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reign over the conscience and persontributing additional punishments

state to exercise the freedom of con

Houses might be searched

of every subject in the realm; and, and proscriptions, revolting to huin virtue of this new authority, at manity, and heaping infamy on the the instigation of archbishop Whit- unfeeling bigots that could devise gift, Elizabeth issued an ecclesias- and sanction them. Among these tical commission, more extensive it was made treason against the and more arbitrary in its operations than any that had yet appeared.-science. Its jurisdiction, says the Rev. Mr. Reeve, in his History of the Christian Church, "extended over the whole kingdom, and over all orders of men; their power was to visit and reform all errors, heresies, and schisms, to regulate all opinions, and to punish every breach of uniformity in the public worship; and their power was subject to no control. They had directions to proceed in the execution of their office, not only by the legal methods of juries and witnesses, but by any other means they should judge fit, that is, by the rack, by tortures, and imprisonment. The punishments they inflicted were arbitrary, directed by no rule. Their fines were often so heavy as to bring total ruin upon those who had the misfortune to offend. The very suspicion of being an offender was enough to make any such in the eyes of those inquisitors, who, in that case, were authorized to administer an official oath, which compelled the suspected person to answer all questions, though tending to criminate himself or his dearest friends. So cruel and despotic were the powers which the supremacy was supposed in that age to confer upon the crown, and which Elizabeth exercised to their full extent." Besides these violent measures, sir, judged necessary by the wisdom of PROTESTANT-ASCENDENCY to reform the abuses and slavery of popery, a code of penal laws was founded, such as would have disgraced the sanguinary reigns of a Nero, or a Caligula, to which the bigoted and infuriated intolerance of succeeding reigns kept con

by day or night for popish books or relics. A catholic was not at liberty to educate his own children either at home or abroad, and he was even forbidden the exercise of his religion in his own house. To become a priest was to commit treason, if the individual presumed to exercise his functions within the realm; and all who assisted at the ceremony of the mass were guilty of felony. To enumerate the whole catalogue of laws forming this black code to restrain conscience, would fill a large volume; but these were not the only hardships and oppressions that preyed upon the catholics in the reigns of this gracious monarch and the Stuarts. Plots, conspiracies, fabricated rumours of invasions, of insurrections, and other inventions, were resorted to for the purpose of inflaming the public mind, and covering the insatiable avarice and corruptions of the ministers and their satellites; and a system of espiery took its rise, from which the country has never yet been freed. Camden, in his History of the Life of Elizabeth, says of the lords Paget and Arundel, and other catholics, that they were forced to fly the land: "That they heavily complained of the subtle artifices of Leicester and Walsingham; that strange kind of tricks and cheats were invented, and secret snares so closely laid, that they must, whether they would or not, and before they were aware, be involved in the guilt of high treason. And (he adds) verily there were at this time some ways taken to try how men stood affected: counter

feit letters were privily sent in the name of the queen of Scots and the fugitives, and left in papists' houses; spies were sent abroad up and down the country, to take notice of people's discourse, and lay hold of their words. Reporters of vain and idle stories were admired and credited. Hereupon many were brought into suspicion, and amongst the rest, Henry earl of Northumberland, and his son Ralph earl of Arundel."

seven, five were rash young men,
who, by their occasional conformity
to the established religion, were
looked upon by the catholics as
apostates from their faith. It must
also be remarked, that the first ca-
tholic of rank and honour whom
the minister sought to draw into his
snare, by means of an anonymous
and mysterious letter, carried the
same to the minister himself, and
thereby occasioned the scheme to be
known about court ten days before
it was suffered to be publicly ex-
ploded. Furthermore, had the plot
been a real, instead of a sham one,
the catholics would have suffered
equally with the protestants,
they were not then excluded from
parliament, and not less than twenty
lords of that religion had seats in
the upper house. Yet, notwith-
standing the knowledge of these
facts-notwithstanding the express
admission of the king personally,
both in parliament and in his procla-
mations, issued out for the appre-
hension of the conspirators, that he
did not 66 charge the plot upon the
whole body of the English papists,'

