be my duty to make to your Eminence, as respected the well known feelings of Government, I transmitted the original letter, under a flying seal, through the hands of the noble Lord*, who is considered as the principal Minister of the Crown, and who wrote to me, on the 6th of September following, that " he had "forwarded the letter to your Eminence."

When assertions are set up, as they actually have been, by the professed of the "Society," who were transferred from their House at Leige, to Stonyhurst-that the Jesuits must now be considered, in England, as any other Priests of the Roman Communion, and, as such, tolerated by lawwhen avowing themselves, reintegrated, as a regular Order, by the Pontifical Bull,—such assertions, taken in the letter, and acted upon, to any extent-may lead to consequences which cannot be sufficiently deprecated.

In the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James I.-and I know that your Eminence is not a little conversant both with the history and language of my Country-laws of great severity were enacted against Jesuits, Seminary Priests, Recusants, &c.-resulting, in fact, from the irritated state of the Nation, in consequence of the Bull of Excommu

* [The Earl of Liverpool, First Lord of the Treasury, and Chancellor of the Exchequer.]

nication of the Queen, and the absolution of Her subjects from the obligation of the Oath of Allegiance:-And in the following reign, also, from the discovery of the conspiracy, called the Powder Plot, ascribed, as it was, to the influence and machinations of certain of the Society of Jesuits.

After a great lapse of time, namely, in the year 1791-the British Parliament passed an Act declaring that" it was expedient that such persons who "should take the oaths therein prescribed, should "be relieved from some of the penalties and dis"abilities imposed by former Acts," and, in the enumeration of those Acts, such, in which the Jesuits were collectively named with Seminary Priests, are nominally included. It is scarcely necessary, however, to remind your Eminence, that, at that period, the Society of Jesuits was actually abolished, as an Order, by the Pontifical Brief "Dominus ac Redemptor"—and it was not, at that period, in the contemplation of the British Parliament, to provide against the consequences of its possible restoration.

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But, if my own opinions should be considered as tinctured with any prejudice on this subject-which I, nevertheless, beg distinctly to disclaim-greater deference may, perhaps, be extended to the sentiments of others, even when concurring with my own. Without loosely, or generally referring to such a coincidence of opinion of many persons deservedly of

much weight, whom I do not feel myself authorised to name, there are others, in relation to whom I have not the same difficulty, and, in naming them, I need not say to your Eminence in what degree of estimation their opinions may deservedly be held, with reference to such objects of local consideration. To each of these gentlemen-with whom I have long sat in Parliament, and to whom I have often been opposed, on many other questions of municipal policy-I thought it incumbent upon me, nevertheless, in the present circumstances, to submit the perusal of the "Statement of Facts," with its accompanying Documents, which I drew up at the express instance of His Holiness, and I had the gratification to receive, from each of them, the attestation of their decided concurrence in opinion on this great, I must say, momentous question.-To use the precise words of one of them,-speaking of the revival of the Society of Jesu-he says-"As to the introduction of the "Jesuits, in any form, while the present feelings of "the people of England, continue, it would drive every defender of the Catholics from the field at once, and I should expect to see new restrictions imposed on them.-I am glad," he adds, with reference to the Statement of Facts-" you speak so "plainly."

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Such are the sentiments of this respectable Member of the British Parliament-an invariable supporter of the claims of the Catholics-and, in an

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audience at the Quirinal, he stated to His Holiness, in person-" that he had read with attention the "Statement' which Sir J. H. had presented to "His Holiness, and that his own sentiments were "in perfect conformity with it;”—a declaration which he also made to the Cardinal Secretary of State, in my presence,―nor is it improbable that he may confirm it, in his place, in Parliament.

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"To attempt to establish the Order of Jesuits in England" (to quote the words of another of those to whom I have adverted)" would produce an effect upon the public mind, in the greatest degree injurious to the interests of the Catholic Body."

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Such are the concurring sentiments of these highly respectable characters, who have invariably manifested, by their declared opinions, and public conduct, a most friendly interest in behalf of their Catholic fellow-subjects:-but, to acquit my own feelings, and the better to do justice to these gentlemen, (who are not unapprised of my intention, in this respect) I must request to place their original letters before your Eminence, and when I name the Lord Chief Baron of Scotland, the brother-in-law and cousin-german of a Member of the British Cabinet (the Viscount Melville), who is also, himself, a warm supporter of the extension of civil franchises to the Catholics of the United Kingdom, and who originated a most important Act in their favour, in the

last Session of Parliament:-when I name, also, Mr. Ellis-(the father of Lord Howard de Walden-a British Peer,)—and Mr. Barham, both members of the Imperial Parliament,-I need make no comment on their individual respectability, or the just weight of their opinions delivered on this subject.

I am well aware that there are others, likewise British subjects, deservedly entitled to much respect for their private characters, but, whose zeal, and active labours, in an opposed view of the question, have far overstepped their discretion, and which I must necessarily attribute to the influence of the early habits of their particular, local education,-" Quo "semel imbuta recens servabit odorem," &c.-There are others, who are bound by no ties of natural allegiance to the British Empire, yet who may have been heard on this subject, with more deference than is strictly due to them-but, be that as it may, I can aver to your Eminence, that neither the British Government, nor Parliament, nor the Nation, can, or will, tolerate, under the circumstances I have stated, the recognised existence of the Order or Society of Jesuits, in the avowed-practical observance of their Institute, within the British Realmand, to this effect do the Instructions, recently communicated to the Senior Apostolic Vicar in England, together with the actual transmission of the Pontifical Bull-unequivocally extend.