"blishment in its stead; and he solemnly | fere by any form or mode of temporal "swears, that he will not exercise any power, in spiritual concerns. This the Irish, "privilege to which he is or may be en- Scottish, and English Roman Catholics "titled, to disturb or weaken the Protest-have sworn, and they act up to their oaths. "ant religion, and Protestant government VI. "in that kingdom." V. But it is suggested, that though it should be conceded, that all other non-conformists to the Church of England ought to be admmitted to a free and complete toleration, the Roman Catholics should be excluded from it on account of their acknowledgment of the Supremacy of the Pope. I proceed to another charge:-It is asserted to be a tenet of our faith, or, at least, a received opinion among us, that the Pope or the Church has a right to absolve subjects from their allegiance to their Sovereign. But this doctrine has been most solemnly abjured by us, in the oaths which we have taken to Government. It is disclaimed by the opinions of the foreign universities, and Pope Pius the VIth proscribed it, by his rescript of the 17th of June, 1791. VII. The same may be said of the charge brought against us of holding il lawful to kill any Sovereign or any private person under excommunication. This doctrine also is disclaimed by us, in our oaths, as This admits of a very easy answer. The Roman Catholics certainly acknowledge the spiritual supremacy of the Pope; but they deny his temporal authority; they acknowledge no right either in the Pope, or in any Council, to interfere in any manner in temporal concerns, or to interfere, by any mode of temporal power, in concerns of a spiritual nature. By the oath prescribed to the Eng-"unchristian and impious;" it is disclaimlish Roman Catholics, by the 31st of His present Majesty, we swear, that "we do not believe that the Pope of Rome, or any other foreign prince, prelate, state, "or potentate hath, or ought to have, any "temporal or civil jurisdiction, power, superiority, or pre-eminence, directly, or "indirectly, within the realm." 64 66 ed in terms, equally strong, in the answers of the foreign Universities, and Pope Pius the VIth, in his rescript of 1791, solemnly declares such a murder "to be a horrid "and detestable crime." VIII. The same answer may also be given to the charge, of its being a tenet of our church, The Irish and Scottish Roman Catholic that it is lawful to break faith with heretics. subjects of His Majesty take a similar oath. In our oaths, we disclaim that doctrine also, The answers given by the foreign universi-" as impious and unchristian," and the ties to the questions proposed to them by terms in which it is disclaimed in the anthe direction of Mr. Pitt, the doctrines laid swers of the foreign Universities, are equaldown in all our catechisms, and other ly strong. But, without entering further standard books of authority, express the on the subject of this charge, we make this same belief. In the oath taken by the Irish solemn appeal upon it, to the feelings and Roman Catholics they swear, that "it is common sense of every reader of these co66 not an article of the Catholic faith, and lumns:-Does not the single circumstance, "that they are not thereby bound to be of our being, after the lapse of 200 years, "lieve or profess, that the Pope is infalli-petitioners to Parliament for the repeal of "ble; or that they are not bound to obey "any order, in its own nature immoral, "though the Pope or any ecclesiastical "power should issue or direct such an "order; but that, on the contrary, they "hold it sinful in them to pay any regard "to such an order." It is said, that the Popes on several occasions have claimed and exercised the right of temporal power. We acknowledge it, and we lament it. But the fact is of little consequence; no Roman Catholic now believes, that either Pope or Council, or both Pope and Council acting together, have, or ought to have, any right to interfere by any form or mode, either of temporal or spiritual power, in civil concerns; or to inter the penal and disabling laws to which we are subject, in consequence of our not taking oaths, the taking of which would, at once, have delivered us from all these penalties and disabilities, prove, beyond all exception and argument, that we do not believe the existence of any power which can dispense with the obligation of an oath. On this head I beg leave to add my own testimony having, in almost every stage of life, lived in habits of acquaintance or intimacy with all descriptions of Roman Catholics; the young, the old, the literate, the illiterate, foreigners and natives, ecclesiastic and secular, I never knew one who did not hear the charge in question with indignation, and treat it as an execrable calumny. But it is said that the Council of Lateran 2. That the Pope, or Cardinals, or any assumed a right to temporal power, and that the Council of Constance authorized the violation of the safe conduct granted to John Huss. Both of those facts are positively denied by the Roman Catholics. This is not a place for discussing the point-but, what does it signify?If the Council of Lateran claimed for the Pope, or itself, a right to temporal power, it did wrong; if the Council of Constance authorized the violation of the safe conduct, it did infamously, and there's an end on't. IX. 3. Body of Men, or any Individual of the Church of Rome, CANNOT absolve or dispense