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To the Editor of the Protestant Advocate.

SIR, I am a Layınan, and an unworthy member of the Church of England. I beg to return you my sincere thanks for the pleasure which I have received, in reading the first number of the "PROTESTANT ADVOCATE." May its success be equal to its intentions! At this awful crisis, when the friends of Catholic Emancipation are straining every nerve to accomplish their designs, an antidote of a popular nature was long wanting, to counteract the intended effect of Papistical poison, which has spread its malignant influence far and wide. And although a living Bishop of the Established Church is an Advocate for Catholic Emancipation, I am not without the hopes that the "PROTESTANT, ADVOCATE" will convince every true Church of England man, as well as every denomination of Protestant Dissenters, that it is time they should be aroused from their present apathy. Let them read the excellent arguments set forth in your incipient number, and attend to the solid observations of the Right Reverend and Right Honorable, &c. authors, who have undauntedly offered a panoply against the sophistical endeavours of the Roman Catholics. Let them read the unanswerable arguments of Jos. Mede, Doddridge, and Sir Isaac Newton on the 13th chapter of the Revelations, and then ask, who can make any computation, or even form any conception of the number of pious Christians, who have fallen a sacrifice to the bigotry and cruelty of Rome? I will pass over the horrid Irish massacres, and proceed to say, "that, in the war of the Albigenses and Waldenses, there perished of these poor creatures, in France alone, a million. From the first institution of the Jesuits to A.D. 1480, that is, in little more than thirty years, nine hundred thousand. In the Netherlands alone, the Duke of Alva boasted that he had dispatched to the amount of thirty-six thousand souls, by the hands of the common executioner. In the space of scarcely thirty years the inquisition destroyed, by various kinds of torture, one hundred and fifty thousand Christians. No wonder that the beast should, by these means, obtain an universal power over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations,' and establish his dominion in all the countries of the western Roman empire, and that they should submit to his decrees and adore his person, except the faithful few whose names, as citizens of Heaven, are enrolled in the registers of life. Let the Roman Catholics boast, that their's is a Catholic and universal empire; this is so far from being any evidence of the truth, that it is the very brand infixed on it by the spirit af prophecy." Let the Protestant look to this, but let him not be cast

down. Let him go manfully to work, and oppose a torrent that would overwhelm him. Armed with the shield of reason and truth, let him break their bonds asunder, and cast away their cords from him. I am an unlettered man: but, as one link in the chain of Protestantism, I would wish the rest of its members to hold well together. I trust that the " PROTESTANT ADVOCATE" will have its due effect, and that it may be the means of bringing us to a just sense of our danger, is the fervent wish of,

Warley, Essex,
October 1812.

SIR,

your humble servant,

G. B.*

To the Editor of the Protestant Advocate.

SIR,-I read in the newspaper called The Times, of this day, a letter, purporting to be the twelfth of a series of letters, signed Vetus; who says" if, as I have heard it whispered, the Court should have resolved to fight the Catholic Question inch by inch, a civil war in Ireland would hardly prove the most graceful method of introducing an appeal to the people."-The latter part of this sentence is scarcely intelligible. What can the words mean?" hardly prove the most graceful method of introducing an appeal to the people." And who is, or who are, to make this appeal? The Court, I presume.-What stuff is this! The signature should not have been Vetus, but Vetula.-I know not any party which may be called the Court-Party. But if by the Court is intended the

