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_ THURSDAY,
“Vou. I. No. 38.) | fac:
_ SPIRIT OF THE ENGLISH, IRISH, AND
FRENCI LP. "ROTESTANT JOURNALS.
eit —<
‘ We & have noticed, and we must say with indign
_gtion, the, combined attempts of the editors of the
public prints in the above interest, with’ some few
honourable exceptions, to keep 3 alive that illibe eral
- and ‘uncharitable feeling which has too long indaced
the people of England to look upon the Catholigs not
‘only, of foreign countries, ‘but of their own ‘soil, as
‘men of intolerant and persecuting principles, de-
rived from the very essence of their religion. This
it of misrepresentation’ and. disingenuousness, hhas
been more ‘prominently put forward since the acces-
~. sion of the present French monarch to the throne of:
his ancestors, than at any former period in’ our re-
“ ~ membrance. Charles X. has shown himself an ob-
* server at least of the ceremonies ofthe Catholic church;
“and this demeanour of the King, added to the active
» end persevering 2 zeal of the Catholic clergy to remove
the’ immoral propensities introduced by the revolu-
, tionary-m, mania, and, above’ all, the amazing success
Which has attended these pious efforts, have contri-
buted to disturb. the bile of the infidel and formerly
: jicobin, editors of the French liberal prints. . Hence
s they are. constantly throwing out insinuations against
the imputed tyranny, : ambition; ‘and craft of the Je-
". suits and dignitaries of the Catholic ‘church, which
, ” are copied ‘by the e English journalists with an avidity
* that marks the low and grovelling feeling by which
me they % are influeticed,: and their anxiety to, keep alive
that spirit of religious discord, which has brought so
many evils on: this once happy, -but now miserable
“and prostrate country.
‘In ance, as in England, the ‘conductors of the
- public press are compelled, by fear of punishment,
. to preserve some degree of respect..tawards the rul-
ing powers of their respective countries, but it is not
so with regard to the English editors and the French
» Monarch ¢ and his ministers: the more easily therefore
” 4o'delude ‘their credulous readers, by putting on an
‘ait of authenticity, the most conspicuous of the Lon-
- don daily} prints have, or pretend to have, their private
correspefdents resident in Paris, from whence they
endite their murky and bigotted conclusions of what
“is, passing before them, and especially on those cir-
“cumstances which concern ‘the Catholic religion and
.. its ministers,""Nor are our Statesmen and our Sena-
_ tors exempt From’ these unfair comparisons, since we
find the Secretary of State for the Home Depart-
ment, Mr, Peel; who, on most other occasions, have
shewn himself an honest and candid opponent of his
Catholic countrymen, alluding to the law of ‘sacri-
lege lately passed in France, as an objection to the
admission of the Catholics of Great Britain and Ire-
< land te the enjoyment of civil rights. We certainly
do not much wonder at the conduct of Mr. Peel, for
’ the clamour and declamation of the English papers
*, against the supposed _ despotism and cruelty of the
Catholic clergy, in recommending the enactment of
this law, were so violent and inces$ant, that we began
to think ourselves’ that there must have been some.
thing wrong inthe matter, A little patience, how.
” . ever, etd a watching, not of the turn of the market,”
but of the proceedings of the French legislative bo-
dies, soon enabled us to discoy, et, that the law of ga-
erilege in that erin, Was 'not one jot more sanguj.
