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Mr. Jeffers being written to, to know the number of the population, replied as follows:

"Taughmaconnell, Ballinasloe, Aug. 18, 1852. "SIR, I am in receipt of yours of the 9th inst., enclosing a list of publications, which I return marked as you direct.

"The number of converts in this place, old and young, is, I think, about 150; but if it were in our power to afford any protection the number might soon be quadrupled. You may form some idea of the difficulties with which we have to contend, from the fact, that men, nominally Protestant, appoint Popish agents over their property, in this parish, who assist the priest in his efforts to crush and persecute our people-every exertion is made use of to impede the progress of the work,—it is marvellous how little they have effected! "I am, Sir, yours truly,

A grant of tracts and handbills was made.

"W. H. JEFFERS."

The Rectory, Castlecomer, July 14, 1852. SIR,-I beg to state to the Protestant Association, through you, that I have a large intelligent and inquiring population of Romanists around me, my church members numbering 1,400; that I have had for several months back controversial sermons in this parish, which have produced a great spirit of inquiry.

I have a Scripture-reader employed, in addition to a Curate, and have distributed from time to time as great a number of tracts of various kinds as I could command. I have recently opened a library of seventy volumes at my own cost exclusively, and now write to say, that I shall feel very grateful for any grant of books, especially on the Romish Controversy, which the Association may kindly make to me.

Any parcel forwarded to my bookseller, Mr. G. Herbert, 117, Graftonstreet, Dublin, will safely reach,

Yours in the truth, very faithfully and truly,

ROBERT O'CALLAGHAN, B.D.,
Rector and Vicar of Castle comer, Diocese of Ossory.

To the Secretary, &c., &c.
A grant was made of a set of standard works and some tracts.

Mitchel's Town, July 20, 1852. DEAR SIR,-I have much pleasure in acknowledging the safe arrival of the parcel which came by long sea, and beg to return my grateful thanks to the Committee of the Protestant Association for their grant of books to the Marshalstown Library. I am, dear Sir, faithfully yours, Mr. Sanders. Signed, THOMAS E. EVANS.

Cranbrook.

SIR, I enclose a Post Office-order, which will require your signature, for five shillings, as a trifling donation towards the distribution of "Foreign or Domestic Legislation, Address to Electors." It is a very good address. I am, Sir, yours respectfully,

Edinburgh.

SIR,Allow me to forward the enclosed cheque for 37. as a donation to the funds of the Protestant Association, whose able "Address to Electors," will, I trust, have a beneficial influence at the present crisis.

I am, Sir, yours faithfully,

St. Alban's, August, 16, 1852.

SIR,-Your appeal for pecuniary aid towards the expenses incurred by the circulation of the address, "Foreign or Domestic Legislation," reached me here this morning, and I have desired Sir C. Price and Co., to pay Messrs. Williams, Deacon, and Co., 21. to the account of the Protestant Association for that purpose.

I was both surprised and hurt to read in the "Record," of last Monday an extract from the "Christian Observer," of so compromising a character, on this all-important subject, and it has occurred to me, that your Chairman would be a very fit person to address a letter to the Editor of that Review on the subject. I am, Sir, very truly yours,

ELECTIONS.

County of Tipperary Election.

SIR,-The Roman priesthood are most indefatigable in their exertions to arrogate to themselves the sole and exclusive power of returning whom they please as Members for Irish counties. The real question now is, are the inhabitants of Ireland to continue subjects of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, or of the See of Rome? The most popular topic or clap-trap the Romanist candidates can now adopt, is to tell their hearers, that nothing should satisfy, short of a complete extirpation of every person of British descent, that no faith is to be kept with Protestants. I heard one tenant-farmer this day, whose landlord was endeavouring to persuade him to vote for Captain Otway, tell him that he would do anything else in his power to oblige him, even to COMMIT MUrder. But he hoped his honour would not ask him to damn his soul eternally, by voting against the commands of his priest. That the Pope of Rome has the right to command every Irishman, and that he now does so through the parish priests, and to disobey the Pope, would be to disobey God.

