " the
" glory of the nation, on this occasion, was in-
" creased by the part which Mrs. SUburn acted in
" it." — On the final closing of the account, his ma
jesty was graciously pleased to show his sentiments
of her conduct, by granting to her an annual pen
sion of lOo/. for her life: never was a pension
better merited.
On the other hand, the conduct ofthe objects of
this bounty was most edifying. Thrown, on a sud
den, into a foreign country, differing from theirs
in language, manners, habits, and religion, the uni
form tenor of their decorous and pious lives obtained
for them universal regard. 'Thefr attachment tp

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 829
their religious creed, they neither concealed nor
dbtmded. It was evidentiy their first object to find
opportunities of celebrating the sacred mysteries,
and of reciting the offices of their liturgy. Most
happy was he, who obtained the cure of a congre
gation ; or who, like the abb6 Caron, could estab
lish some institution, useftil to his countrymen.
Who does not respect feelings, at once so respect
able and so religious ? Hence flowed their cheer
fulness and serenity of mind, above suffering and
want. " I saw them," a gentleman said to the
writer of these pages, " hurrying, in the bitterest
" weather, over the ice of Holland, when the
" French invaded that territory. They had scarcely
" the means of subsistence ; the wind blew, the
*' snow fell ; the army was fast approaching ; and
" they knew not where to hide thefr heads, yet
" these men were cheerful." They did honour to
religion; — and the nation, that so justly appreciated
thefr merit, did honour to itself.
The lay emigrants were chiefly composed of the
provincial nobility. Their willing exertions to in
crease their small subsistence were tmly honourable.
With this view, magistrates became preceptors ;
painting, drawing, and music were taught by ladies,
who, in happier hours, had leamed them for orna
ment ; the son refused no occupation, which gave
him the means of assisting his parent ; the daughter
was the maid of all work to her family. It is sur
prising how soon they qualified themselves, in one
form or other, for, useful employmeftts : none

330 HISTORICAL J^lSJVIOIftS OF
tlioughj; that a disgrace, which attachment to hia
king, or love of his religion, made necessary:
, Ilaving mentioned the edifying conduct ofthe
French deported clergy, andFrench emigyantlaity,
during this dreadful sera ofthe revolution, it remains
to make a similar short mentionof the cpnduct of
the emigrant nuns. The pious tenor of their con
ventual lives has been faithfully described by the
rev. Mr. John Fletcher, t)ie roman-catholic pastor
of Westjon- Underwood, in Buckinghamshire, in
tije third of his learned, elegant, and instructive
Sermons on various religious and moral subjects,
^ work expressing the doctrine and morality of
ijf^e gospel, in the mild s^ttractive language of
3t. Frances of Sales.
When the hour pf trial canie, the conduct of these
pipus recluses was uniformly edifying. On every
pc.c3.sion, they exhibited the greatest patience and
fortitude, and an unconquerable adherence to prin
ciples. The French philosophers h^d unceasingly
predicted, that the doors of the convents would be
n,o sooner opened, and their inmates legally emanci
pated from their vows, than they would rush to free
dom, marriage, and dissipation. Of this, there was
hardly an instance ; while the conduct of an im-
m,ense majority inyajriabily shpipved how sincerely
they despisedboth the blandishments and the terrors
of the world which they had quitted, ^ome of them
braved; persecution, ai^d eyen death itself, in its
most hideous form. Op pne occasion,, the fatal cart
conveyed the superior pf a convent, and all her

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 831
clausfral family, to the guillotine. In the road to
it, they sung, in unison, the litanies of the Virgin
Mary. At first, they were received with curses,
ribaldry, and the other usual abominations of a
French mob. But it was notlong before theirserene
demeanour and pious chaunt subdued the surround
ing brutality ; and the multitude attended them in
respectful silence to the place of execution. The
cart moved slowly, — all the while, the nuns con
tinued the pious strain : whenthe cart reached the
guillotine, each, till the instrument of death touched
her, sustained it. As each died, the sound became
proportionally weaker : at last, the superior's single
note was heard, and soon was heard no more. For
once, the French mob was affected ; in silence, and
apparently with some compunctious visitations,
they returned to thefr homes.
Throughout their dispersion, the nuns retained,
undiminished, their attachment to their religious
rule. Whenever opportunity offered, they formed
themselves into bands for its observance ; and the
insulated individual seldom failed to practise it, to
the utmost of her power. Sometimes, by succession
or heirship, or from some other circumstance,
wealth came in their way, but thefr spare diet,
seclusion from the world, and regular prayer, con
tinued ; and, what was not necessary to supply
their wants of the flrst necessity, was charitably
distributed. That this picture of their conduct is not exag
gerated, all must acknowledge, who have seen the
religious communities, to whom the incomparable

332 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
munificence of this country afforded an asylum.
No one has seen them, without being edified by
their virtues, at once amiable and heroic ; — ^few,
without acknowledging their happiness. — Their re
signation to the persecution, which they so unde
servedly suffered, their patience, theii- cheerfulness,
their regular discharge of their religious observ
ances, and, above all, their noble confidence in
Divine Providence, have gained them the esteem
of all who have known them. At a village near
London, a small community of Carmelites lived,
for several months, almost without the elements of
fire, water, or air. The two first (for water, unfor
tunately, was there a vendible commodity), they
could little afford to buy ; and, from the last, (thefr
dress confining them to their shed), they were ex
cluded. In the midst of this severe distress, which
no spectator could behold unmoved, they were
happy. Submission to the will of God, fortitude
and cheerfulness, never deserted them. A few hu
man tears would fall from them, when they thought
of their convent; and with gratitude, — the finest of
human feelings, — they abounded. In other respects,
they seemed of another world : — " Whatever with-
" draws us," says Dr. Johnson, " from the power
" of our senses ; whatever makes the past, the
" distant, or the future, predominate over the pre-
" sent, advances us in the dignity of rational be-
" ings." It would be difficult to point out any,
to whom this observation can be better applied,
than these venerable ladies, — any, who are more
withdrawn from the power of the senses; over

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 333
whose lives, the past, the distant, and the future,
more predominate, or over whom the present has
less influence.

CHAP. LXXIX.
PRINCIPAL PUBLIC MEN : — STATE OF THE PUBLIC
MIND AT THE TIME OF THE APPLICATION OV
THE CATHOLICS FOR THE BILL OF 179I : — ¦
APPLICATIONS TO PARLIAMENT FOR A REPEAL
OF THE LAWS REQUIRING THE SUBSCRIPTION
OF THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES.
Before we proceed to relate the applications
of the catholics to parliament for further relief,
the subject seems to require, or at least to allow,
that the writer should present his readers with a
succinct view, I. Of the principal public men :
II. And of the general state of the public mind,
at this period, in respect to religious liberty, in
consequence of the Bangorian controversy and
the disputes on the confessional : III. And of the
attempts which had been made by the protestant
dissenters to obtain a repeal of the corporation
and test acts. LXXIX. 1.
Principal public Men at this period.
Lord North was, at this time, the prime mi
nister: his eloquence was so far an aera in the
British senate, that what, in respect to the orators

334 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
of Rome, is observed by Velleius Paterculus of
Cicero, may be said of Lord North, — that no
" English senator will be entitled to be ranked
" among orators, whom Lord North did not see, or
" who did not see Lord North."
Of those by whom he was preceded, none pro
bably, except lord Chatham, will be remembered
by posterity. It was frequently given to the writer
of these pages to hear the speeches, both in the
house of commons and the house of lords, of this
extraordinary man. No person in his external ap
pearance was ever more bountifully gifted by nature
for an orator. In his look and his gesture, grace
and dignity were combined, but dignity presided ;
the "terrors of his beak, the lightning of his eye,"
were insufferable. His voice was both full and
clear ; his lowest whisper was distinctly heard, his
middle tones were sweet, rich, and beautifully va
ried ; when he elevated his voice to its highest pitch,
the house was completely filled with the volume of
the sound. The effect was awful, except when he
wished to cheer or to animate ; and then, he had
spirit-stirring notes, which were perfectly irresis
tible : he frequently rose, on a sudden, from a very
low to a very high key, but it seemed to be without
effort. His diction was remarkably simple, but
words were never chosen with greater care; he
mentioned to a friend of the writer that he had read
twice, from beginning to end, Bailey s Dictionary ;
and that he had perused some of Dr. Barrow's
sermons so often as to know them by heart. His
sentiments were apparently simple ; but sentiments

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 336
were never adopted or uttered with greater skill ;
he was often famUiar and playful, but it was the
famUiarity and playfulness of condescension,— thte
lion dandling with the kid. The terrible, however,
was his peculiar power. — Then the whole house
sunk before him. — Still, he was dignified ; and
wonderful as was his eloquence, it was attended
with this most important effect, that it impressed
every hearer with a conviction, that there wafe
something in him finer even than his words ; that
the man was infinitely greater than the orator : no
impression of this kind was made by the eloquence
of his son, or his son's antagonist.
But, — with this great man, — for great he cer^-
tainly was, — manner was every thing. — One ofthe
fairest specimens, which we possess of his lord
ship's oratory, is his speech, in 1766, for the
repeal of the stamp act*.
<' Annuit, et nutu totum tremefecit Olympum." ViKGII..
Most perhaps, who read the report of this speech^
in -Almon's Register, will wonder at the effect which
it is known to have produced on the hearers ; yet
the report is exact. But they should have seen the
look of ineffable contempt with which he surveyed
the late Mr. GrenvUle, who sat within one of him,
and should have heard him say, with that look,' —
" as to the late ministry, — every capital measure
" they have taken, has been entirely wrong."— They
should also have beheld him vi^hen, addressing him-
* Almon's Debates, vol. vir.

336 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
self to Mr. Grenville's successors, he said, — " as to
" the present gentiemen, to those, at least, whom I
" have in my eye, — (looking on the bench on which
" Mr. Conway sat), I have no objection : I have
" never been made a sacrifice by any of them. —
"' Some of them have done me the honour to ask my
"poor opinion, before they would engage to repeal
" the act : — they will do me the justice to own, I
" did advise them to engage to do it, — but notwith-
" standing, — (for I love to be explicit), — I cannot
" give themmy confidence. — Pardon me, gentiemen,
" — (bowingto them), — confidence is a plant of slow
" growth." Those who remember the air of con
descending protection, with which the bow was
made, and the look given, when he spoke these
words, will recollect how much they themselves at
the moment were both delighted and awed, and
what they themselves then conceived of the im
measurable superiority of the orator over every
human being that surrounded him. — In the pas
sages, which we have cited, there is nothing which
an ordinary speaker might not have said ; it was
the manner, and the manner only, which produced
the effect*.
The catholic question came into the house of
lords in the time of lord Chatham, and he gave it
* The "Memoirsof Ldrd Waldegrave," with which the public
have been lately favoured, contain two letters of Lord Holland,
the contemporary and opponent of lord Chatham, which de
scribes, in a manner equally lively and accurate, the nature and
effect of his oratory, and seem to confirm the account given
of it by the writer.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 337
his support.— In tiie speech, which we have men
tioned, he had said-" I have no local attachments :
" it is indifferent to me, whether a man was rocked
" in his cradle on this side or tiiat side of tiie
" Tweed." When the catholic bill of 1 7 7 8 was i n
the house of lords, he might have been asked,
" if it were not indifferent to his lordship or the
" state, whether a man was rocked in a catholic or
" protestant cradle, provided he be a good sub-
" ject :" we may conjecture what would have been
his lordship's reply*.
* The whole speech, from which these citations are made,
is very fine : " I sought for merit," said lord Chatham,
" wherever it was to be found. It is my boast, that I was the
" first minister who looked for it ; and I found it in the moun-
" tains of the north . L called it forth and drew it into your ser-
" vice, — a hardy and intrepid race of men. Men, who, when
" left by your jealousy, became a prey to the artifices of your
" enemies, and had gone nigh to have overturned the state,
" in the war before the last. These men, in the last war,
" Were brought to combat on your side; they served with
" fidelity, as they fought with valour, and conquered for you
" in every part ofthe world. Detested be the national pre-
" judices against them ! they are unjust, groundless, illiberal,
" unmanly. — When I ceased to serve his majesty as minister,
" it was not the country of the man by which I was moved : —
'K but the man of that country wanted wisdom, and held princi-
" pies incompatible with freedom."
His celebrated reply to Horace Walpole has been im-
monalized by the report given of it by Dr. Johnson. — On
one occasion, Mr. Moreton, the chief justice of Chester, a
gentleman of some eminence at the bar, happened to say,
" king, lords, and commons," or, — (directing his eye to
wards lord Chatham,) — as that right honourable member
would call them, " commons, lords, and king." — The only
VOL. III. Z

338 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Avery expressive word in our language, — which'
describes an assemblage of many real virtues, of'
fault of this sentence is its nonsense. — Lord Chatham arose, —
as he ever did, — with great deliberation, and called to order :
" I have," he said, " frequently heard in this house, doc-
" trines which have surprised me ; but now, my blood runs
" cold! I desire the words of the honourable member may
" be taken down." The clerks of the house wrote the words.
" Bring them to me," said Mr. Pitt, in a voice of thunder.
By this time, Mr. Moreton was frightened from his senses.-^
" Sir,"hesaid, addressing himself to the Speaker, "I am sorry
" to have given any offence, to the right honourable member
" or the house : I meant nothing. King, lords, and commons,
" — lords, king, and commons, — commons, lords, and king ;
" tria juncta in uno. — I meant nothing! — Indeed I meant
" nothing."—" I dont wish to push the matter further," said
lord Chatham, in a voice a little above a whisper : — then, in
a higher tone, — " the moment a man acknowledges his-
" error, he ceases to be guilty. — I have a great regard for the
" honourable member, and as an instance of that regard, I
" give him this advice :" — a pause of some moments ensued —
then, assuming a look of unspeakable derision, — he said in
a kind of colloquial tone,—" Whenever that member means
" nothing, I recommend him to say nothing."
On one occasion, whUe he was speaking, sir William
Young called out " question, question!" — Lord Chatham
paused, — ^then, fixing on sir WiUiam a look of inexpressible
disgust, — ^he exclaimed, — " pardon me, Mr. Speaker, my agi-
" tation : — when that member calls for the question, I fear I
" hear the knell of my country's ruin."
On another occasion, .immediately after he had finished a
speech in the house of commons, he walked out of it ; and,
as usual, with a very slow step. A silence ensued, tiU the
door was opened to let him into the lobby. A member then
started up, saying, "I rise to reply to the right honourable
'< member.^' — Lord Chatham turned back, and fixed his eye
on the orator, — who instantly sat down: then his lordship

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 339
many qualities approaching nearly to virtue, and
an union of manners at once pleasing and corn-
returned to his seat, repeating as he hobbled along, the verses
of Virgil :
" Ast Danaum progenes, Agamemoniaeque phalanges,
" Ut vid6re virum, fulgentiaque arma per umbras,
" Ingenti trepidare metu, — pars vertere re^ro,
" Sen quondam petiere rates, — pars tollere vpcem
" Exiguam, — inceptus clamor frustratur hiantes."
Then placing himself in his seat, — he exclaimed, " Now Jet
" me hear what the honourable member has to say to me."'
On the writer's asking the gentleman, from whom he heard this
anecdote, — if the house did not laugh at the ridiculous figure
of the poor member ? — " No, sir," he replied, " we were all
" too much awed to laugh."
When the Prussian subsidy, an unpopular measure, was in
agitation in the house of commons, lord Chatham justified it
with infinite address : insensibly he subdued all his audience ;¦
and a murmur of approbation was heard from every part of
the house. Availing himself of the moment, his- lordship
placed himself in an attitude of stern defiance, but perfect
dignity, and exclaimed in his loudest tone,^" Is there an
"Austrian among you ?^let him reveal himself."
But the most extraordinary instance of his command ofthe
house, is, the manner in which he fixed indelibly on Mr.
Grenville, the appellation of" the gentle shepherd." At this
time, a song of Dr. Howard, which began with the words
" Gentle shepherd tell me where," — and in which each stanza
ended with that line,^was in every mouth. — On some occa
sion, Mr. Grenville exclaimed, " Where is our money ?
¦" Where are our means .' I say again. Where are our means ?
" Where is our money ?"— He then sat down, — and lord
Chatham paced slowly out of the house, humming the line,
" Gentle shepherd tell me where."^ — The effect was irresistible;
and settled on Mr. Grenville the appellation of " the gentle'
" shepherd." A gentleman mentioned some of these circumstances to the
late Mr. Pitt : the minister observed that they were proofs of
Z 2

840 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
manding respect, — the word " gentleman," — was
never applied to any person in a higher degree,
or more generally, than it was to lord North, and
to all he said and did in the house of commons.
His lordship did not aspire to the higher eloquence,
but the house never possessed a more powerful
debater : nor could any one avail himself of the
strong part of his cause with greater ability, or
defend its weaker with greater skill ; no speaker
was ever so conciliating, or enjoyed in a higher
degree the esteem and love of the house. Among
his political adversaries, he had not a single enemy.
With an unwieldy figure and a dull eye, the quick-,
ness of his mind seemed intuition. " I," — lord
Sandwich once said to the writer, — " must have
" pen and ink, and write down, and ruminate : give
his father's ascendancy in the house ; but that no specimens
remained of the eloquence by which that ascendancy was pro
cured.— The gentleman recommended to him to read slowly
his father's speeches for the repeal of the stamp act ; and,
while he repeated them, to bring to his mind, as well as he
could, the figure, the look, and the voice, with which his
father might be supposed to have pronounced them. Mr. Pitt
did so, and admitted the probable effect of the speech thus
delivered. In private intercourse, lord Chatham, though always lofty,
was very insinuating. He cultivated the muses through life.
Mr. Seward's Anecdotes contain an imitation by him of the
ode of Horace, " Tyrrhena regum progenies," which shows a
very classical mind. He also translated the speech of Pericles,.
as it stands in Smith's version of Thucydides : this, through one
person only, came to the writer of these pages, from Mr. Pitt. .
We have two characters of lord Chatham; one is attri-.
buted to Mr. Grattan ; the other was certainly written by
Mr. Wilkes.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 341
" lord North a bundle of papers, and he'll tum
" them over and over, — perhaps while his hair is
" dressing, — and he instantly knows their contents
" and all their bearings." His wit was never sur
passed, and it was attended with this singular
quaUty, that it never gave offence, and the object
of it was sure to join with pleasure in the laugh. —
The assault of Mr. Adam on Mr. Fox, and of
colonel FuUarton on lord Shelburne, had once put
the house into the worst possible humour, and there
was more or less of savageness in every thing that
was said : — lord North deprecated the too great
readiness to take offence, which then seemed to
possess the house. — "One member," he said, "who
" spoke of me, called me that thing called a mi-
" nister: — to be sure," — he said, patting his large
form, — " I am a thing ; — the member, therefore,
" when he called me a thing, said what was true ;
•' and I could not be angry with him : but, wheh
" he added, that thing called a minister, he called
" me, that thing, which of all things, he himself
" wished most to be, and therefore," said lord
North, " I took it as a compliment." — These good-
natured salUes dropped from him incessantiy. —
On his resignation, he should have retired : many
things, which may be defended, cannot be applaud
ed : the coalition between his lordship and Mr.
Fox was of this description.
From some papers which have been received by
the writer from Mr. WiUiam Sheldon, through
whose hands the application ofthe catholics to par-
Uameiit in 1 778 entfrely passed, it appears that lord
z3

842 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
North received it in the most favourable manner,
and, promised it the utmost support in his power.
He said,—" at first be satisfied with any thing-
" The great object is to niake a breach in the wall
" of intolerance.— Do this, and if you act with pru"
" dence, and are not too much in a hurry, you'll
" certainly get on," In 1791, he was equally favour
able to the catholics: — " Mind, however," he
frequently said, " up to the test act, I go — and
" no further." — " But, my lord," we used to answer,
" if an opening in it is made in favour of others,
" you'll let us in too." — To this, he seemed wUling
to agree.
The catholics never had a better friend than
Mr. Fox. On his first separation from the mi
nistry he assumed the character of a whig, and
from that time, uniformly advocated the cause of
civil and religious liberty, on their broadest prin
ciples. Almost the whole of his political life was spent in
opposition to his majesty's ministers. It may be
said of him, as of lord North, that he had political
adversaries, but no enemy. Good-nature, too easily
carried to excess, was one of the distinctive marks of
his character. In vehemence and power of argu
ment he resembled Demosthenes ; but there the
resemblance ended. He possessed a strain of ridi
cule and wit, which nature denied to the Athenian,
and it was the more powerful as it always appeared
to be blended with argument and to result from it.
The moment of his gfandeur was when, after he
had stated the argument of his adversary, with

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 343
much greater strength than his adversary had done,
and with much greater strength than any of his
hearers thought possible, he seized it with the
strength ofa giant, and tore and trampled on it to
destruction. If, at this moment, he had possessed
the power of the Athenian over the passions or the
imaginations of his hearers, he might have disposed
of the house at his pleasure, — but this was denied
to him ; and on this account, his speeches fell very
short ofthe effect, which, otherwise, they must have
produced. It is difficult to decide on the comparative merit
of him and Mr. Pitt ; the latter had not the vehe
ment reasoning, nor the argumentative ridicule of
Mr. Fox : but he had more fire, more imagery, and
much more method and discretion. In addition,
he had the command of bitter contemptuous sar
casm, which stung to madness. It wais prettily said
by Mr. Gibbon to the writer, — " Billy's painted
" galley will soon sink before Charles's black
" collier :" — but never did horoscope prove more
false. — Mr. Fox said more truly, — " Pitt will do
" for us, if he does not do for himself."
Both orators were verbose ; Mr. Fox by his re
petitions, Mr. Pitt by his amplifications. This, and
the next session, were remarkable for being the com
mencement of the debates on the French revolution.
These revealed to the world the want of political
wisdom of each orator : — one discovering it by his
total misconception of the nature of the revolution,
which he thought an ordinary war ; the other, by
indulging in an inconsiderate language, by which
Z4

844 HISTQRICAL MEMOIRS OF
he scared many wise and good men from his
party. — Mr. Grattan observed to the writer, — and
he believes the observation just, — that no one heard
Mr. Fox to advantage, who did not hear him be
fore the coalition ; or Mr. Pitt, who did not hear
him before he quitted office. Each defended him
self on these occasions with astonishing ability: but
each felt he had done something that required de
fence : the talent remained, the mouth still spoke
aloud, but the swell of the soul was no more. The
situation of these eminent men, at this time, put the
writer in mind of a remark of Bossuet on F^n^lon.
— " F6nelon," he said, " has great talents ; greater
" than mine, but it is his misfortune to have brought
" himself into a situation, in which all his talents
" are necessary for his defence."
The most astonishing display of talent by Mr.
Pitt, was, when the catholic bUl was first agitated
after his return to office. Narrow, and short, was
the only plank, on which he could stand : but there
he placed himself; and he defended himself upon
itwith such ease and adroitness, thathe was seldom
touched by his antagonists; and had often the
posture of a successful assailant.
Greatly inferior to either of these extraordinary
men, if we are to judge of him by his speeches, as
they were spoken, — but greatly superior to each, if
we are to judge of him by his speeches, as they
were published, Edmund Burke, was through life
the advocate, the warm, the powerful advocate of
the catholic cause. Estimating him by his written
speeches, we shall find nothing comparable to him.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 345
till we reach the Roman orator. -Equal to that great
man in dialectic, in imagery, in occasional splen
dour, and in general information ; exceeding him
in political wisdom, and the application of history
and philosophy to it, he yields to him in grace and
taste. He never lost an opportunity of recommend
ing the catholics to the favour of the public. It
may be doubted, whether, without the aid of his
eloquence, either of the bills for our relief would
have passed*.
* In familiar conversation, the three great men, whom we
have mentioned, equally excelled : but even the most intimate
friends of Mr. Fox complained of his too frequent ruminating
silence. Mr. Pitt talked; — and his talk was fascinating; a
good judge said of him, that he was the only person he had
known who possessed the talent of condescension. Yet his
loftiness never forsook him ; still one might be sooner seduced
to take liberties with him, than with Mr. Fox. Mr. Burke's
conversation was rambling, but splendid, rich, and instructive
beyond comparison.
Public opinion at home and abroad, seems to have pro
nounced against Mr. Pitt's politics and war ; and, on the suppo
sition that a war with France was necessary, in favour of the
System recommended by Mr. Burke. But, — in advocating his
own system, Mr. Burke seems not to have attended sufficiently
to his own representations of the selfish temporising views of
the continental powers, on whose energetic and public spirited
co-operation, the success of his plans depended altogether.
It must therefore be lamented, that'the system of peace
recommended by Mr. Fox was not adopted. It may be
thought probable, that, if France had been left to herself, the
occupations of agricidture and commerce, and the pursuits
of literature and science, would have been continued, would
insensibly have resumed their sway, cooled the public effer
vescence, and introduced moderation into the national coun
cils.— An uninterrupted series of writers of this country, of

346 historical: memoirs of
Suck were the leading men, and Such their
¦dispositions towards the catholics, at the time bf
which we are speaking. -
LXXIX. 2.
State of thepublic Mind at this time : — Gradual Relaxation
and final Repeal qf the Penal Laws in France against- the
Protestants : — Progress of Civil Liberty in England in
consequence of the Bangorian Controversy, — and the
Confessional: — f'nvourable Result tothe Claims qf the
Catholics. 1. The French revolution was now rapidly ad
vancing. It was considered at first, even by some
persons of sense and discernment, as an harbinger
of good. They did not sufficiently reflect on the
greatdegree of happiness, which the world actually
enjoyed, on the great probability of its regular in
crease, or on the chance of its being altogether lost
by the proposed innovations.
¦ It was particularly imagined that these would be
propitious to religious liberty. — This had made a
considerable progress in most parts of the conti
nent : even in Spain, it began to dawn, and the
rigours of the inquisition were greatly softened.
In France, the condition of ^the protestants was
inaterialiy ameliorated . Some unjustifiable attempts
had been made by them at the commencement of
the regency which followed the death of Lewis the
fourteenth : they were repressed ; a few of the
transcendent powers, commenced with Spencer, and ended
in Mr.Burke : by its duration and splendour, it far surpasses
any literary era in ancient or modern Europe.

the ENGLISH CATHOLICS. Ml
most guilty agitators were punished ; but the court
was so little disposed to proceed with severity
against the general body, that, soon afterwards, it
was seriously debated in council, whether the edict
of Nantes should not be re-enacted. The council
declared for the negative ; but, from this time, the
penal provisions againstthe protestants were seldom
carried into execution ; and, towards the middle of
the last century, the practical toleration of them in
France was — with a single exception, — complete ;
but this exception was of the greatest moment, as
it regarded their marriages. The law rendered
invalid all marriages, that were not solemnized
according to the rites of the church of Rome. To
these, the protestants, in consequence of their reli
gious principles, could not conscientiously conform.
The consequence was, that, in the eye of the law,
protestant parents lived in a state of concubinage,
and protestant children were illegitimate. Lewis
the sixteenth, to his immortal honour, communi
cated, by his edict ofthe 17th of November 1787,
to all his non-catholic subjects, the full enjoyment
of all the rights of his subjects of the catholic
religion. 2. In England, the progress of religious liberty
had been great, but silent : we have noticed the
advocation of it by the latitudinarian divines ; and,
on a still broader ground, by Hoadley and his dis
ciple's. These systematized the principles of their
master. With their latitudinarian predecessors,they
avowed, that the Bible, and the Bible only, was
the religion of the protestants; but if we inquire
what article of faith, what religious ordinance, was,

848 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
in theif," opinion, so clearly deducible from the
Bible, as to render the belief or observance of it
necessary to salvation, we shall soon discover the
scantiness of their creed, and be inclined to apply
to them, what Badius said of Erasmus, that, " he
" rather knew what he should fly from, than what
" he should follow." Their expressions were
guarded ; but the ultimate tendency of their doc
trine seems to lead to these conclusions : I. The
church and the state are equally derived from God,
the author of every good and perfect gift : II. Any
number of persons, who are persuaded that Jesus
was sent of God, who are sincerely desirous of
obeying his laws, who hope for salvation by obe
dience to them, and who agree to unite in public
assemblies for the performance of religious duty,
is a christian church ; and every christian church
thus formed, has a right to delegate to any persons,
under any names, and with any powers, (revelation
being silent on these points, and tradition wholly
out of the question), an authority to superintend
and regulate its economy and observances. Such
a church may also expel from it those, who dis
obey either its original constitutions, or the ordi
nances made under its authority : — still, every such
christian church is subject to the controul of the
state.^-AU this is in direct opposition to the articles
ofthe church of England. These assign to the
church, the power to decree rites and ceremonies *,
an authority in controversies of faith ; they also
teach that the orders of her ministers have de
scended from the apOstles, and are appointed by
* Art. XX.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 349
God ; that the powers given them, in ordination,
are communicated to them by the Holy Ghost; — •
and that episcopacy is of Divine institution*:
III. The sacraments are defined by the church of
England "I' to be effectual signs of the grace which
God of his free will dispenses to us, and by whicn
he works invisibly in us. In opposition to this
definition, the disciples of Hoadley maintained
that the sacraments were mere signs or declarations
of fiiture salvation, and had no efficient power:
hence they considered baptism, not as a rite essen
tial to salvation, but as a profession of Christianity
by the person who is baptized, or by others on his
behalf; and the eucharist, not as a rite in which
the body and blood of Christ " are verily and in-
" deed received ;|;," but as a pious memorial ofthe
passion and death of Christ, and an indication of
the party's acceptance of christian redemption by
this syinbolic ceremony. IV. The doctrines of the
trinity and the incarnation, so solemnly propounded
by the church of England, were ranked by the
disciples of Hoadley among speculative questions.
V, They considered that, when the clergy declare
their unfeigned asSent to the thirty-nine articles,
they express no more than an assent to the use of
them, according to any interpretation which, in
their candid and deliberate judgment, they should
put on them, — and with full liberty to impugn
them, except officially, as from the pulpit : VI. And
finally, — they explicitly maintained that the sin-
* Form of ordination. t Art. xxv.
J Catechism in \he book of Common Prayer,

350 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
cerity of a christian believer is of much greater
consequence than the soundness of his opinions.
We have noticed the success of Hoadley in the
Bangorian controversy: his disciples pursued the
friumph, and drew over to them so large a propor
tion of the established church, that a reform of the
reformation took place in it, and removed those, who
adopted the new belief, further from the primitive
reformers, than these had removed themselves from
their catholic ancestors.
V 3. The disciples of Hoadley then expected to en
joy the fruits of their victory without molestation :
but a formidable antagonist arose, who declared
war equally against them and the established
church. Seizing from each its strongest holds',
and abandoning its less tenable passes, the aitthot
ofthe Confessional, equally in unison with the high
church, and in opposition to the school of Hoadley,
declared for the independence ofthe ecclesiastical
on ,the temporal powers. In conformity with
Hoadley, he rejected the serious belief of the thirty-
nine articles, and announced, that the Bible, and
the Bible only, in the strictest sense of these words,
was the religion of the protestants ; but he con
demned the mental reservation of the Hoadley ans
in the subscription of confessions aud formularies
of faith; and maintained that they could not be
conscientiously subscribed, without a sincere belief
of the truth of the doctrines, which they were in
tended by the framers of them to express.
This gave rise to a new controversy :— ^public
opinion seems to have decided it in favour of the

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 361
Confessional : yet the thirty-nine articles are still
universally signed, but rather as a formulary of
peace, than a confession of faith. Thus a further
reform of the reformation, and of course a still fur
ther removal of the members of the church of Eng
land from its first founders, have been effected.
Ultra reforms ofa similar nature have taken place
inmost.protestantchurches on the continent. Speak
ing generally, they have carried those who have
adopted them, as far from the founders of their
church as from the church of Rome. As further
removals from the true faith, they are lamented by
catholics ; but it is difficult for them to observe,
without some complaceiicy, the completion of the
prophecies of their ancestors on the ultimate ten
dency of the reformation.
, '. 4. Both civil and religious liberty, and, with
these, the claim ofthe catholics to each, gained con^
siderably, both by the Bangorian controversy, and
by the disputes produced by the Confessional/
This fot-mer led, as we have already mentioned^ to
discussions, which brought Hoadley and his dis-*
ciples, and even their antagonists, to admit, that i^
whatever might be the errors justly chargeable on
any .creed, the professors of it were entitled to an
equal participation of the civil blessings of the con
stitution, unless mischievousness of moral or poli*
tical principle were justly imputable to them. This
was; equally admitted in the controversy on the
Confessional. Availing themselves of this im
portant admission, the catholics called on their
adversaries to show, what principle, morally or

