and morality. His were the temples, the altars,-all the riches, and establishments, of the Church. All these were strictly his,-fixed by the laws, sanctioned by prescription, and confirmed by every thing, that is most sacred in the order of religion. Therefore, although the measures of persecution are always wrong,-still, as he but acted in defence of his own,-every measure, save persecution, was, in him, but natural, and consistent.

In regard of the Protestant persecutions, the case is extremely different. Here, the Protestants were the aggressors, complete Revolutionists. They came forward with no claim, but force ;—no title, but violence, insult, and declamation. They introduced an entirely new order of things,-new Creeds, new principles, new practices. By artifice, and plunder, they wrested from the hands of the ancient possessors, the wealth, and riches, which these had enjoyed so quietly, for such length of ages; and to secure their triumphs, they persecuted cruelly the victims, whom they had plundered. In the persecutions, therefore, thus inflicted by the Protestant, there is nothing to extenuate, -as there is in those of the Catholic,-the guilt, and injustice, of the odious practice. Put, for example, a similar kind of case, in relation to a man's private estate :-Who, I ask, is most in the wrong,-the man, who plunders, or he, who defends his own property?

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The eloquent, and amiable, the Revd. Sydney Smith,-in the openness of his candour, makes nearly the same observations, which I have done. "It is," he says, some extenuation of the Catholic excesses, that their religion was the religion of the whole of Europe, when the innovation began. They were the ancient lords, and masters of faith, before men introduced the practice of thinking for themselves, in these matters. The Protestants have less excuse, who claimed the right of innovation; and then turned round upon other Protestants, who acted upon the same principle, or upon Catholics, who remained as they were; and visited them with all the cruelties, which they had, themselves, so recently escaped." Burnet himself remarks: "Such was the conduct of the friends of the Reformation, that it made all people conclude, that it was for robbery, and not for reformation, that their zeal was made so active.”

THE FIFTH LETTER.

MONSIEUR LE COMTE,

WHEN you reflect upon the conduct of the English writers, in their accounts of Spain; and particularly if you consider the intemperate, but official, condemnation, passed upon it, which I cited in my last letter,-you cannot wonder, that I should deem it proper to devote some observations to the awful imputations. The representatives of this great nation deserve, no doubt, to be listened to, when they pronounce an opinion in the midst of the national Senate. The English people,-the first, beyond all dispute, of all other Protestant people,-is, moreover, the only body of people, that possesses a national voice; and that has the right of speaking out, as a people. For these reasons, therefore, I think it useful to address them;and without being wanting in that respect, which they so justly merit,―to ask them to render some account of their own faith. When you have viewed the state, in which their boasted liberty of conscience, or toleration, has involved the nation, you will, perhaps, be reduced to own, that this said Liberty, as understood in England, is completely irreconcileable with any positive faith, or belief, whatsoever.

England tolerates every sect, and proscribes only one religion, -the religion, from which all its sects have been separated. Spain, on the contrary, admits only one religion, and proscribes all sects. How, then, can two fundamental laws, diametrically opposed to each other, be defended by the same means, or arguments? The question is not, to ascertain, whether any coercive laws are required, in order to leave each one the liberty of believing, as he likes. This is a problem, that is easily solved. The question is, to know, how any State, without any laws of this description, can maintain, within itself, any oneness of be

lief, or any unity of worship. And this is a problem, which is not quite so easy.

The English reason strangely. Under the specious name of liberty of conscience, they establish an absolute indifference, in regard to the doctrines of religion. And then, proceeding from this principle, they at once take upon themselves to judge, and condemn, those nations, in whose eyes this indifference appears the greatest of misfortunes,-if not even the greatest of crimes. But, they say, "they are happy." Well, be it so, provided that unity of faith, and the securities of salvation, do not concern them. However, considering the two contrary suppositions,— in what manner, I now ask, would their legislators proceed, in order to satisfy this first will, or maxim, of legislation?

The Spaniard reasons, as follows:-" God has spoken. It is, therefore, ours to believe Him. The religion, which he has established, is One,-precisely as He Himself is One. As truth is, of its own nature, intolerant, so, of course, to profess religious toleration, or liberty of belief, is, in reality, to admit, and profess, doubt,—that is, to exclude faith. Woe, however, a thousand times, woe, to that stupid injustice, which accuses us of damning any one. It is God alone, who damns. He has said to his envoys: Go; teach all nations. He, that believes, shall be saved. He, that believes not, shall be damned. Although penetrated with a sense of his goodness, we cannot, however, forget any one of his oracles. He cannot tolerate error; but, we still know, that He can forgive it. Therefore, we will never cease to recommend it to his mercies. We will never cease, both hoping every thing for sincerity; and trembling at the thought, that God alone is the witness to it."

