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Another may be found as able and intelligent, but it will be impossible to find another more honest and conscientious-more determined to examine for himself, and, having examined, to act upon his own convictions."

THE "TABLET” AND POLITICAL PARTIES.

THE "Tablet" of Oct. 29, has a very long and elaborate article on the above subject, based mainly upon the speech made by Mr. Bernal Osborne to his Constituents at Liskeard. We give only the following portion of it :

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According to Mr. Bernal Osborne, the names of Whigs and Tories are becoming bywords. He says, he cannot see why some new combination should not be tried. He asks, is there any statesman more liberal in voting, speaking, and writing than Lord Stanley, and he wants to know why is he to be deterred from voting for Lord Stanley because he sits on the Opposition benches? I hesitate not to declare,' says Mr. Bernal Osborne, 'that the Liberal party has neither a flag, nor a leader; and that we are in a Slough of Despond.' "We are very glad to hear it, and upon such good authority. But we are particularly interested in calling attention to Mr. Bernal Osborne's testimony as to the condition of the Conservative party, for if his words were true, our main political object would have been attained, our chief political hope would have been fulfilled. We should have been content to see Catholics wait long and toil patiently for that consummation which Mr. Bernal Osborne announces as already reached.

"There was a time when the Tory party was all but identified with the No-Popery party in this Empire. It was a humiliating position for the Tories, and it was a grievous position for Catholics, but it was a position out of which extrication seemed extremely difficult. For so long as Catholics, as a body, identified themselves with the political antagonists of the Tories, it was too much to expect that they should not experience the hostility which they challenged; and so long as the Tory party, as a whole, identified itself with those whose chief business was to harass, to insult, to malign, and to oppress Catholics, it was too much to expect that it should not experience the antagonism which it provoked. And so it seemed that the evil was likely to perpetuate itself in infinitum.

"The happy change was wrought by the Papal Aggression, and the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, which gave the first great shock to that offensive and defensive alliance between the Catholic body and the Liberal party that had lasted through so many years. We may fairly say that the policy which has long been advocated in this journal has by this time (favoured by the concurrence of many circumstances) found such acceptation among the Catholics of the empire, that the Catholic body is not likely, in our day, at least, to repeat the experiment of identifying itself with either of the great parties in the State, and so to incur the inevitable ill-will and opposition of the other party. There is no doubt that in both the great parties, and

on both sides of the House, there are many who bear us ill-will, and who are indisposed to concede our just claims, or to listen to our remonstrances. On the other hand, it is certain that there are now, in both the great parties, and on both sides of the House, many who are perfectly willing, whenever a question is brought before them in which the rights or interests of Catholics are involved, to deal with it in a fair and kindly spirit, and more than that we have no right to ask. The Catholics of the empire are now free to follow their own political convictions, sympathies, and interests, and to range themselves on the side of either of the great parties, or to hold aloof from both, and that is an emancipation from Whig Liberal bondage that is more valuable than the Emancipation of 1829. All parties have something to gain by treating us fairly; all parties have something to lose by behaving ill to us."- Oct. 29, 1864.

Miscellaneous.

THE GAOL CHAPLAIN QUESTION AT PRESTON.-There is some prospect now of the gaol chaplain "difficulty" at the Preston House of Correction being settled. At the beginning of the week paragraphs were going "the round,' to the effect that opposition had been raised to the application of the grant of 407. made by the magistrates of Lancashire at the last annual session, in the purchase of vestments, as required for Roman Catholic worship at the_gaol named. Since then Dr. Goss, the Catholic Bishop, has written to Mr. T. B. Addison, of Preston, who made the proposition for money to be granted, that the sum will be declined, and that whatever is required will be provided by the Catholics themselves.-Record, Monday, Oct. 17, 1864.

THE GERMAN CATHOLICS.-WURZBURG, SEPT. 16.-The General Assembly of the German Catholic Association closed its sittings in this town yesterday. Its labours have resulted in the five following Resolutions:-"1. The Assembly declares it to be the duty of the German Catholics not to allow themselves to be surpassed by the French and Belgians in the sacrifices to be made for the Head of the Church, and recommends the faithful to take part in the Pontifical loan. 2. The Assembly demands the enfranchisement, in a religious point of view, of Schleswig-Holstein, for which so much Catholic blood has been shed, and the cessation of the shameful oppression to which Catholics are subjected in that country. 3. The Assembly regrets the conflict which has arisen in the Grand Duchy of Baden. It believes that right is upon the side of the Archbishop, who contends for the rights of religion and of family, and calls to mind that every blow struck against the altar also attacks the throne. 4. The Assembly honours the heroic Counts of Schmising-Herssenbrock, who have been compelled to leave the Prussian army because they were opposed in principle to duelling, and declares that the conduct of the Prussian Minister of War in respect to these gentlemen is tantamount to a condemnation of the principles of Christianity. 5. The Assembly deplores the odious manner in which the religious orders have been attacked in the Grand Duchy of Baden, in Hesse, and in Würtemberg, and points out to the advocates of progress that it is a mockery to demand for themselves the liberty of propagandism and the right of association, and to deny these liberties to the Church."-Telegraph, Sept. 20, 1864.

