measures of offence against the law of the land, which enforces the State conscience. The Dissenter may refuse to burn his incense, but he has no right to break the altar, and thereby disable others from sacrificing. While he asserts his own liberty, let him respect the liberty of others. This I believe to be one of the severest trials imposed on earnest believers, but it is one that no Government can be reproached for imposing. I rejoice that I am at liberty to lay aside some remarks which I had made on the Bull, because no one defends it; yet I may be allowed an observation on a most extraordinary argument used by the most plausible and ingenious, as well as able, of these Unitarian ministers. We have, says Mr. Thom, no right to be "violent and angry," because, though the Roman Church has done this act "in an arrogant and offensive way," that springs "not from the wilful insolence of her temper, but the necessity of her first principles"! Be it so; we will for the nonce forego the right to be angry, and calmly say that we too have first principles which do not permit us to submit to the offence and arrogance of the Papal Government. It is elsewhere said in the same discourse, that this arrogance is in the very spirit and conception of the Romish religion, and cannot be separated from her without removing her essence and destroying her life. "It is quite out of date to complain of it now, as if it was a new offence." This is true; but it is never out of date to adopt measures of precaution and to protect ourselves against it. This Mr. Thom will not deny. Indeed, no one of these gentlemen wishes for the success of the Pope, and they are not without hope that, after all, the Anglican Church may escape. There is, they say, but one way of successfully resisting the Church of Rome. If you continue as you are, you must be crushed. Reformation is necessary. Far from me any wish to weaken the force of any exhortation to the Church to reform; but if, in spite of all exhortations, she will not, I will not therefore sacrifice the nation to her obstinacy, and give any aid in the attempt to set up and establish the Church of Rome in England as a rival body. Least of all would I impose it as a condition of my giving such aid as I could to the National Church, that she should become rational and Unitarian. I have heard intelligent Unitarians say, there is no consistent scheme between Romanism and our Church. This I do not deny; but there are in fact many other schemes which are practically less mischievous, and that even because of their inconsistency. One passage from Mr. Thom's concluding page I will copy, that this paper may at least have a sentence that may be read again and again with pleasure: "I hope that the lesson of this time.... will be in the direction of that true and primitive Protestantism which seeks salvation through the heart's trust in a holy and regenerating Love;.... which sets aside the debateable letter of all creeds, to enthrone the indubitable spirit of Christ; which deposes all pretensions to Authority or Infallibility as alike evil and dangerous; which substitutes an attainable unity of affection for an unattainable and undesirable unity of thought," &c. But, beautiful as this is, I must nevertheless earnestly protest against the final words which terminate the discourse-" Therefore, let them alone." This leads me to the last topic on which I shall venture to address you, and that is the insensibility to the danger arising from this Papal movement. This, I confess, seems to me to partake of what the pious have called a judicial blindness. If you reply to this by treating my fears as belonging to the cowardice incident to old age, I cannot be offended; I should be thankful to any one who could convince me of this. This crafty measure of the Pope, which emanates probably from Paris, places the steersmen of the State between Scylla and Charybdis. On the one hand, the resistance must be so prudent and discriminating as to afford no pretext for the cry of persecution; and as nothing actually given and enjoyed can be safely withdrawn, Ireland must be left as it is. Believing, with Dr. Arnold, that Ireland was entitled to have the Church of her people established, I would exempt that country from all the enactments of whatever law may be passed. For, on the other hand, this Papal Bull must, as it easily can, be denied public execution in this country; otherwise the impetus given to Romanist pretensions will be of irresistible force. This is not perceived by any one of our Unitarian friends; and instead of fear, I observe only contempt. One Rev. gentleman delighted his audience by "the most supreme contempt" for the Pope. It occurred to me that this despised man probably counts more millions among his devoted " subjects," than this gentleman has scores of hearers in his chapel. I hope he also despises the Emperor Nicholas, and did despise the "petit Caporal Napoleon," and would have despised in their day Attila and Genghis Khan, and, were he a hunter in the wilderness, would despise the rattle-snake and the tiger. That individuals should utter such sentiments is of no consequence, but that such sayings should be applauded affords a sad measure of the popular understanding. I do not presume to say, what none but a lawyer could dictate, what precise measure of prohibition the Government should adopt. I rejoice to find that the Duke of Norfolk has adopted the wise declaration of Lord Beaumont, who with admirable propriety has asserted the important difference between appointing a Bishop to rule over the Romanists dwelling within a given district, and erecting Sees within her Majesty's dominions; which these Catholic Peers acknowledge to be an insolence to which the Queen of England ought not to submit, but which our Unitarian friends consider as a subject too insignificant to be worth the consideration of a wise man. What's in a name? The wisest of all poets has with admirable propriety put this question into the mouth of the love-sick Juliet. But I cannot compliment our reverend friends for the adoption of it. I cannot set a limit to the influence which names and all the other appendages of power have on the imaginations and consequently the opinions of men. He only can be ignorant of this who sees no difference between granting liberty to the Roman Catholic and allowing the Pope local jurisdiction in the land. As the Government, in the most just exercise of its sovereign authority, may prohibit the assumption of the name, so it may prohibit penally the recognition of it by others. A penalty is imposed on newspapers which advertise lotteries or other illegal acts; a like penalty might be imposed