public. They have sedulously endeavoured to bring together the best evidence that was possibly attainable; and would once more repeat, that if any more authentic means of ascertaining the real views and principles of the Romish hierarchy in Ireland had suggested themselves, they would willingly have resorted to them. It will be observed that the whole of the documents above referred to, rest upon the sanction of either the whole, or a considerable portion of the Romish bishops in Ireland. It is well known that these bishops have, to English statesmen and legislators, held very different language. But it must be admitted to be perfectly fair, and only reasonably cautious, to compare professions so made, with political ends distinctly in view, with the principles actually inculcated, at all times and under all circumstances, on their own clergy and their own flocks. And those principles, if the documents above referred to are of any validity, are as entirely opposed to their professions of liberality, as light to darkness, or as peace and universal charity to the extermination of all opposers! Nor can the reflection be avoided, that the existing circumstances of the country give to these facts a more than ordinary importance. The influence recently obtained, both by the Romish priesthood of Ireland, and by their delegates in Parliament, over the decisions of the Legislature and the Government, is of the most decided character, and that to an extent which, some few years since, would have seemed absolutely impossible. To ascertain, then, the real objects, to the attainment of which that influence will be directed, must obviously be most desirable. And, if the documents just quoted do really convey, as the Committee believe that they do, the actual views and principles now maintained by the ruling powers in the Irish Roman Catholic Church, then, assuredly, nothing can be more clear than the fact, that the comfort and well-being, and even the lives and properties of the Protestants of Ireland, stand, at this instant, in most fearful peril. To this conclusion the Committee cannot avoid coming; while at the same time they earnestly desire, that every reader of this Address would himself examine, both into the facts above adverted to, and also into the correctness of the inferences which are drawn from them. Published for the Protestant Association, BY HATCHARDS, RIVINGTONS, SEELEYS, NISBETS, DALTON, BAISLER, SHAW, AND FORBES AND JACKSON. Price 2d., or 12s. per 100.] No. VI. Macintosh, Printer, 20, Great New-street, London. OBJECT AND USES OF PROTESTANT ASSOCIATIONS. BY J. C. COLQUHOUN, ESQ., M.P. SECOND EDITION. LONDON: PUBLISHED FOR THE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION, BY HATCHARDS, RIVINGTONS, SEELEYS, NISBET, DALTON, BAISLER, SHAW, AND FORBES AND JACKSON. 1839. No. VII. [Price 2d. or 12s. per 100. 1. CLAIMS of the PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION on PUBLIC SUPPORT. By G. H. WOODWARD, A.B. 2d Edition. Price 2d., or 12s. per 100. 2. SPEECH of J. C. COLQUHOUN, Esq., M.P., upon the Maynooth College Grant. Price 1d., or 7s. per 100. 3. The USES of the ESTABLISHED CHURCH to the PROTESTANTISM and CIVILIZATION of IRELAND. By J. C. COLQUHOUN, Esq., M.P. 2d Edition. Price 3d., or 20s. per 100. 4. STATEMENT of the CIRCUMSTANCES attending the PUBLICATION of the BIBLE with the RHEMISH NOTES. By the Rev. ROBERT J. M'GHEE. Price 6d., or 40s. per 100. 5. The DOCTRINES PROMULGATED by the ROMISH BISHOPS in IRELAND, A. D. 1832, touching the power of the Romish Church over Heretics, and the Restitution of Forfeited Property. By the Rev. ROBERT J. M'GHEE. Price 6d., or 40s. per 100. 6. ADDRESS of the COMMITTEE of the PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION to the PEOPLE of ENGLAND. 3d Edition. Price 2d., or 12s. per 100. 7. On the OBJECT and USES of PROTESTANT ASSOCIATIONS. By J. C. COLQUHOUN, Esq., M.P. 2d Edition. Price 2d., or 12s. per 100. 8. ENGLAND, the FORTRESS of CHRISTIANITY. By the Rev. G. CROLY, LL.D., Rector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook. Seventeenth Thousand. Price 1d., or 7s. per 100. 9. BRITISH LEGISLATURE. On the ADMISSION of ROMAN CATHOLICS to PARLIAMENT, and their VIOLATION of their OATH. By J. E. GORDON, Esq. Price 1d., or 10s. per 100. 10. The CHURCH ESTABLISHMENT.-SPEECH of the Rev. HUGH M'NEILE, in DEFENCE of the ESTABLISHED CHURCH, at the Second Annual Meeting of the Protestant Association. Price 2d., or 12s. per 100. 11. A SKETCH of POPERY. Sixth Thousand. Price 5s. per 100, or 42s. per 1000. 12. A FEW FACTS to AWAKEN PROTESTANTS. Fourth Thousand. Price 5s. per 100, or 42s. per 1000. 13. The ROMAN CATHOLIC OATH. · EXETER, March 1, 1838, in the House of Lords. 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FIRST ANNUAL REPORT, 1836-37. Price 6d. SECOND ANNUAL REPORT, 1837-38. Price 6d. The PROTESTANT MAGAZINE; a depository of Protestant Intelligence, containing interesting facts and important information with regard to the progress and designs of Popery, exposing its anti-christian, anti-social, and idolatrous character, and vindicating and enforcing sound Protestant principles. Published Monthly, in 8vo. Price 2d. HANDBILLS. 1. POPERY the ENEMY of GOD and MAN. 2d Edition. Price 2s. per 2. POPERY LIKE PAGANISM. Price 1s. 9d. 3. POPERY UNCHANGED. Second Edition. per 100. 