Believe me, yours truly,

66

July 2, 1852. MY DEAR SIR,-Will you send me 1,000 copies of the Foreign or Domestic Legislation," signed by Mr. Lord, immediately. We have a Protestant Meeting on Monday, at which I wish to distribute them. Please send them without any delay. An election will be on Thursday.

We have two Protestant candidates, and two also who are not to be trusted on this one subject.

Also 500" Loyalty and Patriotism," 100 "Protection to British Protestantism," and 100" Beware of Popery."

Faithfully yours,

Miscellaneous.

*

THE EXODUS AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY.-The letter of the Rev. Mr. Mullen, with its candid admissions of the gradual extinction of the Roman Catholic faith as soon as its votaries set foot on American soil, continues to create a perfect furore among the Irish clergy of both creeds. The Protestant party have had the letter reprinted and circulated throughout several districts, as strong presumptive evidence of the decline of Popery, and

* Much interesting matter on these points is contained in the "Church of England Quarterly Review" for April 1852, Art. vii. p. 381. The article we refer to is "Christianity in the United States."-ED.P. M.

of the progress of the principles of the Reformation. The Romish clergy, from the "Lord Primate" on his throne down to the humblest curate, appear to be perfectly astounded by the revelations of the American missionary, and the whole machinery of Mother Church has been set in motion with the view of checking a system which has led to such disastrous results as those vouched for on the competent authority of one high in the confidence of Archbishop Cullen himself. To stay the flight across the Atlantic is the first great object of the counter-movement just now at work. As well might it be attempted to stop the tide with a pitchfork; but the trial is, nevertheless, being made, with what success time alone can tell. For the last month the subject of emigration has been the theme of altar eloquence throughout the length and breadth of the kingdom, and arguments of all kinds have been used to dissuade the people from abandoning the "old country" and the religion of their forefathers. The text was taken up on Sunday last by the Right Rev. Dr. Haly, the respected titular of Leighlin and Ferns-a prelate who de servedly possesses the good-will and confidence of all creeds and classes, but who, upon this occasion, has, I learn, failed to convince the remnant of his flock of the dangers they must be prepared to encounter should they persist in the resolution formed by many of them to follow their relatives to their new homes in the western world. The emigration from the district over which Dr. Haly presides has been enormous, and the gross amount of the sums of money transmitted by the emigrants, either for the immediate relief, or for the purpose of defraying the expenses out of their friends in Ireland, almost exceeds the limits of belief.-Correspondent of the Times.

ITALY.-The Opinione of Turin, of the 23d inst., announces that the Archbishop of Chambéry and the Bishops of Aoste, Tarantaise, Maurienne, and Annecy had followed the example of their Piedmontese colleagues, by publishing a declaration, in which, after proclaiming the Marriage Act to be unconstitutional, immoral, anti-social, and anti-Catholic, they declare that any Catholic in their dioceses who should presume to marry according to a form different from that prescribed by the Church shall, ipso facto, incur excommunication. He will be deprived of the sacraments during life, and in the hour of death, unless he has canonically repeated his marriage, or dismissed the person whom the Church can only regard as his concubine. Should he die without conforming to those prescriptions, he shall be deprived of Christian burial, and his children, in a canonical point of view, shall be considered illegitimate.

Letters from the Lombardo-Venetian provinces, in the Corrière Mercantile of Genoa, state that political arrests continue to be made in several towns. A Dr. Passega has been arrested at Ferrara, also an officer of the Pontifical army and two Austrian officers, a merchant named Simonetta, and a gentleman of fortune named Antogina. The Trieste Gazette, in mentioning arrests of the same nature, says, that a Commission has been appointed at Mantua to try by military law all those persons who shall have been arrested upon suspicion of belonging to a secret Society or revolutionary club.

