The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-12-15 00:00:00

THE STATE IN DANGER

The Slate in Danger ; a Letter to the Right Hon. Lord
John Russell, 111. P., First Lord of the Treasury, &T.
&c. Bo the Rev. Hugh M'Neile, 11. A., Hon. Canon
of Chester, and Incumbent of St. Jude's Church,
Liverpool. London : Htechard & Son. Liverpool :
A. Newling, and 11. Perris.
The timely appeal contained in the above letter, ad-
dressed by the Rev. Hugh M'Neile to his lordship, the
Premier, upon the subject of the present encroaching
attitude of Popery, is well worthy of the consideration of
Protestants of every denomination ; and will meet with
such consideration from all wbo know the earnestness for
the cause of truth of the eloquent writer, however it may
be treated in high quarters and by wavering and temporiz-
ing politicians. Mr. M`Neile commences his task by
transcribing a series of letters, " which were addressed
nearly a century ago to a noble duke, who bad, at that
early period, imbibed and avowed opinions which have
since found practical expression in many acts of the legis-
lature. They appeared," he says, " some time atter
they were written, as notes to a work by a Mr. Murray
of Newcastle-upon-Tyne," and it is believed have never
b: en reprinted until now. The letters themselves, six
in number, and most abiy written, appear to have been
intended to impress upon the mind of the noble Duke
the danger of admitting to more than toleration for
their religion, the subjects of the pope in a protestant land,
still holding, as they do, the tenets of the council of
Lateran,by which all temporal governors,whenadmonished
by the church, are required " to purge heresy out of the
country," under the penalty of excommunication ; and
the subjects of protestant monarchs are authorised to
throw oft their allegiance, or zo break faith with;heretics,
when by doing so the power of the church can be promoted.

The writer gives a long list of cases, familiar to the stu-
dent of history, in which the alleged power of the popes
of Rome to depose monarchs, and even to procure their
assassination, has been put in exercie ; and, apparently
in reply to arguments or pleas offered to him by his noble
correspondent, he proceeds to shew that neither the
character nor the designs of popery were at that time
changed ; although an astute cunning, and the fear of com-
mitting themselves too soon,made papists seem to have laid
aside their most dangerous do2trines and practices. For
a perusal of the letters themselves, we must refer our
readers to the pamphlet.

.
Mr. M'Neile nroceeds to enquire of his Lordship, whe-
ther statements as to the present tenets of papists, con-
tained in the letters, and proved by quotations from text
books of undoubtable authority, are really true--whether
" Romanism is a great conspiracy against all protestant
governments, professing allegiance in hypochrisy, and
watching her opportunity to throw off the mask ! Does
she ?" he asks, " give dispensations for the profession of
protestantisin itself, to competent labourers, who, under
that disguise, become more efficient partizans ?" And,
he adds, as the question which must :follow the necessary
admission, that such are the practices and designs of
Rome, " Is it safe, then, I say, not to true religion—
many, too many, disregard that—but is it safe to personal
liberty, wilfully, to shut our eyes to the existence of such
a conspiracy ? " _ _

. .
Upon one or two points, however, which he urges home
with great power, we must allow the eloquent writer to
speak more in extenso.

" My Lord, the direction of Rome's next campaign is
indicated with sufficient clearness. A Bill for the exten-
sion of the elective franchise in Ireland ; a Bill for the
equalisation of Municipal Reform in Ireland and England;
these, and kindred measures, already prepared for the
approaching Session, will be urged as lingering items of
tardy justice to Ireland, and all opposition to them will
be denounced as bigotry of exclusio❑ for religious opinion
sake. No serious or real attack will be made on the
Irish Church; only Mr. Ward's annual assault will be
supported 83 far as to renew the appearance before the
nation of a great grievance to conscientious Roman
Catholics. To give effect to this manoeuvre, gross mis.
representations will be indulged in. The want of infor-
mation, or the want of power effectually and immediately
to make use of it, on the part of the friends of the Irish
Church, will be calculated upon; and in the debate on
Mr. Ward's motion, after Mr. Shaw, and Mr. Colquhoun,
and perhaps one or two others, have spoken, it is highly
probable that the Right Honourable and learned Member
for Tipperary will deliver another exciting oration, more
remarkable for oratorical effect than for scrupulousness
of accuracy. .
"Under cover of the fruitless discussion thus raised, and
the invidious hardships still said to be inflicted on the
Roman Catholics of Ireland, the elective franchise Bill,
and the Municipal Reform 13111, will pass both Houses,
and become law. By means of these measures, skilfully
worked in the Counties and Boroughs, the Romish Hier-
archy in Ireland will, at the General Election next fol-
lowing, add so largely to the number of their nominees
in the House of Commons, that no British Minister will
be able to carry on the Government of the country, with-
out making terms with them.
" The terms will be skilfully selected, for the further
prostration of the real power of Protestant England, and
for basting, as speedily as possible without causing pre-
mature alarm, the time when Romanism may venture to
he sincere. And then, my lord, the illuminati of the
movement, who have been her dupes in helping her to
climb, will find no more mercy at her hands, than the
real Protesters who have uttered and published such un-
heeded warnings as these. When once she regains the
eminence from which it will be safe, without danger to
the faithful, to republish her long-smothered, but still
living and panting, decree de heretic° comburendo, the
ladder of her ascent, as well as every other excommuni-
cated thing, will be consigned to the flames.
" But it is asked, What practiced good can possibly
arise Trom such statements as these? Are not practical
men of influence, of all parties, of one and the same
mind upon this subject? Is it not un fait accompli, that
Romanism is recognised as an intregral portion of our
common Christianity? Are not the lips of Protestant
gentlemen in Parliament scaled, by the courtesies of
society, from every utterance and every allusion disre-
spectful to Romanism ? And how utterly useless there-
fore, how ludicrously unseasonble. how necessarily abor-
tive, must such a publication as this be !
" if the present Parliament were the final court of
appeal, and if there were no Protestant nation behind,
with a largely and increasingly circulated Bible i❑ their
hands, I would fully acknowledge the justice of these dis-
heartening questions. And to speak candidly, my Lord,
I am unable to entertain much hope, that the course of
legislation for Rome, which has been so long pursued,
will, or can, be arrested by any force of argument or
reason. A determination nut to be convinced is but too
manifest ; present ease is courted ; every sound of alarm
is resented : an anxiety to find Rome, not what she was,
and what she has sworn to remain, but what the progress
of light and liberality ought to make her, is greedily in-
dulged ; an impression that it is impossible to go back to
restrictive laws, and equally impossible to stand still,
urges forward the infatuated movement. Statesmen of
all parties are caught in the whirlpool, mistaking the
blandishments of the Syren for the charms of genuine
liberty. What the Prophet said of Tyre, is now true of
England --` Thy rowers have brought thee into great
waters,' and there is too much reason to fear the appli-
cation of what follows—' Thy riches and thy fairs, thy
merchandise, thy mariners and thy pilots, thy calkers and
the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war
that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the
midst of thee, shall fall in the midst of the seas, in the
day of thy ruin.' "

