same nature with that which was urged against Campion. The jury retired, and after deliberating

an hour, found them all guilty.

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On the first of the following December Campion was led to execution. He was dragged thither to it on a hurdle; his face was often covered with mud, and the people goodnaturedly wiped it off. He ascended the scaffold,-there, he again denied all the treasons of which he had been accused. He was required" to ask forgiveness of the queen;" he meekly answered, "wherein have I offended "her? In this I am innocent; this is my last "breath, in this give me credit. I have, and I do pray for her." Lord Charles Howard asked him "for which queen he prayed ?—whether for "Elizabeth the queen ?"--Campion replied, "yes, "for Elizabeth your queen, and my queen." then took his last leave of the spectators, and turning his eyes towards heaven, the cart was drawn away. "His mild death, and sincere protestations "of innocence," says the writer, from whom this account is taken, "moved the people to such compassion and tears, that the adversaries of the "catholics were glad to excuse his death."

He

CHAP. XIX.

REASONS ASSIGNED TO JUSTIFY THE SANGUINARY

LAWS ENACTED IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH AGAINST CATHOLICS, AND THE RIGOROUS EXECUTION OF THEM.

MENTION has been made of the acts, which were passed against the catholics, in the first, second, and fifth years of the reign of queen Elizabeth. At first, they were not put into particular activity, but towards the tenth year of her reign the system of moderation, if it deserved that name, began to be abandoned. Still the gibbet was not raised, nor the fire kindled during the ten following years; but, from that time, the proceedings of Elizabeth's government against the catholics became sanguinary, and the laws against them were executed with extreme rigour. For this severity, five causes have been assigned: I. The bull of Pius the fifth, assuming to depose the queen from her throne, and to absolve her subjects from their allegiance to her; and the renewals of it by Gregory the thirteenth, and Sixtus the fifth: II. The maintenance of the deposing doctrine by the English missionary priests; and the activity of some in giving effect to the buH of Pius: III. The unsatisfactory answers given by some priests to the six questions on the deposing power, proposed to them

by the order of the government: IV. The establishment of the foreign seminaries, and the missionary labours of the catholic priests in England: V. The laws, of which we are speaking, were also defended by asserting, that the priests who suffered were not executed for their religion, but for acts, which the law had made treasonable. The plots against Elizabeth, in which the English catholics are pretended to have been engaged, were also said to justify these measures of persecution. They will be the subject of the following chapter.

XIX. 1.

First reason assigned for the sanguinary laws against the catholics.-The Bull of Pius the fifth, and its renewal by Gregory the thirteenth, and Sixtus the fifth.

IN more than one page of his different works, the writer has taken occasion to express his opinion, that the claim of the popes to temporal power, by divine right, has been one of the most calamitous events in the history of the church. Its effects, since the Reformation, on the English and Irish catholics have been dreadful, and are still felt by them severely *.

The scenes, in which the claims of the popes to temporal power involved them, present the dark side of their character. In most other points of view, they appear to advantage, both in their sacerdotal and regal capacity. That some were infamous by their crimes and vices, is true; it is also true, that an equal number have been eminently distinguished by their talents and virtues, and that, collectively considered,

The bull of Paul the third, deposing Henry the eighth, and absolving his subjects from their allegiance; and the arrogant answer of Paul the fourth to the ambassador of queen Elizabeth, have been mentioned. We have now to notice the bull, Regnans in excelsis, of Pius the fifth. After reciting her offences, this pope, "out of the fulness of his "apostolic power, declares Elizabeth, being an

heretic, and a favourer of heretics, and her ad"herents in the matter aforesaid, to have incurred "the sentence of anathema, and to be cut off from "the unity of the body of Christ; and moreover, continues the pope, "we declare her to be deprived "of her pretended title to the kingdom aforesaid, "and of all dominion, dignity, and privilege what"soever and also the nobility, subjects, and peo

ple of the said kingdoms, and all others which "have in any sort sworn unto her, to be for ever "absolved from every such oath, and all manner of

duty, of dominion, allegiance, and obedience; "as we also do, by the authority of these presents, "absolve them, and do deprive the same Elizabeth

they will not suffer in a comparison with any other line of sovereigns. Even Voltaire observes, that there was less of barbarism and ignorance in the pope's dominions in the middle ages, than in any other European state. Much certainly was done by them in every part of christendom, to protect the lower ranks against their oppressors,-to preserve peace among kings and princes, and to alleviate the general calamities of the times. Their exertions for the conversion of infidels were unremitted: few nations can read the history of the first introduction of christianity among them without acknowledging great obligations to the popes.

"of her pretended right to the kingdom, and all "other things aforesaid; and we do command and “interdict, all and every the noblemen, subjects, "people, and others aforesaid, that they presume

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not to obey her, or her monitions, mandates, and "laws, and those, which shall do to the contrary, 66 we do innodate with the like sentence of ana"thema.

And, because it were a matter of too much "difficulty to carry these presents to all places " where it may be needful, our will is, that the copies thereof, under a public notary's hand, " and sealed with the seal of an ecclesiastical pre

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late, or of his court, shall carry altogether the same credit with all people, judicial and extra,

judicial, as these presents should do if they were "exhibited or shown.-Given at Rome, at St. "Peter's, in the year of the Incarnation of our "Lord 1570, the 5th of the calends of May, and "of our popedom the 5th year.'

Such was this celebrated bull, ever to be condemned, and ever to be lamented. It is most clear,

A

that the pope assumed by it a right, the exercise of which Christ had explicitly disclaimed for himself;-that it tended to produce a civil war between the queen's protestant and catholic subjects, and all the horrors of a disputed succession,-and that it could not but involve a multitude of respect, able and conscientious individuals in the bitterest and most complicated distress. What could have fascinated the pontiff, virtuous and pious, as all