infinite wisdom and goodness which the Creator has displayed in all his works. Not a step can we take in any direction without perceiving the most extraordinary traces of design; and the skill every where conspicuous is calculated in so vast a proportion of instances to promote the happiness of living creatures, and especially of ourselves, that we can feel no hesitation in concluding, that if we knew the whole scheme of Providence, every part would be in harmony with a plan of absolute benevolence. Independently, however, of this most consoling inference, the delight is inexpressible of being able to follow, as it were, with our eyes, the marvellous works of the Great Architect of Nature, to trace the unbounded power and exquisite skill which are exhibited in the most minute, as well as the mightiest parts of his system. The pleasure derived from this study is unceasing, and so various, that it never tires the appetite. But it is unlike the low gratifications of sense in another respect: it elevates and refines our nature, while those hurt the health, debase the understanding, and corrupt the feelings; it teaches us to look for all earthly objects as insignificant, and below our notice, except the pursuit of knowlege and the cultivation of virtue-that is to say, the strict performance of our duty in every relation of society; and it gives a dignity and importance to the enjoyment of life, which the frivolous and the grovelling cannot even comprehend.

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Let us, then, conclude, that the pleasures of Science go hand in hand with the solid benefits derived from it; that they tend, unlike other gratifications, not only to make our lives more agreeable, but better; and that a rational being is bound by every motive of interest and of duty, to direct his mind towards pursuits which are found to be the sure path of virtue as well as of happiness.

A LETTER

ΤΟ

THE RIGHT HON. GEORGE CANNING,

ON THE BILL OF 1825,

FOR REMOVING THE DISQUALIFICATIONS OF HIS MAJESTY'S ROMAN CATHOLIC SUBJECTS,

AND ON

HIS SPEECH IN SUPPORT OF THE SAME.

BY REV. HENRY PHILLPOTTS, D. D.

RECTOR OF STANHOPE.

SIXTH EDITION.

LONDON:-1827.

SIR,

IT is with unfeigned reluctance that I thus publicly address you on the most important question which can engage the attention either of Parliament or the country. When I was first induced to enter into this discussion, my sole object was to vindicate certain doctrines of our Reformed Church from the gross misconceptions and misrepresentations to which they had been subjected: but I soon found the theological part of the argument to be so closely interwoven with the political, that it was hardly possible to keep them separate. You, Sir, appear to have experienced the same difficulty; and if a statesman, in the discussion of the political question, has found himself entangled in the mazes of polemics, it is not to be wondered that a churchman, in treating the same matter, has been compelled to extend his inquiries into the region of politics. This consideration alone will, I am confident, make all apology for my present address to you unnecessary; and I will not trespass on your patience by affecting to offer any. Let me only say, that if in the free examination of opinións publicly proclaimed by you, I shall at all depart from the respect which is due to your high station, to your splendid talents, and above all, to your distinguished character, you will find it much easier to forgive me, than I shall be willing to forgive myself.

The note of hostile preparation, which has been loudly sounded by the Roman Catholics of Ireland, announces to us an early renewal of their claims to a full participation in all the powers of the state. What particular course, in the furtherance of their object, will be adopted by their advocates, and especially by yourself, it is not easy to foresee; but in the absence of other information, we may reasonably look back to the last occasion of discussing the question, to the Bill which was then passed by the House of Commons, and to the language and arguments with which you, Sir, by far the most powerful champion of their cause, thought fit to support it. That greater securities for our established institutions will now be offered, past experience forbids us to expect." Hitherto, every new application to Parliament has been marked by some important, diminution of the securities before proposed. Like the Sibyl's fatal volumes, the price, which we are required to pay for them, continues still the same; while they themselves are so deplorably reduced, as scarcely to retain a faint semblance of what we were once told was indispensable safety. Still, as in the Sybil's case, there are not wanting those, who earnestly conjure us to purchase, at any cost, even the miserable remnant, which may yet be had.

our

Sir, there is something so very peculiar in the history of these securities, and it has so obvious and essential a connexion with the subject of this letter, that I must request your indulgence while I trespass on you with a review of some of its most important particulars.

It is well known, that so long ago as 1799, Mr.Pitt entertained, and acted on, the hope, that means might be devised to combine the extension of equal political rights to the Roman Catholics, with due precautions for the security of our Protestant Church and government. What was his intended plan,' was never publicly announced by him; perhaps it was never completely formed. But in the last speech, which he delivered in Parliament on this subject, he thus expressed himself.

"I have never been one of those who have held, that the term 'Emancipation' is, in the smallest degree, applicable to the repeal of the few remaining penal statues to which the (Roman) Catholics are still liable. But, possibly, in my view of the grounds of expediency, I may think it to be much more contradistinguished from the question of right, than the honorable gentleman (Mr. Fox) does. He seems to consider, that there is only a shade of difference between the expediency and the right: whereas in my view of the difference, it is broad, evident, and fundamental. I consider right as independent of circumstances, and paramount to them, whilst expediency is connected with circumstances, and, in a great

measure, dependent on them. With regard to the admission of (Roman) Catholics to franchises, to the elective franchise, or to any of those posts and offices which have been alluded to, I view all these points as distinctions to be given, not for the sake of the person and the individual who is to possess them, but for the sake of the public, for whose benefit, they were created, and for whose advantage they are to be exercised. In all times, therefore, and on every occasion, whether relating to the Roman Catholic or the Protestant dissenter, to the people of Ireland or to the people of England, I have always, from a due regard to the constitution, been of opinion, that we are bound to consider not merely what is desired by a part, but what is best and most advantageous to the whole."

Sir, I have quoted thus much, to show the principle which guided and restricted that great man in all that he did and said on this important subject. Would to Heaven, that all who call and believe themselves his disciples, were guided by the same principle! If they were, we should not have to lament that the language, I shall cite hereafter, has ever issued from one of his school: much less, that you, Sir, so worthy in many respects to succeed and represent your great master, should be still found amongst the adherents of a Cause, which has formally and solemnly rejected not only the authority, but also the principles, of Mr. Pit.

I

"My idea," he continued, "was, not to apply tests to the religious tenets of the (Roman) Catholics, but tests applicable to what was the source and foundation of the evil; to render the priests, instead of making them the instruments of poisoning the minds of the people, dependent, in some sort, on the government, and thus links, as it were, between the government and the people. That would have been a wise and comprehensive system: that would have been the system which I should have felt it to be my wish, and thought it to have been my duty, to have proposed, I never thought that it would have been wise or prudent to have thrown down rudely or abruptly the guards and fences of the constitution; but I did think, that if the system I have alluded to had been deemed proper to be adopted, it ought to have been accompanied with those checks and guards, and with every regulation that could have given additional respect and influence to the established Church, to the support and protection of the Protestant interests, and to the encouragement of every measure which could tend to propagate, and spread the example of, the Protestant religion.

These, Sir, were the general views and intentions of Mr. Pitt on this subject; views and intentions, from which, to his great and

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"The British Catholic Association" passed a resolution to this effect in the course of last summer.