more serious consequences to the world than MR. Dallas's supposed Conspiracy against the Jesuits: under the strong conviction of impending danger, he called upon the French King to assist him in stemming a torrent which menaced the destruction of whatever had till then been held sacred among men. This Brief was preceded by a Circular Letter to the Clergy of France, having the same object: is it probable is it possible, that with such views, that very Pope should in a few years after he had dispatched such a Brief and Letter, have issued the Edict for the suppression of the Jesuits, if the ruin of the Church, which he so anxiously desired to save, was likely to have been either occasioned or accelerated by that measure? A more unfortunate anachronism was, perhaps, never committed, than when MR. DALLAS imagined that the Suppression of the Order of Jesuits preceded the appearance of Infidelity; and ergo, that the suppression in question produced such Infidelity. MR. DALLAS should at least have endeavoured to be correct in his dates, if not in his facts.

In the same spirit, and with a similar object, we find Mr. DALLAS conducting his argument upon THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION IN EDUCATION, from p. 244 to p. 257.

The fallacy apparent throughout this statement is, that MR. DALLAS assumes from the outset, first, that Religion formed the great character of Education among the Jesuits; and, secondly, that all Religious Education ceased with the suppression of the Order.

The answer to these allegations has been already given; but it may be observed further in this place, that the religion of which MR. DALLAS draws so alluring a portrait is not likely to captivate any persons who will only be at the trouble of examining the difference between the Religion of the Re formation, which they themselves profess, and the Religion of Popery, which MR. DALLAS virtually advocates throughout his work: much less will the portrait exhibited by Mr. DalLAS be likely to win the affections of such Protestants as consider that the Religion of the Jesuits was decidedly of a lower

standard than that of Popery itself; insomuch that they who were best acquainted with the Romish faith, and most attached to it, not only asserted, for two Centuries, that Jesuitism was something else than Christianity, but abundantly established their position by the best reasoning, and the keenest ridicule. It follows, therefore, that the Religious Education of the Jesuits was not quite so estimable a thing in itself as Mr. DALLAS would represent it; and with regard to his declaration, that the destruction of the Jesuits was the destruction of Education in Catholic Countries, it may be observed, that the failure of Education in those Countries can no more be attributed to the suppression of the Order of Jesuits than the failure of Religion can be referred to the same cause. It was, indeed, among the awful consequences of the French Revolu tion (as MR. BURKE predicted would be the case), that "learning" was "soon trodden under the feet of a swinish "multitude:" but to contend, on that account, that the suppression of the Jesuits occasioned the suppression of learning, is no nearer to the truth than to contend that their suppression led to the suppression of Religion itself, of Monarchy, and of established order; all which bowed under the action of a far superior force, and owed their misfortunes to a very different cause. It is, however, the less necessary to enter farther into this question, since it has already been so largely considered.

Some remarks of MR. DALLAS in treating it require, however, a brief attention; namely, those in which he supposes (p. 248), that even in England (although the Jesuits have not been suppressed here) we are also educating our population without Religion, as they did in Catholic Countries, in consequence of the suppression of the Jesuits! He affirms on this head, that "there is in this country a system in full "operation, and patronized by some of the first characters of "the State, by which a very large portion of the people will,

in a few years, consist of persons able to read, write, and "keep accounts, who will have no knowledge, or an erroneous

one, of the Duties and Sanctions of Religion, and whose "morality will consequently be dependent upon their reason"ing faculties:" and he adds, "I am very much mistaken "if those faculties will not lead to similar conceptions and si"milar effects as those produced by the reasoning faculties of "1788 and 1789."

In this prognostication we have MR. DALLAS's fears upon the absence of Religion in the Education of the English poor, and we find, that although he can view unmoved the certain, and, perhaps, not very distant, consequences of the Establishment of Jesuits in England, he is tremblingly alive to the consequences of our not possessing such a perfect system of religious Education as the Jesuits could furnish us with! This sentiment, although not avowed in express terms, is evidently the scope of Mr. DALLAS's observations respecting the want of Religion in our Education.

With regard to the correctness of his assumption, that "RELIGION" is thus neglected in the education of our poor, it has no more foundation in fact than the many other erroneous assertions which have been already disposed of. In such of our Schools as are connected with the Establishment (and these are now spread over the whole kingdom), an avowed and marked attention is paid to the inculcation of religious and moral principles: in by far the greater number of those Schools which are conducted by Dissenters from the Establishment, no less attention is paid to the formation of religious and moral sentiments; and even in those Schools (comparatively few, indeed), which are conducted by particular classes of Dissenters, who are, perhaps, less attentive to any precise formulary in their mode of worship, still Religion is by no means forgotten; nor, perhaps, is there a single School (except those of the Catholics), whether under the government of Churchmen or Dissenters, in which the SCRIPTURES are omitted to be used by every class *.

