With plenary deference, then, and under theological correction, I affirm, that his Holiness can no more shake off, abandon, or neglect the awful duty imposed upon him by the divine founder of the church, of feeding, teaching, and governing the whole flock of Christ (feed my lambs, feed my sheep), than he can assume and exercise a sove

from Rome to Constantinople, the supremacy of the Church of Rome and her privileges had also passed to the Church of Constantinople: and who assembled a council there, in which he passed sentence of deposition against Pope Nicholas, and excommunicated all, who should communicate with him.— Thus did Gaschet (it is to be wished he were not seconded by a turbulent gang of schismatics,) « affirm it to be blasphemy to << pronounce the name of the Pope in the canon of the mass, << denying, that the Pope is in the church or in communion « with it: he appealed to the tribunal of the universal church againsi the Pope and his Bishop. Rejecting the communion « of Pius VII. and declaring him to be a false Pope, who had <«<lost all authority and dignity in the church, and that the << Pope was therefore to him as a heathen or publican.»— Hist. Let. to Columbanus, p. 7). Under the circumstances of Photius' anti-papal fury, his Holiness (Nicholas I.) wrote thus to the Fathers of the Gallican Church assembled at Troies in 867, « Before we had sent our legates to them, they (meaning the « Greeks) covered us with praise, and supported the high au<«<thority of our See; but since we have condemned their ex«< cesses, they hold another language, and overwhelm us with reproaches and (thanks be to God,) not having found any << thing personal to fasten upon us, they have betake them« selves to attack the traditions of our fathers, which their « predecessors never durst_attack.» The Historian Fleury says of Photius, that « he was the greatest and most learned man of his age: he was a complete hypocrite, in action a profligate villain, in language a saint.»> C'étoit un parfait hypocrite, agissant en scelerat, parlant en saint. The Irish Bishops in national synod on the 18th of November, 1812, resolved not to give faculties to any priest holding the Pope to be an heretic or a sysmatic, or the abettor of heresy or schism. And on the 29th of December, 1812, your instructor Mr. Butler assured you, That there was not the least necessity for it. (Hist. Let. p. 54).

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reignty or supremacy over temporal or civil matters, and over temporal or civil powers.

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Be not led astray, Sir John, by any of your instructors, to believe, that we Roman Catholics, who submit to a plenitude of jurisdictional supre macy in the Chief Bishop of the Christian Church, cannot prove our reasonable service. We submit not blindly to every deed, instrument, or rescript, which comes from Rome. The object of it must be purely spiritual, and the tendency of it must be within the range of his Holiness' rights and duties. It is the right and duty of the flocks to make these previous enquiries, before they submit. Never, I believe, did a rescript issue from Rome, which carried upon the face of it so much mistrust, suspicion and jealousy, as that of Monsignor J. B. Quarantotti. It purports, in fact, to be the execution by a sub-deputy of such extraordinary and extravagant a power, that the most obsequious devotee to his Holiness cannot forbear considering incompatible with his high vicarial duties. The person, who undertakes to execute this very special commission or power, requests Dr. Poynter, to whom it is addressed, to cause it to be « communicated to all the Bishops and Apostolical Vicars in the kingdom, and trusting, that they will promptly and entirely conform themselves to these things, which from the power vested in us have been decreed.»

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Now it must be remembered, that the only Bishops of the kingdom, upon whom this decree was to be served, were the Irish Bishops. And they had in national synod on the 24th of February 1810, amongst other things resolved, That the

spirit of fellow-suffering with the afflicted Church « of Christ, and of abhorrence of the misdeed, by << which the salutary function of the Papal See has << been intercepted, through open violence against

