London, Friday, October 8...
In a late number of tbe Et.il. is a cuIious article, tend- ing to show that the Catlholics of Elnglanid are in a worse state than the P'rotestants of France; and, in fact, eharg- ing England withi intolerance. WVe shall malce a few r-rma-ks upon this productioni. Thle author, after all his reasoning, we rcmark, comes to this notable conclusion- That France, notwithstanding her suipposed tolerance of tlhe Protestants, passes throughout Europe for a fanati- cal Power; rnd England, noLwithstanding her (sup- posei) persecutiont of the Papists, passes as universally for tolerant and liberal." ?Now, if suclh be the general conviction of the world (as no doubt it is) respecting the two countries of France and England on the subject of re- ligious toleration, ought not a writer to have some doubt of I is premises, and to overlook his reasonings, when he -inds they have led him to directly opposite concltsions from. those of all the world, as well acquainted withi the real facts as himself? He may rely upon it, that all -he -world is right, antl he is wrong. " England is the ''sksical rountry of toleration, the generous protector of "zivil and religious lioerty ;" an(d France, so far as she is CRorlan Catholic, and ij not infilel, (whichl, after all, is :hL re.Al re1i.gion among the higkcr classes of people in e-vey Roman Catholic country), is neither tolerant nor ?l>eral. First of all, how long has this system of toleration becn established in France? It is of very late growth, and is even still rather an experiment, than a settled usage. And from whence did it spring? From indifference to, and contempt for, all religions: from the creed, that " the " sleep of death is eternal." WVe should not vaunt much of a toleration of which such was the origin, if we were Csatholics; and more especially when wve knew atid con- sidered, that the free exercise of the Catholic worship was allowed in England, ages before this new-born tolerance of France, by men smarting unider the aggressions of its torc-fcssors, and sincerely attached to what they thought a better and a purer faith. Buzt further: a conmparison of the condition of the Pro- tustants in a Catholic country, with that of the Catholics in a Protestant country, is by no means just; because the rootive for exclusion which exists, and is allowed to exist in oue case, ha<, no application whatever in the other. lWhy are fhe Catholics of England (though allowed the free ex- ercise of their religion) subjected to control in their acqui. sition of power ? Because they acknowledge a foreign influ- ence-because they admit, ant even hboast, that a power dwelling out of the kingdomn tlirects their principles and oonscier.ecs, frorn whence spring the rnotives to every ae- lion. Can the same thing be asserted of the Protestants -doAlling in a Catholic country ? Gracious lleaven ! only -ook how France is at this moment perplexed with her (oncordats, andBull unigenitus, anl all the trash of Popery. Wl'oulI people have this free and independenit country sunk inlto an cqally abject ant contemptible state ? Our enemies may entertain the wish; but we trust they will be distappointed. After this general exposure of the absurdity of the prin- dipies which the writer n the Eloile assumes, it will not be wvorth ths while to spend many words on his deductions. He says that " it is a principle with England, that' all reli- gions which differ from the religion of the State ouglht to be destroyed !" lVhence tli(d he derive this notion ? Dfoes he not know, that all sects of every kind, providcd they to not violate the laws of decency and mcrality, are protecte(d in their worship amonig us; and that whoeverdares to interrupt them is most severely punished by law ? In the British empire," it is said, " theProtestant Clergy lives only uponl the spoils of the anicient churcll." Anid n on whose spoils did the anicient churchl live ? It is certaii that those speils, spring from whence they might, were divided at the Reformation. M1uch of them was given to cnen who were not clergymen; and the rest was left with the teachers of the reforrmed faith. These have at least the rnerit of inaking some return of good for the benefices which they reap. The writer, also, whilst speaking of the imnaginary hardships to which the Catholic Clergy are ex. posed in Eingland, might have recollected the asylum which was afibriled by this Protestant nation to the Clergy of Frarnce during the Revolution ; many of whom choose even still to lay their bones with us, rather thani return to that halcyon country of tolerance and liberality, from whence they were driven by that.faieh from whichl Popery bas learned its present tolerance. I.ONDO.V, FRIDAY, OCTORER 8, 1324.