assertions, I shall only observe that they will do well not to put me to their proof: at present I shall argue from them as facts of common notoriety. If then a connection of so intimate and strong a nature subsist between the Priests and their people, a connection which is demonstrated both from the ancient and modern history of Ireland (see Sir John Temple in 1645, and Sir Richard Musgrave in 1800) to have been throughout of a political rather than a religious nature, and to have had for its main cement and support the hatred and destruction of Protestants whenever practicable, what have we not to apprehend from the intrigues of the Jesuits in that part of the empire?

To conclude: the great objects of the Jesuits have been sufficiently proved to be to proselyte heretics, or to destroy them for their contumacy. In the prosecution of this scheme, we have seen that while no means have been left untried, yet that the legitimate and peculiar means of forwarding such objects have been, and must continue to be, the members of their own communion, and where among these members will they find instruments more singularly adapted to their purpose than in one part of our own kingdom? The easy simplicity of a state professedly Protestant endowing a college (as at Maynooth) for the education of Catholic Priests is indeed an anomaly in legislation alike without a precedent or a plea, but the toleration of the order of Jesuits in addition, will be a dereliction of the first law of nature, self-defence, and prove us far gone indeed in the mania of religious liberality. Had the introduction of the Jesuits into any part of the United Kingdom been attempted a century since, I feel persuaded that the nation would have resisted it as one man. "Our fathers," says Sherlock, "who lived under the dread of popery and arbitrary power, are gone off the stage, and have carried with them the experience which we their sons stand in need of, to make us earnest to preserve the blessings of liberty and pure religion, which they have bequeathed us." And he adds: “O that I had words to represent to the present generation the miseries which their fathers underwent : that I could describe their fears and anxieties; their restless nights and uneasy days, when every morning threatened to usher in the last dawn of England's liberty." I trust this quotation may not be without its use. It is now so long since Popery had power to

forge chains for our consciences or persons, that many among us seem determined to believe, in opposition to all evidence, that the Papal church has for ever abandoned her darling project of converting or conquering the Protestant Church. These persons will

further believe, and would have us to believe, that though the Church of Rome may even assume the mask of Jesuitism, in aid of her object, yet that there is no just ground of apprehension or anxiety. As things at present stand, he who ventures to warn his countrymen of their danger may expect to be called an Alarmist, and although in proof of his position he may remind them of the recorded iniquities of that most corrupt modification of Papacy, the Jesuits, he will not escape the charges of intolerance and illiberality. With me, these imputations will weigh but little; I have considered it due to those who may not have directed their attention to this subject, to contribute such historical information upon it as appeared to be wanting at the present moment. I have considered it due to my country to point out a hidden rock before the vessel of the State shall have struck upon it, and I call upon all those who know and value the blessings of civil and religious liberty, to consider seriously the certain, and perhaps not very distant, consequences of the revival of this Order, and its introduction among ourselves. Entertaining, I trust, as strong a sense as any man of the duty of extending the fullest toleration to all of every religious persuasion, whose principles do not oblige them to perpetual warfare with a Protestant King, and a Protestant succession, with a Protestant government, and a Protestant people; I must yet raise my voice against sanctioning and fostering those persons, of whatever denomination, who are not only opposed to all that is dear to Englishmen, but who from the very nature of their system are under perpetual obligations to maintain that hostility. Let it never be forgotten that the Church of Rome refuses to this hour, to read a recantation of her original error, namely, that it is acceptable to God and lawful in itself, to compel the submission of those persons, who refuse obedience to her authority in matters of faith. It is true that many among ourselves have denied that the repeated persecutions of papal Rome have flowed from her principles, but I repeat that in order to dissolve the connection between the principles and practices of that Church, we must first determine to for

get or deny all that history has recorded on the subject. To a Church animated with such feelings, the Order of Jesuits undoubtedly now presents an assemblage of choice and well tried instruments for effecting (in conjunction with the other agents of the Catholic hierarchy) by the means of fraud and stratagem, what cannot be accomplished by honesty and fair dealing; and for achieving by persecution and bloodshed, what argument and reasoning have so long attempted in vain. The present Pope has been unable to resist the temptation which so fair a prospect has presented, and has therefore summoned that Order from the obscurity into which the miseries and curses of a world had driven it; and has assigned to it, as its ancient and most powerful auxiliary, the Holy Inquisition. Let us not be deceived: these are measures of no trifling import to Protestant England, whatever may be asserted to that effect by her deluded friends, or her secret enemies.

To the Nation at large I would say, you are free and happy, but you are only one or the other as you determine to wear no spiritual shackles, for popery and arbitrary power have ever gone, and ever will go, hand in hand. To the Parliament in particular I would say, (in the prophetical language of Pasquier when addressing the Parliament of Paris in 1564 as reported by De Thou) "You yourselves who now tolerate the Jesuits, even you, if you continue that course, will reproach yourselves, when it is too late, with your mistaken credulity, when you shall behold the deplorable consequences of your pliancy, in the overthrow of all public order and tranquillity, not only in this country but throughout the whole Christian world."

