226 The Dangers of England and Treland. [ Marcu, 
the foot of the image of that insulted Being who came on earth to incul- 
cate benevolence, and whose last command was that the scriptures should 
be promulgated to all mankind ! 
But the ministry have not waited for even the few weeks that may 
deposit the Constitution in their hands ; and one of them has been com- 
missioned to make the astonishing, but totally superfluous announcement, 
that he MUST BREAK IN UPON THE CONSTITUTION oF 1688. If he do, 
may he meet the fate that the act deserves. Another has been sent for 
from the land of his congenial papistry, to put the doctrine into shape, 
and to astound our ears by the monstrous conceptions that are ready 
for all emergencies in the brains of a place-hunting lawyer. For Lord 
Plunket we have long had the deepest scorn. This is the man whom 
Mr. Tierney, to his face, described as making the most degrading 
efforts to pick up some of the crumbs of office, ay, and’ well con- 
tent to be a dog under his master’s table for the purpose—as a “ ship in 
distress, roving about with anchor a-peak to find a snug harbour on 
either side to drop it in ;’—as pretending fear in order to palliate his 
meanness in acting the mendicant, and “ first taking a panic, and next 
taking—a place.” So much for this miserable old man, who, after pro- 
curing for himself a title—such are titles now—and saddling the country 
with his own provision, and that of his family, to the amount of sixteen 
thousand. pounds a year! comes over to get something else, and tell 
England that she knows nothing about her constitution—that the 
constitution is not exclusively protestant, and that the introduction of 
_popery is scarcely more than an easy and salutary return to the prin- 
ciples of English freedom ! 
We shall now give a short detail of what the Law of England says, 
and overthrow the time-serving lawyer. 
What was the actual nature of the Pope’s supremacy from which 
the Reformation delivered us? The ecclesiastical code of England and 
.of Europe once contained the following principles :— 
“ 1,—He that acknowledgeth not himself to be under the Bishop of 
Rome, and that the Bishop of Rome is ordained by God, to have pri- 
macy over all the world, is a heretic, and cannot be saved—nor is of the 
church of Christ. 
“© 2.—The Bishop of Rome hath authority to judge all men—but no © 
man hath authority to judge him, nor to meddle with any thing that he 
hath judged—neither emperor, king, people nor clergy. . And it is not 
lawful for any man to dispute his power! 
“ 3.—Prince’s laws, if they be against the canons and decrees of the 
Bishop of Rome, are of no force or strength. 
“4, All kings, bishops and noblemen, that suffer the Bishop of Rome’s 
decrees in any thing to be violated, are accursed, and for ever’ culpable 
before God as transgressors of the catholic faith. 
“ 5.—The Bishop of Rome may excommunicate emperors and prince 
depose them from their states, and assoil (absolve) their subjects fron 
their oath and obedience to them. 
“ 6.—He is no manslayer who slayeth a man that is excommunicated. 
“ 7.—The collation of all spiritual promotions appertaineth to Rome 
“ 8.—The Bishop of Rome may unite bishopricks, and put one un 
another at his pleasure. 
“9.—There can be no council of bishops without the authority of t 
-see of Rome. 