* We trust that the hopes of our worthy Correspondent will not be disappointed. The friends of Protestantism are already in motion; and it will be the pleasing task of the Editor to present their productions to the world.-We hope that we have more than one well-wisher at Warley. There is a gentleman (who must be a near neighbour to G. B.) for whom we have long had a most sincere regard. He is a man of great information; but, unfortunately for the world, of singular modesty. Unobtrusive, retired, and retreating, whilst he does not give himself credit for half the knowledge which he has acquired; he does not allow the public even a chance of estimating it. We most devoutly wish that he could be prevailed upon to take up his pen in our behalf. An acquaintance of many years standing (it commenced in 1775) has given the Editor full opportunity to estimate the value of his services, if there were a possibility of obtaining them.-The Editor hopes that it will not be said of him-LATEREM lavat. So far had we written on the morning of Thursday, October 8th: in the afternoon of the same day we received the heavy news, that the truly good man alluded to in this note, laboured under the dangerous effects of a sudden stroke of severe indisposition. We would not obliterate what we had written: though, perhaps, he may never read it. Here let it stand, as a monument of friendship, surviving the wreck of mortality. May Providence restore to his flock the Rector of Great Warley.

Ministry, I am very happy to be informed that it has even been whispered, that the MINISTRY mean to resist all attempts to destroy the Protestant Constitution of this Realm. I hope and trust that they are resolved at all events to maintain it. Far greater evils would come upon the country, by conceding the Constitution to the Papists, than can be generated by any civil war in Ireland. You have shewn us, in your preliminary address, that although a civil war in Ireland is to be lamented, it is not much to be dreaded. There have been many already, and they have been quelled as often as they have been excited. I do not think that the Roman Catholic population in Ireland can be so mad as to break out in rebellion, because, acknowledging the supremacy of the Pope, they cannot constitutionally hold certain offices of state, in a kingdom where the King himself must necessarily be a Protestant.-Threats of a civil war are very indecent; and they can be no true friends to the Irish Romanists who resort to them. The Papists must be actuated by a very different spirit, before it can be safe to take off the few restrictions which yet lie upon them. They who can talk of flying to arms in the predicament in which they now stand, prove themselves to be wholly unfit for the exercise of power. If humble petitioners presume to threaten à civil war, what have we to expect from triumphant partizans? Let me hope, however, that there are not many who are so weak and so violent as the old gentlewoman Vetula, who uses the signature Vetus,* imagines. "The Times" is a respectable newspaper, and we cannot but express our regret, that the conductor has already foisted upon us no less than twelve letters of gabble. I look up to the PROTESTANT ADVOCATE, to rid us of the trash which for some time has been obtruded on the notice of the public, in the newspapers and other prints. I hope, Sir, that you and your associates will restore the reign of common sense, and revive that love for the British Constitution which distinguished our forefathers, who founded it, at the glorious Revolution, on the ruins of "Popery and arbitrary power." I, for one, am resolved to support the Protestant religion, ever tolerant, against Popery, always persecuting. Protestantism ensures me the continuance of the laws and liberties of my native country; and I shall never be deterred from defending them by any bugbear of " a civil war in Ireland.”

I am, Sir, your most obedient

London Coffee-House,

Oct. 13, 1812.

humble servant,

J. D.

There is

We have been informed that the Writer of these Letters is a young man.

little difference between the inexperience of youth, and the babbling of superannuation. VOL. I. [Prot. Adv. Nov. 1812.] P

To the Editor of the Protestant Advocale.

LORD KIRKWALL.

Mr. Editor-It was not without reason that, in your Preliminary Address, you mentioned the apathy of the country at this momentous crisis. I have looked into the public prints with a view to learn from the advertisements and the speeches, of candidates, or the language of their friends, whether the Roman Catholic Question occupied that attention which, in my humble judgment, it deserved, during the progress of a general election. Mr. Graham notices it in his address to the County of Perth; and Lord Cochrane in his Letter to the Electors of Westminster. In two or three other instances it appears, but not with that emphasis which ought to distinguish it. LORD KIRKWALL, however, speaks of it in a manly style. He thus addresses the Electors of Denbigh, Ruthin, and Holt, in his printed Letter:-" there is a subject on which you have a right, as honest Welshmen, to expect I should speak explicitly, I allude to the Question of Catholic Emancipation, which I pledge myself to oppose, because I am convinced, that if we grant the Roman Catholics an equality of rights, they will, (as indeed they are bound to do by the tenets of their religion,) endeavour to gain an ascendancy; and I need not remind you of the horrors which they have formerly inflicted on our country, in struggling to effect this object. As a firm Protestant, I beg leave to return LORD KIRKWALL my most sincere thanks for thus pledging himself to defend the Constitution of the United Kingdom.* His Electors approved of his principles. Mr. Biddulph, the late member, was ousted, and LORD KIRKWALL was elected to serve in the new parliament, October 15. May the Protestant cause ever prove triumphant !

