treat those, with whom they desire to participate, as brothers. Until, therefore, the priests of the Romish persuasion shall think it their duty to preach honestly and conscientiously, the great doctrine of universal charity in Christ; until they shall, in all their instructions to those under their care, represent, honestly and conscientiously, all who sincerely believe in Christ, the redeemer of mankind, to be brethren in Christ, however mistaken they may suppose any of them to be in certain points of faith; until they shall teach their flocks, that desiring liberty to think for themselves, they ought also to permit others to think for themselves, and not to murder them because they differ in religious opinions; peace never can be established in the land; and the loyal addresses of doctor Troy and doctor Coppinger, will, as I have before said, be given to the winds.

They can have no effect; they may, indeed, reach the eyes or the ears, but never will enter the hearts of those to whom they are addressed. There are parts of your letter to which I will not advert, because I cannot without pain, or without giving pain.

I have the honour to be, &c. &c.
Redesdale.

To the Right Hon.
The Earl of Fingall, &c. &c.

(No. 4.)
Answer from the Earl of Fingall.

My lord,

Aug. 27, 1803.

I feel, indeed, much concern, that any part of the letter I had the honour of addressing to your lordship, should have given you pain. You need not, I hope, my lord, any as

surance that nothing could be more foreign to my intentions. This I took the liberty of requesting Mr. Wickham, whom I had the honour of seeing this morning, to do me the favour of mentioning to your lordship on the earliest occasion. I merely stated to your lordship what my own feelings were, and what I have always found to be the opinion of the catholics. I do not apprehend, that, in expressing any further wish of the catholic body, which it is impossible should not be entertained, I hinted at any discontents; on the contrary, I did assure, and do now assure your lordship, we are now ready to make every sacrifice, encounter every danger, for the defence of the king and constitution, and for the preservation of the peace. Those who are most affected, by any remaining restrictions, it is well known have never excited clamour or tumult, but have always been foremost in opposing them. I cannot attempt to vindicate all those who have at different times addressed the catholics; but the late exhortations, I must beg leave to say, are intended and calculated to inspire sentiments of loyalty, obedience, and christian charity and they will, I trust, have that effect. Such have been the instructions I have constantly heard given by the catholic clergy to their flocks. Nothing to excite ill-will or dislike to any person, on account of his religious belief, but the most perfect brotherly love and affection. to all. Your lordship will, I hope, allow me to repeat my regret that any thing I have written should have given you pain, or me reason to feel it, which I should, in a very high degree, indeed, if I was conscious of having intentionally advanced any Pp3

thing

From the Right Hon. the Lord Chancellor to the Earl of Fingall.

Ely-Place Dublin, My lord, Aug. 28, 1803. The high respect and esteem I bear for your lordship, whose loyalty and humanity have been at all times conspicuous, and the manner in which your lordship, in the letter with which I was honoured yesterday, has expressed your regret, that any part of your former letter should have given me pain, compel me again to trouble your lordship with a few words. The pain I felt arose from an apprehension, that I could not hope for such a change in the sentiments of those of the people of Ireland, who adhere to the see of Rome, towards those who refuse obedience to it, as might lead to their living together in peace. In some parts of Europe, misfortune appears to have produced so much of humility, that the persons who have occupied the choice of that see, have been inclined to bend towards countries, in which some of its most important pretensions have been rejected; and in this state of humiliation, it might have been hoped that a sense of the weakness and imperfections of man might have been so far felt, as to lead the adherents to that see, in Ireland, no longer to teach their followers a doctrine so repugnant (as it appears to me) to the repose of mankind, as that to which I had

alluded in my letter. I conclude, from your lordship's letter to me, that there is no person amongst the adherents of the see of Rome, in Ireland, whose mind, however cultivated, however liberal in other respects, can be thought to consider any persons as christians, who refuse obedience to that see. I conclude, also, that the priests of that persuasion still teach their flocks, that all who refuse obedience are guilty of a wicked rebellion against divine authority, which must produce their eternal damnation in the next world, and render them objects of horror and dislike in this. As long as this doctrine (which, with all humility I say it, appears to me to be repugnant to every idea of christian charity, taught by the Scriptures) shall be preached to their congregations; and until those congregations shall be taught that protestants of every description, although in their opinion in error on certain points, are to be considered as members of the church of Christ, and their brethren in the faith of Christ, it seems to me, that there can be no hope that exhortations to loyalty and obedience to a protestant government will have any effect. Men of education and property may feel loyalty and obedience to such a government to be proper, or, at least, expedient ; but preaching to men of the lower orders, and especially to those without property, loyalty, and obedience, under such circumstances, cannot be sincere, without supposing their minds of a refinement of which they are utterly incapable; and seems, therefore, to me, to be either mockery or folly. Perhaps I am too presumptuous in forming this opinion, but it seems to me con

firmed by recent events, and I cannot otherwise account for the fact so generally asserted by the priests of the Romish persuasion, that, during the late rebellion, their exhortations to loyalty and obedience had no effect. I find it also confirmed by the circumstances, that those priests were, I presume, utterly ignorant that those under their instructions had ever conceived in their minds the horrid purposes which they manifested on the 22d of July, and which persons came from all parts of Ireland with design to effect. I have the honour to be, With much respect, My lord, Your lordship's obedient humble Servant, Redesdale.

The Earl of Fingall,

&c. &c. &c.

(No. 6.)

Answer from the Earl of Fingall.

