350 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



probation ; on this account we 

 deem it a duty wliicb we owe to 

 you, to our country, and to God, 

 to declare in the most public man- 

 ner, " that they have not, and 

 that in their present shape they 

 never can have, our concurrence." 

 As, however, we have, upon ail 

 occasions, inculcated the duty of 

 loyalty to our most gracious so- 

 vereign (the securing whereof, is 

 the professed object of the pro- 

 posed ecclesiastical arrangements ) , 

 so we would be always desirous 

 to give you the most convincing 

 proofs, that we are ready, in the 

 most exemplary manner, to prac- 

 tise it ourselves. We have sworn 

 to preserve inviolate the allegiance 

 which every subject owes to his 

 sovereign— we are not accused of 

 having violated our oaths. 



Should any other oath, not ad- 

 verse to our rehgious principles, be 

 yet devised, which could remove 

 even the unfounded apprehensions 

 of any part of our countrymen, we 

 would willingly take it. We owe 

 it to our God, to be free from dis- 

 loyalty. We owe it to our country- 

 men, to endeavour, at least, to be 

 free from suspicion. 



Upon these grounds, reverend 

 brothers, beloved children, we an- 

 nounce to you the following reso- 

 lutions, which, after invoking the 

 light and assistance of God, wehave 

 unanimously adopted, viz. 



1. That having seriously exa- 

 mined a copy of the Bill, lately 

 brought into parliament, purport- 

 ing to provide for ihe removal of 

 the civil and military disqualifica- 

 tions under which his majesty's 

 Roman Catholic subjects labour, 

 we feel ourselves bound to declare, 

 tiiat certain ecclesiastical clauses or 

 securities therein contained are ut- 

 terly incompatible with the dis- 



cipline of the Roman Catholic 

 church, and with the free exer- 

 cise of our religion. 



2. That we cannot, without in- 

 curring the heavy guilt of schism, 

 accede to such regulations : nor can 

 we dissemble our dismay and con- 

 sternation at the consequences 

 which such regulations, if enforced, 

 must necessarily produce. 



3. That we would, with the ut- 

 most willingness, swear (should the 

 legislature require us so to do), 

 that we never will concur in the 

 appointment or consecration of any 

 bishop, whom we do not conscien- 

 tiously believe to be of unimpeach- 

 able loyalty and peaceable con- 

 duct ; and further, " that we have 

 not, and that we will not have, 

 any correspondence orcommunica- 

 tion with the Chief Pastor of our 

 church, or with any person autho- 

 rised to act in his name, for the pur- 

 pose of overthrowing or disturbing 

 the Protestant government, or the 

 Protestant church of Great Bri- 

 tain and Ireland, or the Protestant 

 church of Scotland, as by law 

 established." 



Reverend Brothers — Beloved 

 Children — the Grace of our Lord 

 Jesus Christ, and the Communion 

 of the Holy Ghost, be with you 

 all — Amen. 



Dublin, May 26, 1813. 



[Here follow the Signatures.] 



Treatywith Steeden. 

 In the name of the Most Holy 

 and Undivided Trinity. — His ma- 

 jesty the king of the United 

 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire- 

 land, and his majesty the king 

 of Sweden, equally animated with 

 the desire of drawing closer the 

 ties of friendship and good intelli- 

 gence which so happily subsist 

 between them, and penetrated 



