Star.
London, England, 1828-11-03 00:00:00

LORD BEXLEY'S ADDRESS.

The following Address to " the Freeholders of the County of
Kest," from Lord Beaky, has been circulated extensively during
the past week. It was distributed at the dinner of the arum.
wick Qub on Friday at Idaidstooe, where considerable impoltatwo
was attached to it.
" TO Till PRIUMOLDZIOI OP TUE COUNTY OP PENT.

" Gentlemen—Having no official situation or dis.
tinguisbed station in the county which peculiarly called
upon me to address you yesterday, and perceiving that
voices, much more powerful than mine, could reach
only a very small part of the assembled multitude, and
that, therefore, the sentiments of those who addressed

is We have great confidence that those Ministers who
have long been the able and successful advocates of the
Protestant cause will continue to give it effectual sup.
port; and we are so far from a with to intimidate the
Legislature, as has been calumniously imputed to us,
in so many forms, and in so public a manner, that it is
our desire to rescue the two Houses of Parliansent from
the intimidation under which it is attempted to compel
them to sanction measurer which their deliberate judg-
ment has repeatedly rejected.
"It is attempted, under the dread of the consequences
of longer resisting the claims of the Roman C abaft,
to compel the Legislature to assent to their pretensions.
not from a sense of their justice or expediency, not with
due deliberation and a full view of the future conse-
quences of concession; but for the purpose of averting
the immediate evils of rebellion and civil war. Has not
the Catholic Association usurped the privileges of Par.
liamect, and the pi-aura:dives of the CtOwn? Doe. it
not impose taxes? Has it nut marshalled the pe .ple in
military array ? Has it not created an 01 der—t he Oder
of Liberators? A very ominous name ! Rod one which
too plainly indicates very alarming dreigns.

" Under such circumstances, and while the most un•
bounded latitude is given to the advocates of the Roman
Catholic cause to urge their pritensioris by every mode
of threat and intimidation, shall the men of Kent be
told that they will incur the guilt of provoking civil
war, if, in a peaceful and legal manner, they declare
their resolution to support the authority of the laws and
the Constitution of their country?

4' The main argument upon which the Roman Ca-
tholic Advocates rely is, that however dangerous the
principles of the Roman Catholic Church may in former
ages have been to the cause of civil and religious liberty,
and tf.e Protestant Constitution established in these
realms, those dangers are now passed by, and the ap-
prehension of them become ridiculous—that the senti•
ments of the Roman Catholics are now enligl.tened and
liberal, and that the charges of bigotry and intolerance
ate now only imputable to the Protestants

Gentlemen—The alliance between Popery and
Liberalism is no new event. Every one of the measures
which cost King James the Second his Crown. were
measures taken in the names of liberty ot conscience.
and the removal of political distinctions on account of
religious differences; but our ancestors knew, that while
he talked of toleration, his ultimate aim was really per.
secutiun : and ac their umost risk, and with a profuse
expenchtore of their blood and treasure, they achieved
the revolution, and established that system ot Protestant
laws and cGnstitution, under which, for nearly a century
and a halt, this country has enjoyed a degree of relu.
gious toleration and civil freedom, unknown an any other
age or country.

It is true that, for the security of that constitution.
lass s of severe restriction were imposed upon the R man
Catholics. That they were more necessary (in Leland
especially) than some are willing to allow, appeared
from a, circumstance which. for the 6►st_ time, was

brought to light, by the examinations of the Com_
mittees of Parliament in the year 1825, namely, that
from the Revolution until the extinction of the House of
Stuart, the Roman Catholic Bishops Gf Ireland con.
tinued to be nominated by the representatives of that
family—a circumstance which at once proves the great
influence which they must have continued to mato to
Ireland, and the dark and impenetrable secrecy with
which the affairs of the Roman Catholic Church have
been managed in that country. During the reign of
his late Majesty, the Legislature judged (and, in my
opinion, judged wisely, as well as humanely,) that or.
eumstances were so moth altered as to admit of the
removal of such of those restrictions as either affected
in any degree the observance of religious worship, the
enjoyment of property, or the exercise of professions,
except in a very few cases connected with political in-
fluence. The question is now, whether the sentiments
of the Roman Catholics are so far changed as to allow
of their complete admission to the exercise of all poli-
tical rights equally with Protestant subjects?
st It is always difficult to judge of the sentiments of
bodies of men, because among individuals so many
shades of difference are to be found; and there are, sod
always have been, among persons of the Roman Catho•
lic persuasion, many men of genuine piety and eminent
virtue, and others in whom a sense of honour, or an in•
herent feeling of moral principle, has corrected the per-
nicious doctrines of a corrupt Church ; but the bulk of
the people must be supposfd to act upon the tenets
avowed by the principal ecclasiastical authorities; and
upon this subject a mass of authentic information has
been laid before Parliament, which has, hitherto, not
attracted so much attention as it deserves.

al Besides the important examinations whicktook place
in 1825, a large body of intorns4tion was collected by
the Commissioners of Irish Education Inquiry; and I
wish particularly to caU your atttiltiort o their eighth