to force them would produce a recoil. They must not be forcedthey must be undermined by a gradual and treacherous legislation; and therefore the grand object in view by the master-minds among the conspirators, is Parliament. Great Britain will bear almost anything from its Parliament. The object of these conspirators, then, is first to secure, and then to influence Members of Parliament.

Now, Sir, the gentlemen to whom I alluded at the outset, are perfectly aware of this, and they would rather not have it stated here; but they may consider themselves as having had a very happy escape if it be not printed. It is, however, a fact, that they are striving by every possible means to influence Members of Parliament. Their own Members, those who are actual members of the system of Rome, must not be prominent in the attack; for prudence' sake they must be very mild and moderate gentlemen; and though sometimes, to save appearances, they may let off a flaming oration, yet they must show no violence in the case of measures to be proposed by the Romish Members. Aggressive measures must be taken by nominal Protestants. "And how shall we get the right sort of men? I can tell you, though it is what you know, gentlemen, and have been working upon; but I will tell all this Meeting. There are different classes of men that suit you. There are nominal Protestants, Members of Parliament, who are ignorant or incredulous of the conspiracy; there are nominally Protestant Members of Parliament who are reckless of all consequences, provided they acquire for themselves in the meantime, a public notoriety; and more and more practically still there are nominally Protestant Members of Parliament who desire to maintain for themselves a seat in the House,-who wish to secure a return again for an Irish borough, not because they value Popery; they do not care a straw for it, pro or con, but their object is to keep in Parliament, in order that they may be eligible for public legal appointments. These are the men to be wrought with,-these are the men to put forward to attack the Established Church. And what if some of these men should be in the very antipodes to Romanism?-what if they should be Liberals of the first water?what if they should be Socinians?—what if they should be Jews?not yet in Parliament, but that will be mooted next. These gentlemen, and all the master spirits of the conspiracy, know very well that they have nothing to fear from Socinians or Liberals,-that there is no organization there which is dangerous to Romanism. They say secretly, "Oh, what has our system to fear from such men as Messrs. Roebuck and Ward? They have no backing; they are like weak grains of sand, we throw them in people's eyes. Let us make use of them to pioneer attacks on the Established Church-that is our enemy, that confounded Establishment, that has a foundation to stand upon, that can break down our own footing if we attempt to talk of antiquity-it is older than we. Let us play off these light gentlemen to carry on attacks against it. It is very desirable for our purpose that the public mind should be accustomed to attacks upon the Established Church; and such men as Sir Robert Peel or Sir James Graham will not make the attacks, although they are kind enough to afford us facilities for making them."

Now, do you believe all this? ("Yes, yes.") Do you? You do

believe it? Well, Sir, I take this large assembly of Christian men at their word, and I firmly say, that if this response be from the heart, this is a great day for England. God, in his infinite mercy, give you power to act upon such a declaration! It is no child's play, Sir!

What is to be done, then? An election is near, and an organization for it not as fully made as it ought to be, though there are some steps towards it in some places. Can anything be done that offers a prospect of usefulness? Can anything be proposed that is feasible, practicable in itself, and likely to be of real use if obtained? There is no use in proposing what is impossible,-the consequence is apathy, for if a proposal be made of a thing that you cannot have any reasonable expectation of attaining, then you fall back and do nothing. Therefore, what we now propose should not be looked upon as the very best thing possible under better circumstances, but as the best thing attainable now.

