but where you treated them with conciliation and kindness, you were sure to meet a rich harvest of gratitude. Nothing could be easier than for a British Statesman to secure himself such a harvest. His Majesty's visit had been regarded as an omen of peace; and he had then an opportunity of judging of the feelings which kindness would elicit from the Irish people. Those were halcyon days; he was sorry that their hopes had been so soon disappointed. They had heard it reported, that the Royal breast had been changed; he did not wish to believe it. The essence of the British Constitution was, that all the subjects of the British monarch had equal rights; and if George the Fourth was a truly British monarch, he would be anxious to give them; he held that it was a libel on the king to say, that he was unfriendly to the civil rights of any portion of his people; and he trusted, that we should, ere long, see it refuted by his sign manual to a bill for the Emancipation of the Catholics. The Duke of Wellington had recently told them, that there were difficulties in the way, and that these difficulties were very great. He could not, however, believe, that they were perfectly insurmountable. The chief difficulty was the Protestant Ascendancy; but was this any difficulty in the way of men, who were determined to do as they would be done by? Was it a difficulty for a Christian nation to do an act of justice? Impossible. Perhaps in the very next Session of Parliament, the Bishops might free the Duke of Wellington from all these difficulties; they would tell the Lords that no temporary considerations should prevail against the immutable principles of justice and equity; and it was to be hoped, that when my Lords Eldon and Winchelsea heard these admirable Christian sentiments from the consecrated guardians of the Christian faith, they would acknowledge that their zeal had been too warm, and join in removing the scruples of their followers in the House; for it was there, in the seat of hereditary wisdom, that they had the chief obstacles to apprehend. The Bishops would tell them, that the measure was one by which the Protestant interest could not possibly be endangered, if by Protestant interest they meant the interests of the Protestant religion; and that if dangers might accrue from it to the Protestant Establishment, their kingdom was not of this world, and such considerations had nothing to do with religion. For his part, he could not see how concession could trench on the integrity of the Protestant religion. Nay, these gentlemen must be aware, that, by the continuance of these restrictions, they obstructed the progress of Protestantism. How was it possible, he would ask, that the Catholic, suffering from generation to generation under the Church, supporting it, and deriving no benefit from it, should love that Church; could he believe that the Church was interested about his salvation, that denied him the rights of a man? He held, that the way to advance the Protestant religion, was to remove the Catholic disabilities. There were a great many societies who had been engaged in the work of converting the Catholics; but they had only rivetted the chains which they pretended to break. And why was this-why had they not succeeded? Bécause almost every man who had distinguished himself

in the attempt, was an enemy to the civil rights of the Catholics. No, the Catholics said, you pretend that your object is to save my soul, and confer an everlasting benefit upon me-that may be; your professions are large, but the accomplishment of them is doubtful, but as an earnest of your good-will, will you grant those civil rights which will be of great and immediate service to me here? No, is the reply, you are unworthy to receive such a boon; I will not give you the rights of a freeman, but I will give you salvation! Precisely such was the language which the conduct of our converters spoke to the Catholics. They asked for bread, and they gave them a stone; they asked for a fish, and they gave them a serpent. Men could not be converted, unless they were fairly treated.

