much better men in practice, than military plunderers, who unite to the faith of saints the works of demons. The abolition of the feudal system, the reduction of the monks, and the destruction of the Inquisition, will ere long shew them, that their religion has not required for its support these engines of vassalage, slavery, and cruelty. They will soon abhor what they can do so well without, and which has cost them so much to maintain. They will return to the ancient simplicity of their religion, or else be converted to the more scriptural faith of their reformed neighbours. * The exclusive character of the Roman creed will not long operate on the minds of those who cannot live without Protestants, who would lose their country itself, were it not for the assistance afforded to them by men whom they have hitherto regarded as dangerous heretics.

*If the evil policy of our No-popery faction do not prevent it, there is every reason in the world to believe, that our intercourse with Spain will open the way, not only to a diffusion of the principles of civil liberty in that country, but also to a general spread of religious information, which, in the end, must have the most beneficial effects. Englishmen are every where treated with respect and esteem in Spain, and the form of our Constitution is warmly admired by many enlightened men there. See Sir John Carr's Descriptive Travels in the Southern and Eastern Parts of Spain, and the Balearic Isles, in 1809. There is an amiable and gentlemanly spirit manifest in all Sir John's publications, which renders him at once a useful and a pleasing writer. This last work of his is certainly the best specimen he has given of his talents as a descriptive tourist.

The patriots of Spanish America are doing wonders. Habits of reading and reflection; principles of true science and knowledge, are succeeding to the laziness and ignorance of monkish superstitions; and the spirit of rational freedom and manly independence is gaining ground among them.*

In this country alone, if we except some ephemeral proceedings of the Spanish Cortes, is a standard raised against the progress of religious liberty. That standard, however, is supported only by a feeble and dying faction, the

*These patriots, however, (like many others when they first burst the fetters of a degrading superstition) it is lamentable to observe, do not content themselves, with casting off what is obviously erroneous: many of them are, it is to be feared, in danger of exchanging their old faith for the cold and cheerless creed of Voltaire and Paine. The Age of Reason, one of the most contemptible of all contemptible attacks on the religion of Christ, is, I understand, a great favourite with these American philosophers; and the Rights of Man, a book equally inapplicable to their present state, and as base, I have no hesitation in believing, in its object as even the Age of Reason itself, is also read and admired by some of them. But these accidents of a Revolution like this cannot have any very lasting effect on a whole people. They will soon discover, that Deism is ill-calculated to promote the morals and happiness of a state, and that sheer democracy is but a miserable substitute for a firm and useful government. Rational Christianity, and a mixed constitution like our own, are, perhaps, the only grounds of security to a great and free people; and such, I have no doubt, the natives of Spanish America will one day become.

symptoms; of whose, dissolution increase daily. With evident reluctance, but from an irresistible impulse, point after point is conceded. Every session of our Parliament acquires great accessions of strength to the cause of truth and charity. Let but the Catholics of Ireland, and the Dissenters of England unite as one man against the mistaken forces of intolerance, and by a moderate but steady application-by reiterated petitions, constitutionally obtained, and respectfully presented, continue to thunder in the ears of their oppressors the cry of liberty and emancipation, and they must at length be heard. So sure as the bloody trade in human beings fell by these means-so certain as the British Constitution possesses within itself the power of accomplishing its own reform, even so must the demands of Catholics and Dissenters be complied with. Only let us not fall out by the way -a grand and noble object is to be attained, and it is to be attained by means honourable in their nature, and certain in their effects: let us not thwart them by intemperance, nor retard them by imprudence.

It requires no supernatural powers of prophecy to discern, that we are fast approaching a new and distinguished era. Light breaks in on every side. The mouldering walls of bigotry and superstition are daily sinking-" Corruption is exhausting the means of Corruption." Intolerance is, itself, forcing the doors of religious ex

clusions; and the opposition that is made to the freedom of man tends but to elicit new ar

guments in his favour-new reasons for his enfranchisement.

A concise View of the Laws now in force relating to the Roman Catholics of England and Ireland, interspersed with occasional remarks.

THE following summary of laws relating to Roman Catholics has been collected, principally, from Mr. Butler's Historical Account of the Laws against the Roman Catholics of England; and from the "Statement of the Laws which aggrieve the Catholics of Ireland,"* to which I have added such variations and occasional remarks as obviously presented themselves. It is unnecessary to make many comments upon the disgraceful nature and injurious tendency of these laws: they are standing monuments of the fatal effects of mistake and prejudice; and a consideration of them should at least silence the cry of Protestants against popish intolerance and persecution.

The following Statement, says Mr. Butler, may be found to give-I. Some account of the laws, which, since the Reformation, have been past against the Roman Catholics. II. Some account of the effect and operation of the laws, which have been past, since the accession of His Majesty's family to the throne of England, for the relief of Roman Catholics. III. And some account of the penal laws, the effect of which is felt by Roman Catholics, but the effect of which is not felt by Protestant Dissenters.

* In making use of these books, I have the consent and approbation of their respective authors; and I take this opportunity of thanking them for this and other instances of their kindness.