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while, by the same statute, the Earl of Fingal and the two titular Archbishops, the Rev. Richard O'Reilly and the Rev. John Thomas Troy, were retained in the double capacity of Trustees and Visitors. The former,

at that time, were PROTESTANTS: the latter were ROMAN CATHOLICS.

The nation has now invested for over seventy years in this speculation! When it comes to seek a harvest, what does it find? Fruits of the most poisonous kind-"ENVY, HATRED, MALICE, AND ALL UNCHARITABLENESS;" the seeds from this garden wing their way, periodically and constantly, to the earth's remotest bounds.

It would extend too much the proper limits of this communication, but I could add some remarkable items on the subject of the teaching and the reading supplied for the students of this College, also a curious table of figures illustrative of the fasting fare with which the Maynooth table is supplied.

Lord Farnham, in a speech which he made, charges the authorities of the College with the expenditure of over three thousand pounds for beef, mutton, wine, servants, wages, &c., previous to the building of the seminary, and he complained that a sum of £11,000 remained unaccounted for by the conductors of this College, and he expressed his opinion, that he considered the acting Trustees by no means good security to the crown for so large a sum.

That Maynooth College has been a hot-bed of rebellion from the first hour of its existence to this hour, I entertain no doubt whatever.

THE IMPORTANCE OF LONDON AS A CENTRE OF
PROTESTANT EFFORT.

(Continued from Page 332 of Vol. XX.)

IN the Creed of Pope Pius IV., which is the creed of the Romish Church at the present day, is the following article:-"I acknowledge the Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church to be the mother and mistress of all Churches, and I promise true obedience to the Bishop of Rome, successor to St Peter, Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Christ Jesus." Every bishop and priest in the Roman Church is bound by this creed, and consequently owes ever after, in terms of his promise, true obedience to the Pope. Thus the Roman bishops in England are subject to the Papal commands; and even did these proceed through such a medium as Dr Manning, they would be as binding as were they direct, as will be seen from the following quotation from a bull issued by Benedict XIV., in 1742, according to Popish authority to be regarded as a part of the Canon Law, now being introduced into this country:

Section 5. Besides, we ordain and define that all and every the governors, rulers, and presidents of any places, territories, and cities of a state, not only immediately but even mediately, subject in temporals to the Apostolic See, and, moreover, that the Prolegate of Avignon, and even the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, even our own legate a latere and their ministers and officials, ought to be comprehended, and considered as comprehended, in this decree.” * From this it is seen that the presidents of provinces and dignitaries of

* Blakeney's "Popery in its Social Aspect."

the Roman Church are subject, not only in spiritual affairs, but also in temporal affairs, to the Roman Pontiff; and that this subjection is not only immediate, but also mediate. The jurisdiction of Dr Manning over the hierarchy in England is similar in its nature to that of the Pope over the whole ecclesiastical body of the Roman Church, lay as well as cleric, throughout the world. The priests are thoroughly subjected to the bishops, and must submit reverentially to their commands,* while Dr Manning has jurisdiction over the bishops, who must consequently submit to his commands, so that the priests must mediately submit to Dr Manning's commands. He is at the head of the force, and assigns to each the province and sphere of his action.

It remains finally to ascertain the power exercised by the priesthood over the Romish laity throughout England, in order to determine the influence which Dr Manning may and does exercise mediately over that body. The priest is regarded as God in the confessional. He has the power of giving and withholding absolution. He holds, as it were, in the eyes of the Romanists, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, with power to admit and exclude. Now, how can the man be resisted who thus is believed to hold heaven and hell at his disposal? But were these facts of the hereafter not sufficient with semi-sceptical minds, there is a power which can seldom fail of producing the desired submission. To the absolving priest in the confessional become known, either through unreserved confessions or searching cross-examinations, the whole facts, concerns, and actions, nay, the very thoughts of the inmost soul of each individual. The whole mind of his parish lies open before him. This knowledge, as shown by Dr Blakeney, is power in the fullest acceptation of the word. Is there a wrong that has been done to a fellow-man, the exposure of which would be followed by the most prejudicial consequences to the offender? is there an action the publicity of which would be followed by the entire ruination of character ?-all that is necessary is a hint that such publicity may be given, and the most inflexible will succumb, and meekly receive the priestly direction. This direction, although affirmed to be purely spiritual, extends to all questions involving a point of morality; and as, in the Romish point of view, all actions touch upon morality in some way or another, so all actions are to be guided by the spiritual direction. In Parliamentary matters the principles to be upheld are dictated by the priest; and should the priest name any candidate for parliamentary honours with directions to uphold such an one, the man directed so to vote would, on refusal to do so, be denied the Sacraments, without which Romanists believe there is no salvation. To establish this the following may be quoted from Dr Wylie's "Rome's Civil Liberty":—

"We find the Rev. Dr D. Hanson of the Dunboyne Establishment

*The priest at ordination is asked, "Dost thou promise to me and my successor (or if not his ordinary, to the Pontiff and his ordinary) reverence and obedience?" To which a reply is returned in the affirmative." Foyer's Romish Rites,” p. 52.

+ Dens, p. 160, tom. vi., Dub. 1832. See Blakeney's" Popery in its Social Aspect."

