236 THE IRISH CHURCH. 



testants ; whilst it is notorious that Catholics, fairly treated, are hu- 

 manely disposed towards their heretical fellow-subjects, we are bound 

 to allow them the entire prejudices of their system. Thus, the main- 

 tenance of a Protestant ascendancy amongst the Irish must be allowed 

 to be a far greater grievance than any which English dissenters can 

 allege against our national church. The Protestant principle is 

 wholly inadmissible by the Catholic church : we English are bound 

 to respect the maintenance of this uncompromising theoretic hostility, 

 and must, for consistency sake, be inclined to concede much more to the 

 Catholics than to any religious sect which is, like our own, based upon 

 the Protestant principle. 



Fifthly. If a government aim at sincere obedience, and ready co- 

 operation with its policy and enactments, it must not merely bear in 

 view what it may deem expedient for the whole empire, as regards 

 external interests, but it must be guided also by a strict principle of 

 impartiality towards its own subjects. Occasionally, no doubt, cir- 

 cumstances may occur to require greater sacrifices from one portion 

 of an empire than another. Such temporary and unavoidable evils 

 always bring their own apology with them, and never excite dis- 

 satisfaction against a government ; for the much-abused people are 

 always generously disposed towards rulers, whose general spirit they 

 believe to be considerate towards them. But strict impartiality must 

 be the rule of the governing power, else it will not be obeyed by 

 freemen as soon as they can shake off its authority. The justice of 

 this reasoning being, it is presumed, indisputable, it follows that 

 the privileges enjoyed by the Church of Scotland justify the Irish 

 Catholics in feeling the more aggrieved, and oblige us to indulge 

 them, as nearly as possible, to the same extent. 



Before the Catholic disabilities were removed by parliament, and, 

 whilst the " laws " stigmatized the Irish Catholics as men of mere pre- 

 cedent and statute, the classical politicians had some excuse for 

 deeming the Irish case too anomalous for regular treatment. But, 

 now that the constitution has dubbed our Catholic brethren trust- 

 worthy, with but one or two exceptions in " civil" matters, it be- 

 comes our paramount duty to apply this spirit of impartiality to 

 "ecclesiastical" affairs also, to the utmost extent compatible with the 

 Protestant principle and Protestant jealousy of our national consti- 

 tution. It is indeed painful for a generous mind to recognize the 

 political necessity which really does exist of maintaining the Pro- 

 testant principle of the constitution in Ireland. So much gratuitous 

 tyranny and gross selfishness has Protestantism been guilty of towards 

 the Irish, that an enlightened Protestant, knowing it to be impossible 

 for the Catholic or any other religious system again to uphold " divine 

 right" in prejudice to " civil liberty," would fain erase the Protestant 

 provisions from the constitution. 



There is not in reality the least reason why the Catholic church 

 should not, in the present age, be as completely established in Ireland 

 as Presbyterianism in Scotland, if we look to the spirit of the con- 

 stitution instead of the letter ; for it is an indisputable and most 

 important truth, that the constitution does not meddle with religion 



