2. Aplain Statement of the Roman Catholic Question, by the Rev. Thomas: Le Mesurier, M. A. Rector of Haughton near Darlington, &c.

M. Le Mesurier is a complete master of this momentous question. He has again and again refuted the arguments and exposed the bold assertions of Dr. Milner and other Champions of the Romish Cause. In this Pamphlet, we admire the luminous arrangement of matter, and the natural and unforced way in which he introduces, in a condensed form, every topic worthy of consideration; not a sentence seems out of its place.-A. second edition of his former tract-" A Serious Examination of the Roman Catholic Claims, as set forth in the Petition now pending before Par liament; first published in 1805," was printed last year. We most earnestly recommend a perusal of them both to all persons who wish to acquire a competent knowledge of the matters in dispute. We sincerely congratulate this ornament of our Church on his new designation-Rector of Haughton, late of Newnton Longville. We are happy to see merit rewarded. This furnishes another proof of the Bishop of Durham's attention to the preferment and promotion of learned men. Haughton, is a Rectory in his lordship's gift. Church patronage cannot be lodged in better hands.

3. " A Refutation of the Second Part of the Book entitled, a Statement of the Penal Laws which aggrieve the Catholics of Ireland, with Com mentaries, in which the several Falsehoods, Misrepresentations and Impostures of this pretended Statement are set forth, and the Insolence, Malignity and seditious Tendency of the whole exposed; by Detector."

The Refutation of the first part was published in 1812, and that of the second is drawn up with equal ability. The Penal Statutes have been long since repealed. All that now aggrieve the Roman Catholics of Ireland are these restrictions.-that they are not eligible to thirty-two places of high importance in the executive government of the State; and that they may not sit in Parliament.-The two tracts intituled " Refutation," &c. should be read by every body who would appreciate justly, Popish Ambition, and Protestant Forbearance; or would witness the triumph of Truth over Falsehood.

4. "An Essay on the comparative Numbers of Protestants and Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom, in which the true Grounds of Protestant Ascendancy are stated."

We are much inclined to believe, that this little tract is written. by the author of the Refutation." He completely exposes the prevalent vulgar errors respecting the number of Papists, whom, our readers will be pleased

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to remember, we have ever held to be over-rated. They are proved to be in the proportion of two to one- -(not five or six to one) to the Protestants of Ireland; and hardly to bear the ratio of one to six in respect of the Protestants of the United Kingdom. Ascendancy, however, should not depend on numbers alone, but on talent, information, rank, property, industry, &c. and these are all in favour of the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland; how the matter stands in Great Britain we need not say.

5. "A Protestant and Papist's Manual, containing 1. a Protestant's Reasons for the Independence of the Ancient British Church; 2. a Roman Catholic's Reasons why he cannot conform to the Protestant Religion, examined and answered; 3. a short View of the Differences between the Churches of England and of Rome."

This tract contains a fund of most useful information for all classes of readers. His lordship's name does not appear on the title-page, but it is' well known to be written by the Bishop of St. David's, and indeed is recognized as such in the next article. The learned will read it with great satisfaction, and the unlearned will see the specific differences existing between the Protestants and Papists, and will be armed with such answers to the plausible partizans or insinuating propagators of Popery, as will baffle all their attempts to overturn his religious principles.

6. "The Protestant Retrospect ;-by the Bishop of St. David's."

In this very small tract, we are presented with the result of much recondite learning, and laborious research. It is admirably adapted to general use, and should be liberally distributed by those whose object it is to inform the bulk of the people. Its price is 3d. and our publisher supplies copies at £1. per hundred.

N. B. This List will be continued.

PROTESTANT PETITIONS.

PETITIONS during this last month have been voted and presented with such rapidity, that we have found great difficulty in taking an account of them. The number and weight of these most important documents, which have occasioned us no small labour, we trust will operate very powerfully in that quarter for which they are immediately intended-the two houses of parliament we mean. The clergy and laity of Chichester have petitioned, as have the dean and chapter of Ely; the archdeaconries of Norwich and Norfolk; the dean and chapter of Salisbury; the clergy of Wilts s; our friend Diños Harpidos has favoured us with a letter on the pains taken by certain great men of "the Talents'" ministry, to render the intentions of those who attended the county meeting abortive.-The archdeacon and clergy of Berks have petitioned;-as have also the arch

deacon and clergy of Sarum; the dean and chapter of Exeter, and, we believe, the whole clergy of that diocese, where a fabricated counter-petition was set up, not containing, it is said, the name of one clergyman of the Established Church in the district. The mayor and borough of Leeds have petitioned; of what passed in that great town we have a very full account in the Leeds Intelligencer of Feb. 1. Wm. Hey, Esq. made an excellent speech in favour of petitioning; he was more than an hour on his legs; Mr. Tottie opposed the petition; Mr. Coulman animadverted on Mr. Tottie's address, which was supported by Mr. Tennant; Mr. T. Sadler, however, took an opportunity, in seconding the petition proposed, to make a speech of a most superior cast, in which he spoke in the highest terms, of the great scholars and enlightened statesmen who first proposed the restrictions on Papists. The result was just what might have been wished. "The minority was numerous enough to prove that every exertion had been used to oppose the Protestant interest; but it was overpowered by such an overwhelming majority as ought to set the question, in the borough of Leeds, at least, at rest for ever." May such a majority quiet the hearts of Protestants, when the sense of Parliament shall be taken. upon it!-Bath has petitioned, as has Beverley; -Huddersfield; an individual, one Eneas M'Donnell, at Huddersfield, has presented a counter Petition. -The town of Cambridge has petitioned;-Wenlock ;-Great Torrington; -several of the clergy of the diocese of Carlisle ;-the town of Chester ;— Winchester;-the freeholders of Oxfordshire ;-the county of Flint, with 4,000 names affixed to the petition;-St. Alban's ;-Warrington;-Harwich diocese of Bath and Wells;-Ipswick ;-N. B. Mr. Whitbread presented a petition from Ipswich in favour of the Roman Catholic claims, signed by six persons; -the dean and chapter of Hereford;-the archdeaconry of Chichester;-the county of Anglesea;-the mayor, corporation, and inhabitants of Colchester;-the clergy of the archdeaconry of Colchester; the clergy of the archdeaconry of St. Alban's; -the clergy of the archdeaconry of Middlesex ;-the French Episcopal Church in London ;-the inhabitants of London and Westminster, 60,000 persons; the ward of Billingsgate; --the parish of St. George, Hanover Square; the dean and chapter, archdeacon, and clergy of the cathedral church and diocese of Worcester; Mr. Hornyold, of Blackmore Park, attacked the terms of their petition in a letter which appeared in the Worcester Herald; but he was answered by Mr. Denham J. J. Cookes, the week following in the most able style. In this, as in numerous other instances, the efforts of those who espouse the cause of the Papists, have only ended in complete discomfiture. We here beg to

