The Sun. — London, England, 1819-04-17 00:00:00

tlimn and Mary, C. William and Mary, C. 15, and C. 2U. FOIL THE SUN. ROMAN CATHOLICS. LETTER 11. MR. EL/IVOR—In toy last, Letter I endeavoured to drew how deeply interested Protestant Dissen ters art in the Roman Catholic' Question.' I shell now resume the subject, and treat it as con nected ith. the Revolution of 1888. The Revolution of 1688 may be truly characterised as the Palladium of Toleration ; it was an sera when despotic Mo narchy was compelled to bow to those laws which foreign in fluence had prompted it to disregard, and when freedom of Conscience first began to exist under Legislative protection. Toleration can scarcely be said to have been understood pre s•ions to this period. It is hue, the Protestant Religion had subsisted in the Empire more than a century antecedent, but it had subsisted rather in name than in fact; i!s energies hid been alma at completely paralyzed by the restless and sidrits of those who still mortally tilted the Re f.,' miation ; and who were therefoie obliged to be bound f lown i►y most severe penal Laws, in order to produce arty desire.. of tranquillity. It may readily be conceived, that tinder such nittowarti eiletinoitlnces as these, Protestantism tad no opportimity of evincing its mild and benefice!) t effects; uphel.las it was liy the severe St ntottes of Charles and Eli4altetli, it merely hnd an exotic existence ; and it was reserved for the-Revolution to place it upon a firm AO sure basis, and to give it :rll opportanity of eviocing itsreal prin ciples:. What then were the Laws which the great and wise men who were concerned in sel t hat glorious event duetneti it necessary to make, in order to secure the Protes tarn Establishment from datr4er and hostile attack ? It is clear, that at this period, Protestant Dissenters were not viewed as objects of suspicion ; indeed it would have been surprizing had tliey been su, since the reign of Charles 11. had 'sticky') that Protestant Dissent was as odious to' the Ro man Catholics as a Protestant Establishment. An Act was therefore passed (I William and Mary, cap. 19.) for exempt ing Protestant Dissenters from the penaltitis - of certain Laws which had been enacted, in several Reigns subsequent to the Reformation, upon condition of taking certain Oaths, These Oaths weie expressive of allegiance tothenewly elected Sore teign, arid contained a solemn denial of certain doctrines (lithe Church • of Rome, and oft he right of the Pope, or any foreign Prince. to exercise any sAiritnot jorisdif tion within this realm. Considering the violent oppo.ition which the Roman Catholics bad evinced to tae Revolution, it is not to be wondered at, that the newly-received system of toleration was not c,inceded to than. Accordingly we and, that the srst acts passed after the Revolution were acts for removing Ronan Catholics from London and Westminster, and from a certain circuit around, the cam: fur disarmin; them, and for resting in the two 17niveusities the presentations. of an beneSees bdonging to lion,* The Revolution was an event which had for its objtcts both a religious and a political Establishment. I shall net stop to diECLUS at thii time of day the• necessity of the former to se cure permanency and respect for the latter but shall content myself with ebdcavouring to prove how intimately the tordiute question under consideration is connected with that era, which brought with it liberty and hope, and dispelled the gloomy vapours of Monkish superstition. The character of the Revolution was an arduous, a firm, but a triumphant struggle against a Popish Sovereign, sup ported ley Popish advisers and foreign interference. What says the Bill of Rights ? It sets out with telling us, that " King James the Second, by the as:dsdance of dicers evil Counsellors, Judges, and Ministers, employed by him, did en deavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom."