Daunt attempts to answer for Dr. M'Hale; but Dr. M'Hale retreats quietly into the cloisters of St. Jarlath • Projicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba ;' and Mr. Maguire slips off the burden to the shoulders of poor Mr. Coyne. I have enlarged on the subject in my publication of my correspondence with that gentleman, in an appeal to the Roman Catholics of Ireland, which I hope will be ready for publication this week. Meantime I rejoice to hear from many quarters that numbers of you, my dear countrymen, are beginning to open your eyes to the iniquitous tyranny of the confessional, and to assert the rights of human beings. Go on, go on, my friends; vindicate your claim to the first dictates of naturethe religion of that Holy Book which your priests shut up as far as they can from your perusal-which they tell you they must interpret, but which you see they neither can or will attempt to interpret for you that religion teaches liberty, not slavery of heart to maninstructs him to come, not to his fellow-worm, but to his God, for mercy and salvation. It is not go to your priest' that it enjoins, but · come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,' so saith our blessed Redeemer. Go to him, my dear countrymen'look unto him, and be ye saved-turn not from one outward form to another, which cannot save or deliver your souls, but turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that you may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith which is in Christ Jesus.' "May God Almighty pour out his truth and his Spirit upon you, my countrymen, and bring you out of that awful and iniquitous bondage in which your souls are imprisoned by the inquisitorial tyranny of the Church of Rome, into the light, and liberty, and salvation of the everlasting Gospel-this is my prayer-my carnest prayer, for your best interests. "I oppose, and will oppose the iniquity of that system that dishonours and enslaves you, not as your enemy, my countrymen, but as your faithful and devoted friend and servant in the word of the God of truth. "June 13, 1836." "R. J. M'GHEE. CORRESPONDence of proTESTANT ASSOCIATION. 149 The next movement on the subject of these developments of papal iniquity, was a meeting held in London, on the subject of the Rhemish notes, in the month of July. An application having been made by the Protestant Association to the editors, to hold a public meeting, necessary business precluded the possibility of Dr. O'Sullivan's attendance, and as it appeared to be of importance, that the case of these notes which had not been known in England, should be laid before the public in London, Mr. M'Ghee determined to proceed there as soon as his avocations permitted him. Previous to this, it seemed very important, if possible, to force Mr. O'Connell before the public on the occasion. The hypocritical part he had acted in the year 1817, pretending the greatest show of liberality and hatred of these notes, and pretending the greatest anxiety to disclaim them; but blinding the Protestant public with this pretence of a disclaimer which the fear of his taskmasters, his bishops, and his subjection to Popery, did not let him dare to carry into effect; these circumstances made it very important to compel him to come forward, if possible, or at least to force him to write, if he was afraid to speak. With this intention, a letter was addressed to to him through the channel of the Protestant Association, or having affected to treat any letters addressed directly from Mr. M'Ghee with contempt, it became in some degree necessary, that he should answer one sent through a public body. From hence arose the following correspondence, as it appeared in the Morning Herald July 11, 1836: "O'CONNELL AND THE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION. "To Daniel O'Connell, Esq., M.P. "Protestant Association, 9, Exeter Hall, June 25, 1836. "SIR-The committee of the Protestant Association have received from the Rev. Robert M'Ghee a letter, of which a copy is enclosed, which they are requested by Mr. Robert M'Ghee to forward to you. In so doing, the committee desire to add, that they join with Mr. McGhee in the invitation therein contained, and will wait till Thursday, the 30th instant, for any reply which you may be pleased to send, before they proceed to make arrangements for the intended meeting. "We remain, &c. &c. (Signed by the Secretaries.) "The Rev. Robert M'Ghee to Daniel O'Connell, Esq., M.P. "Justice for Ireland, and truth for England." "SIR-Having been requested by the Protestant Association in London to attend a meeting to be held in Exeter Hall, on Tuesday, July 12, it is my intention, if it pleases Divine Providence to allow me, to submit to the meeting resolutions containing some additional facts as to Dens' Theology,' which have not yet been laid before the public, and which prove the unanimous and continued adoption of that standard of theology by your bishops; and, also, establishing the fact, that your bishops have patronised and propagated among the people the intolerant and persecuting notes of the Rhemish Testament. "The abjuration of these notes by Dr. Troy in 1817-your own professed rejection of them-and your proceedings at the Catholic Board-your appointment of a committee to disclaim these notesyour subsequent conduct as to that committee, and the result of the case, are all so well known to you, that I shall not anticipate the statements of the platform by entering upon them now; but I shall call on you, please Divine Providence, to explain the facts to the English nation, and for this purpose I invite you thus publicly to come and apply all your legal talents to invalidate the documents and facts on which I shall found the resolutions I shall propose to the meeting. "To preclude all possible charge of slander, misrepresentation, or any other of the imputations which have been