with His Majesty's Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance, upon any pretext whatsoever. That there is No Principle in the Tenets of the Catholic Faith, by which Catholics are justified in not keeping Faith with Heretics, or other Persons differing from them in Religious Opinions, in any Transactions either of a public or a private Nature. Nothing can be more explicit than the answers of the Foreign Universities-some of them express perfect wonder, that such questions should be proposed to them by a nation that glories in her learning and discernment. Having had frequent occasion to mention in these columns the answers of the Foreign Universities to certain questions proposed to them by the direction of Mr. Pill, the reader will probably wish to be better informed of the circumstances attending the transaction. As soon as the opinions of the Foreign In the year 1788, the Committee of the Universities were received, they were transEnglish Catholics waited on Mr. Pitt, re-mitted to Mr. Pitt. But the Roman Caspecting their application for a repeal of the tholics wish it to be most distinctly underpenal laws. He requested to be furnished stood, that it was for his satisfaction, not with authentic evidence of the opinions of their's, that these opinions were taken. the Roman Catholic Clergy, and the Roman Assuredly, His Majesty's Roman Catholic Catholic Universities abroad," on the ex- subjects did not want the wisdom of Foreign "istence and extent of the Pope's dispens- Universities to inform them, that His Maing power." Three questions were ac- jesty is the lawful Sovereign of all his Rocordingly framed, and submitted to his ap- man Catholic Subjects, and that by every probation. As soon as it was obtained, they divine and human law, his Roman Catholic were sent to the Universities of Paris, Lou- subjects owe him true, dutiful, active, and vain, Alcala, Douay, Salamanca, and Val- unreserved allegiance. ladolid, for their opinions. The questions proposed to them were 1. Has the Pope, or Cardinals, or any Body 3. Is there any Principle in the Tenets of The Universities answered unanimously, 1. That the Pope, or Cardinals, or any Body of Men, or any Individual of the Church of Rome, HAS NOT any Civil Authority, Power, Jurisdiction, or Preeminence whatsoever, within the Realm of England. The originals of these questions and of the answers to them, with the notarial authentications of them, have been produced in the House of Commons by Sir John Cox Hippisley. They are in the custody of the writer of these columns, and are open to the inspection of every person who wishes to inspect them. X. It is also objected to the Roman Catholics, that it is an article of their faith, or, at least, that they consider it to be lawful to persecute Heretics for their religious opinions. All this the Roman Catholics most explicitly deny, and they consider it is completely denied in the solemn disclaimers made by them in all their oaths, of the direct or indirect right of the Pope or the church to temporal power; as without temporal power persecution cannot subsist. They admit that many persons of their communion, both ecclesiastic and secular, have, at different times, been guilty of the crime of religious persecution; but they blame the conduct of those persons as severely as it is blamed by their Protestant brethren. 66 It is not a little remarkable, that a canon of the English church, in 1608, enjoining the Priest not to make known to any one what had been revealed to him, bears such a similitude to the Roman Catholic doctrine on this head, that when it was produced in the House of Commons, Mr. Wilberforce interrupted him by saying, that it was a canon, not of the English but the Romish church, and expressed his astonishment. when Sir John Hippisley shewed it to be one of the most recent canons which had been formed for the government of the established church. They also plead a tremendous set off." resolution never to commit them again, The massacre at Paris, on St. Bartholomew's" and by a willingness to satisfy God and day, was most horrid; but it had been pre- " your Neighbour also, as far as justice receded by the atrocities, full as horrid, of "quires. Without those dispositions on the Anabaptist Protestants at Munster. To your part, the act of the Priest would not the burnings in the reign of Queen Mary" be ratified in Heaven; you would be the Roman Catholics oppose the executions "guilty of the profanation of the sacrament of Priests in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth," of penance, and provoke the indignation and the four Princes of the House of Stuart:" of the Almighty instead of obtaining his they apprehend, that more cannot be said mercy." against the revocation of the edict of Nantes than against the deprivation of 2,000 Presbyterian Ministers of their livings, by the Act of Uniformity. They also bring into account Oates's plot; the sentence of death passed on Servitus for errors against the Trinity, through the influence of Calvin, his execution, and the justification of it by two of the principal pillars of the reformed Church, Melancthon and Beza. Between these enormities, it is not easy, in all events, to strike a balance; but the Roman Catholic may justly ask, by what principle of justice, or by what fair course of reasoning, the Protestant is authorized to ascribe the instances of persecution, which he proves on Roman Catholics, to a principle of the Roman Catholic creed, unless he allows, at the same time, that the instances of persecution which the Catholic proves in the 'I beg leave not to enter into a discussion Protestant Church are equally attributable of this objection, as it cannot be urged to to some principle of the Protestant creed. us by a Protestant of the established church "Brother, Brother (say two known charac- of England, as the Athanasian Creed forms ❝ters on the stage), we have both been in a part of her liturgy, and he swears that "the wrong."