—Now, if words can speak stronger than these to express the intimate connection which was then supposed to subsist between Protestantism and English Liberty,l am much deceived. It is observable that this is the preamble of the Bill, and what is a preamble but a keg to disclose the Motives which induce the Legisla ture to pass any particular measure ? It however has been contended by those who support the present Claims of the Roman Catholics, and who yet profess to be entirely guided by Revolution principles, " that the Bill of Rights does " not say a word about the Protestant Religion, that the " thirteen Declarations which it contains as to the Rights of " the People are equally true whatever is the form of Re " • ligioo, whether Protestant, Catholic, or even Mahometan '' and that, therefore, the Roman Catholic Question is not " so intimately connected with the Revolution as some have " supposed." In answer to this, it may surely be urged, that Protestantism was the grand object of that memorable period ; it is true, the thirteen Declarations do not in them selves contain any 'express mention of the Protestant ligion, but the Preamiile to them says cat we have seen), that King.Taines had violated the Constitution in the parti eitiars enumerated, " for the purpose of subverting the Pro testant Ityligion„ and the Laces and Liberties of the King (ane." • And who hauled the thirteen declaratory Clauses? Does not tbe mil tell us, that they were framed " Gy and " with the ad, ice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and " dicers principal oersons of the Commons, OrING PROTES. " TANTS ?" It is unfair to quote the Declarations without the Context, and if that' be taken in, there is an end of the Question as to the intimate connection of Ole Bill of Rights with the Protestant Religion. It is indeed impossible to read this roust in.portant Act without coming to the conclu sion, that England is a Protetart government, governed by a Protestant King, and that the Established Church is to be protected :lad preserved. How true the declaration of the Lord Hardwiehe ! " If you sufrer your religious Esta blishment to be broken in upon, you nut only.eudanger the Established Church, but your Civil Liberties!" The cirenonstances attending the reign of James, and the interval broils which had existed ever since the Reformation, had dearly established the position, that an union of Church send State inust take place, and that any disjunction of the one from the other, or any controul over the former by a foreign Power, was fatal to English LiLerty, which, though it dawned at' Runnymeade, and was fought for at Cressy, Poietiers, sued Agincourt, was not established upon a basis snfliciently strong to admit of toleration to conflicting religious opinions, until 1688: Yes! that was the period which laid the founda tion of that " personal, literary, philosophical, and religious " liberty, which we now enjoy. The times of Alfred and the " Saxon Monarchs were times of darkness and confusion. lie " the victorious days of Edward 111. and Henry V. ignorance " and Popery prevailed, the land was,uncivilized ; and the " tottattiOtt -people were little betlar I ban alaaas to the fls. V 1 ' rens 0 ." Th.- testimony borne to this point by Mr. Hume, (whese partiality to the house Of Stuarr, and indifference to allreligionea - are well known), is remarkait ; speaking of the sera suhsequent to the Revolution, lie says," So long and so " glorious a period no nation almost can boast of, nor is there " another is s'ance . in the whole History of Mankind, that so " many millions of people have, during such a space of time, " been held together, in a manner so free, so ratior.al, and " so suitable to the dignity of human nature-j•." But to return.—We hive already seen that the Bill of: Rights was formed far the especial protection of the Protest-- ant Religion against all attacks of Popery and arbitrary power. This provision (as appears from its preamble) became es sentially necessary on account of the conduct of King James, whose object it was to establish the Roman Catholic Reli gion, and to destroy those securities with .which the Consti tntiou bad guarded the 'Prote , :tatit i Establishment. This was his deouign when that misguided Monarch imprisoned Bishops, levied taxes without authority of Parliament, and abolished test Was; alai these were amongst the acts which occa sioned a Revolution that drove a legitimate Monarch from the Them,. because be violated the compact with the people by which be held his Crown, and 'endeavour ed to subvert that religions establishment which they teaarded as the 'bulwark of then Liberties. The peat object of the Revolution was religious, civil, and political Liberty together; and it was as much