352 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OE
politically reprehensible, or of such a tendency as
should prevent their participation, equally with his
majesty's other subjects, in the blessings of the
British constitution, was justly imputable to them.
It soon appeared that no such principle was justly
chargeable on them, unless the supremacy which
they attribute to the pope affected their civil alle
giance. When this was urged against the catholics,^'
they observed that the supremacy was merely of a
spiritual nature, and that it authorized the pope
neither to legislate in temporal concerns, nor to
enforce his spiritual legislation by temporal power.
To this statement, the adversaries of the catholics
opposed many instances, in which the popes had
claimed, under their divine commission, a right to
exercise temporal power in spiritual concerns; —
and they cited a multitude of catholic authors,
some of whom were fruly respectable, by whom the
papal pretension had been acknowledged and ad
vocated. ' The instances thus adduced of papal pretension
to temporal power, the catholics generally admitted ;
J)ut, when they made this admission, they explicitly
declared, that the popes acted on these occasions
against divine and human right; and that their
title to the temporal power thus claimed by them,
was not an article of their faith. They afterwards
proceeded fiirther: — and, in 1778, as we shall
mention, in a future page of this work, they took
an oath, by which they not only disclaimed this
papal pretension as an article of faith, — but rejected
it altogether.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 353
In respect to the writers who asserted it, — and
generally in respect to every writer of their com
munion, in whom any objectionable tenet of any
description could be found, the catholics adjured
their adversaries to observe, in all their contro
versies with them, these rules, — " 1st, That no
" doctrines should be ascribed to them as a body,
" except such as vwere articles of faith ; — 2d That
" the catholics deem nothing to be an art • e of
" their faith, unless it has been delivered by Divine
" revelation, and propounded as such by the
" church." They proclaimed, that, whatever other
opinions could be adduced against them, though
they were the opinions of the fathers of the church
— still they were but matters of opinion, and that a
catholic might disbelieve them, and yet continue
catholic. They pointed out the works in which
the articles of faith were to be found, — the Creed
of pope Pius the fourth, the council of Trent, its
Catechism, and Bossuet's Exposition.
These declarations made a considerable sensation
in favour of the catholics. It was also afterwards
favourable to them, that, in consequence of the act,
which passed for their relief, in 1778, they mixed
more with their protestant brethren, and, becoming
better known to them, dissipated thefr anticatholic
prejudices. Still, to a certain extent,
Manserunt veteris vestigia ruris.
The effects of a defamation of two centuries could
¦not be undone in a moment.
VOL. III. A A

354 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
LXXIX. 3.
Applications to Parliament for a Repeal qf the Laws
requiring Subscriptions of the Thirty-nine Articles.
In July 1762, a point of extreme importance to
the protestant dissenters, came on for trial at Guild
hall. It has been shown, that the corporation act
incapacitates dissenters refusing to qualify, in the
manner which it prescribed, from holding offices in
corporations : but the act did not prevent their
eligibility to such offices. In some instances, dis
senters were elected to them, and refused to serve
in them, and therefore became liable to the penalty
of a fine. The payment of it was sometimes
dispensed with, but it was sometimes exacted.
At the time, of which we are now speaking, Mr.
Allen Evans, having been chosen sheriff of the city
of London, and having refused to serve, was fined ;
and, upon his neglecting to pay the fine, the city
brought an action against him to recover it. The
case was elaborately argued before lord chief baron
Parker, Mr. justice Foster, Mr. justice Wilmot,
and Mr. justice Bathurst. All of them were of
opinion that, under the circumstances, in which the
act had placed them, the dissenters were not eligible
to the office. The case was heard on appeal, in
February 1 767, in the house of lords ; and, on the
motion of lord Mansfield, the cause was adjudged
unanimously in favour of the dissenters.
This determination raised the hopes of the dis-
senterfe ; but objections to the subscription of the

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 355
thirty-nine articles were not confined to them.
In i77-» several clergymen, and some gentlemen
belonging to the professions of the civil law and
physic, — all members ofthe established church, —
assembled at the Feathers tavern in Cheapside, and
invited by public advertisement in the papers, all,
who thought themselves aggrieved in the matter of
subscription, to join them in an application to par
liament for relief. The petition was respectably
signed : two hundred and fifty of the petitioners
were clergymen ofthe established church.
They represented in the petition, that it was one
of the great principles of the protestant religion,
that everything necessary to salvation was fully and
sufficiently contained in the holy scriptures; that
christians have an inherent right, which they hold
from God only, to make a full and free use of their
private judgment in the interpretation ofthe scrip
tures ; that, though these were the liberal and ori
ginal doctrines of the church of England, and the
grand principle upon which the reformation was
grounded, still, there had been a deviation from
them, in the matter of subscription, which deprived
them of this invaluable right, — by obliging them
to acknowledge, that certain articles and confes
sions of faith and doctrine, drawn up by fallible
men, were, all and every of them, agreeable to the
scriptures. The petitioners particularly complained, that, at
the first admission or matriculation, as it is termed,
of scholars in the universities, they were obliged,
at an age too immature for disquisitions and deci-
A A 2

3.->6 -HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
sions of such moment, to subscribe their unfeigned
assent to a variety of theological propositions,
which they had not judgment to comprehend; and
upon which it was impossible for them to form a
just opinion.
The petition being presented, a motion was made
for taking it into consideration : the house of com
mons divided seventy-one for it, two hundred and
seventeen against it.
However unfavourable to the cause of the dis
senters, this result appeared, they conceived the
weight of argument to have been evidently so much
On their side, that they procured a bill for their re
lief to be brought into the house of commons in the
same sessions. A high church party opposed it
with great earnestness ; but the general sense of the
house was so strong in favour of the dissenters, and
an inclination to extend the blessings of toleration
was so great on each side of the house, that the
motion was carried without a division. But the
house of lords was actuated by a different feeling, —
there, the bill was thrown out by a great majority,
twenty-nine lords supporting it, one hundred and
two lords opposing it.
In 1789, the matter was again brought into the
house of commons, by a motion of Mr. Beaufoy,
" for a committee to take into consideration, so
" much of the test and corporation acts, as related
" to protestant dissenters." On a division, one
hundred and two votes were for the motion, one
hundred and twenty-two against it.
The small majority on this division against the

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 357
dissenters could not but raise their hopes ; but it
equally increased the alarm and the activity of their
opponents ; and unfortunately the violence of some
leading men among the petitioners furnished their
adversaries with powerful arms against them.
On the 2d of March 1790, Mr. Fox brought
the subject before the house of commons, at the
fullest meeting of that house, which had, for some
time, been assembled. The petition ofthe dissenters
had been placed in his hands, and it is an important
event in the history of the English catholics, that
it was framed in terms, which embraced persons of
their communion. This brought their grievances
under the eye of the legislature. Mr. Fox displayed
on this occasion, more than his usual powers of
oratory; his motion was the same as that of Mr.
Beaufoy ; but he distinctly avowed that his object
was to effect a total repeal both of the corporation
and the test act, and he rested the merits of his
cause on the broadest principles of religious liberty.
He was seconded by sir Henry Houghton : Mr.
Pitt opposed the motion by a long and able speech.
It was reducible to a syllogism, — that it was equally
the right and duty of the supreme power of the
state to exclude any description of men, who were
hostile to an essential part of the constitution, from
those situations, which would enable them to give
effect to that hostility; that the established church
was an essential part of the British constitution,
and that the dissenters were hostile to it: — there
fore it was the right and duty ofthe state to exclude
the dissenters from those situations, which would
AA 3

358 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
enable them to injure the church, and consequently
proper to continue the corporation and test acts in
force against them, as these effected this exclusion.
Mr. Pitt then noticed the intemperate proceeding*
of some of the dissenting leaders. Here, Mr. Burke
came powerfully to his aid : he produced several
documents, from which he professed to show, that
many of the persons who styled themselves dis
senters, in the petitions before the house, were in
different to religion, that they held factious prin
ciples and entertained dangerous projects, and thus
had the name without the substance of religion, the
liberty without the temper of philosophy, and pro
fessed doctrines and were engaged in schemes at
which the priest and the magistrate might equally
tremble *.
Mr. Fox replied to Mr. Pitt and Mr. Burke
with great animation : — conceding to Mr. Pitt that
it was the right and duty of the state to exclude
men really dangerous, from situations conferring
power, he contended that the dissenters entertained
no designs, and had no object that was hostile either
to the church or the state ; and that, if they enter
tained such designs, or had any such objects, the
oaths and rites prescribed by the corporation and
test acts were not calculated to bring the integrity
of their principles to a proper test ; the designs and
the objects imputed to them, being of a policical,
and the oaths and rites required from them, being
of a religious nature. — This absurdity, as he termed
it, of making a formula of religious faith a test of
* Gibbon, Hist. ch. 54.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 369
political integrity, Mr. Fox exposed with an asto
nishing power both of argument and ridicule : it was
unknown, he said, in ancient history, and was a
discovery in modern times, which did them no
honour. — He concluded by a strong appeal to the
good sense and candour of the house, — on the folly
and injustice of deciding a great question of right
and expediency, in which the general welfare of
the kingdom and the individual interests of a large
proportion of the community were equally con
cerned, by the conduct of a few unauthorized and
unavowed individuals.
The house divided, one hundred and five for the
motion, two hundred and four against it.

CHAP. LXXX.

HISTORICAL MINUTES RESPECTING THE IRISH
CATHOLICS, TILL THE REVOLUTION.
It was the wish of the writer of these pages, to
insert in them, a full account of the principal events
in the history ofthe catholics in Ireland, since the
reformation; but, he was prevented by want of
leisure and want of materials. WhUe it was in his
contemplation, he collected, from the best sources,
which were within his reach, the following minutes.
They may be found to contain ; — Some misceUane
ous information, I. On the state of the Irish, pre
viously to the reign of Henry the second : II. On
A A 4

360 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
their state between the reigns of Henry the second
and Henry the eighth : III. On the condition of
the Irish catholics in the reigns of Henry the eighth,
Edward the sixth, and queen Mary : IV. On their
condition in the reign of queen Elizabeth : V. On their
condition under James the first : VI. On their con
dition during the first part of the reign of Charles
thefirst: VII. On the massacre in 1641 : VIII. On
the confederacy of the Irish catholics in 1642 :
IX. On the interference of the pope's nuncio in
the proceedings of the supreme council of the con
federates : X. On the confiscations made by Crom
well ; and the arrangements of Charles the second
respecting them : XI. On the Irish Remonstrance,
or the Declaration of Allegiance, presented by
several Irish catholics of distinction, to Charles
the second, in 1661 : XH. On father Peter Walsh,
he promoter and historian of , the remonstrance :
XIII. On the confiscation of Irish catholic property,
in 1688 : XIV. And on the Irish brigade.
LXXX. 1.
State qf the Irish before the reign of Henry the second.
A CONSIDERABLE difference of opinion now
prevails among the learned, respecting the early
civUization and refinement of the Irish nation. At
present, the tide of public opinion is unfavourable
to them; but the subject is far from being ex
hausted ; and the author conjectures, that further
and more impartial discussion will lead to a different
conclusion.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 361
The learning, the piety, and the manners of our
Saxon ancestors, before the invasion of the Danes,
have, fortunately for their memory, and for our
edification, been preserved by the venerable Bede :
— such an historian of its early annals, appears
to have been wanting to Ireland. It should also
be noticed, that the confusion, which followed
the Danish invasion of England, was terminated
by the Norman conquest ; the arts and sciences
were always, from this time, in a progressive
state of improvement ; and those were never want
ing, who investigated and transmitted to poste
rity, memorials of their own and of former times.
During the same period, Ireland was divided
into many states ; and the chieftains lived in a
continued state of predatory warfare. It may
even be asserted, that, till the accession of James
the first, the condition of Ireland, with the ex
ception of the small part of it within the Eng
lish pale, was nearly in the same state as that of
England, from the invasion of the Danes, till the
Norman conquest. The consequence was, that, —
" to use the expression of an able writer, — " Few
" histories are so charged with fables, as the annals
of Ireland*." — To separate the fabulous from the
probable, and the probable from the certain, will
therefore require no ordinary share of penetration
and persevering industry ; but there is great rea
son to conjecture that, whenever it shall be done,
the result will be favourable to what has been
suggested respecting the ancient civilization and
* Mr. Plowden's Hist. Mem. vol. i. p. 21.

362 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
early literature of this very interesting but much
abused country.
At all events, three circumstances are clear:
1st. The schools of Ireland were frequented by
crowds of students from Britain, France, Flanders,
and Germany. — Bede*, informs his readers, that
" many, both of their nobles and the low state,
" left their country, and, either in search of sacred
" learning, or a stricter life, removed to Ireland :"
and that " the Irish most willingly received them,
" took care to provide them with sustenance, sup-
" port, and masters." A most honourable testimony,
as lord Littleton justly remarks, to the learning, hos
pitality, and bounty of thu nation. Bede's account
is confirmed by the lines so well known, which
Camden has quoted from the life of St. Sugenius,
who flourished in the eighth century :
Exemplo patrum, commotus amore legendi,
Ivit ad Hibernos Sophii mirabile claros.
2d. In the eighth and ninth centuries, the Irish
clergy spread themselves over the greatest part of
Europe, to convert the pagans, and instruct the un
lettered christians. The instances produced by
Mr. Plowden t, and by Dr. Milner f, place this
beyond controversy §.
* Lib. iii. s. 1 7.
t History oflrelaad, vol. i. p. 20, 21,
J " An Inquiry into the vulgar opinions concerning the
" Catholic Inhabitants and the Antiquities of Ireland,''
letter ii.
¦§ See also Mr. Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints, Murphy's
eddtion, iii. 176, note vii. 54. n. 165* ix. 58. xi. 247. ii. 3381
vii. 54, note x. 5. ix. 37.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 363
3d. " There happened," says Mr. Plowden*,
" about the year of our Lord 1418, a very notable
" transaction, which proved the high estimation
" in which the kingdom of Ireland then was, and
" ever had been holden by the learned of Europe.
" At the council of Constance, the ambassadors
" from England were refused the rank and pre-
" cedency, which they claimed over some others ;
" they were not even allowed to rank or take
" any place as the ambassadors of a nation : the
" advocates for France insisted, that the English
" having been conquered by the Romans, and again
" subdued by the Saxons, who were tributaries to
" the German empire, and never governed by native
" sovereigns, they should take place as a branch
" only of the German empire, and not as a free
" nation ; ' for, added they, ' it is evident from
" Albertus Magnus and Bartholomew GlanviU^
" that the world is divided into three parts, Europe,
" Asia, and Africa,' — (America had not then been
discovered) : — ' Europe was divided into four em-
" pires, the Roman, the Constantinopolitan, the
" Irish, and the Spanish.' The English advocates,
" admitting the force of these allegations, claimed
" their precedency and rank from Henry's being
" monarch of Ireland only, and it was accordingly
" granted f."
*¦ Hist. vol. i. p. 22, n.
t O'Halloran's Hist. vol. i. p. 68.

364 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF

LXXX. 2.
State of the Irish between the reign of Henry the second,
and the reign of Henry the eighth.
The period, which next calls for attention, is
that, which fills the space between the reign of
Henry the second, and that of Henry the eighth.
Here, the division of Ireland into the territory
within the pale, and the territory beyond it, claims
particular notice.
From the reign of Henry the second, until the
reign of James the first, the real power and autho
rity of the English monarch were confined to the
counties of Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Lowth, Mon-
aghan, and Armagh, and the cities of Waterford,
Cork, and Limerick : these made the whole of the
territory called the pale. Over the remaining part
of Ireland, Henry the second, and his successors,
until James the first, had little more than a nomi
nal sovereignty. " England," says sir John Davies,
" never sent over, either numbers of men, or quan-
" tities of treasure, sufficient to defend the small
" territory of the pale ; much less, to reduce that,
" which was lost, or to finish the conquest of
" the whole island." — In the reign of Henry the
eighth, Alan, the master of the rolls, in the repre
sentation, which, by the desire of the servants of
the crown in Ireland, he made to Henry of the
state of Ireland, reported, that " the English man-
" ners, language, and habits did not extend, and
" that his laws were not obeyed twenty miles

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 366
" beyond the capital *." The common observation
of the country was, that they, who dwelt, by west
of the river Barrow, dwelt, by west of the law.
The English government always refused to com
municate the constitution and laws of England to
the inhabitants of this territory ; treated them, both
as aliens and foes, and wished them so to remain.
" It was," says lord Clare, in his printed speech on
the 1 oth of February 1 800, " the early policy of the
" English government to discourage all connexion
" of the colony with the native Irish ; the statute
" of Kilkenny, enacted in the reign of Edward the
" third, having prohibited marriage or gossipred f
" with the Irishry, or persons claiming the benefit
" ofthe Brehonlaw, by anypersonofEnglishblood,
" under the penalties of treason. This statute was
" a declaration of perpetual war, not only against
" the native Irish, but against every person of Eng-
" lish blood, who had settled beyond the limits of
" the pale, and from motives of personal interest
" or convenience, had formed connexions with the
" natives, or adopted their laws or customs."
Hume observes *, that " most of the English
" institutions, by which Ireland was governed,
" were to the last degree absurd, and such as no
" state before had ever thought of, for preserving
" dominion over conquered provinces. — The small
" army, which they retained in Ireland, they never
" supplied regularly with pay ; and, as no money
" could be levied on the island, which possessed
* Plow. Hist. vol. i. p. 51. t '• s- Godfathership.
X Chap. 44.

a06 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" none, they gave their soldiers the privilege of
" free quarter on the natives. Rapine and inso-
" lenca inflamed the hatred which prevailed be-
" tween the conquerors and the conquered; want
" of security among the Irish, introducing despair,
" nourished still more the sloth natural to that un-
" cultivated people*. But the English carried
" farther their ill-judged tyranny. Instead of
" inviting the Irish to adopt the more civilized
" customs of their conquerors, they even refused,
" though earnestly solicited, to communicate to
" them the privilege of their laws, and everywhere
" marked them out as aliens and as enemies.
" Thrown out ofthe protection of justice, the natives
" could find no security but in force ; and flying
" the neighbourhood of cities, which they could
" not approach with safety, they sheltered them-
" selves in their marshes and forests, from the in-
" solence of their inhuman masters. Being treated
" like wild beasts, they became such; and joining
" the ardour of revenge to their yet untamed bar-
" barity, they grew every day more untractable and
" more dangerous.
" As the English princes deemed the conquest
" of the dispersed Irish to be more the object of
" time and patience, than the source of military
" glory, they willingly delegated that office to
" private adventurers, who, enlisting soldiers at
" their own charge, reduced provinces of that
" island, which they converted to their own profit.
* Who perform the greatest portion by far ofthe hardest
and least remunerated labour of this country !

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 367
" Separate jurisdictions and principalities were
" established by these lordly conquerors: th«
" power of peace and war was assumed : military
" law was exercised over the Irish, whom they sub-
" dued, and, by degrees, over the English, by whose
" assistance they conquered : and after their autho-
" rity had once taken root, deeming the English
" institutions less favourable to barbarous dominion,
" they degenerated into mere Irish, and abandoned
" the garb, language, manners, and laws of their
" mother country*."

LXXX. 3.
State of the Irish Catholics in the reigns qf Henry the
eighth, Edward the sixth, and queen Mary.
No innovation was ever introduced into any
country, which was more contrary to its constitu
tion and laws, more repugnant to its principles or
manners, or more distressing to the feelings of its
inhabitants, than the parliamentary proceedings in
* This assumption by the conquering leaders, of the terri
torial independence of the conquered chieftains, and the
adoption, by the general body of the conquerors, of the lan
guage, the manners, the habits, and the feelings of the con
quered, are very remarkable : the latter took place nearly in
an equal degree, after the confiscations of James and Cromwell";
but the diffisrence of religion then strongly marked and con^,
tinned to distinguish the ancient inhabitants from the new
settlers. The Tartars adopted, on their conquest of -China, the laws,
customs, and manners ofthe natives : but there, the conquerors
were barbarians, the conquered in a high state of civilization.

368 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Ireland, for the establishment ofthe spiritual supre
macy of Henry the eighth.
By the statutes *, which effected this measure,
the king was declared supreme head on earth of
the church of Ireland, in nearly the same words,
and with nearly the same ulterior provisions, as
those by which the English laws had conferred
upon him the spiritual supremacy of the church
of England.
Similar acts were also passed for the dissolution
of religious houses in Ireland f ; but these acts
were confined to the religious houses in Tyrone,
Tyrconnell, and Fermanagh ; and the feelings of
the nation prevented their being carried into exe
cution : so that, until the reign of James the first,
few of the religious houses were reduced into
charge or surveyed, and the rest were continually
possessed by the members of their respective
orders '^.
It may be truly said, that, with the single excep
tion of the officers ofthe crown, and their immediate
retainers, all these measures were in direct oppo
sition to the universal sense of the kingdom.
An extraordinary measure was resorted to for
securing in parliament the majority, by which
these laws were carried. According to the esta
blished constitution of the Irish parliament, it was
attended by two clergymen of each diocese. By
» 28 Hen. VIII. c. 5, 6, 8, 26.
t 33 Hen. VIII.
+ Leland, Hist, of Ireland, lib. iii. ch. 7. Hib. Dom.
ch. xvii. s. i».

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 369
an act passed in the session, by which the refor
mation was established, and which was declared
to have a retrospective operation from the first day
of the sessions, the clergymen so appointed were
disqualified from voting.
These laws divided the nation into two parties ;
that, which acknowledged, and that which denied
the spiritual supremacy of the monarch. " This,"
says lord Clare, in the speech which we.have al
ready quoted, " was the grand schism, which has
" been the bane and pestilence of Ireland, and
" rendered her a blank among the nations of
" Europe." 2. " In the reign of Edward the Sixth," says
Mr. William Parnell *, " the government gave no
" general cause of discontent to the catholics ;
" there were many particular severities and insults,
" which laid the grounds of religious animosity.
" Archbishop Brown made war against images and
" relics with more zeal than prudence. The gar-
" rison at Athlone, no very conciliating reformers,
" were allowed to pillage the very celebrated
" church of Clonmacanaise, and to violate the
"shrine of a great favourite of the people, St.
" Kieran. " It was in the reign of Edward the sixth, that
" the solid foundation of the succeeding rebellion
" was first laid, by the confiscation ofthe lands of
" Leix and Offalia, now the King and Queen's
" county.
• In his excellent " Historical Apology for the Irish
'^ jCatholics." VOL. III. B B

370 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
3. " In the reign of Queen Mary, — though
" the religious feelings of the Irish catholics, and
" their feelings as men, had been treated with very
" little ceremony during the two preceding reigns;
" they made a wise and moderate use of their as-
" cendancy* Th^y entertained no resentment for
" the past ; they laid no plans for future domi-
" nation. — The Irish roman-catholics bigots!! —
" —-The Irish roman-catholics are the only sect,
" that ever resumed power, without exercising
" vengeance."
LXXX. 4.
State of the Irish CathoUcs during the reign of queen
Elizabeth.
The reformation was completed by the statutes
of supremacy and uniformity*, passed in the second
year of the reign of queen Elizabeth : — The fol-
lovving succinct ^account of them is given by Mr.
Plowden f: "It was enacted, that the spiritual
'.' jurisdiction should be restored to the crown :
" that all the acts of queen Mary, by which the
" civil establishment of the roman-catholic religion
^' had been restored, should be repealed ; that the
" queein shoUld be enabled to appoint commis-
'" sioners to exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction :
" that all officers or ministers, ecclesiastical or lay,
" should, on pain of forfeiture and total incapacity,
" take the oath of supremacy : that every person,
" as well as his aider, abettor, or counsellor, who
* 2 Eliz. c. 1, 2. t Hist. Rev. vol. i. p. 73,

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 371
*' should in any way maintain the spiritual supre-
" macy of the bishop of Rome, should forfeit, for
" the first offence, all his estates, real and personal,
" (or be imprisoned for one year, if not worth.20/.),
" incur a praemunire for the second offence, and
" become guilty of high treason for the third of-
*' fence : that the use of the common prayer should
" be enforced as in England : that evtery person
*' should resort to the established church, and at-
" tend the new service, under pain of ecclesiastical
*' censures ; and of the forfeiture of 12 </, for e*ery
" offence, to be levied by the churchwardens, by
" distress of the lands or chattels of the defaulter ;
*' that the first fruits and twentieths of all church
" revenues should be restored to the crown ; and
" the old writ and form of cong6 d'^lire should
" be superseded by the king's letters patent, by
" which, in future, all collations to vacant sees
*' should be made. These ordinances were fol-
*' lowed by an act of recognition of the queen's
*' title to the crown ; and it was made a case of
" praemunire to speak, and treason to write against
" it." The effect of these laws is thus described by
lord Clare* : " In the reign of Elizabeth," says his
lordship, " a new reverse took place : the reformed
" liturgy was again enforced; the English act of
*' uniformity was enacted, by the colonial parlia-
*' ment; and, — what seems to be a solecism in le-
" gislation, — in the body ofthe act, by which- the
*' use ofthe English liturgy, and a strict confor-
* In the epeech just quoted.
B B 2

372 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" mity to it was enjoined, under severe penalties,
" a clause is introduced, reciting that English mi-
" nisters could not be found to serve in Irish
" churches ; that the Irish people did not under-
" stand the English language ; that the church
" service could not be celebrated in Irish, as well
" from the difficulty of getting it printed, as, that
" few in the whole realm could read : And what
" is the remedy ? — If the minister of the gospel
" cannot speak English, he may celebrate the
" church service in the Latin tongue ; — a language
¦" certainly as unintelligible to his congregation,
" as the English tongue, and probably not very
" familiar to the minister thus authorized to use
" it." Under the sun, there is nothing new ! — When we
read in Dr. Robertson *, that the friar Valverde,
advanced to the inca of Peru, — required him to for
sake the creed of his fathers, and worship the God
of the christians ;— that reaching out his breviary,
he told the inca, that all which he announced was
certainly in that book, — and that, when the inca
rejectedit, asignal was given,— the inca was seized,
—and his subjects massacred, — we are justly filled
with astonishment and horror. But, when we read
of a handful, comparatively speaking, of English
adventurers, advancing to the Irish natives, 
reaching out to them the act of uniformity, not a
word of which they could read,— requiring them
to adopt a liturgy, not a word of which they could
understand ; — and attempting to force their obe-
*¦ History of America, book vi.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS, 373
dience by such severities, " that the least of them,"
to use the words of lord deputy Mountjoy, had
" many times been sufficient to drive the best
" and most quiet states into confusion;" — may not
some horror and astonishment be justly expected?
Several bishops, abbots, priests, and religious,
were put to death ; some of these were inhumanly
tortured, others suffered to perish from want in
prisons*. Frequent acts of perfidy and cruelty
were perpetrated on the natives. In the war of the
Geralds, the garrison of Smerwick, in Kerry, sur
rendered on capitulation, and was afterwards mur
dered in cold blood, under tne eye of sir Walter
Raleigh f. For this, and other services, that dis
tinguished personage had forty thousand acres of
land bestowed on him : these, he afterwards sold
to the first earl of Corke '\.. Morryson mentions a
massacre which was committed by the English at
MuUoghmaston, on some hundreds of the most
peaceable of the Irish gentry, invited thither on
the public faith, and under the protection of go
vernment § : He says, that no spectacle was more
frequent than multitudes of these victims" of hu
man cruelty lying unburied in the fields, exhibiting
in their ghastly visages the colour of the weeds on
which they fed, and children feeding on the dead
bodies of their mothers ||. The account which
Spencer gives of the massacres committed on the
* Hib. Dom. c. xxvii. s. 5, 6. n. x ; Curry's Hist. Rev. c iii.
t Ibid. I Carte's Life of Ormond, vol. i. p. 14.
§ Curry's Hist. Rev. c. iii.
Morryson, p. 274; Leland's Hist. vol. ii. p. 412.
B B 3

374 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
people of Munster, presents the same picture.-^
" Out of every comer of the woodes and glennes,
"they came creeping forth upon their hands, for
" legs could not bear them : they looked like ana-
" tomies of death : they spake like ghostes crying
" out of their graves; they eat the dead carrions,
" happy when they could find them ; yea, and one
" another soon after, insomuch that the very car-
" cases they spared not to scrape out of their
" graves." Lord Clare, in the speech we have quoted, is
silent on these cruelties, but expresses, in a few
lines, his just opinion of the general injustice and
impolicy of the system of government carried on
by the ministers of queen Elizabeth in Ireland.
*' It seems difficult," says his lordship, " to con-
" ceive any more unjust or impolitic act of govern-
" ment, than an attempt to force new modes of
" religion, faith, and worship, by severe- penalties,
" upon a rude, superstitious, and embittered people.
" Persecutions, or attempts to force conscience,
" will never produce conversion : they are calcu-
" lated only to make hypocrites or martyrs ; and
" accordingly, the violence commenced by Eliza-
" beth,'to force the reformed religion into Ireland,
" had no other effect than to foment a general dis-
" satisfaction to the English government."
Relying on this general dissatisfaction, the
Spanish army, under the command of general don
Juan d'Aquila, landed at Kinsale, and expected to
be joined by the whole mass of the catholic, popu
lation beyond the pale^ " but no Irish of any

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 375
" account," says Morryson, "joined him ; " and thus
the Spaniards, " who," as Leland writes*, "came
'' with a vain hope of meeting a whole kingdom
" at their devotion, found themselves confined
" within an inconsiderable town, unassisted by the
" natives, and besieged by the queen's forces f-"
Relying, in like manner, on this general dis
satisfaction, three popes, successively, issued bulls,
fomenting the insurrections of the catholics against
Elizabeth. The bull of St. Pius the fifth, deposing
queen Elizabeth, and absolving her subjects from
allegiance to her, has been inserted in a former
part of these Memoirs. It was communicated
to the Irish by Dr. Saunders, who, in 1579, ^^^
sent by the pope, as his nuncio, into Ireland. The
earl of Desmond was encouraged by a bull of pope
Gregory the thirteenth, dated the 13th of May
1580 ; — and the insurrection of Hugh O'Neil was
encouraged by pope Clement the eighth, by a bull
dated the i6th of AprU 1600 J. The bulls of
Gregory and Clement were addressed to the arch
bishops, bishops, prelates, countSj barons, and
people of Ireland ; and exhorted them to recover
thefr liberties, to defend and maintain them against
the heretics, and second the efforts of their generals.
They bestow on the insurgents the same indul-
* History of Ireland, vol. ii. p. 396.
+ Philip the second justified this invasion, as a retaliation,
which Elizabeth had given to his rebellious subjects in the
low countries. Hume, c. xli.
t Both are inserted by the abbe Mac Geoghegan, in his
Histoire de I'lrlande, vol. i. p. 437. 508.
B B 4

