speech delivered at Rome to set them aside. In my dominions I will never suffer such principles to take root. You, therefore, the minister for spiritual affairs, are to refer the Bishop Baron von Ledebur and the Cathedral Chapter of Paderborn to the sentence of the Universal Landrecht, part ii., title xi., § 118, and to inform both, that I do not absolve the bishop or his successors from the engagements taken upon them by the convention of June 19th, 1834. Instead of presumptuously declaring the agreement annulled, his duty was to have officially communicated the points wherein its supposed contradiction to the breve of Pope Pius VIII. of the 25th March, 1830, consisted, and the mode in which the latter was for the future to be executed. It is, however, to be remarked that it is altogether a mistake to suppose, as some authorities seem to have done, that, by the cabinet order of the 17th August, 1825, the Catholic clergy of the Rhineland and Westphalia are unconditionally commanded to pronounce the nuptial benediction upon mixed marriages. On the contrary, they are only forbidden to require, either by word of mouth or by letter, a formal promise concerning the education of the children in the Catholic Religion, because such promise is irreconcileable with the laws of the land respecting the education of children proceeding from mixed marriages, and with the equality of rights pertaining to the Evangelic Religion. The Catholic pastor is not prohibited from making modest inquiries; and if he thinks that he ought not to perform the marriage rites, the decision between him and the betrothed parties, who alone have the right of making any complaint, is to be pronounced by the bishop, whose sentence fixes the matter unalterably, and no further steps can be taken before the civil magistrate. It is the concern of the bishops that they remain faithful to the spirit of the convention of the 19th July, by the mildest possible application of the breve of the 25th March, 1830. This much I expect from them, though having no intention of abridging their liberty as to the mode of understanding particular passages of the instruction, which I leave to their conscience. This you are to communicate to the western bishops, as also to the authorities concerned. You, the minister for foreign affairs, I commission to inform my embassies at foreign courts, particularly at Vienna, Munich, Rome, and Paris, of the contents of this my order, that they may be enabled to meet the erroneous reports there circulated, by stating the truth.

FREDERIC WILLIAM.'

The combination of mildness and firmness manifested in this letter proves that the king feels strong in the righteousness of his cause and the help of his God, and that he is determined to concede nothing of his royal rights either to papal intrigue or popish violence-that he is ready to give to his Roman Catholic subjects every privilege guaranteed to them by European treaties, or by his own promise, but that he is equally resolved to uphold and maintain the civil and religious liberties of the Protestant Church, and to punish Popish treason wherever it may be found. The King of Prussia feels that the hour of resistance is arrived,

and

and has therefore openly declared the line of conduct which he means to pursue. The result of a struggle thus begun cannot be doubtful. Popery has never been able to withstand either the arguments or the arms of Protestants; and some, still alive, can remember how a Prussian monarch resisted and overcame the combined force of all the Popish states of Europe. He had but one ally, and that ally was England. But what part is England to take in the present contest? A widely spread and powerful Conspiracy aims at the extirpation of our religion from the world. The constitution of our country, as well as the universal rule of God's providence, has ordained that the possession or loss of the lovely pearl of eternal truth shall depend upon the free choice of the people. None ever lost the truth but those who had ceased to love it; none ever attained to the enjoyment of its blessings but those who learned to prize it above all things. Upon the will of the English people, therefore, the decision of the mighty question now depends; and every free-born son of England has a voice in that decision. The actual position of Popery in this country is the result partly of circumstances, partly of fraud, and therefore only temporary. The slightest manifestation of the national will is sufficient to terminate it. But this manifestation must be made speedily, energetically, and constitutionally. It must be made by the church, with its bishops at their headby our nobles and representatives in their place in parliamentby the body of the people, on every occasion where they are called upon to exercise their constitutional power. The Romanist, in whatever guise he may appear, whether as the promoter of infidel education, the champion of religious liberty, or the proselyting and intolerant Papist, is the enemy against whom the war of the constitution is to be waged. It is no time for compromise or compliment, but for open, undisguised straightforward resistance. Popery has laid aside the mask; the Pope has himself thrown down the gauntlet, and the people of England must openly declare which side they espouse.

The Protestants of Germany look to their old friend and ally for help. The brave Tyrolese, whom Austria would not suffer to worship the God of their fathers within her borders, cry to us for their brethren and companions' sake, whom they have left behind in oppression. The sons of Luther ask whether they are to fight the battle alone. And let us not forget that they are our brethren in the faith.

Their fore

fathers and ours took sweet counsel together; and, though the unhappy circumstances of the times prevented them from adopting the pure apostolic institution of the priesthood with which we are blessed, our reformers recognised them as children of the same father, and heirs of the same hope. Driven to the

bitter alternative of choosing between the substance of Christianity, the first and great commandment, and a positive institution, they chose that which is eternal, immutable, and which shall never cease. To us God mercifully vouchsafed the divinelyinstituted form as well as the living substance of the gospel. But shall we on that account despise our less-favoured brethren, and take to our embrace their mortal enemy and ours? Shall we prefer the claims of those who every year in the solemn season of the holy week anathematise us, our Sovereign, and our magistrates, along with Turks, pirates, and robbers? Shall we recognise perjured traitors and systematic liars as followers of the pure and holy Redeemer, and overlook the similitude of feature presented by truth, good faith, and obedience? Never. Never shall the Church of England be guilty of such infatuation, Sobriety of judgment has for three centuries been the characteristic of the Anglican portion of the Church Catholic, and is not now to be exchanged for that wild fanaticism which confounds shadow and substance, friend and foe. The danger of our German brethren shall not remain unheeded. Rome shall never reckon Anglican Catholics amongst the abettors of her perfidy, or the restorers of her usurped dominion.