If he were about to make a convert, and were to commence by tying him neck and heels upon the floor, the subject of his polemics would not feel himself in a very comfortable situation; he would say, I am perfectly able to argue with you, but do not feel disposed for argument in my present situation; have the kindness to remove these cords. If I refuse: if I tell him plainly, that he shall not be unbound till he is converted, that he must emancipate himself, I may talk over him to eternity, without producing any impression. But if I assent to the fairness of the proposition; if I place him on an equal footing-if we stand on the ground of our common humanity, my arguments will have a fair chance; a man not wronged can scarcely look fairly in the face of his fellow man without being moved with some sympathy for him; no hostile feeling steels the mind against conviction; and I thus may make a convert of a man by kindness, where, by a contrary treatment, I should have hardened him in error. There can be no conversion till there is justice; if this were conceded, the Catholics might then in time merge in the Protestant churches. He should delight to see them so merged; he did not, he could not approve their religious tenets; he wished to see them converted, but the first step to their conversion must be to grant them their civil rights. This question impeded every attempt at improvement. If any thing could be calculated to rub off the asperities of feeling that had been contracted, it would be mingling the opposed communities together in childhood; but by the present state of things, the Catholic children were driven into separate schools, and from the cradle to the grave, they were brought up and lived in a state of alienation from their fellow-subjects. They were not even allowed to consign the remains of their friends to the grave of a Protestant burial-ground, without submitting to the humiliation of asking permission to offer, beside that grave, their prayers to their Maker. Distinctions must be preserved even beyond the tomb, and their very bones must not be allowed to be in juxta position with those of Protestants. Was it any wonder that the country was wretched? It was now objected to the Roman Catholics, that they were violent in demanding concession. They had tried supplication, and they had tried it in vain; at last they had begun to think, that there could be no very substantial reason for their suing, in forma pauperis, for their civil rights. They had assumed a bolder stand, and he honoured them

for it. He, perhaps, could not justify every particular act, or every phrase, that had fallen from them; but these were the ebullitions of the feelings of nature rising up against injustice. Were he, as an individual, excluded, he would be as violent, more violent, than any member of the Catholic Association. Such violence, such energy, he held in honour-the man who would not struggle for his rights, did not deserve to attain them. It was said too, by some, that the body of Catholics felt no interest in the question; it might be that many did not; and if this were the case, it was another reason for extending to them their rights; if any Catholic were so degraded as to feel indifferent at being debarred from his rights as a citizen, it was necessary to elevate him to a proper sense of his dignity, by conferring those rights.

These liberal and Christian sentiments were warmly applauded, as was also a preceding Address made by Mr. Montgomery, on his own health being proposed. The meeting was a mental feast. We are glad that such meetings continue to be held; we hope and are persuaded they will increase, for we fully and cordially unite in the feelings expressed by Mr. Potter, at this Anniversary. May his health be completely restored, and long may his valuable life be spared to enjoy the pleasure of doing good:

:

"For my part," said Mr. Potter, "I like not the cold and heartless proceeding, of meeting my fellow-worshippers in the same temple, week after week, year after year, allowing all further intercourse to cease when they separated; meetings like this, round the social board, make us better acquainted with each other, expand our hearts, and induce us to be more willing to assist and advise our fellow-creatures in many ways where advice and assistance would be highly serviceable, and, above all, by exciting the delightful feelings of sympathy.'

Catholic Liberality, Episcopalian Benevolence, Presbyterian Intolerance, Methodist Bigotry.

THE Duke of Norfolk has in his service a female who is a Methodist. Some time since, one of the upper servants at Arundel, complained to his Grace that this woman was over religious, and lost much valuable time in attending her Chapel. The Duke asked where she went to, and was answered. "What!" said he, a woman walk four miles to a place of worship? it is too far. I desire that in future the boy may drive her every Sunday in the gig. She is right in worshipping the Almighty where and how she thinks best."

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IT has been the custom of the Duke of Northumberland, about the close of the year, to address letters to the Clergyman and Dissenting Ministers of Alnwick, requesting them to point out

30 individuals in their respective Congregations, who were in need of a supply of clothing, food, &c. The Unitarian Minister alone formed an exception. But since the settlement of the Rev. John Wright with the Unitarian Congregation of that town, a similar missive of benevolence has been transmitted to him, and the same number of individuals in the Unitarian Society, have experienced the bounty of his Grace, as of the other denominations in Alnwick. We regard this circumstance as another proof of the progress of Christian liberality; an additional evidence, too, that zealous exertions in the dissemination of a particular faith, and strenuous labours in opposition to established error, will meet with respect even from those who deem those labours and exertions to be called forth by mistaken and antiscriptural opinions.