cast upon me, I propose that the arrangements for the meeting be made by a committee of members of the House of Commons, whereof half should be chosen by yourself and half by the Protestant Association; that the tickets for the meeting be equally divided, and that it be clearly understood that the statements on both sides shall be heard in perfect silence. "I have the honour to be, &c., &c." " Mr. O'Connell to one of the Secretaries of the Protestant Association. "REV. SIR-I have reason to complain-I really think I havethat you should transmit to me any document emanating from the person who styles himself the Rev. Robert M'Ghee. After that unhappy person's exhibitions in public, and especially after his indescribable conduct to that meek and venerable prelate, Dr. Murray, I do submit to your own good sense and good feeling, that you ought not to inflict any letter of his upon any fellow-Christian. "I therefore return you his letter, without intending you any disrespect. Upon reflection, you will, I should hope, agree with me, that this is the only course which a rational man could take with such a letter, particularly as the writer is so careless of all the observances of life as to omit the ordinary courtesies between man and man; but let me add, that I freely forgive the want of civility, or even of decency, on your part in sending me such an epistle. "With respect to Dens and the Rhemish Notes, I confess to you that I feel the utmost indifference as to the resolutions your meeting of the 12th of July may adopt. Resolve away as fast and as long as you please, I care not; gratify yourselves as to your mode of resolving; your resolutions can harm only yourselves; and that I admit you have a plain and obvious right to do. Nobody ought to interfere in any way to prevent you. I am quite sure I will not. Your resolutions, therefore, for aught I care, may be reproba-tory, or approbatory, lauda-tory, or explana-tory, or any other tory you please. It is a species, allow me to say, of tom-foolery, or rather of Tory-foolery, with which I would not, upon any consideration, interfere. Accept, I beg of you, my full consent to your drawing up and passing any resolutions you please. "As to naming members of parliament, and sharing tickets, and all that fantastic mummery, it really surprises me that a gentleman of your good sense could think that such an absurd farce could be entertained for one moment. I should be laughed at if I were to propose it to any members of parliament gifted with common sense; and if I refrain from laughing at it in your case, it is only because I do not choose to treat you with any want of courtesy. "The whole affair is, in plain truth, one of those miserable managements which cannot be described by any English word with accuracy. It is only in French that you can find their right name. They are called niaiseries,' and as such I treat them. "I cannot conclude without, in sober sadness, expressing my most unfeigned regret that the very name of religion should be tarnished by these theatrical buffooneries. I cannot possibly lend them any countenance, either directly or indirectly. Religion is indeed too awful a thing to be made the subject of mountebank exhibitions. It is by far of too tremendous an importance to be approached in any other spirit than that of humility, surrounded by the purest charity. The spirit of charitable humility is that in which religious controversy should be proposed and carried on. It is so conducted in many Pro testant countries, and the consequence is-I say it in no vain boastthe wise and the good are daily forsaking the variegated errors of antiCatholic belief, and crowding into the ranks of those who endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,' for there is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all.' "That that gracious and good God may, in the plenitude of his mercies, recall your fellow-labourers from their errors, and guide them to that one faith which your fathers and our fathers held to God, is, I hope, the humble and fervent prayer of your obedient servant, "DANIEL O'Connell. "Rev. J. R. Page." The Protestant Association to D. O'Connell, Esq. M.P. "SIR-The Rev. Mr. Page, to whom your letter of the 29th was addressed, having laid it before the committee of the Protestant Association, we are instructed to acknowledge its receipt, and to make one or two brief remarks as to its contents. "The object of the meeting which is proposed to be held at Exeter Hall, on Tuesday next, is chiefly to pursue that very inquiry which you yourself opened at the Catholic Board in Dublin, in the year 1817. At that board, in December of that year, you moved and obtained a committee to prepare a disavowal of the Rhemish notes. Subsequently, on three different occasions, you obtained for that committee further time' to agree upon its disavowal. At last the board itself was broken up without agreeing on any such disavowal; and although you, sir, had declared that not a moment should be lost' in condemning these scandalous notes,' never, either through the medium of the Catholic Board or of the Catholic Association, has this promised disavowal appeared. Now the Protestants, as you, sir, are well aware, have quite as much concern in this question as the Romanists; and it is a perfectly legitimate object for their investigation. That inquiry, therefore, which you yourself commenced, but which for some reason or other you afterwards allowed to drop, we now propose to resume, and as you were so intimately concerned in the agitation of the question, we thought it but fair to invite your attendance. Whether it may suit your views to be present or not is quite a matter for your own consideration. Under any circumstances the committee will persevere in their original intention. The arrangements proposed to you for the meeting were merely those which have usually been |