376 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
gences as the holy see usually bestows on those
who make war against the Turks.
— " But most certain it is," says Dr. Curry*, " that,
" the principal nobility and gentry of the kingdom,
" and all the cities and corporate towns, persisted
" in their allegiance to her majesty, notwithstand-
" ing the many tempting offers made them by the
" Spaniards, in order to withdraw them from it.
" It is also certain, that more than one half of the
" gallant army under lord Mountjoy, which so suc-
" cessfuUy attacked, and at last entirely defeated
" Tyrone, was Irish," — and consequently catholic.
Lord Mountjoy, as Morryson mentions in his His
tory t, acknowledged, in several letters to the
council, " the great assistance, which the catholics
" had given him;" and in one of them, expressly
says, that, " if they had not furnished his army
" with beeves, it would have been in great distress."
The earl of Desmond expiated his rebellion by
his life, and the forfeiture of his vast possessions
in Munster. The pardon of the earl of Tyrone was
extorted from queen Elizabeth, greatly against her
will, by her ministers : and has been assigned as
one cause, that brought on the profound melancholy
which embittered the last days of her life.
* Historical Review of the Civil Wars in Ireland, b. i. c. xii.
¦\ Page 115.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 377
LXXX. 5.
Slate qf the Irish CathoUcs under James thefrst.
Immediately after the death ofthe earl of Des
mond, his property was surveyed and distributed,
principally among the English adventurers; but a
considerable proportion of it was bestowed on the
earl of Ormond. — " The multitude," says sir John
Davies*, — " admiring the power of the crown of
" England, being brayed, as it were, in a mortar,
" with sword, famine, and pestilence, altogether,
" submitted themselves to the king's government,
" received the laws and magistrates, and most
" gladly embraced the king's pardon and peace,
" in all parts of the realm, with demonstration of
" joy and comfort."
But, in this state of joy and comfort, the catholics
were not long permitted to remain. James the first,
soon after his accession, " conceived," says Mr.
Leslie Forsterf, " the project of changing the po-
" pulation of a great part of the island, and of in-
" troducing a new set of men, who, from religion
" and their race, and the continual necessity of self
" preservation, should be for ever attached to the
" interests of England. The rebellion of Tyrone
"furnished an excuse for considering the province
* " A Discourse ofthe true Causes why Ireland was never
" entirely subdued, nor brought under obedience to the crown
' of England, until the beginning of his Majesty's happy' reign.
" ed. 1747." — An excellent work.
t Speech on the gth of May 1817,

378 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" of Ulster as forfeited to the crown; and James
" proceeded to fill it with English and Scotch adven-
" turers." It is observable, that the rebellion of
Tyrone was never proved by reasonable evidence.
In his letter to sir Hercules Langrish *, Mr. Burke
observes, that " these plots and conspiracies were
" never proved upon their supposed authors." The
question of Harris, — If Tyrone and Tyrconnel —
(Tiis associate in the supposed rebellion), — were not
guilty, why did they fly ? — is not so overwhelming
as it has beenrepresented. — They might have feared
that justice would not have been done them ; or
that it would be done them in the manner, in which
it was done to the Byrnes, in the case which we
shall afterwards have occasion to mention.
The confiscation of Tyrone's property, — (and
the same may be said of every confiscation in the
reign of queen Elizabeth), — was attended with this
remarkable circumstance, that the crown seized,
not only the demesnes and seignorial right ofthe
offender, but dispossessed all his tenants and sub
tenants of their lands, and parcelled them out
among strangers. In the rebellion of Desmond,
his estates were found, on a loose survey, to con
tain 511,456 Irish acres. Elizabeth seized the
whole, and granted them to her favourites ; — and
" special directions were given," says sir Richard
Cox, " that the grantees should not suffer any la-
" bourer, that would not take the oath of supre-
" macy;" — in others words, "any roman-catholic,
" — to dwell upon their land." It has been happy
* Page 13.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 379
" for mankind, that instances of similar directions
" do not occur, frequently, in history."
Through the remainder of the reign of James,
this transference of property was systematically
continued. On the pretence of its being necessary
for the improvement of the country, or the security
of government, he seized large territories in the
province of Leinster, which lay on the sea coast
between Dublin and Waterford, and some, which
lay between the river Arklow and the river Slane,
in Wexford. On the same pretence, he directed
sir Arthur Chichester, the lord deputy, to survey
the counties of Leitrim and Longford, and large
portions of land in the King and Queen's counties
and Westmeath ; all possessed, at that time, by
the. ancient Irish ; — and to inquire, by what titles
they were held. — It was discovered, that they had
freen seized by different English adventurers, in
the reign Of Henry the second ; had been regained
by the families of the ancient owners, in the wars
between the houses of York and Lancaster; and
had, from that time, been quietly and uninterrupt
edly enjoyed by them and their descendants. On
this statement, the juries found that all the titles
to them were defective, and that the whole pro
perty belonged to the king.
A general inquiry into all defective tities was then
instituted. It is a received maxim of aU nations
governed by law, that possession constitutes right
against all, who cannot establish a worthier claim.
To this rulcj the commissioners of the crown paid
no attention. Wherever the grant could not be

380 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
produced, or, when it was proved, if no descent
or conveyance recognizing it could be proved, the
land was immediately adjudged to the crown. —
As all grants between the first of Edward the
second, and the tenth of Henry the seventh, hud
been resumed, every title under them, notwith
standing the subsequent uninterrupted possession,
was declared defective. Industry and ingenuity
were exerted, to the utmost, to discover defects in
the title of the possessor.
" Every person," says Mr. Carte*, " was at work
''' on finding out flaws in people's titles to their
" estates:" " Nor were there wanting," says Le
land "(", " proofs of the most iniquitous practices of
" hardened cruelty, of vile perjury, and scandalous
" subornation, to despoil the fair and unoffending
" proprietor of the inheritance." — In the case of
the Byrnes, mentioned by Mr. Carte '^, " a brother,
" unwiUing to give evidence against his two bro-
" thers, was miserably tortured, put naked on a
" burning gridiron ; then on a brandiron, and
" burnt with gunpowder under his buttocks and
" flanks, and at last suffered the strappado till he
" was forced to accuse them."
At length, James threatened the whole province
of Connaught. That province with the whole
county of Clare, had surrendered to queen Eliza
beth, and been newly granted out by her. The
grantees having neglected to enrol the grants in the
* Life of Ormond, vol. i. p. 27.
t History of Ireland, b. iv. c. 8.
I Life of Ormond, vol. i. p. 27.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 381
manner prescribed, James accepted surrenders of
them and issued new grants ; the grantees imme
diately lodged them in the court of chancery for
enrolment, and paid the fees. The officers received
the money, but did not enrol the grants; the titles
of the grantees were again found to be defective,
and the king was proceeding to avail himself of
the defect, when he was prevented by death.
What intelligent reader, who peruses the ac
counts of these extensive and cruel confiscations,
is not astonished at the inaccurate view of them,
which Hume has inserted in his History, and at
the reflection with which he concludes it* : " Such
" were the arts, by which James introduced hu-
" manity and justice among the Irish, who had
" ever been buried in the most profound barbarism.
" Noble cares ! much superior to the vain and cri-
" minal glory of conquest ; but requiring ages of
" perseverance and attention to perfect what had
" been so happily begun." Subsequent pages of
these Memoirs will show, that, fatally for Ireland,
the English govemment did persevere during cen
turies, in the system thus eulogized by Hume.
LXXX. 6.
State of the Irish Catholics in the reign of Charles
thefirst.
It must be observed, that the extensive spolia
tions of property, which have been mentioned, were
not the only grievance of which the Irish com-
* Chapter xlvi.

S82 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
plained. The statutes of supremacy and unifor
mity had deprived almost all the ecclesiastics in
the kingdom of their benefices, and thus reduced
them to poverty : the statute of uniformity sub-
jecteid every Irishman to a fine of twelve pence for
every Sunday on which he absented himself from
the protestant church. For refusing the oath of su
premacy, numbers were fined and imprisoned; and
the penalty imposed for absence from church, which
even in these days of national wealth and prospe
rity, would be severely felt by the lower class of
English, was often exacted with rigour.
From the beginning of the reign of Charles the
first, till 1626, the sufferings of the Irish catholics
seem to have been on the increase : then, the
urgency of his majesty's affairs, on account of his
double war with France and Spain, and the refusal
of the commons to grant him the necessary sup
plies for carrying them on, made him look to Ire
land. The catholics gave him the most unequivocal
assurances of their loyalty and instant readiness
to devote their lives and fortunes to his service.
All they claimed in return was a toleration of jthefr
religion, an exemption from some unwarrantable
exactions of the temporal and ecclesiastical courts,
and to have their titles to their possessions quieted.
These the monarch was willing to concede, but
the protestant prelates of Ireland denounced the
vengeance of God against the concession. The
primate Usher, and eleven of the bishops, signed
what they termed " the judgment of divers of tiffi
" archbishops and bishops of Ireland, on thetoler-

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 383
" ^tion of religion :" they declared by it, that " the
" religion of the papists was superstitious and
" idolatrous; their faith and docfrine erroneous
" and heretical ; their church, in respect to both,
" apostatical ; that, to give them therefore a toler-
" ation, or to consent thatthey mightfreely exercise
" their religion, was a grievous sin." — With these
sentiments, the primate, at the head of a body of
musketeers, entered the catholic chapel in Cork-
street, Dublin, during the celebration of divine
service, seized the prsest in his vestments, and
hewed down the crucifix*.
After much discussion, a free gift or contribu
tion of 1 20,000 /. payable in three years, proposed
by the govemment of Charles to the Irish, was
eissented to. — At this time, the proportion of catho
lics to protestants in Ireland, was, by the account
of sir William Petty, as eleven to two ; the greatest
part ofthe sum was therefore paid by the catholics.
In consideration of it, the king gave the Irish his
solemn promise, that, in the next session of parlia
ment, the grievances complained of should be re
dressed ; and particularly, that the inquiry into
defective titles should be extinguished. An exiplicit
instmction, to this effect, was sent by him to lord
deputy Falkland, to be communicated by him to the
Irish.— The boon, thus promised by his majesty,
wsis'styled, " The Graces." The money was paid ;
but the Graces never came. Lord deputy Went-
worth, afterwards earl of Strafford, advised his
majesty not to grant them, and undertook to charge
* Plow. Hist. Rev, vol. i, c. 4.

384 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
himself with the obloquy which, he foresaw, this
flagrant breach of promise would occasion. For
this, his majesty, by a letter, printed in the Straf
ford Papers*, affectionately thanked the earl.
The members of the Irish house of commons re
monstrated : their remonstrance was unnoticed ;
it was renewed ; lord Strafford then explicitly told
them, it should not be attended to : — and, at his
powerful suggestion, the council board represented
to his majesty, that " he was not bound, either in
" conscience, justice, or honour, to perform the
" solemn promise he had made to the people."
" This point," says Strafford, " I gained from the
" council with some art and difficulty, and flatter
" myself thereon to have done his majesty good
" service." — He continued the contribution.
Immediately after this, he established a court of
inquisition into the titles of all the lands in Con
naught. — At first, he despaired of success : in one
of his letters'!", he mentions that " he had often
" laboured to find a title in the crown to these
" counties, but that he was always foiled in the
" attempt." The court was accompanied, to use his
lordship's own words, by a troop of five hundred
horse, " as good lookers on." Great care was used
in selectingthe jurors ; every artifice of promise and
intimidation was put into practice. A Gal way jury
having reftised to bring in a verdict for the king,
his lordship fined the sheriff, that returned them, in
. a thousand pounds, and bound over the jury to answer
for the offence in the castle chamber, " where," he
* Vol. i. p. 331. f State Papers, vol. i. p. 339.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 385
said, " he conceived it fit, that their pertinacious
" carriage should be followed with all just seve-
" rity." The consequence was, that the tities to all
the lands in Connaught, and to large territories in
Munster and Clare, were found defective, and
seized by the crown. How they were disposed of,
a future extract from the earl of Clare's speech,
already cited, wUl show.
LXXX. 7.
The Massacre in 1641.
Dr. Warner's " History of the Irish Rebel-
" lion," and Dr. Curry's " Historical Review,"should
be attentively perused and meditated by every per
son, who seeks to obtain accurate information on
this lamentable event. Dr. Warner shows that
little credit is due to his predecessors, lord Claren
don, sir John Temple, Dr. Borlase, sir Richard
Cox, Carte, and Hume. Speaking of the infide
lity, shown by the last of these writers, in his re
presentation of the conduct of Charles the first, to
his Irish subjects, he says*, — " To such miserable
" shifts are able men reduced, when they wish to
" please a party, or to support a character, with-
" out regard to tmth ! It is but very little, that
" Hume has said on this critical part of Charles
" the first's reign ; but, unless he said much more
" to the purpose, than he hath said, he had better
" have taken the way, which lord Clarendon took,
" and have said nothing at all."
• Hist, of Irish Rebellion, p. 359.
VOL. III. C C

380 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF •
After every allowance, which the candour of
Dr. Warner induces him to ma:ke, in favour of
the catholics, the charges brought by him against
them, are heavy. From some of these. Dr. Curry,
in the work we have mentioned, has both ably
and successfully vindicated them. To enter into
any detail on the subject, is foreign to the object
of these pages : but the writer begs leave to request
the attention of his readers to the following obser
vations. I. The first, — to use the wojdspf Mr. William
Parnell, in his excellent Apology, which we have
already cited, — is — that, " if it is certain that the
" catholics became bigots and rebels, it is no less
" certain that their bigotry and rebellions arose en-
" tirely from the injuries and insults inflicted on
" them." 2. The second observation, is, — that, during se
veral months, immediately preceding the insurrec
tion, the general body of the Irish catholics, and
in particular the Irish of Ulster, were filled with
dismay and horror, by their apprehension, that the
puritan faction in England, and the Scottish cove
nanters had resolved on their extermination. That
there were some grounds for this apprehension, all
must believe, who have read the first volume of
Carte's Life of Ormond, from its 233d to its 339th
page; — or the fourth and fifth books of Dr. Curry's
Historical Review. — Hume, himself, in his letter to
Dr. Curry, inserted by that gentleman in the work,
which we have just mentioned*, admits, that "the
* b. V. p. 181.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 337
" violence of the puritanical parliament, had struck
" a. Just terror into all the catholics." Admitting,
therefore, every thing with which, in the next lines
of this letter, Hume charges the Irish insurgents,
something of it may surely be palliated, by the
state of just tei'ror, to which he admits their alarms
had raised them. It is acknowledged by Carte, that
the lord deputy, sir WUliam Parsons, had asserted,
at a public entertainment in Dublin, that, " within sL
" twelvemonth, no catholic should be seen in Ire-
" land." He had sense enough," says Carte, " to
" know the consequences, which would naturally
" follow from such a declaration ; which, however
" it might contribute to his own selfish views, he
" would hardly have ventured to make so openly,
" and without disguise, if it had not been for the
" politics and measures of the English faction,
*' whose party he espoused, and whose directions
" were the general rule of his conduct."
3. The third observation, with which we shall
trouble our readers, respects the number of the
massacred- In their calculations of them, the histo
rians of the massacre surprisingly differ. Sir John
Temple fixes the number of protestants, who were
massacred in cold blood, in the two first months of
the rebellion, at 150,000 : — lord Clarendon asserts,
that, in the first two or three days of it, 40,000 or
50,000 were desfroyed : sir WiUiam Petty says, that
upwards of 40,000, were kiUed out of war.
" Although it be impossible," says Dr. Warner,
'* even from the authentic evidence ofthe murders,
" to come to any certainty, or exactness as to their
c c 2

388 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" numbers, from the uncertainty itself of some of
" the accounts that were given in, — it is easy enough,
" from, them, to demonstrate the falsehood of every
"protestant historian.
" Upon the whole," he assures us, — that, " set-
" ting aside all opinions and calculations in this
" affair, the evidence in his possession stands thus :
" The number of people killed, upon positive
" evidence collected in two years after the insur-
" rection broke out, amounts only to 2,109; — on
" the report of other protestants, to 1,619 more; —
" and, on the report of some of the rebels them-
" selves, a further number of 300 ; the whole,
" both by positive evidence, and by report, making
" 4,028. " Besides these numbers," continues Dr. Warner,
" there is evidence in the same coUection, on the
" report of others, of 8,000 killed by ill usage; and
" if we should allow the cruelties of the Irish out of
" war, extended to these numbers, — (which, con-
" sidering the nature of the several depositions, I
" think, on my conscience, we cannot), — we must
" allow, there is no pretence for laying a greater
" number to their charge * ."
* This estimate is confirmed, by the following judicious
and unanswerable observations of lord Castiemain in his
" Reply to the Answer of the Catholic Apology," p. 54. 
After showing that the whole Irish population could not, at
the time of which n-e are speaking, exceed two millions of
persons, he proceeds as follows : " If we take away two or
" three thousand men, in whose hands the government is, (I.
" mean the chief oflSces of trust and profit,) and four or five
" thousand clergymen, with a fit allowance for their wives,

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 3(»
" This account," adds the doctor, "is corroborated
" by a letter, which I copied out of the council book
" there will hardly be found one in ten a protestant; which
" then makes the number of protestants not to be yet above
" tm hundred thousand in all ; and out of these, at least a quarter
" being deducted for the Scotch colonies, the English of the
" reformed faith will scarce now amount to a hundred and
"fifty thousand; whereas formerly, before the banishments,
" transplantation, and infinite slaughters of the Irish, the
" popish party was exceedingly more numerous than this
" proportion, and the other religious less ; for, during the
" last thirty years, (by reason of the wonderful prey,) there
" came more planters out of England hither, than God
" knows in how many ages before : so that upon the whole I
" dare a£Brm, that there could not be in Ireland one hundred
" and twenty thousand English protestants, when the rebellion
" broke out.
" In the last place, let us consider, (as the aforesaid author
" also has it,) that the most bloody executions were made in
" Ulster; a quarter (as everybody knows,) where the Old
" Irish had not only their chiefest power and strength, but
" where the Scotch also were, for the most part, all seated ;
" so that our countrymen had there comparatively few
" plantations : but had they been as thick here as in other
" places (and herein there was no proportion) their number
" could not then have exceeded twenty fourthonsandinhabitants,
" there being five provinces in this kingdom. Yet in all the
" printed narrations, we find that many were protected from the
" present fury of the rebels in London, Derry, Coleraine,and Ennis-
" Ai7/ing',(for these were in the hands ofthe English, as Sflwrferiora •
" tells us) that droves came daily to Dublin partly by flight, and
" partly by permission, and that many more got safe to other places
" of refuge. In short then, after well reflecting on the premises,
" who can imagine that three thousand English protestants •viete
" here destroyed, which is a pretty difierence, from three
" hundred thousand, the usual computation, as I said; for as to
c c 3

390 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" at Dublin, written on the ^th of May 1 652, ten
" years after the beginning of the rebellion, from
" the parliament commissioners in Ireland, to the
" English parliament. After exciting the parlia-
" ment to further severity against the Irish, — as
" being afraid that their behaviour, towards that
" people, might never sufficiently avenge their
" murders and massacres ; and, lest the parliament
" might shortly be in pursuance of a speedy settle-
" ment of the kingdom, and thereby some tender
" conclusions be adopted, — the commissioners tell
" them, that, besides 849 families, there were killed,
" hanged, and burned, 6,062."
4. We should also mention, — that the whole body
of the catholic nobility and gentry did, by their
agents atOxford, in 1 643, petition the king, that " all
" murders committed on both sides, in that way,
" might be examined in a future parliament, and the
" actors of them exempted out of all the acts of
" indemnity and oblivion : but that the protestant
" agents, then also attending the king at Oxford,
" refused to assent to the proposal*."
5. Finally, — webegleaveto state, inafewwords,
what is said by the apologists of the Irish catholics,
to palliate this lamentable event. — They first ob
serve, that, during the successive reigns of Elizabeth,
James the first, and Charles the first, the spiritual and
" the slaughter done elsewhere, it was not comparable to what
" happened in this province, as all writers unanimously
'' agree." * Walsh's History of the Irish Remonstrance, App. p. 54.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 301
temporal grievances of the Irish catholics were very
great, were always on the increase, and were of a
nature to agitate the human feelings in the highest
degree, and to stimulate them to the greatest ex
cesses. — They next assert, from unquestionable evi
dence, that the insurrection on the 23d of October
1641, was confined to the province of Ulster ; that,
tiiough this day is assigned for the commencement
of the general massacre, the insurrection was con
fined, during the two following months, to that
province ; that, during the whole of those months,
few murders, if any, were committed; that sir
William Parsons and sir John Borlase, the lords
justices, to whom the government of the kingdom
was, at this time, committed, instead of endeavour
ing to repress, artfully strove to goad the whole
catholic body into rebellion ; that, after the insur
rection had spread, a fanatic and enthusiastic sol
diery, on one hand, and a savage and exasperated
rabble on the other, promiscuously plundered and
murdered English protestants and Irish catholics ;
that the number of the catholic victims of these
barbarities far exceeded that of the protestant; that
the massacre began with a murder committed by
Scottish puritans, of a multitude of unoffending
Irish catholics in the island of Maggee ; and that,
tiiroughout the whole of the massacre, there were
found in every part of Ireland, both catholic priests
and catholic laymen, who exerted themselves, fre
quentiy at the risk of their lives, to save the pro
testants from the destmction with which they were
threatened. . ,
c c 4

892 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Such is the catholic representation : —Those, who
wish for full information on the subject, should at
tentively peruse the protestant historians, Leland
and Warner ; and the catholic apologist Dr. Curry,
whose Historical and Critical Review we have fre
quently cited, and the Trial ofthe Roman-catholics,
by Henry Brooke, esq. 1767, 8vo. — a work, which
we have frequently consulted. A serious and im
partial comparison of these works, will, we think,
convince every candid mind, that, in the charges,
to which the conduct of the catholics on this la
mentable event may be thought to have justly ex
posed them, there has been some invention, and
great exaggeration. — At all events, the sins even
of the vilest actors in them, should not be visited
on their tenth generation.
LXXX. 8.
The Confederacy ofthe Irish Catholics in 1642.
We must now reverse the medal, — and consider
the conduct of the lords justices, towards the ca
tholics, at this dreadful time. " The arbitrary
" power," says Dr. Warner, " exercised by them;
" — their illegal exertion of it, by bringing people
" to the rack, to draw confessions from them ; — their
" sending out so many parties from Dublin and
" other garrisons, to kill and destroy the rebels, in
" which, care was seldom taken to distinguish, —
" and men, women and children were promiscu-
" ously slain ; — but above all, the martial law ex e-
" cuted by sir Charles Coote ; — and the burning

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 3©3
" of the pale for seventeen mUes in length, and
" twenty-five in breadth, by the earl of Ormond; —
" these measures not only exasperated the rebels
" and induced them to commit the like or greater
" cruelties ; but they terrified the nobility and
" gentry from all thoughts of submission, andcon-
" vinced them, that there was no room to hope for
" pardon, nor any means of safety left them, but the
" sword." Leland *, observes, that " the favourite
" object, both ofthe Irish government and English
" parliament, was the utter extermination of all the
" catholic inhabitants of Ireland. Their estates were
" already marked out, and allotted to the conquerors,
" so that they and their posterity were consigned to
" inevitable ruin." It is not to be wondered that a
great body of nobility, gentry, and proprietors, thus
circumstanced, should unite, for self-preservation,
in a regular system of defence.
They accordingly confederated : — In the month
of May 1642, the leaders of them assembled at
KUkenny, and formed a general council, for the
conduct of their measures, on a plan of a parlia
ment of two houses : — the upper, composed of the
prelates and temporal peers ; the lower, of two
delegates sent by the counties and cities. They
accepted, for the mle of government, the common
law of England, and the statutes of Ireland, so far
as they were not repugnant to catholic faith, and
to the liberties of the Irish nation. The oath of
association was,— " I swear, before Almighty God,
" his angels and saints, that I will defend the
" liberty of the catholic, apostolic and Roman faith,
* Vol. iii. p. 166.

894 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
'' and: the person, heirs, and rights of our most
" serene king, Charles, — as also the legal rights
" and privileges of this nation, — against allusurp-
" ers and invaders, at the hazard of my fortune
" and of my life. So help me God !"
The first measure of the supreme council was to
consult the clergy on the lawfulness of the confe
deracy and ofthe war. The answer ofthe clergy,
-^-given on the 1 2th of May, — was expressed in
the following terms : " As the war, which the Irish
" catholics begin against the sectaries, particularly
" the puritans, is undertaken for the defence of the
'i catholic religion ; — for the conservation of our
" sovereign lord king Charles, and his just prero-
" gatives; — for the defence of our serene queen, ¦
" and the security of their royal progeny, mostun-
" worthily treated by the puritans ; and also for
" the defence of our lives and fortunes, and the
" just and legitimate immunities and liberties of
'•' this our nation, against unjust invaders and op-
" pressors, particularly the ptiritans : — -We are of
"opinion, and do declare, that it is, on the side of
'' the catholics, just aind legitimate. — But if, in
'¦ carrying it on, any proceed, with an unjust,
" avaricious, hating, revengeful, or other such si-
" nister intention, or any wicked design or end, we
" think such persons sin mortally, and should be
" chastised, coerced, and punished by ecclesias-
" tical censures'*."
* Translated from an authentic and' elegant work, —
'"•Vindiciae Catholicorum Hiberniae, authore Philopatre
'f Irenaeo, ad AlitdpliSum, libri duo ; Parisiis, 1650;" at
tributed to Mr. Richard' Bellings.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 395
The supreme council proceeded to appoint sir
Phelim O'NeU to the command of the catholic
forces in Ulster, colonel Preston, a brother of lord
Gormanstown, to the command of the catholic
forces in Leinster ; colonel Garret Barry, of the
Barrymore family, to the command ofthe catholic
forces in Munster ; and colonel de Burgh, of the
Clanrickard famUy, to the command ofthe catholic
forces in Connaught. The next measure of the
supreme council, was to obtain, from his majesty,
a cessation of arms. — Charles was anxious for it,
and signed a commission, on the 14th January
1642, directed to the earl, afterwards marquis of
Ormond, and afterwards lord lieutenant of Ireland,
— and to other persons of distinction, — autho
rizing them to freat with the confederates : — This
Ormond declined. His majesty repeatedly and
pressingly urged it, by letters and messages; —
Ormond stUl delayed. At length, on the 1 5th of
September 1643, ^ cessation of arms was agreed
upon by^him and the confederates ; and, notwith
standing thefr distress, the catholics advanced
30,800/. sterling to Ormond, to be applied for
his majesty's service ; and sent two thousand men
to fight under Monfrose in Scotland.
LXXX. 9.
The Interference of the Pope's Nuncio in the Proceedings
of the Confederates.
While the councU of Kilkenny held their first
sittings, an event happened, which from the first,

396 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OE
counteracted, and in the end, defeated all their
measures. In 1644, pope Urban sent father Scarampa, an
oratorian, to communicate with the supreme coun
cil. He remained in Ireland till November 1 645,
when John Baptist Rinuccini, archbishop of Fermo,
arrived at KUkenny, in the character of apostolic
nuncio extraordinary, from the pope to the council.
On the 1 2th of that month, he presented himself,
with his credentials, to the supreme council, and
shortly exposed to them the object of his mission. —
He then said : " There will not, in all probability,
" be wanting those, who will assert, that I havebeen
" sent, by the most holy father, and universal pastor
" of the church. Innocent the tenth, to excite the
" catholic inhabitants of this kingdom against the
" most serene king of Great Britain and Ireland.
" How far this is from the fruth, God, the searcher
" of hearts, is not ignorant ! I therefore protest
" and most solemnly swear, that I will plan nothing
" against the interests of the most serene king
" Charles. Moreover, — to all catholics, as well
" present as absent, I signify, that nothing more
" agreeable to the supreme pontiff, can take place,
" than that the confederates in Ireland, having
" recovered the free exercise of their religion,
" should observe due subjection, service, and re-
" verence to his serene majesty, though not a
" catholic." The cessation of arms concluded between Or
mond and the supreme council, was received with
general joy by the confederate nobility, and the

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 397
greatest and best part ofthe clergy : but tiie nuncio,
and general Owen O'NeU, — who afterwards drew
over general Preston to his views, — rejected it :
the former, because there was no provision made
for the free exercise of the catholic religion, with
out which, the confederates, in the nuncio's view
of the case, were engaged, by their oath of asso
ciation, never to conclude a peace ; and the latter,
on the same account, and also because no stipu
lation was made for restoring him and his nume
rous followers to their forfeited lands in Ulster.
The nuncio further alleged, that the commissioners
who had concluded the peace, had not, as they
were bound by their instructions, insisted on the
repeal of the penal statutes against the roman-
catholic religion.
The confederates, however, adhered to the ces
sation : and, with the leave of Ormond, sent over
seven persons of rank to his majesty, to treat with
him for a permanent peace. They reached his
majesty, on the 23d of March 1645; the king
agreed to all the terms proposed by them, except
those, by which they claimed the free exercise of
their religion, and the quiet enjoyment of the ec
clesiastical property then actually possessed by
them. The concession of these, would, his ma
jesty observed, irritate all the protestants in the
three kingdoms against him. — He therefore or
dered the commissioners to retum to the council,
and treat with Ormond, on this point.
Soon afterwards, the earl of Glamorgan, a
roman-catholic, and connected, by his marriage,

398 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
with the house of O'Brien, attended at Kilkenny ;
accredited, as he said, by his majesty, to treat with
the supreme council. On the 25th of August
1645, articles of peace were signed by the earl and
the supreme council, containing an express stipu
lation, that the catholics should enjoy the free ex
ercise of their religion, and retain all the churches,
then in their possession, and the property belong
ing to them.
It was intended that this treaty should be kept a
secret, till a more favourable combination of cir
cumstances should remove the objection to its pub
lication ; but accident brought it to light; and the
monarch then shamefully disavowed the powers,
under which Glamorgan had professed to act. —
A new treaty was therefore entered into with
Ormond; it was signed on the 28th of March
1646, but appears not to have been delivered till
the 29th of the following July*. It contained no
stipulation for the free exercise of the catholic re
ligion, or the enjoyment of ecclesiastical property:,
these were to be the subject of a future arrange
ment, and to be allowed in the mean time by con
nivance. The pope himself felt the necessity,-
v?hich induced the supreme council to submit to
such terms. Discoursing with Mr. Richard Bel-
lings, on what had passed between his majesty, and
the deputies to him from the councU, his holiness
observed, that it was not to be wondered, that his,
majesty should think it unsafe to consent to the
insertion of the contested article, as this would
* Carte's Life of Ormond, vol. i. p. 574.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 399>
alienate from him so many of his adherents, — " and.
" therefore," said his holiness, " a connivance, in
" this respect, should, in the actual state of things,
" satisfy you."
But the treaty now concluded was too late to
be of use to the unfortunate monarch. " The news
" of the conclusion of the peace," says Carte*,.'
" did not reach England soon enough to deter the.
" execrable authors of the murder ofthe king from-
". perpetrating a villainy, which, how long soever
" they had intended it, they durst not attempt to
"execute, till they thought themselves secure of
" impunity, by being absolute masters of Great
" Britain without any considerable force in any
" part of these kingdoms to oppose their measures,
" or take vengeance of- their crimes."
" It is no small, or unequivocal proof," says
Mr. Plowden f, " of the eminent loyalty and fidelity
" of the Irish catholics, that, at Charles's unfo^tu-
" nate execution, they formed the only compact
" body throughout the extent of the British empire,
" who had preserved, untainted and unshaken,
" their faith and attachment to the royal cause."
On this occasion, sir Richard Cox, one of the
historians of the rebellion, expresses a wish indi
cating no common hafred to the Irish catholics--—-
" How gladly would I draw," says this vvrifer, " a
" curtain over the dismal and unhappy 30th of
" January, wherein the royal father of our country
" suffered martyrdom. Oh ! that I could say they
* Carte's Life of Ormond, vol. ii. p. $2.
f In his very valuable Historical Memoirs, vol. i. p. 1 rg. ¦

400 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" were Irishmen, that did that abominable fact I
" Or that I could justly lay it at the doors of the
" papists ! But, how much soever they might
" obliquely or designedly contribute to it, 'tis
" certain it was actuaUy done by others."
We have seen what the impressions of the nuncio
and his adherents were, on any peace that should be
concluded with Ormond, on the terms we have men
tioned. — With those feelings, and giving full scope
to them, he proceeded to measures equally un
justifiable and inexpedient. Having called together,
at Waterford, such of the Irish bishops and other
ecclesiastics, as were most under his influence, on
pretence of forming a synod to settle ecclesiastical
matters, they took the peace into their considera
tion ; and, by a public instrtiment, signed by them,
on the 12th of August 1646, declared their dissent
from the peace. The nuncio then proceeded to
Kilkenny, accompanied by general Preston and
general O'Neil. There, on the 26th ofthe follow
ing September, the nuncio assumed the entire go
vernment of the kingdom ; imprisoned the greater
number of the members of the supreme council ;
appointed, in its stead, a council, consisting of four
bishops and eight laymen, and commanded all
generals to obey their orders. The presidency of
the council he assumed to himself.
On the 5th of the following October, he issued
a sentence of excommunication, to take effect, ipso
facto, against all who had been instrumental in
making the peace, and all who should afterwards
adhere to it, or promote it.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 401
At this time, there were twenty-seven Irish ca
tholic bishops ; nineteen obeyed the nuncio ; eight
adhered to the nobility and gentry.
By this step, (as Dr. Curry justiy observes), the
nuncio and his party confributed more, in one week,
towards the defeat of the confederates, than the
marquis of Ormond, with all his forces, had been
able to effect, during the whole preceding period
of the war. " I loved the nuncio," says Lynch,
(archdeacon of Tuam, the learned author of the
' Cambrensis Eversus,') "and revere his memory;
" but it is most certain, that the first cause of our
" woe, and the beginning of our ruin, were produced
" by his censures. — The day on which they were
" fiilminated, should not be in benediction. To
" the Irish, it was most disastrous, and should
" therefore be noted with black, ranked among the
" inauspicious days, and devoted to the furies*."
This wayward incident divided the confederates
into two parties : and these soon became more ex
asperated against each other, than they were
against the common enemy. But, notwithstanding
this defection, " all the confederate nobility and
" gentry," says Carte f, " except a very few ofthe
" latter, and all the old bishops and* regulars,
" whose missionary powers were not subordinate
" to the nuncio's authority, still adhered to the
" peace, in defiance of the censures denounced
" against them«"
* Alithinologia,tom. i.
t Life of Ormond, voLi. p. 170.
VOL. III. D D

