M'Neile, Rev. Hugh, D.D., his Speech at Annual Meeting Murray, Rev. R., D.D., Dean of Ardagh, &c., Biographical Memoir of . 337 Palmerston, Lord, on the Moral Power of Great Britain Papacy, Downfall of, by G. S. Faber, B.D. Parliament, Opening of, Her Majesty's Speech Paul, Sir J. D, Bart., his Speech at Annual Meeting Queen, the, or the Pope? Royal Proclamation on Roman Catholic Processions. 207 Seymour, Rev. M. H., Review of his Lecture on Nunneries Stowell, Rev. H., on Validity of Romish Orders Letter to Electors of Manchester PROTESTANT MAGAZINE. AUGUST, 1852. THE GENERAL ELECTION. THE elections are now over. When Parliament reassembles, the House of Commons will present a very different aspect to that presented by the late House. Protestantism will be found to have gained much. We do not wish to slight other important questions, still less to ignore their existence. But important as many other questions most undoubtedly are, they are not of the same importance as the spread and maintenance of true religion, and the upholding of that. National Protestantism without which all other measures must fail of securing to us permanent prosperity, glory, and independ ence. We have no wish to triumph over the fallen, yet we cannot but rejoice, for the sake of the cause we have in hand, that many opposers of Protestantism have been defeated, and others have barely escaped the same visitation upon them for their opposition to, or betrayal of its interests. Liverpool and Dublin have manifested a right spirit; and two gentlemen, whose votes and speeches seemed ever ready to serve the Papal cause, have witnessed a reaction in the public mind for which they were little prepared. Manchester, though it has failed this time, may yet succeed in future by persevering organization, and being well prepared, and in good time, with candidates whom the electors may think fitting men on mercantile, as well as on Protestant grounds, and politics generally, to represent their interests in Parliament. A spirit-stirring address from the pen of the Rev. Hugh Stowell will be found in another portion of this Magazine. Middlesex might have been rescued from a bitter opponent of what is right, had there but been adequate arrangements beforehand, and the Marquis of Blandford, from whom the public expect much, might have been one of the representatives of the Metropolitan county. Edinburgh has, owing to a singular concatenation of events, returned the brilliant essayist and historian, and Mr. Macaulay may again take his seat as the representative of modern Athens. Having rejected him in 1847 for his vote in favour of the increased grant to Maynooth in 1845, it is 'curious and inconsistent that they should again elect him in 1852. Nor is it easy VOL. XIV.-August, 1852. R New Series, No. 20. to discover on what one ground alone they have done so. Some of the electors may have thought he had been sufficiently made to suffer for such dereliction of Protestant principles and duty, and they may have considered that the testimony given by Mr. Macaulay the historian against Popery might be regarded as some set-off against his voting for Maynooth. We should, however, have preferred seeing clear proof that the vote and voice of the Right Hon. Member would be characterised by a decidedly Protestant spirit. We yet hope it may be so. The Protestant electors of North Warwick have been alive to their duty, and Mr. Spooner and Mr. Newdegate have been again returned as their representatives, notwithstanding the efforts made by the Romish party to defeat them. The Papal priesthood in Ireland have used their power to secure the return of as many Romanists as possible, and to throw out every Protestant candidate. In some instances the proceedings have been most tumultuous, while life and property have been endangered by mobs, urged on to reckless violence for the support of their Church. The Maynooth-educated priests, with the power, fury, and violence which characterize them when urging on their followers to desperate acts, not to say to unlawful deeds of violence, have in some instances almost outdone themselves. The "Times" correspondent, of July 22, says: "For scenes of downright savagery the nomination proceedings for the model' county of Down altogether eclipse those already enacted in Cork, Limerick, or Belfast. From the opening of the court to the Sheriff's call for a show of hands riot reigned paramount, and sanguinary combats, ending with broken heads and bruised limbs, were substituted for the speech-making incidental to the first day of an election. Bribery and treating, it seems, are in full operation. "The accounts from Kilkenny county represent a state of affairs similar to that which prevails in Down. There, too, the nomination proceedings would have disgraced a tribe of Ojibbeway Indians." This is no Exeter-hall accusation. May we not indulge the hope that the conduct of the Romish priesthood at some of these election riots will be made the subject of strict inquiry? TRIAL BY JURY. DR. ACHILLI V. DR. NEWMAN, THERE was only space and time between the conclusion of the above cause and the appearance of our July number to allow of our announcing the verdict. Dr. Achilli, who has been tried both by the Inquisition at Rome and before a British jury at Westminster, must have very sensibly felt and