cient knowledge to qualify them for giving an opinion on the Catholic question?
Mr Brougham maintained that the Catholic Association was a most con- stitutional one, and ought not to be suppressed that a man was no more accountable for his religion than for the colour of his hair, and that no re- ligious tests ought to be used in the bestowing of public trusts. He called upon Mr Canning to commit the most gross breach of faith towards his col- leagues; to resign, that he might force them out of office, and become the se- lector and head of a new Ministry. This new Ministry was to be formed solely to remove the disabilities; it was to be formed in direct opposition to the feelings of the Peers and the British nation, and it was to depend for support upon the more violent Whigs and the Roman Catholic Church. Sir Francis Burdett decla- red that one religion was as good as another, provided it taught morals that the Catholic religion was as good as any other for teaching morals that the Catholic priesthood did not possess one jot more of authority and influence over their flocks than they ought that a man's being educated in any religion was a sufficient reason for his not forsaking it for another and that the disabilities ought to be removed on the ground of abstract right alone. He asserted that preju- dices, the want of reading, or the in- ability to understand books, alone made people oppose the Catholics; and that religions never caused pub- lic convulsions save when they were allied with authority.
Are these, then, our only sages and philosophers? Are these our only states- men? Are these the only men in this glorious and gigantic empire who are capable of understanding and guiding its interests? No! We are not thus fallen. We have not thus far lost the sterling sense and high feeling of our ancestors. Old England, thank God ! has its affairs in the hands of sages, philosophers, and statesmen of a dif- ferent character.
We direct the attention of every friend of the Church of England to the treatment which our admirable clergy have met with during the dis- cussions, to the manner in which their petitions have been received, and to the base insinuations which have been made against their motives. One Whig lord was represented to say, that if the Bishops did not regulate the clergy properly, the Lords would take the Church under their guidance. We wish that this simple individual would not utter such absurdities without making himself a little better acquaint- ed with the laws and constitution of his country. We will assure him that the Church of England is not so far destitute of friends as to be at the mercy of either House of Parliament. Another Peer uttered a low, brutal, second-hand observation, that a cler- gyman ought to have his ears nailed to the pulpit, if he touched in it uj on politics. We shrewdly suspect that when the season shall arrive for nail- ing the ears of clergymen, it will likewise be the season for slitting the windpipes of nobles. Now, let all this be contrasted with the treatment which has been received by the Ca- tholic clergy. These were avowedly the collectors of the Catholic rent ; it was distinctly declaredln Parliament that they compelled the people to pay the rent by withholding from them the rites of tneir church : many of them were members of the Catholic Asso- ciation, and attended its meetings; and it has been again and again de- clared, that they are omnipotent at elections against the landlords, and that they monopolise the exercise of the elective franchise among their fol- lowers. Yet not a word was to be said against all this. The Catholic clergy could not do wrong, they could not interfere improperly in politics; Sir Francis Burdett had declared them to be infallible, and who was to doubt it?
The Irish Catholics, it seems, mean to banish all the Methodists and other dissenting preachers, and to extinguish all the Protestant Bible and other religious societies. Let these canting champions of religious and civil liberty do this, and we shall then have the Dissenters with us to a man. We hope, from our souls, that the clergy and dissenting ministers who so gloriously fought the battles of the Bible in the last year will not be intimidated. Let them again hold their meetings—let them goad the Catholic Church into the exercise of its tyranny, and the display of its rancour and intolerance.
The Catholic bill, it appears, is to be