40a HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
In the latter end of October 1646, the nuncio and
the two generals, Preston and O'Neil, advanced to
Dublin ; and, on the 2d of the following month,
sent proposals of accommodation to the marquis of
Ormond. " These," says Dr. Curry *, " were, in
" effect, the same demands, as they had all along
" made, and the king was willing to grant them ;
" but which his excellency had still obstinately
" refused." His excellency and the council, con
tinues the same writer, being doubtful, how the
catholics of Dublin would behave, in case the city
was assaulted by so great an army, fighting undef
a title of so specious a cause, and under the autho
rity of so extraordinary a minister of the holy see,
put two questions to such of the catholic clergy as
resided in that city ; — the 1 st. Whether, if the
nuncio should proceed to excommunicate those,
who adhered to the peace, then lately made, the
excommunication would be void? The 2d. Whe
ther, if the city should be besieged, by the direc
tion of the nuncio, the catholics might lawfully
resist the siege or assault? The clergy answered
unanimously, — that the excommunicatiSn would
be void ; and the resistance lawful. His excellency
afterwards entered into a treaty with general Pres
ton, and the terms of it appear to have been settled;
but mutnal disfrust seems to have prevented its
execution on either side. On this, the marquis
treated with the covenanters. The terms were
easily settled; and the marquis soon afterwards
* Historical Review, book vii. c. xi. xii.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 40SI
gave up, to their commissioners, all the forces under.
his command, the sword of state, and all the other
insignia of government. For this, he received
from them, a large sum of -money, and permission :
to hold his estates discharged from the debts upon
them. Soon after this event, general Preston was •
totally defeated at Dungan's hill near Trim, by.
Jones the parliamentary governor of DubUn ; and.'
the confederate army in Ulster was destroyed in
Knockonness. About the end of July 1647, ^^ marquis of
Oraiond, by order of the parliament, quitted Ire
land. In January 1648, the earl of- Inchiquin,
who, till this time, had been an active partizan of.
the parliament, being dissatisfied with its proceed
ings, began to treat with the confederates. The .
nuncio opposed the treaty ; but it proceeded, and
on the 20th of May 1 648, an agreement for a ces
sation of arms, and mutual assistance, was sighed.
The nuncio then issued an exeommunication against
all, who adhered to or favoured this cessation ; and,'
interdicting aU cities, towns, and places which had
received it, forbade all divine offices to be per
formed in them. On the 31st ofthe same month,
the supreme councU appealed, in form, against'his
censures, and were joined by two cathoUp arch
bishops-, twelve bishops, and all the secular clergy
intheir dioceses, jby all the Jesuits and Carmelites,
and fiy-e hundred of the Franciscans*.
From the time of his quitting Ireland, till Sep
tember 1-&I.8, the marquis of Ormond remained in
* Catte's Life of Orndond, vol. ii. p. 34.
D D 2

404 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
France. On the 21st of that month, he sailed for
Jreland, from Havre; and on the 29th, reached
Cork. He was received with great demonstrations
of joy. Soon after his landing, he signified to the
supreme council of the confederates, then sitting
at Kilkenny, that he was arrived, with full powers
to treat and conclude a peace with the confederate
catholics, pursuant to the paper, delivered to thefr
agent at St. Germain's, and which granted them
their own terms. On the receipt of the message,
the supreme council invited the marquis to Kil
kenny : he made his entry into it, with great splen
dour. On the 1 6th Of January 1 649, a peace be
tween his majesty and the confederates was pro
claimed with great solemnity, and the English and
Irish forces were placed under the command ofthe
marquis. By the terms of the peace, it was stipu
lated, that all the laws, which prevented the free
exercise of the catholic religion in Ireland, should
be repealed ; and that the catholics should not be
disturbed in the possession of their churches and
church livings, till his majesty, upon, a full consi.
deration of the decree respecting them in parlia
ment, should declare his further pleasure.
On the following day, the assembly drew up
several articles to be transmitted to the pope, con
taining heavy accusations against the nuncio.
They intimated to his excellency, at the same time,
the necessity of his immediately repairing to Rome,
to answer the articles. On the 23d of February
following, the nuncio left Ireland, " to the great
"joy," says Dr. Curry, " ofthe principal nobUity

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 406
" and gentry, and the most respectable ecclesiastics
" in Ireland."
It should be observed, that his proceedings were
contrary to the instructions which he had received
from the court of Rome. By these, he had been
directed, in case a peace were made, to do nothing
indicating that he either approved or disliked it.
Dr. Curry produces reasons, which render it highly
probable, that the peace, made by the confederates
with the marquis of Ormond, was not displeasing to
the pope. Carte mentions *, that, soon after his in
fraction of the peace, the nuncio received a repri
mand from Rome, for having acted, in this respect,
contrary to his instructions. On his return to that
city, he was received coldly by the pope. His
holiness told him, that he had " carried himself
" rashly in Ireland," and exiled him to his diocese.
The disastrous result of his nunciature, and the
reception which he met with at Rome, affected him
so much, that in a short time afterwards he died of
grief. In 1 6^5, pope Alexander the seventh, em
powered four of the prelates of Ireland to grant
a general absolution from the censures of the
nuncio. At first, the greatest harmony and zeal for the
service prevailed among the officers and soldiers of
the confederate army, now placed under Ormond,
and they became masters of Sligo, Drogheda,
Waterford, Trim, and Newry, and most of the
strong holds and towns in Ireland, except London
derry and Dublin. Ormond was advancing to
* Vol. i. p. 570.
D D 3

406 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Dublin; but, at Rathmines, a place about three
miles distant from it, his whole army was surprised
and routed, on the 2d of August 1649, ^J Michael
Jones, the goveraior of Dublin for the parliament.
A new scene now opened : — On the invitation of
the Scottish covenanters, Charles the second- left
Breda; and, on the 23d of June 1650, arrived in
Scotland. Before he landed, he was compelled to
signboth the national andthesolemn covenant. Two
months after his landing, he issued a declaration,
that " he would have no enemies, but the enemies
" of the covenant; — thathe did detest and abhor
" all popery, superstition, and idolatry, together
" with prelacy-; resolving not to tolerate, much
" less to allow those, in any part of his dominions,
" and to endeavour the extirpation thereof to the
" utmost of his power." He pronounced the peace
with the confederates " to be null and void ;" and
added, that, '"¦he was convinced in his conscience
" of the^ sinfulness and unlawfulness of it."
The afflicting intelligence of this conduct of his
majesfy soon reached the confederates. They sus
pected, not without ground, that the marquis of
Ormond had advised it. Under these impressions,
several catholic bishops, in the following August,
assembled at Jamestown. They published a de
claration against the lord lieutenant, charging him
with improvidence and ill-conduct, with gross par-
tia;lity to the protestants, hostility to the catholics,
cmelty to the clergy, and wicked councils to the
king. — They proceeded to excommunicate all such
catholics, "as should enlist under, help, or adhere

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 407
" to his excellency ; or assist him with men,
" money, or any other supplies whatsoever."
But they delayed the promiilgation ofthe sentence
till the meeting of a g-eneral assembly then con
vened to sit at Loughrea. They also appointed
six of their body, as a board, to reside in that city,
in order, as they declared, to provide for the safety
of the nation, the preservation of the catholic reli
gion, and the maintenance of the royal authority.
To this, in all their vicissitudes of fortune, every
Irish catholic professed the warmest attachment.
On the fifteenth of the following September, they
published their excommunication, in the usual form.
" But all the sober professors of the catholic reli-
" gion," says lord Clarendon, in his History of the
" Rebellion, abhorred their proceedings, and most
" of the commissioners of trust, or the principal
" nobility, aud most considerable gentry, remained
" firm in their particular affection and duty to the
" king ; and in their submission to the authority of
" his lieutenant, notwithstanding this excommuni-
" cation." Soon after this event, the northern army gene
rally went over to the parliament, and in Decembei'
1650, the marquis of Ormond quitted Ireland,
having appointed the earl of Clanrickard his deputy.
Then, — the Irish catholics, — finding themselves
reduced to irremediable distress, with the dismal
prospect of its daily increase, audits ending in their
total destruction, showed, forthe first and only time,
some willingness to treat with the parliamentarians.
— But, before any progress was made in a treaty
D P 4

408 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
with them, an ambassador from the duke of Lor
raine arrived in Ireland, with offers of powerful
assistance for the preservation of the catholic re
ligion, and his majesty's Irish subjects. The earl
of Clanrickard took his proposals into conside
ration ; the Jamestown bishops, and their adhe
rents in general, were desirous that they should
be received ; and this had the approbation of the
queen, the duke of York, and the marquis of
Ormond himself. The treaty, however, was
broken off. — The rebels advancing on the marquis
of Clanrickard, he retired to the town of Carrick ;
being encompassed on every side, he submitted to
the parliament; and, in 1652, left Ireland, carry
ing with him the royal authority.
" The Irish," says Mr. Matthew O'Conor, " now
' received the chastisements due to their dissen-
' tions. All the male adults capable of bearing
' arms, with the exception of a sufficient number
' of slaves to cultivate the lands of the English,
' were transported to France, Spain, and the
' West Indies. A great number of females were
' transported to Virginia, Jamaica, and New Eng-
' land. The rest of the inhabitants of all sexes,
' ages, the young, the aged, and the infirm, were
' ordered, on pain of death, to repair, by a certain
' day, into the province of Connaught, where,
' being cooped up in a district, ravaged by a war
' of ten years continuance, desolated by famine
' and pestilence, and destitute of food or habita-
" tions, they suffered calamities, such as the wrath
" of the Almighty has never inflicted on any other

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 409
" people. Thousands of these miserable victims
" perished of cold and hunger ; many flung them-
" selves headlong from precipices, into lakes and
" rivers, death being their last refuge from such
" direful calamities *."
So littie were their rights, or even their ex
istence, taken into the account, that Harrington
-thought the best thing,' the commonwealth could
do with Ireland, was to farm it to the jews for ever,
for the pay of an army to protect them during the
first seven years, and two millions a year from that
time forward f- Moryson, a protestant historian,
and an eye witness, observes, that " neither the
" Israelites were more persecuted by Pharaoh, nor
" the innocent infants by Herod, nor the christians
" by Nero, or any other pagan tyrants, than were
" the roman-catholics of Ireland at this fatal junc-
" tion, by the commissioners."
LXXX. 10.
Tlie Confiscations made by Cromwell; — andthe Settlement
ofthe Confiscated Property, at the Restoration.
" The first act of CromweU," — says lord Clare,
in the speech which has been so often quoted, —
" was to collect all the native Irish, who had sur-
" vived the general desolation, and remained in
• " The History of the Irish Catholics, from tbe settlement
" in 1691 ; with a short view of the state of Ireland from the
" invasion of Henry the second to the Revolution. By
" Matthew O'Conor, esquire, 1813."
t Cited in the Quarterly Review, for Oct. 1821, p. 341.

410 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" the country, and tofransplant them into the pro-
" vince of Connaught, which had been completely
" depopulated and laid waste in the progress of
" the rebellion. They were ordered to retire thither,
" by a certain day, and forbidden to repass the
" river Shannon, on pain of death ; and this sen-
" tence of deportation was rigidly enforced untU
" the Restoration. Their ancient possessions were
" seized and given up to the conquerors ; as were
" the possessions of every man, who had taken a
" part in the rebellion, or foUowed the fortunes of
" the king, after the murder of Charles the first.
" This whole fund was distributed among the offi-
*¦'¦ cers and soldiers of Cromwell's army, in satis-
" faction of the arrears of their pay ; and among
"the adventurers, who had advanced money to
" defray the expenses of the war. And thus, a
" new colony of new settlers, composed of all the
" various sects, which then infested England, —
" independents, anabaptists, seceders, brownists,
" socinians, millenarians, and dissenters of every
" description, many of them infected with the
" leaven of democracy, — poured into Ireland, and
" were put into possession of the ancient inherit-
" ance of its inhabitants.
" It seems evident, from the whole tenour of
"the declaration, made by Charles the second at
"his restoration, that a private stipulation* had
* This assertion appears to be utterly inconsistent with his
nrSajesty's own declarations. In a letter -from Breda, (Dr.
Curry's Historical Review, :b.ix. c. 15), he desired the marquis
of Ormond to assure the catholics, that " he would perform all

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 411
" been made by Monk, in favour of Cromwell's
" soldiers and adventurers, who had been put into
" possession of the confiscated lands in Ireland ;
" and itwoiild have been an act of gross injustice,
" on the part ofthe king, to have overlooked their
" interests. The civU war of 1641, was a rebellion
" against the crown of England ; and the complete
" reduction of the Irish rebels by Cromwell, re-
" dounded essentially to the advantage of the
" grants and concessions which he had either made or promised
" them by the peace ; and which, as he had new instances of
" their loyalty and affection to him, he should study rather to
" enlarge, than diminish in the least degree."
In his speech to both houses of parliament, July 1660, when
a general act of oblivion was intended to be passed, his majesty,
knowing that means had been used to exclude the Irish from
the benefit of that act, told them, that " he hoped the Irish
" alone would not be left without the benefit of his mercy ; that
" they had shown much affection to him abroad ; and that he
^ expected the parliament would have a care of his honour, and
" of what he had promised them." And, in bis declaration of
the 3pth of November following, which was intended to be the
ground-work ofthe act of settlement, he again acknowledged
the obligation, and said, " he must always remember the great
"aflfection a considerable part of the Irish nation iexpressed to
" him, daring the time of his being beyond the seas : when,
" with all cheerfulness and obedience, they -received and Smb-
" mitted to his orders, though attended with inconvenience
" enough to themselves ; which demeanor of theirs," he added,
" cannot butbe thought very worthy of our protection, jiistice,
" and favour.''
It is observable that the Irish were excluded from the bene
fit of the act of oblivion,; and that, in their exclusion, the
duke of Ormond actively co-operated.

412 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" British empire *. But, admitting the principle
" of this declaration in its fullest extent, it is im-
" possible to defend the acts of settlement and
" explanation, by which it was carried into effect ;
" and I could wish that modern assertors of Irish
" dignity and independence would take the trouble
" to read and understand them.
" The Act of Settlement professes to have for
" its object the execution of his majesty's gracious
" declaration for the settlement of his kingdom of
" Ireland, and the satisfaction of the several inte-
" rests of adventurers, soldiers, and other his sub-
" jects there ; and, after reciting the rebellion, the
" enormities committed in the progress of it, and
" the final reduction of the rebels by the king's
" English and protestant subjects, by a general
" sweeping clause, vests in the king, his heirs and
" successors, all estates real and personal, of every
" kind whatsoever in the kingdom of Ireland,
" which at any time from the 2 ist of October 1641,
" were seized or sequestered into the hands, or to
" the use of Charles the first, or the then king, or
" otherwise disposed of, set out or set apart, by
" reason or on account of the rebellion ; or which
" were allotted, assigned, or distributed to any
" person or persons for adventures, arrears, repri-
* This is artfully expressed : — ^but, if the fact be true, — and
it appears unquestionable, — that, at the time of the murder of
Charles the first, the Irish catholic army was the only body of
men, throughout the dominions of his majesty, that adhered
to him, Cromwell's victories over them were not a reduction
of rebellion, but a triumph over the last remains of loyalty.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS, 41S
^' sals, or otherwise ; or whereof any soldier, ad-
" venturer, or other person was in possession, for
" or on account of the rebellion. And having
" thus, in the first instance, vested three fourths of
" the lands and personal property ofthe inhabit-
" ants of this island, in the king, commissioners
" are appointed with full and exclusive authority,
" to hear and determine all claims upon the ge-
" neral fund, whether of officers and soldiers for
" arrears of pay, of adventurers who had advanced
" mOney for carrying on the war, or of innocent
" papists, as they are called ; in other words, of the
" old inhabitants of the island, who had been dis-
" possessed by Cromwell, not for having taken apart
" in the rebellion against the English crown, butfor
" their attachment to the fortunes of Charels the
" second. But, with respect to this class of suf-
" ferers, who might naturally have expected a
" preference of claim, a clause is infroduced, by
" which they are postponed after a decree of in-
" nocence by the commissioners, until previous
" reprisal shall be made to Cromwell's soldiers
" and adventurers, who had obtained possession
" of their inheritance. I will not detain the house
" with a minute detaU of the provisions of this act,
" thus passed for the settlement of Ireland ; but I
" wish gentlemen, who call themselves the digni-
" fied and independent Irish nation, to know, that
" seven miUions eight hundred thousand acres of
" land were set out, under the authority of this act,
" to a motley crew of English adventurers, civil
•" and military, nearly to the total exclusion of the
" old inhabitants of the island. Many of the latier

414 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" class, who were innocent of the rebellion, lost
" their inheritance, as well from the difficulties im-
" posed upon them by the court of claims, in the
" proofs required of their innocence, as from adefi-
" ciency in the fund for reprisal to English adven-
" turers, arising principaUy from a profuse grant
" made by the crown to the duke of York The
" parliament of Ireland, having made this settle-
" ment of the island, — in effect, on themselves, —
" granted an hereditary revenue to the crown, as
" an indemnity for the forfeitures thus relinquished
" by Charles the second,"
" By this act," says Mr. O'Conor*, " which
" closed the settlement of Ireland, the catholics
" were robbed of 2,700,000 acres of arable and
" pasture, besides immense wastes, which had been
" guaranteed to them by the peace of 1649, as well
" as by their long faithful services to his majg&ty ;
" and by every title, which immemorial possession,
" and the laws of every society, in which trans-
" missible possession is recognized, could bestow.
" The chief, — indeed it may be said, the only suf-
" ferers, were those of Irish name and descent.
" Whatever remnant had been left of former, con-
" fiscations v^as now absorbed in the vortex and
" abyss of the Restoration-settlement. The
" M'Guires, M'Mahons, M'Gwinnesses, M'Car-
" thys, O'Rourkes, O'SuUivans, O'Moors, O'Co-
" nors Roe, O'Conors Sligo, O'Creans, were in-
" volved in one promiscuous min. Henceforth
" they disappear from the page of history."
• History of Ireland, p^ 98.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 415

LXXX. 11.
The Remonstrance of the Irish CathoUcs, presented to
Charles %he second in 1661.
Almost immediately after the Restoration of
Charles the second, his majesty advanced the mar
quis of Ormond, — so often mentioned in the pre
ceding section, — to the dignity of duke, and
appointed him to the lieutenancy of Ireland. The
general body of the catholics hoped to find a friend
in his grace ; but he was distrusted by several, —
and opinions on his conduct towards the catholics
are stUl divided. In Mr. Plowden's Historical
Review of the State of Ireland, strong facts and
arguments are produced to fix on his adminis
tration, the charge of cruelty and duplicity : In
Dr. O'Conor 's Letters of Columbanus *, his grace
* The title of tbissingular work is, " Columbanus ad.Hiber-
" nos ; or, A Letter from Columban to his friend in Irelajod, on
" the present mode of appointing Catholic Bishops in his native
" Country, 8vo." It appeared in sevennuml)(ers, in i8io-i8j6.
The " Historical Addresses," which are inserted, in it, " on the
" calamities occasioned by foreign irfluence in the nominatiani of
" bishops to the Irish sees," abound with important information.
It is greatly to be wished, that the reverend author would fa
vour the public with a full, temperate, and methodical history
ofthe Irish catholics, since the Reformation. It is the greatest
desideratum in the religious history of the catholicst ; — and no
one, — parent modo viribus, is so weU qualified for the. execution
of it, as Colimibanus : — particularly on account of' his access
to the literary treasures at Stow, — without which,tAnd the, per
rusal of the Memoirs of the Nuncio Rinuccini, lathe Holkhaqa
library, a complete history of the Irish catholics, during the

416 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
has found a powerftil advocate : the testimonies
too of archdeacon Lynch and father Walsh are
highly favourable to him ; and even Dr. Talbot,
afterwards the catholic archbishop of Dublin, in
his " Friar Disciplined," extols him. Still, in the
opinion ofthe present writer, Mr. Plowden, to use
professional language, has made a strong case
against the lord lieutenant ; but, before the duke is
absolutely acquitted or condemned, much further
investigation of his conduct seems to be necessary.
The partwhich he took respecting the document,
to which the attention of the reader is now called,
period in question, cannot be written. The writer suspects
that the Ormond manuscripts contain much important matter,
which Carte has not brought forward ; — but that still more
interesting information might be found in the printed and
manuscript collections in the Vatican.
" The Memoirs of the Nuncio," says Carte, in his preface
to his Life of Ormond, " take up above 7,000 pages in folio,
"consisting of several volumes, and are written in Latin ; the
" title of it being, ' De Hceresis Anglicance intrasione et pro-
" gressu, et de bello catholico ad annum 1641, in Hibernid cepto,
" exindeque per aliquot annos gesto, comment arius.' It was wrote
" after the nuncio's death, by an Irish roman-catholic priest,
" whom Thomas Baptista Rinuccini, great chamberlain to the
" grand duke of Tuscany, employed to digest his brother's
" papers, and reduce them into the form of a narration."
The whig bishops of Columbanus are very interesting : many
of them retired to St. Malo, an episcopal town on the coast of
Brittany, and printed, in that city, several works of importance
on the events of the times : these are now become extremely
scarce. The writer employed a gentleman to seapch for them
at St. Malo : he could not discover any ; but found that the
Venerable exiles, their virtues and sufferings, were still remem
bered with respect.

•THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 417
has also been a subject of discussion. — It had been
suggested to the general body of the Irish catho
lics, by all their friends, that it was highly ad
visable for them to come forward, in a prominent
manner, in the congratulations addressed to his
majesty, at his restoration; and that, on account
ofthe prejudice raised against them, by the pro
ceedings of the nuncio and the clergy who ad
hered to him, they should avail themselves of that
opportunity to declare unreserved allegiance to
the sovereign, and unqualified rejection of the ul
tramontane principle ofthe divine right of the pope
to temporal power.
The measure was set on foot by Peter Walsh,
a Franciscan friar, professor of divinity in his
order, and then residing in London. He has left
a fiUl account of all that passed respecting it, in
his " History and Vindication of the Loyal Formu-
" lary, or Irish Remonsfrance, so graciously re-
" ceived by his majesty in 1661," a folio volume of
763 pages, closely printed, tediously written, and
full of digressions ; but abounding with curious
and interesting matter. — We shall extract from it
the following historical minutes.
1 . At the time, of which we are now speakipg,
Edmund O'Reilly, archbishop of Armagh, Anthony
Mac Geohegan, bishop of Meath, and Owen
O'Swinney, bishop of Kilmore,— (who Was then
bed-ridden), — were the only three catholic pre
lates remaining in Ireland. The two first,' — and
James Dempsey, vicar-apostolic of Dublin and
capitulary of KUdare, — Oliver Dease, vicar-gene-
VOL. III. E E

418 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
ral of Meath, Cornelius Gaffney, vicar-general of
Ardagh, Barnaby Barnewell, superior general of
the Capuchins, father Browne, superior-general of
the Carmelites, and father Scurlog, prior of the
Dominicans, signed on the ist of January 1660,
old style, a power of attorney, authorizing father
Walsh to attend his majesty in their names, — to,
congratulate him on his restoration, — to solicit the
free exercise of their religion, and the Graces
promised and confirmed to them, in 1 648, by the,
marquis of Ormond *. The procuration was af
terwards signed by other ecclesiastics, and parti
cularly the bishops subsequently appointed to the^
sees of Dromore, Ardagh, and Ferns.
The year 1660, and the greater part ofthe year
1661, passed without any further proceeding in
this business ; but, towards the close of the latter
year, it was determined to present an address to
his majesty, to the effect which has been men
tioned. The framing of it was entrusted to Mr.
Richard Bellings. He adopted the Declaration,
inserted by father Cressy, in his " Exomologesis."
Of this work there are two editions; the first was
printed at Paris in 1 647, and contains the Decla
ration ; — in the second edition, it is omitted. — It
is expressed in the following words :
* It has been explained, what the Graces were, which at
this time the Irish catholics solicited.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 419
2. " To the Kings Most Excelletit Majesty;
" The humble Remonstrance, Acknowledgment,
" Protestation, and Petition of the Roman
" Catholic Clergy of Ireland.
" Your majesty's faithftil subjects, tiie roman-
" catholic clergy of your majesty's kingdom of
" Ireland, do most humbly represent this their pre-
" sent state and deplorable condition.
" That being entrusted by the indispensable
" commission of the King of kings with the cure
" of souls, and the care of their flocks, in order to
" the administration of sacraments, and teaching
" the people that perfect obedience, which for
" conscience sake they are bound to pay to your
" majesty's commands, they are loaded with ca-
" lumnies and persecuted with severity.
" That being obliged by the allegiance they
" owe, and ought to swear unto your majesty, to
" reveal all conspiracies, and practices against
" your person and royal authority, that come to
" their knowledge, they are themselves clamoured
" against as conspirators, plotting the destruction
" of the English among them, without any ground
" that may give the least colour to so foul a crime
" to pass for probable in the judgment of any in-
" different person.
" That their crimes are as numerous as are the
" inventions of their adversaries : and because
" they cannot with freedom appear to justify their
'' innocency, all the fictions and allegations against
'' them are received as undoubted verities : and,
E E 2

420 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" which is yet more mischievous, the laity, upon
" whose consciences the characters of priesthood
" gives them an influence, suffer under all the
" crimes thus falsely imputed to them: it being
" their adversaries' principal design, that the Irish,
"^ whose estates they enjoy, should be reputed
" persons unfit and no way worthy of any title to
" your majesty's mercy.
" That no wood comes amiss to make arrows for
" their destruction : for, as if the roman-catholic
" clergy, whom they esteem most criminal, were, or
" ought to be a society so perfect, as no evil, no
" indiscreet person should be found amongst them,
*' they are all of them generally cried down for any
" crime, whether true or feigned, which is imputed
" to one of them; and as if no words could be
" spoken, no letter written, but with the common
" consent of all of them, the whole clergy must
" suffer for that which is laid to the charge of any
*'¦ particular person among them.
" We know what odium all the catholic clergy
" lies under, by reason ofthe calumnies with which
" our tenets in religion, and our dependence upon
'^ the pope's authority, are aspersed ; and we humbly
" beg your majesty's pardon to vindicate both, by
"the ensuing protestation which we make in the
" sight of Heaven, and in the presence of your ma-
" jesty, sincerely and tmly, without equivocation or
" mental reservation.
" We do acknowledge and confess your majesty
" to be our true and lawful king, supreme lord and
" rightful sovereign of this realm of Ireland, and

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 421
" of all other your majesty's dominions. And
" therefore we acknowledge and confess ourselves
" to be obliged, under pain of sin, to obey your
" majesty in all civil and corporal affairs, as much
" as any other of your majesty's subjects, and as
" the laws and rules of government in this king-
'^ dom do require at our hands. And that not-
"witiistanding any power or pretension of the
"* pope or see of Rome, or any sentence or decla-
" ration of what kind or quality soever, given or
" to be given by the pope, his predecessors or
" successors, or by any authority spiritual or tem-
"• poral, proceeding or derived from him or his see,
'^ against your majesty or royal authority, we will
" acknowledge and perform, to the utmost of our
" abUities, our faithful loyalty and true allegiance
" to your majesty. And we openly disclaim and
"renounce all foreign power, be it either papal or
" princely, spiritual or temporal, inasmuch as it
" may seem able, or shall pretend to free, dis-
" charge, or absolve us from this obligation, or
" shall any way give us leave or license to raise
" tumults, bear arms, or offer any violence to your
" majesty's person, royal authority, or to the state
" or govemment. Being all of us ready not only
"to discover and make known to your majesty and
"to your ministers all the treasons made against
" your majesty or them, which shall come to our
"hearmg ; but also lose our lives in the defence of
" your majesty's person and royal authority, and
" to resist with our best endeavours all conspira-
" cies and attempts against your majesty, be they
E E 3

422 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" framed or sent under what pretence, or patro-
" nized by what foreign power or authority soever.
"And further, we confess that all absolute princes
" and supreme governors, of what religion soever
" they be, are God's lieutenants on earth, and that
" obedience is due to them according to the laws
" of each commonwealth respectively in all civil
" and temporal affairs. And therefore we do here
" protest against all doctrine and authority to the
" contrary. And we do hold it impious, and
" against the word of God, to maintain that any
" private subject may kill or murder the anointed
" of God, his prince, though of a different belief
" and religion from him ; and we abhor and detest
" the practice thereof as damnable and wicked.
"These, being the tenets of our religion, in
" point of loyalty and submission to your majesty's
" commands, and our dependence on the see of
" Rome no way intrenching upon that perfect
" obedience, which by out- birth, by all laws divine
" and human. We are bqund to pay to your ma-
" jesty, our natural and lawful sovereign ; we
" humbly beg, prostrate at your majesty's feet, that
" you v\rould be pleased to protect us from the
" severe persecution we suffer, merely for our pro-
" fession in religion ; leaving those that are, or
'¦ hereafter shall be, guilty of other crimes (and
" there have been such in all times, as well by
" their pens ashy their actions,) to the punishnient
" prescribed by the law."
'3. Fatlfier Walsh delivered a copy of this address
into the hands of the dukeof Ormond: his grace

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 423
expressed himself to be generally satisfied with it;
but observed, that, " tUl it was signed, it was bare
" paper." Upon this, father Walsh procured a
meeting ofthe bishop of Dromore, and about thirty
Irish priests, then in London. It was signed by
the bishop and twenty-four of the priests ; the
others excused themselves from signing it, on the
ground of inconvenience or inexpediency ; but all
acknowledged, that they saw no objection to it,'
from any want of catholicity. — In about eight
weeks after this time, a declaration, differing a
littie in the preamble, and in the petition at the
close of the declaration, was signed by ninety-
seven of the Irish nobility and gentry, who were
then in London. It was presented to his majesty,
and graciously received by him.
Some additional signatures of the clergy were
afterwards obtained ; particularly that of Lynch,
bishop of Ferns, then resident at St. Malo.
4. A formal opposition to the Remonstrance soon
took place : — it was headed by Mac Geohegan,
bishop of Meath.^ — At this time, Hieronimus de
Vecchiis, the pope's internuncio at Brussels, was
entinisted, by the papal see, with the superintend
ence of the spiritual concems of the Irish catholics.
—In a letter, dated the 21st of July 1662, he
signified to the Irish clergy, that " after most dili-
" gent discussions, at several meetings of most
" emment cardinals and divines, the protestation
" had been found, like the returning hydra, to
" contain propositions, agreeing with others there-
" tofore condemned by the see apostolic, particu-
E E 4

424 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" larly by Paul the fifth, of happy memory, by a
" constitution in the form of a brief, and then lately
" in a congregation, purposely held to that end, by
" Innocent the tenth : — that the pope thought
¦' nothing further necessary, than that this very
" thing should be declared ; and that the remon-
" strancewas not to be permitted or tolerated ; —
" that he even grievously resented, that, by the
" example of the ecclesiastics, the secular nobility
<' of the kingdom of Ireland had been drawn into
*' the same errors ; — their protestation and sub-
" scription he did in like manner condemn."
5. By a letter of the Sth ofthe same month of
July, cardinal Barberini, in the name of the whole
congregation de propaganda fide, addressed a letter
to the nobility and gentry of Ireland, condemning
tiie remonstrances, " as containing propositions,
" theretofore condemned by the holy see *."
These letters of the cardinal and internuncio in
creased the opposition : — " But," says father
Walsh, (p. 42), " all the while, not even to the
'' writing hereof, for so many years, since 1661, to
" the present, — about the year 1666,— there was
* It is observable, that these declarations ofthe cardinal and
the internuncio, demonstrate, that the real objection, the cardo
cttusw, as it was justly termed by Widdrington,— (See vol. ii.
p. aeo of this work), to the oath of allegiance, propounded by
James the first, was Jts denial pf the deposing doctrine. The
Irish remonstrance does not describe that doctrine by any of
the epithets used in the oath of James the tirst, — or by any
other epithet. Most clearly, therefore, the doctrine itself was
said, by the cardinal and the internuncio, to haye been cqH'.
demned, by the former bulls..

