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bruary, 1810, confirming the edict of Louis XIV. upon the declaration of the French clergy of 1682," (proceeding on the same principle,) as a general law of the French empire."

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Of the kingdom of Spain, the committee state that the documents commu. nicated to it respecting this head, which are various and important, all tend to prove the direct and constant interference of the crown in the two points of ecclesiastical regulation, to which they have principally directed their attention. It appears, that the patronage of all ecclesiastical benefices in Spain is primarily in the king, that he presents as such to all episcopal sees, and requires that the necessary bulls should be forthwith transmitted by the pope to the newly appointed prelate; and that such bulls are subject to the Regium Exequatur.

It further appears, that, "about the middle of the last century, it was ordered by the king, that the archbishops and bishops of the peninsula should, in their oath of consecration, include the clause of fidelity to the king, and of deference to his prerogative as now practised."

roman catholic communions, it appears that the extent to which the civil power is accustomed to interfere in regulating the external discipline of the church, differs considerably in the seve ral cantons.

With respect to the nomination of bishops, those states which heretofore formed a part of the diocese of Con stance, it appears have now returned to the true principles of election, which have ever been approved of by the pa pal nuncio, by attributing to the gos vernments, which form the new diocese, the nomination of the prelate to be pre. sented, for confirmation, to the pope.

In the case of certain other dioceses, specified in the report, the civil govern ment seems to interfere in ecclesiastical concerns, much less than in any of the above-mentioned European kingdoms, consequently the papal influence is pro portionably greater. The bishop of Como is appointed by the Austrian emperor, subject to the confirmation of the pope. With respect to the Regium Exequatur and the Placet, they seem to predomi nate more or less in these several can. tons.

Respecting the protestant cantons of Switzerland, no official information has, as yet, been laid before the committee.

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With respect to the Regium Exequatur, its operation was provided for by various edicts of the kings, more espe cially by those of Charles III. in 1761 The Greek church in Russia. The and 1762. One of these declares the principal regulations affecting the ro royal determination "to exile from the man catholic subjects of this govern kingdom any person, whatever be his ment, the committee find in a ukase of quality or rank, who should either so- the empress Catherine, transmitted to licit, or having obtained, put in execu- the Russian senate, on the 17th of Jation, any of the said briefs, bulls, &c. nuary, 1782, by which it appears, that without the necessary previous permis-"the city of Mohilow is erected into an sion from the council." And, with re- archbishopric of the roman catholic gard to the Recursus ad principem and church, and the archbishop named by appellate jurisdiction of the pope, it apthe empress." That a coadjutor bishop pears that in Spain there is a particular is appointed by the same, with a salary law, that " no subject shall leave the of 1200 rubles a year; and that the kingdom to plead before foreign judges, archbishop is to receive his " orders" in virtue of apostolic letters." only from the empress and the senate. With respect to the kingdom of Por- The said ukase prohibits the reception tugal and the Brazils, the same princi- of any bull from the pope, or any other ple and practice, (as in the foregoing writings sent in his name, without the system) generally speaking, seems to same being previously submitted to the prevail; and it appears to the committee senate for their perusal and approba that "the prerogatives of the crown of tion; and ordaining that "all the reli Portugal appears to have been uniformlygious orders of the roman catholic re contended for, and supported, both with respect to the nominations to the episcopacy, and a control upon the intromission of papal rescripts."

Of the cantons of Switzerland of the

ligion shall be dependent on the archbishop of Mohilow alone, or his coadjutor, and his consistory, interdicting submission to any other ecclesiastical power out of the empire," &c.

By the new constitution of the king- | dom of Poland, the emperor of Russia, as king of Poland, reserves to himself the right of naming the archbishops and bishops, the suffragans, prelates, and canons, of the different religious communions, of which in Poland the roman catholic is formally recognized as the principal.

With respect to the kingdom of Denmark, it does not appear, from the official papers before the committee, that any ecclesiastic of the episcopal order of the roman catholic communion exists, or, at least, is recognized to exist in. Denmark. The roman catholic priests resident therein receive their appointments to exercise their functions (under various limitations) from the bishop of Hildesheim, as an apostolic vicar.

