to bring the light of his everlasting salvation to shine into the dark inquisitorial dungeons of the Church of Rome. I speak not to insult my Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen. There is not a man in the world that will contend more than I for liberty of conscience. I say, perish the law that should ever be enacted to punish the poorest Roman Catholic in Ireland, however erroneous we may know his faith to be, for worshipping God according to the dictates of his conscience. I say, perish the arm that should ever lift the latch of his door to inflict an injury upon him, however deluded he may be, for the errors of his religion. But I say also, if we love our God-if we love our fellowmen, we cannot but pity, and, if we pity, we cannot but use our best exertions to relieve. I call not for laws of restraint; I say, "Liberty for the Roman Catholics of Ireland"-" Liberty," I say, "Emancipation for my Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen." Let them be delivered from the bondage of a cruel, debasing, and persecuting tyranny. Why should the light of heaven be intercepted from the eye of Ireland? What right has any man to intercept the light of God from the eye of his fellow-man? Why should the immortal mind of Ireland be bound up in the chains of the power of darkness? These are my sentiments. I say them not for myself, but for that great cause which it is my privilege to advocate.

And now I stand on this platform, in Exeter Hall, and I see before me the reporters perhaps of those papers who attend to malign and insult myself and my reverend brethren engaged in this cause. I love to meet them on their own ground-to stand before them on their own soil; and, I say, I love a free press, no man loves it more. Give me a free people, a free press, and men of principle, power, and energy to wield it, and there is not a system of falsehood, or superstition, or tyranny, or profligacy, or crime, that shall stand a moment before an engine such as this. I like a free press; but I tell you plainly, I do not like a false press. You have a right to state your opinions on every fact--but I tell you, you have no right to deny and to pervert matters of fact. When Englishmen purchase your papers, hoping to discover the truth, you have a right to tell them the truth-they expect it from you. But when you can't reason, learn not to revile. Can you deny the fact that "Dens's Theology" is adopted as a standard by the priests of Ireland? I say, you cannot. Will you deny, as a matter of fact, that this book, this Bible with these infernal notes, was really printed in the place where it is said to have been printed, under the patronage of these men, and with the subscribers' names affixed to it?

Can you deny it? No! Then if not, will you out-Herod Herod, and deny what Mr. O'Connell has not dared to stand upon this platform and deny this day.

I care not what statements you may make-I care not what reports you may give; but I tell you, if you expect to move a Christian minister in the discharge of his duty, you expect what is beyond your power to accomplish. You may frighten your statesmen-you may make your politicians tremble-you may bring in and throw out your ministers by your press; but if you think that you can move a servant of the living God, I tell you, you may as well attempt to write down the dome of St. Paul's. You may, indeed, by pandering to infidelity, profligacy, or Popery, or crime, you may excite an infuriated mob to tear down that venerable fabric, but you cannot excite the mob that shall shake a minister of Christ whose purposes and principles are built upon his Master's truth.

"Non civium ardor prava jubentium

Non vultus instantis tyranni

Mente quatit solidâ❞—

(The cheering here prevented the reverend speaker from finishing his quotation; he paused till it subsided, and said)-Let me finish my quotation, for it is a day that all shall see:

"Si fractus illabatur orbis

Impavidum ferient ruinæ"_

-will you then dare, I say, to deny these facts? You may--you may deny, pervert, attack,-write on-write on-but you shall find that the attacks of falsehood upon truth, however infuriated they may be, are but like the beating of the angry wave against the lofty rock; it may rage, and dash, and foam, and raise its cloud of froth and spray against its bosom; but the rock still lifts its head high in the light of heaven above it all, and stands immoveable in majesty, until the foaming wave has spent its useless rage, and subsides in impotent exhaustion at its feet. Write on-but you shall find that the attacks of truth on falsehood are like the scathing of the riving thunderbolt that rends the tottering cliff from its summit to its base; or, like the convulsion of the yawning earthquake that heaves the falling mountain from its foundations and buries it in ruins beneath the deep abyss for ever. (The reverend gentleman sat down amidst the loudest cheering, which lasted for several minutes.)

The Chairman having put the resolutions, which were agreed to amidst renewed applause, declared the meeting dissolved.

200

RESULTS OF THE THIRD MEETING AT EXETER HALL.

