The Sun.
London, England, 1819-01-30 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

ROMAN CATHOLICS.

AIR. EDITOR,—The present Session of ParHa-

merit k one which every Protestant will regard! as

pregnAnt with the most important results to his
present safety and religions interests, nod which
every Roman• Catholic will regard with anxious
and fervent expectation. The Parliament now
assembled will most probably decide whether those
satueuards tvhiLb have hitherto protected our glo..
Ilion: Constitution from its enemies within, and
it. 3 assailants without, are still requisite, or whe-
r ttic times have so improved since they were
enacted by our ancestors, as to be no longer ne-
-ce.s

icy
pi.esent purpose is, to call the attention of
yotu Headers to what 1 conceive a most extraor-
dinary and lamentable want cf consistency in Pro-
testant Dissenters with regard to the Homan Ca-
tholic Claims. Generally speaking, the Dissenters
are favourable to the concession of those claims ;.
there are certainly some who are not so, but that
there should he any who are—any who live under
the general influence of religiou lib2rty, is most
unaccountable.

•I am as, great an advocate for religious liberty
as any man can be, and think, that os cultivation
and extension in a free country ought to be pro-
moted by every possible means, The English
Constitution directly recognizes tit; s principle ;
it retards religions liberty in the light of direct
notnrat liberty, and most wisely draws the di,•
tinction between it and civil liberty. A cerraio
portion of natural liberty must be conceded by
those who enjoy and claim swig protection ; and
this concession the Consiiintion requires of her
subjects before she extends her protect i0(1 to
• tkeso ; but as to religions•liberty, that she regards
as being tree as the air we breathe, and therefore
leaves it untetrered—permits every one to enjoy
their own peculiar modes of faith,—only reset v-
ir.g to herself the right of .selecting one for her
own model, and of excluding from the manages
went of lei. concerns those who choose a mode of
faith which trenches too much upon the religious
liberty of others to admit of its members being
100. Rulers or Legislators. This being the case,
Protestant. Dissenters have as much or more in-
terest in any question which affects religious liber-
ty, as any Miler :lass
,of sohjects who enjoy the
protection of the English Constitution; anthve-
nerath.g, as 1 do, conscientious scruples of all
desolptions, I would, on a question like the pre-
sent, treat a Dissenter as my brother, as one hav-
ing as great a stake in the point to be decided as
myself.
That man Must he very little acquainted with
Roman Catholics, and Roman Catholic Fin-
' ciples, if he thinks that empty contplitnents
cat) *conciliate the one, or the extension of
the right hand of fellowship annul the other. A
steady union amongst the members of her faith is
• one of the chief advantages which the Rotnish
thoreh. possesses ; and in this she leads a ienst
instructive lesson to all Catholic Churches; for
whilst some are torn with the conflicting opinions
of their professed metnhers, controversy oc•
espies • the place which the hiceleation of plait)
tenets should fill, the Church of Rome moves
in solemn majesty, supporting the dignOy of
the Priests of her Temple, :rod enforcing with
proper authority ihe decrees of her Hierarchy.
The Church of England certainly recognizes the.
legitimacy of the I{omish Church ; she admits its
Apostolic commission, and the validiy of its or-
dinations ; but here she stops—and while the
Church of Rome allows of no toleration beyond
her pale, enforces her precepts by an area of
• power, and holds out the roil of terror to those
who dissent--the Church of England tolerates
dissent, resorts not to an arm of flesh to uphold
het tenets, aml, instead of punisbnieut, offers up
her prayers for the conversion of those whom she
considers without the pale of the visible Church
of Chtist, The Church of England is certainly
nearer a,:similated to the Church of flume than
any sect of Protestant• Dissenters can be ; inas-
tnoch as both Churches are Eniscopal, and consi-
der Episcopacy as a distinguishing feature of the
Catholic Communion. Hence it naturally follow'
that the Roman Catholics look upon the Esta-
liiished Church with at least as much respect as
they do upon any class of Protestant Dissenters ;
and that any otie amongst the latter should ever
intagine that the concession of the !Uinta!) Ca-
tbalie would advance the cause of Pro-
testant Dissent—that any Protestant Dissenter
'should be so blinded as to think that the Roma
Catholics could make common cause with such a
Heretic as 'himself, are circumstances which, tin
less we saw them daily happening, no one win
-has paid the least attention to the •subject wouli
ever SMIOSe Withill the line-of possibilitif.
It may pet haps be adduced, as a probable reasot
why Dissenters should be anxious for the entices.
slot: of the Roman Catholic Claims, that, if thes
are granted, the Repeal of the Corporation ant
Test ilas must follow sooner or later. Hut I
would seriously ask any reflecting Dissenter,
would this follow as a matter of course ? It I
am rot much mi‘taken, expetience has shewn
that. concession Hoist be ()Enabled by degrees, ant'.
that it most not be song,fit by hasty studies and
meowing coalitions. " Consoormations so de-
voutly to be wished " (to adopt the language of
a .Petition presented on this subject) are, not to be
brought about soddenly, and an English Legisla-
tore will not pull down in a day what took their
sturdy ancestors years to accomplish.
Besides, is wit this coalition of the Dissenters
With the Roman Catholics a dishonourable one ?
Does it not take its rise in a wish to obtain mean,
pain v, personal advantages ? Has any thing like
fecheion or Loitscience to do with it ? Will not
sech au ill-judged and short-sighted line of con-
dhet ,cast a shade upon the disinterestedness of
e y D.ssenting Petition which may hereafter Ir
rt-,11 cli PadiaMe I ilpon the subject of the
Roma:, Catholic Claims I V;hat,! are the Core
otee,tl,:ti and lest Acts to be repealed, as well as
Roetan Catholic Claims conceded, and is Par•
toeee.e :et he teltil.“tl into this repeal aud conecs-

