The Roman pontiff, on hearing of it, expressed great joy, announcing that the cardinals should return thanks to the Almighty for so signal an advantage obtained for the holy see, and that a jubilee should be observed all over Christendom.* "Sextus V. excommunicated Henry III. of France as a heretic, because he, contrary to his Holiness's orders, spared the blood of his protestant subjects. And he granted nine years indulgence to such subjects as would bear arms against him; upon which Jacque Clement, a friar, assassinated him with singular treachery." After descanting on the objections raised against Henry IV.'s claim to the crown of France, as a heretic, the baronet insinuates that he was murdered by Ravilliac, at the instigation of the Pope, who had twice deposed him. Henry VIII. of England and his daughter Elizabeth were both deposed, without experiencing, however, a similar fate, although Robert Parsons and Edward Campion, we are told, came to England for the express purpose of plotting against the latter. "The popes, well knowing that riches are the sinews of power, adopted the following expedient to fill their treasury, by a constant, and never failing revenue. Having first established the doctrine of purgatory, and the pains and torments attending it, the deluded sectaries of the Roman pontiff had recourse to him to be relieved from their terrors. Fisher, bishop of Rochester, an eminent Roman divine, says, that indulgences were not necessary in the first ages of the Church, and that they were not devised till the people were frightened with the torments of purgatory. "Most of the schoolmen confess, that the use of indulgences commenced in the time of Pope Alexander III. towards the end of the twelfth or the beginning of the thirteenth century, and from that period, until the folly and iniquity of them occasioned the reformation, the sale of them was a fruitful source of wealth to the popes. They also inflicted penalties on the commission of sin, such as rigorous fasts, bodily pains and * Thuanus, lib. 63. sect. 14. mortifications, long and frequent prayers, and pilgrimages to the tombs of saints and martyrs; and as these penalties could be commuted or dispensed with for money, those who chose to lead voluptuous lives, and to continue in the course of licentious pleasure, embraced this new mode of expiation.* "At length, the remission of sins became so systematic, and such a constant and regular source of revenue to the Holy See, that they were reduced to a schedule in a book of rates, with the sums corresponding, for which they were to be remitted. The reader may judge of this extraordinary work by the following short extracts : "A nun having committed fornication several times, shall be absolved, and enabled to hold the dignities of her order, even that of abbess, on paying 39 livres Tournois, and 9 ducats." "The absolution of him who hath deflowered a virgin, gr. 6. "The absolution of a clerk for all acts of fornication with a nun, within or without the limits of the nunnery, or with his relations in affinity or consanguinity, or with any woman whatsoever, 36 livres." + "The Roman Pontiff very wisely gave great liberty to the clergy, as they were prohibited from marrying. When celibacy, (a doctrine justly reprobated in the Scriptures, and refuted by the practice of the apostles, all of whom were married men, except Paul and John; a doctrine peculiarly unfit for the Church of Rome to teach; their founder, as they term him, and prince of the apostles, as they ridiculously call him, having exploded it by his example,) was first enforced in England. The bishops constantly granted licences to the parochial clergy to keep concubines, lest they might run into licentiousness with the wives and daughters of their parishioners." "Exclusive salvation, a doctrine invented by the artful policy of the Roman pontiff, for the purpose of encouraging * Muratori, de redemptione peccatorum, in Antiq. Ital. Med. Sec. proselytes to his church, and for securing those who were already within its pale, has been a fruitful source of discord and rebellion in many countries in Europe. It is not only contrary to the doctrine of the Scriptures, but repugnant to the moral and physical perfection of the Deity, subversive of his attributes of wisdom, justice, and mercy, which are the main pillars of the divine administration; and it is likely to end in Atheism, and has already produced all its baneful effects; for any persons who can be brought to debase and disparage the Almighty, so much as to assert that He is so unwise, so unjust, and so unmerciful, as to ordain, that a very small portion of His creatures shall enjoy eternal happiness, and that the remainder shall be doomed to eternal punishment, because they differ from them in a few trifling ceremonies and tenets, will soon, probably, become Atheists. Mahomet," adds he, a little after, "inculcates the same doctrine in the Koran, and it produces the most intolerant and sanguinary principles between his votaries and other religionists." It is on this foundation, that our author built his whole political superstructure, as will be seen by the following passage: "When those doctrines occasioned the