structive to liberty; for its necessary consequence is to give a preponderating influence in every election, to wealth and corruption, by placing under their joint control a numerous band of unprincipled, organized, and mercenary voters. This evil becomes more formidable as we proceed. The sustenance of to-day, but excites the cravings of to-morrow; the infection of one spreads the contagion to another, until our whole atmosphere becomes tainted, and we shall be abhorred as a plague spot in our country. When a community becomes thus vile and venal, it is a ready instrument in the hands of either a domestic or a foreign foe. To adopt as facts the assertions of our parties, what is to prevent the northern manufacturer, whose mighty resources are so fearfully magnified, from outbidding our impoverished planters? How are our taxed and ruined agriculturists to compete with the Colonization Society, aided by the profuse bounties of Congress? What security shall we have that if our freemen's voices be this year purchased for British manufacturers, in opposition to the tariff, that they will not be next year purchased by the British government, in opposition to independent domestic legislation? Shall we even be able to raise the means of outbidding an organized, dependent, domestic faction, who would unite their power, and lavish their fortunes, in a desperate effort to place over us one of their body as a monarch, who would repay, with enormous profit, out of the public spoil, the contributions and the services of his adherents? Thus, were there neither crime nor disgrace in this system, it involves the ruin of the republic. And is it possible that the abettors of the system are blind to this? No! The misfortune in such cases is, that men, proud, ardent, and ambitious, committed publicly, upon a great political question, if they do not become reckless of all consequences, provided they can defeat their opponents, flatter themselves that, after their success, they can heal the evils, which they would not, for any consideration, perpetuate. But the history of the world, and our own experience, exhibit their delusion. The wounds inflicted upon the virtue of the state, if not mortal, are deep and dangerous; and certainly not to be healed by men of this description. Will our fellow-citizens, then, permit our liberties to be thus endangered, by allowing the public virtue to be debauched by men who either are honestly deluded or regardless of the consequences? No state in the Union-no country in the universe contains, in its ratio of its white population, a greater aggregate of men who condemn, despise, and spurn at such profligacy, than does South Carolina; but they should not dally with the mischief. Proverbially sensitive to everything which affects their honour, they

will not permit this degradation. Catholics! if you act on the present occasion, you will, I repeat it, be but speck in the multitude of your virtuous fellow-citizens. Yet, though your place be not conspicuous, let your station be on the side of virtue, of patriotism, of religion, or morality, of republican integrity, and the honour of Carolina. Let shame and disgrace, and contempt amongst his fellowmen, be added to the displeasure with which heaven frowns on the unhappy being, who would give or take a bribe, or betray his conscience, or block the passages to the ballot-boxes, or create disturbances, or in any way impede the freedom of his fellow-citizen, in the exercise of his most sacred right-that of voting according to the dictates of his conscience, for what he conceives the good of his country.

I have been exceedingly prolix, but you must excuse me; for my mind is absorbed in the subject, and I have left far more topics untouched, than those which I have dwelt upon. Yet, allow me to glance at one other, and I shall have done.-A large portion of you are adopted citizens, and of these, the majority have been born in the land that gave me birth. Not one amongst you, has loved that island with a more ardent affection; not one of you more dearly cherishes its remembrance; not one of you has been more deeply engaged in the contest for its rights, nor more richly earned the execration of his enemies. I am no renegade to Ireland; but I am now an American. Are Americans permitted to vote at Irish elections? You are qualified to deposit your ticket in the ballot-box, upon this distinct unequivocal condition, implied in your solemn oath; that you do renounce and disregard all other considerations in the discharge of your civic and political duties, save that tie which binds you to America. You vote then solely as a Carolinian: as an American. When, upon your approach to the polls, any person addresses you as an Irishman, or a Frenchman, or an Italian, or by any other appellation but Carolinian or American, his language is dishonest and offensive. He is either ignorant, or supposes you to be so, or he has some sinister view. There is a bribery of the

affections. There is a bribery in adulation. There is a bribery in taking you by the arm on the day of election, and forgetting who you are, in a few days after. There is a bribery in reminding you of the bravery, and the patriotism, and the generosity of the Irish. And all this is the more insulting as the object of the adulation, or of the familiarity, is too plain to be mistaken. Of all things, I would caution you against pride or rudeness. But there is a degree of respect which every freeman should have for himself, which should lead him to refuse his arm to a man who only offers it to him for the purpose of

leading him like a prisoner to the ballot-box, and thus showing the public, and especially to his own party, how extensive is his influence; what votes he can command. You want no guide to lead you; you want no person to select your ticket. I hope you will not consider that I go too far, when I advise you to reject politely, the officiousness of those persons who thus obtrude upon men equally intelligent as themselves. I am anxious for your proper independence, I am studious of your respectability. But I warn you of your solemn, sworn obligation, that in giving your vote you recollect, that you are an American! a Carolinian! Would it not be well that after you had done your duty by depositing your ticket, you quietly withdrew? I am aware of the natural anxiety which every one feels to observe the progress, and to calculate and witness the result.-The only suggestions I would make, are, that its indulgence interferes with your industry, and exposes you to be drawn into any brawls or quarrels that might arise. At all events, if any such should occur, I would beseech you to retire.