I rejoice much in the declaration made by our Wesleyan friend and brother, who spoke a little while ago (Rev. C. Prest), when he told his own convictions, and what he would do in the way of voting for a man whose politics in secular matters were opposed to his, provided that man would promise to vote against Popery. And particularly, Sir, I was delighted with one thing that he said; he said, "I have no doubt of myself." That is a great thing to say, "I have no doubt of myself." Now, if every man who professes Protestantism,-every man who is ready to clap his hands and shout "Hear, hear," when a good, faithful, plain, honest statement is made in this Hall, if every such man would come to this point, that he has no doubt of himself, we should have a phalanx prepared, and there would be no doubt of the result. But it is the shillyshallyness of men that are doubtful of themselves that we have to fear; it is the hesitation of Protestant men, who whisper, "What will so-and-so say? What will my Lord this say? What will my employer say? What will my patron say? What will the Bishop say?"-I can tell you, that men who hesitate so before they act, as Protestants, are the dry-rot of the Church; and I can tell you more,—that our great men, notwithstanding their own conduct, and our bishops, too, despise such temporizers. I can tell you that they have good sense enough to know, that if there be safety in the great conflict for the institutions of the country, for the Protestant Church of this land, they know to whom they will ascribe it; they will not ascribe it to the half-and-half gentlemen who are afraid to offend them, but they will ascribe it, however reluctantly, to the bold, unflinching, faithful Protestant champions who are not afraid to offend them by telling them the truth. And I am bold to add to that, Sir, that while I rejoice to reiterate this sentiment of my friend, I rejoice to say that I am not doubtful of myself, at the same time I would not yield to any of the most cautious guarders against giving offence to a bishop in my attachment to the Episcopal Church of this land. Well, what can be done, after all? because I must keep these gentlemen in view. So long as we act only in general terms upon a public Meeting, so long as we are acting only upon a number of persons, however influential, who, nevertheless, have not the elective franchise, so long as we are steering clear of the real sinews of the election, these gentlemen are merely enjoying the joke. "See how

he labours in vain! see how he is toiling to no purpose!"

But it

is not to no purpose, whether the matter answers the present expectation or not; for it is never to no purpose that a man does his duty, and I hope to enjoy the satisfaction of having done my duty this day, come what will. But I know these gentlemen will begin to feel when we come to work upon the constituency; I know that a little practical work of that kind is likely to have more effect, and be more felt, than your noisy work among the ladies; I know that the fact of some two or three thousand electors having signed the pledge, will be more to the purpose than the applause of this Hall. And I know very well that there is a movement going on at this time in the country, not much among the gentry as yet,-they are afraid of it,—but among the honest operative classes who have the franchise; and, Sir, according to the old phrase, "It is an ill wind that blows no one good." The extension of the franchise by the Reform Bill has let down political power now to the most religious part of the community.

There is a movement going on, then, I should not tell these gentlemen of it for fear they should try to stop it; but I must make it public. We have not time to lose, the election is so near. I took counsel with some friends whether I should tell anything about it. Some said, "It has been working admirably in quiet; do not speak of it publicly." "Well," said others, "how shall we work it largely ? How shall we give notice?' And it was finally agreed among us, that after all, the time was so short and the thing so pressing, that it must be told, whether these gentlemen heard it or not. The principle of it has been already announced. It is simply that political differences in secular matters should be merged at the next election, and Protestantism be made the turning-point.

I hold in my hand a printed card, containing the pledge prepared for the electors, and I may just tell you that it has been signed by a good many, I will not tell you how many, because, indeed, I could not. I could tell up to a certain number, but what numbers have been gained since I could not venture to tell; but it has been signed by many. It has been quietly, affectionately, carefully explained, from house to house among electors; and their intelligent co-operation in the matter has been gained by their full knowledge of what they are about, and their full acquiescence in the principle. It has been taken to Whigs, to Tories, to Free-traders, to Protectionists,-all sorts and shades of political partisans, and they have been asked to take this pledge: "I, A. B., do hereby solemnly promise that at the next Parliamentary election I will give my vote (or votes) in favour of any candidate pledging himself to resist the endowment of Popery, and all its advances and claims, in preference to any other candidate whatsoever who will not give such pledge; and that I will not forego this my word for any private interest, or at the solicitation of any party whatsoever."

Now, Sir, I am not very sure whether all the persons who have signified their approbation by applauding this proposal, are fully aware of what it would lead to. I would ask a political Whig,-I suppose there are some such here,-a Free-trader, a man of liberal politics in everything, "Are you prepared, in the event of candidates presenting

themselves at the next election, some of whom agree with you in all those questions, but refuse to take any pledge against Popery, and in the event of a Tory and Churchman, aye, even a High Churchman, presenting himself, who will take the pledge against Popery,-are you prepared to vote for him? ("Yes, yes; we will, we will.") And to the Tory, to the Churchman or High Churchman, I would say, Reverse the picture; suppose candidates, Churchmen, honourable men, men of talent, men of rank, men of influence, men of station, men who, as Members of Parliament, could get your sons put into some situation, suppose them to come forward, and to refuse to take the pledge; and suppose a new man, who had not been in Parliament hitherto, roused by this very thing to have hope of success, were to come forward and avow himself a Christian by the grace of God, candidly avow that he is a Whig, that he is a Free-trader, but takes this pledge against Popery, will you discharge your High Churchman that is not a Protestant, and will you vote for the Whig that is?" ("Yes, yes; we will, we will.")

