that Ireland received the doctrine of Rome in the fifth century. Saint Patrick, if ever there was such a Saint, or any other Miffionary, who might have preached here, could not preach Popery before there was a Pope: if he preached in the fifth century, he preached three hundred years before the feparation of Rome from the Greek Church, which happened in the eighth century: he therefore preached true Chriftianity, and that he did is manifeft from the oppofition made by the Irish Bifhops and Clergy, on the invafion of this Country by Henry II. when Pope Adrian prefumed to grant away this ifland, as a fief of the Church of Rome. The Irish Bifhops and Clergy, to their everlasting bonour, boldly refifted the impious affumption, declaring that the Church of Ireland was perfectly independent on that of Rome. "Of the religion of Alfred, who lived about the time of the feparation of the Churches, I am not enabled to speak; but of this I am certain, that he was an excellent politician; and if fuch fpeeches as we have lately feen reported had been made in his time and in his dominion, he would have feverely punished the Hundred which allowed them. "They fay that their Religion is that of our Henrys and of our Edwards, the Conquerors of Poitiers, Agincourt, and Creffy: doubtless they fay the truth; for they speak of a time when not only they But all the Kings of Christendom Were led moft grossly by that meddling Priest, Who in that fale fold pardon from his foul. "Accordingly we fee this very Henry, to whom Pope Adrian granted Ireland, fubmitting to be whipped before the altar of a feditious Prielt; John refigning his crown to the Pope, and even the great Henry V. committing the most abominable cruelties from religious zeal. "Much is it to be lamented that the spirit which infpired the Irish Prelates and Clergy of the twelfth century, when they afferted their rights as a Church totally independent of Rome, has not fallen upon their fucceffors. Had their mitres, like Elijah's mantle, conveyed a portion of their fpirit, how many miferies would this Country have avoided; for, to the bufy interference of a foreign Prieft, whofe views and interefts were always hoftile to the Sovereign power, even when in communion with him, may all our misfortunes be traced: it is not yet too late; we meddle not with the Romanifts in matters purely of Faith; it is their politics which bar their entrance on what they fo much defire; it is their having made thofe dangerous politics an article of Religion which excludes them; it is their looking beyond the authority of their Sovereign to the imaginary power of a Foreigner, the abominable purposes which that Foreigner and thofe acting by his authority have made of this fuperftition, and which they again may make, and keeps us in alarm.-Let the Romanifts again, as their predeceffors in Henry the IId's time did, affert their independence on Rome: let them fwear, as we have fworn, that no foreign Prince, State, or Potentate, has or ought to have any jurifdiction, authority, fupremacy or fuperiority, temporal or fpiritual, within this Realm; and, for one, I am ready ready to meet them with my whole heart; for, with all their faults, they are ftill my Countrymen. "And furely no time ever prefented an happier opportunity for fuch a reconciliation than the prefent; when they have feen the ufurping Head of their Church, who once poffeffed Imperial power, whose thunders were heard to fulminate throughout the earth, and before whom even Kings were feen to tremble, fallen from his high eftate, dragged from the ancient feat of his authority, and compelled to attend the ruthless Tyrant at Paris. All this, no doubt, is subject of pity and compaffion. But what followed? What were our feelings when we faw this degraded Prieft profaning and proftituting the facred rites of Religion, anointing and crowning the blood stained Monster who had publicly renounced Chriftianity and profeffed the doctrine of Mahomet? Here our pity ceafes and our contempt prevails. It may be faid, he was forced to the act; he could not refift. What! Shall we be told that any force fhould compel a Chriftian Bishop to an act of facrilege and apoftacy? He should have refufed he would have been murdered-but he would have died the martyr of religion and of honour: by complying he lives-he lives the degraded flave of Buonaparte; he lives to me Irish Bishops-thofe Bishops make Irish Priests, thofe Priests are the directors of our deluded Countrymen. And under these circumstances, will any man say that any doctrine which Buonaparte might with to promulgate would not be received among them? "But Buonaparte, it feems, is not that deteftable monfter the world fuppofe him; he is an extraordinary man, an Honorary Member of all Religions, who paffes through the world-doubtlefs for the benefit of mánkind-with the fword in one hand and religious toleration in the other.— O! how I love thofe expreffions of refpect and admiration, when bestowed on the Enemy of Mankind! How plainly do they fhew the heart from which they emanate*!