I am, Sir, your assured Friend and humble Servant, October 15, 1812. D. N. The Burgesses of Denbigh have been consistent. The present ministry came into office, March 24, 1807; and on the 18th of April this aucient borough addressed the KING; requesting his Majesty to "vouchsafe them to express the gratitude and admi. ration with which they were penetrated by the recent instance of his Majesty's firm adherence to the PROTESTANT INTEREST, his conscientious regard to the CORONATIONOATH, and to the principles which seated his predecessors of the illustrious House of Brunswick on the throne of these realms." In the same Gazette of April 25, 1807, is recorded also, an Address from the Borough of Ruthin; from which we give an extract; 66 penetrated with the deepest sense of that most dignified and decided support which your Majesty hath recently and so conscientiously vouchsafed TO THE PROTESTANT ESTABLISHMENTS OF THIS LAND, as settled at the Revolution, against any attempts which might have been made to subvert the same; we, in common with every true friend of religious and civil freedom, must implore your Majesty's gracious acceptance of our sincere and heartfelt thanks and gratitude.-Long may your Majesty (under the auspices of Divine Providence,) continue to reign in the hearts of your subjects, THE FOSTERING FATHER OF THE PROTESTANT FAITH, AND THE GUARDIAN OF THE LAWS AND LIBERTIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.",

ADDRESSES:

In order to inspirit the Protestant friends of our glorious Con stitution in Church and State, and to let them see by what a host they are supported in their efforts,, we have thought it right to make out a list of the ADDRESSES presented to the King in the year 1807-when the Protestant interest prevailed, the soi-disant TALENTS were dismissed from the exercise of that power to which they were always unequal, and the ever-to-be-lamented MR. PERCEVAL, and his friends, succeeded to the administration of the affairs of this realm, under our revered SOVEREIGN, to whose conscientious regard for his coronation-oath, it is owing, that we have yet a Constitution to defend.-We now call upon the addressers of 1807, to shew their sincerity in 1812, by again addressing the throne, and convincing the Legislature, both in its hereditary and representative branches, that the voice of this Protestant country is against granting the plausible pleas of the Romanists, or confiding in the tender mercies of Papists. We hold the addressers to be our firm friends, to a man; and, as they would prove themselves consistent, we adjure them to come forward and redeem the pledges which they have given.-We have thought that we could not be too exact or too minute in the references to the gazettes, which we hope will be found very correct.

March 24, 1807.-New Ministry sworn in. Addresses from the High Sheriff and Grand Jary of the County of Denbigh (Page 393.)

The Mayor, Bailiff, Burgesses, and other Inhabitants of the Town of Northampton. L(p. 452.)

The Lord Provost, Magistrates and Council of the City of Edinburgh.-Clergy, Frees holders, Merchants, Manufacturers, and other Inhabitants of the Town of Bolton and is vicinity.(p. 453.)

The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.-The Mayor, Bailiffs and Cornmonalty of the City of Winchester.-(p. 490.)

The Freeholders of the County of Edinburgh.—(p. 491.)

The Bailiff, Burgesses and Commonalty of Daventry.-The Provost, Magistrates and Council of Haddington.-The Mayor, Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Borough of Leices ter.-The Inhabitants of the Town of Stamford and Stamford Baron.—The Dean of Guild and Guildry of Stirling.-(p. 511.)

The Convener, Deacons and whole Incorporated Trades of the City of Aberdeen.P.512.)

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