entreat you, do not work, in the abused name of reform, the vengeance of a body which hates the church because it exists, which, the more excellent it is, will clamour the more loudly against it, and will never feel its rage abated until the object of its hatred has been rendered inefficient. Do not indulge this fell passion. Do not countenance the preposterous notion that Popery would reform the reformed religion. Encourage those who love your name, with an assurance that you are not regardless of their origin and their faith; and let the common enemy be warned, that he must not hope for your alliance in his persecutions of men whom you consider as united with you in the bonds and the brotherhood of pure and undefiled religion.

At a Meeting held in the Assembly Room in Bath,

on December 6, 1834.

The Lord Bishop of BATH and WELLS in the Chair.

MY LORD, I have to express to you, and to this great assembly, my deep regret that affairs of much importance have constrained the distinguished individual with whom I had been associated, to return suddenly to Ireland. I lament the loss which our cause must necessarily sustain by his absence, and the disappointment it must occasion here. I am painfully conscious that, in such an absence, my efforts cannot do justice to the case of the Protestants of Ireland, or afford you satisfaction; but I will not allow this feeling to incapacitate me from endeavouring, however imperfectly, to discharge my duty; and I will encourage a hope that, as the difficulty of my position is increased, you will regard my defects with more than ordinary indulgence.

When it was determined, by the Protestants in my country, to send a deputation to England, the resolution was, it may be said, extorted from them, by a sense of persecution and danger. They could not be blind to the repeated proofs that their interests and the public peace were not wisely consulted for by those who exercised legal rule over Ireland; and they saw, with increasing alarm, that in the same proportion as law became despised, and legislation capricious, and the government, apparently, more supine, purposes of alarming magnitude shewed themselves more openly in the avowals of those whose enterprises they had reason to dread-and crime was perpetrated with attendant circumstances, which betrayed more clearly the system to which it ministered. They saw that, in obedience to the dictation of an

K

individual, the pledged enemy to British connexion, a grievous wrong was attempted against their church; and they heard this prospering enemy declare that, had he succeeded to the extent of his demands this year, he would stand upon the present success, and demand next year a further concession. (A) They learned, that the disorganized and distracted state of their country was such as to compel from a reluctant ministry, an act having for its object to restrain disturbance, and prevent crime; and they saw that the irresponsible dictator was successful in mutilating the measure so as that faction should be free. They knew the inseparable connexion between agitation and outrage; and they felt that where an excitable people were denied protection against the influences of public meetings and passionate harangues, it was of no moment that, for a time, they were restrained from outward acts of violence. (B)

How could the Protestants of Ireland behold such a state of things and not complain of the evils they suffered, and the dangers they apprehended? They saw, that, from the policy of the government and the purposes of a large portion of the people, the permanency of a religious ministration was severely shaken; security for life and property seriously diminished; and the bonds of British connexion rendered more precarious and uncertain; and then, and not until then, when their existence was felt to have become a question, they determined that they would submit a statement of their wrongs to the people of England, and ask of you, shall these things be so?

Better hopes have risen upon them since they resolved upon this appeal. The King has rescued us and you from the domination of men whose measures would in the end have led to the separation of Ireland from this country. But still the Irish Protestants feel that upon you, under God, it must depend whether their hopes shall be confirmed. They know that our gracious Sovereign is resolved, to the utmost of his power, to protect the right. They believe that he will now have as his counsellors men who will not, in scorn of every thing that is honorable and just, advise injustice because they can uphold it, and it is clamorously demanded. They know, also, that with the people it

must rest whether the ancient name of England is maintained and righteousness respected; and, therefore, they are not less careful now to take your judgment on their case, than they were earnest to obtain your support when their condition seemed more disastrous.

And let it be premised, in justice to those who have sent me here, that they do not ask of you to connive at a single defect in the structure or the operation of any one of their institutions. They ask no more than the severest justice; they feel that they have never failed in truth or affection to you; but they are satisfied to await your decision on the merits of their cause alone, and the only expectation they ground on their approved fidelity and attachment is this, that when you have seen, if you do see, justice on their side, you will assert the impartial judgment you pronounce, with the resolution and energy which, in upholding an injured friend, is characteristic of your name and nation.

I do not know whether our statements have as yet come under your notice. With your permission I will endeavor to recapitulate briefly the substance of them; and I have the more boldness in submitting them for your judgment inasmuch as they have extorted from our adversaries personal taunts, but have not provoked them to undertake the less agreeable task of endeavoring to prove that they were unfounded. But previously to laying a statement of our case before you, it is fitting that I advert to a case which has been imagined for us in this city:-otherwise I should lie under the disadvantage of a witness, who, by his silence as to some questions, lessens the value of his testimony in the instance of those he answers.

The Bath Herald of Saturday last contains the following passage in reference to our deputation:-" We hope that, should the above named Rev. gentlemen visit this city in their progress of agitation, some individual will, for the public satisfaction, just put this question to them-' Do you, or do you not mean to uphold that system of church government in Ireland, as it is proved to exist in the above exposé?' We should be glad to have an explicit answer." I am willing, my Lord, to imagine the question proposed, and if the editor will allow me to change one word in

its form, will give him an explicit answer. The word is "proved," -let me substitute the word " alleged;" for no one part of this "exposé" has been proved, and I answer, on behalf of the Protestants of Ireland, that "we do not mean to uphold that system of church government as it is alleged to exist in the exposé,'" and further, I affirm, that there is no such system for us to uphold.

I beg your indulgence, my Lord, while stating in detail the grounds of this assertion. The charges advanced against the church establishment in Ireland, as alleged in the "exposé," to which I have requested your attention, are twofold. It is said that the revenues of the church are excessive, and their distribution unfair and injudicious. I shall beg leave to consider the justice of each of these accusations.

First, for the amount of revenue. The first item in the charge against the establishment is the amount of what is called "bishops' salaries," at six thousand pounds each, and in the total 132,000l. The real amount, as stated by Lord Brougham, in a debate on the church temporalities act, was then 128,000l., from which the following deductions are to be made, as you may read in Earl Grey's speech on the same occasion. Immediate reduction on bishopric of Derry, 4,160l., future reduction of the same bishopric, 2,000l.; future reduction of Armagh, 4,500l.; produce of ten bishoprics suppressed, 50,7801.; tax on those which remain, 4,6001. Adding these sums together it appears that a deduction of 66,0401. is to be made from the episcopal revenues, and that the amount with which the church is to be charged should be set down at 67,9607.; not, as alleged in the Bath Herald's "exposé," 132,000%. The second item is the amount of tithe, which is stated to be at the lowest possible estimate 625,000l. If the meaning be ecclesiastical tithe, parliament has made a lower, and the committee appointed to enquire into the tithe system, has set down the gross amount of ecclesiastical tithe as not exceeding 600,000%. This is also Mr. Littleton's statement; and from it is to be deducted the per centage allowed by Mr. Stanley's bill, and willingly conceded by the clergy, amounting to fifteen per cent., or on the entire tithe 90,000l.; so that for this item, instead of 625,000l., we may set down 510,000l. The third item is the re