Eternal Providence whose care is over all his creatures, but peculiarly over those who are faithful to his truth. For all his former mercies they accord the homage of their humble praise, and they no less trust him for the future. To his care, therefore, they commend the Protestant Association, with a fervent prayer that he will guide its deliberations, preserve its fidelity, and acknowledge its labours; and above all, that he will be pleased to promote its purpose of preserving the blessings, which in his goodness he has so long vouchsafed to this forgetful and backsliding nation.

APPENDIX.

PETITION AGAINST THE ANNUAL PARLIAMENTARY GRANT TO THE POPISH COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH.

The petition of the undersigned inhabitants of

Humbly sheweth,

That your petitioners, receiving the written Word of God as the only true standard of faith and morals, are convinced by its testimony that the peculiar tenets of the Church of Rome, as defined and settled at the Council of Trent, are anti-Christian, idolatrous, anti-social, and utterly incapable of being reconciled with the genuine doctrines of the Gospel.

That those heresies have been solemnly repudiated by this country for many generations, during which the blessing of Almighty God has descended upon the Government in a marked and unprecedented manner.

That your petitioners, therefore, deeply lament that a college for the instruction of a Popish priesthood has been established, and is now supported, at Maynooth, in Ireland, by grants from the public treasury; and they fear that this measure, being a participation in the guilt of idolatry, and an open apostasy from the principles of our Protestant constitution, is calculated to draw down Divine judgments on the nation.

Your petitioners would further remind your Honourable House that it has been proved, by the most satisfactory

information given in evidence before both Houses of Parliament, and a Royal Commission appointed to investigate the state of Irish education, as well as by the uniform testimony of actual experience, that the objects contemplated by those statesmen who recommended the establishment of the college have in, no respect been attained; but that, on the contrary, that institution has proved the chief source of seditious turbulence, as well as of superstitious delusion. and religious discord in Ireland.

Your petitioners, therefore, on every ground of principle, policy, and consistency, humbly pray your Honourable House to withdraw every kind of public support from the Roman Catholic College of Maynooth.

And your petitioners, &c.

In petitions to the House of Lords," Right Honourable House" must be substituted for "Honourable House."

PETITION FOR THE EXCLUSION OF ROMAN CATHOLICS FROM THE LEGISLATURE.

The petition of the undersigned inhabitants of

Humbly sheweth,

That your petitioners believe the admission of Papists to legislative power to have been a subversion of the Protestant and Christian character of the British constitution.

That this nation, for many generations, appears to have been favoured by the blessing of Almighty God in proportion to her adherence to her ancient Christian policy; and that, since the destruction of the exclusively Protestant constitution of her Legislature, she has suffered materially from distracted councils and domestic turbulence, occasioned by the ambitious aggressions of Popery and Infidelity.

That the Act passed in the year 1829, entitled "An Act

for the relief of his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects," imposed on all such persons on entering Parliament the following oath :

"I do swear that I will defend, to the utmost of my power, the settlement of property within this realm as established by the laws; and I do hereby disclaim, disavow, and solemnly abjure any intention to subvert the present Church Establishment as settled by law within this realm; and I do solemnly swear, that I never will exercise any privilege to which I am, or may become entitled, to disturb or weaken the Protestant religion, or Protestant Government in the United Kingdom; and I do solemnly, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that I do make this declaration, and every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary sense of the words of this oath, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatsoever."

That your petitioners lament to observe, that notwithstanding this solemn obligation, measures destructive of some of the most venerable and important institutions of the land have been supported by Roman Catholic Members of your Honourable House, with public declarations of their desire finally to overturn the ecclesiastical establishments; and your petitioners therefore submit, that the conditions by which the invasion of the Protestant constitution was accompanied, have been boldly and notoriously violated.

Your petitioners therefore pray, that by the exclusion of Papists from Parliament, and such other measures as to your Honourable House may seem meet, the country may be restored to her former position, as a Christian nation, in which alone there is stability for the throne, for the civil and religious liberties of the people, and for the continuance of Divine favour.

And your petitioners, &c.

In petitions to the House of Lords, "Right Honourable House" must be substituted for "Honourable House."

PETITION AGAINST THE APPOINTMENT OF ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPLAINS, &C., IN THE PRISONS OF ENGLAND.

The humble petition of the undersigned, members and friends of the Protestant Association,

Humbly sheweth,

That your petitioners have learned with regret, that a Bill now before your Honourable House for the better ordering of prisons, contains a clause which authorizes, under certain circumstances, the appointment to English gaols of other religious teachers than those belonging to the Church established in these realms.

That your petitioners believe that such a clause is calculated materially to increase the confidence, and to serve the purposes of the Popish faction, by whose encroachments and power the nation is now distracted and endangered.

That your petitioners also consider the principle involved in such a measure to be fraught with evils; as sanctioning hostility to the Established Church; and as opposed to the uniform practice of the constitution.

Your petitioners, therefore, humbly pray your Honourable House to withhold your sanction from the clause in question.

And your petitioners will ever pray.

In petitions to the House of Lords, "Right Honourable House" must be substituted for "Honourable House."

PETITION AGAINST THE MUNICIPAL (IRISH) CORPORATIONS

BILL.

The petition of the undersigned, members and friends of the Protestant Association, Exeter Hall,

Humbly sheweth,

That your petitioners have seen with considerable alarm a Bill introduced into your Honourable House, purporting to be for the reform of municipal corporations in Ireland.