sion by an expectation being holden nut tbat an
united effort wiiJ he made by the Roman Catholics
and ['rot estant Dissenters to obtain these ends I
had always i'mderstond that the chief argument used
by the Dissenters for the repeal of the Corpora-
tion and Test Art+, consisted in coqsidering them
a..;• :a harrier against the introduction o 4 Popery and-
Arbitrary Power, which was rendere4 necessary'
under the reign of a STUART, but had ceased to
be so under the mild sway of the House of Bruns-
wick : this I know was the argument used -by
the most prudent advocates for the repeal, when
the question was agitated in 1789 ; but it seems
the Dissenters of the present day have forgotten
this, fur if they had not, they surely would not
have en far d.sagreed with their inure intelligent
friends, :is to recommend a coalition with the very
:nen, fur whom, in 1789, those friends declared
the Corporation and Test Acts were framed, and
ought to be retained.

trust and hope the Dissenting Interest will
seriously reflect upon these poii►ts.—Let any Dis-
senter who has read the History of England put
his hand on his breast, and say whether he thinks
is probable—whether, indeed, he thinks it .pos-
sible--that, if the Roman Catholics ivere in power,
they woold, or indeed could, allow any thing like
Toleration to exist.—Let him seriously ask him-
-5: it whether the rights of his Chapel would not
,suffer as much as the altar of my Church I—Let
hints .ask himself these questions, and appeal. to
his consei,!ace and past experience for his an-
swers, and I have no doubt he will no longer
persevere in a species of infatuated suicide, but
unlit with all good Protestants in their endea-
vours to keep out a common Enemy by hoisting
Constitutional Freedom as his Panoply !
Your's, most sincerely,
• 13RITANNICUS.

Leicester, Jan. se, 1819.

FOR TIIE SUN.

AIR. Entrort,—A nearer piece of dry, sarcastic
wit, I never read, even in CERVANTES, RABELAIS,
or STERN, than in the letter of• the D—l's In't,
for witich I wish you .vould give my compliments
to him, and tell him that if he will come to the
bar of my court, I will call him there without
fees ; persuaded that he will soon be in request,
and be a credit to my bench, as

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE JOKER.

FOR THE SUN.