whatever, and without thinking that I am, or can be acquitted before God or man, or absolved of this Declaration, or any part thereof, although the Pope, or any other person or persons or authority whatsoever, shall dispense with or annul the same, or declare that it was null and void from the beginning.

So help me God.”

III.

The OATH and DECLARATION prescribed by the Irish Act of the 33d of His present Majesty, and is taken by all IRISH ROMAN CATHOLICS, wishing to entitle themselves to the benefit of that Act.

"I, A. B. do hereby declare, That I do profess the Roman Catholic Religion.

❝I, A. B. do swear, That I do abjure, condemn, and detest, as unchristian and impious, the principle that it is lawful to murder, destroy, or any ways injure any persons whatsoever, for or under the pretence of being a Heretic: And I do declare solemnly before God, that I believe, that no act in itself unjust, immoral, or wicked, can ever be justified or excused, by or under pretence or color that it was done either for the good of the church, or in obedience to any ecclesiastical power whatsoever: I also declare, that it is not an Article of the Catholic Faith, neither am I thereby required to believe or profess, that the Pope is infallible, or that I am bound to obey any order in its own nature immoral, though the Pope, or any ecclesiastical power, should issue or direct such order; but on the contrary, I hold that it would be sinful in me to pay any respect or obedience thereto : I further de clare, that I do not believe, that any sin whatever committed by me, can be forgiven, at the mere will of any Pope, or any Priest, or

of any person or persons whatsoever, but that sincere sorrow for past sins, a firm and sincere resolution to avoid future guilt, and to atone to God, are previous and indispensable requisites to establish a well-founded expectation of forgiveness, and that any person who receives absolution without these previous requisites, so far from obtaining thereby any remission of his sins, incurs the additional guilt of violating a Sacrament: And I do swear, that I will defend, to the uttermost of my power, the Settlement and Arrangement of Property in this Country, as established by the Laws now in being: I do hereby disclaim, disavow, and solemnly abjure, any intention to subvert the present Church Establishment, for the purpose of substituting a Catholic Establishment in its stead: And I do solemnly swear, that I will not exercise any privilege to which I am or may become intitled, to disturb and weaken the Protestant Religion and Protestant Government in this Kingdom. So help me God."

ANTICIPATION

OF

MARGINAL NOTES

ON THE

Declaration of Government

OF THE

NINTH OF JANUARY, 1813.

IN THE

AMERICAN NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.

Festinare nocet, nocet et Cunctatio sæpe;

Tempore quæque sno qui facit, ille sapit.

PREFACE.

AUDI alteram partem is a maxim of some antiquity, and of such universality that, from the sage to the schoolboy, it is uniformly allowed that no cause can be fairly decided without it. Qui statuit aliquid, parte inauditá altera, Equum licet statuerit, haud @quus est.

It is to be regretted that the great affairs of Nations cannot be brought within the compass of this rule, and, considering the importance of the American Question, I confess, I should prefer waiting for the remarks of the Government of the United States, on the Declaration of the 9th ultimo, to discussing it this day.

As these cannot be had, however, I have endeavoured to provide a substitute in the shape of an American Newspaper Comment on that act.