statement as aforesaid, within six months of his arrival in the realm, under the like penalty of 50l. a month for neglect. Such Jesuits and Regulars as have been registered under these two sections of the Act, are allowed to remain in the realm, without further hindrance; except so far as they are affected by the general provisions of the 31 Geo. III. c. 32, noticed at page 24. Any Secretary of State, being a Protestant, is empowered by the 31st section to grant a written license under his hand to any other Jesuit or Regular to come into the realm, even after the 23rd of April, 1829, and to remain there for any period not exceeding six calendar months. An annual account of each year's licenses shall be laid before Parliament, (s. 32). Any Secretary of State may revoke any such license before the expiration of the time therein specified. The party to whom it was granted must quit the realm within twenty days after its expiration, or notice of its being revoked. If he fail to do so, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour, punishable on conviction by banishment for life, (s. 31).

If any Jesuit or Regular, not being a natural born subject, and not having a Secretary of State's license, shall have come into the realm after the 23rd of April, 1829, he is guilty of a misdemeanour, punishable by banishment for life, (s. 29). The same punishment is enacted for the offence of being admitted or becoming a Jesuit, or brother or member of any other such religious order, community, or society within the realm, after the 23rd of April, 1829, (s. 34); and by s. 33, the Jesuit or Regular so admitting him, or administering the vows or oaths to him, or assisting at their being administered, "shall, in England, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour," punishable, it is apprehended, as a simple misdemeanour, by fine and imprisonment, no specific punishment being mentioned in this section.

If any Jesuit or Regular, sentenced and ordered to banishment under either of the above provisions, shall

not have departed from the realm within thirty days after receiving his sentence and order, the Queen is empowered, by the 35th section, to cause him to be conveyed to any place beyond the realm, directed by Her Majesty in Privy Council. And the 36th section provides, that if any Jesuit or Regular, sentenced and ordered to banishment under this Act, shall be found at large within the realm without lawful cause, after the end of three calendar months from the time of his sentence and order, such offender, on conviction, shall be sentenced to transportation for life.

It is scarcely necessary to repeat that with such qualifications as are introduced by these sections of the 10 Geo. IV. c. 7, the provisions of the 31 Geo. III. c. 32 are applicable to Jesuits and male religious orders and communities, no less than to female religious communities. The disabilities imposed by the more modern of these Relief Acts are cumulative to those enacted by its predecessor, and to those which it found in existence, but did not repeal.

Dissuading from Church, &c.

The 35 Eliz. c. 1, s. 1, continued by 3 Car. I. c. 4, and 16 Car. I. c. 4, imposed the penalty of imprisonment, without bail or mainprize, until conformity to the established worship, upon nonconformists who should incite others to forbear coming to the services of the Established Church. The Commissioners of Criminal Law (r) express doubts as to this enactment having been repealed in favour of Roman Catholics. It seems to the author, that there is scarcely any ground of doubt. The Act speaks only of nonconformists "without any lawful cause," who shall persuade, &c. Roman Catholics have lawful cause of nonconformity, if they have qualified under their Relief Acts. Still the opinion of the Commissioners

(r) Sixth Report, p. 110 (n).

being too respectable to be passed over, the author thinks it right to give it in their own words. "None of the Roman Catholic Toleration Acts make any mention of the 35 Eliz. c. 1, s. 1, or describe the offences therein contained. These offences consist in the inciting of others, by a person who obstinately refuses to repair to church, to abstain from going there, or to frequent unlawful places of worship, &c. Unless, therefore, it should be held that a Roman Catholic who takes the oath appointed by the Roman Catholic Relief Act, and resorts to a registered place of worship, is not a person obstinately refusing to repair to church, it would seem that there is no mode under the existing law, by which a Roman Catholic who commits any of those offences can avoid the penalties."

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CHAPTER IV.

PARTICULAR DISABILITIES OF ROMAN CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND, NOT BEING QUALIFIED AT LAW.

AMONG the provisions of the Relief Acts, mitigating the ancient rigour of the penal code, there are very few which are not made to depend on the fulfilment of certain conditions. In almost every case the Roman Catholic desirous of taking the benefit of the remedial enactment must be, at least, ready to subscribe the oath appointed to persons of his persuasion. In some cases, even that subscription must precede the exercise of the liberty acquired under the Act. Priests, members of the legal profession, &c., are, as we have seen, instances of this rule. Nor is the oath, in every case, the only condition necessary to qualify Roman Catholics to enjoy the benefit of the Relief Acts. We have seen that a mere omission in procuring a return to be made or a register to be recorded, not to speak of the more important acts of commission prohibited by legislative enactment, will, in not a few cases, deprive the party of relief just as effectually as though he had omitted the oath itself. We have also seen, that although the consequences of neglecting or refusing to take the oaths of allegiance and abjuration under the 1 Geo. I. st. 2, c. 13, s. 10, do not involve all the consequences of a want of qualification under the Relief Acts, yet that they amount to no less than the grave penalties on popish recusancy after conviction. In treating of the disabilities, therefore, to which nonjuring Roman Catholics are particularly liable, we must bear in mind that other Roman Catholics, not qualified in other respects under the Relief Acts, are liable to

those disabilities equally with nonjurors. Others, whether qualified or not, who by preaching, teaching, or writing, shall gainsay the Catholic Relief Oath, or any of its declarations or doctrines, are in like manner excluded. (31 Geo. III. c. 32, s. 12.) Others again, independently of the Relief Acts, may become liable to the penalties and forfeitures of recusancy at least, even at this day. They will be conveniently considered in the same division of this treatise.

I. HIGH TREASONS.

Nonjuring and unqualified Roman Catholics are still liable to capital and other punishments as traitors, under certain unrepealed statutes. The first in order is the famous Act of Supremacy, 1 Eliz. c. 1. By the 27th section of that Act, the pain of forfeiture of goods and chattels, real as well as personal, and also a year's imprisonment without bail, by the 28th section, in all cases where the amount of forfeiture is less than the value of 201.,-and the forfeiture of all ecclesiastical benefices, &c. by the 29th section, where the offender is a spiritual person, are incurred by the having, within six months before the indictment being preferred (s. 31), affirmed, maintained, or defended, advisedly, maliciously, and directly, whether in writing or print, by words, deed or act, the spiritual or ecclesiastical authority, pre-eminence, power or jurisdiction of any foreign prince, prelate, person, state or potentate theretofore claimed, used or usurped within the realm, or any dominion or country that was within or under the power, dominion or obeisance of Elizabeth; or even the putting in ure or executing any thing for the purpose of such maintenance or defence, if done advisedly, maliciously, and directly. It is then provided, by ss. 29 and 30, that upon conviction of a second offence, the culprit shall incur the dangers, penalties, and forfeitures of a præmunire, and upon conviction of a