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Protestant Church Establishment in that country: nothis was no part of their thoughts; they never would attempt to make use of any new power which they might acquire by concession, in order to subvert the Protestant Church Establishment, or to procure any transfer of Church property. But, we are now indebted, and not a little indebted, to a Popish Bishop, together with the Roman Catholic Association, for completely throwing off the mask, and openly avowing the design they entertain, of despoiling the Church of her property in Ireland, and of destroying the Protestant Church Establishment in that country, as a national grievance. We do not attribute to them the threat of attempting to accomplish this by force, but the public avowal that this is the great end they seek. Mr. Joseph Hume and Sir John Newport, (it would appear from the public papers,) have been pleased to take the established religion in Ireland under their peculiar care, and to direct their attention particularly to the Church property. We do not presume to conjecture what may be the wise and salutary measures in the contemplation of these great Church reformers. Will they submit to be the ignoble instruments of Dr. Doyle and Co.?

But let us now attend to the singular production of the Popish Bishop, for which he has received the thanks of the Roman Catholic Association. He has published his Letter under the signature J. K. L., these letters being the initials of James Kildare and Leighlin. We are not disposed to submit to any attempt at the assumption of titles which the laws do not concede: and as this Irish Bishop of the Church of Rome, mentions particularly his own humility, we suppose that he will not be offended if we apply to him the designation, which, we conceive, more properly belongs to him, "Doctor Doyle." He will remember that we name him on the authority of the Roman Catholic Association.

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The Romish Bishop, Dr. Doyle, after assuring Lord WE LESLEY that the late alleged "extraordinary cures," which some of our Popish priests so gravely ascribed to the intercession of Prince Hohenloe, were duly ascertained to be of a "supernatural kind;" after endeavouring to show their correspondence with the MIRACLES of our divine REDEEMER himself! of his Apostles, and of one of the prophets of GOD! after comparing the natural discredit with which Protestants in Ireland have treated such revived Popish impostures to the "efforts of enthusiasts and philosophers of antiquity" to oppose the belief of the MIRACLES of our SAVIOUR! and,

VOL. XXI, FEB. 1824.

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Popish Attack on the Established Church in Ireland. after intimating that there is a body of Protestants in Ireland (in which it would appear that he means to include the Bishops and Clergy of the Established Church in that country)" who would crucify" our blessed Redeemer “ over again, did he appear in the flesh, lest the Romans should come and take their place and nation;" proceeds thus :

« The number and variety of these sudden and extraordinary cures, witnessed not only in this but in the neighbouring nations, and attributed to the intercession of this holy personage, (viz. Prince Hohenloe!) or to those who unite in prayer with him, oblige me to think that the grace of curing bodily diseases, mentioned by St. Paul, 1 Cor. xii. 9. as given to some of the primitive Christians, has been revived at present, like as at many other periods of the Church." P. 18.

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But really we should not have noticed the miracles of that holy personage," Prince Hohenloe, but that the Popish Bishop, in his publication before us, describes them as having "given occasion" to certain charges against the religion and policy of the body to which he belongs :" in order to refute which charges, he tells us, he thought proper to write his letter to Lord WELLESLEY. We shall not find it necessary to enter particularly into his discussion of any of these alleged charges, except of that which he has placed second in order. Here we find the topic on which he has really afforded us some new and important information, which we feel it to be our duty to endeavour to make extensively known to the Protestants of Great Britain, and to which we would invite the attention of members of the Legisla ture and here is the topic upon which, almost exclusively, the excellent pamphlet of DECLAN has been written-á pamphlet in which the right of the Established Church in Ireland to her property, is most clearly explained and most ably and effectually vindicated.

We proceed at once to his discussion of the second alleged charge, and shall afterwards notice very briefly some of his observations in other parts of his publication. We shall allow him to speak fully for himself on his favourite topic; and certainly some part of what he has written on it is plausible, though really fallacious.

"I hasten," he says, "to reply to, or explain the second" charge," that we entertain the design of overthrowing the Established Church, and entering upon her possessions.

"Both parts of this proposition, my Lord, are equally false. Catholics, as such, entertain no design hostile to the Church; but, as a class of persons almost exclusively employed în agriculture, they object, not to the Church, but to the ESTABLISHMENT."-P. 29.

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Hitherto it has been admitted, and from the principles of the Church of Rome it necessarily follows, that Roman Catholics, as such, must object to the Protestant Church on account of its doctrines; but we were, at the same time, assured, on the part of their hierarchy, and of the body in general, that they entertained no design hostile to the Establishment; and that, therefore, as well as for other reasons, it would be perfectly safe to concede to them the civil privileges and powers which they demand. But, the new information communicated by the Popish Bishop Doyle, shall be given in his own words; and we shall leave the comment upon it to DECLAN, from whose excellent publication we shall lay some important extracts before our readers. Here we shall only observe, and we wish it to be particularly remembered, that it has been abundantly shewn, that such is in general the moderation with which the Established Clergy in Ireland exact payment of tithes, and such too generally the want of moderation shewn by the immediate landlords of the peasantry in the amount of rents which they require, that the system of tithes in Ireland, whatever inconveniences may be connected with any part of its details, is, upon the whole, a relief, not a burthen to the poor cultivators of the soil: that the rent exacted by landlords for farms which are tithe-free, is so much raised on account of this exemption, that a greater burden is thus imposed on the occupying tenant, than if his farm were subject to the payment of tithe to the Clergyman; and that the province of Ireland in which the peasantry are most wretched, (Connaught,) is precisely that in which potatoes, their chief crop, and almost their only food, are exempt from the payment of tithes.

