appear, that the sole, or even chief, design of the founders was merely to educate the Irish children; but also, with instruction, to afford them "clothing, maintenance, apprenticing," and personal "comfort in distress." These, certainly, were the original purposes of "The Irish Charitable Society."-The St. Patrick's Benevolent Society, agreeing with that Institution " in every respect," united with it, and absorbed all the remaining funds, A.D. 1784; on which occasion it received £1091. 6s. 1d. and formally stipulated as follows:

"It was Unanimously Resolved, That the Benevolent Society of St. Patrick adopts, with alacrity and gladness, the proposed union of the Irish Charitable Society with that of St. Patrick and to effectuate this object, it is declared, that the funds of both Societies shall be joined, and the two Institutions incorporated into one body, under the title of the Benevolent Society of St. Patrick. The united Societies to be for ever conducted upon the following principles, which fully comprehend the substance of the conditions of union before alluded to: namely,

"That this Society being destined for the RELIEF of the poor and distressed Irish residing in and about London, and that of their children, such RELIEF, of whatever sort it may be at present or hereafter, shall be conferred without any regard to the religious tenets or mode of worship of the objects; it being a FUNDAMENTAL MAXIM AND UNALTERABLE RULE of this charity, that no religious distinction whatever is to prevail in its execution.

"That, in order to secure a faithful observance of THIS FUNDAMENTAL AND UNALTERABLE LAW, it is expressly declared, that, if ever any religious partiality shall be found to have influence or biass in the dispensation of the benefits of this charity, or the selection of the objects of its beneficence, such an illiberal and cruel perversion of the charity (as it would contravene its principle and subvert its foundation)

must be construed to be a violation of the compact upon which those funds are united; and the union, now formed, between the Irish Charitable Society and the Benevolent Society of St. Patrick, must be understood to be dissolved from the moment that such an abuse of the Institution becomes evident and manifest, and shall be so declared at a General Meeting of the Society, to be called by advertisement and summons for that special purpose; and the members of the Irish Charitable Society, who have joined themselves to the Benevolent Society of St. Patrick, or the survivors or survivor of them, shall again be entitled to the said sum of £1091. 6s. 1d. that they may appropriate the produce thereof to the purposes for which it was originally intended." [See Protestant Advocate, No. 44, p. 282-284; and A History of the Jesuits, 1816, vol. ii. p. 410.]

The foregoing Resolutions are copied by me from the Society's own publication, printed at the Philanthropic Press in 1805; but they were also copied, previously, into two works (cited above), without being noticed by the patrons of that Society. I therefore respectfully submit to the consideration of those Royal and Noble Personages, and Protestant Gentlemen, who are still very liberally subscribing to St. Patrick's Schools, whether it be not Now a fit subject for their serious investigation.

I think, Sir, it has been clearly proved, that Papists are educated as such, on a very large scale, by means of Protestant funds and patronage. I use the terms "Papist" and "Popery," not as words of reproach, but merely as distinctive appellations, universally understood: for, while men adhere to the Papal Supremacy, and to the Church of the Pope, I cannot see why they ought to be ashamed of such names; nor do I conceive that they have any right to usurp the appellatives, "Catholic," or "Catholicism," as if Protestants were not also members of Christ's Univer sal Church.

In my next Letters I shall enter into a comparative view of the number of Roman Catholics at present, and forty years ago, chiefly in England; including some account of the rapid increase of their chapels, colleges, academies, &c. &c. during the same period. I conclude this, Sir, with one obvious remark, which cannot too often be repeated; that all the voluntary societies, charitable institutions, and multifarious establishments connected with Roman Catholics, possess the peculiar feature (not belonging to ours) of being closely linked together by one common religious bond,

-the end of that united chain being always in the hand of a SINGLE AGENT at Rome, whose instruments are the Prelates and Jesuits dispersed over Christendom. No British institution, affecting morals or religion, is ever capable of escaping the eye of so vigilant a head, nor the hands of such efficient members. This is a striking and imposing feature, not always remembered by Protestants.

LETTER V.

SIR, If we look back to the period immediately preceding the French Revolution, it will be found that Popery was even then slowly advancing in Great Britain; but, the circumstances connected with that event had a powerful influence in promoting its rapid increase among our Protestant population, and contributed to soften down those feelings of antipathy which prevailed among the common people against Queen MARY'S admirers. The principle of kindness and sympathy so universally exercised towards thousands of heroic French exiles, while it afforded extensive relief to suf

:

fering humanity, and was highly commendable in its motive, exposed us to the secret operation of insinuating errors. The Papist was charitably forgotten in the Christian; and the serpentine poison, thus gradually diffused through our population, was not discovered till its rankling tendency began to be felt the Priests more especially (for I had full proof of this), were gratefully disposed to repay the national munificence by eager endeavours to introduce their own church notions into our families, in which they evinced their pious zeal and religious consistency. Schools were presently multiplied; more chapels soon were erected; numerous controversial works and Popish Journals were disseminated; new private teachers, of both sexes, had easy access to our children: at length, the busy Jesuits overran the British Isles, as they now do all quarters of the world; and it is stated, on good authority, that more than four thousand English converts to their faith have been made within the last twelve months! See a Letter signed FIDEI DEFENSOR, in the Orthodox Journal for Feb. 1819, p. 56.

In many of the large north-western towns, such as Li-. verpool, Manchester, Preston, &c. it is common to have a thousand or twelve hundred children at one time admitted into their communion, by the rite of confirmation; but one cannot pretend to say how many of these were born of Protestant parents, nor have I the means of knowing what proportion they bear to former admissions of that kind. The total number of Roman Catholics in England and Scotland has been variously estimated by their own writers: some say there are 500,000; others reckon them only 350,000; but all agree that the number is progressively advancing: and the Dublin orators (Mr. Scully, Mr. O'Connell, Dr. Dromgoole, &c.), hoping soon for the downfall of the Church of England by its continued defalcations, boast of their rapid increase! Now, whether the total number be half a million, or even the lowest computation, there has been a

frightful addition since the last Parliamentary returns, made to the House of Lords thirty-nine years ago, when they amounted to only 69,376; and they were but 67,916, in the year 1767.

A late Roman Catholic author, who published on "the State and Behaviour of English Catholics, from the Reformation to the Year 1781," says; "The truth is, within the present century we have most rapidly decreased. Many congregations have entirely disappeared in different parts; and in one district alone, with which I am acquainted, eight out of thirteen are come to nothing; nor have any new ones risen to make up, in any proportion, their loss. These are facts of certain notoriety. In the nature of things it could not be otherwise.

Where one cause can be discovered tending to their increase, there will be twenty found to work their diminution."-p. 117, second edition. After comparing these facts and the preceding statements, I think you cannot doubt of their whole number being much augmented in Great Britain within the last thirty or forty years, and that their additional strength is chiefly deducted from our Established Church.

I shall introduce the general subject of Academies, Colleges, and inferior Seminaries, by another quotation from the above work; wherein the author gives, in his usual lively style, a brief answer to the opinions then prevalent, A.D. 1781, respecting Roman Catholic Schools, &c.

He tells us, p. 168, "It was a groundless rumour, which lately prevailed, that Catholics were opening schools in all parts of the kingdom, whereby the rising generation of Protestants were all to be perverted to the errors of Popery. The real fact is, that we have not opened one new school since the year 1778. The whole number of those which we have, are, I think, BUT THREE, at least those of any note. There is one in Hertfordshire; one near Birmingham in Warwickshire; and a third near Wolverhamp

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