-Let us learn wisdom from our doctrine of transubstantiation is damnthem; let us no more upbraid one another able; or by a Protestant of the established with our common failings; let us forget church of Scotland, as the Protestants of and forgive, bury all past animosities in that church, in their Profession of Faith of oblivion, shake hands, and be friends. 1568, say, that "out of the church there This is the only rational mode of closing" is neither life nor everlasting happiness;" this--by far the most disgusting and disgraceful part of all our controversies. XI. XII. One of the objections most strongly urged against the Roman Catholics, is the tenet imputed to them, that none are saved out of their communion. XIII. or by a Protestant of the French Huguenot church, as in their Catechism, on the 10th article of the Creed, they profess, that Another charge is brought against us by" out of the church there is nothing but our adversaries, in consequence of the Doc-" death and damnation." trines imputed to us respecting Sacerdotal Absolution. We are said to believe that the mere absolution of a Priest, without any thing on our part, is a full remission of sin. In answer to this we shall only transcribe the following passage from the Book of Prayers for the use of Catholics serving in fleets and armies. "You know, from "the Catechism you have learnt, and the Books of Catholic instruction you have "read, that the absolution of a Priest can "be of no benefit to you, unless you be ❝duly disposed to a reconciliation with "your offended God by true faith, by a ❝ sincere sorrow for all your sins, by a firm 3 This leads us to observe, that passages are often cited from the works of Roman Catholic writers, which express, that the Roman Catholic religion has always been the same; and that those who say, that the modern Roman Catholics differ in one iota from their predecessors, either deceive themselves or wish to deceive others. These passages have been cited to prove that, whatever doctrine any Pope or any ecclesiastical body, or any writer of approved authority, maintained or sanctioned by those practices in former times, is univer. sally approved of by the modern Catholi 251] but this is a very unjust perversion of the XIV. Such, then, being the charges brought against the Roman Catholics by their adversaries, and such being the Defence made by the Roman Catholics to them, will not every candid Protestant admit, that the unfavourable opinion, which some still entertain of the civil and religious principles of Roman Catholics, is owing, in a great measure, to prejudice. But we have the satisfaction to find, that the prejudice against us decreases rapidly. With the wildness and good sense which distinguishes his respectable character, the Earl of Liverpool thus expressed himself, in his speech in the debate of the House of Lords, on the Petition presented by the Irish Catholics in 1810.-" I have heard "allusions made this night, to doctrines, "which I do hope no man now believes the "Catholics to entertain: nor is there OFFICIAL PAPERS. 1 FRENCH PAPERS. (Continued from page 192.) tremity of the cold, had sneaked into the villages. With regard to the cannon, they have not carried off a single piece, although it is true, that I was obliged, by the loss of. my horses, which perished through the excessive cold, to abandon the greater part of my artillery, after having dismounted and broken it. I know that the Russian statements are quite false; the extent of the country, and the extreme ignorance of the greater part of its population, give the Russian Government great liberty in this respect, and they take good care to profit by it, iu causing the most nonsensical reports to be spread about. We were at the gates of Moscow, when that people believed us to be beaten. (Signed) EUGENE NAPOLEON. Letter from the Marshal Prince of Eckmuhl to the Major-General. Thorn, Jan. 8. My Lord, I read with astonishment, in the St. Petersburgh papers, that on the day of the 16th November, the enemy took 12,000 prisoners from my corps d'armée, and that they had scattered the remains of that army in the neighbouring woods, in such manner, that it was entirely destroyed. It would be difficult to push impudence and falsehood farther, if all the Russian state. ments since the commencement of the campaign, and in the preceding ones, were not Did they not sing Te already known. Deum at Petersburgh; and were not ribands distributed there for the battle of Austerlitz? Did they not say that they had taken 100 pieces of cannon from us at the battle of the Moskwa; and did they not ground for an opinion that the question again, on that occasion, chant the Te Deum which filled England with joy? How is opposed under any such prelence. The many difficulties did they not raise in acexplanations which have been given on knowledging the taking of Moscow? Did "this head, so