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<< the meekest of men, as well as the sentiment of duty, fraternity, and reverence, towards our guiltless Brother and Spiritual Chief, forbid us to take up as spoils, any part of the right of the Apostolic See so invaded, violated, and trodden «<down for a time by sacrilege.» And on the same day they circulated an enciclical letter to the Roman Catholic Churches, by which they judged, concluded, and declared, that during the captivity of his Holiness, they refuse, send back, and reprobate, and for themselves they annul and cancel, as to any effect, all briefs, or intended briefs, bulls, or pretended bulls, rescripts even as of his own proper motion, and certain knowledge, bearing title as from his said Holiness, and purporting to be declaratory as from his free, or of any resignation of the Papal Office, etc. Now is it to be conceived, after this cautionary firmness of the Irish Bishops, not to be surprised with any act even signed by their captive Sovereign Pontiff, that they should not call for and scrutinize with the most punctilious jealousy, the Papal grant of a power or special commission, during his captivity, to a subdeputy to exercise larger and more extraordinary powers, than any Sovereign Pontiff had ever executed in person.

As the rescript has in fact issued, it carries on the face of it, its whole credit and authority; and that goes not beyond the bare word of Monsignor J. B. Quarantotti, with numerous references to facts, circumstances, and documents, to which the persons called upon promptly and entirely to conform themselves to these things, can have no access. In the first place, his investiture with full pontifical powers is kept out of sight; no date, no place, no deed, no specification to lead to the knowledge of the fact. În the next place, the Relief Bill, upon

the clauses of which, so much of the rescript is built, is now a non-entity; it is no where recorded, no where to be had, and of no sort of authority if procured. Then again the letters of Dr. Troy and of Dr. Poynter, written to the Propaganda, are to be seen by no one, if they have existence. And lastly, how are the Irish Bishops to learn the points, upon which the most learned prelates and divines were consulted? And if known, of what binding quality upon them are their opinions? Neither then the Bishops, nor their Clergy, nor the Laity, can be bounden to yield canonical obedience to any special command or mandate of his Holiness, which is not specifically set forth on the face of the decree, or referred to in such a manner, as that each person liable to the decree may acquire the certain and full knowledge of the pontifical act, which created the special commission to be executed. Here another difficulty occurs, which calls upon Monsignor J. B. Quarantotti to make out his own title, as a special exception to the general rule delegatus non delegat. The rescript ought to be resisted in the first instance, if it be not the act of the Holy See. Nothing can clothe it with that quality, short of a special and most extraordinary commission given by the Pope to Monsignor J. B. Quarantotti, to do what he has attempted, or pretended to effect by the rescript The first presumption is, that his Holiness gave none such; or it would have been, as it ought to be, specially set forth on the face of the deed or instrument, by which the power is affected to be executed. The next and much stronger presumption is, that his Holiness never gave, or intended to give powers to another, which he could not exercise himself. Such affect, all that par of the rescript, which purports to decree what is clearly of a civil or temporal

nature, which goes to controul and direct the political rights and conduct of his Majesty's subjects within the United Kingdom, and which assumes to impart or allow a toleration to the Civil Magistrate in things within his competency. A further presumption is, that his Holiness enabled no one, during his captivity, to make concessions on the part of the Holy See, which to a simple layman appear to break in upon the prime duty of Christ's Vicar, of filling the vacancies of the dispersed churches with See-worthy Prelates. To speak plainly, if this rescript be binding in those matters, which are of the competency of the spiritual power to settle, it amounts to a full concordatum between the Sovereign Pontiff and his Majesty for the nomination of Bishops by an Acatholic Prince, who gives no civil establishment to the Catholic Religion, and who cannot therefore set up on that ground any civil right of nomination or presentation. The British Monarch, as the law now stands, is sworn at his coronation to govern according to law. Numerous laws exist in Great Britain and Ireland, which render the profession and exercise of the Catholic religion criminal and punishable; and others for checking the growth of Popery, and encouraging and rewarding the renunciation of what are called its errors. The Monarch must then be considered a sworn enemy to the Catholic religion, as long, as the present laws and coronation oath exist. The obvious effect therefore of royal nomination, admitti vel rejici a Rege possunt, will be the appointment of such Prelates, as would weaken, let down, and extinguish the Catholic religion, and the rejection of such, as would strengthen, encourage, and propagate it. it. Who does not see, how pointedly the sworn duties of the Monarch, as the