Great Denmark Street,

My lord, Sept. 4, 1803. I must beg your lordship will be kind enough to excuse my not having sooner acknowledged the receipt of the last letter you did me the honour to address me, which has been occasioned by my absence from town for some days past. Honoured as I must feel by your lordship's correspondence, and the expressions of personal regard towards me contained in your letters, I am the more anxious to impress your lordship with that favourable opinion of the persons in this country who profess the same religious faith I do myself, which it has been my endeavour to prove to your lordship they are deserving of. Nothing but my wish to procure for them an object so desirable, and

my high respect for your lordship, would have induced me to touch at all on a discussion of religious subjects and not having been, I fear, fortunate enough to satisfy your lordship's mind, as to the objections you make to our religion, I should be glad, with your lordship's permission, to state them to some of our superior clergy, who would, I am pretty certain, enable me to convince your lordship, that our religious doctrine preaches charity and brotherly love to all mankind, without distinction of religion; true and sincere allegiance to our good king; inviolable attachment to the constitution and our country; from an honest and conscientious conviction that such is the duty of a good subject, and a good catholic, be the religion of the monarch what it may. For my

own part, my lord, I cannot attribute the unfortunate situation of with matters of religious faith; Jathis country to any thing connected cobinism and French principles and politics, the want of morality, and the depraved state of the human mind, are, I conceive, the sources of our misfortunes; religion may have been made a tool by wicked and designing people: this has often happened in every country, and is easily effected when religious differences exist. The distracted and melancholy state we are in, every body must lament; how it is to be mended is a matter for the statesman; and surely it would be difficult to find an object more worthy of your lordship's high talents and abilities.

I have the honour to be, &c. &c.
Fingall,

To the Right Hon.
Lord Redesdale, &c. &c. &c.
Pp 4

From

I find myself as little qualified as your lordship represents yourself to be, to discuss with the persons to whom you refer me on the points you mention. I can only say, that the impression made on the minds of those of the lower orders, certainly does not correspond with the doctrines which your lordship represents to be the doctrines of the religion you profess. I have no doubt that your lordship heartily and conscientiously embraces and acts upon those doctrines--the whole tenor of your life shews that you have done so; but the whole tenor of the conduct of the lower orders of the people of the Romish persuasion shews, that such doctrines are not effectually taught to them; and, if I am to judge from the writings, as well as the conduct of some of the higher orders of the laity as well as of the clergy, I cannot believe that they are thoroughly impressed with the feelings which appear to guide your lordship's liberal and beneficent mind. On the contrary, in many instances, it appears to me, that the conduct of some, high amongst the priesthood, is calculated to excite in the minds of those under their care, hatred to

their protestant fellow-subjects, and disloyalty to their government. am assured, from very high and very respectable authority, that (at least in one district) the priests who were instrumental in saving the lives of the loyalists in the late rebellion, are universally discountenanced by their superior ;* and that a priest proved to have been guilty of sanctioning the murderers in 1798, transported to Botany Bay, and since pardoned by the mercy of government, has been brought back in triumph by the same superior, to what, in defiance of the law, he calls mis parish, and there placed as a martyr, in a manner the most insulting to the feelings of the protestants, to the justice of the country, and to that government, to whose lenity he owes. his redemption from the punishment due to his crimes.

It is strongly reported, that the successor to Dr. Hussey, (whose disaffection was so manifest, that, perhaps, government consulted its disposition to lenity much more than its duty, when it permitted him to return to Ireland) is to be a man also notoriously disaffected. If the appointment is to be made in the usual manner, at the recommendation of the higher order of your clergy, I cannot think that much of loyalty is to be expected from those who recommended such a man. If the authority of the see

of

soual

of Rome supersedes the ordinary recommendation, it must be recollected that that authority is now in the hands of France; indeed it cannot be forgotten, that your whole priesthood acknowledge obedience to one who is the vassal of France, who exists as a temporal prince at least only by the permission of France, the avowed enemy of the government under which we live. Under such circumstances, it cannot be believed, that any honest and conscientious means have been or will be taken by the priests of the Romish persuasion, to make the lower orders of the people, composing their congregations, loyal subjects of the protestant government of this country.

I have the honour to be, with the sincerest respect, and esteem, My lord,

Your lordship's most obedient,
And humble servant,
Redesdale.*

To the Earl of Fingull,
&c. &c.

Important Considerations for the

People of this Kingdom.

At a moment when we are entering on a scene deeply interesting, not only to this nation, but to the whole civilized world; at a moment when we all, without distinction of rank or degree, are called upon to rally round, and to range ourselves beneath the banners of that sovereign, under whose long, mild, and

fostering reign, the far greater part of us, capable of bearing arms, have been born and reared up to manhood; at a moment, when we are, by his truly royal and paternal example, incited to make every sacrifice and every exertion in a war, the event of which is to decide, whether we are still to enjoy, and bequeath to our children, the possessions, the comforts, the liberties, and the national honours, handed down to us from generation to generation, by our gallant forefathers; or whether we are, at once, to fall from this favoured and honourable station, and to become the miserable crouching slaves, the hewers of wood, and the drawers of water, of those very Frenchmen, whom the valour of our fleets and armies have hitherto taught us to despise; at such a moment, it behoves us, calmly, and without dismay, to examine our situation, to consider what are the grounds of the awful contest in which we are engaged; what are the wishes, the designs, and the pretensions of our enemies; what would be the consequences, if those enemies were to

triumph over us; what are our means, and what ought to be our motives, not only for frustrating their malicious intentions, but for inflicting just and memorable chastisement on their insolent and guilty heads.

The grounds of the war are, by no means, as our enemies pretend, to be sought for in a desire entertained by his majesty to keep the island of Malta, contrary to the treaty of peace, or to leave unfulfilled