indirectly, within this realm." By the Irish ftatutes of the 28th of Henry the 8th, chapter the 5th, and of the 2d of Elizabeth, chapter the 1ft, laws now exifting and unrepealed, the kings and queens of this realm and their fucceffors are declared to be fupreme heads of the church of Ireland; and by thefe two acts, as well as by another statute of the 28th Henry the 8th, chapter 13, the authority and jurifdiction, both temporal and fpiritual, before that time claimed and exercifed by the Pope in Ireland, are utterly abolished. And by the last statute it is enacted, that if any perfon fhall, by writing or act, maintain the authority of the bifhops of Rome, heretofore used in this kingdom, he shall incur the penalty of premunire.

It is very notorious, that all the catholics of Ireland acknowledge the authority, pre-eminence, and jurifdiction of the bishop of Rome in fpirituals, within this kingdom: they have always refufed, and ftill refuse, to take the oath of fupremacy, acknowledging the king to be the fupreme head of the church of Ireland; they not only refufe to acknowledge his majesty, as the fupreme governor, fpiritual and temporal, within his dominions, but declare that another prince has the fpiritual pre-eminence, jurifdiction, and authority, within and throughout the British empire; thus, as far as in them lies, robbing his majefty of one of the brightest and most valua ble gems in his imperial crown; and without enjoying which, the hiftory of past ages fhews us, that he is but half a king within his own dominions. That it is impoffible to wrest an immenfe degree of temporal power and dominion from the perfon who is acknowledged to poffefs the fupreme fpiritual power, the experience of all antiquity fhews. In truth the bishop of Rome, (except in two or three inftances, when he claimed to be lord paramount of certain kingdoms, which he alledged to be hol

den

den as temporal fees from the temporal patrimony of St. Peter, fuch as Naples, and England, in the time of king John) never claimed any temporal authority in any kingdom in chriftendom, fave as it was infeparably annexed to, and connected with, the exercife of his fpiritual power, that the claim of the pope to fpiritual authority within the realm, fupported unequivocally by all the catholics of Ireland, invefts him, ipfo facto, with a vaft portion of temporal power, can be proved to demonftration by numberless inftances. I fhall juft mention one, on the lawfulness of matrimony, depends almoft entirely, the fucceffion to all temporal property, whether real or perfonal. Matrimony by the ca tholics is held a facrament, its validity is entirely of fpiritual jurifdiction; if the pope then, as catholics hold, has the fupreme and final jurifdiction in this particular, fee what temporal power he must derive from it; he muft in all cafes decide, whether a perfon, claiming under his father or his mother, is intitled to the fucceffion to their real or perfonal property, becaufe fuch decifion will depend on the validity of their marriage; he must decide, whether a party has or has not a right to intermarry with another, or whether a party is barred from that right by confanguinity, affinity, pre-contract or former marriage; he muft finally decide on maintenance, alimony, or whether a man is, or is not, to, pay the debts of a woman who claims to be his wife; with a thousand other temporal incidents. Obferve what opinion the parliament of this country, juft efcaping from the fangs of the pope's ufurped authority, entertained of the temporal effects of the fpiritual jurifdiction of the pope, exercifed in the cafe of matrimony alone.

In an Irish statute enacted in the thirty-third year Henry the 8th, entitled, an act for marriages,'

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are the following paffages: "Whereas heretofore "the ufurped power of the bifhop of Rome, hath always entangled and troubled the mere jurifdiction" "and regal power of this land of Ireland, and also inquieted much the fubjects of the fame by his "ufurped power in them, as by making that unlaw

ful, which by God's word is lawful, both in "marriages and other things, whereof some sparkles "be left, which hereafter might kindle a great fire." The ftatute then proceeds, "that it was cuftomary "for the court of Rome to divorce parties who had "been long married and had iffue, on the pretence "of pre-contracts without confummation, and of "kindered between coufins-german, and fo to fourth "and fifth degrees, and of carnal knowledge of any "of the fame kinne or affinity before, in fuch out"ward degrees, to procure money for difpenfations: "whereby not only much difcord between lawful married

perfons hath arifen, much debate and fuit at law, "with wrongful vexation; and great damage of the "innocent parties hath been procured, and many just "marriages in doubt and danger of undoing, and alfo "many times undone, and lawful heirs difinherited, and marriages have been brought to fuch an uncertainty "thereby, that no marriage could be fo fure knit and "bounden, but it should lie in either of the party's power to defeat the fame."