The missionary priests in the Danish provinces are allowed to exercise their functions therein, their faculties being certified by the civil magistrates for confirmation.

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lands, the committee state, that "the negociations going forward between the government of the Netherlands, and the court of Rome, precludes any distinct report of those regulations which are in contemplation respecting the objects referred in their examination;" nor in the extracts which they give under this head does there appear what. seems to throw any distinct or positive light upon the points at issue.

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In Hamburgh and its dependencies, it appears, from the information before the committee, that there is no prelate nor any dignitary of the roman catholic communion residing in the state of Hamburgh, and that the roman catholic priests are nominated by the prince bishop of Hildesheim, but subject to the confirmation of the senate; and, that since the reformation of Luther, no papal edict has been published in Hamburgh: and that dispensations and rules of ecclesiastical discipline are exhibited on the interior doors of the roman catholic chapels.

With respect to the kingdom of Saxony, the committee state they have been supplied with but few materials from which they can make a report adequate to the objects prescribed for their investigation.

By a note transmitted to the chair. man of the committee, it appears that

no prelate of episcopal rank of the roman communion has existed in Saxony since the reformation, except the confessor of the king, and who is appointed by his majesty, and the pope thereupon grants to him the authority of an apostolic vicar."

The principle of the Regium Exequatur seems to have been recognized and acted upon in Saxony.

With respect to the kingdom of Prussia, the committee, from their source of information, find that the appointments to the episcopal order of the roman catholic clergy is generally in the crown; but that whenever the appointment or In regard to the kingdom of Wirnomination of the bishop has not been temburg, the only information laid bereserved to the crown, the chapter ex fore the committee respecting the object ercises the right of election. That no of their inquiry is a document from Stutbishop has a right to make new regula-gard, which states that, in that kingdom, tions without the license of the state; that the minister of the interior names the priests to vacant churches; and that no bull of the pope can be published without being previously submitted to the minister of the interior. In his Silesian dominions, the Prussian monarch reserves similar rights to himself, and has declared himself the immediate head of all churches in his dominions.

In the states of the king of the Nether

there is yet neither any bishop appointed by the state, nor any apostolic vicar delegated by the holy see, save the prince of Hohenlohe, who has been conse crated bishop of Tempe in partibus, from the urgency of the case, &c.; and that the bishops of Constance, Worms, and Spire, also exercise a spiritual jurisdiction in some parts of the kingdom attached to their respective dioceses.

From the kingdoms of Hanover and

Bavaria, no official accounts have been received in reference to the state of ecclesiastical regulations, as applicable to the roman catholics in these states.

From some casual information before the committee, it appears that roman catholics, in the electorate of Hanover, were allowed the free exercise of their religion, subject however, is some parts, to a few comparatively trifling restrictions.

With respect to Bavaria, negociations relative to its roman catholic subjects are now known to be going forward: for which reason that part of the subject is not touched upon in the report: and it is understood that new regulations have taken place respecting the roman catholic subjects in the kingdom of Hanover, of which the committee having as yet received no certain information, they are also silent upon those points.

In closing their report upon the con tinental states of Europe, the committee think proper to observe, that they have confined the question of nomination or election of the episcopal order in these states, to the evidence presented in the several dispatches, or in documents accompanying them.

Petition of the Roman Catholics of Ireland.

Whose Names are undersigned, on behalf of themselves, and of others professing the Roman Catholic religion,

ful but feeling people, as an indication of despair; and we would not lightly abandon the pursuit of a laudable and most important object, strengthened, as we are, by the concurring support of our generous and enlightened fellowcountrymen, as well as by the fullest approbation of our own conscientious feelings.

We beg leave humbly to state to this honourable house, that we have pub licly and solemnly taken every oath of fidelity and allegiance, which the jealous caution of the legislature has from time to time, imposed as tests of our political and moral principles. And although we are still set apart (how wounding of every sentiment of honour!) as if unworthy of credit in these our sworn declarations, we can appeal confidently to the sacrifices which we and our forefathers have long made, and which we still make, (rather than violate conscience, by taking oaths of a spiritual import contrary to our belief,) as decisive proof of our profound reverence for the sacred obligation of an oath.

