mass of the people is to be conveyed." Such is the real nature of this question-a question now acknowledged as too important to be trifled with. I know the illiberal observations to which I thus expose myself; but in the path of duty, far from shrinking back on account of the difficulties it may oppose, and more desirous to follow, through Divine assistance, what in my conscience I believe to be right, than to escape the odium to be incurred by doing so, they are a meed I would rather covet than avoid, with the Roman orator" invidiam virtute partam, gloriam, non invidiam putarem.' Let it be proved and demonstrated that the noxious principles and doctrines herein contained or referred to are not to be found in the books from which they are cited or to which reference is made, or that those books are not returned as the class-books and books of authority as used, studied, or referred to at Maynooth College, for the education of the Roman Catholic priesthood of Ireland, — and I will readily admit myself to have been in error, and most unfeignedly ask pardon of any individual man, or any body of men, who may so think themselves to have been calumniated and abused. But this cannot be done; and the inquirer, unwillingly convinced, is irresistibly driven back and fixed to the painful conclusion that these books are of authority in that college; that they contain the noxious and dangerous passages hereinafter cited from them; that the Romish priesthood of Ireland are taught and trained in them; and that, imbued with the principles of a morality so impure, and a theology so profane, they go forth from that seminary, throughout the British empire, propagating those principles in which they are deeply rooted,-principles subversive of the established institutions of the country,—and accomplishing their work of demolition the more effectually because proceeding under the garb, the sanction, and authority of religion. Oh! solemn mockery of that sacred name! Religion was designed to sweeten the bitter waters of this life, by bringing in the blessedness of another world to alleviate the sorrows of the present; but these misguided men— like "blind leaders of the blind" - pervert the means defeat the end; making religion the engine of their tyranny; depriving their unhappy victims of those blessings it should confer upon them here, and leading them away from an entire reliance upon the sinner's only hope of happiness hereafter. Wretched state of society indeed, when that which should prove the antidote becomes the bane, and religion - false and perverted is made the source of those evils which it is her sole prerogative to cure! a * On this occasion, in consequence of notice of motion given by Mr. THE MAYNOOTH COLLEGE GRANT. observations. Ir may be thought, by some, that enough has Introductory been said upon the subject of the Roman Catholic College of Maynooth, to render such a treatise as the present needless and uncalled for; nor, indeed, would it have been undertaken, if the charge against that college had been disproved, or the annual support from parliament discontinued. Inasmuch, however, as that charge has met with no refutation, and no withdrawal of the grant has taken place, the two great causes which first elicited observation still continue to demand it; and must plead as an apology with the public should any be required for the present attempt to bring more fully under their consideration the true position of the question. Its importance, with reference to the state of Ireland, is becoming daily more apparent; and the charges made must be disproved, the abuses complained of reformed; or an enlightened and B Christian people will no longer assent to its continued support from the public funds. Endeavours may still be made to mystify the question, and to avoid those results which may be anticipated as the almost necessary consequences of investigation. But it is felt, now, that inquiry can no longer be eluded; the attention of the public is too much aroused to the enormities of that system; and when fully informed as to the motives which led to the grant in the first instance—the terms upon which it was made-the great evils it has tended to produce-the total failure which has followed upon the experiment-and the yet worse consequences to be apprehended, if they tacitly assent to the continuance of what they perceive to be notoriously and manifestly wrong, -there will be one unanimous voice deprecating a continuation not only of that grant, but all participation in the guilt of producing those evils, which that institution tends to foster and promote. There are causes that exist in communities unnoticed by those whose peculiar province it may be to detect, to expose, and to counteract them; they may have continued long, and silently in operation, producing their natural effects unknown or unobserved - and thus not deriving upon a nation, a government, or an individual, the same degree of guilt, as when, the evil being detected, and the cause pointed out, it is still from some motive of expediency permitted |