"Every deliberate act which man performs is moral or immoral, and has, therefore, its spiritual relation."-Dr Moriarty's Evidence before the Maynooth Commissioners. See Wylie's "Rome and Civil Liberty," p. 173.

before the Commissioners. He is asked whether voting at elections be a temporal or spiritual matter, and answers thus :—

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"A vote for a member of Parliament may become a spiritual matter, because its direct and immediate effect may sometimes be the commission or avoidance of sin. In the case supposed I should think no Catholic priest or layman would hesitate to vote for the man who is disposed to favour and protect Catholic interests in Parliament.

"If the electors require information or instruction, as they do frequently in many parts of Ireland, I think the priest, as such, is not only justified, but bound to teach and explain their duty.'

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"What do you mean by their duty?' To select the parties whom they conscientiously believe to be the fittest to represent them in the House of Commons, and to discharge the duties of a Member of Parliament.

"Would he (the priest) be warranted in withholding any Sacraments of the Church from a man by reason of his preferring one candidate to another? Absolutely speaking, he would; because a priest is not only warranted but bound to withhold the Sacraments from a man who is disposed to commit a mortal sin; and as the case may absolutely arise in which a person, by preferring one candidate to another, would exhibit that disposition, a case may consequently arise in which the priest would be not only warranted but bound to withhold the Sacraments from a man, by reason of his preferring one candidate to another.'"*

This is the theory, and a fair example of the practice has recently been presented with reference to the Election Commission of Inquiry at Longford. The Pall Mall Gazette writes as follows:

"Mr Escham replied for the petitioner. He contended that several cases of bribery by agents had been proved; and, referring to the large expenditure for drink by priests, censured the clergy severely for training the youth of their faith in drinking habits, by one month's probation. He maintained that there had been no freedom of election, owing to intimidation-the influence of the priests, who, if the present state of things continued, ought to be called the electors of the country."

The result of the inquiries of this commission was, that no less than nine reverend gentlemen of the Roman Catholic Church were convicted of corrupt practices. Such is the influence which may be exercised in Parliamentary affairs by the priests, who receive their instructions from the bishops, who, in their turn, are directed by the metropolitan as to the course of action to be followed. "It is, then, to the constitutional powers of the State," said Dr Wiseman, in his address to the Congress of Malines in 1863, "that the Catholics of England must address themselves." And so well did the Romanists address themselves to the constitutional affairs of this country, that, having shown how, in several instances, Parliamentary candidates, who were unfavourably regarded by the Romanists, had been unsuccessful, Dr Wiseman continued :"These examples may show how Catholics strive to avail themselves of the very small electoral influence which they possess in England. It has been sufficient to exclude a certain number of adverse, or, at least, more than ordinarily prized members from the House of Commons." But mark in what follows the almost absolute control which the great directing head of the hierarchy is covertly insinuated to hold. "Attempts to force the

* Wylie's "Rome and Civil Liberty," pp. 182, 183.

Catholics (those in England) into one exclusive and extreme political view, would prove not only dangerous but fatal to our purposes. In our body there exist all possible shades of political opinions; but when a question of justice arises there is no inquiry made concerning these differences. All unite, as in one common cause, and concur in one uniform course of action." Of course, there is a directing head which gives this unity, and this head is now in Dr Manning, the Roman Archbishop of Westminster. Again, the unity in action, which is exercised by Dr Manning over his suffragans, and through them and the priests, over the laity, is strikingly exemplified in the progress which Romanism is making in all our large English cities. According to the Scottish Reformation Society's Report for 1869 there are in England fifteen prisons, in connection with which Romish chaplains are salaried out of the British Treasury to the extent of £1265, while Popish chaplains in Government prisons in Great Britain receive, at least, £550, and those in military prisons, say £185. There are eleven priests in England ranked as commissioned chaplains to the forces in England, with salaries amounting probably to £2200, while officiating priests at 85 military stations in Great Britain receive, say £3372, the annual grants to those in naval stations at home amount to about £793. But what is perhaps the darkest side of the picture is that to Popish schools in Great Britain is paid the annual sum of £31,316, 2s., and to reformatory and industrial schools, £24,063, 7s. 8d.

While these appointments of chaplains extend over five of the Romish dioceses into which England is subdivided, and the endowed schools are in the majority of the counties, strenuous and extensive efforts are being made to obtain more and similar concessions all over the country.

If the testimony of facts is to be accepted, surely this speaks plainly. Does it not say that a uniform plan pervades the course of action pursued by the Romanist body throughout England-a course of action which is in opposition to the principles of our constitution as a Protestant nation? And does not the nature of the whole hierarchical structure of the Church of Rome point to the Roman Archbishop of Westminster as the very source and guiding power of a widely extensive conspiracy against our Protestant faith and liberty? Is this to continue till the national revenues are at the command of the subjects of a foreign prince whose land groans under the maddening yoke of an intolerable despotism? Is this system to seize on the civil liberties of the nation, the gift of the Most High to our favoured land, and to trample them beneath the feet of a tyrannical priesthood? Are our monarch, our princes, our nobility, our Government, to be prostrated before the influence of an absolute hierarchy ? Is our constitution to be degraded, nay, swept into nonentity under the influence of the canon law, the perfect code of the Papal states? In short, is England to be no vassal to any of the Popes of Rome, to be tyrannised over by the minions of his court? Then, Protestants, contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. Work while you have the light. Strike at the root of the evil. Calmly yet forcibly put down the Roman Archbishop, who wields over the nations an increasingly prejudicial influence, and secure the great city of the empire, where he has, in violation of the country's solemn. legal enactments in Parliament, seated himself with one of his suffragans, and with it, as the centre of your action, in the strength of your God, rescue the country from the network which has already been prepared for it.

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