An innovation once made, is like a bad precedent, which often introduces many more, till at last the ancient fyftem is quite abforbed, and a new. form of government takes place. An unbecoming zeal and an intolerant fpirit with refpect to religious perfuafions is now juftly deemed odious, and deteftable wherever it is found; but there are men of power and influence amongst us, who want to lead us into the other extreme; and to rerder us totally indifferent about the prefervation of the proteftant religion inviolate from all encroachments of the Romish church, notwith tanding it has been folemnly maintained, in a public act of the nation that the exclufion of the members of the Romish communion from a participation in any of the offices of the ftate, civil, military or ecclefiaftical, was indifpenfably neceffary for the fecurity of our excellent conftitution: to guard us against the defigns of fuch leaders, and the future attempts of that fecret influence which has fatally fucceeded in other violations of the rights of the people, is the evident plan of the writer of thefe letters. They made their firft appearance in the PUBLIC ADVERTISER, by which means the circulation was very extenfive, parti. cularly the addrefs to the archbishops and bishops, which was afcribed to the masterly JUNIUS. They now appear collated and connected with a molt nervous and pathetic addrefs to the proteftants of the three kingdoms and the colonies, whofe intereft it is to diftribute this useful performance among!t their brethren at home, and in the most distant regions of the British empire. Public utility, not private advantage, feems to have influenced the author to reprint thefe letters; for the quantity of matter, and the small price of the purchase, unless he has printed a very large impreffion indeed, preclude all hopes of profit from the fale fhould it therefore be foon out of print, it is one of thofe little pieces which the proteftants fhould reprint for their common benefit, for publie bodies can often accomplish with facility, what it would distress individuals to perform.

The fubject of political difpute in Grenada we have amply treated in former numbers, and as fast as documents arrive from the island, we fhall infert them without mutilation; and we beg leave to refer our readers to the paft publications on the Grenada affairs, which will corroborate feveral important facts in these letters, the review of which, for the_entertainment of our readers we shall close by giving the whole of the fpirited, masterly letter to the archbishops and bishops, and as ferving the proteftant caufe is the object the writer professes to have in view, we hope we fhall need no apology for this large extract.

A REMONSTRANCE.

To the Right Reverend the ARCHBISHOPS and BISHOPS, My LORDS,

AT a time when the whole fabric of our admired conftitution in church and ftate, is tottering from its very foundations, and even the most difpaffionate amongst us, are not without their private fears, that this mighty work of ages verges on its diffolution, it adds to our apprehenfions, and augments our alarms, to find, that the pillars of the ecclefiaftical part of this goodly edifice are giving way, as if unable to fupport their fhare of the weight of the imperial dome.

To fpeak plainly to your Lordships, we cannot fufficiently exprefs our affonifhment, that you should remain totally inactive at this critical juncture, and that if it were not for your votes conftantly given, without hesitation, in favour of the meafures of administration, we fhould know nothing of your political exiftence in the ftate. Two of your venerable body have, indeed, lately immortalized their names, by oppofing the minifterial torrent of venality and corruption, which, if not timely

ftemmed

Hemm'd, muft carry off, in its rapid courfe, every thing that is facred, every thing that is truly valuable to Englithmen- -the religion, laws, manners and customs of their native country.

Either you must be of opinion that none of thefe are endangered by the fteps that have been taken, for fome time paft, in the adminiftration of publick affairs, or you must know, that the people have been grofly injured; that they have a juft right to complain, and that their grievances ought to be redreffed. State the cafe as you will, my Lords, yet ftill you will find, that your filence is reprehenfible.

Were the facred office of the Priesthood generally held in contempt, or the dignities of the church, you are invested with, univerfaliy derided, -or were your lives and converfations ill-fuited to the holy functions you exercife, there would be fome excufe for your not standing forth, in this day of trial, as MEDIATORS between the King and his fubjects, configned to your paftoral care; for under fuch circumftances, neither your precepts, nor your example, could have any weight.

But that men, eminent for their piety and learning, diftinguifhed for the chastity and fobriety of their manners, and held refpectable by their ftations, fhould be apparently unconcerned at the prefent distracted state of the nation, or remain idle fpectators of repeated invafions of the religious and civil rights of their fellow-fubjects, is a melancholy proof of that prevailing coolness, or rather indifference, refpecting the welfare of our country, which but too ftrongly characterizes the Ma jority of the prefent race of Britons, and has equally pervaded both Clergy and. Laity.

If your Lordships are perfuaded, that the People are in the wrong, that their fears are groundlefs, and their complaints frivolous if you really believe that the conftitution is fafe in the hands of our prefent rulers, why do you not exhort the Commonality of the realm, by paftoral letters, to restore the internal tranquility of the ftate, and no longer to diftrefs their Sovereign, by presenting to him difrefpectful Remontirances? It is your duty, my Lords, if thefe are your fentiments, to avow them, at this time, in print, to circulate them to all parts of the kingdom, and to enjoin the parochial Priests to enforce them by their authority, their influence, and their example.

But if, on the contrary, you are thoroughly fenfible that you cannot draw up any fuch paftoral charge, confiftent with the dictates of your confciences, reconcilable to your knowledge of the Principles of our excellent conftitution, or confonant to reafon and equity, then, my Lords, it is equally incumbent on you, as fervants of the living God, to ftand. in the gap, as did the Chief Priests of old, between the King, and his People," To cry aloud and fpare not-to reprove, even Kings, for his Sake;"and to use your best endeavours to fave those who (by his Divine Permission) were born free, from the worft fpecies of cap-. tivity, the galling yoke of minifterial tyranny.