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 425
" not, among such a multitude of pretences, any
" one, alledged by any, of unlawfulness, unconsci-
" entiousness, or uncatholicness, in point of faith,
" religion, or morality, in the subscription of that
" remonstrance, or of that declaration of alle-
" giance, or of the petition annexed thereunto."
He ascribes the opposition, which it received, to
tiie prevalence of the ultramontane doctrine
respecting the divine right of the pope to temporal
power. 6. Still, — the Remo7istrance, — for by this name
the insfrument was generally known, — gained some
ground; forty-two additional signatures of Irish
priests were obtained. A new form, of a declara
tion of allegiance, was proposed by the Irish Do
minicans ; three other forms, each stronger than
die preceding, were proposed by the Irish Jesuits.
— AU expressed a strong profession of allegiance ;
none disclaimed, in express terras, the right of the
pope to the deposing power.
The dean and chapter ofthe English clergy, by a
letter dated the i8th of October 1682, signed by
Humphry EUice, the dean, and addressed to the
bishop of Dromore, informed his lordship, that, "the
" remonsfrance of the catholic clergy of Ireland,
" who subscribed it, had redeemed themselves from
" calumnies ; had relieved the laity in their charge,
" from heavy pressures ; and opened a door to li-
" berty of religion ; by which," says the dean, " you
" have performed the office of good pastors, both
" in framing and subscribing your allegiance to
" your prince ; to hold forth to the whole world

426 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" your religion pure and spotiess ; your religion
" built on a basis immovable ; and yourselves, well-
" resolved subjects."
The adversaries of the Remonstrance denounced
it to the University of Louvaine. This was a great
obstacle to the obtaining of further signatures from
the clergy; but the additional signatures of eight
Irish peers, and twenty-three commoners were ob
tained, by which, the number of the Irish nobility
and gentry, who signed the instrument of remon
strance, amounted to 121 ; of these, twenty-one
were peers.
7. Those who had signed the Remonstrance were
desirous of procuring other signatures, and framed
a letter to be circulated for this purpose, but its
circulation was prevented by the duke of Ormond.
With this, his grace was always reproached : the
reason assigned in his defence, by father Walsh, is
plausible. His grace, by his account, foresaw, that
the generality of the Irish catholics would not sign
it, unless it was previously signed by the clergy ;
and he wished, therefore, that it should be pre
viously signed by these, before it was generally
tendered to the laity.
8. In this stage of the business, the Faculty of
Theology ofthe University of Louvaine, pronounced
a formal condemnation of the Remonstrance. —
Against this condemnation, father Caron, a Francis
can, published his " Defensio Remonstrantiaj Hi-
" bernomm adversus Lovanienses ultramontanas-
" que censuras," a work, generally esteemed, and
abounding in instructive and interestinginformation.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 427
'By a letter of father Henry di Redderi, a commis
sary-general of the order, — father Caron, and all
the other friars, who had signed the Remonstrance,
were ordered to Rome, to account for their con
duct. Father Caron and father Walsh refused to
obey this order, on the ground, that the king re
fiised them his permission to leave the kingdom ;
and that, to leave it without his permission, was
freason by the ancient laws of England and Ireland.
9. Thus the Remonsfrance still continued a sub
ject of confroversy. Various other formularies were
proposed : but none contained an explicit declara
tion, that the pope had, in no possible case, a divine
right to the deposing power. The duke of Ormond
uniformly declared, that nothing, short of this,
would satisfy him. Under this impression, he per
sisted in requiring a general and uniform subscrip
tion of the Irish clergy to the Remonstrance, deli
vered to him by father Walsh : — by this, he thought
it sufficiently expressed.
10. With the license of Ormond, a congregation
of the catholic clergy, for its discussion, was con
vened at Dublin. Fifty-three ecclesiastics attended
it. Among these, were the archbishop of Armagh,
primate of all Ireland, the bishop of Ardagh, and the
bishop of Kilfinuragh. The last had the proxy of
the archbishop of Tuam. The other members ofthe
assembly were vicars-apostolic, vicars-general, su
periors of regular orders, and divines, brought by
the bishops, or the superiors of the regulars.
11. On Monday, the 1 ith of June 1666, the con
gregation held their first sitting, and elected the

438 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
bishop of Kilfinuragh for their president, and
Nicholas Redmond, vicar-general of Ferns, for
their secretary.
On the following day, the 1 2th of June, they held
their second sitting, examined the qualifications of
the members present ; and verified the proxies.
In the evening, Reilly, the archbishop of Armagh,
and catholic primate of Ireland, arrived in Dublin,
and produced a letter from Rospigliosi, the pope's
internuncio at Brussels, deprecating the signature
of the Remonstrance, and calling it the work of
some nefarious brethren.
On Wednesday, the 1 3th of June, the congrega
tion held their third sitting : sir Nicholas Plunket,
sir Robert Talbot, and John Walsh, esq. delivered
to them the following message from the lord lieu
tenant :
" That it is too well known to divers persons, in
" the present meeting of the Romish clergy in this
" city of Dublin, what attempts have been made upon
" the royal authority in this kingdom, under colour
*^ of the pretended authority, power, and juris-
^' diction of the pope ; and how far those attempts
" prevailed in keeping many of the people from re-
^' turning to their due obedience to the crown, and
" in withdrawing divers of those from it, who were
'' returned to it, hath sufficientiy appeared, not
" only by the violation of the peace granted them
" by his majesty's gracious indulgence and cle-
" mency, but also of the faith of the then confede-
" rate roman-catholics, by the instigation, pro-
" curement, and pretended authority of Rinuccini

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 429
" the pope's nuncio in the year 1646, and by the
" proceedings of the titular bishops at Jamestown
" in the year 1 650.
" Secondly, That divers of the nobility, and
" gentry of Ireland, and of the said clergy, in
"January and February 1661, calling to mind
" those attempts, and the deplorable consequence
" thereof to the crown, and to themselves, pre-
" sented his majesty with a remonstrance and pro-
" testation of their loyalty to his majesty, and of
" their renunciation and detestation of any doctrine
" or power, from whence such practices might be
" deduced ; to which remonstrance and protesta-
" tion, divers others of the nobility and gentry, and
" most of the said clergy resident in this kingdom,
" have not yet subscribed ; although more than
" four years are effluxed, since the same was first
" presented to his majesty,
" Thfrdly, That the said clergy (whose example
" and encouragement the laity of their profession
" may possibly expect) have delayed their sub-
" scriptions, on pretence that they wanted the li-
" berty of advising and consulting, which they
" conceived necessary in a matter of so great im-
" portance, which being now admitted to them
" with freedom and security : it is expected that
" they should make use thereof, for asserting and
" owning his ma.iesty's royal authority, to the satis -
" faction of all his majesty's good subjects, and to
" the particular advantage ofthe said clergy them-'
" selves, and those of their religion, and employ
" the time that for that purpose will be allowed

430 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" them, which neither can, nor need be long, both
" in respect of the present conjuncture of affairs,
" and for that it may reasonably be presumed, that
" in four years time the said remonstrance and pro-
" testation is sufficiently understood, and may be
" speedily resolved upon."
'The bearers of the message were received and
dismissed with great respect. Father Walsh then
made an harangue, — learned, sensible, butverypro-
lix, and full of digressions. Its object was tO shOw
the orthodoxy ofthe Remonstrance ; the expediency
of its signature by the members of the congrega
tion, and the fatal consequence of withholding
them. The father's harangue was heard with atten
tion and respect: but no debate upon it ensued;
neither was the message from his excellency taken
into consideration.
The congregation held their fourth sitting, on
Thursday, the 14th of June. The members resolved
not to sign the Remonstrance, — nor even discuss it;
but to sign another profession of alleg^iance ; and
not to petition for any pardon of former misconduct
imputed to the body. Against these resolutions,
father Walsh strenuously remonstrated : In the
evening, the primate Reilly, accompanied by father
Walsh, waited on the lord lieutenant. His excel
lency received them with great courtesy ; but inti
mated to the primate, his opinion of his former
misconduct; and strongly recommended to him
that the clergy should avail themselves of the pre
sent opportunity of redeeming their past offences
to the state.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 431
On Friday, the 15th of June, the congregation
held their fifth sitting, and Mr. Richard Bellings
attended them, with the following message from
the lord lieutenant.
" That I understand it is reported, I intend in a
" few days to leave this city, and that it is thence
" apprehended by those of the Romish clergy now
" met here, that they may not have time to consider
" of and conclude upon the business, for which their
" meeting is permitted, namely, for subscribing to
" the Remonstrance and Protestation subscribed
" and presented to his majesty, in January and
" Febmary 1661, by divers ofthe nobility, gentry,
" and Romish clergy : — whereupon I think it fit
" to let them know, I have no purpose of leaving
" this city so soon, but that they may have time
" enough to resolve upon subscribing the said De-
" claration and Protestation, which contains nothing
" but a necessary and dutiful acknowledgment of
" the loyalty they owe his majesty, and a condem-
" nation of aU doctrine and practice contrary there-
" unto. And I think fit further to put them in mind,
" that such an opportunity as this, hath not been
" given to them, or to their predecessors ; and if
" now lost, may not perhaps be easily or quickly
" recovered." This message produced no effect on the assembly.
Father Walsh then pressed the members to sign a
formal declaration, drawn up by him, that " they
" saw nothing in the Remonstrance, contrary to
" catholic faith, or which might not be owned- or
" subscribed with a safe and good conscience : "¦ —

432 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
This, they declined. — Finally, the father proposed,
that they should appoint a committee of their best
divines, to examine the Remonstrance, article by
article, and report their opinion upon it: — This
also they declined.
Another instrument now became a subject of dis
cussion. On the 4th of May 1663, the faculties of
theology at Paris, came to six resolutions respecting
the civil and temporal power of the pope, — his su
periority over a general council, — and his personal
infallibility. The three first of these resolutions the
committee adopted at their sixth sitting,— it took
place on the 1 6th of June. — They presented a pe
tition to his excellency, acknowledging " the favour
" which he had done them, in allowing them to
" meet and hold a free conference, and to concur
" in a remonstrance and protestation of their true
" loyalty to his majesty, wherein they resolved in-
" violably to continue ; — which they beseeched his
" grace to accept from them ; — and to present to
" his majesty, the protestation of allegiance, pre-
" pared by themselves, and so unanimously agreed
" upon, that there was no dissenting voice." — Their
protestation was expressed in the following words :
" To the King''s most Excellent Majesty,
" Charles the second, King of Great
" Britain, France, and Ireland.
" We your majesty's subjects, the roman-catho-
" lie clergy of the kingdom of Ireland together
" assembled, do hereby declare, and solemnly pro-
" test before God and his holy angels, that we

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 433
" own and acknowledge your majesty to be our
" true and lawfiil king, supreme lord and undoubted
" sovei'eign, as well of this realm of Ireland, as of
" all other your majesty's dominions ; consequently
" we confess ourselves bound in conscience to be
" obedient to your majesty in all civil and tempo-
" ral affairs, as any subject ought to be to his
',' prince, and as the laws of God and nature require
" at our hands. Therefore, we promise that we
" will inviolably bear true allegiance to your ma-
" jesty, your lawful heirs and successors, and that
*' no power on earth shall be able to withdraw us
" from our duty herein. And that we will even
" to the loss of our blood, if occasion requires,
" assert your majestys rights against any that shall
" invade the same, or attempt to deprive yourself or
" your lawful heirs or successors of any part
" thereof. And to the end this our sincere protes-
" tation may more clearly appear. We further de-
" clare that it is not our doctrine that subjects may
" be discharged, absolved, or freed from the obli-
" gation of performing their duty of true obedience
" and allegiance to their prince ; much less may
" we allow of or pass as tolerable, any doctrine
" that perniciously and against the word of God
" maintains. That any private subject may lawfully
" kill or murther the anointed of God, his prince.
" Wherefore, pursuant to the deep apprehension
" we have of the abomination and sad conse-
" quences of its practice, we do engage ourselves
" to discover unto your majesty, or some of your
" ministers, any attempt of that kind, rebellion, or
VOL. III. F F

434 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" conspiracy against your majesty's person, croWn,
" or royal authority, that comes to our knowledge,
" whereby such horrid evils may be prevented.
" Finally,— as we hold the premises to be agree-
" able to good conscience, so we religiously swear
" the due observance thereof to our utmost, and
" will preach and teach the same to Our respective
" flocks. In witness whereof, we do hereunto
" subscribe, the 15th day of June 1666."
The congregation accompanied this protestation
with the three following propositions, the terms of
which are exactly conformable to those ofthe three
first resolutions in the Parisian declaration.
I.
"We do hereby declare. That it is not our
" doctrine, that the pope hath any authority ifi
"temporal affairs over our sovereign lord king
" Charles the second ; yea, we promise that we
" shall still oppose them, that will assert any power,
" either direct or indirect, over him in civil and
" temporal affairs. IL
" That it is our doctrine, That our gracious
" king Charles the second is so absolute and in-
" dependent, that he acknowledgeth not, nor hath
" in civil and temporal affairs, any power above
" him under God : and that to be our constant
" doctrine, from which we shall' neveir decline.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 435
IIL
" That it is our doctrine, That we subjects owe
" such natural, and just obedience unto our king,
" that no power, under any pretext soever, can
" either dispense with us, or free us thereof.
" Edmund, archbishop of Ardmagh, and
" primate of all Ireland.
" Andreiv, bishop of Kilfinuragh,
" chairman."
" Nicholas Redmond, secretary."
At the seventh meeting, nothing important seems
to have taken place ; but, at the eighth, — which
was held on Monday the 1 8tli of June, — the as
sembly received a third message from his excel
lency, in which he observed to them, that, " to-
" gether with the propositions, sent and signed
" by them, there were three material propositions
" omitted, which might as well be appropriated to
" his majesty, and the kingdom of Ireland, as the
" others were."
This message, the congregation discussed at
thefr ninth sitting. — On the tenth, which was held
on the 20th of June, they presented to his excel
lency the following petition :
" To his Grace the Lord Duke of Ormond,
" Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
" The humble petition of the roman-catholic
clergy of Ireland,
" Sheweth, That your petitioners have of late
'^ subscribed and presented to your grace a remon-
F F 2

436 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" strance, manifesting the obligations of duty and
" loyalty which your petitioners do, and ever shall
" owe unto their sovereign lord the king, and
" withal subscribed three propositions, which they
" humbly conceived did conduce unto a further
" setting forth of the principles of their loyaltie,
" thereby endeavouring to give your grace all pos-
" sible satisfaction; and as touching the three pro-
" positions sent unto them for to be subscribed,
" they now return the annexed of the motives, why
" they did not sign them, for your grace's further
" satisfaction, hoping it may meet the success they
" wish for.
" It is therefore the most humble request of your
" petitioners, that your grace will be favourably
" pleased to dismiss them ; and the rather, because
" most of them have not wherewithal to defray so
" long and chargeable attendance in this city.
" And your petitioners shall pray."
To this petition they added a paper, containing
their reasons for not signing the three other pro
positions. They first give the following translation of the
propositions. IV.
" That the same faculty doth not approve, nor
" ever did, any propositions contrary unto the
" French king's authority, or true liberties of the
" Gallican church or canons received in the same
^' kingdom; for example. That the pope can depose
" bishops against the same canons.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 437
V.
" That it is not the docfrine of the faculty, That
" the pope is above the general council.
VI.
" That it is not the docfrine or dogme of the
" faculty, That the pope without the consent of
" the church is infallible." VII.
They then give the following reasons for not
signing them.
" Because we conceive them not any way ap-
" pertaining to the points controverted ; and though
" we did, we thought we had already sufficientiy
" cleared all scruples, either by our former remon-
" sfrance, separately or jointly with the first three
" propositions we had already subscribed.
" And as to the fourth, we looked upon it as
" not material in our debate : for either we should
" sign it, as it was conceived in the French original
" copy, and we thought it impertinent to talk ofthe
" French king's authority, the Gallican privUeges
" and canons, from whence they derive their immu-
" nities, &c. or that we should have inserted them
" mutatis nominibus, the names being only changed,
" and then we conceived not, what more we might
" have said, than had been touched already posi-
" tively in the remonstrance ; neither do we admit
" any power derogatory unto his majestie's autho-
F F 3

438 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" rity, rights, &c. yea, more positively than doth
" the French proposition as may appear.
" As to the 5th, we thought it likewise not
" material to our affair to talke of a school ques-
"" tion of divinity controverted in all catholick uni-
" versities of the world, — whether the pope be
" above general councel or no ? whether he can
" annul the acts of a general couucel or no ? dis-
^' solve the general councel, or whether contrari-
" wise, the councel can depose the pope, &c. ?
" Secondly, we conceive it not only impertinent
" but dangerous in its consequence, and unseason-
" able to talk of a question which without any
" profit, either to the king or his subjects, may
" breed jealousie between the" king and his sub-
" jects, or may give the least overture to such
" odious and horrid disputes, concerning the power
" of kings and commonwealths, as our late sad
" experience hath taught us.
" The 6th regards the pope's infaUibUity in
" matters of faith. Whether the pope, not as a
" private doctor, but with an especial congregation
" of doctors, prelats, and divines deputed, can
" censure and condemn certain propositions of
" heresie? or whether it be necessary to have a
" general councel from all parts of the world to
" decide, define, censure, and condemn certain
" propositions of heresie? The Jansenists already
" jcondemned of heresie by three popes, and all the
" bishops of France, to vindicate themselves from
" the censure, contest the first way ; they write in
** their own defence, and many more against them.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 439
" Onwhichsubjectis debated the qu(Bstiofacti,yfhe-
" ther the propositions condemned as heresie by the
" pope, be in the true sense and meaning of the Jan-
" senists or no? whether in his book or no? as may
" appear by such as we can produce, if necessary.
" The universities of France say. That it is not
" tiieir doctrine, that the pope, &c. Whether this
" touched our scope or no, we leave it to all pm-
" dent men to judge. If they think it doth, let
" them know, that we should not hould the pope's
" infaUibUity if he did define anything against the
" obedience we owe our prince. If they speak
" of any other infallibility as matter of religion and
" faith ; as it regardeth us not, nor our obedience
" unto our sovereign, so we are loath, forraign
" catholic nations should think we treat of so odious
" and unprofitable a question, in a country where
" we have neither universitie nor Jansenist amongst
" us, if not, perhaps some few particulars, whom
" we conceive under our hand to further this dis-
" pute to the disturbance of both king and country. "
On the following day, the primate reported to
the congregation then assembled, in their eleventh
sitting, that the petition and paper of reasons had
been unfavourably received by his excellency. At
the request of the congregation, father Walsh
waited on his excellency, and requested his leave
for their continuing to hold their sittings for three
days more. To this application his excellency
readUy consented. In consequence of it, a com
mittee was formed, and took into its consideration
tiie three contested articles.
r F 4

440 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
At their twelfth sitting, which was held on the
following day, the committee reported against them :
the three first were then solemnly signed : and, on
the thirteenth of June they were presented to his
excellency, by two deputies from the congregation.
His excellency received them coolly, and told them,
that, " he should represent to his majesty both them
*' and their instruments, as they deserved."
In the mean time, two secular priests, two Domi
nicans, and fourteen Franciscans, of the town of
Wexford, addressed an expostulatory letter to the
congregation, urging them in very strong terms,
and by very pressing arguments, to sign the origi
nal remonstrance. The letter was read at the four
teenth sitting of the congregation : but produced
no effect.
Thefifteenth and last sitting of the congregation
was held on the 25th of June. The deputies made
their report of the manner in which his exceUency
had received their tender of the three articles. —
An offer was made to father Walsh, by the whole
congregation, — to raise, from the clergy, a large
sum of money to defray the expenses which he
had incurred, and was likely to incur, in his exer
tions to serve them ; — " And to give him the best
" testimonials, and even the most special commen-
" datory letters too, signed by the whole congre-
" gation in his behalf, and superscribed to the court
" of Rome, papal ministers, cardinals, and even to
" his holiness." — Both these honourable offers,
father Walsh respectfully refused.
12. Then addressing himself for the last time to

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 4tl
(he congregation, he requested their attention to three
points : — The first was a recommendation, that, in
their public service, they should always pray for the
spiritual and temporal prosperity of the king, and
observe the public days of fasting and prayer, en
joined by government. — The congregation agreed,
that the clergy and laity should be directed to pray
for the happy success of king Charles the second,
the queen, and all the royal family, and ofthe duke
of Ormond.
The second point, to which father Walsh called
the attention ofthe congregation, respected certain
miracles supposed to have been wrought by father
James O'Finactui, a Franciscan friar. — In a speech,
prolix as usual, but not unentertaining, he related
and exposed the Franciscan's practices. The whole
congregation treated them as absolute impositions ;
and declared, that the exhibitions and feats should
be everywhere discredited and prohibited.
The third point was of more consequence ; — the
father produced two works ; thefirst was intituled,
Disputatio Apologetica de Jure regni Hibernice, pro
catholicis Hibernis adversus hareticos Anglos ; with
an appendix, intituled, Exhortatio ad Catholicos
Anglos. It was said, in the title, to be printed at
Frankfort, superiorum permissu ; but was supposed
to have been printed in Portugal : its author was
an old Irish Jesuit, residing in that kingdom, by
name Constantine, or Cornelius, (in Irish, Con, or
Cnochoor), and by surname O'Mahony, a native
of Munster. The object of it was to show, that no
king of England had any right to the kingdom of

442 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Ireland, and that the old natives themselves might
and ought to choose a king, and throw* off the yoke
of heretics and foreigners. In the nuncio's time,
many copies of this treatise had been privately dis
persed ; but, in 1 648, the work came to the know-
.ledge of the supreme council, and by their orders
was publickly burned, in that year, by the hangman
at Kilkenny.
The other book was composed by Richard Ferral,
a capuchin friar, and is the same, in effect, as the
former. It was published about 1658, with the
title, " Ad sacram congregationem de propaganda
fide: Hie, authores et modus eversionis religionis
catholicce in Hibernia recensentur ; et aliquot
remedia pro conserDandis reliquiis catholicce reli
gionis et gentis proponuntur. Against this work
archdeacon Lynch published his Alithinologia, sive
veridica Responsio ad Invectivam mendaciis,fallaciis
calumniis ^ imposturis fcetam, in plurimos antistites,
proceres, et omnis ordinis Hibernos, a R. P. R. 
F  C  , congregationi de propaganda fide :
Anno Domini 1658 exhibitam; — Against the same
work, Lynch subsequently published his Supple-
mentum Alithinologice.
Father Walsh exposed the wickedness and folly
of both the works ; and the assembly, without a dis
senting voice, decreed them both' to be burned.
The capuchins present declared, that the general
chapter ofthe capuchins had condemned both father
Ferral and his work.
1 3. Here the assembly closed : the president pro
nounced the formal words of dismissal, Ite in page,
and the members separated.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 443
On the result of this celebrated assembly, the
reader will make his own observations. He will
naturally read the two forms of remonstrance, com
pare them witii each otiier ; compare both with the
oath of allegiance proposed by James the first, and
the oatiis of allegiance now taken by the English
and Irish catholics ; and examine in what they
differ. When he has formed his opinion on this
point, it will not be difficult for him to form a just
and important conclusion.
14. It has been frequently asserted, that, in allow
ing the assembly to meet, and insisting on the exact
terms ofthe formulary, the real object ofthe duke
of Ormond, was to effect a division in the catholic
body ; and particularly in its clergy. The proofs^
by which this assertion is supported, are very
sfrong. Dr. Curry* cites a letter, written by the
earl of Cork to the duke of Ormond, in 1666, the
year ofthe meeting, in which, his lordship suggests
to the duke's consideration, whether it were not a
fit season to make that schism, which " you," says
his lordship, addressing himself to the duke, "have
" been sowing among the popish clergy ; so as to-
" set them at open difference, as we may reap some
" practicable advantage thereby." — The duke him
self seems to have explicitly avowed that this was
his object in permitting the meeting. Carte f in
forms us, that when some of the political adversa
ries of his grace reproached him with favouring
the catholics, during his administration, and in-
* Hist. Review, b. ix. c. 14.
t Life of Ormond, vol. ii. Appendix.

444 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF •
stanced, in proof of it, his permission ofthe synodi
cal m.eeting of the catholic clergy, the duke frankly
declared, that " his aim, in permitting that meeting,
" was to work a division of the Romish clergy."
— How very different, in 1791, was the conduct of
Mr. Pitt; — who, in that year when a division had
broken out in the catholic body, then petitioners
to parliament for relief, nobly composed the differ
ence, and annihilated the subject of contention !
LXXX. 12.
Biographical Memoir qf Father Walsh.
The writer feels it incumbent on him to apprise
his readers, that his account of the Remonstrance
is taken, almost entirely, from the history published
of it by father Walsh. The title of his work is,
" The history and vindication of the Loyal Formu-
" lary, or Irish Remonstrance, so graciously re-
" ceived by his Majesty, anno 1661, — against all
" Calumnies and Censures. In several Treatises,
" with a true account and full discussion of the
" Delusory Irish Remonstrance, and other papers
" framed and insisted on, by the National Congrega-
" tion at Dublin, anno 1666; and presented to his
" Majesty's then Lord Lieutenant of that kingdom,
'^the duke of Ormond; but rejected by his Grace.
" ' To tvhich are added Three Appendixes : Whereof
" the last contains, the Marquis of Ormond Lord
" Lieutenant of Ireland, his long and excellent Let-
" ter ofthe 2d of December 1650. In answer to

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 445
" both the Declaration and Excommunication ofthe
^' Bishops, S)C at James Town. The author, Father
" Peter Walsh of the Order of St. Francis, Pro
"fessor of Dirinity. Mc/ior est Content io Pietatis
" causa suscepta, quam vitiosa Concordia. Greg.
" Nazian. Oratio I. pro pace. Printed Anno
" MDCLXXIV." Two other works of father Walsh are in the pos
session of the writer : — " Causa Valesiana, epistolis
temis pralibata : in antecessum fusioris Apologia..
Quibus accesserunt appendices duce; una instrumen-
torum: altera de Gregorio VII, additamentum.
Authore J. Petro Valesio. Ord. S. Francisci Stricti
Obser.S. T. Professore." 1684. %vo. — It is followed
by an Additamentum de Carono — containing a short
account of the life and last hours of father Caron,
the collaborator of Walsh, in his efforts to obtain
signatures to the Remonstrance. The other work
of father Walsh possessed by the writer, is his
" Four Letters on several Subjects, to Persons of
" Quality. The fourth being an Answer to the Lord
" Bishop of Lincoln's Book, intituled, Popery, 8gc.
" By Peter Walsh of St. Francis's Order, Professor
"of Divinity," 1686. %vo. Each of these works is
exfremely curious, and extremely rare. Father
Walsh also published, " A more ample Account" of
tiie proceedings respecting the Irish Remonstrance
¦ an.d " A Prospect of the State of Ireland from the
]" Year of the World 1156, to the Year of our Lord
" Christ 1682;" but he brought it down no further
than the year of the world 1652. — It was printed
-in 1682. An account of his life is given by sfr

44(> HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
James Ware, and, from him, by Mr. Chalmers, in
his General Biographical Dictionary. Frequent
mention of him is also made by Dr. O'Conor,
ih his letters of Columbanus ad Hibernos.
Walsh was born at Moortown in the county of
Kildare, in the early part of the 1 7th century. He
entered into the Franciscan order, and was profes
sor of divinity at Louvaine. The principal event
in his life, was the part which he took in the pro
ceedings respecting the Irish Remonstrance. For
this, he and all who signed it were persecuted ;
and he, father Caron, and other signing friars, were
cited to Rome; but father Walsh and father Caron
were or dered by his maj esty not to quit the kingdom .
Speaking of those who signed the Remonstrance,
Carte* mentions " that they were denounced, ex-
*' communicated, and persecuted with so much
" violence and fury, that they were on the point of
" starving in their own country f."
* Life of Ormond, vol. ii. p. 414.
t Five excommunications are mentioned in this chapter :—
The first by the nuncio, against those who adhered to the
treaty made with the marquis of Ormond, for a cessation of
arms ; — the second, also by the nuncio, against those who ad
hered to the peace made with the earl of Inchiquin ; — the
third, by the bishops assembled at Jamestown, against those
who adhered to the peace finally concluded with the marquis ;
—the fourth, .against those who signed the Irish Remon
strance ; — the fifth, against father Walsh, father Caron, and
others, who signed that instrument, and did not obey the decree
which cited them to Rome. Other excommunications were
issued : " The nuncio," says Carte, (Life of Ormond, vol, ii.
p. 33), made his spiritual censures cheap, by thundering them
" out on trifling occasions, in civil matters, and even in his

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 417
When this happened, the duke of Ormond, who
had then quitted the lieutenancy of Ireland, " in-
" own private concerns ; —particularly for bringing the cap-
" tain of his own vessel to account, for the prizes he had taken
" in a piratical way of cruising at sea." Of all the excommu
nications which we have mentioned, the first was the most
solemn. An application to Innocent the tenth, for its removal,
was unsuccessfully made in 1648. Pope Alexander the se
venth, by a brief, dated the 27th of August 1655, authorized
the bi.shops of Raphoe, Laughlin, Clonfert, and Corke, or any
of them, to absolve, from Rinuccini's apostolical censures, all
who were subject to them. It has been asserted, that the
absolution was to be granted on the humiliating condition,
that the parties should submit to prostrate themselves on the
ground, and receive a flagellation on their bare shoulders ;
but for this, there seems to be no ground. The brief is printed
at length in the supplement to Burke's Hibernia Dominicana,
p. gig. It imposes no such condition, and only requires that
the absolution should be solicited with humility ; and that
some kind of penance, at the discretion ofthe delegates, should
be imposed : impositd singulis, aliqud, arbitrio vestro, pmnitentid
salutari. It has also been said, that an unconditional abso
lution was not granted till 1698 1.
These abuses of church authority, it is painful to relate :
but, when the integrity of history requires the mention of
them, or even the mention ofthe failures of the supreme pas
tor ofthe church, it becomes an historic duty : " An histo
rian," says Cicero, " should be equally fearful of suppressing
" what is true, and of writing what is false." — The examples
of the sacred penmen show, that this is as much a rule of
christian morality, as a precept of sound criticism. If the
evangelists did not throw a veil over the crime and frailties
of Peter, nothing makes it our duty to throw a veil over the
crimes or failings of Peter's successors. It must be added,
that where the rule, laid down by Cicero, is not observed, the
t If even then. See Macpherson's State Papers, vol. i. p. 576.