But it is not the cry wafted across the German Ocean that calls loudest to the people of England for help. The colonies lift up their voice, implore protection, and ask whether it is the will of this great nation that they should be deprived of the means of religious instruction, and their faithful pastors? Whether the Protestants of England have really decided that Protestant money is to be withdrawn from the Protestant clergy and schools, and be devoted to the endowment of Popish bishoprics, colleges, and monasteries? Whether the mother-country has really determined to renounce her own flesh and blood, and give their food to an army of foreign locusts? Whether the British government intends to sever the only tie by which fair and rich and extensive domains are united to the crown of England, and to transfer them to England's enemies? If a declaration be not speedily made in favour of Protestant loyalty,if the operations of Roman emissaries be not speedily terminated, England will soon behold some of her fairest colonies not independent states, but French provinces. Rome is at this present moment advancing the interests of France, because France is helping forward the scheme of Popish ascendancy. It is needless to say that Canada and Newfoundland will be the first to acknowledge the new Gregory's dear son.' When Popish priests have completed the preparatory movements, who will be astonished if it should turn out that a blockading squadron now in that part of the world has an object more northern than it professes?

There

There is, however, a cry more near and more touching still. It is the voice of our brethren in Ireland, lamenting over the murdered and mutilated corpses of their clergy and their friends, and crying for justice. It is a cry that the mightiest empire the sun ever saw cannot long neglect with impunity. It is the cry of innocent blood, that pierces even to the throne of God. Murder is a crime that Providence never permits to go unpunished in individuals or nations. Before God and man, England stands convicted of looking on unmoved at the most fearful multiplication of foul and savage murder that ever blotted the history of nations. All civilised Europe stands aghast at the hard-hearted apathy of the British government, and the unconcern with which British journals proclaim their country's infamy. None ascribe the guilt to the ignorant and deluded barbarians who are the immediate instruments. All charge it upon those who have the power to prevent it, and yet connive at its commission. The very first and most easy duty of the most uncivilised government, the first and most urgent claim of the governed,-is the protection of human life. The governors who cannot, or will not, prevent the effusion of human blood, have not taken the first step towards emerging from the savage state. They have not learned the elementary lesson of their art, and are totally unfit for their office. Such is the judgment which Europe now passes upon British statesmen. The boasted privileges of the British constitution are compared with the most oppressive tyranny of the sternest despot; and the latter is considered not only more tolerable, but infinitely preferable, for it at least secures life from the lawless violence of the infuriated multitude.

England is the governing power. The Protestants of Ireland, though they could and would soon put an end to such lawlessness, know too well their duty as subjects to the crown of England, to take the sword of justice into their own hands. It is against England, therefore, that the spirits of murdered loyalists, now before the throne of God, cry for vengeance. In a free country like this the responsibility rests upon the whole people; and therefore the guilt of Irish murder rests upon every individual who holds his peace; and the curse of murder threatens to enter every habitation, from the palace to the cottage. England has only to declare her will that murder shall cease, and it will be at an end. But the declaration must soon be made, or the Divine justice may perchance let loose those murderous hordes upon the fair fields of that country, which for so many centuries has not been defiled by the foot of an invader. This is what Popery intends. Whilst the Romanist partisans

convulse

convulse Europe, Popish priests and French auxiliaries stir up rebellion in the colonies, Russia employs our arms in the east: to Irish Papists, assisted by French and Belgian auxiliaries, is assigned the work of restoring Popish ascendancy in England. Englishmen may smile; but let them remember that the guilt of unavenged murder paralyses the strongest arm, and benumbs the stoutest heart-that all the powers of the universe cannot stay the progress of the Divine vengeance.

ART. V.-Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. By J. G. Wilkinson, F.R.S., M.R.S.L., &c. 3 vols. 8vo. London, 1837.

WE E have almost exhausted our Egyptian lore in two articles of our Journal (vol. xliii. p. 112 and vol. liii. p. 105) which we have already devoted to this subject. We cannot, however, in justice to this remarkable book of Mr. Wilkinson, pass it over altogether without notice. This restoration to life, as it were, of the ancient Pharaohs, and their subjects, in the nineteenth century of our æra, is the most extraordinary event in literary or antiquarian history. The ponderous folios of Grævius, Gronovius, and Montfaucon, do not make us so distinctly or intimately acquainted with the nations of far less remote antiquity, as these three volumes with the habits and manners, the arts and culture of a race cotemporary, perhaps, with Abraham or Joseph, and older than Moses. Pompeii itself, with the Museum of Portici, illustrated as they are by all the familiar passages of the Latin writers, scarcely give us a more complete insight into Roman life. We have even turned from Mr. Lane's excellent work on the Modern Egyptians to that of Mr. Wilkinson, and, seated in our study, and comparing the two books, we think that we know scarcely more of the actual Mahometan population of Cairo and Alexandria, than of their forefathers of Thebes and Memphis.

We have before spoken in high terms of the industry and attaininents of Mr. Wilkinson. The surpassing interest of his subject has not permitted him to relax in his laborious career he has devoted himself with unwearied diligence to the acquisition of every kind of knowledge which could bring help or illustration. The result is a full and copious work on Egyptian antiquities, curiously minute in its examination of every vestige which can be discovered of history, usages, or manners-and

at