way relates to the offence of willingly and wittingly hearing and being present at any other manner or form of common prayer, of administration of the sacraments, of making of ministers in the churches, or of any other rites contained in the said book than is therein mentioned and set forth, (so far as the same in anywise relates to or concerns Roman Catholics); also, the whole of an act passed in the twentyfifth year of the reign of the said King Charles II., intituled, "An Act for preventing dangers which may happen from popish recusants;" also, the whole of an act passed in the second session of parliament in the thirtieth year of the reign of the said King Charles II., intituled, "An Act for the more effectual preserving the king's person and government, by disabling papists from sitting in either house of parliament;" also, the whole of an act passed in the seventh and eighth years of the reign of King William III., intituled, "An Act requiring the practisers of law to take the oaths and subscribe the declarations therein mentioned;" also, so much of an act passed in the thirty-first year of the reign of King George III., intituled, "An Act to relieve, upon conditions and under restrictions, the persons therein described, from certain penalties and disabilities to which papists or persons professing the popish religion are by law subject," as makes it a condition precedent to any relief or benefit being had or taken under or by virtue of the said last-mentioned act, that the oath thereby appointed shall have been previously taken and subscribed by the party desiring such relief or benefit, or that his or her declaration and oath, or name or description, shall have been previously recorded in any of his majesty's courts of chancery, king's bench, common pleas, or exchequer at Westminster, or at any quarter or other general session of the peace for any county or other division or place; also, so much of the said last-mentioned act whereby it is provided and enacted, "That all uses, trusts, and dispositions, whether of real or personal property which, immediately before the twenty-fourth day of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, shall be deemed to be superstitious or unlawful, shall continue to be so deemed and taken, anything in this act contained notwithstanding; and also so much of the said last-mentioned act, whereby it is provided and enacted, "That no benefit in this act contained shall extend or be construed

to extend to any Roman Catholic ecclesiastic permitted by this act, who shall officiate in any place of congregation or assembly for religious worship permitted by this act, with a steeple and bell, or at any funeral in any church or churchyard, or who shall exercise any of the rites or ceremonies of his religion, or wear the habits of his order, save within some place of congregation or assembly for religious worship permitted by this act, or in a private house where there shall not be more than five persons assembled besides those of the household; also, so much of an act passed in the tenth year of the reign of King George IV., intituled, "An Act for the relief of his majesty's Roman Catholic subjects," whereby it is enacted, "That if any Roman Catholic ecclesiastic, or any member of any of the orders, communities, or societies, hereinafter mentioned, shall, after the commencement of this act, exercise any of the rites or ceremonies of the Roman Catholic religion, or wear the habits of his order, save within the usual places of worship of the Roman Catholic religion, or in private houses, such ecclesiastic or other person shall, being thereof convicted by due course of law, forfeit for every such offence the sum of fifty pounds;" also, so much of the said last-mentioned act as imposes penalties upon any person holding any judicial, civil, or corporate office, who shall resort to or be present at any place of worship in England or Ireland, other than that of the United Church of England and Ireland, or in Scotland other than that of the Church of Scotland as by law established, in the robe, gown, or other peculiar habit of his office, or attend thereat with the ensign or insignia, or any part thereof, of or belonging to such his office; and also so much of the said last-mentioned act as relates, to the gradual suppression and final prohibition of Jesuits and members of other religious orders, communities, or societies of the Church of Rome, bound by monastic or religious vows, and resident within the kingdom, and the coming and returning of Jesuits, or members of any such religious orders, communities, or societies into this realm, and the registration of Jesuits or members of any such orders, communities, or societies, and the admittance of persons to become Jesuits or regular ecclesiastics, or brothers or members of any such religious orders, communities, or societies, and the administering or taking of any oaths, vows, or engage

ments, purporting or intending to bind the persons taking the same to the rules, ordinances, or ceremonies, of any such religious orders, communities, or societies, and the granting of licenses in writing signed by any one of his majesty's principal Secretaries of State being a Protestant, and the several misdemeanors in the premises respectively created or enacted or declared by the said act, and the fines or forfeitures of monies, pains, and penalties of banishment, and transportation beyond seas for term of life, and all other the forfeitures, pains, penalties, punishments, and disabilities, thereby respectively in that behalf enacted against all persons respectively offending in the premises, or otherwise provided or enacted, or ensuing, for or in respect of or as incidental to the same.

No. 10.

THE OUTLAWRY OF THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS IN 1829,
CONFIRMED IN 1845.