UZ HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" vited Walsh," says Dr. O'Conor*, " to his house
" and settled upon him a pension, during life, of
writer may be a useful partisan, or indite edifying tales, but
cannot claim for his writings the praise of authentic history.
¦ In the course of this work the writer has frequently cited the
Hibernia Dominicana of father Burke, a former catholic bishop
of Ossory. It is a quarto of 797 pages, and is followed by a
supplement, which begins at page 801, and extends to page 949,
inclusivley. In most copies, the pages from 136 to 147 have
been taken out. The only copy seen by the present writer,
which contains these pages, is in the possession of lord Arundell
of Wardour, and it could not be in more liberal hands. The
Hibernia Dominicana is a curious and important work, — the
fruit of great research, and written with elegance and method.
— But ultramontanism, often in its extreme bearings, too fre
quently appears. It gave great offence ; and the catholic
bishops of Munster, assembled at Thurles, in July 1 775, —
together with the bishop of Tuam, then casually in that city, —
signed a declaration, expressing " their entire disapprobation
" of the work and the supplement, because they tended to
" weaken and subvert that allegiance, which catholics acknow-
" ledge themselves to owe, from duty and from gratitude, to
" king George the third." Before this time, father Burke
had incurred much blame by his violent reprobation of an
oath of allegiance, required ofthe roman-catholic clergy, by
an act ofthe year 1756-7, and sanctioned by all the other
catholic prelates in Ireland.
In 1775, the doctors of the faculty of divinity at Paris, were
consulted by the catholic prelates of Ireland, on the form of an
oath, then proposed to be taken by the general body of Irish
catholics. It consisted of four articles ; the persons taking it,
were made, — by the first, to profess that the pope neither had,
nor ought to have, directly or indirectly, any temporal or civil
power in Ireland ; — by the second, to disclaim the doctrine,
that it is lawful to kill, destroy, or break faith with heretics ; —
by tlie third, to reject the opinion, that princes excommtini-
jcatedJjy the pope, or any other authority, may be deposed or
*^ Columbanus, No. ii; p. a6o.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. A40
" \ool.perannum,ec[ua\to200i.now; and allowed
" him free access to his person, on terms of easy
" friendship and familiarity, throughout a course of
" forty years. Overpowered by kindness, and pos-
put to death by their subjects, or any other person ; — and by
the fourth, to declare, that no power on earth could dispense
with the obligations contracted by that oath. Sixty doctors
of the sacred faculty, signed, on the 6th of November 1 775, an
opinion, that the oath might be lawfully taken. On the third
article of it, they aver, that " the doctrine on the murder and
" deposing of kings, is evidently bad in two ways ; — it is mafe-
" rially heretical, that is, contrary to the word of God, so far
" as it expresses that princes may be deposed ; and formally
" heretical, inasmuch as it superadds the lawfulness of putting
" them to death, agreeably to what was observed in the year
" 1680, by fifty-nine doctors of the faculty of Paris, who gave
" the same opinion concerning the oath formerly prescribed
" in England by James the first." Doctrina de ccede et deposi-
tione principum, in duplex xitium incurrit ; ut nempe sit hceretica
materialiter, id est, verbo Dei contraria, quatenus deponi posse
principes effert : formaliter vero etiam, quatenus ef occidi posse
superaddit : I'rout Anno Domini 1680, observatum fuit a 59
doctoribus Farisien.sibus, qui memoratum supra sententiam, dixere,
circa sacramentum Anglicanum, a Jacobo primo, quondam prcescrip-
tum. — These facts respecting the Hibernia Dominicana of Dr.
Burke, and the opinion ofthe doctors ofthe university of Paris,
are taken from, " A Justification of the Tenets of the Roman-
" catholic Religion, and a Refutation of the Charges brought
" against its Clergy by the right reverend Lord Bishop of
" Cloyne : — By Dr. James Butler, the catholic archbishop of
" Cashell,"8vo. 1787. On theepithetSOTa?en'aZandybr»!aZ,used
by the Parisian doctors, the right reverend prelate observes, that
they are school terms ; that " a doctrine is called materially
" heretical, when contrary to the word of God, though not yet
" condemned as such ; — and that, when condemned by the
" authority ofthe church, it is called by the schoolmen yor-
"mally heretical."
VOL. III. G O

450 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" sessed of a grateful and warm heart, Walsh knew
" not how to make any return : he was grieved to see
" in the duke's disposition a sternness of attachment
" to his own opinions, which was carried to the
" unjustifiable length of shutting his eyes and ears
" to all arguments, whether good or bad, which
" might be urged against them. — Under these im-
" pressions of affectionate attachment on one side,
" respect for the duke's opinions on another, and
" the fear of giving him offence, Walsh never
" ventured, however he might wish, to speak to
" him on the subject of a tme church.
" At length, however, when he saw Ormond de-
" dining in health, advanced in age, and standing,
" as he thought, on the verge ofthe grave, he took
" courage ; and going into his closet, asked, as a
" last favour, that, after an intimacy of near forty
" years, the duke would allow him to state his own
" reasons for adhering to the ancient church, in
' ' spight of all the scandals which prevailed amongst
" its professors ; he showed how unreasonable it
" was to confound abuses with the genuine doc-
" trines of true catholicity ; and then, throwing
" himself on his knees, he entreated him, in the
" name of the Redeemer, not to die without the
" sacraments of reconciliation. — ' Walsh,' said the
" duke, ' I see you are in good earnest; but, if
" you thought my situation dangerous, so good a,
" friend as you ought to have admonished me
" sooner ; I cannot now embrace, what I see so much
" cause to condemn.' Walsh would have replied;
" — but the duke showing reluctance, he rose, and

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 451
" left the room, much agitated by such a separa-
" tion, from such a friend. — It was the agitation of
" an affectionate and an honest mind ; of a man
" whose hairs were grey from age, and whose fea-
" tures were wrinkled by persecution. — What effect
" it had on Ormond's mind, God only knows. —
" There are precious moments, when the voice of an
" inscrutable God penetrates to the heart. — The re-
" mainder is a secret, which rests deposited in the
" minds of two men, who, notwithstanding the dif-
" ference of sphere in which they moved, were tied
" to each other by a long experienced fidelity, and
" an attachment, which the severest trials could
" never dissolve."
Father Walsh is mentioned with esteem by bishop
Bumet and DodweU ; both, however, insinuate, that
the father's catholicity hung very loosely upon him ;
but their insinuations should be received with some
distrust, as the experience of every day shows, that,
when a catholic disclaims tenets, erroneously im
puted by protestants to the members of his com
munion, as doctrines of their church, the catholic is
too easily suspected of not believing all that real
catholics believe.
Several pamphlets, one, in particular, intituled
" The Friar disciplined," by Talbot, afterwards
catholic archbishop of Dublin, were published
against father Walsh. None of these have eome
into the hands of the present writer ; so that his
own opinion of the character of father Walsh, rests
altogether on his History ofthe Remonstrance, and
the facts mentioned of him by Dr, O'Conor. From
G G 2

452 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
these, he suspects, that the father's real crimes were
his rejection of the pope's temporal power, and the
works, in which he opposed that unfounded and
calamitous doctrine.
Father Walsh died in London, in September 1688,
and was buried in St. Dunstan 's in the West.
A few months before he died, he signed a decla
ration, of which we shall give a translation, and
subjoin to it a copy of the original. — " I, brother
" Peter Walsh, a priest of the order of St. Francis,
" ofthe stricter observance ; — ascribed to the Irish
" province ; — submit, before God, and the wit-
" nesses called for this purpose, and subject, from
" my soul, all and every the books, which I have
" ever written or printed, in any language, to the
" examination and judgment of the holy roman-
" catholic church, and the vicar of Christ on earth,
" the Roman pontiff; and from my soul, 1 retract,
" condemn, repent of and reject, whatever shall be
" found in them, erroneous, scandalous, or in any
" wise noxious to the catholic faith, sound doctrine^
" good morals, or to any men : Promising, if life
" and strength remain, that all things which, in
" my said works, shall appear such as ought to be
" condemned or suppressed, I will expressly and
" from my soul, even in print, so far as the case
" requires, retract : and that I will always submit
" my own judgment to the church and my supe-
" riors ; as I now truly submit, as an humble and
" obedient son ofthe church and the seraphic order.
" In testimony of which, Ihave subscribed this de-
" claration with my own hand. Dated the 13th

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 453
" of the month of March 1687, old style, and the
" 23d day of tiie same month of March 1688,
" "^^ ^*^'^^- " Peter Walsh."
" Brother Jo. Everard, Franciscan, present.
" Brother Benedict Macarthy, Cistercian, present.
" Brother Francis Forster, Franciscan, present*."
It should be added, that the authenticity of this
retractation rests altogether on the circumstance, that
a copy of it, in the hand- writing of a respectable
conteinporary, but without any attestation, has been
discovered. * '• Ego, frater Petrus Valesius, sacerdos ordinis S. Fran-
" cisci, strictioris observantiae, provinciae Hiberniae adscriptus ;
" submitto, coram Deo et testibus ad hoc vocatls, et subjicio,
" ex animo, omnes et quoscumque libros, quos unquam scripsi,
" sen typis dedi, quocumque idiomate, examini et judicio sanc-
" tae cathoHcae Romanae ecclesiae, et Christi, in terris, vicarii,
" Romani pontificis ; et ex nunc retracto, damno, deleo, et
" rejicio quidquid in eis repertum fuerit erroneura, scanda-
¦' losum, aut quocumque modo noxium catholicae fidei, sanae
" doctrinae, bonis moribus, aut etiam quibuscumquehominibus:
" Promittens si vita, et vires siippetant, in omnia, quae iri meis
" dictis operibus damnanda aut supprimenda visa-fuerint, me
" expresse et ex animo, etiam libris edltis, quatenus opus fuerit,
" retractaturum, et judicium proprium semper ecclesiae, et
" superiorum judicio omnino submissurum prout nunc rever4
" submitto, tanquam humilis et obediens ecclesiae et ordinis
" seraphicae filius ; in quorum fidem, presenti declarationi, pro-
" prid manu subscripsi Londini, die 1 3 mensis Martii, anno
" 1687, stylo veteri, seu die 23 ejusdem mensis, anno 1688,
" stylo novo. " Petrus Valesius."
" Fr. Jo. Everardus, Franciscanus, prsesens.
" Fr. Benedictus Macarthi, Cisterciensis, prsesens.
" Fr. Franciscus Forster, Franciscanus, praesens."
GG 3

454 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
LXXX. 13.
Confiscation qf Irish Property at the Revolution
in 1688.
We now reach the term of this part of our his
torical inquiries.
The predisposing cause of all the religious trou
bles in Ireland, was, the natural irritation of the
ancient Irish families, at the confiscations, made in
the reigns of Henry the second, Henry the eighth,
Edward the sixth, queen Elizabeth, and James the
first. By these, a great proportion of their here
ditary possessions was wrested from them, and
transferred to adventurers from England. This
divided the kingdom into the Old Irish and the
New Settlers, — two parties, sfrongly distinguished
from each other, by language, habits, and manners.
The reformation introduced the further division of
the kingdom into ^ catholic and protestant party.
The former included almost all the families of
tiie ancient Irish blood, and the far greater part
of the new families. As the latter had participated
in the general plunder, they were sometimes in
volved in the general jealousy, with which all the
sharers of it were viewed by the ancient proprietors
and their descendants : and being of English de
scent, — most of them allied to English families, and
all of them holding their titles under the same con-
.fiscations as the protestants, they were thought to
be more favouj-ably received by the protestant party.
So far as respected the free exercise of the catiiolic

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 453
religion, they agreed with the descendants of the
old Irish ; but, when any thing like a restoration of
property came in question, they were suspected
of showing something of a protestant feeling, and
of being too ready to come into terms of accommo
dation, in which neitiier the civil nor the religious
rights of the general body of the Irish catholics
were, in the opinion of its great majority, suffi
ciently consulted. This contributed mainly to the
dissentions, which uniformly distracted the councils
of the Irish catholics, and finally brought on the
ruin of the confederacy.
The consequences of it, and the injustice shown
to the innocent catholics, by the government of
Charles the second, are shortly stated in the pas
sage which we last extracted from lord Clare's
celebrated speech. Never, surely, did any race of
men pay more dearly, than the Irish catholics, for
their dissentions.
But, even at the time, of which we are now
speaking, their calamities were not at their close.
— An exfract from the same speech will succinctly
exhibit the last scene of the tragedy.
" After the expulsion of James the second," (says
the earl of Clare), " from the throne of England,
" the old inhabitants made a final effort for the
" recovery of their ancient power, in which they
" were once more defeated by an English army,
" and the slender relics of Irish possessions became
" the subject of fresh confiscation. From the report
" made by the commissioners appointed by the par-
" Iiament of England in 1698, it appears, that the
G G 4

456 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" Irish subjects outlawed for the rebellion of 1688
" amounted to 3,978 ; and that their Irish posses-
" sions, as far as could be computed, were of the
" annual value of 211,623/., comprising one mil-
" lion sixty thousand seven hundred and ninety-two
" acres. This fund was sold under the authority of
" an English act of parliament, to defray the ex-
" penses incurred by England in reducing the
"rebels of 1688; and the sale introduced into
" Ireland a new set of adventurers.
" It is a very curious and important speculation
" to look back to the forfeitures of Ireland incurred
" in the last century. The superficial contents of
" the island are calculated at eleven millions forty-
" two thousand six hundred and eighty-two acres.
" Let us now examine the state of forfeitures :
" In the reign of James the first, the
" whole of the province of Ulster was Acres.
" conficated, containing - - 2,836,837
" Set out by the court of claims at
" the restoration - - 7,800,000
" Forfeitures of 1688 - - - 1,060,792
Total - - - 11,697,629
" So that the whole of your island has been
" confiscated, with the exception of the estates of
" five or six old families of English blood, some of
" whom had been attainted in the reign of Henry
" the eighth, but recovered their possessions before
" Tyrone's rebellion, and had the good fortune to
" escape the pillage of the English republic in-

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 457
" flicted by Cromwell ; and no inconsiderable por-
" tion of the island has been confiscated twice, or
" perhaps thrice, in the course of a century. The
" situation, therefore, ofthe Irish nation at the revo-
" lution stands unparalleled in the history of the
" inhabited world."
Here the history ofthe sanguinary executions of
4he Irish catholics, and of the confiscations of their
property, in some manner closes. In defence of
these atrocious inflictions, it has been sometimes
contended, that they were justified by the rebellions
of the Irish catholics. To arrive at a just conclu
sion on this head, a full examination of the causes,
nature, and extent of these rebellions, is absolutely
necessary. The writer begs leave to express his
conviction, that such an examination would de
monstratively show, that however reprehensible the
conduct of the individuals engaged in them might
have been, neither their number, nor their guilt,
was so great as to justify the horrid severities
which were exercised on the catholic body at
large. Far be it from the writer to justify a resistance to
the government of a country, on the ground of reli
gion ; it must be admitted, that no religion incul
cates passive submission, even to the most unjust
government, more than the catholic. The alleged
rebellions he therefore neither defends, nor, for the
present, attempts to extenuate. But he submits,
that the accusers of the Irish catholics should be
consistent with their own principles : — they should
consider the various passages in the writings of the

458 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
patriarchs of the reformation, in which they justify
resistance to government on account of religion,
and the many crowns that were broken, and go
vernments that were overturned, to introduce the
reformation into those states. If they condemn
these revolutionary proceedings, they may, consist-
entiy with their own principles, condemn the insur
rections of the Irish catholics : — but, if they justify
the former, they may be justly required to avow
some principle, which made it lawful for the re
formers to use these means for establishing their
new religion, and which, at the same time, ren
dered it unlawful for the Irish catholics to use them
for maintaining their old *.
LXXX. 14.
The Irish Brigade,
A LARGE proportion of the sufferers under the
confiscation in 1688, emigrated to France and
Spain, and composed, what is termed, the Irish
Brigade, — a military corps, renowned in every
part ofEurope for their sufferings, their valour, and
their honour. To them, the roughest and most
perilous services of the armies to which they be
longed, were too often appropriated. They con
stantly acquitted themselves of them without a
murmur and without a fault; and verified, by their
conduct, the tmth ofthe expression, Un gentilhomme
est toujours gentilhomme. Many gentiemen of the
* On this subject " Lord Castlemain*s Apology," and
Patterson's "Image of both Churches," may be usefully
consulted.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS, 459
most ancient families in Ireland, — and sometimes,
even Irish noblemen, — served in the ranks. Sur
veying their prodigies of valour at the battle of
Dettingen, George the first is said to have uttered
a generous curse on the laws of England, which
prevented his availing himself of it. A full history
of the brigade would be a valuable acquisition to
literature. A succinct account of it is given by the
abb6 Mac Geoghegan* ; and by major James, in
the Appendix to his exceUent Military Dictionary,
tit. " Irish Brigade."
In the opinion, too, of all who justly appreciate
mental worth and dignity, the uniform attachment
of the Irish catholics to their religion, offers a sub
lime spectacle. Notwithstanding the severity of
the laws of Henry the eighth, Edward the sixth,
Elizabeth, and James the first, not sixty Irish
catholics had, in the reign of the last of these sove
reigns, embraced the protestant religion. — Not
withstanding the subsequent severities, the Irish
catholics now form four-fifths ofthe whole popula
tion of Ireland. " Whatever," says Dr. Johnson,
"withdraws us from the power of our senses;
"whatever mak.es the past, the distant, or the
" future, predominate over the present, advances us
" in the scale of rational beings." In whom has the
past, the distant, or the future, — or, in other words,
— the eternal, — predominated more over the pre
sent, than in these men, who, in the midst of all
that wounds, and all that terrifies human nature,
have thus uniformly adhered to religious principle ?
* Histoire de I'lrlande, vol. ii. p. 748.

480 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF

CHAP. LXXXL
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS
SINCE THE REVOLUTION IN 1688, TILL THE
ACT PASSED FOR THEIR RELIEF IN 1793.
We shall now attempt to present our readers with
a succinct account of the principal events in the
history of the Irish catholics, from the revolution
till the act which was passed for their relief in the
year 1793. LXXXI. 1.
WILLIAM THE THIRD.
Articles of Limerick.
By the first article of this treaty, — all the roman-
catholics of the kingdom of Ireland were to enjoy
such privileges, in the exercise of their religion,
as they enjoyed in the reign of Charles the second;
and their majesties were to use their endeavours
to procure, (as soon as their affairs would permit
them to summon a parliament), such further secu
rity in that particular, as might preserve them from
any disturbances upon the account of their religion.
By the second article, — all the inhabitants or
residents in Limerick, or any other garrison, then
in the possession of the Irish, and all officers and
soldiers then in arms Under any commission of
king James, in the counties of Limerick, Clare,

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 461
Kerry, Cork, and Mayo, and all commissioned
officers, submitting to his majesty's obedience, and
their heirs, were to hold and enjoy their e •'; les,
and all rights, tities, privileges, and immunities, to
which they were entitled in the reign of Charles
the second, and to profess, exercise, and follow all
professions, trades, and callings then open to them,
on taking the oath of allegiance prescribed by the
act ofthe first year ofthe reign of their majesties,
and expressed in the foUowing words : — " I, A. B.
" do solemnly swear, that I will be faithful and
" bear tme allegiance to their majesties king
" WUliam and queen Mary."
By the ninth article, — the oath to be submitted
to such roman-catholics as should submit to their
majesties govemment, should be this oath of alle
giance, and no other.
LXXXL 2.
Principal Acts passed in the reign of William the third,
against the Roman-catholics.
In opposition to this solemn engagement, the
parliament of king WUliam passed several acts,
which are thus stated in a report of a committee
ofthe Irish house of commons: —
1st. " An act against the authority of the see of
" Rome. It enacts, that no person shall attribute
" any jurisdiction to the see of Rome; that the
" person offending shall be subject to a praemunire ;
" and that all who have any office from the king, —
" every person entering into orders, or taking a

402 -^ HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" degfee in the university, shall take the oath of
"supremacy. 2dr " An act restoring to the crown the ancient
" jurisdiction over the state ecclesiastical and spi-
" ritual : it likewise enacts, that every ecclesiastical
" person, every person accepting office, shall take
" the oath of supremacy.
3d. " An act for the uniformity of common
" prayer. It enacts, that every person having no
" lawful excuse to be absent, shall every Sunday
" resort to some place of worship ofthe established
" church, or forfeit twelve pence.
4th. " An act by which the chancellor may
" appoint a guardian to the child of a catholic.
5th. " An act by which no catholic school-
" master can teach in a private house, without a
"license from the ordinary of his diocese, and
" taking the oath of supremacy.
6th. " The new rules by which no person can
" be admitted into any corporation without taking
" any oath of supremacy*."
They also passed an act to disarm the roman-
catholics ; another to banish the priests ; another
to prevent protestants from marrying with catho
lics ; another to prevent catholics from being soli
citors, and from being employed as game-keepers.
The act for disarming the roman-catholics contains
a clause, that any horse in the hands or power of
any catholic, may be seized by a warrant from the
* See the report of the committee of the house of com
mons, appointed in 1697, to consider the several laws in force
against the catholics.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 48S
magistrate, and delivered to the protestant dis
coverer upon payment of five pounds to its owner.
The act for the banishment of the priests was
enforced rigorously. " It appears," says Mr.
Matthew OConor*, " from captain South's ac-
" count, that, in 1698, the number of secular
" priests amounted to four hundred and ninety-
" five, the number of seculars to eight hundred and
" ninety-two, and that the number of regulars
" shipped off in that year to foreign parts was four
" hundred and twenty-four. — Some few, disabled
" by age and infirmities from emigration, sought
" shelter in caves, or implored and received the
" concealment and protection of protestants, whose
" humane feelings were superior to their preju-
" dices." " There was not," says Dr. Burke f, in
his History of the Irish Dominicans, " a single
" house of that order in Ireland, which was not
" suppressed." Each of these enactments was a direct and gross
violation of the articles of Limerick. To complete
the measure ofthe injustice, an act, intituled, " an
' ' act to confirm the articles of Limerick," was passed ;
but with such omissions and variations, as nearly
evaded them altogether; it was such an evident
breach of public faith, that seven spiritual and five
temporal peers signed a strong protest against it.
No one who compares the articles with the act,
will think this opinion too severe : a more gross
* Hist. p. 145. — We must repeat our hopes that Mr.
O'Conor will complete this interesting work.
t Hib. Dom. p. 155.

464 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
violation of public faith does not occur in history.
It has never been defended, except on the ground
of state necessity. But can state necessity, under
any circumstances, justify a system of policy, by
which three fourths of a large population of a
large nation is to be eradicated?
" It is true," exclaimed Mr. Pitt upon Mr. Fox's
India bill, that the measure is said to be founded
"¦ on 7iecessity . But what is this 1 Is it not neces-
" sity that has been the plea of every illegal exercise
" of power 1 and every exercise of oppression 1 has
" not necessity been the plea of every usurpation 1 of
" every infringement of human rights * .'' "
" How it is possible," says sir Henry Parnell f,
" to defend William and his ministers from the
" charge of acting with perfidy to the catholics, it
" is not easy to discover : that they were guilty
" of violating the treaty, no one can deny. The
" many glaring violations of the treaty of Limerick,
" are a scandal to the boasted good faith of the
" English nation, and a mockery of that equitable
" religion, whose precepts are founded upon the
" purest principles of justice and humanity."
LXXXI. 3.
Molyneux's Worli, intituled, " The Case of Ireland's being
" bound by Acts of Parliament in England."
It is difficult to conceive a condition of greater
degradation and misery, than that, to which the
* Bishop Tomline's Life of Pitt, vol. i. p. 142.
t History of the Penal Laws, p. 26, 27.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 463
catholic inhabitants of Ireland were, at this time,
reduced. An event now took place, from which
the gradual but slow amelioration of the general
state of Ireland may be dated : and in this, though
very indirectly and very scantily, still, in a certain
measure, the catholics participated.
For some time, the manufacture of wool in Ire
land had been on the increase : it was supposed
to employ twelve thousand families in the metro
polis, and thirty thousand dispersed over the rest
of the kingdom ; and the exportation of it to fo
reign markets was considerable. The English began
to feel a jealousy at the prosperity of this branch
of Irish commerce, and several acts* were passed
to restrain it, and to confine the exportation to
England. But the trade was almost wholly in the
hands of the protestants ; and as soon as the Eng
lish govemment began to check it, these began
to feel the oppressive system of English policy.
This led some inquisitive spirits to question the
right of England to legislate for Ireland : among
these, Mr. William Molyneux, member for the uni
versity of Dublin, a man deeply versed in the con
stitution of his country, honoured by the friendship
of Locke, and esteemed by the gK)od and wise men
of his time, as a patriot and a phUanthropist, parti
cularly distinguished himself by his celebrated
pamphlet, intituled, " The Case of Ireland's being
•" bound by Acts of Parliament in England." He
observed, that the claim ofthe English parliament
* 1 W. & M. c. 32 ; 4 W. & M. c. 24 ; 7 & 8 W. & M.
ch. 28; 9 W. &M. c. 40.
VOL. Ill- H H

466 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
must be founded on purchase, conquest, or prece
dents. As to the first, he showed that there was
no pretence for it ; as to the second, he contended
that Ireland was not so conquered by Henry the
second, as to give the parliament of England any
jurisdiction over Ireland : and as to the precedents,
by which this jurisdicion was attempted to be
established, he professed to show, that no such
precedent of an earlier date than thirty-seven
years could be produced ; and that the latter pre
cedents had never been acquiesced in, but always
complained of.
His work was generally read, and gave such
offence to the English government, that it was comr
plained of in the house of commons, and referred
to a committee : they reported it to contain many
dangerous positions ; and to counteract its impres
sions, the parliament of Ireland passed the act " for
" the further security of his majesty's person and
" government," by which they re-enacted the Eng
lish statute of the third of William and Mary. — r
From this time, till the legislative recognition ofthe
independence of Ireland in 1 782, the question never
was at rest. There was always a party, who pro
fessed to maintain the rights of Ireland against the
tyranny of England, and to promote, in opposition
to her narrow politics, such measures as were of a
nature to increase the importance and happiness of
Ireland. For a considerable time they joined the
government of England in its systematic oppression
of the catholics ; still, by disseminating some gene
ral principles and tmths, favourable to civil and

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 467
religious liberty, they prepared, though at a great
distance, the public mind to receive the strong
appeals made to their understandings and feelings,
which in a subsequent but distant time, were made
to them by the catholics. LXXXI. 4.
The conduct qf William the third in respect to the Irish
roman-catholics.
" The peculiar state of Ireland," says Mr.
Macpherson*, " seems to have been overlooked in
" the contest. The ground upon which the depri-
" vation of James had been founded in England
" had not existed in Ireland. The lord lieutenant
" had retained his allegiance. The government
" was uniformly continued under the name of the
" prince ; from him the servants of the crown had
" derived their commissions. James himself had
" for more than seventeen months exercised the
" royal functions in Ireland. He was certainly
" de facto, if not de jure, king. The rebellion of
" the Irish must therefore be founded on the sup-
" position, that their allegiance is transferrible by
" the parliament of England. A speculative opi-
" nion can scarcely justify the punishment of a
" great majority of a people. The Irish ought to
" have been considered as enemies rather than as
" rebels t-"
* History of Great Britain.
t " BoswELL. Pray, Mr. Dilly, how does Leland's ' History
" of Ireland' sell? — Johnson (bursting forth with a generous
H H 2

468 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
It appears that the views of William himself in
respect to the Irish catholics were those of wise and
humanepolicy ; that he sought to conciliate the body
of the nation by promoting its general prosperity,
and of the catholics in particular by a liberal toler
ation of their particular creed, and a complete pro
tection of their persons and properties. But these
enlarged and just notions did not accord with the
designs of those, to whom he was obliged to con
fide the government of this country, and on whom
the precariousness of his own title rendered him
dependent: these forced him into measures to
which he was averse from his nature, and which
were incongruous with his notions of policy. If
we are to believe a respectable and intelligent
writer*, the catholics made due allowances to WU
liam for the circumstances in whieh he was in
volved ; "his kindness and partiality deserved their
" esteem, conciliated their affections, and fixed
" their allegiance: they took the oath prescribed
" by the articles of Limerick, and neither the secret
" practices of the exiles, nor the examples of plots
indignation,) " The Irish are in a most unnatural state ; for
" we see there the minoritj' prevailing over the majority.
" There is no instance, even in the ten persecutions, of such
" severity as that which the protestants of Ireland have exer-
" cised against the catholics. Did we tell them, it would be
" above board : to punish them by confiscation and other
" penalties, as rebels, was monstrous injustice. King William
" was not their lawful sovereign ; he had not been acknow-
" ledged by any parliament of Ireland, when they appeared
" in arms against him."
* O'Conar's History, p. 157, 158.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 460
" and conspiracies in England and Scotiand, could
" induce them to swerve from their allegiance.
" The knowledge of the monarch's necessities,
" which controled the exercise of the king's just and
" generous disposition, excused, in the minds ofthe
" catholics of his days, the harsh measures of his
" government."
LXXXL 5.
QUEEN ANNE.
We now come to what Mr. Burke justiy terms
" iheferocious acts ofthe reign of queen Anne."
By an English act of parliament, catholics were
prevented from purchasing any of the forfeited
lands ; and leases of them, containing more than
two acres, were annulled*.
The cruelty of this law is without precedent : the
lands forfeited at the revolution were supposed to
amount to a million of acres ; those who had for
feited them, were disabled from repurchasing them ;
and not only they, but all other catholics, were dis
abled from taking leases of them, even at rack-
rent, or any lease that should comprise more than
two acres, a quantity insufficient for the subsist
ence of a family. Thus, throughout the whole of
these ample territories, catholics were debarred
from all durable or profitable tenure ; were doomed
to be tillers and labourers to the new protestant set
tlers ; and the hope ofthe slightest amelioration of
their miserable lot, even at a distant period, was
* 1 Anne, c. 32.
HH 3

470 PIISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
absolutely denied them. A bill was then prepared
to disable catholics to purchase or take by inherit^
ance or gift, any lands in the hands of protestants,
and to render the lands, ofwhich they were owners,
descendible in gavelkind ; but, if the eldest son
conformed to the protestant religion, the father
was reduced to a tenancy for life, without power to
sell or mortgage, or even to provide, except under
the control of the chancellor, for his younger chU
dren. To ensure the passing of this bill, the whole house
accompanied the speaker to the lord lieutenant,
and urged him to assist it, in its progress through
parliament, with all his influence and power.
We have noticed that even king William had
experienced, in the leading persons in Ireland,
something of a controlling power. Most of them
were presbyterians, and hostile to the episcopal
church. The government of England was jealous
of them, and wished to lessen their consequence.
With this view, the council added to the bill a
clause, which excluded from civil and mUitary
offices, all persons, who should not receive the
Sacrament of the Lord's supper, according to the
usages of the church of Ireland.
To prevent this dreadful bill from passing into a
law, the catholics petitioned both houses of parlia
ment, to be heard by counsel. Having obtained
this permission, sir Toby Butler and sir Stephen Rice,
their counsel, and Mr. Malone, a private catholic
gentleman, were heard against the bill at the bar
of the house of lords. They showed, with great

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 471
eloquence and force of reasoning, the general
cruelty, injustice, and impolicy ofthe proposed bill,
and its direct violation of many of the articles in
the treaty of Limerick : but they pleaded in vain,
and the bill passed unanimously *.
Other acts against the catholics were passed in
the same reign. The most remarkable of them f ,
was an explanation, and certainly a considerable
aggravation of the act, which we have mentioned.
It directed that the chancellor, if a child of a ca
tholic parent conformed to the protestant religion,
might compel the parent to declare, upon oath, the
value of his real and personal estate ; and might
assign out of it to the child, such a present main
tenance and fortune, as he should judge proper.
It also directed that, if the wife of a catholic con
formed, the chancellor might assign to her for a
jointure the full extent of what the husband him
self could settle upon her : it provided, that all
members of parliament, barristers, attornies, and
officers in the courts of law, should educate their
children in the protestant religion ; that a catholic
teaching in public or private should be deemed and
prosecuted as a papist recusant convict, or in other
words should be subject to the penalties of prsemu-
nfre. A graduated scale of rewards, to discoverers
of popish clergymen and schoolmasters, was estab
lished : and then, in direct opposition to the uni-
* 2 Anne, c. 6. An act to prevent the further growth of
popery. t 8 Anne, c. 3. An act for explaining and amending an act,
intituled, " An Act to prevent the further growth of popery."
H H 4

472 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
versal feeling of all mankind, which pronounces
informers to be an odious race, the house of com
mons resolved, that " prosecuting and informing
" against papists was an honourable service." The
catholics were heard against this bill as againstthe
former, by their counsel sir Stephen Rice ; and it
may be thought that his eloquence, made some im
pression, as two archbishops and five bishops signed
a protest against it.
" The catholics," says Mr, O'Conor*, " were
" generally compassionated. Neither the menaces
" of power, nor the contagion of example, nor the
" influence of religious hatred, nor the prejudices
" of party, could eradicate the seeds of humanity ;
" they connived at, encouraged, and aided evasions
•" ofthe penalties and provisions of these iniquitous
" statutes : many of them concealed proscribed
" priests in their houses, and became trustees in
" purchases of properties and settlements of estates
" for catholics, in order to favour their industry
" and protect them from the ruin of the gavel act.
" Committees had been repeatedly appointed by
" the house to inquire into and devise means to
" prevent the evasions of the popery code : the
" ingenuity of benevolence still thwarted the ma-
" lignity of party, still provided resources for mis-
" fortune." Several unfortunate noblemen and
gentlemen, whom the penal code had reduced from
affluence and comfort to misery, were harboured
by protestants, who took on themselves successively
the charge of this hospitality. By an act, passed in
* O'Conor's History, p. 179.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 473
the fifth year of her majesty, parliament deprived
these wretched sufferers of this last resource, by
enacting, that " all vagrants, pretending to be Irish
" gentiemen, who cohered about from house to
" house, should be sent on board the fleet, or trans-
" ported to the plantations *."
Speaking generally, — all the rigorous laws which
we have mentioned, were actively executed, so far
as their execution depended on government or its
retainers : the commons came to a resolution, that
all magistrates and other persons whosoever, who
neglected or omitted to put the penal laws into
execution, were betrayers of the liberties of the
constitution f .
The consequence is thus described by a writer,
whom I have often cited and shall often cite ij; ; —
" The loss of rights and property extinguished every
" sort of pafriotism, and infused the spiritless in-
" difference of submissive poverty into the great
" mass of the people, who barely existed in their
'' native soU, strangers to its natural blessings, the
" patient victims of its wrongs, the insensible spec-
" tators of its min. Here they vegetated on the
" potato root, decayed in the prime of life, desti-
" tute of solid nourishment, and sinking to un-
" timely graves, their vigour prematurely exhausted
" by hard labour, and the spark of life at length
" exhausted by famine." — Much of what is now
visible in Ireland, too clearly shows that this repre
sentation is not exaggerated.
* O'Conor's Hist. p. 1 77.
t Com. Journals, vol. iii. p. 289.
I O'Conor's Hist. p. 183.