in this case. The Post-office distributors might be ordered not to convey any letter bearing a titular direction, &c. In the progress of this measure of State resistance I shall not be deterred from taking a part because I perceive that I am acting to the same end with others who are under influences to which I am not ex posed. I shall be anxious only not to be diverted from the pressing object by other considerations. I shall rejoice if, when this prohibition has been successfully carried through, it be followed by a reform in the Church; but I would not impose that as a condition. And I hope that there will be on the part of the nation so strong a sense of the emergency, that they will not suffer any measure to be thwarted to answer party purposes in Parliament. Mr. Hume has made a notable discovery,- that Lord John Russell's letter is a cunning contrivance in order to prevent Mr. Hume's carrying his threatened motion for a further Parliamentary reform! This is really pleasant. It is the only comic feature in the case. That in Parliament this will be mixed up with party questions is certain; but the reasonable men will be willing to postpone deciding who are most to blame in this business, the Puseyites or the Government. Let them but agree in this, that whoever has promoted the measure is culpable, I am content for the present; as I am, to leave till this great evil is averted, all other matters undetermined. Least of all do I care for the effect which the forthcoming discussion will have on the character of the Ministry. I willingly leave Lord John Russell to defend his personal consistency as well as he can. I rejoice in his letter as a pledge that cannot well be abandoned. Equally indifferent am I to the argument, borrowed by Mr. Thom and others from Dr. Wiseman,— You cannot now prohibit this act without acting inconsistently with your former forbearance. N'importe; we will be inconsistent. I should not hesitate to advise the Ministry, if pressed, to plead guilty to the charge. There is no offence for which so slight a penance is imposed, as that which is evidenced by a coming over to our own opinions; as there is no character more cherished than the convert, though every convert is of necessity an apostate in other eyes, and, as such, in correspondent measure hated and despised. But I break off; not that the subject is exhausted, but because I am sensible of having already put your good-nature to too severe a trial. Before you will have to exercise your patience on these rambling suggestions, the anxiety which we must both, I think, feel, will be to a degree removed, for the intentions of the Ministry will be ascertained. May they be such as the national honour and the protection of its spiritual and temporal rights require; if not, may they be corrected by the national sense! H. C. R. LINES TO A SLEEPING INFANT. BABY! on thy mother's breast Diss. Dreamlet, lovelet,-all thou art- Stainless as the summer fountain! Weak-how weak !—a touch might wound thee,— Soon-too soon-thou must awaken, To seek thy heaven through toils and tears: S. F. M. ORIGINAL LETTERS OF THE LATE DR. PARR TO DR. HOLME, OF MANCHESTER. [We have received permission to print the following highly characteristic letters of Dr. Parr. They are not, except the signature and few preceding words, in the Doctor's handwriting, but in that of three scribes who appear to have written from the Doctor's dictation. In some cases their errors in the names of persons seem to have been corrected by Dr. Parr. Others, known to us to be errors, we have corrected.-Dr. John Johnstone, in his edition of the Works of Dr. Parr (VII. 605), lamented that he had been unable to extract from Dr. Holme any account of his correspondence and connection with Dr. Parr. We are able only in part to supply the deficiency lamented by Dr. Johnstone. Of the other letters of Dr. Parr to Dr. Holme, some are missing and others are unsuitable for publication. A few notes, illustrative of some of the persons and places named, are added.—ED. C. R.] [This letter is without date, nor does the post-mark (Warwick) supply the deficiency; but from internal evidence supplied by the letter when compared with Dr. Parr's printed correspondence (Works, VII. 615, 616), there is good reason for assigning it to May or June, 1805.] Dear Sir, After the instances of insidious and mischievous diplomacy which occurred some time ago in my neighbourhood, after your neglect of the long, confidential and friendly letter in which I acknowledged your civilities and kindnesses to me, and after the sight of a date from Turton and a post-mark from Bolton, I could be at no loss to account for the alteration of mind and of language which was deliberately introduced into the paper which you wrote to me last December.* But while I lament the alienation of your good-will, I shall not follow your example, for I never can cease to remember, or remembering to estimate highly, your talents, your attainments and your honourable principles. I shall always take a lively interest in your happiness, and always rejoice in the opportunities afforded me for doing prompt and plenary justice to your distinguished merit. Upon every account it would ill become me to indulge any curiosity, or express any anxiety, about the possible sources of that change which you have experienced. But when I compare the keenness of your general discernment, with the instability of your particular attachment to myself, I cannot help reflecting, and entreating you to reflect, upon the very strong facts which you communicated, and the very pointed observations which you made, upon the trickeries and the subtleties, the restlessness and the lubri city, the specious exterior and the hollow interior, of one whom it is needless for me to name. Every instinct of self-preservation and every feeling of self-respect will determine me to stand aloof from that person, and the future accumulation of interests may rouse me to measures which the most skilful veteran in stratagem and falsehood may be unable to baffle. Well, dear Sir, I am glad that you and I Whatever had been the occasion for the temporary alienation between Dr. Parr and Dr. Holme, it was entirely removed, for in the December following we find Dr. Holme welcoming Dr. Parr as a guest at Manchester, and assuring him of his respect in the following terms:-"I shall be able, I hope, to convince you when we meet, that, however flagrant my offences as a correspondent have been, they have not proceeded from a deficiency of veneration for your talents, of esteem for your virtues, or of gratitude for the numerous and kind attentions you have been pleased to shew me."-Works of Dr. Parr, VII. 606. |