en in Christ; but, un- that is not the case. in his pastoral instructhe dutics of christian citiublished in 1793, holds up e exclusive doctrine; which who think humility a christian *e, in all respects, most becom. so weak and fallible a creature avan, cannot but consider as sa part of presumption. Dr. Husin his pastoral letter, published 1**, expresses himself in a language: and, indeed, it for a loyal subject to read publication without feeling, that, J →ecia, y at the time of its appearLice, it could not tend to produce gally, or even submission to the wernment of the country, in the ads of those to whom it was adIressed. Whilst such impressions, so excited, are rankling in the minds of men, very little regard can be paid to addresses of the nature to which your lordship refers me. They are given to the winds, as long as the priests of the see of Rome shall think fit to hold up to their docks, that all who do not yield coedience to that see, are guilty of rebellion against it: are not to be rose considered as members of the church of Christ; and, therefore, are not st be (in the eyes of the vulgar at least) to be considered as christians. I am treat those, with whom they desire to participate, as brothers. Until, therefore, the priests of the Romish persuasion shall think it their duty to preach honestly and conscientiously, the great doctrine of universal charity in Christ; until they shall, in all their instructions to those under their care, represent, honestly and conscientiously, all who sincerely believe in Christ, the redeemer of mankind, to be brethren in Christ, however mistaken they may suppose any of them to be in certain points of faith; until they shall teach their flocks, that desiring liberty to think for themselves, they ought also to permit others to think for themselves, and not to murder them because they differ in religious opinions; peace never can be established in the land; and the loyal addresses of doctor Troy and doctor Coppinger, will, as I have before said, be given to the winds. They can have no effect; they may, indeed, reach the eyes or the ears, but never will enter the hearts of those to whom they are addressed. There are parts of your letter to which I will not advert, because I cannot without pain, or without giving pain. I have the honour to be, &c. &c. To the Right Hon. surance that nothing could be more foreign to my intentions. This I took the liberty of requesting Mr. Wickham, whom I had the honour of seeing this morning, to do me the favour of mentioning to your lordship on the earliest occasion. I merely stated to your lordship what my own feelings were, and what I have always found to be the opinion of the catholics. I do not apprehend, that, in expressing any further wish of the catholic body, which it is impossible should not be entertained, I hinted at any discontents; on the contrary, I did assure, and do now assure your lordship, we are now ready to make every sacrifice, encounter every danger, for the defence of the king and constitution, and for the preservation of the peace. Those who are most affected, by any remaining restrictions, it is well known have never excited clamour or tumult, but have always been foremost in opposing them. I cannot attempt to vindicate all those who have at different times addressed the catholics; but the late exhortations, I must beg leave to say, are intended and calculated to inspire sentiments of loyalty, obedience, and christian charity and they will, I trust, have that effect. Such have been the instructions I have constantly heard given by the catholic clergy to their flocks. Nothing to excite ill-will or dislike to any person, on account of his religious belief, but the most perfect brotherly love and affection to all. Your lordship will, I hope, allow me to repeat my regret that any thing I have written should have given you pain, or me reason to feel it, which I should, in a very high degree, indeed, if I was conscious of having intentionally advanced any Pp3 : thing 2 Dublin, 4. 28. 1803. and stem I bear se loyalty Bur at all times ae manner in say, in the letter Youred yestera regret, that ormer letter a me pain, comrouble your lords. The pain The pain La apprehension, hope for such a xas of those of d who adhere towards those Ponce to it, as might together in s of Europe, have produced that the persed the choice ces melined to in which ant pretencolod; and in Roc, it might a sense of the as of man war felt, as to A that see, in vse teach their Axodné sa repugnant mel na the repose chas co which I had conclude, also, that the priests of that persuasion still teach their flocks, that all who refuse obedience are guilty of a wicked rebellion against divine authority, which must produce their eternal damnation in the next world, and render them objects of horror and dislike in this. As long as this doctrine (which, with all humility I say it, appears to me to be repugnant to every idea of christian charity, taught by the Scriptures) shall be preached to their congregations; and until those congregations shall be taught that protestants of every description, although in their opinion in error on certain points, are to be considered as members of the church of Christ, and their brethren in the faith of Christ, it seems to me, that there can be no hope that exhortations to loyalty and obedience to a protestant government will have any Men of education and proeffect. perty may feel loyalty and obedience to such a government to be proper, or, at least, expedient; but preaching to men of the lower orders, and especially to those without property, loyalty, and obedience, under such circumstances, cannot be sincere, without supposing their minds of a refinement of which they are utterly incapable; and seems, therefore, to me, to be either mockery or folly. Perhaps I am too presumptuous in forming this opinion, but it seems to me con