Any or tytanntal than fhe law of sacrilege in this,
wee natss Persons’ tested of, all’ religious ee Nings
—, he prev ented rom outraging the fee
‘ 3 had some devotion i in thein ; and
yh
7
Ae a sirihing contrast toa Wie éeclaration by ao
“TRUTH IS POWERFUL, AND, WILL PREVAIL,
fanters, or Revivalists, er Southcottians; assembler
to perform their fanatic revels. ’-If death be re aad
for the. profanation of the gacred vessels. and the host,
it is not; with the view. that, death should: be wan-
tonly inflicted, but that the irreligious man should
be restrained, ‘through the fear bf punishment, from
committing an ‘offence to the. scandal of the great
bulk of society. ! ‘If we were to break f into one of the
established churches, and uit with the parson’s
surplice, no matter how vragyed 3 it might be, death
would be our lot: ‘by. the law of “country and
may not the French pass sich laws as ‘they mi may deem
necessary te preserve the’ peace aad r. eder of the com-
munity ‘without’ the- interference of our’ newspaper
jobbers? . Would it not be as well if they were to
look closer into matters at home, iz stead of directing
the attention of their readers te matters that do not
concern the people of this country’ in the least? It
certainly would be better both for thé liberties and
uld not, under pre-
happiness of- the nation, but: it \
sent circumstances, answer thé
the proprietors of these prints, whose trade is not in
disseminating truru, but in pandering to the follies
and prejudices of the party that will pay them best.
" We will now. proceed to give aSpecimen or two
of the articles which find their way into the London
prints, and ‘fro em: are copied | into, ‘almost the
whele of the > provincial journals i in) the wpire, Take
the following for example :—"
Tar Boursons Axp THE Protest TANTS IN Frayer al
A. private letter from Paris says, The members of the Pro-
testant Consistory of Paris have had ay audience of, the
King, to cofplain of the vexations tg which their fellow re-
ligionists have been exposed in the previrres for some time
back, His Majesty declared to them that such ch proceedings
were. contrary to Lis intentions, for thet.h that his
reign should be a reign of toleration, rad
guaranteed by the charter should be recy inviolate. Ww:
ever, Gentlemen,’ added bis Majesty, ii is may duty to tell
you that you cannot be saved.” C
~ From this statement, the ress : ed te buppose
that the Protestants of France ais*}+ as bad if not a
Worse state’ of, persecution: than the. Catholics of
Great Britain, and Trelandaré; whereas the; griew, ances,
of the’ former ‘exist only in the imagination ofsa few
discontented and infidel’ writers, aud the situation of
the Jatter is one of real degradatsin_ and insult. In
France the: Protestants are. place’ upon a perfect
equality: with the -Catholics,; they being not only
eligible to civil office, but their clergy are supported
by the Government, and, where they, amount toa
certain number, a place of worship is provided, for]
them, at the ‘public expense. And yet it must be
observed, the Protestants of France are only a fraction
of the people. In this: ‘kingdom, however, where
the Catholics compose oue-third. uf the whole popu-
lation, and can boast of having ia their communion
the most ancient of the nobility, dy cendants of those |}
Patriots 1 who wrested from an ungracious , tyrant the
great Charter of. British Liberty, they-are not only.
debarred the exercise. of their civil rights ; they are
not only compelled to pay tithes to ‘another set of
ecclesiastics, while their own clergy ave living on
the precarious ° contributions | of their flocks; but
they. are ‘subjected ‘to the insults and calumnies of
the yery men who live out of, the” sweat of their
brow, and are exposed to the taunts and revilings of
the very scum of the’ people. .
The article we have quoted purports: to be. a pri-
tate letter, without date or naize, and. we have no
loubt was invented for the purpose afa ‘set-off against
the intolerance shewn in a certain house on a late
editable to the French monarch; and that is, the
declaratien of Charles, that the imputed vexatious
Eroceedings 1 were contrary’ to his intentions., We
believe it, sup posing them to exist, w hich we very | ¢
huh doubt, and this avowed disposition of the hing,
wo way
rcasion.—Lowever, there is one ‘admission highly T
[Pree Td."oR 8s, PER Qu.
illustrious ‘personage, which breathes nothing but
interminable proscription and vexation to a “large
portion of the people of this kingdom, But the
French king felt it Ais duty to tell the members of
the Consistory that they could not be saved! We °
do not believe that Charles X- ever made use of such
an expression ; and our reason. for doubting this -
gratuitous assertion of the letter-writer is, because
the monarch is too well acquainted with the princi."