The Swiss journals state that the Swiss Consul at Rome had succeeded in obtaining pensions to the amount of 61,222f. for the Swiss soldiers formerly in the service of the Papal Government.-The Times, July 28, 1852.

THE ECCLESIASTICAL TITLES ACT TESTED.— -It is stated in a Cork paper that a question of no ordinary interest will come to be argued before one of the Masters in Chancery at the close probably of the present week. It relates to the construction of the recent Act of Parliament, rendering invalid bequests left to Roman Catholic bishops or clergymen for certain therein specified purposes, and it arises in the present instance upon a question raised as to the validity of the will of the late Miss A. Healey, of the city of Cork, who devised large sums of money to the Catholic bishops and clergy for Catholic charities in Cork, specified in the will. These bequests are disputed now by the testatrix's next of kin, and their validity is contended for by the executor, Mr. Stephen Coppinger, the barrister, of Amiens-street, so that we shall pro

bably have the whole question-Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, &c.-opened before a judicial tribune, and then brought into the Court of Chancery, if not to the House of Lords, for ultimate decision.

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN GREECE. The decision of the High Court of Athens, which sentenced the Rev. Dr. King to perpetual banishment for having publicly preached the doctrines of the Protestant Church, has not been carried into effect. He appealed against the sentence on the ground of illegality, and declared that he should not quit his residence. The High Court replied that if he did not take his departure within ten days he would be expelled by force. Notwithstanding this menace, Dr. King still remains in his house unmolested. It is, perhaps, more easy to ask for a reason for this than to find an answer. Has the presence in Athens of the American Minister, from Naples had any effect, or is the Greek Government convinced that the judges have made a mistake, and that because the constitution of the country establishes full liberty of conscience and freedom of opinion in religion, a man ought not to be blamed, much less punished, for doing that which the highest authority in the land not merely sanctions, but tells him he has full right to do?

THE IRISH ROMANISTS IN AMERICA. (From the "American and Foreign Christian Union," New York, April 1, 1852.)-One of the Society's Irish missionaries in this city reports that during the last month he was enabled to visit more families than in the preceding month; that he was, with some exceptions, well received; and that in going from house to house, and conversing with the people, and reading to them the Scriptures, he had had the opportunity of making known to many souls the way of eternal life. The missionary entertains the hope that good impressions have been made by these efforts on some minds, and that the harvest will in due time come. The public service which this missionary had kept up in Eighth-street, from the commencement of his labours, was for awhile suspended, owing to the breaking out of a fever in the family in whose house it was held. Two members of the family died, two were sent to the hospital, and three others were still suffering at the date of the missionary's report. An Irish Protestant in the same street opened his house for two Sabbaths, but a Roman Catholic rum-seller, who had claims on the premises, succeeded in compelling him to close it! This missionary conducted a service in the house of a pious Irishman in Willett-street, once a-fortnight, in the evening, until the sickness and death of the wife of the occupant of the house occurred to interrupt it for awhile. This woman, who was converted in Ireland, died in the peace and hope of the Gospel. During her sickness a neighbour opened his house for the service. The missionary has a similar service in Broome-street.

Another Irish missionary in this city, who gives chiefly his evenings and his Sabbath to the work, and employs his days in his theological studies, reports that during the last month he has visited nearly one hundred Roman Catholic families in his district, by the greater part of which he was well received, but by some far otherwise. In some cases he could only say a few words, incidentally, as it were; in many places he was heard gladly as long as he chose to speak or read with them, and was then permitted to pray with them. Eight Testaments were lent by him during the month. His two prayer-meetings are well attended by Roman Catholics as well as Protestants. The Romish priest of the district has commenced visiting the families which have received the missionary, but hitherto has had but little success in turning them from the truth. This missionary speaks of the deplorable ignorance, and immorality, and opposition which he meets with in his field; says that often his life is threatened, and that sometimes nothing but his knowledge of the Irish language saves him from receiving a broken head! His labours appear to be much blessed.

THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE WORLD TO THE BIBLE.The spirit of the world is the spirit of pride and self-esteem. It is the pride of talent and of beauty, the pride of wealth and accomplishments, and the pride of rank and

office. It lives for the praise of men. In place of this the Bible imparts the loveliest of all the graces-a heaven-born humility, a lowliness of mind, a deep sense of unworthiness in the sight of God, a modest estimate of one's own worth, and an unassuming deportment before the world. It is a selfabasing under the sentence of the Divine law, because we have sinned, and because there is mercy through Jesus Christ. It is a grace so resplendent that even the unfallen might envy it. "Before honour is humility." The Bible commends and forms this frame of soul. Its love is humble, its faith is humble, its hopes, its joys, its raptures are all humble. Its heaven is the same. Hell is full of pride-is peopled by pride and rebellion; heaven is filled with those who have fallen by pride, but risen by humility-ascribing all glory to the God of salvation; all crowns cast at the feet of Emanuel, all lowlily as well as rapturously worship and adore! True greatness is nowhere found on earth except in a humble mind; and never is the archangel more elevated and more truly great than when he bows low before the throne of the Eternal. The spirit of the world is obduracy and self-will. It is invincible hardness of heart. It is impenitence that cannot be subdued. It is inflexible perseverance in sin. Truth cannot enlighten it, authority cannot control it; wrath cannot weaken, nor tenderest mercy move or melt its obduracy. In place of these, the Bible imparts tenderness and contrition of mind. Under its soul-subduing influence the spirit that never shrunk from danger nor wept under suffering, turns pale at temptations, and shrinks from sin, weeps over past follies, and looks on Him whom it hath pierced and mourns. The spirit of the world is unbelief, that rejects the truth of Godthat listens to anything almost, rather than to Divine wisdom- - that leans always to self, its idol. The Bible leads to God, to faith in Him, and confidence in His Word. It gives subsistence to hope, and demonstration to evidence (Heb. ix. 1), appropriate help in time of need, and anticipates blessings, though unseen, which are enjoyed even now in the heart.-Gardiner Spring, D.D.

THE BATTLE BETWEEN PROTESTANTISM AND ROMANISM IN AMERICA.(From the "Philadelphia Sun" of April 7.)-We are daily receiving the most gratifying evidences of the awakening of the people of this country to the stealthy strides of Romanism towards supreme political power. New champions are appearing in a field where we have long worked, amid the cold disdain of the politicians, the lukewarm timidity of our Protestant community, and the bitter revilings of the Romanists. Among the latest champions who have come to our aid is a correspondent of the Pittsburgh "Gazette," who says, with great force and truth, that "It is a deplorable fact, that the time is coming when the great battle between Romanism and Protestantism will have to be fought over again, on those very shores which were consecrated by our ancestors, two centuries since, to political and religious freedom. Few can be blind to the stealthy advances of Popery in our beloved country. Jesuitism is already, like a snake trailing through fields of ripened grain, winding its tortuous course among our noble institutions and the interests of our people. The essence of Romanism is persecution, and despotism is the first-born of its offspring. Already we see Archbishop Hughes, the leader of the Propagandists in the United States, while claiming the fullest toleration for his sect here, justifying the abominable Popish bigotry which accounts and punishes as a crime, not only Protestantism, but every form and degree of dissent from the arbitrary decrees of Rome, in all countries where Papal influence is predominant. And the course of this prelate affords conclusive evidence that he and his coadjutors intend and expect to establish the same system in this republic. You may take up any and all of this man's lectures, rescripts, and exhortations, and you will find that they breathe one spirit-toleration for Romanists everywhere, persecution for Protestants wherever Roman power extends. I have observed, with deep and melancholy interest, the dawnings of this controversy. Already, it has seemed to me, the free spirit of our people quails before the daring

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