I have done. But I would beg of you to remark. 1. That I have neither expressed nor insinuated an opinion calculated to induce you to vote for one party, rather than for another. 2. That I neither directly, nor indirectly, impute to one party rather than the other, the evils which I lament. 3. That I do not directly, nor indirectly, allege any charge against any individual. 4. That although I have a distinct opinion as to what I conceive to be the correct doctrine in the present crisis, I have not expressed what that opinion is. 5. That whatever that opinion might be, it should have no influence upon your freedom, even were I to express it. 6. That although I have written freely and openly of the corruption which exists amongst us, yet I firmly believe, that notwithstanding the contamination of several, and the efforts of others, there does not exist anywhere a population that loves political purity more, or that will more nobly vindicate it, than the citizens of Charleston. 7. That whether judiciously or otherwise, I have come forward to address my flock from a deep sense of duty, and by no means to lecture my fellow-citizens of other denominations. And 8. That I have not been influenced by any one, nor have I received a suggestion, nor have I consulted with any person upon the present occasion.

And now, beloved friends, let me in conclusion, entreat of you not only to ponder seriously, upon what my sense of duty and my affection have urged me to write; but that you would also unite your prayers with mine, to the God of purity, and peace, and order, to preserve in those who are free from contagion, the virtue which he

loves; to open the eyes of the guilty to the contemplation of their misdeeds, to fill them with a salutary horror of the abominations of which we complain, and to bestow upon them the blessings of remorse and repentance. May he convert them to the ways of justice and patriotism! And in the difficulties by which we are surrounded, may he open to us a path of salvation and of peace; that guided by his Spirit, we may be led through our pilgrimage, bearing in safety the ark of our liberties! May the voice of his own wisdom proceed from that cloud which now rests upon it, so that the splendour of knowledge may issue from between the guardian cherubim, and an enlightened people released from all their perplexities, may in the well-ordered harmony of their states, go forth in a holy and indissoluble union, to triumph over every obstacle, and to subdue every enemy, till each individual shall under his own vine, and his own fig tree, enjoy his abundance in the security of peace, and rejoicing in prosperity.

Such is the prayer of, beloved friends,
Your affectionate father in Christ,

CHARLESTON, August 24, 1831.

JOHN, Bishop of Charleston.

LETTER FOR THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF BALTIMORE

Addressed to the Clergy and Faithful of the Roman Catholic Church of the Diocess of Charleston

John England, by the Grace of God and of the Holy Apostolic See, Bishop of Charleston, and so forth.

To our beloved brethren, the Clergy and Laity of our said Diocess, health and blessing:

Beloved Brethren: Having learned that our venerable arch-bishop has formed an association for the purpose of making exertions to liquidate the debt of forty thousand dollars now due, for the erection of the Metropolitan Church of the see of Baltimore, and also for preventing the decay of what has been erected, and endeavouring to complete the edifice; and that the Catholics of the province of Baltimore, as well as of the exempt diocesses of the United States, have been invited to become members of this association, by paying yearly, for the accomplishment of these desirable objects, the moderate sum of one dollar each,

We feel it to be our duty, whatever our own necessities may be, to exhort you strenuously, to enroll yourselves as members of the said association, and to aid otherwise, as far as your means and your particular obligations will permit, in speedily extinguishing the debt, and perfecting the buildings and decorations of the said Metropolitan Church. Nor is this to be considered a mere work of free charity, for it is in some measure a duty, and has always been considered from the earliest period of the church, in the light of an incidental obligation.

The Metropolitan Church holds nearly the same relation to the other cathedrals of the province, as each of these cathedrals does to the other churches of their respective diocesses: and in this point of view, it may be regarded as belonging to the whole province, at the head of which it stands.

The unity of our church is exhibited in the relation and dependence of its several portions. Its visible head is the successor of St. Peter, the chief of the Apostolic College, who fixed in the city of Rome the primatial see of the Catholic world; previously to which he and his associates had, from Antioch and Jerusalem, spread abroad the glad tid