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Roman Catholics from the Consolidated Fund, similar to that now made (by means of the Regium Donum) for the Presbyterians.

The principle of concurrent endowment has been already sanctioned by the practice of all the European states, in which there is a variety of religious persuasions, except England. In France this principle has been laid down in the charter; in Belgium, it is so far acted on, that there is even a public provision made for the worship of the Jews, as well as of the Protestants. In these two countries the governments appear to have been actuated by a genuine spirit of toleration; in Germany, the opinions of the rulers are for the most part extremely enlightened on ecclesiastical questions; but the equality in the treatment of the different persuasions which prevails throughout the German states, and which is enjoined by an act of the Diet*, has probably been in great measure produced by the circumstances in which the members of the German con

* Kohlrausch, in his German history, which is read in the Prussian schools, gives the following account of the present ecclesiastical state of Germany

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"The equality of all christian persuasions in their civil and political relations, which is laid down as a principle by the act of the diet, actually exists in the states of the German confederation. All christian subjects (besides the free exercise of their religion, which had long ceased to be contested) now enjoy a complete participation in all civil rights, and are admitted to all offices in the state. Moreover, the Catholic princes have established superior ecclesiastical authorities for their Protestant subjects, where they did not exist, and the Protestant princes have set in order the Catholic church in their dominions, which had been completely overthrown in the lamentable period of the French occupation; have re-established the episcopal sees, or founded new ones, and endowed them with the requisite revenues; and treaties on all these points have been made with the pope, in which Prussia led the way in 1823, in a praiseworthy and most liberal manner. Nor has the internal economy of the Protestant church been forgotten. After the example of the king of Prussia, who, in 1817, the trecentenary of the Reformation, issued an address to the

federation are placed. As in some of these states the Catholics, in others the Protestants, preponderate; if a Protestant government was to begin oppressing its Catholic subjects, one of the neighbouring Catholic governments would retaliate by oppressing its Protestant subjects; and the converse. For example, if Prussia was to attempt to treat the Catholics of the Rhine provinces as England has treated the Irish Catholics, it might be expected (to say nothing of the risk of the attempt) that Bavaria and Austria would adopt like measures towards the Protestants in their dominions. If, on the other hand, Austria and Bavaria were to bear hardly upon their Protestant subjects, the Protestant nation of Saxony might be tempted to throw off their Catholic royal family; and Prussia might try to discourage Catholicism in Silesia. As peace is preserved in Europe by the balance of power, so in the German states toleration is preserved by the balance of religions. But in England, the Protestant majority have had their full swing, on account of the insular position of the country, and its maritime supremacy: and they have been able to oppress the Catholic minority, with no other than the too feeble restraint of their own sense of justice, and without any fear of a foreign reaction. If Ireland had been joined by a strip of land to France, the English government would either have attempted to drive all the Catholics into France, instead

two Protestant persuasions, calling on them to unite in one Protestant church, similar proceedings have taken place in other German states: in very many places this union has been brought about by the free consent of the clergy and the congregations, and the spirit of separation, which has prevailed too long in the Protestant church, will without doubt by degrees yield throughout the whole country to brotherly unity."-P. 639, ed. 1833.

of confining them to Connaught; or if unable to effect so extensive an expulsion, it must have consented to govern them with more equal laws.

The Catholics of Ireland have, however, now risen to sufficient political importance to supply the want of an external pressure; whatever may be the decision of the legislature upon the Irish tithe question in this or the following session, it is clear that any measure will be merely temporary which does not establish ecclesiastical equality in Ireland, which does not put the persuasion of the bulk of the population in as advantageous a position, as respects the favour of the state, as the small minority. Unless the property of the Irish church is abandoned to the landlords, this can only be done by the principle of concurrent endowment, a principle which has been tried in countries of which the circumstances closely resemble those of Ireland, and which has been found to be productive of the most perfect religious harmony. For example, the king and royal family of Prussia are Protestant; Berlin, the seat of government, is chiefly a Protestant town; the strength of the Prussian kingdom is Protestant. But in the Rhenish provinces of Prussia, particularly in those to the west of the mass of the population is Catholic. circles of Cologne, Treves, and Aix, 1831 was as follows:

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Rhine, the great Thus in the three the population in

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4

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Total 101,290 1,000,345 120

In these three circles the Roman Catholics are to

9,872 1,111,632

the Protestants as ten to one, the same ratio as that which exists in Ireland between the members of the Established Church and the rest of the community. Nevertheless the clergy of both churches is provided for, with the entire satisfaction of both parties, by means of a concurrent endowment. When this country belonged to the French, the Catholic was the religion of the state; now there is no state religion, and all persuasions are on an equal footing. The clergy of both churches is paid by the state, where there is no private endowment, or if the private endowment is insufficient, it receives some contribution from the public coffers. The consequence of this wise arrangement is, that all religious jealousy and animosity is unknown. In the municipal elections the parties are never determined by religion; in the city of Cologne (as the author was informed last summer) a third part of the persons employed in different branches of the administration are Protestants, although they are chosen by Catholics, and although the Protestants are not a twentieth part of the entire population. Such a practice as exclusive dealing is quite unknown. It is remarkable that the only symptom of theological controversy between Catholics and Protestants which has recently appeared in that part of Germany, has been communicated from the contact of England. A translation of the Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search of a Religion' was published at Cologne, and met with much success; and it has been answered by a professor at Bonn. The controversy, however, did not become popular; it has had no interest except for professed theologians.

Should it ever be seriously contemplated to make a public provision for the Roman Catholic clergy of Ire

land, it would be impossible, even if it were desirable, for the government to obtain so direct an influence over the appointment of the Catholic bishops as is possessed by Austria, and as was recently conceded by the court of Rome to Prussia. It ought to be distinctly understood that the grant is made for the general good, from motives of equity and justice, and by the mere motion of the legislature; that it is not to be considered in the light of a bargain, in which the government purchases power for money; and that there is no intention to interfere with the ecclesiastical independence of this branch of the Roman Catholic church. Nevertheless it would be impossible to make any permanent arrangement of this kind without a negotiation with the see of Rome*; and it may be confidently predicted, from the

* It is well known that, when Mr. Canning was foreign secretary, the law-officers of the crown gave an opinion that a negotiation with the court of Rome rendered the party liable to the penalties of præmunire. See Canning's Speeches, vol. vi., p. 157. This opinion rests on the meaning of the 5th Eliz., c. 1., which makes it penal "advisedly and wittingly to attribute by any speech,' open deed, or act, any manner of jurisdiction, authority, or pre-eminence to the see of Rome, or to any bishop of the same see, within this realm." When it is remembered that the original meaning of a pramunire was (as Blackstone says) "the introducing a foreign power into this land, and creating imperium in imperio, by paying that obedience to papal process which constitutionally belonged to the king alone" (4 Com. 115), it seems clear that the simple object of this statute was to establish the authority of the king's courts, as opposed to the jurisdiction of the Pope. It is only by a most forced and arbitrary construction that a person who negotiates with the pope can be said "to attribute to him authority or pre-eminence within this realm." 66 Authority," in strictness, is power sanctioned by law; every person who takes the oath of supremacy declares that " no foreign prince, prelate, person, state, or potentate, hath any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm." This declaration can only be true if understood in the sense that the pope's ecclesiastical power in this country is not enforced by law; that it rests merely on opinion. That the pope exercises an ecclesiastical power over the Roman Catholic church in this realm is a matter of public notoriety, and has been repeatedly stated to Committees of both Houses of Parliament. In what sense, therefore, a per

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