STATE PAPERS. 
the Catholic church its establish- 
ment and its privileges. 
Sire, the existence and the pri- 
vileges of the Catholic Church, in 
this part of your kingdom, are 
inconsistent with an article of the 
plan of the new Constitution, by 
which equal favour and protec- 
tion are promised to all religions. 
Since the conversion of the 
Belgians to Christianity, such a 
dangerous innovation has never 
been introduced in these pro- 
vinces, unless by force. The at- 
tempts of Joseph the second to 
maintain it were fruitless. The 
tyranny of the last French govern- 
ment established it in theory; but 
no religious troubles ensued, be- 
cause the head of the state pro- 
tected the Protestant sects as lit- 
tle as he did the Catholic church. 
After this, however, the declared 
enemy of all religion was over- 
thrown. The Belgian Church re- 
covered all her spiritual rights. — 
In the ordinance of the 7th March 
1814,which the Commissioners of 
thealliedpowersexpressly confirm- 
ed,the generalGovernment of Bel- 
gium declared, ‘* Henceforward 
the ecclesiastical power and the 
temporal power, will be inviola- 
bly maintained in their respective 
limits, as they are fixed by the 
common law, and by the ancient 
constitution of the country.” 
Sire, we do not hesitate to de- 
clare to your Majesty, that the 
canonical laws, which are sanc- 
tioned by the ancient constitu- 
tions of the country, are incom- 
patible with the projected consti- 
tution which would give in Bel- 
gium equal favour and protection 
to all religions. 
The canonical laws havealways 
399 
rejected schism and heresy from 
the bosom of the church. 
TheChristianEmperors thought 
it their duty to maintain these 
laws, and to secure their execu- 
tion, as may be easily seen in the 
collection of edicts upon this sub- 
ject. From Charlemagne down 
to the unhappy epoch of 1781, 
and the following years, all the 
Sovereigns of this country in 
every age, exclusively protected 
the Apostolic Roman Catholic re- 
ligion, and secured to it the un- 
disturbed enjoyment of all the 
rights and privileges in the pos- 
session of which they found it. 
The Council of Trent, all 
whose resolutions were published 
in these Provinces, and have 
thence the effect of ecclesiastical 
law, after confirming all the old 
laws of the Church, which fix the 
spiritual jurisdictions, the rights 
of the Bishops, of the Chapters, 
of the Universities,and in general 
of the regular and secular clergy, 
commanded the bishops to see to 
the execution of them, and care- 
fully to watch not only over the 
maintenance of the sacred pledge 
ef the faith, but also that of the 
laws, which concern the essential 
discipline of the Catholic Church, 
and secure the consistency and 
the inviolability of its govern- 
ment. These, Sire, are the du- 
ties of the bishops of these pro- 
vinces, and the laws of the coun- 
try have constantly allowed and 
facilitated the fulfilment of them, 
till a higher power prevented 
them in part from discharging 
them. 
If your Majesty, when you se- 
cure to the Belgic church her ex- 
istence and privileges, has the in- 