100. OF PROTESTANT ASSOCIATIONS. THE question often put, and to which it is desirable to offer an explicit answer, is, "What is the object and the use of a Protestant Association?" We shall endeavour to answer this by a reference to certain facts and circumstances which are within the observation of every one. It is often said, triumphantly, and yet truly, that this country is at present in a state of unexampled prosperity. To whatever side we turn, to its commercial state, to its manufacturing interests, or to its mineral treasure, we find proofs of its wealth, securities for its progress. There appears no cause which can disturb the stability of British resources, or assign limits to their advancement. It is natural that many persons should draw from this a conclusion favourable to the fortunes of Great Britain. On the other hand, a very different view of our condition is taken by a party who do not coincide in the opinions we have stated. They conceive that our position as a country is critical, if not desperate. They bid us remark the extreme opinions which are abroad, and the attacks which are made upon the institutions of the country. They observe that strange views are circulated, and hazardous changes are demanded; that a regard for what is established is treated as a prejudice, that novelties are eagerly sought after. These, they say, have in all countries been the sign of revolution. With the foundations of opinion the foundations of a State are shaken. It is evident now that there is a violent pressure upon Government, a pressure which deranges its movements, and which yet there is no means of resisting; that Government is driven to yield to demands which it dreads, and yet that each concession only leads to fresh demands. By the changes then which are made, further changes are rendered inevitable, and how can these end without the total overthrow of Government? The conclusion which this party draw from these facts is, that our institutions will give way like those of the rest of Europe, and that we shall be plunged into a state of anarchy. These fears pervade a large class, and though derided by the sanguine, they seem justified by circumstances which all observe. There is a great contrast evidently between these opposite views, yet neither of them can be set aside as unreasonable, each receiving a certain countenance from unquestionable facts. We cannot, for example, question the sound foundations of our national wealth, nor can we assign any limits to its progress: on the other hand we cannot condemn those who take into their view not only what may be termed the mechanical resources of the country, but also its moral aspect, the state of public sentiment. For it is clear that in the political, as well as in the natural world, we must regard not only the state of the earth, but also the elements of the atmosphere above. For, whatever may be the accumulations of national wealth, they may be all scattered by the hurricanes which are engendered in the upper atmosphere of public opinion. We hold this to be the explanation of those views, apparently so far apart, and yet in this way converging. For, though this country may abound in the materials of wealth, its political horizon may be, and we fear now is, darkened and overcast, and, in such a case, the extensive accumulation of capital in this country, so far from securing us from convulsion, will only render the convulsion, if it should arrive, more tremendous. It remains, however, to inquire whether there really are signs of an approaching political storm, and, if there are, from what quarter they come, and how they may be averted. The ordinary policy of the different States of the world has been to consider in their public affairs, what seemed to conduce to the wealth and aggrandizement of the State. They have had, as far as they have been well regulated, one object, the interest of the State, and it was considered the highest praise of a government that it kept this object, and no other, steadily in view. If the State was despotic it promoted the power of one man; if popular, the wealth and happiness of the people at large. Two States of the world have struck out a different course of policy. They have held that the object of legislation was not simple, but complex; that it had to regard the right as well as the useful; the duty of the State as well as its interest; their duty to God, as well as the interest of the people. These two States occupied, therefore, in the rest of the world a peculiar position. They adopted the code which settled questions of duty, as the code of national law, and they held that code to overrule and hold supremacy over the other statutes of the realm. The code in which these duties were described is the written Revelation from heaven. This therefore was constituted as supreme over the laws of the State, all other laws bore tacit reference to it, and every act of Government had regard to it. This peculiar principle of policy was adopted in one State of the ancient world; a State which was broken up as soon as it abandoned that policy. It was received into the policy of these islands, as if it was designed that there should always be offered one specimen of the harmony which a right principle carries with it. It may be traced very early, seated in the minds of the people of this country, and passing into the frame work of their polity, so that as that became woven into substance, this grand principle extended itself, growing with the liberties of the people, and finally established at those two great epochs of our history which settled the Constitution. This is the principle (we do not |