The Sun.
London, England, 1813-02-03 00:00:00

ROMAN CATHOLIC CLAIMS.

The fallowing is an extract from an excellent
work entitled, "tnE CLAIMS Or rii, ItoiNt.NN
coNsuwatin, WITH' 111,r1iIIRNCE TO TM:
hitrETY 01! TIII: ESTABLISDED,(IIURCH, AND Tilt::
RlGturs RELIutousTOLCIIATION."
[Coutitsued from Mtr Paper of Yesterday.]

" On the other hand, when the Test Act was
passed, .though after an interval of only Mare
years, the danger most dreaded, was the preva.
tenet,. of popery ; and, to guard against that dan-
ger, was the main object of the Act ; which,
however, was likewise intended to affect all kind
of dissenters. Accordingly, by this.statute, which
is entitled " An Act for preventing dangers which
may happen from Popish Recusants," all officers,
civil and military, besides taking the oaths of al-
legiance and supremacy, and receiving the sacra-
Went of the Lord's Supper according to the usage
of the Church of England, are required to sub-
scribe the declaration against transubstantiation :
it being obviously an effectual .mode of excluding
any sect from power, to require, as a test, the ex,
press renunciation of some leading, fundamental
doctrine, of their peculiar, faith. But the alarm,
excited by popery, continued to increase, as the
prospect of a popish successor became more dis-
tinct. Therefore it was 'that, towards the latter
end of the reign of Charles 11: the legislature found
it necessary, with a view to the'securityof govern-
ment; to exclude papists from Parliament. This
was the sole object of the 30th of Cur. 11. st. 2.
which requires. every member sitting and voting
in either hnusc of Parliament, previously to take
the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and to
subscribe the , declaration against transubstantia-
tion. In addition to all this, by the act of su-
premacy, and the declaration Of rights; all persons
holding any office, civil, ecclesiastical, or mi-
liiary, are bound to take the oaths of alle-
giance and supremacy ; and, by the Ist George 1.
c. 13, and 6th George 111. c. 53, the 'oath of
Supremacy, may be tendered, by two justices of
the peace, to any person whout they shall suspect
of disaffection,

" The foregOing statutes may be considered as
so many applications- of tbe general principle,
that it is incompatible with thesaiety of an Esta-
blished Church to entrust power intothe bands of
persons who are' not in community with that
church. For, though in each of those statutes,
an opportunity is takcn tO Make the Oath of al-
legiante;.;---(an oath which c•,',!ry individual may,
at any time,• he called upon to tAc)-.--;a test of af-
fection to the SoVereign, in his civil capacity ;
still it is evident that their main object is to,guard
against the 'danger of entrusting power to noncon-
formists. Such a trust may, 11,,wevee, he attended
with different degrees of danger, according to the
principles maintained bYvarroaS ellisieS of non-
conformiits. Thus, Homan Catholics are- distin-
guished from:Protestant DiStienters by, their recog-
nition of a foreign ecclesiastical supremacy ; and
they are accordingly distinguished by an exclusion
from legislative authority, as well as front political
power.
Thus, of nil classes of nOn-confortnists, the
Itoman Catholics are thoSe in` whose bands the
possession of, power would he most formidable to.
the Established Church, because they are under as
still stronger impulse than any others to promote,
on all occasions-, the ascendancy of their own
gion. Viewing the subject, indeed, on a brOad
ground, this difference is immaterial, beCause the
principle which requires conforinity with an Esta-
blished Church, as a qualification for power, can
never, be sacrificed, ivithont endangering that'
church. When such a sacrifice is called for, it
wosuld be folly to. hesitate on account of any shades
of ditrerence which may be supposed to exist,
with regard to., the danger it may in different cases
be attended with. However remote that danger
may appear, yet, the principle once given up, it
into he.expected that, sooner or later, the BALI -
blishment Must fatally experience the effect-of b&,
iog deptived of its necessary defeuee. tut when
the sacrifice is asked "for in fatroar of notruan Ca-
tholics, it should not be forgotten that, fin the
foregoing reasons, they arc the last 'persons in
whose favour it should be made, if we would
wish to consult the safety of the establiShed real-
glom_ . .

"As far as the question relates distinctly to
Ireland, it is impossible not to, see that the
danger attending such a Sacrifice, in favour of the
Roman Catholics of that country, is immediate,
and at the very door of the Protestant Church.—
In Ireland the supremacy of the ,Pope exhibits a
formidable aspect. That supremacy is there sup-
ported by a,complete popish hierarchy, episcopal,
sacerdotal, and parochial, exercisin,, all manner
of ecclesiastical functions under the immediate
authority of,its foreign head. This circumstance
is peculiar to Ireland, being to be found, neither
in t.ngland,,nor in any other Protestant country.
Among us, certainly, no, such hierarchy exists,
We hear of no titular Archbishop of Canterbury,
no titular 'Bishop of Lon.too, 'rite bead,, 1.4 ti e
famish (Atwell here claim no jilekiliciiou Ever
the different dioceess. They do not appear in the
episcopal character;---they exercise their fttuet ions
under the more -nunshunting title (U. Vicars-apos-
tolie. v But, in Prototant Ireland, every see has
its Popish Bishop, with a regularly constituted
Dean and chapter, exercising their re,inctive
functions under the anthOrity of the see-of Home ;
every parish has its popish priest, who upon oath
has promised true. obedience to the Pope.* In
short, the hierarchy and 'discipline of that church
are there as complete as in any popish country
whatever.

In Ireland, too, it should be renknbered, the
Roman Catholics constitute that overawing ma-
jority, which furnishes the arginuent chiefly relied
on ill support of their claims, Buz, although this
argument is dwelt upon in a manner which seems
to l!uply that the cause, in behalf of which it is
emp4oyed, deserves no support from 'talon, it
will be found, upon examination, to afford but
little real aid to their cause.
'That be Irish noman Catholics form a geest
majority of, the Irish Popnlation is undoubtedly
true though that Utajority is not nearly so great
as it is sometimes represented. But of that kart

wuj.L\Nr Anminn S'onth Moitnnoitrret, Grocratusr-stwa".s
I.J.ertor