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By those awful tests, we have bound ourselves in the presence of the allseing Deity, whom all classes of christians adore, "To be faithful, and bear true allegiance to our most gracious sovereign Lord King George the Third, " and him to defend to the utmost of our power against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoever against his person, crown, or dignity to use our utmost endeavours to disclose and "make known to his majesty and his "heirs, all treasons and traitorous con❝spiracies, which may be formed

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SHEWETH-THAT we, your petition-" ers, beg leave most respectfully to solicit the favourable attention of this honourable house to the peculiar condition of the roman catholics of Ireland, under the severe penal laws now in force against them.

If we appear to this honourable house to persevere, with more than common earnestness, in our humble solicitations for the abrogration of these laws, and for a free admission to the blessings and benefits of the civil constitution of our country, we trust that our perseverance will be viewed, rather as a proof of our just title to the fiberty which we seek, and of our sincerity in its pursuit, than as the result of any sentiment hostile to the peace or the interests of this empire.

We should sincerely dread, lest our silence might be construed, by a faith

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against him or them, and faithfully "to maintain, support and defend to "the utmost of our power, the succession to the crown in his majesty's family, against all persons whomsoever-That "by these oaths, we have renounced "and abjured obedience and allegiance "unto any other person claiming or pre"tending a right to the crown of this "realm: that we have rejected, as un"christian and impious to believe, the "detestable doctrine, that it is lawful, "in any ways, to injure any person or

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persons whomsoever, under pretence "of their being heretics-and also that "unchristian and impious principle, "that no faith is to be kept with here "tics-that it is no article of our faith-,

and we renounce, reject and abjure "the opinion that princes excommunicated by the pope and the council, or "by any authority whatsoever, may be "deposed or murdered by their subjects or by any person whatsoever. That we do not believe that the pope of "Rome or any other foreign prince, "prelate, state, or potentate hath, or « ought to have, any temporal or civil "jurisdiction, power, superiority, or pre-eminence, within this realm.

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moral principles, asserted by these solemu and special tests, are not merely in unison with our fixed principles, but expressly inculcated by the religion which we profess.

And we do most humbly trust, that, as professors of doctrines, which permit such tests to be taken, we shall ap pear to this honourable house to be entitled to the full enjoyment of religious freedom, under the happy constitution of these realms.

Frequently has the legislature of Ireland borne testimony to the uniform peaceable demeanour of the Irish roman catholics, to their acknowledged merits as good and loyal subjects, to the wisdom and sound policy of admitting them to all the blessings of a free constitution, and of thus binding together all classes of the people by mutual interest and mutual affection.

Yet may we humbly represent to this honourable house, and with sincere regret and deep solicitude-that the roman catholics of Ireland still remain subject to severe and humiliating laws rigidly enforced, universally felt, and inflicting upon them divers injurious and vexatious disabilities, incapacities, privations and penalties-by reason of their conscientious adherence to the religious doctrine of their forefathers.

"That we firmly believe, that no act of itself unjust, immoral, or wicked, can ever be justified or excused by, or un"der pretence or colour that it was done "for the good of the church, or in obedience to any ecclesiastical power whatsoever. And that is not an arti"cle of the catholic faith, neither are we thereby required to believe or profess, that the pope is infallible, or "that we are bound to any order, in its own nature immoral, though the pope or any ecclesiastical power, should "issue or direct such order, but that on "the contrary we hold, that it would be "sinful in us to pay any respect or obe"dience thereto. That we do not believe that any sin whatsoever, com"mitted by us, can be forgiven at the "mere will of any pope, or any priest, or of any person or persons whatsoever, but that any person who receives "absolution, without a sincere sorrow "for such sin, and a firm and sincere "resolution to avoid future guilt, and to "atone to God, so far from obtaining thereby any remission of his sin, "incurs the additional guilt of violating a sacrament-And by the same These penal laws operate for no use. obligations, we are bound and firmly ful or meritorious purpose. Affording pledged to defend to the utmost of our no aid to the constitution in church or power, the settlement and arrange- state-not attaching affection to either "ment of property in Ireland, as esta---they are efficient only for objects of "blished by the laws now in being disunion and disaffection. "That we have abhorred, disavowed "and solemnly abjured, any intentions "to subvert the present church establishment, for the purpose of substi"tuting a catholic establishment in ❝ its stead.