one of its principles that the State should be Protestant, as that the Govern ment should be limited. The Constitution had indeed been undergoing A most serious change ever since the iteroima t ion—a eltanae hostile to Popery,.'but favourable to Liberty. Through litany ta lids, dangers, and impedimenta, this change had bee:, slawl y making its way, and that week (no :natter from what motives) which was begun he an .Henry,' was completed by the people themselves, aided by a beloved So vereign. The Establishment founded at this juncture was ., one raised upon the ruins of Roman Catholic Power ; and why was it so ? Because Roman Catholic Principles had been found from experience to be hostile to a free Government. — Milton, Locke, Temple, and Somers, have recorded this opinion ; but we need not refer to Opinions of men, however eminent, on this subject, since the legislative records of that period satisfactorily prove the point. If this were not so, ' why should the Declaration against Transubstantiation have been passed in the reign of King Charles the Second ? Was' not that Declaration required to be signed by every Member ' of the House of Commons, and what could this- be done for but to peep Roman Catholics cut of Paaliament ? What was the Oath of Supremacy framed for at the Revolution, but fur the same pin pose, and why did that oath assert, that " no Foreign Poker ought to hare any jurisdiction, either civil or religions, within this realm," except it were to prove, that a complete resistance to the power of the gtoman See, tt and an exclusion of Roman Catholics from Pat li:talent, were necessaia before the Liberties of the People could be esta blished upon any firm or permanent basis ? These facts clearly thew, that the Statutes which were passed at the pc-. rinds to which we have referred, were Statutes not enacted for a temporary purpose, lint for the general security of the Protestant Estahlishment. It was found that Popery Oil the one hand, and Fanaticism on the other, were alike inimical to English 'Ft tedom, and the Establishment as then settled was esteemed the happy meeliom upon which English Freedom could alone repose for security. Indeed a the Revolution inay strictly be called the Ac 4 and Deed of the People; it was not the work of any turbulent or factious Demagogues, who were at. prompted to embark its it from au hope that they might rise into consequence upon the ruins of fallen Majesty: on the contrary, it was an event brought about entirely through the imprudence of Majesty itself, by an attempt to abuNsta the Protestant Religion, " for which such great calamities had " been sulfured, in order to establish on its ruins a mode of " faith, which repeated acts of the Legislature had pro " scribed, and prescribed, not because it tended to establish " in England the doctrines of Transubstantiation and Pur " gat*, doctrines in themselves of no political moment, hut " because the unlimited power of 'the Sovereign had been " made one of its principal tenets.":' These were the real causes Of the ever-to•be-remembered event which we have been contemplating ; Roman Catholic principles were the occasion of it; to guard agaiustßoman Catho!ic interference was its primary object. The results which proclaimed the' success of Protestant exertion were great indeed; the, prin ciple of imposing Taxes without consent of Parliament was declared t o be illegal ; the dispensing power claimed by the Crown was abolished; the right of petitioning seas obtained, aril the Libery of the Press was established. These, there , fore, which are now holden op as the grandoiltietaa and prin ciples o f Whiggism, were attained id consequence of the ou position of a Protestant People to a Popish Novereigit. Is it not therefore reasonable to suppose; that the RomanaCa tholics will remember this.? Will any tune venture to ;arm, that these objects wouldhave been ,gained, or rather pre served, had the restrictive Statutes to which we have alluded not have passed ? These considerations, however, I shall defer for another lettera and having, I think, sliewu that the Revolution of Ina§ encircled a Protestant Throne with a Protestant Parliament. and Protestant Miniseere, and took especial care to guard against all foreign Roman Catholic in terference and political asceotlancy at home, I shall endea your in my next to examine how those who cAli themselves WHiGs, and profess a sincere adherence to the Revolution of last, can consistently support the present claim of the Roman Catholics. 