return thanks to the friend who sent us the Worcester and the Oxford Herald. The town of Rippon has petitioned; likewise the town of ·Guildford ;-the dean and chapter of St. David's ;-the clergy of the four archdeaconries of that diocese, viz. St. David's, Camarthen, Cardigan and Brecon ;-Aberystwith ;-the archdeacon and clergy of Gloucester; the bailiff and inhabitants of Penrhyn, with 8000 signatures ;Bristol with the signatures of between 8000 and 9000 persons;-the town and county of Lancaster signed by between 14,000 and 15,000 people;-the clergy of the archdeaconry of Suffolk ;-clergy and archdeaconry of Sudbury;-Exeter has petitioned;-as has Carlisle ;-the dean and chapter of Durham ;-the archdeaconries of Durham and Northumberland; and the clergy of the same ; Berwick upon Tweed ;-the city of Cork ;-and several parishes in York.-Harwich, in the name of the mayor, aldermen, burgesses, and principal inhabitants ;-Cornwall petitions notwithstanding a violent opposition at Bodmyn, where the county meeting was held ;-the corporation of Bodmyn ;-the county of Donegal petitions, and addresses the Prince Regent; the parish of St. Dunstan in the East, London, petitions ;-Kent, after much debate, and a clear ma jority, petitions: as do the clergy of the diocese of Rochester.-The county of Denbigh has petitioned, with only one dissenting voice. The county of Merioneth has petitioned-as has the county of Caernarvon, and New Sarum. The corporation of Penzance has petitioned ;-The corporation of Wallingford has presented a petition, attested by the corporation scal; but the mayor has, with some inhabitants, signed a petition in favour of the Claims.-The inhabitants of the city of Worcester have petitioned. The county of Meath has petitioned: as has the county of Sligo, the counties of Down and Cavan, and the county of Tipperary. The county of Fermanagh has presented a petition with 13,300 signatures of Protestants; more by upwards of 9,000 than the Papists, with all their industry, could procure in all Ireland. The county of Carlow has petitioned; as has the county of Monaghan; 14,154 persons signing the petition. The lord mayor of Dublin has presented the petition of that city, at the bar of the House of Commons. The petition of Wexford was withdrawn for informality. Mr. Whitbread presented a petition in favour of the claims from some persons near Loughborongh; and the Queen's County in Ireland petitions for the claims.-We shall be very happy after the question is decided to be favoured with a complete list ;—and also with lists of the majority and minority in both houses.

Acknowledgements to Correspondents in our next.

"The Pope claims an absolute supremacy over our King and his realms; and how "he can be a good subject of the King of England, who professes obedience to this "foreign princely prelate, is very hard to be understood: if you own the Pope to be "above the King, you must then obey him even when his orders contradict those of your lawful Sovereign, and so you are the Pope's subjects, not the King's; nor can "his Majesty have any security of your allegiance, any longer than it pleases the "Roman Bishop; so that he reigns over you at the Pope's mercy."-Comber.

"

POPERY RESISTED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH.

We beg that our Correspondent J. D. (p. 260) will accept our thanks for tracing the doctrine asserting the Sovereignty of the Mob, to Rome, the grand source of error. This piece of n.oral genealogy; will account for many affinities between parties that seemingly, and to common eyes, stand in no sort of relationship to each other. Popery and Jacobinism! how dissimilar do they appear! The former, tyrannicaland domineering; the latter, proclaiming liberty and equality: the former, shackling the very consciences of men; the latter, raising the hand of insurrection against all that is sacred. They are, however, nearly akin, and each promotes the other's purposes in secret. The Pope has often gained an accession of power, by exciting revolt against independent sovereigns; and the child and champion of jacobinism found no great difficulty in calling the ultramontane head of the Romish Church over the Alps, to sanction, with his imposing presence, the coronation of the Emperor of the French at Paris. The infallible old man was gratified in once more conferring a crown; and, although the ape of Charlemagne varied from his original by stripping the Pope of his temporalities, the two potentates have since come to a better understanding. Buonaparte has restored, we are informed, his territories to the Pope; the Pope has received back the stolen property; and this infallible compounder of a felony (give us leave to speak with the feelings, and to use the language of Englishmen) ha compromised his honour; has consented to the formal repudiation of Josephine; and will, probably, attend the ceremony of setting an usurped diadem on the head of her VOL. I. [Prot. Adv. April 1813.] 2 X