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"And we have solemnly sworn, that we will not exercise any privilege, to "which we are or may become entitled, "to disturb and weaken the protestant religion or protestant government in "Ireland..

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We can with perfect truth assure this honourable house that the political and

For more than the last twenty years, the progress of religious freedom has been obstructed: and, whilst other christian nations have hastened to unbind the fetters imposed upon religious dissent, the roman catholics of Ireland have remained unrelieved.

They separate the protestant from the catholic, and withdraw both from the public good; they irritate man against his fellow creature, alienate the subject from the state, and leave the catholic community but a precarious and imperfect protection as the reward of fixed and unbroken allegiance.

We forbear to detail the numerous incapacities and inconveniences inflicted by those laws, directly or indirectly, upon the roman catholic community or to dwell upon the humiliating and ig nominious system of exclusion, re

proach and suspicion, which they generate and keep alive. Perhaps n other age or nation has ever witnessed severities more vexatious, or inflictions more taunting, than those which we have long endured; and of which but too large a portion still remains.

Relief from these disabilities and penalties we have sought, through every channel that has appeared to us to be legitimate and eligible. We have never consciously violated, or sought to violate, the known laws of the land; nor have we pursued our object in any other manner, than such as has been usually adhered to, and apparently the best calculated to collect and communicate our united sentiments accurately, without tumult, and to obviate all pretext for asserting that the roman catholic community at large were indifferent to the pursuit of their freedom.

We can affirm with perfect sincerity, that we have no latent views to realize; no secret or sinister objects to attain. Any such imputation must be effectually repelled, as we humbly conceive, by the consideration of our numbers, our property, our known principles and cha.

racter.

meet the most cordial approbation of the catholic people of Ireland.

If, in thus humbly submitting our depressed condition and our earnest hopes to the consideration of this honourable house, we dwell upon the great numbers and the property of the roman catholics of Ireland, already so considerable and so rapidly increasing, and to their consequent most important contributions to the exigencies of the state-we would do so, not with a view of exciting unworthy motives for concession, but in the honest hope of suggesting legitimate and rational grounds of constitutional relief.

May we then, with hearts deeply in|terested in the fate of this our humble supplication, presume to appeal to the wisdom and benignity of this honourable house on behalf of a very numerous, industrious, affectionate, and faithful body of people-the Roman Catholics of Ireland.

And to pray, that this honourable house may be pleased to take into their favourable consideration, the whole of our condition-our numbers, our services, our merits, and our sufferings.

And as we are conscious of the purity Our object is avowed and direct-of our motives and the integrity of our earnest, yet natural: It extends to an principles, we thereby humbly pray to equal participation of the civil rights be restored to the full and unqualified of the constitution of our country-enjoyment of the rights and privileges equally with our fellow-subjects of all of the constitution of our country; to be other religious persuasions: it extends freed from all penal and disabling laws no further. in force against us on account of our religious faith; and that we may thereby become more worthy, as well as more capable, of promoting the substantial interests of this great empire. And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c.

We would cheerfully concede the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty to all mankind-we ask no more for ourselves.

We seek not the possession of offices, but mere eligibility to office, in common with our fellow-citizens-not power or ascendancy over any class of people, but the bare permission to rise from our prostrate posture, and to stand erect in the empire.

In thus addressing the legislature, we are naturally desirous to conciliate all opinions, and to obviate all objections; and we entertain a conscientious conviction that all impartial opinions may be conciliated, and all rational objections to our emancipation defeated by the measure of domestic nomination of our bishops-a measure in which our prelates have declared their readiness to concur, and which, if introduced by the proper authority in our church would

The earl of Donoughmore and sir Henry Parnell, have each undertaken to present the above petition to their respective houses, and to support the same with their powerful and independent advocacy.

By the fourth article of the revived constitution of the republic of Hayti, in the island of St. Domingo, it is decreed and determined, that the catholic, apostolic and ro man religion, being that of all Haytians, is the religion of the state, and shall be especially protected, as well as its ministers; and it is further provided, that every other

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