Now, excuse me if I call you to practice again. In such a case as this, I can very well conceive one of my friends that I spoke of at the beginning calling out, "Aye, and we'll do it too."

Since I left home, I have received one or two letters from influential gentlemen in the town of Liverpool, who are engaged with this card. One said,

"My dear Sir, I have already been at work with the pledging cards, and a member of my congregation has worked so far very successfully. He has also worked quietly: the less noise about it the better. I will keep him and others at it more and more for some time to come."

Another writes, at the close of a letter on another subject,—

"I have the card at work in my district, and will soon have a goodly array of signatures."

Now, this is what these gentlemen on the other side do not like, because this is really touching the sore place. And I want to show you that some practical good is to come out of this. Suppose it were to take effect only in a few places. I am not sanguine enough to expect success all over the country; that is hardly possible; but I do expect success in some places. You will remember, Sir, that in some of the boroughs the majorities at the last election were very small,— three, four, five,-in the City of London only five. Well, a few of such pledged electors as this would turn the election, supposing everything else to remain as it was. Then, supposing some thirty or forty elections in the whole country, to be so carried, you, my dear Sir, would have some little encouragement,—you would have a little steady phalanx to act with you, and you not only would encourage one another, but, by stedfastness to the pledge, you would make the Minister, whoever he might be, feel that you were not to be tampered with; you would make him feel, every one of you, that the last clause in the card was not in vain, "I will not forego my word for private interest, or at the solicitation of any party whatever." "I will not forego my word, for the sake of getting a place under the Government, for example; for the sake of getting a son or brother a colonial appointment, for example; for the sake of getting a measure passed

that will enhance my commercial or manufacturing interests, for example." You would make the Minister, whoever he might be, feel that you were not to be tampered with; and moreover, you would make him feel, that on a contested question he could not despise you; he would be compelled to feel, that there was a representation of the Protestantism of the country in Parliament.

And this is the proper antagonism to another scheme that has been going on. For see, Sir, how it works. At present there are pledged electors; there were pledged electors before the last election. Think you not that the electors who are Romanists, in every borough, are pledged electors? And see you not how, under this state of things which has been existing, a Romish priest, or one of his emissaries, a lay brother,―might go into a Committee-room at three o'clock on the day of an election, a contested election, and might say to one of the candidates, "Sir,"—or, my Lord, as the case might be,-"there is now about one hour more for the polling; the poll stands, 250 and 260; I have got thirty votes in my pocket; they are all ready, waiting outside to vote for whomsoever I please. Now give me your Lordship's word of honour, that if I send these men to vote for you, you will not oppose Catholic measures." Gently; I said that loud enough; but it would be whispered in a Committee-room. The Noble Lord is almost in jeopardy if he refuses the solicitation of his lay brother; he knows there is another Committee-room over the way, and thinks within himself," Perhaps my friend may go over to the other Committee-room in five minutes; the tables will then be turned, and I shall be out of Parliament. That would be a sad mishap. Well, all that he asks is that I should not oppose Catholic measures; I may put my own interpretation on that, and it is not much of a pledge, after all; I had better tell him that I will." And so he is handed up to Parliament, under the lash of this same lay brother, with the priesthood behind him, who will never tell one word about the matter so long as the Hon. Member does not oppose Catholic measures, but who would be ready, if he came out in a Protestant manner in the House of Commons, to appear against him with a little story out of the Committee-room, much to his disadvantage.

I dare say some people may think that this is ingenuity, that I am inventing these things; but I can only tell you, that after all that I have read upon the subject,-after all that I have known,—after all that has been told me by Romanists themselves, who have come to me trembling, in peril from their priests, to ask protection and help from me,-I cannot now fancy one-tenth part of the chicanery by which the emissaries of Rome are endeavouring to deceive and entrap the Protestants of England.

Now, Mr. Chairman, here is a card, and I should like very much to get signatures to it on the platform. And further, I would request, that in the various localities where gentlemen will not only take these pledges themselves, but where they will invite the electors to take them, the matter may now be made thoroughly public,-that it may afford an inducement to Protestant gentlemen to come and stand as candidates. There is a difficulty, it seems, in procuring candidates; I have spoken with some gentlemen myself upon the subject, and they have said, "Oh! we have no possible chance of success; and why