whatever may be the opinion of his Royal Highness upon it, his wishes must, I am confident, be favourable to the cause of the Roman Catholics? How many of them have been his companions in arms? What multitudes of them have fought and bled in the service of their king and country? His Royal Highness must know and feel, that his Majesty has no subjects more attached to his sacred person and government; and that, if the hour of danger should arrive (and the horizon is not without clouds that threaten it), there are none whose loyalty would be of greater value, or more to be depended on, than those sought to be relieved by the present bill. With the following historical fact, and one observation upon it, I shall close this discussion.

The chancellor Michel de l'Hôpital was the greatest magistrate whom the kingdom of France has produced. "By his conduct," says the President Hénault, "the "conduct of every succeeding magistrate has been

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always tried." By his counsels and exertions, peace was made between the Catholics and Calvinists, and the latter were admitted to the free exercise of their religious worship, and the full enjoyment of their civil rights. Some selfish leaders of the Calvinists could not conceal the vexation which this edict gave them. This single stroke of a pen," they said, "is the ruin "of more of our churches, than armies would have "destroyed in ten years." The English having taken the town of Havre, the king and queen mother proceeded in person to the siege, and the Chancellor accompanied them. They were received with acclamations of joy. On one occasion, the chancellor remarked to them the ardour and bravery of the troops in mounting a breach. "Which of them," he exclaimed to the monarch, are Catholics which are Protestants? "which are your bravest soldiers, your best subjects?

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"All are equally brave and good. This is the effect of "the edict, against which you are cautioned. See how "it re-unites the royal family, restores to us our

brothers, our relations, our friends, and leads us out "hand in hand against our enemy, and makes him feel "how respectable we are for our virtue and power when "united among ourselves!" Might not some friend of the Roman Catholics address his Royal Highness in these very terms? Favour then," might he not respectfully say to his Royal Highness, "the humble prayer of the Roman Catholics! Let not the penal "code, which yet remains in force against them, con"tinue to torment such meritorious subjects. Is not "our excellent constitution a system of comprehension "and humanity? Does it not prescribe, that the genius, the talents, the valour, the industry, and the " labour of all his Majesty's subjects, should have equal openings to exertions, equal shares of rewards? This and nothing but this, your Roman Catholic subjects petition for. This, and nothing but this, is granted "them by the present bill."

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CHARLES BUTLER.