would be attended with the remotest prospect of success? Is it not, on the contrary, preposterous to imagine that this body would be unanimous in hazarding the blessings which they had obtained with so much difficulty, and which, if once lost, could never be retrieved? The most probable period for such a mad attempt is prior, and not subsequently, to emancipation, when, comparatively, there is more to gain, and less to sacrifice. And have no opportunities occurred for the display of such treasonable folly, if it really must be granted to exist? If ever the state of this country laid it open to such an attempt, ages may revolve, and not present again so fit a season as when, exhausted of our military force, and debarred of internal and external aid, we were involved in a long and arduous struggle with the late colossal power of France.

Murmurings and threats inevitably spring from the bitter roots of disap

pointment; but these ebullitions are as hurtful to the feelings of the best friends of emancipation, as they are too much disregarded by its foes. It is obvious, that by violence all that the Roman Catholic can gain, is the possibility of ruining his country, and the probability of losing for ever the chance of obtaining those blessings for which he labours. Yet we have, unhappily, but too evident marks of that ardent temper, in the sister kingdom, which blinds the judgment, and gives the rein to passion. Feelings are now, alas! kindled, which nothing, save the utter loss or gain of all they claim, can tranquillize! But these considerations are in some degree a digression. We supposed the great object of the Roman Catholic's fervent aspirations to have been attained. We viewed him under the influence of an able, spiritual chief, striving to promote that chief's designs. We cannot reasonably imagine force to be the agent in such a case; intrigue is the only instrument which the weaker party could em

ploy. And is the British constitution an engine which might so easily be turned against itself? When a Roman Catholic raises his voice in the English senate, will not every protestant ear be on the alert? Will not every sentiment he expresses, every syllable he utters, be narrowly scrutinized? But admitting that the Houses of Lords and Commons turned traitors to themselves, and were ready to sacrifice not only the interests of the empire, but their own, can their debates be carried on in whispers? Will no sound of this absurd plot transpire; or will the nation, out of complaisance, put cotton in their ears? The temporal dominion of the Pope in Britain, unless we all turn papists, is no more! Popery is a plant that will not and cannot thrive in a free soil, and under the open canopy of heaven. Its growth must be fostered by a borrowed and mitigated heat and light a despotism is the state in which alone it can attain its full luxuriance. Convert this protestant constitution of three estates into a Roman Catholic

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monarchy, and then, indeed, when the reformed faith is gone, the constitution need not long survive, and will not be lamented. If the faith and ceremonies of the church of Rome be the true exposition of Christianity, it cannot but prevail. Let us observe, however, that in proportion as knowledge is diffused, the social and civil state of man is more and more averse to despotism; and the same cause operates in a similar ratio to wear down those religious prejudices with which such a state alone can duly harmonize. Let us look abroad on the face of the civilized globe, and we shall discern the effects of knowledge in their operation. Even the bigoted and ignorant Turk can no longer resist its magic influence! and while the Mohammedan advances, will the Christian retrograde? In England, where not only the liberty, but the powers and means of discussion are so general, error may be disseminated, but it never can prevail. Our dearest privilege, the protestant faith, is greatly aided and favoured

by the church establishment, yet this establishment is not its only pillar. The press, that mighty engine, without which, humanly speaking, the efforts of the great reformers would have been fruitless; the press, that heart of liberty, whence the stream of vivifying wisdom pours forth and circulates through the remotest fibre of the British empire, nay, to the extremest limit of the world itself, must render truth triumphant!

The admission of a few Roman Catholics to power, (for there are but few to admit,) might supply them with additional opportunities of making their religious opinions known, but not approved; and until their sentiments be adopted by the nation in general, or by, at the least, a moiety of our population, how can those notions be enforced? But suppose the consummate talents of these few new members of the "Lords" and "Commons," succeeded in placing a Roman Catholic monarch on the throne. The experiment would not be original; it has been tried, and that, too, at a