-Thofe expreffions, made ufe of at one of the Romish "Can it be fuppofed that the unanimity fo evident this day, will not have fimilar effects, when it is confidered, that however deeply we are interested in removing our difqualification, yet it is more effential to the Throne and to the Empire, than even to ourselves? It is more fo, at a time, when a man of the moft wonderful kind has arifen in Europe-difpofing of crowns and fceptres-with the fword in one hand and religious toleration in the other; owes his conquefts perhaps as much to one as to the other; fo little a flave to bigotry, that he has been called by a refpectable friend of mine- an Honorary Member of all Religions,' who, profiting by the intolerant laws of other countries, has erected his mighty empire upon their ruin. Our empire confifts of fixteen millions; Buonaparte's probably of fixty millions. Can it be poffible that a Minister of England will reject four millions on the fpot, without coft or fubfidy? or ought, but ceafing to perfecute, or fuffering an Irish faction to perfecute them? If we are to contend for our country upon our own foil, as Minifters have often given us to apprehend, I hope it will not be left to Buonaparte and his followers to offer to our population the privileges which their own Government refused: he is no friend to the empire that would wish to see that Romih meetings, in a fpeech certainly the moft pre-eminently infolent, falfe, and feditious, that ever was uttered; a fpeech from which the natural and direct inference is, that if the Legiflature will not fubmit to their demands, they will look to Buonaparte. And here allow me to say, how much rejoice for the fafety of the Proteftant Establishment, to fee that this fpeech has been fo oftentatiously published in almost all the newspapers; and as, at the time it was fpoken, it was not only uncontradicted, but received the unanimous approbation of the meeting, it must be fuppofed to exprefs the unreferved opinion of the Romanifts of Ireland. It is this circumstance, and this only, which makes it worthy of your notice; and I am glad, I fay, of thofe publications, that the Proteftants of Britain, upon whom and our beloved King our earthly hopes of being defended from our cruel enemies must now be placed, may fee and judge' of the principles and views of those who bafely malign us. "It is faid that an unnatural fyftem of Government, unprecedented in Europe, &c. &c. &c.-Let us examine this affertion, and prove its fallacy. Can any thing be more natural than to restrain the fury of a wild beaft, or of a favage that would tear you to pieces? It is but felf-defence. The Romanifts were formerly fo refirmed: why they were fo I fhall not relate; how their reftraints were removed by the generofity of Proteftants completely removed-I fhall fhew you: and that they are no longer reftrained by law-by gratitude-or by prudence-the fpeeches to which I have alluded demonftrate. "I will not detain you with a recital of the rebellions and maffacres which followed the Reformation, and which filled the interval between the reign of Elizabeth and of our glorious Deliverer, King William-a Prince, the admiration of Europe while he lived, and for the benefits which he conferred upon Britain-by establishing her Constitution in Church and State-fince the object almost of adoration-but defignated that experiment. If Minifters now called on your Lordship and on the Gentiemen prefent, to declare upon your honours, your opinion on the offee upon our population, if left in their prefent,ftate, in cafe of invafion, with indammatory proclamations, reminding them of their houses burned their lands feized, without pretext of crime (as appeared by Lord Gofford's addrefs)-the violation of wives and daughters; could you give your Government affurance, that you would bring the population of Ireland to oppose the enemy? Could you bring your own tenantry into the field to fight for a Conftitution that rejected them? Could you bring your own fervants?: You, my Lord, and the Gentlemen prefent, would enter into the ranks as you have before done. No doubt the property of Ireland would prove their loyalty under every circumftance; but what would be the event? But if we are now relieved, we shall have time to convince our population, and by our exertions to attach them fincerely: and then, and only then, we may bid defiance to our Invader, however powerful. Mr. Keogh concluded by moving the following Refolution :“Refolved, That this is a fit and proper time to prefer a Petition to the Imperial Parliament, for the complete Emancipation of the Catholics of Ireland.' 66 Which was carried without one diffentient voice,' APP. VOL. XXVI, b fure to the town, by a Popish Writer, as a Dutch Invader, heading mercenary Troops.. At the death of King William,, and on the acceffion of Anne, the found that Popery had been, completely fubdued in Ireland, and, looking back at the horrors it had produced, the refolved to enact fuch laws as would. for ever prevent it again from raifing its ruthlefs arm; the accordingly. enacted laws of very great reftriction, which under the circumftances of the times were neither cruel nor unnatural; they continued down to a time within all our memory. And here let me obferve, that while thofe laws exifted, the Romanifts, generally fpeaking, remained quiet and ap parently loyal; they mixed and affociated with Proteftants religious dif putation was unknown, or laughed to fcorn. I look back with great pleawhen the friends and companions of my youth were taken without felection of religion-when I could number in my own little circle many an amiable and worthy Romanist;-but thofe days are paffed! No