'roues, &c. Leicester, 14th April, Ma. . BIiPPANXICVS, s• Vide Dr. Kippi,i's Sermon preached before Ile Revolu tion Sr cioy in 1768. t History of England, W. and M. De Loline, p. 54. • • SOMERSETSHIRE COUNTY MEETING ON THE „CATHOLIC CLAINIiL—We. are desired to state, that 'the Requisition, against which an angry Protest has-appeared - in the Sherborne Newspaper of last Monday, was sent to the High Sheriff i 4 the County Init ten days 'ago, and that it oinfaius nearly ninety names of the Magistracy, Clergy, and others, and which were affixed . to it, not through the medium of an active canvass, as has been insinuated, but spontaneonsly, and front a conviction of the great national importance of the subject, and the propriety of the measure which it proposed. Neither does the Requisition breathe the spirit of intemperance, nor is it - in any shape a remnant of election politics. It merely solicits the Sheriff, at his own convenience and discre tion, to assemble this great county, that they may have an opportunity of petitioning the. Houses of Parliament on a vital question to the tititish Con stitution. The Requisitioners desire to call, in a firm but temperate and respectful menner, for the interference of the Grand Connell of the nation, and to express their Opinions and feeling S, accord ing to one of 11. e dearest rights of the lititish subject, throng!, the medium of Petition ; be• lieving, as they do, that the concessions sought by their Roman Catholic fellow subjects are preg nant with mischief desirnetive of our happy Con stitution.—(Tutintou, 30th Mora, 1819 ) LI fERATIV The SSW of VIRGIL. Translated by CtiAttLES STMMos's, D.D. of Jesus Collegv, Oxford.— ito. I:4Q Vella videraur, et in rnedii3 conatibils mgrx Succidialas,,non Lin; arc vd!et. We have founittbe - columns which we haiev4e• (Heated to Irtkom and his last Translator suge neraliy acceptable to offr critical Readers, we regret .the necessity imposed on its of occa sionally suspending them ; •and we lOok forward with concern to the period whets, from an ex haustion ot the mine, we shall no longer be able to diversify our Paper with this classical material. In our regular progress through Dr. SYMMONS'S it:lek, we have now entered on the Notes which are attached to the Seventh' Book ; and from thN portion-of the work we lately extracted what ap peared to us to he a complete vindication of the last six hooks of the AugtAtan Epic flow that charge of inferiority to which they have generally been exposed. On the present occasion we shall produce other Notes, which refer likewise to the defence of the great Roman Poet from some charges of smaller motnent, and we ate free to confess that, as the advocate -of his Author, Dr. SYMMONS seems to us to be, eve' y instance, entirely successful. We must avow also that, in this - age of false taste and - of illegitimate poetry, we regard it as of public utility to exhibit the kind of poetry which bears - the impress of immor• !silty, and to illustrate, as minutely as possible, the conduct of a Poem which has reached us with the admiration of neatly twenty centuries.— B. vii, 48. " Now Erato, attend," &c. " Some critics have advanced that this part of end the .rEneis is the commencement ~ of a ,new.second action ; and have adthiced this invoea i‘ut of the :Muse in evidence of the tt tub of their as sertion, But as Nvell might they attentpt to prove, trout the invocation of the Moses by llomtts . When he is shout to enumerate the forces ot the contending armies, that he inteoded to begin 'ail act ion distinct from.the great aelon ot his Poem This part or the action its the illueis is evidently that to.wbieh all that has preceded it, is directly referable, and to invoke the Muse is customary w ith our rust, whenever any events of especial. importance are to be related by hint. His choice ot Erato on this occasion, as the, subject of his invocation, has fancifully been supposed to be consequence of the love, which is imputed as the cause of the sanguinary conflicts in the succeed jog Books. If, its the beginning of the Fourth Book, the Poet had invoked this peculiar Mine,, whose name designates her as the Muse of Love, 1 