474 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
LXXXL 6.
GEORGE THE FIRST.
Sir Henry Parnell * mentions the titles of six
acts of parliament, which were passed in this reign
against the roman-catholics, all vexatious and
humiliating, some highly oppressive.
He concludes the account of them by the follow
ing observations f.
" The loyalty of the catholics was in this reign
" put to a complete trial, by the Scotch rebellion
" of 1 71 5. If, after having fought three campaigns
" in support of James's pretensions to the throne
" of Ireland, after having experienced the infrac-
" tiOn of every part of the treaty of Limerick, and
" been exposed to a code of statutes by which they
" were totally excluded from the privileges of the
" constitution ; and if, after they had become sub-
" ject to the worst of all oppressions, the persecu-
" tion of private society and private manners, they
" had embarked in the cause of the invader, their
" conduct would have been that of a high spirited
" nation, goaded into a state of desperation by their
" relentless tormentors ; and, if their resistance
" had been successful, their leaders would have
" ranked among the Tells and Washingtons of
" modern history. — But so far from yielding to the
" natural dictates of revenge, or attempting to take
* Hist. p. 43 ; 2 Geo. I, c. 9, 10. ig ; 4 Geo. I, c. 15, 16 ;
6 Geo. I, c. 10.
t History of the Penal Laws, p. 44.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 476
" advantage of what was passing in Scotland, to
" regain their rights, they did not follow the ex-
" ample of their rulers, in violating, upon the first
" favourable opportunity, a sacred and solemn
" compact ; and thus they gave the strongest testi-
" mony, that they had wholly given up their former
" hopes of establishing a catholic prince upon the
" throne. Their loyalty was not, however, a pro-
" tection to them against the oppressions of their
" protestant countrymen. The penalties for the
" exercise of their religion were generally and
" rigidly inflicted, their chapels were shut up, their
" priests dragged from their hiding-places, hurried
" into prisons, and from thence sent into banish-
" ment." " In 1 732, ' says a respectable writer *, " a pro-
" clamation was issued against the roman-catholic
" clergy, and the degree of violence, with which it
" was enforced, made many of the old natives look
" seriously, as a last resource, to emigration. Bishop
" O'Rorke retired from Belanagare, and the gen-
" tiemen of that neighbourhood had no clergyman
" for a considerable time to give them mass, but a
" poor old man, one Pendergast, who, before day-
" dawn on Sunday, crept into a cave in the parish
^ of Baslick, and waited there for his congregation,
" in cold and wet weather, hunger and thirst, to
" preach to them patience under their afflictions,
" and perseverance in their principles ; to offer up
"'prayers for their persecutors, and to arm them
* Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the late Charles
O'Conor, vol. i. p. 179.

476 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" with resignation to the will of heaven in their
" misfortunes. The cave is called, PoU-an-Aifrim
" or mass-cave, to this day ; and is a melancholy
" monument of the piety of our ancestors."
It is a subject of just reproach to the memory of
the celebrated dean of St. Patrick's, that his works
do not contain a single passage in which he has
either advocated the cause of the catholics, or so
much as expressed any compassion for their suf
ferings : in the following lines he even describes
their fallen and hopeless state with visible exulta
tion. " We look upon the catholics to be altogether
" as inconsiderable as the women and the chil-
" dren. Their lands are almost entirely taken from
" them, and they are rendered incapable of pur-
" chasing any more; and, for the little that remains,
" provision is made by the late act against popery,
" that it will daily crumble away : to prevent which,
" some of the most considerable among them, are
" already turned protestants, and so in all proba-
" bility will many more. Then, the popish priests
" are all registered, and without permission, (which
" I hope will not be granted), they can have no
" successors ; so that the protestant clergy will find
" it, perhaps, no difficult matter to bring great
" numbers over to the church ; and in the mean
" time the common people, without leaders, without
" discipline, or natural courage, being little better
" than hewers of wood and drawers of water, are
" out of all capacity of doing any mischief, if tiiey
" were ever so well inclined *."
* Letter concerning the Sacramental Test.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 477
Still Swift, though unintentionally, was a great
benefactor to the cause of tiie Irish catholics. Speak
ing of his Draper's Letters, a performance which,
in its kind, is yet without a rival or a second,
Dr. Johnson observes, that " it was from the time
" of this publication, that tiie Irish may date their
" riches and prosperity. He taught them first to
" know their own interest, their weight and their
" strength, and gave them spirit to assert that
" equality with their fellow-subjects, to which they
" have ever since been making vigorous advances,
" and to claim those rights which they have at last
" established." This circumstance created among
the Irish protestants, a party who advocated the real
interests of their country against the oppressions of
its governors. For some time, however, they co
operated with the party in power in their persecu
tion of the catholics ; but, by degrees, they became
sensible that this was incompatible with the real
interests of the nation ; and began to feel some dis
position to relieve their catholic brethren. Add
to this, that the catholics, though depressed and
degraded, had a numerical strength, which each
party felt it their interest to conciliate.
LXXXI. 7.
GEORGE THE SECOND.
The same system of penal legislation was pur
sued throughout the reign at which we are now

478 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
arrived. It was opened by an act *, which disabled
papists from voting at elections, without taking the
oath of supremacy : this act completed their entire
exclusion from the constitution.
The charter schools, a new engine of oppression,
were erected during this reign ; their funds consist
of lands, funded property, and an annual grant from
parliament, yielding an annual income of about
34,000/. The children admitted into the schools,
were those of the indigent poor, and five-sixths of
these being catholics, the schools were almost en
tirely filled with the children of catholic parents :
but this circumstance was entirely disregarded ; the
religion of the established church being exclusively
taught in them. The charter for the incorporation
of the society, mentions expressly that the schools
were formed " for the conversion of these children."
The act of the nineteenth year of the reign of
which we are now speaking, annulled all marriages
between protestants and catholics.
The conduct of the catholics during the Scottish
rebellion, in 1745, is admitted to have been most
loyal and exemplary. Dr. Stone, the primate, pub
lished a letter, in which, after mentioning the ample
means of information which he possessed, he de
clared, that "he could not discover the least trace,
" hint, or intimation of any disloyal intercourse or
" correspondence among the catholics, or their
* 1 Geo. II, c. 9, & c. 30 ; 7 Geo. II, c. 5, & c. 6 ; 9 Geo. II,
c. 3, & c. 6 ; 13 Geo. II, c. 6 ; ;9 Geo. II, c. 5 ; 23 Geo. II,
c. 10.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 479
" having favoured or abetted, or having been so
" much as acquainted with the designs or proceed-
" ing of the rebels *."
Lord Chesterfield "f mentions, that, " the catholic
" clergy co-operated with their protestant brethren
" to maintain order and tranquillity. Their pastoral
" letters, public discourses from the pulpit, and
" private admonitions, were equally directed for
" the service of govemment."
It is painful to state, that in return for these
meritorious services, the protestant clergy excited
public animosity against the catholics by their ser
mons ;{: ; and that the earl of Chesterfield §, the lord
lieutenant, recommended, in his speech to parlia
ment, their taking into consideratioii, whether
" something further might not yet be done for re-
" pressing popery, either by new laws, or by the
" more effectual execution of those in being."
" The Irish administration under George the
" second is stained," says Mr. O'Conor ||, " by
" desolating famines, by the encouragement of in-
" formers, the transportation of priests ^, the decay
" of every branch of industry, and a great decrease
" of population, new penal statutes were enacted,
* Curry's Review, vol. ii. p. 261.
t Chesterfield's Works, vol.i. p. 150. Irish edition.
f Curry's Review, vol. ii. p. 259.
§ Maty's Life of Lord Chesterfield.
It History, p. 200.
^ The average annual amount of premiums for transporting
priests, for sixteen years preceding 1745, was 127^. 17*. ^d.
The premiums ceased after 1745. Newnham's View of Ire
land, p. 195.

480 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
" and the last spark of catholic freedom was extin-
" guished." The famine mentioned by Mr. O'Conor is de
scribed by him in terms, which it would shock the
humanity of our readers to peruse, and which, on
this account, we omit. He declares *, that " the
" sufferings of the Irish under it surpass all that
" history has recorded or imagination can repre-
" sent." " This was the fifth or sixth famine, that in the
" course of twenty years, desolated a country gifted
" with the most luxuriant soil, indented with in-
" numerable bays and harbours, presenting unri-
" vailed advantages for trade and manufactures,
" and capable of maintaining treble the number of
" its people, under any tolerable system of govern-
" ment. * All orders were struck with horror at
" this fatal calamity, but neither the Irish govern-
" ment, nor rich individuals, were able to relieve the
" public distress. Immense drains to absentees, and
" annual remittances to Poland for corn, restric-
'* tions on the woollen trade, and an embargo on
" beef, the staple commodity of the kingdom, left
" the country destitute of specie, disabled the better
" orders from relieving the lower classes, whose
" miseries were aggravated by the immense stores
" of beef then in the country, but heaped up for
" the foreign markets, and denied to them by the
" inhuman avarice of mercantile speculation. The
" English people remained insensible to the mise-
" ries of their fellow christians, and fellow subjects,
* Page 223.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 481
" who adored the same omnipotence, and recog-
" nized the same sovereignty. Their philanthropy
" would not embrace men, whom they considered
" as rivals and idolaters.
" The visitation of famine and pestilence dis-
" armed the rancour of reliffious intolerance, and
" humanity shuddered at the wide prospect of de-
" solation. After the reduction of one fifth of the
"population, a productive harvest put an end to
" these distresses. The system of persecution
" REVIVED iriTH THE REVIVING STRENGTH AND
" GROWING PROPERTY OF THE COUNTRY. The
" catholics were everywhere disarmed, domiciliary
" visits were made in quest of priests and friars,
" the chapels were shut up, and a cruel persecution
" commenced in every quarter of the kingdom.
" From the interior, many fled to the mefropolis,
" as affording, by its extent and population, great
" facUity of concealment; others fled to caverns
" and mountains, to elude the pursuit of priest-
" cajtchers. The Irish catholics were thus, by a
" wicked administration, under the mild sway of
" the house of Hanover, deprived of the enjoyment
" ofthe private exercise oftheir religion, a privilege
" not denied to them by the worst of the Stuarts.
" In the country parts, the catholics frequented,
" on Sundays and festivals, the retreats of their
" clergy, and in the metropolis the citizens attended
" the celebration of divine service in stable-yards,
" or warehouses, garrets, and such obscure places
" as sheltered them from the pursuit of the magis-
" frates. On one of these occasions, when the
VOL. III. II

48^ Historical memoirs of
" congregation was rising to receive the benedic-
" tion, the floor gave way, and all were buried in
" the ruins ; the priest and several others were
" killed, and most of the rest were so bruised and
" maimed as to remain for years living monuments
" ofthe cruelty of that administration. The dead,
" the dying, and the wounded were conveyed on
" cars through the streets amidst the deep anguish
" and solemn silence of an horror-struck multitude^
" The sad spectacle excited the sympathy of the
" protestants, and relaxed the obduracy of the
" government; leave was given to open the chapels,
" and the private exercise of the catholic worship
" was again restored*."
The acts of parliament which we have mentioned
to have been passed in the reign of George the
second, consummated the misery of the Irish catho
lics : it may be truly said, that at this time, there did
pot exist in Europe a population which exhibited
such a scene of wretchedness and oppression.
But, according to Hume's just observation f ,
there is an ultimate point of depression, as well
as of exaltation, from which human affairs natu
rally return in a contrary progress, and beyond
* Here the writer must take his final leave of Mr. Charles
O'Conor, from whom he has transcribed this passage, and to
whom he has before acknowledged his obligations. His His
tory is the work of a gentleman, a scholar, a man of liberal
principles, and a true catholic. It is much to be wished that
he should bring it down to the present time : he will confer,
by doing it, a great favour on his bretliren in religion.
t Hist, of England, vbl. ii. p. 441.

the ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 483
which they seldom pass, eitiier in their advance
ment or decline.
The year 1757 may be considered as the era,
from which the amelioration of the condition of
the Irish catholics and their successful exertions to
obtain a repeal of tiie penal code may be dated.
The duke of Bedford was sworn in that year into
the office of lord lieutenant. Ten days after his
arrival, the catholic clergy in Dublin read a loyal
exhortation to their respective congregations. It
obtained no regard from persons in power ; but it
was received by the public so favourably, that, on
the recommendation of Dr. O 'Keefe, the titular
catholic bishop of Kildare, the chiefs ofthe catholic
body signed a declaration of the principles of their
church in respect to allegiance and civil duty, and
transmitted it to Rome as the act and deed of the
roman-catholics*. In 1759, when the French force under the com
mand of Conflans was collected to invade Ireland,
the catholics presented to the lord lieutenant an
address, expressing their attachment to his ma
jesty's person and government. Some catholic
individuals offered to assist the state with money,
and the catholics of Cork, in a body, presented an
address, professing their indignation at the invasion,
by an enemy flattering himself with an imaginary
co-operation on their part ; they assured his grace
that they would, to the utmost exertion of their
abilities, defend his majesty's person and govern-
* Both documents are inserted in sir Henry Parnell's His-
'<""y. PP- 52 and 55. I I 2

484 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
ment with their lives and fortunes against all such
invaders and all his enemies*.
No particular notice was taken of these loyal
proceedings: but some expressions of general good
will towards the catholics were known to have
fallen from the lord lieutenant, and both the. lan
guage and demeanour of persons in power, in their
regard, were courteous and conciliatory ; — perse
cution was still severely felt, but it was sensibly
alleviated. LXXXI. 8.
GEORGE THE THIRD.
It is not a little remarkable, that though such
signal acts of legislative beneficence were passed
in the reign of his late majesty, in favour of all his
catholic subjects, and so great a progress made
towards their emancipation, several penal acts of
great severity were successively passed against the
Irish catholics during the first half of his reign f ;
the act of its twenty-first and twenty-second year,
deserves particular attention, from a circumstance
attending it, which is of extreme importance, but
which appears to have unaccountably escaped the
observation both of protestants, and, what is more
astonishing, of catholics, until their attention was
called to it by sir Henry Parnell. We shall notice
it in that gentleman's own words :
* Smollet's History of England.
t 15 & 16 Geo. Ill, c. 21, s. 15 ; 21 & 22 Geo. Ill, c. 32,
s. 2 ; 21 & 22 Geo. Ill, c. 48, s. 3 ; 25 Geo. Ill, c. 48, s. 1 1
& 12.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 485
" Though this clause of the 21 & 22 of Geo. 3,
"^ c. 48, has attracted very littie public attention, it
" was of no less import that that, of being thefirst
" legal exclusion of catholics from sitting in the
" Irish parliament. They had been excluded de
"facto by their voluntary submission to the Eng-
" lish act of 3 ^VUliam and Mary, but not de
"jure till this act of 21 ^22 Geo. 3, which made
" the act of 3 William and Mary, just mentioned,
" binding in Ireland.
" This circumstance, which has always been
" overlooked, even by the catholics themselves,
" proves how readily they have been inclined at
" all times to submit to the authority of govern-
" ment : and it also proves how unfounded those
" arguments are, which maintain that the exclusion
" ofthe catholics of Ireland from parliament, is a
" principle on which the family of his majesty was
" placed upon the throne. It completely overturns
" the system of erroneous reasoning concerning
", the coronation oath, which of late has been so
" common ; and, so far as the meaning of this
" oath is at issue, it reduces the question to this
" simple point, whether the king can conscien-
" tiously place the catholics of Ireland in the same
" condition, with respect to sitting in parliament, iti
" which they had continued till the twenty-second
" year of his own reign ?"
By an act passed in the twelfth year ofthe reign
of his late majesty, catholics were to be at liberty
to. take a lease for sixty-one years of any quantity
of bog, not exceeding fifty acres plantation mea-
113

486 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
sure, and half an acre of arable land, as a site for
a house, or for delving for gravel or limestone.
This was certainly an extraordinary boon ; the pro
visions which accompanied it, are not less extraor
dinary : 1 st, the bog was to be four feet deep from
the surface ; 2d, the lease was not to contain less
than ten plantation acres; 3d, it was notto be within
one mile of a city or market town ; 4th, and if one
half at least of the bog should not be reclaimed
within twenty-one years from the commencement
of the lease, the lessor might re-enter and avoid
the lease.
But English wisdom and liberality now begin
to dawn !
It was in the year 1774, that the first act was
passed which had any real conicliatory or friendly
tendency towards the Irish catholics. It was inti
tuled, " An act to enable his majesty's subjects,
" of whatever persuasion, to testify their allegiance
" to him *." It prescribed the form of an oath of
allegiance, and made it lawful for the catholics to
take it before his majesty's judges aind justices of
the peace ; but it did not enjoin them to take the
oath under any penalties, or accompany the taking
of itwith any advantages. It contained the usual
expression of pure and undivided allegiance, aud
was therefore generally taken.
Before this time, Mr. Charles O'Conor, the ce
lebrated Irish scholar and antiquarian, Dr. Curry,
the author of the invaluable " Review of the Civil
" Wars of Ireland," and Mr. Wise of Waterford,
* 13 & 14 Geo. Ill, c. 35.

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 487
had succeeded in establishing a general committee
of the catholic body, formed of the principal ca
tholic nobility and gentry, and of delegates from
the principal parishes. To these three gentlemen,
and principally to ]Mr. OConor, the emancipation
of the catholics is primarily owing. The formation
of the board gave consistency and stability to their
councils and measures, and produced a general
co-operation of the body.
The effect was soon discernible : a petition;
firamed by Mr. Edmund Burke, was presented to
his majest}', and in 1778 an act* passed, which
enabled roman-catholics, who should take the oath
of allegiance prescribed by the former act, to hold
leases for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, or
determinable upon any lives, not exceeding five.
The lands of catholics were made devisable and
transferrible, and catholics were rendered capable
of holding and enjoying those which might de
scend or be devised or transferred to them. In
1782, an actf passed for the further relief of the
catholics : it contained many provisions in their
favour, particularly one, which discharged from all
penalties, such catholic ecclesiastics as should re^
ffister their names and abodes in th6 manner it
prescribed. Another act of the same year aUowed
persons professing the popish religion to teach
schools J.
. " Ofthe numerous individuals," says sir Henry
* 17 & 18 Geo. Ill, c. 49.
+ 31 & 22 Geo. Ill, c. 24.
t 21 .& 22 Geo. Ill, c. 62.
I 14

488 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
Parnell *, " who at this 4ime distinguished them
selves for their exertions in favour ofthe catholics,
there was no one to whom they were under
' greater obligations than to the late Mr. Burke.
' He wrote for them the petition which was pre-
' sented to the king in 1774. In the EngUsh
' house of commons, in 1778, he was the first to
' declare the necessity of concessions being made
' to them ; he said that ' Ireland was now the
' chief dependence of the British crown, and that
' it particularly behoved that country to admit the
' Irish nation to the privileges of British citizens ; '
' and in the year 1782, he wrote his celebrated
' letter to lord Kenmare, in which he so ably ex-
' poses the folly, injustice, and tyranny of the
' penal laws."
From this period to the year 1790, the catholic
question was not agitated in parliament; but in the
mean time two events happened, which materially
assisted the catholic cause ; — the fear of an invasion
from France,— and the establishment ofthe national
independence of Ireland. The first produced the
embodying of volunteer corps throughout all the
kingdom, and these were composed indiscrimi
nately of catholics and protestants.
Insensibly they became an armed association for
compelling Great Britain to grant to Ireland the
independence of her legislature. In this important
attempt the protestants took the lead ; and it was
evident that the victory would belong to the party,
to which the catholics should attach themselves.
* History of the Penal Laws, p. 84,

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 489
Their protestant brethren, on the other hand, en
deavoured to conciliate them by public resolutions
in favour oftheir complete emancipation. Among
these, the Dungannon convention, which met in
February 1782, and was composed of the repre
sentatives of one hundred and forty-three pro
testant corps of volunteers, deserves particular
mention. They resolved, with two dissenting
voices only, " that they held the right of private
" judgment, in matters of religion, to be equally
" sacr«d in others as themselves ; therefore, that
" as christians and protestants, they rejoiced in
" the relaxation of the penal laws against their
" roman-catholic fellow subjects, and that they
" conceived the measure to be fraught with the
" happiest consequences to the union and pros-
" perity of Ireland."
In 1791, the committee of catholics agreed upon
a petition to parliament; but, incredible as it may
appear, the catholics, though they constituted, as
we have frequently mentioned, the great majority of
the nation, had not, even in this state of ameliora
tion, sufficient influence to induce any one member
bf parliament to present it.
It is painful to relate that, during this time, the
administration had been endeavouring to counter
act the views of the catholics, by a negotiation with
some of their principal nobility and gentry ; and
that this was so far successful, that, at a meeting
ofthe general committee, held in December 1791,
for the purpose of considering of the policy of pe
titioning parliament, a division took place: but

490 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
fortunately the party of the nobility were left in a
minority of seventeen to ninety.
The committee delegated Mr. Devereux, Mr..
Edward Byrne, Mr. John Keogh, and two other
gentlemen to negotiate with Mr. Pitt : they were
directed chiefly to insist upon five objects,— the
elective franchise, their admission to grand juries,
to county magistracies, to high shrievalties, and
to the bar. Mr. Keogh was the soul of the delega
tion : he possessed a complete knowledge of the
subject, uncommon strength of understanding,
firmness of mind, and a solemn imposing manner,
under an appearance of great humility, which ob
tained for him an ascendancy over almost every
person with whom he conversed. On one occa
sion, he was introduced to the late Mr. Dundas,
afterwards Lord Melville. That, eminent states
man was surrounded by several persons of distinc
tion, and received the delegates with great good
humour, but some state ; a long conference ensued,
and the result was not favourable to the mission of
Mr. Keogh. After a short silence, Mr, Keogh ad
vanced towards Mr- Dundas, with great respect,
and, with a very obsequious, but very solemn look,
mentioned to him, that " there was one_lhing,
'.' which it was essential for hini to know, but of
'* which he had not the slightest conception." He
Uemarked, " that it wai,S vexy extraordinary that a
" person of Mr. Dundas's high situation, and one
" of his own hilmble lot, (he was a tradesman in
" Dublin), should be in the same room : yet, since
"it had so happened,, and probably would not

THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 401
" happen again, he wished to avaU himself of the
" opportunity of making the important disclosure :
" but could not think of doing- it, without Mr.
" Dundas s express permission, and his promise
" not to be oftended." Mr. Dundas gave him this
permission and promise : still Mr. Keogh was all
humility and apology, and Mr. Dundas all con
descension. After these had continued for some
time, and the expectation of every person present
was wound up to its highest pitch, Mr. Keogh ap
proached Mr. Dundas, in a very humble attitude, and
said, — " Since you give me this permission, and
" your deliberate promise not to be offended, I beg
" leave to repeat, — that there is one thing, which
" you ought to know, but which you don't suspect,
" — you, Mr. Dundas, know nothing of Ireland."
Mr. Dundas, as may be supposed, was greatly
surprised ; but with perfect good humour told Mr.
Keogh, that he beheved this was not the case : it
was true that he never had been in Ireland, but
he had conversed vrith many Irishmen. " I have
" drunk," he said, "many a good bottle of wine
"with lord HiUsborough, lord Clare, and the
" Beresfords."— " Yes sir," said Mr. Keogh, " I
" believe you have ; and that you drank many a
" good bottle of wine with them before you went
" to war with America."

( 4S3 )

APPENDIX.

NOTE I ; referred to in page 70.
On the Tract intituled " Roman Catholic Principles in
reference to God and the King."

'yiSCOUNT Stafford, at his memorable trial in
December 1680, mentioned this tract in the fol
lowing terms :
" There is lately come out a book written by a priest
" of the church of Rome, tried for his life, for being in
" the plot, but acquitted of that, in which he says that
" that opinion of killing kings is damnable and heretical,
" and declared so by the council of Trent." (Tryal of
William Viscount Stafford, London, 1680. foi. 53.)
It first appeared in a small pamphlet in 1680, and two
other editions of it, at least, were published in that
year. INIr. Kirk, tbe roman-catholic pastor at Litch
field, has the first and third ; the second is in the
Bodleian library.
In the following year, Mr. Weldon, a benedictine
monk, published " Stafford's Memoirs ; or, a brief and
" impartial account of the trial, principles, and a final
" end of William, late Lord Viscount Stafford." In a
folio edition of this work, seen by the present writer.
The Principles are found in the 47th page.
Six editions of The Principles were published before
the year 1684: and six were published by Mr. Gother
in the years 1684-1686, at the end of his excellent
work, intituled, " A Papist misrepresented and re-
" presented, or a two-fold character of Popery, — to

494 APPENDIX.
" which is added,"— (we ct)py the words of the title-
page), — " Roman-catholic Principles in reference to
" God and the King." — All these editions, except that
of 1686, have been seen or ascertained to exist, andean
be referred to by Mr. Kirk : that of 1686 is in the pos
session of the writer.
Doctor Claggett quotes The Principles in his letter
to Mr. Gother, (p. 1 7- & 33) ; they are also noticed in
" The Loyalty of Popish Principles."
They are not noticed by. Mr. Dodd, as he was satis
fied with mentioning the work of Mr. Gother, to which
they were appended. It is observable that he makes
particular mention of one half at the most of Mr.
Gother's controversial writings : after quoting a few of
them, lie says generally, " with many other polemical
" discourses." Bishop Coppinger gave at least twelve editions of
" The Principles," first in his " Exposition," and after
wards in his " True Piety ;" to both of these he affixed
his name and ecclesiastical titles. The late bishop
Walmesley declared, that " this exposition of the ca-
" tholic doctrine was composed with great judgment and
" precision." The letter in which the prelate expresses
this opinion, is at Buckland in Berkshire, the seat of
the Throckmorton family.
Eleven or twelve more editions of " The Principles"
were published between the years 1748 and 1813;
making in the whole not fewer than thirty-five editions.
There also have been several abridgments of them; as
those inserted in various editions of " Ward's Errata,"
4 work highly commended by bishop Milner, and in
" The Real Principles of the Cathohcs," by bishop
Milner's predecessor, bishop Hornyhold.
Finally, — a copy of it, accompanied by a letter dated
the gth of May 1788, was presented to Mr. Pitt by the
committee of English catholics. To give this copy the

APPENDIX. 4».5
greater authenticity, the hon. James Talbot, then vicar
apostolic of the London district of the English roman-
catholics, signed the first page of it with his name.
We have observed, that the tract of which we are
speaking, was first pubhshed in 1680. It bore this
title : " Roman-catholic Principles, in reference to God
" and the King, explained in a letter to a friend, and
" now made public, to shew the connection between the
" said Principles and the late Popish Plot. By a Well
" Wisher of his Country. Matt. xxii. v. 21. Render to
" Caesar the things which are Caesar's ; and unto God
" the things which are God's. London, printed in the
" year i€8o." The author professed " to give a true and
" candid explanation of his belief in the main points of
" faith and loyalty, controverted between catholics and
" protestants, as they severaUy relate to God and the
" king." The sacred articles of the Trinity, and the
divinity ofthe Son of God, not being points controverted
between catholics and protestants of the established
church of England, these doctrines are not noticed in
" The Principles," as these notice only the points in
controversy between the churches.
An appeal to this tract, as containing an exposition
of cathohc doctrine on all the points in question, has
been frequently made by the parliamentary advocates
of the catholic cause, and there was a general wish to
see it. In 1815, the last and best edition of it waa
pubhshed by Mr. Kirk. He has prefixed to it a la
boured and curious inquiry respecting the author of it,
and its various editions. By a variety of arguments
and inferences, he makes it appear highly probable,
that the author of it was the reverend father James
Corker, abbot of the benedictine abbey of Lambspring
in Germany, — a priest, tried for Oates's plot, and ac
quitted ; thus answering the description given of the
author by viscount Stafford on his trial.

496 A P P E >t D I X,
From Mr. Kirk's edition, " The Principles" were
printed verbatini by the writer of these pages in his
" Confessions of Faith," and in the first and second
editions of these Historical Memoirs.
, This impression has since been the subject of many
pages of cavil, by bishop Milner, in Appendix A. to his
'* Supplementary Memoirs of English CathoUcs." Re
spect for episcopal authority would, if this had been
the only episcopal opinion which had been on it, have
induced the writer to withhold from re-printing it in the
present edition of his Memoirs : but, when he consi
dered that it was edited six times by Mr. Gother, twelve
times by bishop Coppinger, and once partially by bishop
Hornyhold ; and that it was explicitly approved by
bishop Walmesley, and solemnly signed by bishop James
Talbot, he thought that these venerable persons were
much more likely to speak the voice of the church
than the one discordant voice, however respectable, of
Dr. Milner.
It also occurred to him that the writer's omission of
them in the present edition, after he had inserted them
in the former, might, with those who were not ac
quainted with the real cause, give rise to inferences un
favourable to the catholic cause.
It should be added, that a work, which professes to
give an historical account of any religious denomination
pf persons, must be imperfect, unless it gives an account
of their religious tenets ; and these, so far as the loyalty
of the Enghsh roman-catholics is concerned; are no
where expressed better than in " The Principles."
It should also be observed, that Dr. Milner's objec
tions do not apply to any of those positions in " The
Principles," in which the loyalty of the catholics, or, in
other words, their duty to their king, is concerned.
For these reasons, but without the .slightest disregard
of Dr. Milner's authority, or disrespect for his opinions,,

APPENDIX. 497
we shall now insert " The Principles," from Mr. Kirk's
edition of them.
We shall subjoin the creed of pope Pius the fourth,
as it contains the creed, the whole creed, and nothing
but the creed, ofthe roman catholic-church.