Romanift could then be a Judge, a General, or a Member of Parliament; yet no Romanift was therefore unhappy. Do you ask me what has occafioned the change? The Proteftants-the Proteftants-were the perfons to remove all religious reftriction; they faw with pleafure the mild and dutiful conduct of the Romanifts; they faw that the laws concerning religion, which hung over them in terrorem, were never enforced, and were but as a dead letter. The laws concerning property they thought no longer neceffary, and therefore impolitic; and they determined, as far as the fafety of the Conftitution would permit, to abrogate thofe laws. "Heaven is my witnefs with what fincere pleasure I have feen thofe highly honoured perfons, Mr. Gardiner and Mr. O'Neill, pleading for the repeal of laws which I was fool enough to think no longer juft or neceffary. Little did I forefee that Lord Mountjoy and Lord O'Neill would be amongst the first who fhould fall by the hands of thofe for whom they were then labouring; or that I, who rejoiced fo much in the fuccefs of their labours, should have the blood of fo many of the dearest members of my family mingled with theirs. "From the first relaxation of the Popery Laws, new conceffion daily followed, and though the first relaxation arofe fpontaneously, from the innate generofity of the Proteftants, yet every conceffion begat a new demand; threats were held out, and infurrections organized. When, in the year 1793, Parliament determined once for all to grant an ultimatum, that which muft fatisfy the Romanifts, if any thing less than the deftruction of the Proteftant Eftablishment could fatisfy them, great difference of opinion arose both in and out of Parliament as to the extent of the privileges now to be granted to the Romanifts. This honourable Affembly, fupported by almost all the Grand Juries of the Kingdom, propofed to regulate the measure in a manner which did equal honour to their wisdom and liberality; and which propofal, if it had been received with the respect to which it was entitled, would have prevented much mifery; a propofal to the principles of which the Legislature will be compelled fooner or later to return, though, when offered, it was by fome treated with scorn, and privileges CITY OF DUBLIN. "AT a POST-ASSEMBLY of the Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR, SHERIFFS, COMMONS, and CITIZENS of the CITY of DUBLIN, vileges far beyond what they were either prepared for or entitled to receive, were conferred upon the Romanifts; privileges which feem to have intoxicated and bereft them of understanding. **Thefe DUBLIN, held at the EXHIBITION-HOUSE, in WILLIAM STREET, on Tuesday the 11th day of September, 1792, purfuant to a Requifition for the Purpofe of taking into Consideration a LETTER circulated throughout this City and Kingdom, figned EDWARD BYRNE.' "A Copy of faid Letter, and alfo the Plan and Obfervations mentioned to have been inclosed therein, having been read from a PUBLIC PRINT, the Affembly UNANIMOUSLY came to the following Determination : "RESOLVED, That a LETTER be addreffed to the PROTESTANTS of IRELAND, to the following Effect: "COUNTRYMEN AND FRIENDS! "THE firm and manly fupport which we received from you, when we food forward in Defence of the PROTESTANT ASCENDANCY, deferves our warmest Thanks; we hoped that the fenfe of the Proteflants of Ireland, declared upon that occafion, would have convinced our Roman Catholic Fellow-Subjects, that the purfuit of political power was for them a vain purfuit; for though the liberal and enlightened mind of the Proteftant receives pleasure in feeing the Catholic exercife his religion with freedom-enjoy his property in fecurity-and poffefs the highest degree of perfonal liberty, yet experience has taught us, that without the ruin of the Proteftant Eftablishment the Catholic cannot be allowed the fmalleft influence in the State. "For more than ten years the prefs has teemed with various writings, intended to prove that Roman Catholics have an equal claim with Proteftants to a participation in the exercife of political power in this Kingdom; that fuch a participation would not be injurious to Proteftants; that prejudice, only, prevents Proteftants from conceding this claim; and to complete the Work, a Letter has lately appeared, figned Edward Byrne, in which the Roman Catholics are inftructed to proceed upon the plan of the French democracy, to elect a reprefentation of their own, to which faid Byrne infinuates that the Proteftants must bend, as he has affurance from the highest authority.' "In anfwer to thefe charges, and thefe claims, we shall in a few lines briefly ftate the Cafe of the Proteftants and Roman Catholics of Ireland, in doing which we shall not endeavour to add to our language any other ornament than the beautiful fimplicity of truth. "One hundred years are juft elapfed fince the question was tried upon an appeal to Heaven-whether this country fhould become a Popish kingdom, governed by an arbitrary and unconftitutional Popish Tyrant, and dependant upon France, or enjoy the bleffings of a free Proteftant Government-a Proteftant Monarchy limited by the Conflitution-and an intimate connection with the free empire of Britain. The Great Ruler of All Things decided in favour of our ancestors; he gave them victory, and Ireland became a Proteftant Nation, enjoying a British Constitution. But b 2 |