It is stated that owing to the death of Mr. Henry Rayner, of the Isle of Ely, the daughters of Dr. Brady, M.P. for the county of Leitrim, have inherited a fortune of upwards of 1,000,000l. The deceased gentleman was the grand uncle of the young ladies, who are now in a convent school in France.-Standard, Sept. 26, 1864.

LETTER OF THE POPE TO THE POLISH BISHOPS.-ROME, SUNDAY.-An encyclical letter of the Pope addressed to the Polish bishops has been distri

buted among the Cardinals at Rome. This letter draws a vivid picture of the persecution directed by the Russian Government against the Catholic Church. The Pope stigmatises the Russian Government as cruel, rebukes its excesses, and condemns it before heaven and earth. He censures also the confiscations and deportations carried out in Poland, and the treatment of the Archbishop of Warsaw, unjustly despoiled. His Holiness condemns, however, the Polish revolution, and reminds the Catholics of their duty to obey all civil authorities. The bishops, clergy, and all faithful Catholics in Russia are enjoined to persevere in the faith with courage and resignation, and warned that they do not owe obedience to measures contrary to their consciences and to Divine laws. The Pope, in conclusion, threatens the persecutors with Divine justice," which,” he says, "will soon appear, for the time of mercy is short, and the powerful are powerfully chastised."-Standard, Sept. 21, 1864.

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ROMAN CATHOLIC IMAGES, ETC., IN GAOLS.-At the Annual Sessional Meeting of Lancashire magistrates, on Thursday, at Preston, the Right Hon. Lord Stanley in the chair, Mr. T. B. Addison, Recorder of Preston, made the following Motion, in a speech of considerable length and ability:-“ That upon the recommendation of the Visiting Justices of the House of Correction at Preston a sum not exceeding 401. be granted for the purchase of the vestments, chalice, linen, crucifix, candlesticks, and other articles necessary to enable the Roman Catholic minister to celebrate the services of his Church." The Motion having been seconded by Mr. R. Townley Parker, a long and animated discussion ensued.-Mr. S. Parker moved as an Amendment, "That no crucifix or graven image be introduced within the walls of the Preston Gaol at the expense of the county."-The Amendment fell to the ground for want of a seconder; and on the Court dividing on the original Motion, 18 hands were held up for it; against it, 19. The names were then taken with the following result:-For the Motion, 22; against it, 19. The Motion was declared to be carried.-Standard, Sept. 12, 1864. THE IRISH CHURCH ESTABLISHMENT. The Dublin Correspondent of the Morning Post writes:-"Just now, when there is some excitement, it is unfortunate that anything should occur to increase it. Yet this is the time that has been chosen by a preacher at the Castle Chapel, in this city, to propound political views from the pulpit which have produced considerable agitation already among his brethren. The sermon in question, according to a Dublin paper, was delivered on Sunday last, in the presence of the Lord Lieutenant, the Marquis of Lansdowne and his family, and the full Viceregal Court, by the Rev. Maziere W. Brady, D.D., a nephew of the Lord Chancellor. The version of the discourse given to the public imputes to the Rev. Gentleman the expression of a wish that Roman Catholics should receive their full share of the common property of the Church.' He selected his text from the Acts of the Apostlesthe episode of Ananias and Sapphira—and made a particular application of the crime of lying against God' to certain dealings with the Church during the last three centuries. A great robbery had,' he said, 'been committed upon the occasion of the Reformation, when both laymen and ecclesiastics made free with property consecrated to the use of the body of the Church, which was Christ. The crime of withholding goods from the common stock was at that time aggravated by the usurpation of the possessions of the Church by a minority to the exclusion of the majority. Something had, doubtless, been done about thirty years ago to redress the evil of making the whole nation support the religion of a small part of it by the limitation of the pressure in the tithe rent charge; but the guilt of Ananias and Sapphira was incurred so long as the claims of the sister Church were ignored, and it was denied that Roman Catholics were entitled to an establishment, with their full proportion of the common property of the Church.' This is not the language that the Churchmen of Dublin are accustomed to hear, and it has naturally given rise to very strong expressions of disapproval.”—Tablet, August 13.

Macintosh, Printer, Great New-street, London.

THE

PROTESTANT MAGAZINE.

PUBLISHED

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE

OF THE

Protestant Association.

"The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this Realm of England.”—ART. XXXVII.

VOLUME XXVII.-A.D. 1865.

LONDON:

WILLIAM MACINTOSH, 24, PATERNOSTER-ROW;

SEELEY, JACKSON, AND HALLIDAY, 54, FLEET-STREET;

HATCHARD, PICCADILLY; NISBET AND CO., BERNERS-STREET, OXFORD-STREET; SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO., STATIONERS' COURT;

OFFICE OF THE ASSOCIATION, 11, BUCKINGHAM-STREET, STRAND;

W. CURRY AND CO., DUBLIN; AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.

C. A. MACINTOSH,

PRINTER,

GREAT NEW-STREET, LONDON.

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