The most astonishing display of talent by MrPitt, was, when the catholic bill was first agitated after his return to office. Narrow, and short, was the only plank, on which he could stand: but there he placed himself; and he defended himself upon it with such ease and adroitness, that he was seldom touched by his assailants; and had often the posture of a successful assailant.

Greatly inferior to either of these extraordinary men, if we are to judge of him by his speeches, as they were spoken,--but greatly superior to each, if we are to judge of him by his speeches, as they were published, Edmund Burke, was through life the advocate, the warm, the powerful advocate of the catholic cause. Estimating him by his written speeches, we shall find nothing comparable to him, till we reach the Roman orator. Equal to that great man in dialectic, in imagery, in occasional splendour, and in general information; exceeding him in political wisdom, and the application of history and philosophy to it, he yields to him in grace and He never lost an opportunity of recommending the catholics to the favour of the public. It may be doubted, whether, without the aid of his eloquence, either of the bills for our relief, would have passed*.

* In familiar conversation, the three great men, whom we have mentioned, equally excelled: but even the most intimate friends of Mr. Fox complained of his too frequent ruminating silence. Mr. Pitt talked ;-and his talk was fascinatirg: a good judge said of him, that he was the only person he had known who possessed the talent of condescension. Yet his

Such were the leading men, and such their dispositions towards the catholics, at the time of which we are speaking.

loftiness never forsook him; still one might be sooner seduced to take liberties with him, than with Mr. Fox. Mr. Burke's conversation was rambling, but splendid, rich, and instructive beyond comparison.

Public opinion at home and abroad, seems to have pronounced against Mr. Pitt's politics and war; and, on the supposition that a war with France was necessary, in favour of the system recommended by Mr. Burke. But,-in advocating his own system, Mr. Burke seems not to have attended sufficiently to his own representations of the selfish temporising views of the continental powers, on whose energetic and public spirited co-operation, the success of his plans depended altogether. It must therefore be lamented, that the system of peace recommended by Mr. Fox was not adopted. It may be thought probable, that, if France had been left to herself, the occupations of agriculture and commerce, and the pursuits of literature and science would have been continued, would insensibly have resumed their sway, cooled the public effervescence, and introduced moderation into the national councils.-An uninterrupted series of writers of this country of transcendent powers, commenced with Spencer, and ended in Mr. Burke: by its duration and splendour, it far surpasses any literary era, in antient or modern Europe.

LXXIX. 2.

State of the public mind at this time:-Gradual relaxation and final repeal of the penal laws in France against the Protestants ;—Progress of civil liberty in England in consequence of the Bangorian Controversy, and the Confessional:-Favourable result to the claims of the

Catholics.

1. THE French revolution was now rapidly advancing. It was considered at first, even by some persons of sense and discernment, as an harbinger of good. They did not sufficiently reflect on the great degree of happiness, which the world actually enjoyed, on the great probability of its regular increase, or on the chance of its being altogether lost by the proposed innovations.

It was particularly imagined that these would be propitious to religious liberty.-This had made a considerable progress in most parts of the continent; even in Spain, it began to dawn, and the rigours of the inquisition were greatly softened.

In France, the condition of the protestants was materially ameliorated. Some unjustifiable attempts had been made by them at the commencement of the regency which followed the death of Lewis XIV: they were repressed; a few of the most guilty agitators were punished; but the court was so little disposed to proceed with severity against the general body, that, soon afterwards, it was seriously debated in council, whether the edict of Nantes should not be re-enacted. The council declared for the negative; but, from this time, the penal

To

provisions against the protestants were seldom carried into execution; and, towards the middle of the last century, the practical toleration of them in France was with a single exception,-complete; but this exception was of the greatest moment, as it regarded their marriages. The law rendered invalid all marriages, that were not solemnized according to the rites of the church of Rome. these, the protestants, in consequence of their religious principles, could not conscientiously conform. The consequence was that, in the eye of the law, protestant parents lived in a state of concubinage, and protestant children were illegitimate. Lewis XVI, to his immortal honour, communicated, by his edict of the 17th November 1787, to all his non-catholic subjects, the full enjoyment of all the rights of his subjects of the catholic religion.

2. In England, the progress of religious liberty had been great, but silent: we have noticed the advocation of it by the latitudinarian divines, and, on a still broader ground, by Hoadley and his disciples. These systematized the principles of their master. With their latitudinarian predecessors, they avowed, that the Bible, and the Bible only, was the religion of the protestants; but if we inquire what article of faith, what religious ordinance was, in their opinion, so clearly deducible from the Bible, as to render the belief or observance of it necessary to salvation, we shall soon discover the scantiness of their creed, and be inclined to apply to them, what Badius said of Exaunus, that, "he "rather knew what he should fly from, than what

"he should follow." Their expressions were guarded; but the ultimate tendency of their doctrine seems to lead to these conclusions: I. The church and the state are equally derived from God, the author of every good and perfect gift: II. Any number of persons, who are persuaded that Jesus was sent of God, who are sincerely desirous of obeying his laws, who hope for salvation by obedience to them, and who agree to unite in public assemblies for the performance of religious duty, is a christian church; and every christian church thus formed, has a right to delegate to any persons, under any names, and with any powers, (revelation being silent on these points, and tradition wholly out of the question), an authority to superintend and regulate its economy and observances. Such a church may also expel from it those, who disobey either its original constitutions, or the ordinances made under its authority:—still, every such christian church is subject to the control of the state. ---All this is in direct opposition to the articles of the church of England. These assign to the church, the power to decree rites and ceremonies *, an authority in controversies of faith; they also teach that the orders of her ministers have descended from the apostles, and are appointed by God; that the powers given them, in ordination, are communicated to them by the Holy Ghost;--and that episcopacy is of Divine institution: III. The sacraments are defined by the church of England + to be effectual signs of the grace which God of his + Form of ordination.

Art. xx.

Art. xxv.