firmed by recent events, and I cannot otherwise account for the fact so generally asserted by the priests of the Romish persuasion, that, during the late rebellion, their exhortations to loyalty and obedience had no effect. I find it also confirmed by the circumstances, that those priests were, I presume, utterly ignorant that those under their instructions had ever conceived in their minds the horrid purposes which they manifested on the 22d of July, and which persons came from all parts of Ireland with design to effect. I have the honour to be, With much respect, My lord, Your lordship's obedient humble Servant, Redesdale. The Earl of Fingall, &c. &c. &c. (No. 6.) Answer from the Earl of Fingall. Great Denmark Street, My lord, Sept. 4, 1803. I must beg your lordship will be kind enough to excuse my not having sooner acknowledged the receipt of the last letter you did me the honour to address me, which has been occasioned by my absence from town for some days past. Honoured as I must feel by your lordship's correspondence, and the expressions of personal regard towards me contained in your letters, I am the more anxious to impress your lordship with that favourable opinion of the persons in this country who profess the same religious faith I do myself, which it has been my endeavour to prove to your lordship they are deserving of. Nothing but my wish to procure for object so desirable, and them an my high respect for your lordship, would have induced me to touch at all on a discussion of religious subjects: and not having been, I fear, fortunate enough to satisfy your lordship's mind, as to the objections you make to our religion, I should be glad, with your lordship's permission, to state them to some of our superior clergy, who would, I am pretty certain, enable me to convince your lordship, that our religious doctrine preaches charity and brotherly love to all mankind, without distinction of religion; true and sincere allegiance to our good king; inviolable attachment to the constitution and our country; from an honest and conscientious conviction that such is the duty of a good subject, and a good catholic, be the religion of the monarch what it may. For my own part, my lord, I cannot attribute the unfortunate situation of this country to any thing connected with matters of religious faith; Jacobinism and French principles and politics, the want of morality, and the depraved state of the human mind, are, I conceive, the sources of our misfortunes; religion may have been made a tool by wicked and designing people: this has often happened in every country, and is easily effected when religious differences exist. The distracted and melancholy state we are in, every body must lament; how it is to be mended is a matter for the statesman; and surely it would be difficult to find an object more worthy of your lordship's high talents and abilities. I have the honour to be, &c. &c. To the Right Hon. 2. Lord ChanFlagall. F Place, MY TOP ad wood as it's qualified as presents yourself to with the persons to vre on the points you I can only say, that the as made on the minds of Laos a mäser orders, certainly wels Got correspond with the docredes which your lordship repre848 10 be the doctrines of the reCon you profess. I have no doubt your lordship heartily and casciendously embraces and acts en those doctrines the whole tenor of your life shews that you have done so; but the whole tenor of the conduct of the lower orders a. Che people of the Romish persuason shews, that such doctrines are ogiectancy taught to them; and, tan to judge from the writings, as well as the conduct of some of the higher orders of the laity as well as of the clergy, I cannot beheve that they are thoroughly impressed with the feelings which appear to guide your lordship's liberal And beneficent mind. On the conscary, in many instances, it appears me, that the conduct of some, amongst the priesthood, is calelated to excite in the minds of those under their care, hatred to their protestant fellow-subjects, and disloyalty to their government. I am assured, from very high and very respectable authority, that (at least in one district) the priests who were instrumental in saving the lives of the loyalists in the late rebellion, are universally discountenanced by their superior ;* and that a priest proved to have been guilty of sanctioning the murderers in 1798, transported to Botany Bay, and since pardoned by the mercy of government, has been brought back in triumph by the same superior, to what, in defiance of the law, he calls HIS parish, and there placed as a martyr, in a manner the most insulting to the feelings of the protestants, to the justice of the country, and to that government, to whose lenity he owes his redemption from the punishment due to his crimes. It is strongly reported, that the successor to Dr. Hussey, (whose disaffection was so manifest, that, perhaps, government consulted its disposition to lenity much more than its duty, when it permitted him to return to Ireland) is to be a man also notoriously disaffected. If the appointment is to be made in the usual manner, at the recommendation of the higher order of your clergy, I cannot think that much of loyalty is to be expected. from those who recommended such a man. If the authority of the see of In the district alluded to, the "Superior" selected for his vicar-general, (the laghest situation in his power to bestow) a clergyman, who, in the year 1798, had been happily instrumental in saving the life of a respectable gentleman, by putting. him on his guard against an assassin. The successor to Dr. Hussey is not vet named, and it was impossible that the noble writer could have accurate information on the subject. The recommendation to Rome is in the bishops of the province-of whom one is Dr. Moylan, and another Dr. Coppinger; both have eminently distinguished themselves by their per-› sonal |