appreciated the difference of the two systems. We say, has been tried, for, as emphatically observed, though Dr. Newman was the defendant, yet the main questions were those affecting the character and conduct of Dr. Achilli. We were present in court during the greater portion of the trial. The addresses of the counsel, the evidence of the witnesses, the summing up of the Judge, were listened to with deep interest; the verdict of the jury, and its reception by a British public with hearty cheers as the acquittal of a man who, while in the Church of Rome, was honoured and caressed, but when he left it was reviled, persecuted, and traduced, were honourable to the sense of justice which characterizes the feelings of the population of Great Britain. Loug may it continue so to be. Long may "Trial by Jury" continue to interpose a successful barrier to the waves of Popish tyranny and arbitrary power, which would swamp the rights and liberties of the British nation, whether resulting from democratic violence, from courtly influence, or from the foreign intrigues of the Vatican, directed against our dear, our time-tried, and time-honoured institutions. We have now before us, occupying more than 200 closely printed pages, "A Report of the Trial," &c. The writer, evidently a strong partizan, contends for the confessional as a means of protecting, preserving, or restoring purity, or preventing worse consequences, and lets go no opportunity of attacking counsel, witnesses, judge, jury, and public, wherever their advocacy, evidence, charge, verdict, or expression of opinion is found or supposed to be in opposition to the interests of Dr. Newman. The individual is often lost sight of in the cause. And without pausing to make commendations on the one, or censures on the other of the two litigating persons, we may observe, that in the providence of God much good may be the result of the trial. It has tended to open the eyes of Protestants in England and elsewhere as to the real nature of Popery, and will not fail to impress upon them a deep sense of the vast importance of preserving their religion, their laws, and constitution from the contaminating and blighting influence of Rome. THE COMING STRUGGLE WITH ROME, NOT RELIGIOUS BUT POLITICAL; OR, WORDS OF WARNING TO THE ENGLISH PEOPLE. BY PIERCE CONNELLY, M.A., AUTHOR OF A LETTER TO THE EARL OF SHREWSBURY. THIS is a remarkable pamphlet. It has been very recently put forth by a remarkable person, and we fiud in it much matter of deep and thrilling interest and importance. * 8vo., pp. 36. London: T. Hatchard, 187, Piccadilly. 1852. The writer was originally a member of the Episcopal Church in America. He subsequently left that communion, became a member of the Church of Rome, and was appointed Domestic Chaplain to the Earl of Shrewsbury. But, after a while, he discovered the Romish Church to be erroneous, and ceased to be a member of her communion. In leaving that Church, he has left behind him many friends, of whom he thus speaks at p. 36: "The Church of Rome is filled with those that are dear and honoured to me. Its pontiffs and its princes, with one base exception, have ever treated me personally with distinction far beyond my rank or merits, and with affection and esteem, it almost breaks my heart to seem to have forgotten." The writer has evidently been behind the scenes, and whilst multitudes are being duped by Rome's holiness, love of liberty, and religion, and seem to admire that spiritual fervour for holy things and offices which characterizes her emissaries, Mr. Connelly tells us the contest is really a political, not a religious one, and Rome's object is temporal power and supremacy in Great Britain. We have ever regarded the contest as one of a compound character, not entirely religious, not entirely political, but partaking of both, and such as might naturally be expected from the politico-religious system of Popery. Speaking of the late Papal aggression, Mr. Connelly says, at p. 6: "I am well aware that the consent given by the late Cabinet to what is called the Papal aggression,* though it could neither be retracted nor effectually legislated against, was thought necessary to be denied." And again, at pp. 34, 35, he thus adverts to the subject : : "If you would be-as you have not of late years quite been-selfgoverned, you must know your will, you must express it, and you must require it to be respected. The one characteristic of the present House of Commons, as a body, has been a deliberate and unmistakeable contempt, not only of your feelings, but of your intelligence. It is for you to remedy this evil. It is for you to teach your Representatives that six months at a time are not to be spent in dissemblingly legislating upon a foregone conclusion; upon what the Cardinal Secretary of the Pope had in autograph an implicit pledge from the British Cabinet, you should never have your way in, and that the Pope should have his. It is for you to require, that hereafter you shall be respected just as much in the House of Commons as at the Hustings. There is no need to degrade your Members of the House of Commons into local or trade * And adds in a foot note, "Proof of this consent-and of something more than consent-in the hand-writing of a Cabinet Minister, is at the service of any member of Her Majesty's Most Hon. Privy Council." |