THE Presbytery of Glasgow has again arrayed itself on the side of intolerance. At the last meeting, an overwhelming majority decided on petitioning against the emancipation of the Catholics. Four individuals alone were heard raising their voices in favour of Christian freedom; and the treatment they experienced from certain of the majority, was any thing but what might be looked for from professing Christian ministers. That the adherents of a Church which extorts millions from a suffering and impoverished people that those who riot on tithes, forced from parishes where there is neither church nor congregation, no, not even a "dearly beloved Roger," to utter a response to the faithful pastor-that such persons should stand in the way of Christian charity, and oppose their brethren's participation of the common rights of man, is not a whit surprising. The "yellow slave which knits and breaks religion," is the lion in the path. But, that descendants of men whom Episcopacy persecuted even unto the death, should join with those who look on their unstalled theology with contempt, and regard every thing Presbyterian as synonymous with meanness, would be passing strange, did not history assure us that all established churches are founded on intolerance, and did not Confessions and Covenants confirm the melancholy fact.

THE Methodists in some parts of England, have been labouring in their vocation, joining in the howl of " No Popery!" At the Leeds meeting, one of their Preachers made himself tolerably conspicuous; and in Cornwall, a Mr. Wade, apprehensive that some of his flock might by the eloquent, and, as we think, unanswerable speeches of the friends of religious liberty, at a meeting of the freeholders of Callington, be induced to act as became Englishmen and Christians, launched, at the rising spirit of liberty in their breasts, this formidable bolt of JOHN WESLEY:-"That in consequence of the idolatrous worship of Papists, their power of absolving from the consequences of all oaths made with heretics, and other immoral and dangerous doctrines of the Romish Church, they were to be regarded in a worse light than even infidels, who denied all revealed religion, and therefore ought not to be even tolerated in any Christian, Pagan, or Mahometan country.” The authority of the Rev. John Wesley, the Rev. Mr. Wade affirmed,

the Methodists "were in a great measure bound to submit to." We know it, and yet these are the people to harangue against the tyranny of Popery. Whilst bowing beneath a yoke, almost if not quite as grievous as that of his Catholic brother, the Methodist opposes his claim to the possession of civil rights, because in his religious faith he defers to the authority of his Priest and the Roman Pontiff. But if the Methodist is not, on the subject of Religious Liberty, to exercise his own judgment, but is called on by his Priest to obey the dictate of John Wesley, though opposed to his better feelings, where is the mighty difference between the parties? The Protestant Pope must be attended to; or else the Protestant Inquisition-the Conference, is at hand to enforce compliance; and woe to that unfortunate wight, who falls into hands whose tender mercies are cruel! We are glad to see, however, that Christian liberty has penetrated even into the Methodistic fold, and that in some places in Lancashire, though exhorted and threatened by their preachers to sign petitions against Catholic Emancipation, the people have resisted. They have imbibed, and we trust, will still more consistently act up to the principle thus expressed by an eloquent disciple of the Saviour: "I am a Protestant, and it is the principle of Protestanism to judge for itself. I am a Christian, and it is the privilege of Christians to worship God according to one's own conscience. I have yet to learn, that it is the duty of a Christian to oppress his fellow-Christians. I know of no principle of humanity which obliges me to crush a whole population. I am ignorant of any doctrine which obliges us to break faith with Catholics, lest, perchance, Catholics might break faith with us."

FROM Manchester, Mr. Montgomery proceeded to London, and preached, we believe, on the first Sunday of the New-Year, in the morning at the Chapel in Jewin-Street, and in the evening at Carter-Lane. On Monday, the 5th January, a dinner, in testimony of respect for his distinguished labours for religious freedom, was given, in honour of Mr. Montgomery, at which W. Sturch, Esq. presided, and which was attended by upwards of one hundred individuals of various denominations, Catholic and Protestant.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Dialogues on Religion, No. 2; Letters from Port-Glasgow; various Publications for Review, &c. have been received, and will be inserted and noticed in the next Number. Our friends will accept our thanks for Newspapers from Maidstone, Birmingham, and Manchester.