dethronement and the murder of so many princes, the massacre of the Albigences and Waldenses in the thirteenth century, that of the protestants at Paris in the sixteenth, the extermination of many thousands of them in the low countries, the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, the persecution of the Vaudois in the King of Sardinia's dominions, we cannot be surprised that they should have produced so many rebellions in Ireland, as her inhabitants have been plunged in the most abject ignorance, and have been blindly devoted to their priests." { It is thus obvious, according to the opinion just quoted, that all the disturbances in Ireland, for the last two or three centuries, have originated in religious disputes, totally unconnected with civil grievances; we are accordingly presented with a catalogue of insurrections, commencing with that of Shane O'Neil in Ulster, in 1567. In 1595 Hugh O'Neil raised disturbances which were continued until the end of Elizabeth's reign; this was termed "Tyrone's rebellion," and branched into three different civil wars. On the accession of James I., the citizens of Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Kilkenny, and Wexford, derided His Majesty's title, "for no other reason, than that he was not a catholic." Next follow the 66 conspiracies," of Tyrone, O'Donnel, Maguire, Sir Cahir O'Dogherty, &c. In the reign of Charles I. the "popish lords," prelates, and clergy, assembled at Kilkenny, and regulated their proceedings according to the forms and solemnity of a parliament. We e now come to more modern events, and under the head of "Origin of the White Boys," we learn that the epoch of their appearance was 1759, during the administration of a former Duke of Bedford. They consisted of the lower class of Roman Catholics, and acquired their appellation from being dressed in white uniforms. They met in Munster, in 1762, in bodies of from 500 to 2000, and the pretexts for assembling were as follows: 1. The illegal enclosure of commons. 2. The extortions exercised by the Proctors. 3. The exorbitant fees exacted by their own clergy. After being subdued by a military force, Sir Richard Aston was sent to try some of the ringleaders. On this occasion, we are assured, that the late Edmund Burke "sent his brother Richard, who died recorder of Bristol, and Mr. Nagle, a relation, on a mission to Munster, to levy money on the popish body for the use of the White Boys, who were exclusively papists." We are next told, that all our disgraces and misfortunes are to be found in the history of our penal laws and in the feeble execution of them; and it is added that about the year 1773, that system of conciliation and concession, which laid the foundation of the late rebellion, began." Origin of the Volunteers." In the year 1779, when England was involved in a war with the French, Spaniards, and Americans; when the combined naval fleet of the enemy was superior, in point of number, to the Channel fleet; when con stant and well-grounded apprehensions were entertained that Ireland would be invaded; the loyalty of her parliament, trembling for the fate of the empire, left the kingdom almost destitute of any military force for its defence. At the same time what little commerce she then enjoyed, was completely stagnated by privateers, which constantly hovered on her coast. In this critical juncture, some maritime towns, dreading that they might be plundered by the latter, applied to government for a military force for their defence; but received an answer, that they must arm and defend themselves. This gave rise to the volunteers." The baronet candidly allows, that these military associations deterred the French from attempting an invasion of the kingdom, which they meditated at that time; while they at the same time completely preserved the peace of the country, having not only exhibited the greatest respect to the laws, but the utmost zeal in enforeing the execution of them. Notwithstanding this, he maintains it to be an established maxim of civil polity, "that no power should be allowed to exist within a state capable of overawing or overturning it." At length, in 1782, delegates from 143 corps of the province of Ulster, assembled at Dungannon, and entered into certain resolutions, which were soon adopted by all the volunteer corps, and grand juries of the kingdom. In October, 1783, delegates from the corps of the province of Leinster were con-voked at the Royal Exchange, Dublin, when a reform of parliament, and the admission of Roman Catholics to the elective franchise were proposed; soon after which, a grand national convention of volunteer delegates from all Ireland assembled, and entered into deliberations respecting a plan for new modelling the constitution. It is not the intention, we are told, of the author, whose work is now before us, to censure an assembly of men actuated by the generous design of improving the constitution, and of diffusing the blessings of civil liberty as extensively as possible. Yet," it is to be lamented," adds he, "that such assemblies and their discussions, taught the mass of the people to speculate on politics, and as they cannot distinguish sophistry from |