APPENDIX.

THE Secreta Monita were first discovered, on Christian, Duke of Brunswick, seizing the Jesuits' college at Paderborn, in Westphalia, when he gave their books and manuscripts to the Capuchins, who found the Secreta Monita among the archives of the Rector of the Jesuits; after which another copy was discovered in the Jesuits' college at Prague. A preface directs, that they should only be ⚫ communicated with the utmost caution; always under the strictest pledge of secrecy; and never as the written rules of the Order,

but as the result of personal experience; and that if by accident they should ever fall into the hands of strangers, they must be 'positively denied to be the rules of the Society. A faint idea only can be attempted to be given of these Instructions by the following extracts. They prescribe to the members (amongst other things) the performance of the most humble offices of charity, in order that the public may be interested in their favor, and direct it to be (every where stated that their great object is the instruction of youth, and the advantage of all classes, without any view to reward or respect of persons, and that they are not an incumbrance upon the people like other religious orders. Princes and distinguished persons must by all means be so managed that they may gain their ear, which will easily secure their hearts; so that all persons will become dependent upon them, and opposition be prevented. Since Ecclesiastics secure the greatest favor by winking at the vices of the great, as in the case of incestuous marriages, &c. such ⚫ persons must be led to hope that, through their aid, a dispensation may be obtained from the Pope, which he will no doubt readily ? grant. It will further their object much, if their members insi⚫ nuate themselves into foreign embassies, but especially in those to the Pope. Favor must, above all, he obtained with the dependants and domestics of princes and noblemen, who by presents and offices of piety may be so far biassed as to impart intelligence of 'their employers' inclinations and intentions. The marriages of the houses of Austria, Bourbon, and Poland, having benefited the Society, similar alliances must be formed with the like objectPrincesses and females of rank may be gained by women of their bed-chambers, who must therefore be particularly addressed, whereby there will be no secrets concealed from the members. Their Confessors must allow greater latitude than those of other ' Orders, in order that their penitents being allured with such freedom, may relinquish others, and entirely depend on their direction and advice. Princes and Prelates capable of being signally useful to the Society, may be favored so far as to become partakers of all its advantages. The people must be taught that the Society has, beyond all other orders, the fullest powers of absolution even in reserved cases; of dispensing with fasts, discharging from debt, and dissolving impediments to marriage-by which many will apply to them, and thereby incur the strictest obligations. The "animosities of the great must be inquired into, in order that the credit of reconciling them may at least gain one of the parties. Such an ascendancy must be acquired over rulers and magistrates of every place, that they may be led to exert themselves even against their nearest relatives and best friends, when the interests of the

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• Order shall require. Where the Clergy are more predominant, as in Germany, Poland, &c. they must be carefully gained, in order that by their, and the Prince's authority, religious houses, patronages, and foundations of masses, may fall to the Society, an • object not difficult to accomplish in those places where Catholics ⚫ are intermixed with heretics and schismatics. Prelates must be ⚫ engaged to employ the Jesuits both for Confessors and Adviserscare must be taken when Princes or Prelates found either Colleges or Parish Churches, that the Society always have the right of presenting, and that the Superior of the Jesuits, for the time being, be appointed to the cure, so that the whole government of that Church and its parishioners may become dependent on the Society-whenever the governors of academies thwart their designs, or the Catholics, or Heretics oppose their foundations, they must endeavour by the Prelates, to secure • the principal pulpits-their members, in directing the great, • must seem to have nothing in view but God's glory, and not immediately, but by degrees, interfere in political and secular matters, solemnly affirming that the administration of public affairs • is what they engage in with reluctance, and only as compelled by a sense of duty-Their Confessors and Preachers must be informed of persons proper for every office, and they must soothe Princes, and never offer them the least offence in their sermons or conversations. Upon the death of any one in office, care must be • taken that his successor be a friend of the Society, but this must be so managed as to give no suspicion of an intention to usurp ⚫ the Prince's authority, for which end the members must not interfere personally, but through their friends. In order to induce rich widows to be liberal to the Society, they must be provided ⚫ with Confessors who may urge their remaining unmarried, assuring them that they will thereby infallibly secure their salvation, and effectually escape the pains of purgatory. Such servants as do not favor the Society must be removed by degrees, and others be recommended, who can be depended upon-In or<der that every thing which passes may be known, the Confessor must take care that the widow do nothing without his advice, ⚫ which he must insinuate to be the only basis of her spiritual advancement, and she must be advised to the frequent reception of • the sacraments, but especially that of penance, because in that she will freely discover her most secret thoughts and temptations: • even her charity must not be performed without the direction of •her Confessor, it being of the last importance to her soul that her talent be prudently laid out for obtaining a spiritual interest, < since charity itself, when ill applied, often proves the cause of sin, and effaces the merit it would otherwise have. Widows