The Reverend Gentleman urges that the only way to
save ourselves from an approaching civil convusion, in
which the struggle will be for existence, on the part of
protestants, is " the re-enactment of such wise and mo-
derate political rsstrictions on Roman Catholics, as would
deprive them of all hope of subjugating England to the
Papal yoke. This," he says rightly, " may be done without
the slightest interference with the true rights of con-
science, or the true enjoyment of liberty, and safety for
person and property. Our object should be, not in any-
wise to injure them, but simply to prevent them from
injuring us."
With the following tonching appeal to Lord John
Russ,ll, we must .concludeiour extracts from this most
able Letter—one which does equal credit to the protes-
tant firmness of the rev. writer, and to his statesmanlike
sagacity. Would that we had a Cabinet full of such men !
" And now, my Lord, why should not this signal ser-
vice be rendered to the country by your Lordship ?
"What ! the great Leader of all the Liberals turn thorough
Protestant ! That would be a change ! Yes, doubtless,
it would be a great and a noble change. And why not ?
Must all great changes in public men be for the worse?
And is it impossible to have any change for the better?
Look, my Lord, afresh into the Word of God, and into
the history of England. Let the great principles of re-
vealed truth, and the eloquent lessons of experience, have
their due weight, and their fair application. Contrast
the miserable, crest-fallen, creedless Whig of 1846—0 f
course I mean in his public character—with the high, the
noble, the patriotic, the Christian and Protestant Whig
of 1688: and after your wanderings, for a few compara-
tively inexperienced years, amongst the mists and fogs of
liberalism, we shall have the happiness, and your country
the safety, of seeing your Lordship on the rock and in
the day-light of England's Scriptural Church, and of
finding in your Lordsbip's veins a portion of that noble
blood which flowed from your renowned ancestor in the
defence of England's Protest against Rome's usurpation.
My Lord, the unfading chaplet of true Christian pa-
triotism is set before you. Stand forth and grasp it.
Instead of going down to posterity
Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung,'
as one of the mediocrity ,rox).o who were beguiled by
the plausible sophistries of an infidel philosophy to betray
the best interests of their country into the bands of a de-
ceitful foe; inscribe on the page of history a noble re-
cord—of a Statesman who, in times of general declension,
in the face of an exasperated party turned into a formida-
ble opposition, at the risk of place and power, and in an
honest acknowledgement of past errors, arose in the hour
of need, gave clear notice of the impending danger, and
in the majesty of God's truth,—the only sure founda-
Con of political righteousness,—appealed to England,
free, reformed, and as yet Protestant England, to
give him a Protestant lions:: of Commons, to carry on
with vigor and efficiency the Protestant Government o f a
sworn Protestant Sovereign. Proclaim your convictions
upon evidence at last attended to, and experience at last
become practical; not only that the Church of Rome
should not be endowed, either in her Hierarchy or her
Colleges ; but also, that no subject of the Court of Rome
can with safety be entrusted with political power under
a free protestant government, Announce your determi-
nation to act on this conviction in the next parliament ;
stake your political existence on the recovery of our na-
tional Protestantism ; and then, APPEAL TO THE NATION !
" If you succeed ! —O, my Lord, let the bare thought
of such a thing, extravagant as it may seem to ordinary
vulgar minds, kindle your patrician soul to a high and
noble daring in the righteous cause. More honourable
far to fail in the attempt, than to lose the golden oppor-
tunity of making it. But make it well and wisely, i.e.
honestly and boldly, and there is no risk of failure.

Bishop Ridley's candle, though dim and flickering, is
not extinguished. It shines upon the pages of inspira-
tion in ten thousand times ten thousand secret closets.
The slumbering protestantism of Britain, in despite of—
cold indifferentism, factious voluntaryism, and treache-
rous tractarianism—is only waiting for a national leader
of acknowledged competency and honesty, to blaze forth
in undiminished brilliancy and power. It is oppressed at
present under a weight of disappointment. Its kindly
intended, but grievously mistaken, generosity in 1829
has produced these disheartening results, and thousands
who were favourable to that fatal measure, are now bit-
terly repenting of their mistake. Only let a fair prospect
dawn, of deliverance from th,t disastrious defile, and
throughout the British lines despondency will give place
to a revived and triumphant enthusiasm. ' And who
knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such
a time as this? ' "