KOM.\N-C.\THOL1C-PRIN CIPLES IX EEFEEEN'CE
TO GOD .\ND THE KING*.
(Printed from Mr. Kirk's edition ot" them : from which all the
notes and citations in the notes underneath the text, are
copied.) SECTION I.
Ofthe CathoUc Faith and Church in general.
1. THE fruition of God, and the remission of Redemp-
sin, are not attainable by man, otherwise than in p?".'"
and by the mef-ifs of Jesus Christ, who gratuitously
purchased them for us ^¦
2. These merits of Christ, though infinite in applicable
,_,..„ by faith.
' Eph. u. 8. •'
* This is the original title of the work. Dr. Coppinger
styles them simply. Principles qf Roman-catholics: and Mr.
Berington had before substituted country for king; and sec
tion! (ot paragrapfts.
The reader will recollect, that the object of the author of
this tract was, to give " a true and candid explanation of his
" belief, and judgement, in the main points of faith and loyalty,
" contraterted between catholics and protestants, as they seve-
" rally relate to God and the king." — The other essential
doctrines of Christianity, being admitted on both sides, are
supposed throughout, and not unfrequently alluded to in the
body of the work.
•2. Are applied to us, chiefly, by the sacraments, which pre"
suppose, and indispensably require in us a right faith. — Dr. C.
True Piety, ninth edit. Cork, 1813.
VOt. III. K K

498 APPENDIX.
themselves, are not applied to us, otherwise than
by a right faith in him''.
which is 3- This faith is but one entire % and conformable
but one; to its object, which is divine revelation; and to
which yai^A gives an undoubting assent.
sapematu- 4- This revelation contains many mysteries,
^^^ '¦ transcending the natural reach of human under
standing'*. Wherefore,
By the di- 5- It became the divine wisdom and goodness to
vine provi- provide some way or means", whereby man might
be learnt- arrive to the knowledge of these mysteries; means
visible and apparent to all ^ ; means proportioned to
the capacities of alls ; means swre and certain to alP.
not from 6. This way or means is not the reading ofscrip-
pnvate m- tnj-g interpreted according; to the private judgment^
terpreta- /.,t- ¦ ..¦'.j
tion of 01 each disjunctive person, or nation m particular;
scripture; hut,
but from 7- It is an attention and submission ^ to the voice
the univer- of the cathoUc or universal church, established bv
sal church, ^,, . ^ , . -pi,
dilated, Christ lor the instruction oi all ; spread for that
continued, end through all wflifioKS ', and visibly'^ continued in
and guided ^, . „ / , , , . „
bytheHoly t^e succession of pastors and people through all
Ghost for ages. From this church, guided in truth " and se
cured from error in matters of faith, by the pro
mised" assistance ofthe Holy Ghost, every one may
Zearn the right sense of the scriptures, ^^nd such
'' Mark, xvi. 16.— Heb. xi. 6.
" Eph. iv. 5, &c. i 1 Cor. i. 20.— Matt, xvi.- 17.
' Isa. xxxv. 8. f John, ix. 41. b Matt. m. 25.
'' John, XV. 22. ' 2 Pet. iii. 16.— 1 John, iv. 1, 6.
I' Matt, xviii. 17.— Luke, i. 16. • Matt, xxviii. 19.
" Psal. ii. 2. — Isa. ii. 2. and xlix. 6. — Matt. v. I4.
M John, xvi. 13 — Matt. xvi. l8. — J Tim. iii. 15.
" Matt, xxviii. 20. — John, xiv. 16.
6. Private reason or judgment of each particular person or
nation.— Dr. C.

APPENDIX. 490
christian mysteries and duties as are necessary to
salvation. 8. This church, thus established, thus spread, This
thus continued, thus guided, in one uniform faith p, ."J^"'"'^'^ '^
,,,..- J J ' the same
and subordination ot government, is that which is with the
termed the roman-catholic church: the qualities ro"J?"-ca-
..... ^ tholic;
just mentioned, unity, tndeficiency, visibility, suc
cession, and universaUty, being evidently applicable
to her.
9. From the testimony and authority of this from the
church, it is, that we receive the scriptures, and o^which^
believe them to be the word of God ; and as she we receive
can assuredly ' tell us what particular book i^ the scnp-
^ , . . tures to be
word of God, so can she with the like assurance God's
tell us also, the true sense and meaning of it, in ^"'''J-
controverted points of faith ; the same spirit that
wrote the scriptures, directing her"' to understand
both them, and all matters necessary to salvation.
From these grounds it follows ;
10. Only truths revealed by Almighty God, and Divine re-
proposed by the church, to be believed as such, ™iy™t.
are, and ought to be esteemed, articles of catholic ters of
faith. '¦^"l^-
11. As an obstinate separation from the unity of What
the church, in known matters of faith, is heresy; so heresy, and
a wilful separation from the visible unity of the schism.
same church, in matters of subordination and go
vernment, is schism.
12. The church proposes unto us matters of
- P John, X. 16. and xvii. 20, 21, 22.
1 Matt. xvi. 18. and xvui. 17. — 1 Tim, iii. 15.
"¦ Isa. lix. 21. — John, xiv. 26.
12. Strictly speaking, nothing is an article of catholic faith,
that is not revealed by Almighty God, and proposed by the
church to be believed, a.i such. This No. then appears to
be obscurely worded; and, for this reason, is omitted by
K K 2

soo

APPENDIX.

How mat- faith, first and chiefly by the holy scripture, iti
^r^ro'^* points plain and inteUigible in it; secondly, by
posed by definitions of general councils, in points not suf-
the church, ficiently plain in scripture ; thirdly, by apostolical
traditions derived from Christ and his apostles to
all succeeding ages ; fourthly, by her practice,
worship, and ceremonies confirming her doctrine.

What is
the autho
rity of ge
neral coun
cils, and of
the pastors
ofthe church

An expla
nation of
the same
authority.

SECTION II.
Of spiritual and temporal Authority.
1. The pastors of the church, who are the body
representative, either dispersed or convened in
council, have received no commission from Christ
to frame new articles offaith^ — these being solely
divine revelations — but only to explain and to de-
fne^ to the faithful what anciently was and is
received and retained, as of faith in the church,
when debates and controversies arise about them.
These definitions in matters of faith only, and pro
posed as such, oblige all the faithful to a submission
oi judgment. But,
2. It is no article of faith, that the church
cannot err, either in matters o? fact or discipline,
alterable by circumstances of time and place, or
in matters oi speculation or civil policy, depending

» Gal. i. 7, 8.
^ Deut. xvii. 8. — Matt, xviii. 17. — Acts, xv.-
-Heb. xiii. 7. 17-

-Luke, X. 16.

Mr. Berington and Mr. Gilbert. Dr. C. inserts the three first
ways, but omits the last.
1 . Only to explain and to ascertain to us — arise upon these
subjects— all the faithful to an interior assent.— Dr. C.
2. In matters of fact, or in matters of speculation — on mere
human reason : these not being divine revelations deposited in
the catholic church .~-Dr. C.

APPENDIX. 501
on mere human judgment or testimony. These
things are no revelations deposited in the catholic
church, in regard of which alone, she has the
promised assistance' of the Holy Spirit.— Hence it
is deduced,
3. If a general council, much less a papal cojisis- A deduc-
tory, should presmne to depose a kins:, and to ab- ''°" 'hence
, , . ,. „ 1 • , concerning
solve his subjects from then- allegiance, no cathoUc allegiance.
could be bound to submit to such a decree. — Hence
also it follows, that,
4. The subjects of the king of England lawfully a second
may, without the least breach of anv cathoUc deduction
. . , , , , . concern-
pnnciple, renounce, upon oath, the teaching or ing the
practising the doctrine of deposing kings excom- same.
municated for heresy, by any authority whatso
ever, as repugnant to the fundamental laws of the
nation, as injurious to sovereign power, as destruc
tive to peace and govemment, and consequently in
his majesty's subjects, as impious and damnable.
5. Cathohcs beheve that the bishop of Rome, The bishop
successor of St. Peter, is the head of the whole ofI^o™«» successor
catholic church ¦* ; in which sense, this church may ofSt.Peter,
therefore fitly be styled roman-cathoUc, being an head ofthe
universal body, united under one visible head'. — '
Nevertheless, 6. It is no matter of faith to beUeve that the hut „(,(; in-
pope is in himself infallible, separated from the
•= John, xiv. 16. 26.
"¦ Matt. xvi. 17, &c. — Luke, xxii. 32. — John, xxi. 15, &c.
' Eph.iv. ti, &c.
4. Dr. C. ends vdth peace and good gorvemment ; and Mr. B.
observes in a note, that he disUkes the word danmable, as it
conveys no idea, or if any, says too much ; but lets it stand to
show how desirous our ancestors were, by the most emphatical
language, to express their detestation of the papal deposing
pouer.
K K 3

B02 APPENDIX.
church, even in expounding the faith : by conse
quence, papal definitions or decrees, in whatever
form pronounced, taken exclusively from a general
council, or universal acceptance qf the church, oblige
none, under pain of heresy, to an interior assent.
Nor hath 7. Nor do catholics, as catholics, believe that the
any tern- ^^^g j^j^g ^^y direct or indirect authority over the
^ority " temporal power Sind ivinsAiction of princes. Hence,
over if the pope should pretend to absolve or dispense
princes. ^.^^ ^^.^ majesty's subjects from their allegiance,
on account of heresy or schism, such dispensation
would be vain and null; and all catholic subjects,
notwithstanding such dispensation or absolution,
would be still bound in conscience to defend their
-king and country f, at the hazard of their lives and
fortunes, (as far as protestants would be boundj)
even against the pope himself, in case he should
invade the nation.
Thechurch 8. As for the problematical disputes, or errors of
notrespon- particular divines, in this or any other matter what-
sible for goever, we are no wise responsible for them ; nor
vile crrurs ¦ -^ .» ^ i « ¦
.ofparticu- are catholics, as catholics, justly piimshable on their
lar divines. ^^gQyjjt_ But,
King-kill- Q. As for the king-killing doctrine, or murder of
ing doc- princes excommunicated for heresy, it is univer-
triii6 impi" *¦ ^ ''
" ous and sally admitted in the cathoUc church, and expressly
execrable. gQ declared by the council of Constance^, that such
doctrine is impious and execrable, being contrary to
the known latvs of God and nature.
10. Personal jnisdemeanors, of what nature soever,
- ' 1 Peter, ii. 12, &c. ^ s Sess. 15.

10. To be imputed to the body of catholics — tenets of
ciltholic faith and doctrine. Dr. C. — ^These stories are more
than mis-related ; for th^re is no trUth in either, as ascribed to
the Irish or EngUsh catholics at large. Mr. B.

APPENDIX. 503
ought not to be imputed to the catholic church, Personal
when not justifiable by the tenets of her faith and '"'^dini.a-
doctrine. For which reason, though the stories of beimputed
the Irish cruelties ov poicder plot , had been exactly '» ^e
true, (which yet, for the most part, are notoriously '^^"'^''
mis-related,) nevertheless catholics, as such, ought
not to sufier for such of ences, any more than the
eleven apostles ought to have suffered for the
treachery of Judas.
11. It is 2i fundamental truth in our religion, that No pown
no power on earth can license men to lie, to for- °" ^^''''?
' •' can autho-
swear, or perjure themselves, to massacre their rizemento
neighbours, or destroy their native country, on he, for-
pretence qf promoting the catholic cause or religion: murder
furthermore, all pardons or dispensations granted, or &.c.
pretended to be granted, in order to any such ends
or designs, could have no other vaUdity or effect,
than to add sacrilege and blasphemy to the above-
mentioned crimes.
12. The doctrine of equivocation or mental re- Equivoca-
servation, however wrongfuUy imputed to the tion not
church, was never taught, or approved by her, as thechurch.
any part of her behef : on the contrary, simplicity
and godly sincerity are constantly inculcated by her
as truly christian virtues, necessary to the conser
vation of justice, truth, and common security.

12. Imputed to the catholic religion, was never taught, or
approved of by the chnrch:

K K 4

i04 APPENDIX. SECTION III.
Of other Points of Catholic Faith,
Ofthesa- ^- ^^ believe, that there are seven sacraments,
craraents. or sacred ceremonies, instituted by our Saviour
Christ, whereby the merits of his passion are ap
plied to the soul of the worthy receiver.
Of sacra- 2. We believe, that when a sinner " repents of
mental ab- j^is slos from the bottom of his heart, and acknow-
ledgesh\stxz.ia.sg'ces,s\on% to God ?Lnd his ministers^,
the dispensers of the mysteries of Christ, resolving
to turn from his evil ways, and bring forth fruits
worthy of penance"; there is then, and no otherwise,
an authority left by Christ to absolve such a peni
tent sinner from his sins : which authority, we
believe, Christ gave to his apostles and their succes
sors, the bishops and priests of his church, in those
words, when he said. Receive ye the Holy Ghost ;
whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven unto
them, ^c*
Of satis- 3- Though no creature whatsoever can make
faction by ^condign satisfaction', either for the guilt of sin, or
works. the pain eternal due to it ; this satisfaction being
proper to Christ our Saviour only ^ ; yet penitent
sinners, redeemed by Christ, may, as members of
Christ, in some measure ^ satisfy by prayer, fast-
^ 2 Cor. vii. 10. *> Acts, xix. i8. — I Cor. iv. I.
' Luke, iii. 8. ^ John, xix, 22, 23. — Matt, xviii. 18.
' Tit. iii. 5. ' 2 Cor. iii. 5.
s Acts, xxvi. 20. — Luke, xi. 41. — Acts, a. 4.
1. This controverted point is not mentioned in the original
edition. It is noticed by Dr. C. in No. 2. Sect. 1.
2. Every catholic beheves — fruits worthy of repentance j
there is then and not otherwise.
3. Than as joined to and applied with. Dr C.

APPENDIX. 505
ing, alms-deeds, and other works of piety, for the
temporal pain, which in the order of divine justice
sometimes remains due, after the guilt of sin and
pains eternal have been remitted. Such penitential
works are, notwithstanding, no otlievwise satisfac
tory tha.n as joined and applied to that satisfaction,
which Jesus made upon the cross, in virtue of
which alone all our good works find a grateful
acceptance in the sight of God ''.
4. The guilt of sin, or pain eternal due to it, is Indulgen-
never remitted bv what catholics call indulgences : '^^^ P""^ "°'
" J • 7 remission
butonly such temporal punishments^ as remain due ofsins;but
after the guilt is remitted: — these indulgences be- ""'yo(ca-
, . , .... ° , nonical
ing nothmg else than a mitigation " or relaxation, penances,
upon just causes, of canonical penances, enjoined ^°'-' '•^™"
by the pastors of the church on penitent sinners, nishinents.
according to their several degrees of demerit. —
And if abuses or mistakes have been sometimes* Abuses
committed, in point either of gaining indulgences, herein not
through the remissness or ignorance of particular charged on
persons, contrary to the ancient custom and dis- thechurch,
cipline of the church ; such abuses or mistakes
cannot rationaUy be charged on the church, or
rendered matters of derision, in prejudice to her
faith and discipline.
5. Catholics hold there is a purgatory ; that is There is a
to say, a place, or state, where souls departing this P^^gatory,
Ufe, with remission of their sins, as to the eternal where
guilt or pain, but yet obnoxious to some temporal ^°^f de-
punishment, of which we have spoken, still remain- {jfe with
ing due, or not perfectly freed from the blemish of sope b\e-
mish, are
¦" 1 Peter, ii. 5. '1 Cor. v. 3, &c. " 2 Cor. ii. 10. purified.

4. Those indulgences — or relaxation of the canonical pen
ances — abuses and mistakes — cannot reasonably be charged, —
Dr. C.

606 APPENDIX.
some defects^ or debrdinations, are jJwrgetZ "" before
their admittance into heaven, where nothing that
is defiled'' can enter. Furthermore,
Prayers for 6. Catholics also hold, that such souls so detained
the dead -^^ purgatory, being the living members of Christ
to them. Jesus, are reUeved by the prayers ° and suffrages of
their fellow-members here on earth : but where this
Superflu- place is ; of what nature or quality the pains are ;
ous ques- j^qw long souls may be there detained ; in what
purgatory, manner the suffrages made in their behalf are ap
plied ; whether by way of satisfaction or interces
sion, Sec. are questions superfluous and impertinent
as to faith.
Ofthe me- /• No man, though just p, can merit either an
rit of good increase of sanctity in this life, or eternal glory
through ^° the next, independently on the merits and pas-
the merits sion of Christ Jesus : but the good worfoi of a just
"^ ¦ man proceeding from grace and charity, are so far
acceptable to God, through his goodness and sacred
promises, as to be truly meritorious of eternal life.
Christ 8. It is an article of catholic belief, that in the
really pre- ^Qg^ hgiy sacrament of the Eucharist, there is truly
sacrament and really contained the body ' of Christ, which was
of the Eu- clelivered for us ; and his blood, which was shed for
the remission qf sins ; the substance of bread and
wine being, by the powerful words of ChristjcAawged
into the substance of his blessed body and blood ;
' Matt. xii. 36. " 1 Cor. iii. 15. " Rev. xxi. 27.
° 2 Maccab. xii. 42, &c. — 1 John, v. 16. p John, xv. 5.
t Matt. xvi. 27. — 2 Cor. v. 10.-^2 Tim. iv. 8.
' Matt. xxvi. 26, &c. — Mark, xiv. 22, Sec. — Luke, xxii. ig^
&c.— 1 Cor. xi. 23, &c.
6. Are questions, ^which do not appertain to faith. Dr. C.
8. It'is an article of the catholic faith — by the power of
Christ, changed— appeiurances of bread and wine still re>
maining. Dr. C.

APPENDIX. 607
tile species or appearances of bread and xoine, by the
wiU of God, remaining as they were. But,
- 9. Christ is not present in this sacrament, ac- But after a
cording to his natural way of existence, or rather ^^pernatu-
as bodies naturally exist, but in a manner proper to '"''"''""«'¦•
the character of his exalted and glorified body:
hk presence then is real and substantial, but sacra
mental; not exposed to the external senses, or
obnoxious to corporal contingencies.
10. Neither is the body of Christ, in this holy y^^ole
sacrament, separated from his blood, or his blood Christ in
from his body, or either of them disjoined from his cies^"^*"
soul and divioity; but all and whole" Uving Jesus Hence
is entirely contained under either species : so that cants'™'
whosoever receives under one kind is truly par- under one
taker of the whole sacrament ; he is not deprived ^'^^^' ,"°"
. , _ . , '¦ wise de-
either of the body or the blood of Christ. True it prfved
is, either of the body or blood of Christ-
11. Our Saviom- left unto us his body and blood, Ofthe sa-
under two distinct species, or kinds ; in doing of ^^'^^ °^
which he instituted not only a sacrament, but also
a sacrifice^; a commemorative sacrifice, distinctly
showing" his death and bloody passion, until he
come. For as the sacrifice of the cross was per
formed by a distinct effusion of blood ; so is that
sacrifice commemorated in that of the altar, by a
• John, vi. 48, &c. ' Luke, xxii. 19, &c. " 1 Cor. xi. 26.

9. Way of existence, that is, with extension of parts, &c.
bnt iu a supernatural manner ; one and the same in many
places : his presence, therefore, though real and substantial, is
sacramental. Dr. C.
10. Or either of them disunited from — under each species —
and no ways deprived. Dr. C.
M . Effiision of blood from the body. Dr. C.

508 APPENDIX.
distinction ofthe symbols. Jesus tiierefore is here
given, not only to us, but for us ; and the church
thereby is enriched with a true, proper, and pro
pitiatory sacrifice, usually termed the mass.
Worshipof 12. Catholics renounce all divine worship and
images adoration of images and pictures; God alone we
wrongfully i i » i i , • ^
imposedon worship andadore^ ; nevertheless we place pictures
catholics, in our churches '', to reduce our wandering thoughts.
Yet there i , t ¦ ^ j 7 7
is some ^"^^ to enliven our memories towards heavenly
veneration things. Further, we show a certain respect to the
pictures images of Christ and his saints, beyond what is
due to every profane figure ; not that we can be
lieve any divinity or virtue to reside in them, for
which they ought to be honoured, but because the
honour given to pictures is referred to the proto~
type, or thing represented. In like manner,
and other 13. There is a kind of honour and respect due
sacred ^^ ^^ bible, to the cross, to the name of Jesus, to
things. ' '
churches, to the sacraments, &c. as things pecu
liarly appertaining to God^ ; and to kings, magis
trates, and superiors^ on earth : to whom honour is
due, honour may be given, without any deroga
tion to the majesty of God, or that divine worship
which is appropriate to him. Moreover,
" Luke, iv. 8.
y Exod.xxv. 18. — Numb. xxi. 8.— Luke, iii. 22. — Acts, v. 15.
^ Exod. xxv. 18. — Josue, vii. 6. — Phil. ii. 10. — Acts, xix. 12-
" 1 Pet. ii. 17.— Rom. xiii. 7.
12. And excite our memory — we allow a certain honour to
be shown to the images— beyond what is due to profane
figures. Not that we believe. Dr. C.
13. Also to the glorious saints in heaven*, as the friends of
God ; and to kings — ^without derogating from the majesty.
Dr. C.
* John, xii. 20.

APPENDIX. 509
14. Catholics believe, tliat the blessed saints in Prayer to
heaven, replenished with charity, pray ^ for us ^.^"'^ '"^-
their fellow-members here on earth ; that they re- " '
joice at our conversion'; that seeing God '', they
see and know in him all things suitable to their
happy state : but God may be inclinable to hear
their requests made in our behalf, and for their
sakes may grant us many favours ' ; therefore we
believe that it is good and profitable to desire their
intercession. Can this manner of invocation be
more injurious to Christ our mediator, than it is
for one christian to beg the prayers ' of another
here on earth ? However, catholics are not taught Yet so as
so to rely on the prayers of others, as to neglect "°'' ^° "eg-
their own^ duty to God ; in imploring his divi>i^% duties.
mercy and goodness ; in mortifying the deeds of the
fesh^; in rf€s/)j«ng the world'; in loving a.nd serv
ing God'' and their neighbour; in following the
footsteps of Christ our Lord, who is the way, the
truth, and the life^; to whom be honour and
glory for ever and ever. Amen.
'¦ Rev. V. 8. "^ Luke, xv. 7. ^ 1 Cor. xiii. 12.
" Exod. xxxii. 13. — 2 Chron. vi. 42. f Rom. xv. 30.
f Jam. ii. 17, &c. ^ Rom. xiii. 14. ' Rom. xii. 3.
* Gal. V. 6. ' John, xiv. 6.

14. That God may be inclined — and that this manner of
invocation is no more injurious — the prayers of another in this
worid. Notwithstanding which, catholics are not taught — in
mortifying the flesh and its deeds. Dr. C.

610 APPENDIX.
NOTE II; referred to in page 1^2.
The Symbol of Pius the Fourth.
A SUCCINCT and explicit summary of the doctrine
contained in the canons of the council of Trent, is
expressed in the creed which was published by Pius the
fourth in 1564, in the form of a bull, and usually bears
his name. It is received throughout the whole roman-
catholic church : every roman-cathoUc who is admitted
into the catholic church, publicly reads and professes
his assent to it.
The tenor of it is as follows : " I, N. believe and pro-
" fess, with a firm faith, all and every one of the things
" which are contained in the symbol. of faith, which is
" used in the holy roman church, viz.
" I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker
" of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and
" invisible ; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only
" begotten Son of God, light of light, true God of true
" God, begotten, not made, consubstantial to the Father,
" by whom all things were made ; who, for us men, and
" for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was
" incarnate by the Holy Ghost, of the Virgin Mary, and
'/ was made man ; was crucified also for us under
" Pontius Pilate, suffered, and was buried, and rose
<' again the third da,y, acgording to the scriptures, .and
*' ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the
" Father, and wiU come again with glory to judge the
" living and the dead, of whose kingdom there will be no
" end : and in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Life-giver,
" who proceeds from the Father and the Son ; who,
" together with the Father and the Son is adored an4

APPENDIX. 611
« glorified; who spoke by the prophets. And one holy
*' cathohc and apostoUc church. I confess one bap-
" tism for the remission of sins, and I expect the resur-
*' rection of the body, and the life of the world to
" come. Amen.
" I, most firmly admit and embrace apostolical and
" ecclesiastical traditions, and all other constitutions
*' and observances ofthe same church.
" I also admit the sacred scriptures according to the
" sense which the holy mother church has held, and
" does hold, to whom it belongs to judge of the true
" sense and interpretation of the holy scriptures ; nor
" wUl I ever take and interpret them otherwise than
'' according to the unanimous consent of the fathers.
" I profess Edso, that there are truly and properly
*' seven sacraments of the new law, instituted by Jesus
" Christ our Lord, and for the salvation of mankind,
" though all are not necessary for every one; viz. bap-
" tism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, extreme unc-
" tion, order, and matrimony ; and that they confer
*' grace ; and of these, baptism, confirmation, and order,
" cannot be reiterated without sacrilege.
" I also receive and admit the ceremonies of the
*^ catholic church, received and approved in the solemn
" administration of all the above said sacraments.
" I receive and embrace aU and every one of the
" thingswhich have been defined and declared in the
** holy council of Trent, concerning original sin and
" justification. " I profess, Ukewise, that in the mass is offered to God
" a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living
** and the dead ; and that in the most holy sacrament of
" the eucharist, there is truly, really, and substantially
" the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity
" of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 and that there is made a
" conversion of the whole substance of the bread into

512 A P P E N D I X.
" the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into
" the blood ; which conversion the catholic church calls
" transubstantiation. " I confess also, that under either kind alone, whole
" and entire, Christ and a true sacrament is received.
" I constantly hold thatthere is a purgatory, and that
" the souls detained therein, are helped by the suffrages
" ofthe faithful.
" Likewise, that the saints reigning together with
" Christ, are to be honoured and invocated, that they
" offer prayers to God for us, and that their relics are
" to be venerated.
" I most firmly assent, that the images of Christ, and
" of the Mother of God ever virgin, and also of the
" other saints, are to be had and retained ; and that due
" honour and veneration are to be given to them.
" I also affirm, that the power of indulgences was
" left by Christ in the church ; and that the use of them
" is most wholesome to christian people.
" I acknowledge the holy catholic and apostolio
" roman church, the mother and mistress of all churches;
" and I promise and swear true obedience to the
" roman bishop, the successor of St. Peter, prince of
" the apostles, and vicar of Jesus Christ.
" I also profess and undoubtingly receive all other
" things delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred
" canons and general councils, and particularly by the
" holy council of Trent; and likewise I also condemn,
" reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto,
" and all heresies whatsoever, condemned and anathe-
" matized by the church.
" This true catholic faith, out of which none can be
" saved, which I now freely profess, and truly hold,
" I, ]V. promise, vow, and swear most constantly to
" hold and profess the same whole and entire, with God's
" assistance, to the end of my life. Amen."

APPENDIX. 513

Since the preceding sheets were printed, the writer
of them has seen the "Travels of Cosmo the third,
" grand duke of Tuscany, through England, during the
'.' reign of king Chai-les the second, (1669) translated
" from the Italian manuscript in the Laurentian library at
" Florence, 4to. London, 1821." — A manuscript relation
of the travels of the grand duke through different parts
of Europe, is contained in two large volumes deposited
in the Laurentian hbrary. That part of them, which
relates to his travels in England, is contained in the
present pubUcation. A memoir of his life is prefixed, and
the work is iUustrated by a portrait of bis highness, and
by thirty-nine plates of different places in which he was
received. La Lande, {Voyage en Italic, tom. ii. p. 286)
mentions the original, and says, " Je ne vois aucun
" exemple, si 90 n'est celui du czar Pierre le grand) d'un
" prince, qui a voyage avec tant de curiosite, de
" gout, et d'utilite." We shall here insert the account
given in this work, of the condition of the English
cathohcs, at the time of the visit of his highness to this
country. It accords with the citations in this volume
from father Leander and signer Panzani :
" The catholic religion still exists in England, though
" without the power of showing itself openly. The
" semi-public exercise of it is tolerated in the queen's
" chapel at St. James's, and in that of the queen mother
" at Somerset-house, and in the oratories of the catho-
" lie princes. To these places there is free access,
" except when, at the instigation of parliament, the
" decrees of queen Elizabeth against catholics are re-
" newed. On those occasions people go to them with
" greater caution, that they may not render themselves
" liable to the severity of the above laws, and secretly
'.' avail themselves in their own houses of the services
VOL. III. L L

514 APPENDIX.
" of missionary priests, who are maintained by the ca-
" tholic families to administer to their spiritual wants.
" The king moreover, whose business it is to enforce
" these harsh measures, suspends tbe execution of it,
" either from political reasons, or to gratify the good
" disposition of the catholic queen his wife, from whose
" exemplary conduct, those catholics who live in Eng-
" land, either openly or secretly, derive no small advan-
" tage in evading the rigour of the punishment attached
" to all who do not conform to the heresy of the
" kingdom. " A considerable number of priests of either order,
" both secular and regular, watch over the spiritual con-
" cerns ofthe catholics. They are divided into several
" companies ; and are very attentive to the fulfilment
" of their duties. The first are English or Irishmen,
" eminent for their zeal and learning, who have been
" educated and instructed in the seminaries founded
" for the youths of those nations in Rome, in Spain,
" and in Flanders, where they attend equally to the
" study, of religion and literature. These receive in-
" struction for the proper management of their respec-
" tive charges from an ecclesiastic, whom they call the
" head of the clergy, who is established in England,
" almost with the authority of an ordinary. He com-
" municates to other coadjutors, his deputies, in various
" parts of the kingdom, a power resembUng his own,
" or more limited, as it may happen ; all of them, how-
" ever, are, in the first instance, subordinate to the
" nuncio in France, and, at present, to the internuncio
" in Flanders, to whom, as being nearer to these parts,
" the superintendence of the missions of England and
" Ireland has been entrusted ; and this he retains in
" conjunction with that which he before had over that
" of the United Provinces. The regulars are subject
" to the government of their own prelates, who appoint

APPENDIX. 516
" them to such particular missions as belong to their
" respective orders.
" There are many reUgious of the orders of St. Bene-
" diet, of St. Augustin. of St. Dominic, of St. Francis,
" and of the society of Jesus, who perform their spiri-
" tual duties towards the catholics with much fervor,
" encouraging them to preserve in their manners the
" purity of the ancient faith, which, as far as the lower
" orders are concerned, is at present kept up princi-
" pally by those who live in the country, and have re-
" tired thither to avoid the persecutions which heresy
" is perpetually stirring up in the city, where almost
" the whole of the populace is infected by its contagion.
" Various disputes arise among the missionaries ; the
" seculars thinking that the regulars extend their privi-
" leges further than they ought; and these, on the
" other hand, complaining that the seculars impede
" them in the exercise of their missions. The greatest
" complaints are against certain Jesuits, because, under
" the pretence of their peculiar privileges, they are de-
" sirous to administer the missions, without recognizing
" any other superiority in this kingdom than that which
" is set over them by their own society. This is the
" cause of the dissentions which, in no small degree,
" disturb this pious ministry, both in England and
" HoUand : on which account, appeals are constantly
" coming from both parties, not only to the apostolic
"mmister in Flanders, but to the congregation at
" Rome, being carried thither by the queen's grand
" aUnoner, and the heads of the English clergy, of both
" descriptions, and by the bishop of Chartres, apostolic
" vicar ofthe United Provinces.
" To avoid the further exasperation of these discor-
" dant spirits, to the great detriment of the holy faith,
" gentle and moderate measures are adopted, such as
" serious admonitions and exhortations to unanimity;

616 APPENDIX.
'f and to settle the differences at once, it has been
" wished at Rome to consecrate, as titular bishop in
" England, some ecclesiastic of integrity and talent, a
'¦< native of the kingdom, who may watch over the mis-
" sions in the same manner as is done in Holland. For
" this purpose, they cast their eye upon PhiUp Howard,
'¦' grand almoner to the queen, having ascertained that
" the king was no way averse from such a step ; but
" the affairs of the kingdom being in a condition not
" very favourable to the catholics, owing to the invete-
'^ racy of the parliament, it was thought unseasonable,
" and was judged more prudent, the same having been
'' hinted by the king, to put off the execution of such a
" proceeding to some other more favourable opportu-
" nity. In the mean time, the bishops of Ireland per-
" form the episcopal functions for the benefit of the
" catholics, and come over occasionally to exercise their
" charge in the best manner in their power."

END OF VOL. III.

Luke Hansard and Sons,
near Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, London.

YALE UNIVERSITY

a39002 002388867b

YALE

.m'5?' ^ %;i,.'iif. .- '^"t

ifwii'&ri'-'