articles, or in any other way so as to add to the interest and utility of the Magazine, will be highly esteemed, and may be forwarded to the Editor, either at the Office of the Association, or at the Publisher's.

PETITION FOR THE REPEAL OF THE ACT OF LAST SESSION FOR THE ENDOWMENT OF THE POPISH COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH.

To the Honourable* the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled.

HUMBLY SHEWETH,

The Petition of

That your Petitioners, recognising the Holy Scriptures as the only unerring standard of faith and practice, and convinced by the testimony of the Word of God, that the doctrines of the Church of Rome, as defined by the Council of Trent, and embodied in the creed of Pope Pius IV., and exemplified in its general practice and teaching, are "superstitious and idolatrous," opposed to the best interests of society, and to the welfare and salvation of immortal souls,—must regard all support and countenance of such a system by the State as a national sin, and calculated to bring down the judgments of God upon this professedly Protestant country.

That they cannot but consider the Act for the permanent endowment of the Romish College of Maynooth, which was passed in the last session of the present Parliament as a participation in the guilt of idolatry, a dereliction of the principles of the British Constitution, and a violence done to the conscientious convictions of all true' Protestants, as may be well understood from the unprecedented number of Petitions that were presented against it.

That your Petitioners believe it can be most fully established by the evidence of facts, that all concessions made to Popery have proved as fruitless and unsatisfactory in their results, as they have been unjustifiable in principle.

Your Petitioners, therefore, on every ground of principle, policy, and consistency, humbly implore your Honourable House to repeal that Act, and to withdraw every kind of national support and encouragement, which has been heretofore given to the unscriptural and Antichristian doctrines and practices of the Church of Rome.

And your Petitioners will ever pray, that God "may be pleased to direct and prosper all your consultations to the advancement of his glory, the good of his Church, and the safety, honour, and welfare of our Sovereign and her dominions."

*In Petitions to the House of Lords-" To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of,” &c.

PETITION FOR ENQUIRY AS TO THE REAL PRINCIPLES, TENETS, AND DOCTRINES OF THE CHURCH OF ROME, BEFORE THE ACT OF SUPREMACY, THE MORTMAIN LAWS, AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIEF ACT ARE REPEALED OR ALTERED.

To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled.

That your Petitioners have heard with deep regret and alarm, of Bills now before your Honourable House, having for their object to repeal amongst others, certain provisions which were enacted by their ancestors, not for the purpose of religious persecution, but to protect the Crown, the judicature, and the people of this country, from the influence and dominion of the Court or Church of Rome.

Your Petitioners would venture to remind your Honourable House of the distractions and divisions which were created in this country in former times, by the political principles and treasonable practices of the Papacy, and that in the present day, the spiritual power of the Court or Church of Rome, unaltered in its tenets and principles, is exercised for temporal objects, and has been arrayed in more than one instance, against the power of the State.

Your Petitioners would further desire to draw attention to the fact, that various laws against the interference of the Church or Court of Rome, were enacted at a time when the Sovereign, the Church, and the people of this country were Roman Catholic, and that some such laws are still more requisite to protect the Institutions of a Protestant country.

Your Petitioners earnestly entreat your Honourable House, that before any alterations are made affecting the Oath of Supremacy, the Mortmain Laws, and other protective provisions, especially those of an Act passed in the 10th of George IV., entitled, "An Act for the Relief of His Majesty's Roman Catholic Subjects," prohibiting public Romish processions-the assumption of the titles of Protestant Archbishops, Bishops, and other dignitaries,-the appearance in public processions of Romish ecclesiastics in the dress of their order, and the institution of Jesuit and other monastic orders, bound by religious Vows-Your Honourable House will be pleased to appoint a Committee of Inquiry, directed to ascertain what are the real principles, tenets, and doctrines of the Church of Rome, and how far they are compatible with the principles of the British Constitution, and the peace, safety, and prosperity of this great empire.

And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c.

THE PROTESTANT ALLIANCE.

WE desire to direct the attention of our readers to the annexed Rules and Address issued by the Committee of the Protestant Alliance. The objects contemplated by the Alliance are to acquire accurate, authentic, and extensive intelligence respecting the state of the country, and to devise, and carry into effect, so far as may be possible, safe and practicable remedial measures. We need hardly point out the importance of aiding in the promotion of such objects as these.

RULES,

Adopted at a Meeting of the Committee of the Protestant Alliance, held on Wednesday, January 7, 1846, the EARL of RODEN in the Chair.

1. RESOLVED-That it be the object of this Society to support and advance those great principles asserted with respect to religion at the Reformation, and established, as regards the constitution, at the Revolution of 1688, and to maintain in its truth and integrity the United Church of England and Ireland, as guaranteed in the articles of the Union, and intended to have been secured by solemn pledges in the Act for Roman Catholic Emancipation.

2. That, regarding with alarm the insecurity of life and property in Ireland, the Protestant Alliance will consider it a main object, by all just and legal means, to effect or suggest measures by which the great evil of this social disorganization may be remedied, and that security and protection afforded, to which every faithful subject of Her Majesty is entitled.

3. That, recognising it as a truth of paramount practical importance, that the youth of this country cannot be duly instructed in the moral and social duties of life, unless that instruction have its basis on the Sacred Scriptures, the Protestant Alliance will maintain the principles, and extend and diffuse, as widely as possible, in this country, the blessings of scriptural education.

4. That it will oppose and resist a State connexion between Great Britain and the Church of Rome, as contrary alike to the religious convictions of Churchmen and Dissenters, inconsistent with the principles of the British constitution, and eminently tending to aggravate the evils of Ireland.