*It is a fact which cannot be controverted, that both in Ireland and England the Holy Scriptures are wholly excluded by the Catholic

Now, while this is the case, no man has a right to complain that "Religion" is left out of Education-although, perhaps, the whole of that Education may not be conducted

Priests from every school where they have any control over the system of education. The Reports of the Hibernian Society demonstrate, that some of the Irish Bishops have traversed their dioceses, on purpose to denounce those schools as "nefarious, and abominable," where "spelling-books and the Scriptures alone were taught." The following copy of an Affidavit will illustrate this remark:

4

County of Sligo, to wit.-JOHN CAVANAUGH and MARTIN GOR"DON, both of the parish of Killglass, in the barony of Tyreragh and "county of Sligo, for the Hibernian Society Schools (teachers), came "before me this day, and voluntarily made oath on the Holy Evan"gelists; and said, that on Sunday, the 31st of March last, the Rev. "Dominick Bellew, Titular Bishop of Killala, came to the chapel of "the said parish of Killglass, accompanied by the Rev. James Haran, "parish Priest of Castle-connor; and that the said Haran said, that "the Societies' Schools were poisonous and pernicious baits, thrown έσ out in order to seduce the children, and to take them from the paths ❝of Heaven to the eternal pains of Hell: that on the said day, the "above Bishop, in the said chapel, said, that if he (the said Bishop) "had any of the Societies' books, he would tear them and trample "them under his feet: for he would suffer but a few to READ HIS “ own Bible, and much less the PROTESTANT BIBLE, because it leads "them into a thousand errors. He (the said Bishop) asked William "Atkinson and John Hart, both teachers in said parish, if they quitted teaching those schools? They said they did quit, upon the prohibi❝tion of the said Haran. And (the Deponents) could say much "more: but the above are the heads of their depositions, in conse66 quence of which Deponents lost their schools.

"Sworn before me, this 11th

"day of April, 1811.

"JOHN CAVANAUGH and MARTIN GORDON."

b}

ROBERT HILLAS.

Abundant evidence is accumulated on this subject in the late “ Correspondence on the Roman Catholic Bible Society," printed for L. B. Seeley, of Fleet Street, 1813; but the exclusion of Scriptural Religion from Popish Seminaries is still further, and more strikingly, shewn in the Annual Reports of the "Irish Catholic Schools," of St. Giles's, London. See also the "Regula Indicis Synodi Tridentina."

It is a notorious fact, likewise, that the British system of edu

precisely in the way which he might wish. A member of the Establishment, for instance, might, perhaps, desire that the Church Catechism should be used by the Dissenter; a Dissenter, on the contrary, might prefer the Assembly's Cate chism; and some classes of Dissenters might reject them both but still, so long as the BIBLE is used in all, the patrons of the Jesuits, and the admirers of their system of Education, have no right to assert that Religion is neglected in educating our population. The Jesuits, whatever they might place in the hands of the Poor, would assuredly deny them the Bible, as most at war with their whole system of darkness and error: it is a book which they can never love, since it testifies of them that their deeds are evil; nor can they ever permit it to be read or studied by the mass of the population: their Defenders love it no better, and can as little endure the thought of its being placed in the hands of the Poor, or generally circulated throughout the country; hence MR. DALLAS says (and it is to be hoped that this avowal will not be lost upon Englishmen and Protestants), " Nor without previous oral "instruction should the Bible itself be put into the hands of "readers, whether children or ignorant adults. BIBLE SO

66

CIETIES, consisting, beyond all doubt, of pious men, will "diffuse good or evil over the world, according to the pru"dence with which the Sacred Volumes are distributed."

All this reasoning is in strict conformity with the views of the Holy Roman Church, which, from the beginning of her Secular history, PROHIBITED THE Bible, and persecuted its ADMIRERS; nor are the views which were formerly entertained by the members of that Church, as to the danger of the

cation, lately introduced in France, has excited the jealousy of the Catholic Clergy and at their instigation the King has publicly decreed, "that the Catholic, Apostolical, and Roman Religion should be taught in "the new Schools, TO THE EXCLUSION OF EVERY OTHER."-See the Decree recently quoted, and the Remarks upon it in the Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1816, p. 363.