ples of his’ religion to know that he was not autho-
rised to pronounce such a sweeping, ‘condemnation
to eternal flames on’ his Protestant subjects. : : He,
knew that the Church, though it condemns the error,
yet loves , the man, and that it was his duty, to see © —
equal justice done to such of his subjects as could :
not see with the same eyes as himself as to ‘those
who did. But who ‘are those who have arraigned the
intolerance of the Catholic kiag of France? Do not
the laws of England. compel. the high officers | of
state, the Bishops, the Judges, the Peers, the Com;
mons; ‘ay, down to the petty constable, one and all :'’
to swear’ in the’ presence of their God, that” this”
French king and all his Catholic subjects; that their C
ownaucestors for more than’ nine hundred, years j
that, i ina word, the greatest part of Christenddm fa
past and present times were and are DAMNABLE, :
IDOLATERS! #1!!!" And in this country ‘where ine?
tolerance is legalized, we have writers impudently
censuring the king of France for bis imputed Pgonr:
0 tempora O mores.‘ ;
’ Another of these circulating articles we find cone ;
ed-in the followi ing terms:— 0°," ;
~ * Great extortions are daily 1 mate ace byt the Priests ia Trance
singe the accession of Chai monstrances ty the
King and Ministers have ieee ‘nade, but only without effecty
fut ine 2 complainants lave _ been repri jrmaniad for their con:
, Well, granting ‘for the sake of argam nit that the’
Catholic Priests of Franceare become 8 rapacious, —
what has that circumstance to do with the people
of England and Ireland? © Are the interested inven-. °°
tors of ‘this article apprehensive that the influence of.
these Priests will extend to this side the straits ot
Dover, and that they will dip their hands‘ iato one °°
of John Bull's pockets while the Established Clergy,
fish in the other? We can tell them not to be | alarm,
ed, for the clergy and people of France are wellaware’
that between the tithe-collector and the tax-gatherer,’
Johuny’ 's purseis pretty well sweated, and that there’
is little left even for: his own subsistence.’ The ex.”
tortions of the Catholic’ clergy, truly; to be heldjup
to thé people of England as matter of reproach and
censure, when complaints are daily making against’
the exactions of the clergy of the Established Church |
before the Magistrates and before Parliament!!!"
Have we not seen it stated in the public prints, that
a Parson in Ireland went out at the head of an armed’.
body of men to collect his tithes from the’ poor pea-
santry, whose only food was potatoes; that these
poor people resisted,’ and that blood was shed? In’
the evidence taken before’ the Committee of /the’
Touse of Commons, on the State of Ireland; the fol-"
lowing fact is stated by the Rev Mr. Collins, Parish |”
Priest of Skibbereen, and when the English prints *>
scan’ point out a similar case taking place in France,
we will then allow that the French Protestants shave
a right to complain. ° .
* Have you known the collection of church rates, of rates.
for building and repairing churches, produce disturbance in;
the parts of Ireland with which you are acquain! ainted 2—Yes ;
very recently. :
“Will you explain the circumstances —The island of In- *
nisherkin is a small island, forming part of the parish cf. *
lah, and being off the barbour of piitimore. "The istan
is notin my district, butthe main part ofthe. parish is 5 itis 6.8
separated from the main land by a distance of about a’ miles”
The inhabitants are sbout s 3 thousand, having about 209
houses. They ate very 3.80 much so, that when the
aitempt was made by the rest residing there, not lerg sigrey
‘0 Tev_-an assessment of th: sreepeace-half penny perhos 3 for
the repair of the old chapel, which wag fa a uteer gue, :
)
& mere hovel, partly covered with rad oy
door or wipgow) Wa f2+ 4390! ? Sucking Pigs ¢ Could not have
‘s