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But the Popish Bishop Doyle, after stating that Roman Catholics, as a class of persons almost exclusively employed in agriculture object, not to the Church, but to the Establishment," thus proceeds:

As subjects who are excluded from their rights, chiefly by the wealth, and influence, and intolerant spirit of the Churchmen, they are opposed to it. But as to the Church herself, her doctrine, discipline, government, and laws, they are matters about which no rational Catholic feels more concern than he does about the state of Mahometanism on the Bosphorus.......But as to her ESTABLISHMENT, it is such in Ireland, in the opinion of many Protes tants as well as Catholics, as should not be suffered to exist in any civilized country, still less in a nation employed almost exclusively in the tillage of land. She possesses domains which, if ascertained and valued, might appear more than sufficient for her support; and

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with these the tenth of the produce of the entire kingdom, (the lay impropriations excepted) which produce consists of the value of the soil, of the manure, of the seed, of the tilling, of the weeding, of the gleaning, of the reaping, of the gathering-in a word, of all the earth can produce, as well as of the capital, skill, and industry of the occupant: add to these the code of laws, with which the ESTABLISHMENT is fenced in and secured; a code which in bulk "equals the mountain of Mahomet," (our Popish priests and bishops can scarcely ever talk of the Protestant Church, without some comparison bearing a reference to MAHOMET,) "and in wisdom and foresight is not inferior to the books of the Sybils. It is too much, my Lord, to expect of human nature that it could be well affected towards so monstrous an Establishment, and, above all, in IRELAND, where those who possess it are not the pastors of the people, and where those who pay it are all employed in agriculture. It is in vain to tell us, my Lord, that they are our pastors." (He and the members of his communion are, it seems, to be exclusively THE PEOPLE.) P. 29.

"When tithes were assigned to the children of Levi, they obtained no land, and they were one of the twelve tribes, though not the most numerous, who had equal rights to the inheritance of Jacob. The surplus given them in the tithe, while the lands were withheld, does not seem to be considerable; and Judea, though it flowed with milk and honey, was not, in the opinion of Grotius, (and who was there more competent to judge?) ever rich in agriculture. The provision, therefore, made by ALMIGHTY GOD for the ministers of his Ark, or his Temple, was agreeable to the original right of the ministers themselves, and bore a just proportion to their number and services: but when, in the fulness of time, the special compact of the Jews was dissolved, this ordinance ceased with it, and the right of tithes was extinguished by HIM who substituted for that of Aaron his own priesthood, according to the order of Melchizedech." P. 31.

"CHRIST and his APOSTLES, as well as the primitive pastors of the Church, were all supported by the voluntary oblations of the faithful, whether in money or other consumable commodities, or by donations and bequests of immoveable property.

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"It was only late in the fifth century, or rather in t the sixth, that the right of tithes was advanced by the Church, and advanced, as has been observed by the immortal GRATTAN, in a style no way creditable to its pastors. However, the progress of the system was slow, for until the beginning of the ninth century, or the age o CHARLEMAGNE, it obtained no considerable footing amongst the Christians, whether in Europe or in Asia. That great and wise prince, who subdued nations by force, and governed them by salutary laws, promoted the tithe system, as well adapted to all his views and interests. He had rude, fickle, or disaffected nations to restrain or govern; and without the aid of Religion this could not be effected: hence he established many bishopricks, and founded

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or reformed innumerable Churches: he had no better means of attaching the Clergy to their flocks, than by giving them an interest in their possessions; he had no revenue to dispose of for their use, nay, the only source of revenue almost within his dominions, consisted of land. Hence the tithe of its produce was assigned to the priesthood, that they might be the protectors of agriculture, amongst rude tribes accustomed to live by plunder or the chase. But he was not only wise, but also religious and just : hence he made the inferior Clergy independent of the Bishops as to their support, by dividing one half of the Church property between them he assigned to the fabric and to the poor the other moiety, that all interests might be promoted, and the Church Establishment be a blessing, not a curse to his subjects. This system, so wise and provident in itself extended throughout Europe with the feudal. system, and without any other than accidental changes subsisted generally and entire in the 13th and 14th, and even during a part of the 15th century." P. 32.

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"In this state the Church Establishments were found, when the events of the 16th century commenced a revolution in the affairs of Europe, which is not yet terminated: but which, in its progress, has changed all the ideas, and all the laws, and all the habits of men, The Church has fared, like the nations and states in which it subsisted; and her former titles have been abrogated or new modelled, like those of the princes and barons who had created her Establishment. Throughout Europe, with only a few, very few exceptions, her Bishops are reduced to their primitive rank; their domains have been taken from them; their tithes taxed or abolished, and a new provision, more consonant to the public interests, and the opinions of men, substituted for the old. This current of public mind, and public interest, will reach this country, my Lord, sooner or later, whatever barriers may be raised against it; and there is no country where it is more necessary: it would be hailed by nineteen-twentieths of the inhabitants of Ireland, Protestant and Catholic, as the inundations of the Nile are hailed by the Egyptians.

"Tithes in this country, my Lord, should always have been odious: they were the price paid Henry II. and the Legate Paparo to the Irish Prelates, who sold for them the independence of their native land, and the birth-right of their people: until that period, tithes were almost unknown in this country; and from the day of their introduction we may date the history of our misfortunes: they were not only the cause, but they were an efficient one of all the calamities which followed: and whilst they subsist, peace or concord will not be re-established in Ireland." P. 33.

"When the Religion of England was changed, and the conquest of this country was completed, a period which embraces the reigns of Henry, Edward, Mary, Elizabeth, James 1st., Charles ist., Cromwell, Charles, James, Anne, William; at this period, the English Protestants and Puritans, who had succeeded in, sub

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