The catholics of this country, under this pretended spiritual power of the pope, in defiance of the ftatutes of Elizabeth, and William the third, againft all catholics who fhould attempt to exercife any ecclefiaftical jurisdiction within this realm, have endeavoured, in the point of marriage, to eftablish and exercise here, all this reprobated jurifdiction of the pope. 'Tis a very fhort time fince I was confulted as an advocate, by a very humane and worthy Baronet, reprefentative in this parliament of a large and populous county, for my advice, in what M method

method he fhould proceed to procure a remedy for an injured female, on the following cafe: Two tenants of the baronet agreed to intermarry, they lived in the next parifh to that in which the baronet refided, and being both catholics, they were marriedat the baronet's requeft in his parish, and by the prieft of his parish, and not by the prieft of the parish in which they refided; after they had cohabited fome time together, they were cited by the catholic vicar-general of the diocefe of Tuam, to appear before him, and he declared their marriage to be null and void, on the fingle ground of their having been· married by the parish prieft of the neighbouring parifh, and not by the priest of their own parifh; the vicar-general alleging, that all marriages, celebrated by any other perfon than the priest of the parish, in which the parties lived, without a special difpenfation for the purpose, was a clandeftine marriage, and that all clandeftine marriages were decreed void by the council of Trent.

Will any reasonable man affert, that the exercise of fuch a fpiritual power will not directly affect and invade the temporal rights of the fubject, in his dearest and nearest interests? I omit further instances of the infeparability of fpiritual power from temporal, though a thousand could be given; and I refer any inan, who has a mind further to investigate this fubject, and to convince himfelf, that the perfon armed with the whole fpiritual power in any ftate, will neceffarily have a vaft temporal power annexed to it, and infeparable from it, to Dr. Warburton's treatife, The Alliance.

From what I have faid, I think I have made it. pretty clear, that as long as the catholics refufe to take the oath of fupremacy, and perfift in fuch refufal; and whilft they deny and impugn that fupremacy, and maintain the fupremacy in fpirituals of a foreign potentate, it is an impudent untruth

to

to affert, that they have taken every oath of allegiance and fidelity to the king, every pledge which can be devised for their peaceable demeanour, and unconditional fubmiffion to the laws. And I fubmit it to this houfe, that I have clearly fhewn, that the Awo foundations on which they build their whole merits in this petition, are fallacious, unfubftantial, and rotten; and that confequently, the whole fuperstructure must fall to the ground.

The next three paragraphs in this petition ftate, that catholics are excluded from every office of truft or emolument, civil or military, from all officers in corporations, and that the law forbids them to found or endow any univerfity, college or fchool for the education of their children. It is to be obferved, that the condition of the catholics in this kingdom, is the very fame with the condition of all diffenters from the established church in England in all the above particulars, except that the English proteftant diffenters may found fchools; and that it is highly unreasonable in the Irish catholics to expect, that the exifting laws here fhould be changed in thofe particulars, till the English nation fhall think fit to repeal the teft and corporation acts, and admit catholics to all employments of trust and profit, civil and military; into all their corporate bodies; and permit them to found and endow univerfities, colleges and fchools, for the home manufacture of Romish priests; a meafure which I will venture to affirm, no English minifter will prefume to attempt. But it is here to be obferved, that if the Irish law, which excludes catholics from all military employments, was to be repealed, they could reap no advantage from it; for the fleet is entirely British, and the employments in it are difpofed of to fuch perfons only as are qualified to take them by the English laws, which exclude catholics. The fame may be faid, of all employ

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