Such is a Spaniard's profession of faith. Now, such profession, or such faith as this, supposes necessarily in its adepts a spirit of proselytism: and an insurmountable aversion to heresy, and innovation. It implies a constant watchfulness over the artifices, and the projects, of impiety, and incredulity; and a bold, and indefatigable, intrepidity in opposing them. In nations, which profess this doctrine, legislation looks forward, above all, to the world to come,-" believing, that all other things will be added to them."

How different from all this is the language, and conduct, of

many other nations. "Deorum injuriæ," they say, "Diis cura;" -the injuries, offered to the Gods, is the concern of the Gods. Futurity to them is nothing. This brief, and uncertain, life absorbs all the cares, and industry, of their legislators. They are intent upon the improvements in the arts, and sciences, agriculture, trade, &c. They do not,—dare not,—expressly say:-"Religion is nothing to us,"-but, their whole conduct implies it and their whole legislation is tacitly materialist,— since it does nothing for the soul,-nothing for eternity.

Hence, then, there is nothing similar, or in common, between the two systems. Neither has the system of indifference any just reason to reproach the other, until such time as it can point out the means, by which, without either vigilance, or vigour, nations may enjoy security and repose. But, this, alas, is a secret, which will not easily be discovered.

And, now look only at England itself,—England, the boasted land of liberty, where men are for ever preaching up the rights of conscience, and the wisdom of toleration,-look at its conduct, when there was question, or danger, as it pretended, with respect to its own Established Church. Hume has reproached its Inquisition, relating to the Catholics, as more terrible than that of Spain; because it exercised the same tyranny, without any of the order, and forms, of that tribunal. "The whole tyranny of the Inquisition," says Hume, "though without its order, was introduced into the kingdom."

Under the ferocious Elizabeth, the man, who returned to the Church of Rome; and the individual, who reconciled any one to it, were, alike, declared guilty of high treason. Whoever, above the age of sixteen, refused, for a month, to attend the Protestant service, was thrown into prison. If he chanced to relapse, he was banished for ever; and if he came back into the country, for example, to see his wife, or to attend a dying parent, he was condemned to be hanged, as a traitor.

Father Campion, a man distinguished for his eloquence, and learning; and for the sanctity of his life, was executed, during this reign, simply because he was a priest, and the comforter of his fellow brethren. Falsely accused of having entered into a conspiracy against the Queen, he was placed upon the rack; and tortured with so much cruelty, that the gaoler, witnessing

the inhumanity, remarked, that "the poor man would soon be half a foot longer."

Walpole, in like manner, was tried, racked, and executed. He was offered his pardon upon the scaffold, provided he would acknowledge the Queen's Supremacy. He refused; and was hanged. (A).

And who is unacquainted with the frightful cruelties, which, under this same reign, were exercised upon the Catholics in Ireland? "They were such, as can neither be excused," say the Edinburgh Reviewers, "by any principle, either of justice, or necessity." Elizabeth was fully acquainted with them. There is still preserved, among the archives of Trinity College, Dublin, a manuscript letter of an officer, named Lee, in which he candidly describes these horrors. "They are such,” he says, "that one would rather expect to meet with them in a Turkish province, than in a province of England."-" And yet," says Cambden, "Elizabeth did not believe, that the greater part of the priests, who were thus condemned at her tribunals, were guilty of any crime against the State."

In short, the code of the penal laws, enacted against the Catholics, but, above all, in Ireland,-form a system of oppression, of cruelty, and injustice, unparalleled in the history of the universe. (B).

Bacon, in what he calls his Natural History, speaks very seriously of a certain magic ointment, composed, among other ingredients, of the united fat of a wild boar, and a bear, killed, each of them, in the act itself of producing their young; and to this is to be added a certain moss, which grows upon the scull of a human carcass, that has been left unburied. As for the first ingredient, Bacon remarks, there might be some difficulty in procuring it, in the way prescribed: but, in regard of the second, "THIS," he gravely, and without the slenderest expression of disgust, informs us,-" THIS may be every where found, in great plenty, in Ireland, upon the carcasses, which are thrown there, in heaps, upon the dunghills.”

And let me here, my Lord, just make to you the remark,that, in a nation, the theatre of all this unrelenting persecution, it is a law, that "should the King ever embrace the Catholic religion, he would, by this act alone, forfeit his crown." This,