should have concurred its the opinion of. his appropriated •design. But the Poets, es' is well known, frequently invoke any ot the Misses indifferently, whatever may be their particu lar topic ; and lucre, Erato, as 1 reel per suaded, is invoked me.rely as the representative of the sisterhood ot Pat nas,us. _ Love, in deed, bas very little concern with the action in the last six hooks_of the ZOneis. Without any refer ence to the Princess, ./Eneas solicits, for nothing . more than an es'ahlistment in boily ; and it is calm ksble that Inc mentions her only once, when on the contingency ot ltii victoi y over Timms, he proposes to give her name to the city which be shall brutal. Site was, as it were, forced on him by F ate an d t h e G,;(1 6 , for the incorporation of the two Nations ; and site seems to have engaged y e ry little, if any, of his attention. Even with Tornus, who was the avowed lover, prde and a sense of invaded rights, rather than love, appear to have been the inflnencing motives of his conduct. The Maiden, indeed, herself, as there can be no question, was attached to Turnns, an d prayed, as is probable, very fervently, with her Mother,. for the destruction of the alien and intrusive .2 - Eueas. But her inclinations are with out effect upon the action. She is the entire pro perty of her Father and the State, and she is more a mute, among the persons of the drama, than Glycerin's] (for Glyceyitsm does utter a few. words behind the scene) •in the. Audi hos Of Te rence; Lavinia, in short, - has nothing to do in the piece but to blush, and to,weq,' and to gait the deciSion . of the vvar.":.• L. 623. " A stag of beauteous form," &c. " The death of a tame stag, the favourite of a Country Girl, has been considered by some Cri tics? and, among others,' by the lively Vour-Atc2, as a cause inadequate to the producNon of a uar. not it seems to me that these ingenious men have taken either an imperfet - Or au erroneous view of the subject. The effective calis'es of the war be tween the Latins and the Trojans, were thelti vaded interests of Tuirins, warmly csponsed by . the Queen, and possessing, by her influence:, ,and by his oern popularity, as a native and an heroics, Prince, the sympathy . of the Litwin people..The' death of the - Tame stag is introduced merely as-an accessary to the principal causes, and for the pur pose of exasperating the mind of the rustic Form- 'Winn . ; and, surely, nothing could bc—betrer adapted to the design for wbidt it was introduced„ The stag which was killed belonged tit the fathily of Tyrrheus, a Mail who, from his ofiice, was of prime authority among the landholders and pea sants yof Latium ; man also of considerable con sequence in the state, us we subsequently find his sous commanding the rear of the Latin army. The Creature, likewise, was killed (arid this cir cumstance meat not be overlooked) by strangers, intruding . upon their coasts, who would lotoraliY be the objects of popular animosity awl sospicion.• In the tray which, in the common course of thing 4„ ensues, Lattan blood is shed, the blood of one of the sons of Tyrrheus himself, and of a man re nowned throughout the country, for the extent of his possessioos and the amiabienes of his charac ter : nay, to el%e greater aggravation to the of fence in this last instance, the man is shin as he is endeavouring to pacify the irritated partiPs, and to mediate a peace. Surely, then, the death of the mute stag, with all its dependence of strongly concatenated events, cannot be regarded us too trivial to be admitted among the co-operating causes which hurried the Latins into war. If it had been assigned as the chief, or even us the sole cause of the hostilities between the nations, I am not certain that I could have condemned it for inadequacy to its effect. Nothing, in tact, is little, which is naturally anti firmly connected with an important result. 'Elie whole desci Viol) of the stag is highly beautiful.'' f ~.i TEI EATRICAL GISE it. 'Performed Lad Night. '[ln PMYAL, Yarico: Jsklef Mr. ; Mis. Orger. After wi icit, Seeing i# Believing. To whien was added (4th time), Ahudali. THEATRE ROYA COVENT-GAKIWN.—(I9iIi time), Ermine Principal (;h erecters try Mr. Maereadv and Mi s s After which (sth time), Furtunatus and . Lis Sons. * 4 . For IMPUISONNMAT Fott DEBT, Mid tiNiVERSITT LICENCE, see the L.Ast Page. rittuE THIS DAY AT 'EV Bank Stock . .25? 