far as I know, are completely they not likewise proclaim themselves con"satisfactory, and the question, as it now "stands, is much more narrowed than it querors at the battle of Maloyaroslavetz, "was on a former discussion." (See his where we pursued them for the space of 40 Lordship's Speech, printed and published wersts?The fact is, that his Majesty, by Keating and Booker.) How very little knowing that the Russian army from Volbeyond this declaration, and a Legislative hynia was marching towards the Beresina, enactment in consequence of it, do the Ro-was obliged to set out from Smolensk, not withstanding the rigour of the season. By man Catholics solicit ! a sudden change in the temperature, cold, which was but six degrees, advanced to 20, and even for a moment to 25, according to some of our engineer officers, 66 CHARLES BUTLER. Lincoln's Inn, February 5, 1813. any the who had a thermometer. All our horses, | same infantry, for they several times atand our train of artillery, perished. His tacked me, and notwithstanding their great Majesty no longer wished to come to an en-superiority of number, could make no imgagement with the enemy; he no longer pression. At 10 P. M. a Colonel, with a even wished to allow himself to be amused flag of truce, was sent to propose I should by petty affairs, desiring to gain with all surrender; to this impertinence I replied, speed the Beresina. When His Majesty by making the officer prisoner, and carrypassed through Krasnoy, he had to drive ing him to the other side of the Dnieper, back the enemy, who placed himself be- to which I made my troops repass, and Í tween the guard and my corps d'armée. the next day conducted him to the head As soon as my corps had rejoined the army, quarters of his Majesty, at Orcha; when I his Majesty continued his march, and my arrived there with my corps, I scarcely corps was to follow, without employing it-wanted 500 men, who were killed in the self in maintaining a contest in which the battle of the preceding day.—All the enemy would have the advantage of a nu- Russian reports are romances. There is merous cavalry and artillery. But my nothing true in what they say, excepting corps never met the enemy that it did not the loss of my artillery; and your Highness beat him. It has suffered very heavy losses, knows that it was not in human power to from fatigues, cold, and that fatality which bring it away in the midst of frosts, and over caused all the cavalry and artillery horses the ice, all my horses having fallen under to perish. A great number of my men the fatal mortality occasioned by the rigour dispersed, to seek refuge against the rigour of the cold. During the whole course of of the cold, and many were taken.Your the campaign the Russians have not taken, Excellency knows that I do not dissemble either from me or my comrades, a single my losses; they are undoubtedly consider- piece of cannon in the face of their enemy; able, and fill me with grief; but the glory although it is true, that when our draftof his Majesty's arms has not for a moment horses fell dead with the cold, we were been compromised. obliged to break our artillery, and leave it behind us. To hear these reports from St. Petersburgh, it must appear that we were all cowards, who could not choose but fly | before the terrible Russian legions! It is true, that, according to their statement, we likewise fled at the battle of Moscow, and that they pushed us to the distance of 16 wersts from the field of battle; consequently it must have been in our flight that we occupied Moscow.--The Spring will do us justice for all these vain-glorious boastings. The Russians will every where find the men of Austerlitz, of Eylau, of Friedland, of Witepsk, of Smolensko, of the Moskwa, and of the Beresina. (Signed) The Marshal Duke of AUERSTADT, Prince of ECKMUHL. Leller from the Marshal Duke of Elchingen to the Major-General. Elbing, Jan. 10. Monseigneur,-I have read in the Petersburgh Gazettes, that on the 17th of Nov. at midnight, my corps, 12,000 strong, sent a flag of truce and laid down their arms; that I saved myself. alone' and wounded, by passing the Borysthenes over the ice. I cannot believe that the General of the Russian army could, in his reports, have given place to such untruth; and although I knew the little confidence which in Europe is paid to these reports from Russian Gazettes, constantly discredited by the absurdity of their tales, I nevertheless take the liberty of writing to your Excellency, and I entreat you to have my letter printed, to give a formal contradiction to the statement, that my corps laid down its arms, and that I alone passed beyond the Dnieper. Very far from that, on the 17th of November, I alone sustained all the enemy's efforts. I had at that moment but 8,000 men under my orders, and in consequence of the unfortunate circumstances in which we were, I had no artillery. The enemy had a numerous one. I halted all day. I then discovered that it was not the (Signed) The Marshal Duke of ELCHINGEN. FRENCH DYNASTY. Conservative Senale, Sitting of Feb. 2. The sitting was opened at two o'clock, P. M. under the Presidency of His Serene Highness the Prince Arch-Chancellor of the Empire. Their Excellencies Counts Regnaud de St. Jeas d'Angely and Disemon, Ministers of State and Counsellors of State were introduced.His Serene Highness the Prince Archchancellor spoke as follows; GENTLEMEN,His Imperial and Royal |