The National Register.
London, England, 1818-01-19 00:00:00

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

ON THE LATE MELTING TO CELEBRATE THE
REFORMATION, WITH REMARKS ON THE
CLAIMS OF THE " ROMAN CATHOLICS."

"The Protestants in Prance bear office in the State, be-
" cause, though their religion be different, yet they ac-
" knowledge no other King but the King of France. The
ss Papists m England. they moist have a King of their own,
" a Pope, that must do something in our Kingdom, therefore
" there is no reason they should enjoy the adlllt privileges.
" Amsterdam admit,. of all religions hut Papists, and 'tic upon
" the same account. The Pa pints where er they live, have
" another Rive Homo ; all other religions are subject to the
" Fest:lit State, and have no Prince else% here."
Ss LIMN'S " Table Talk."

IN our last number we made some observations,
arising out of two Meetings lately held in the metropolis
hiving for their object the relief of poor distressed Sai-
lors, and others : we come now to notice a little, ano-
ther Meeting of a very different description, held at the
City of London Tavern, on the last day of the Old
Year. On that day a numerous assembly of highly
reputable persons met together at the above place, in
pursuance of public, advertisement, for the purpose of
celebrating the Tri-centenary of the Great Reforma-
tion from the errors of Popery, which begun in Ger-
many, under the preaching of Martin Luther, just
three hundred years ago, and was effected in this coun-
try nearly about the same perisd. To the liberal mind
it must be a pleasing source of reflection, that we live
in a day when religious professors of various denomi-
nations, with their Clergy at their head, are found
meeting and uniting with their brethren of the Esta-
blished Church, to commemorate an event, fraught
with the most valuable blessings to the Christian com-
munity at large, and from which they derive not only
the enjoyment of religious liberty, but all those rights
and privileges wlich are founded upon a just know-
ledge of the doctrines of the Bible ; which, as a learned
Judge has observed, firm a part of our laws, and which
sacred treasure the Reformation first laid open to man-
kind. By the wise and salutary measures which have
since been adopted from time to time, the Scriptures
arc now to be found in the hands of almost every per-
son cai,able of reading their contents ; and such is the
improved state of society, resulting from that light
which ha:: beamed upon the human mind iu consequence
of the Reformative, that an ur.ivcrsal system of educa-
tion prevails, and not on.y children, but persons ad-
vanced in years, are provided with teachers to enable
thc:a to participate in that divine effulgence, which has
ten.:cd so much to the advantage and improvement of
nianiind in every Protestant country. The Episcopa-
lian, the Anabaptist, the Presbyterian, the Quaker,
may all, with the greatest cordiality, join in an Asso-
ciation of this kind ; for, whatever may he their minor
and unimportant distinctions, they alike value the pei-
*alleges they derive from the above grand epoch, and
such a Meeting as this, must have the effect of promot-
ing that harmony and brotherly love, which ought to
be found pervading the breasts of Christians of every
denomination.
On this occasion, the Chair was filled by the Duke
of Sussex, and it must have been a pleasing reflection
to his Royal Highness, that in the act in which he was
engaged, he was patronizing a subject which ever lay
near the heart of his Royal Parent—the Religious
Liberties of his People ;—a consideration which ever
induced hbn to resist any attempted innovation
bearing upon so importers', a point, either in Church
or State.—lt is well known that his Majesty uni-
formly set his fan: against those pretended claims
'which have from time to time been set up by the Pa-
pists, * and to which the Legislature has hitherto beer,
and we have no doubt ever will be orpet.,,,
patible not only with ILligious In..t our civil
rights, and the li,n;llincs and well-beirer of secicty at
large.—lt is a truth, as is observed by " the learned