5. That we anxiously desire it should be understood that, in forming this Protestant Alliance, we have no intention of interfering with other Societies having similar objects, but would avail ourselves of their assistance, and cultivate a friendly co-operation with them in promoting our common purposes.

6. That, while we are essentially a Protestant Society, we are not actuated by any spirit of bigotry or intolerance; we desire the welfare of our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, and would scrupulously maintain their civil rights and liberties.

7. That it will be the business of the Protestant Alliance, to communicate with all persons who hold the opinions expressed in the foregoing Resolutions, to collect and circulate information, and to use any

other means which may suggest themselves to promote the objects of this Society.

8. That Members of the Society be admitted by ballot of the Committee. The subscription of each Member to be one pound annually, with the exception of the Protestant clergy, who shall be admissable by the Committee as honorary members, without subscription.

9. That the Committee shall have power to make bye-laws, and to determine the conditions on which they will add to their numbers. Signed,

SOMERSET R. MAXWELL, Honorary Secretary.

ADDRESS OF THE PROTESTANT ALLIANCE,

Adopted at a Meeting of the Committee, held on Friday, the 9th day of January, 1846.

THE Committee of the Protestant Alliance earnestly invite the dispassionate attention of their fellow-subjects to an appeal, addressed to them at a season of almost unparalleled difficulty and danger. We do not ask a partial hearing, nor do we deprecate the most rigid scrutiny, with the confidence natural to men persuaded that their demands are reasonable, and that there is no untruth in their statements.

The sum and substance of our demand is this-that Ireland be regarded, not by empty title, but, practically, an integral part of the British Empire-that Her Majesty's subjects here be esteemed a portion of the British people, and governed according to a policy conceived and carried out in the spirit of the British constitution. This is, we feel, to demand a high privilege, but it is a privilege for which a high price has been paid. We complain that, without any disqualification incurred on our part, we are denied some of its most valued benefits, although they were assured to us, on the faith of England, in the Act of Legislative Union.

That great measure, it should be remembered, was not a boon conceded to the Petitions of Ireland. It was a compact made between two kingdoms-both under one Crown, and each having its independent Legislature a compact implying mutual concessions, and promising reciprocal advantages-a compact into which the Irish Houses of Parliament were invited to enter-which was recommended to their favourable consideration by the express desire of the Crown-and which procured for them, when carried into effect, a most gracious testimony of the Royal approbation, conveyed in a speech from the throne.

We affirm, that, so far as in us lies, we have been faithful to our engagements; and we complain that, in matters the dearest and most highly prized, even in things appertaining to the "safety of our religion," engagements made to us in the articles of Union have not been adhered to.

We complain, that Protestants in Ireland are deprived of rights to which, as British subjects, their claims ought not to be disputed, and that the wrong is aggravated, and their sense of alarm heightened, by lavish and unjustifiable concessions to the Church of Rome. We complain, that while throughout Great Britain the State refuses its aid to any school in which Holy Scripture is not honoured→→

disparagement of Scripture (even to the extent of rejecting its supreme authority) should be required among the indispensable conditions on which aid will be granted in Ireland; that the national system of education in Great Britain should be based upon a principle to which the national system for Ireland is opposed; and that, while Irish Protestants are taxed for the support of schools conducted on a principle of which they conscientiously disapprove, they are not permitted to share with their brethren throughout Great Britain in the aid afforded by the State to schools of scriptural instruction. We complain, that, at a time when Protestant bishops prayed in vain for aid to instruct children committed to their charge in the knowledge that maketh wise unto salvation, Roman Catholic bishops (at a time too when it had been announced by one of their body, and never distinctly contradicted, that they were at heart all ardent Repealers) should be supplied from the British treasury with means to afford gratuitous education and maintenance to such youths of their communion as they may find it expedient to select, to the exclusion of all others, for admission into the priesthood of their Church. And we complain, that, while the support and countenance of the State are withdrawn from scriptural schools in Ireland, on the hollow plea of promoting united education, a system of education perniciously exclusive is endowed for the convenience of the Church of Rome.

It is in no sordid feeling that, to the discouragement of our religion, we add disqualification, to which, according to the policy of Her Majesty's Government, the Protestants of Ireland have been personally subjected. We complain, that a gross wrong has been done, and a great principle violated, in making a profession of the creed of Romanism a ground of preference in selection for office, and in the distribution of ministerial patronage. We complain of this injustice, not only because of the wrong it inflicts, and the wrong for which it sets a precedent, but also because it tends to perpetuate and embitter divisions which it should be the object of good government to remove.

The policy of which we thus complain, acquires a character of aggravated injustice, when considered with reference to the Roman Catholic Relief Bill, of which it violates the principle and spirit. The declared object of that Bill was to raise Roman Catholics to an equality in the sight of the law-the policy against which we would protest tends to convert the equality thus conferred into the worst species of ascendancy. The concessions made to Roman Catholics, in the Act of 1829, have been greatly enlarged-its provisions for the satisfaction and security of Protestants have remained unenforced and unregarded. Titles which it prohibited have been assumed ostentatiously and with impunity-religious and monastic orders, the ecclesiastical secret societies of Romanism, upon which it imposed restraints, have been suffered, contrary to its provisions, to increase; and, while laws have been passed, and Government influence exerted, to obstruct and embarrass Protestant unions for defence of life and maintenance of established institutions, Roman Catholic ecclesiastics have been left free to form and extend societies forbidden by law, and having as their well known object, to effect changes which may be ruinous to the existing order of society.