The Sun.
London, England, 1819-05-03 00:00:00

FOR THE SlJ:\t.

CLAIMS TO 14,%1-ANCIPAIION.

II EDITOR—in answer to a question at the
end of a Letter signed Barms, in your Paper of
the 26th nit., I send you the following extracts
from a work lately published :
" The present Protestant Constitution in
and State, established in the 16th Cen-
wail confirmed And perfected in the 17th.
The noble fabric of the BRITISH CONSTITUTION
is the tesuir.

"Tiq, lie limnation liberated us from the tyranny
of km 117 reign jitriSdietlol), which not only usurped
n siTretne contro,l over our Chinch, hut, through
.pi. itual influence, often over the 6%11 lights
of the

" To our separation from the Church of Rome
we owe the inestimable piiivileges of ot-ir Pro-
tes!ant E.A.Ablishrnent, whicli our ancestors Iruird-
cd by testricthins and disabilities, to exclude from
power !he adhereots of the Pore and his Church.
These b4:ticrs we are now railed nt on to throw
•tvo. by that very Church agiiinst whicli they are
providfd, mid` this without any attempt
to show tii;it tic Chtirib of Route has in any
111411,,, r renounced the right of jurisdiction over
Papists in this country, which was the cause of
our .epsrstion.

" rept•ttl of these disabilitirs is not simply a
VleAStire of (lUllger, hin of deetroetintt—immetitice
tletovot7tion to the present Coqstittition. Tile re.
olovsl of all disabilities %void(' no loneer leave oS
Al 13, otroitaot Establi.ltment. To abrogate the
Staitilei tor the Fake of ,%11‘) hit
biect to the Pope's ittris i.•tioti, is to acktiov‘t.
,)edge agAin the i.iipreimacy of the Pope.

" The removal of the (ii!Oibilif irs would not in-
deed put !lir P,ipists posSessiorm of
the mimic or the Great (flees of Government.
hot it would give 111-111 the eapat!ity of possessing
If !ern ; and if such possession be subversive of our
Constitution, can it he consistent with prudence
or jwitice to the body of a Protestant community
to grant such capaciiy f' If our Reformers were
lint senseless enthusiasts, but holy and mplaunted
martyrs to the Gospel, and to the indepeodence
of their Co:wily; if the Reformation was not a
Causeless separation, but a ticces;ary vindi,•ation
of the !uny of Christian worship, and of our
ancient rights anal privileges, we cannot but op-
pose the conce•sion of el,miins which would ex-
tingukh all the fruits of the Rcformation.
Time question before the Public is not a ques-
tion of mere State Policy. It involves the safety
of Chorch and State. It affects the integrity of
tie Protestant Establishment. Tlme privileges,
which the Papists claim, are indeed wholly po-
litical, but the restriction which viselmides them
floor those privileges is wholly spiritual it is
their arknowLrlgonent of the spiritual soretei,;nty of
the Pope. To grant, therefore, the Petimion of
the Papists,-is to undo the great work of the Re-
formation : It is to recognize a pukver superior to
the State of England, and to dissolve the Protes-
tant Constiinti,m,

" Great difficulties, therefore, attend the very
admission of this oprestion as a subject of delibe-
'alio') by those who have taken the OttOttib of su-
premacy. They have sworn, that no foreign
Prelate bath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction,
ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm.'—
_Papis;s cannot take this oath, because they ac-
knowledge the Pope's jurisdiction When we
propose, therefore, for their sake. to dispense
with this oath, svhat do we do ?—We recognize
the jurisdiction, which we hare sworn does not,
and ought not to exist. Papists would readily
take an oath, abjuring -the Pope's civil ju-
risdiction. They would abjure what has no
existence in this country, %Ire need no se-
curity against the Pope's politic.d sovereienty.—
It is the Spiritual Supremacy which cancels cove-
nants and promitts. and annihilates public declara-
tions, which assumes the title of G Vice-ge-
rent, which exdudes Protestants from the pale
of the Christian Church it is against such spi-
-ritnal despotism the English Constitution has pro-
vided by the Oath of Supremacy ; au oath for
,which no equivalent can he found, without re-
nounciog subjection to the Pope.
" it is sail, indeed, that the Irish Papists hate
renounced :he supremacy of,the Pope. What por-
tion of the nourish Church•in Ireland thiS pro-
test conipreheuds, does,not appear (not cettainly
that portion whose Bishops are regularly nomi-
nated by the Pope); but it the whole hotly of the
present Itish Papists were to declare themselves
Protestants as to the Pope's supremacy, such de-
claration, without some public authentic act, can-
not bind their posterity even of the next gene-
ration,—nor even themselves, as is evident front
the 'evocation of a similar declaration of the Eng-
lish Papists not marry years since ; and front some
later traosactions respecting tlieVeto,and still more
recently Irons the followiug acknowledgment of
the Roinao Catholic Prelates : As we are at pre-
sent precluded from any intercourse with our
Supreme Pastor, we feel ourselves utterly lucont-
peteut to propose or agree to any change in the
long-estabiished mode of appointing Irish Roman
Catholic Bishops.'—(Nov. 18, 1812 )
'' The Papists enjoy the utmost liberty of con-
science and religious worship. It they do not
possess all the civil privileges of other subjects,
it is becanse their nonconCormi,y to the English
Constitution withholds them. The great func-
tions of the State are guarded by an oath which
Papists cannot take, because they are subject to
the Pope's jurisdiction, and cannot therefore be
admitted to the privileges which they claim,
without violating the Constitution. They demand
to be admit, eel into the bosom of the Constitution.
They never were within the pale ut the present
Coostitution ; of that Constitutive which, for
more than a century, has been the glory ot Bri-
tain and the envy of all other countries.
" Trite admission of Papists into the Legislattire,
or the hie.% functions rut our Constitution, is not
a subordinate measore; it is a measure which
cannot be adopted. without affec!ing its general
character,—without its ceasing to he. The Ro-
man Catholics are charged with a tro4ance for mak-
ing their claims without proposing any adequate
securities. 1 consider it rather as a proof of their
d,sctontneot. They know that they have no equi-