THE effect of the evidence produced, as to the Rhemish notes, on the public mind, was for some time quite absorbed in the interest excited by the production of the fictitious bull. All were anxious to see it. Its authenticity was suspected by several at the meeting, and on the same evening, the writer wrote to Mr. Todd, and his friend wrote to the gentleman who had given him the pamphlet, to ascertain the fact. Mr. Todd, who had left Dublin and was travelling in England, did not receive the letter for a long time afterwards; but the gentleman, whose authority had so unintentionally led the writer astray, wrote by return of post, stating the fact, which reached London on Saturday morning. The writer feeling that not a moment was to be lost in making public the truth, wrote a letter instantly, to be inserted in the Standard of that day, Saturday, 16th; the necessity of sending it immediately to secure its insertion in the paper, which, under the circumstances, was scarcely, indeed, to be expected, as the paper is published at four o'clock, left him not a moment to deliberate,—perhaps, if he had had much time to consider the wisest course, or to consult with the members of the committee, or any friends, it would have been deemed best simply to say, that the bull had been given to him under circumstances which led him to receive it as genuine without examination, and to express his regret for the mistake. This would have prevented any charges against the integrity of the writer. It would have left him unexcused from the charge of precipitation still, it could not have been dwelt on for any time by the press, but must have been admitted to be only a mistake. But there was not any time to deliberate, and the writer, anxious to disclose immediately the fact, and not considering to what he might be exposed in the manner of doing so, wrote the following letter to the editor of the Standard:

To the Editor of the Standard.

"London, Saturday, July 16th.

"SIR,-I could not for a moment allow an erroneous impression to rest on the public mind, even against the pope, as to any matter of fact within my knowledge, and therefore I beg, through the medium of

your valuable journal, to state that I have just this post been informed, that the Encyclical Letter of which some extracts were read at Exeter Hall by me, was only an ingenious device resorted to by my learned friend, of bringing most important truths before the Protestants of this empire. Having stated the fact, that it had just been put into my hands late the night before, and having only given it just as it was, a document which the translator professed to leave as doubtful, only bearing one ingenious mark of authenticity, I was not, I believe, understood by any person present to make any remarks that were not hypothetical on it-only recommending, as I most earnestly do, that every person should possess themselves of a copy of it.

"The authenticity of the document itself does not in the least affect the important truths it contains, and I only beg to submit to every Protestant the following reflections on it:

"If the pope actually issued orders for the sites of the national schools in Ireland, could they be more carefully posited to ensure a perpetual application to Popish purposes, and a perpetual exclusion of Protestants?

"If the pope issued his orders, on the grounds stated in that letter, to his bishops, how to govern the Board of National Education as to their translation and notes of the Scriptures, could his injunctions be more explicitly followed?

"If the pope gave directions for the appointment of certain individuals who should most effectually abandon the interests of the Protestant cause, and effectually promote that of Popery, could he have more apposite instruments than are to be found in certain departmants of church and state?

"If the pope were to employ persons to sow dissensions among Protestants, and to give directions for making some of them tools in the hands of Popish demagogues, to merge their own interests and the interests of truth, in Popish schemes for the dismemberment of the empire, could the pope more effectually promote his own cause, and tie the Protestants of England, according to the image of that letter, more like foxes by the tails, with their heads pointing in different directions?

"Let the Protestants read that document, well worth possessing, though fictitious, for the talent it displays and the valuable information in the appendix, and let them make this one reflection:

"Here is a letter professing to be from the pope, which, if considered as genuine, gives such atrocious directions for the advancement of his interests, that I cannot suppose he can have a wish beyond it.

"But at the same time it so accurately details the events actually in

progress, that I cannot possibly believe it was written before it was accomplished.

"Would I revolt with horror from the thought that the pope was actually to issue orders for governing this land and am I to sit in listless indifference while his power actually subverts the institutions that maintain the Protestant religion, and hold the Word of God as the standard for the education of our country.

"I shall feel thankful, sir, if any attention can have been raised to consider this fact by any efforts of mine.

"I have the honour to be, your obedient servant,

"R. J. M.GHEE.

This letter was the signal for one universal volley of vituperation from the Popish and radical press, such as perhaps was seldom opened on any individual. The bull was denounced as an intentional and deliberate forgery on the part of Mr. Todd—the writer, as the utterer of this forgery, knowing it to be forged, and then aggravating his guilt by designating forgery as an " ingenious device." The Sun, The Globe, The Morning Chronicle, The Courier, all the Popish and proPopish London press, and all those of a similar character throughout the whole kingdom, teemed with articles day after day, and crowded into their columns every imaginable epithet of contempt, abuse, and indignation. They attempted naturally to drown all the evidence of facts adduced at the meeting, in the thunder of their clamour, and although there was not one word in any resolution passed at Exeter Hall even relating to the bull, they tried to make it appear, that this bull was the sum and substance of the subject brought before the public there—even Lord John Russell echoed their statements in the House of Commons. Not only were the Romish and radical party elated, but many Protestants were exceedingly depressed-they feared that the mistake into which the writer had fallen, would serve in a great degree to controvert all the evidence adduced on Dens and the Rhemish notes-they thought that the imprudence of the letter, and of calling the document an "ingenious device," had aggravated the evil, and the writer was left almost alone to face the storm of the Popish and radical press of the metropolis.