as

Such, sir, was the commencement of PROTESTANT-ASCENDENCY; and its progress has been marked by the same uncharitable disposition, the same disregard to honour and veracity, the same violation of the principles of Magna charta, and the same spirit of despotism and corruption. To set the mind of James, the successor of Elizabeth, against his catholic subjects, towards the faith and discipline of whose church he entertained a partiality, his father and mother being both catholics, and himself baptized and confirmed as such, perfidy and treachery were brought into action, which soon threw the whole na-notwithstanding the ambassadors tion into a state of delirium and of the catholic king of Spain and fear, by the announcement of a the catholic archduke of Austria conspiracy, by papists, to blow up were foremost in the rejoicings made the parliament-house with gunpow- on the disclosure of this pretended der, and thereby destroy the three plot, an act of parliament was estates of the realm. This conspi- passed in the third year of this king's racy, known by the name of the reign, commanding a public thanksGunpowder-plot, has since been giving to be annually made on the clearly proved not to belong to the fifth of November in every church catholics, but was the invention of in the kingdom, and the following the then prime-minister, for the pur- form of prayer was directed to be pose of wreaking his vengeance on used as the collect in the morning that persecuted and vilified body, service: "Almighty God, who and dissolving the attachment which hast in all ages shewed thy power the monarch had for them. By the and mercy in the miraculous and most authentic records it appears, gracious deliverances of thy church, that no more than sixteen persons and in the protection of righteous were so much as accused of having and religious kings and states proa share in the plot, and of these six-fessing thy holy and eternal truth, teen only seven were acquainted from the wicked conspiracies and with the worst part of it. Of these malicious practices of all the ene

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mies thereof: We yield thee our unfeigned thanks and praise for the wonderful and mighty deliverance of our gracious sovereign king James the first, the queen, the prince, and all the royal branches, with the nobility, clergy, and com mons of England, then assembled in parliament, by popish treachery, appointed as sheep to the slaughter, in a most barbarous and savage manner, beyond the examples of former ages. From this unnatural conspiracy, not our merit, but thy mercy, not our foresight, but thy Providence, delivered us. And therefore not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be ascribed all honour and glory, in all churches of the saints, from generation to generation," &c. You, sir, and I believe the whole of those who are great sticklers against popery, and the admission of catholics to their undoubted civil rights, have manifested the utmost abhorrence of the recent attempts to spread blasphemy and impiety among the people; but tell me, sir, can you select a more impious and blasphemous case from the writings of modern reformers than this act of the religious reformers of the early part of the sixteenth century? What can be more impious, what more blasphemous, than to ordain a religious holiday, and command individuals to bend themselves before the throne of Charity and Truth, there to render praise to God for deliverance from a danger merely pretended, for the basest purposes, and attribute to his providence the escape of individuals, whose existence was never seriously menaced? To thank and praise the God of Heaven for an escape from popish treachery, when the Omnipotent Being knows that the doctrines of popery, as the catholic faith is called, reprobates all such perfidious and unlawful deeds; thus standing in his presence the ma

ligners and libellers of the religious principles of that class of christians? Thus avowing themselves in the awful presence of a scrutinizing and just Judge, the violaters of one of his own commandments, by bearing false witness against their neighbours. Really, when I reflect that this ceremony is performed even at this day, I cannot but think there is much room for consideration, and serious consideration too, on the part of the members of the establishment, into the conduct of their evangelical reforming ancestors, before they set up a cry against those who advocate freedom of conscience to all, and a participation of civil rights to men of every religious per

suasion.

This diabolical conspiracy, for a conspiracy it certainly was, not, however, to blow up the three estates of the realm, but the characters of men, who preferred adhering to the ancient faith, rather than the embracing evangelical principles, succeeded in its design, and the people were fired with the deadliest hatred towards the supposed treachery and perfidy of papists. Still no attempt was yet made to exclude them by law from the exercise of civil office, whenever the monarch thought fit to call any of them to his councils, or intrust them with a post of honour. This fact is corroborated by the many succeeding complaints which the puritans in parliament sent up to James and his son Charles, respecting the favour which those sovereigns occasionally bestowed on some of the most gifted of the catholic body. At length a period arrived, when the system of civil exclusion was to be added to that of religious persecution and slander.

To effect this, another monster appeared after the restoration of Charles the second, of whom it is written, "Void of all honour in politics, Shaftesbury coined ru

would otherwise appear prodigious
and incredible."
"The king
(he observes) was anxious to keep
the question of the popish plot from
the parliament, where, he suspected,
many designing people would very
much abuse the credulity of the na-
tion; but Danby, who hated the
catholics, and courted popularity,
and, perhaps, hoped that the king,
if his life was believed to be in dan-
ger from the jesuits, would be more
cordially loved by the nation, had
entertained opposite designs; and
the very first day of the session he
opened the matter in the house of
peers." The intelligence threw both
houses into a state of phrensy.→
"So vehement were the houses,
(says Hume) that they sat every day,
forenoon and afternoon, on the sub-
ject of the plot; for no other busi-
ness could be admitted. A com-
mittee of lords were appointed, to