3 pet Cent. Ited. .7%* S per Cent , ,C0n5 :. ....721,4 73. 31 per tent Bll 4 per Cents "Witti 5 per Ct. Nary Ann.... 105-41 Bank Long Ann 19 t-16th 7;iI'OCKS urELvE O CLUCK. ImperiaN"per Ct. Ann....71f hatf:t stool ... 4/ India Bonds, :365. 335. Pr; New Annuities .......... 711 Exch. 43. Cons. for May, 7'4 73i 720 MAT),!4 Attrtver,-1 llublin, 1 Waterford, 1 New York. Due-1 Waterford, t Guernsey and Jersey, I . llfince• . . ..• HIGH WATER AT LONDt ti\; BRIDGE TO•MORILO W. Morning, 3:1 niinnit.s after 8. Et'ening, 59 minutes after 8: THE SUN. •OLEM (,LUIS PICERE FALSUM AUDEAT ? LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1819. We received this morning the Paris Papers 4 1 1 : . '- Weduesilay last. The Chamber of Deputies 1 04 no public Sitting on Tuesday, the Members being—r•'' occupied in their Bureaux. The following extracts " CHAMBER OF PEERS, TuEsDAY, ArraL " The Cbstnber assembled in then Bureaux° examine the proposition relatice to substituti u6 , another puuishutet►t for deportation. " At-the public S.fting , larshiil the Couut• Jrnirdan, one of the new Peers, took his seat " The 'Stron de Moulalemberr, -Eroother 097 Peer; his title having been verified, was ordered ! GI be admitted at the next Sitting. " The Minister of War preserved a t'rojet rc specting• ti►e' liabilities imposed with re:l4oc°' to the defence of the State. Referred ,to iliire,inx. The Order of the Day was read for the ks cus.ion of the Plojet for opening at.miliary b o( ' - in the Dcpartniews for tbe . transfer of five P er There being no speaker _inscribed to or pose it, the Chamber did not thiolciLnee eisarY to hear those inscribed to support it. After the provisional adoinion of Cite ell 5 a scrutiny was taken upon the whole VI oje: , there appeared in its favour, 1 lo—.Ag-ainst it, 6 : l ' The Pit:side:it pioclainted its adoption. ' " The Nrink , er of Filiattee preseoted.tbe "; hacco Proict, as agreed' to by the (panther Deputies.--Referred to the Bureaux. • f el " A Special Committee "of' five w as appolo' to consider the , Plopositiou respecting'subs:ittit ill4. another punishment for Deportation.—Adjoorneil. Cent 9. " PAats, Amur. 14 : -1'he Persian Ambassadcr had a private atOence of the King ye 9 ter d9/. ' and took leave of his, Majesty. . " The Count. Decazes has been for some dais indisposed, which has pievented hi, trinsacri4 business with the King. " Monday M. Dclarieux, President o f ti' s Court of Ass;zes, imetrogated Cantillon awl Nl'''. rintt, charged with attempting to assassinate tl)°. Duke of Wellington. " The Persian Ambassador sets out for I,°l3`l'''' on Saturday or Sunday next. FIVE PER CENTS. Tuesday .67 f. 3° c' DEFERRED STOCK. Of the (22:1 Marc!), 18:7, 85 f 55" - --51ed--sep4. 1817; ~ .12d Mardi, 1818, Bl 1. hs''' 2'211 Srpt. !PI 8, 2.2 d ? March, 1819, 77 f. 40 g• " FRANKFoRT, APRIL 8.— , -11 we ma,' belie ' one of the German Journals, several writers that country, and even other persons who er e .(1 garde(' as secret agents of Russia, have receil , Ilionymotts letters, in which they arc call ed to change their system and conduct, 4 1 " 111°1 I ,f render thClilelvS guilty of what the witcri thy' the letters call Treason tovvaid my s Gersn ; o; ttrl wise pas the writers) they most y to themselves the Meiancholv events of which way become the victims. These letter 9, I t • are all hegan,Py this species of m y s tic sen te ' — '' (;f1(1 is Vivat l'eotonia•" '• that " MADRIn, Arta; t, 2.—lt i s understood 99xhe : cho4:4 of the has fallen o n a rrilice of navariii," s nb . 'rite Freedom of the Press seem.= to be th e FrO ce' Pet chiefly intelesting to the Po eple of at least at l'Aris, at the present moment, nod Elle be discussion[` this ittiport ant topic seems to palieutly pt!eted. But the truth t h a t thePeor ie .)I FrAnce are not of a temper to be trosed Wi tt ' ti • 13tiosIb" Free Press. It . was justly ohsetved by PA:ITE to the hOdry Traitor LA FA Y ETTgo t"C lit; France had a Fee Press, neither of the"' free would probably live a week long er '' use of the Press at the cimtros-ncement of 1 " Revolution, chicfly contributed to produce all the horrors with which it wa s attended, awl from the satir e cause would the same etr.:ct he the ineOtallss result. The amiable Lou.s ti2ILF, Ow/ ';~, 1. il, ty, s 'end, i' vE! row li s ,,, abl e hi,