The re-enactment of one of the most offensive of the penal laws in 1829, against the religious orders, and the confirmation of that odious outlawry of the regular clergy in 1845, merit more attention than has been given to them by the people of England and Ireland. It is a shame and a reproach that such an egregious wrong should have been committed with impunity and hardly remonstrated against; that this renewal of penal law barbarity, directed against a large body of the Catholic clergy of those countries, should have been tamely endured and acquiesced in by them. One of the body aggrieved by this outlawry of his order, and justly indignant at the recent confirmation of it, has placed in my hands a letter of his in reference to the wrong inflicted on him and his brethren, which I willingly avail myself of, with the view of putting the matter of which he so ably treats fully and fairly before the public. This letter is the production of a minister of religion-a scholar a christian gentleman-a man of the highest sense of honour of unfeigned piety and indefatigable zeal in doing good, who, if he dared, to-morrow without the

sanction of the government, to set his foot on his native soil, might be seized as a felon, banished or transported, for the crime of belonging to a monastic order.

This letter is addressed by a member of one of the outlawed monastic orders to his fellow-countrymen and Christians, without distinction of creed or class.

Protestants! you never bent your necks to the yoke of servitude; you are unaccustomed to insult or slight, and not likely to tolerate either patiently. There was a time when you considered yourselves as the only rightful children of your own land; and you loved her with an ardent proud attachment. When dominant you were keenly jealous of her rights, and zealous in defence of them.

Protestants of England and Ireland, the wrong done to us concerns you. The religious orders were banned to conciliate and cajole you. You are proud but you are not mean nor wantonly vindictive. Will you accept the implied insult, that crying outrage and tyrannical injustice wantonly and uselessly inflicted on a few of your fellowcountrymen, is pleasing to you?

Presbyterians! you are a stern and stubborn race, and you have been factious and ungovernable in your choler sometimes. They sought to impose a religious yoke upon you in Scotland, and you flung it from you with a shout and a blow. But you still had disabilities, and they weighed heavily on you until, by the help of your Catholic brethren, you were emancipated.

Catholics of England and Ireland; slaves by birth and sons of slaves, your limbs are at last free; the members of the proscribed monastic orders were never unfaithful to you, their fidelity contributed to the bursting of your bands. With a bad grace, at the last hour, while the king wept and the lords stormed, when you were allowed to rise from slavery your leaders suffered us to have new chains forged for us.

That Sunday morning, that brought the glad tidings of emancipation to Ireland, was a memorable day. I was present that day at a charity sermon in aid of the brothers of the Christian Schools. The aisles, sanctuary, and galleries, of the extensive church were thronged. The good and benevolent Protestant shared in the quiet triumph of his Catholic countrymen. The hearts of all throbbed with feelings too happy for utterance. A small, pale, but intel

lectual man, a member of a religious order, ascended the pulpit. He saw the joy flashing from the eyes of the multitude. His clear ringing voice, in thrilling accents, hailed and congratulated the enfranchised people. He reminded them of what they had been, that they might feel with more keen pleasure what they were. Their country, the loveliest spot on earth, upon which God had poured such abundant natural beauties and advantages, but over which for three hundred years hung the darkness of slavery. Its inhabitants for ages groaning in hopeless bondage; shut out from every honourable pursuit, the bench, the bar, the army, and the navy, ignominiously closed against them; too low and degraded to merit a representation in either house of parliament.

But now, changing the picture in language too vivid to be remembered or imitated, he described the bursting of the morning of liberty upon them. The darkness and shame that so long hung over their island rolling awaythe gyves falling from their limbs-the portals of the constitution opening for their admission, and honours, and dignities, brought within their grasp.

But the look of that pale face became one of shame and mental agony, with a voice sunk almost to a whisper, yet painfully distinct in every part of that vast church, he spoke these words: "There is in this assembly one upon whose limbs the chain yet clanks, upon whose brow still burns the ignominious band of slavery. The bill that gave freedom to you forged new fetters for him. You go

forth to liberty and joy, and he is thrust back into all the horrors of his old condition. This bill banishes him and his from their native land. Your country is no longer his country; for they have made him an outlaw and a slave."

It was formerly said, that any one touching British soil was free. That boast is now false. Any member, since 1829, of the religious orders, by landing in the British dominions in violation of the terms of this law, loses his liberty; he may be seized on, and at the will of the British ministry can be forcibly and ignominiously banished from the British dominions, or transported to a distant land.

This fact intimately concerns you, free and high-minded Protestants, because this foul and wanton wrong, this