mours as they fitted his purpose, and had men of his party ready who could repeat, and men who could write them, so as to make them circulate through every part of the kingdom. Void of all feeling, he confirmed his inventions by public trials, and, without remorse, saw persons led to death for charges which himself had contrived; engaging thus even the passions of horror and amazement in the public, to make things credible, which, with out these, could not have been believed."-(North's Examen, p. 45.) Such is the character given to the inventor and manager of that infamous conspiracy, called Titus Oates's Plot, said to have been carried on by the jesuits, and other papists, against his majesty's life, the protestant religion, and the government of this kingdom. I shall not enter here into all the perjuries, mock trials, executions of innocent vic-examine prisoners and witnesses; tims, and imprisonment of others, which took place under the influence of this infernal measure, as a full account of them may be seen in my Historical Narrative; but shall confine myself to the opinions delivered by the most popular and authentic protestant historians, of the transactions which occurred from, and the state of the public mind occasioned by, the rumours then circulated to mislead the people.Smollet 66 says, At this period the attention of the English nation was engrossed by a very remarkable instance of villainy and imposture, that raised an universal ferment among the people, and operated in defiance of common sense and demonstration." Hume writes, that "an universal panic being diffused, reason and argument, and common sense and common humanity, lost all influence over the people. From this disposition sof men's minds we are to account for the progress and credit of the popish plot; an event which

blank warrants were put into their hands for the commitment of such as should be accused or suspected. Oates, who, though his evidence were true, must, by his own confession, be regarded as an INFAMOUS VILLAIN, was by every one applauded, caressed, and called The Saviour of the Nation. He was recommended by the parliament to the king. He was lodged in Whitehall, protected by guards, and encouraged by a PENSION of twelve hundred pounds a year."This Oates, who was the first witness in the plot, and the only one, till rewards were offered for others to come forward, "when examined before the council," according to Hume, "betrayed his impostures in such a manner, as would have utterly discredited the most consistent story, and the most reputable evidence."....." Notwithstanding these objections," this historian adds, "great attention was paid to Oates's evidence, and the plot became very

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soon the subject of conversation, and even the object of terror to the people." Remarking on the extraordinary evidence given by this perjured villain and his associate, Bedloe, on which eighteen individuals suffered as traitors, Hume says, Though the catholics had been suddenly and unexpectedly detected, at the moment when their conspiracy, it is said, was ready to be put in execution, no arms, no ammunition, no money, no commissions, no papers, no letters, after the most rigorous search, ever were discovered to confirm the evidence of Oates and Bedloe. Yet still the nation, though often frustrated, went on in eager pursuit and confident belief of the conspiracy and even the manifold inconsistencies and absurdities contained in the narratives, instead of discouraging them, served only as farther incentives to discover the bottom of the plot, and were considered as slight objections, which a more complete information would fully remove. In all history it will be difficult to find such another instance of popular frenzy and bigoted delusion."

Here, sir, we have the account, as given by historians of opposite principles to the catholic church, of a plot devised by unprincipled and malignant politicians, who bribed worthless and infamous wretches to swear to the grossest absurdities, all which the gulled protestant people believed with the same readiness as their own fanciful interpretations of the scriptures.In this state of national insanity and terror, and while the fever was at its greatest height, the bill for disabling papists from sitting in either house of parliament was carried through both houses, and upon the 30th of November, 1678, was presented to the king upon the throne, to which he gave his consent, to the very great satisfaction, it is said, of] said but then where

the people. From this time, the ca tholics of England were, and have been ever since, expressly excluded by law from holding any civil office under the crown, or taking any share in the legislative concerns of the nation; and how far the people then had, and now have, cause to be satisfied, let the past and present situation of the country bear testimony to the sagacious, and equitable, and incorrupt system of PROTESTANT-ASCENDENCY. This exclusion, as I before said, was the work of Shaftesbury, who had deserted the king's councils, and espoused the cause of the violent party, of which he became the leader. Hatred towards the then duke of York, who had become a convert to the catholic faith, honestly and openly professing himself as such, induced this incendiary to attempt setting aside his right to the throne. Shaftesbury had been instrumental in bringing the duke's father to the block, and raising Cromwell to the protectorship; it is no wonder then, when swayed by implacable malice and revenge for supposed injuries, he meditated robbing the son of his regal rights, after he had assisted to deprive the father of his throne. This plan, however, he considered difficult to accomplish, from the convic. tion that he should have to encounter the decided opposition of the catholic lords, who he knew would never consent to impair the royal prerogatives, or alter the regular succession of the crown; and hence sprung the invention of the above infamous plot, to alarm the nation with the terrors of popery and the necessity of securing the protestant interest, and monopolize the whole of the civil offices and privileges of the state by the professors of protestantism. This was done by enacting that no one, who then was, or who hereafter should be, a member of either house of parliament,

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