The Sun.
London, England, 1813-01-01 00:00:00

puniAnuents tipou the mo.-nlie, of their own
church ; and ail thic.;, 'Wit 11014 w ~rriction or
interference on the part,of out Coy ernment:.,
great indeed is the liberality of sentiment which
prevails:towards Papists, both iii public and pri-
vate, that Parliament has crested, ‘11(1 supports,
by annual grant, an extensive Etininary- for the
eclat:kip:o ,of Popish priests ; aitul Protem all tS
have contributed largely to the erection of Popish
•,c,h,,apels,.' in'any. m parts Ireland. Such is the
aCtual ~,tltte,of toleration ,or toleratio, r of something more*
that% toleration, in this king-do:a. And it should
be iciwn'ked, that the lanf4.uage held by the
`their petition to J,:arliaittent, Vove.s
(their con3cionstie of poes.:,ipg te14,,-ious liberty,
to the utmost extent;. since their_ application, is
only 'fir that degree: pOlitiiid power,: from
:which they are at pre:spnt ex '111(letl. The late
says to Papists, you troy fortri your °wit r.erprions
opinions, you inay icxereise.,your owo mode of,
worship, hccausethcse aro,unalieltable rit4hti with

which m civil Gotyerzunclit ought to interfere.---
But hi this, as in every other wition/litws are to
be innate and to be executed ; public! offices are to
be filled, and their various, duties dis,harged ; and
into these situations of. power .and trust you are
not to be admitted, because you hold Opinions in-
compatible with the safety of our Cunt; taint)
. .

both' in Church and State.
If Nve search into the annals of the civilized
world front thetremot.:-.t antiquity to the present
time, we shall find that in all the varied forms of

Government which prevailed, there have been in-
stitutions of a religious as %yell as of a political na-
ture. Every natio►►al
,constitution, with perhaps
4 single exception, has had ita religious as well
as its political part; and these parts ,arc• generally,
if not always, so blended and entwined together,
that the one cannot be destroyed, w►thout immi-
nent danger to the other. , Self-preservation
is allowed to be the first law of nature, as far

as individuals are concerned ; and in every col-
lective body of men, formed into social com-
pact, it is a . paramount duty to provide for
the protection and preservation of those 11;,,s
and of that constitution, under which they have
agreed to lire. These provisions. most necessarily
be differentunder different circumstances; but, there
steins to be one principle applicable to,evevy form
of Government, namely, that those who are invest-
ed with the power over any community should be
sincerely atached to the fundamental •from
which the constitution derives its essence and OW-
racte'r. Protestantism is an essential part of the
British constitution ; and. therefore the constitn-
thm does not allow the King to be a Papist, be-
cause a Cling could not he, expected to
maintain a Protestant :establishment. It is ~%!so-:
a prineiple of our constitution, that the King
should have advisers in the discharge of every part
of his Royal functions—and is it to be imagined,
that Papists would advise measures in support of
the clause of Protestantism ?---A similar observa-
tion may be applied ist the two House 4 of Parlitt-
! mem. Would Popish Peers or POpish Members
ofahe fionse of Commons enact laws for the 'secu-
rity of the Protestant :Government.? Would they
not ratian-; repeal the whole Protestant. code, and
make Popery again the established religion.of the
.conntry
It has, been asserted, that because Papists are
good soldiers and sailors,.they wo4l be honest and
faithf tsl ministers of .state. This is by no inennsin
necessary inference. We admit that too much can
not be saidln praise of the cheerful obedience and
mid:witted, bravery of those of our Popisi, fellow-
subjects, who have engaged in the service ,of their
country. But soldiers, anti sailors are instruments
in the hands ref others.; they act as they are ordered,'
and hitherto they have been under the command of
men devoted to the King and to the Constitution.
It is otherwise with respect to Ministers of State.
It is their business:to direct----to fraum
to propose measures of foreign policy and internal.
Government. Whoever is acquainted with' the
public concerns of,this country, must know, that
the whole complicated machine of its Government
is conducted by one 'person, or by a small number
of persons, of superior energy and talents. how
"Telt then, must be the danger in having these
felt persons disaffected to one of the essential parts
of our constitution? Let us suppose, that there had
been no test-laws, no disabling statutes, in the
:year 17.15,, when an attempt was made to over-
th,roW the Protestant Government, and to place a
Popish Sovereign upon the throne of these king-
doms ; and let us suppose, that the leading men in
the I lenses of -Parliament, that the Ministers of
State, and the commanders of our armies, had then
been Papists. Will any one contend, that that for-
midable, rebellion, supported as it was by a foreign
enemy, would have been resisted with the same
zeal, and suppressed with the same facility, as when
all the measures were planned and executed.bysin-
cere Protestants, who knew and felt that the con-
test.in which they 'lt ereengaged, was to decide,
whether this country was, again to be plonged,into
all the inistrifis of Popish tyranny, or to-continue
to enjoy all the blessing,s of a Protestant. Govern-
ment, Such a change of,ciriumstances miAllt have
caused tt very different result:from that, which was
iii List sr.t depisiye aS to put an end to all attempts
to establish POpery by force in these
;Does any, one employ in hiSpriv:ite concerns those
wli,n.A lie thinks disaffected to his interest who he
knotVS WOUld I:6oiCe. ill Ilk diSgn:Ce raiii I'-
4\lld place Men, whose principle,; would
lead them to introduce flopery arb't -
;at y 110 WOI•
iii pnblie,iituations; the duty of Which is to maintain
mir free civil Constitution, iltid to protect 0111 Mire
PrOcbtillit.est.thliSlitnent 'Were Papists invested
with po,N er , they conld not: litit be solieiton, to
overthryw an establishment, which they believe to
be. heretical and founded in error ; ana to sobsti_
titte th.lt relig*ln to which they
'exclusively c,,ltinlc4l. 1110 re sincere Psu Aro,
the 11ii rt vager they must be upon thL, p° at.

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