The exalted ftations you enjoy, as they give you pre-eminence at the altar, and command refpect and veneration in the houfe of God, cannot fail of the fame effect in the Palace, when you stand before the throne of your Prince, the Vicegerent of the Almighty.-Your accefs to the Sovereign cannot be impeded with any degree of propriety, by the firft. Temporal Lord in the kingdom, or by the greatcft officer of ftate. At all convenient feafons, you are entitled to the King's private ear, and you are inexcufable if you fuffer the Power and Authority the ftate has conferred upon you, to dwindle away, or lofe its influence. Either thefe ers were vested in you for the moit valuable purpofes, or the ftations. you hold in this reformed, free country, are vain and ufclefs: The dregs of Popery. Let me intreat you then, my Lords, to exert yourselves, to

pow.

let

let an holy zeal for the welfare of Prince and People, animate your firm refolves, and when taken, boldly approach the throne; and if you are convinced, as I truft you arc, that our humane, benevolent, pious King, has been mifled by evil Counsellors, do you demand, in the Name of the King of Kings, what cannot be obtained by the Prayers or Remonfirances of his People, the removal and punishment of these wicked mi

nifters.

That you may not be in the least doubt, my Lords, on the part you have to act, I fhall take the liberty to point out to you fuch points of maladminiftration as peculiarly fall within your province, leaving you to your own reflections on the common topicks of complaint, which regard our Civil Rights.

It is your office then, my Lords, to take care, that the blood of the innocent refts not on our guilty heads, or be demanded of our pofterity. You know where it is written" The Lord will make inquifition for blood.”

And fhall the loyal, honeft Subject perish by the hands of mercenary affaffins, to answer a vile ministerial purpose ?-Shall the afflicted parent demand "blood for blood, " and be refused national justice?-Shall the Civil Officer be murdered, while he is guarding our property, by the fons of riot ?-Can offences of this crimson dye remain unexpiated in the land," and the throne of the King be established in righteousness ???You profefs to believe the contrary; and you know that there have been many holy Bishops, your Predeceffors, who would have fuffered martyrdom fooner than fuch mifrule fhould have happened in their days, and the Prince gone unreproved, or remained unconvicted, if in their power,

of his error.

Now, my Lords, permit me to rouse all your fears for your own fafety, or at least for that of the Church over which you prefide, which certainly is dearer to you than your own perfonal interest. I maintain that the rights of this Church have been invaded, and our conftitution wounded through its fides. I aver, my Lords, that the act of fettlement is violated; that the Principles of the glorious Revolution are trampled underfoot; that the strong band of fecurity for continuing the Proteftant Succeffion, and preferving our conftitution inviolate in Church and State, to latest Pofterity; that the Gordian knot tied by our virtuous ancestors, because it has lafted for near a century, and could not be loofened by all 'the arts of Rome, France, and Spain, with the Pretender in their train, has been fevered, cut in two by the miniftry of England, with their eyes open.

French Roman Catholics, my Lords, have been, by an act of the British Government, admitted to Privileges denied to our natives of the fame religious Perfuafion, Privileges from which they are by law for ever excluded. They have been allowed a fhare in the legislative and executive offices of a part of his Majesty's dominions, the islands of Grenada; and they have been permitted to triumph over their worthy Governor General Melville, who ftrenuously oppofed this unconftitutional measure. A popish bishop has long fince been established at Quebec, of which one of your refpectable bench complained in a fermon preached at Bow church; but it is fufpected his lordthip was reprimanded for his officioufnefs, as he has been filent on the fubject ever fince. Of the bleffed effects, however, of this illegal establishment I am lately informed in a letter from a friend at Bofton in New England, dated January 25, 1770. What he

* Before the fociety for propagating the gofpel in foreign parts, Feb. 20, 1767, by Dr. John Ewer, then bishop of Landaff, now of Bangor.

writes

writes on this fubject, I beg leave to lay before your lordships for your information.

"We are now recently informed here that the popish intereft in Canada has gained ground amazingly, fince the introduction of a bishop, which was a favour the Canadians did not all expect. Since his arrival, the papifts are infolent, and refuse their churches to the proteftants who had freely ufed them before. Instead of our gaining profelytes from them, great numbers, disbanded foldiers and others, are gone over to them, and discouragements are thrown in the way of those who would renounce popery. There is certainly of late years a fecret influence in the British court in favour of the Romish church. I wish in the end it may not have fome terrible effect which is not at prefent thought of."

But, my lords, how muft the people of England be furprised when I affure them, that the fuffering this popish bifhop to go to Quebec was kept a profound fecret from the late archbishop of Canterbury, though by his office he was of the cabinet council, at least his Grace publickly declared that he knew nothing of it till he heard that Bryant was at Dover, ready to embark for Flanders, there to be confecrated by the bishop of Tournay -the British Romish bishop of Quebec. If administration can make fuch cyphers of you, my lords, the church of England has no fecurity left for her political fuperiority in this kingdom, and you will foon find that the pregnant principle of political neceflity, which is made to justify every innovation, will operate at home, as well as in the colonies; and that the Roman Catholic religion, the profeffors of which now meet with the greatest encouragement; their books, all the idolatrous pictures, and all the fuperftitious baubles of their convents being publickly expofed to fale in our fhops, will be no bar to offices of trust and emolument in church and state. The fecret influence artfully works first at a distance, but his defigns are evident, and have been clofely watched by the true friends of the conftitution; nor fhall the Thane go untold of his pernicious fchemes for the advancement of the Romish intereft in other parts of the British empire. A popish priest at Halifax by this secret influence has a penfion out of our treafury, and finally, in the month of December laft a petition was engroffed, and I believe prefented to the Duke of Grafton and the Earl of Hillsborough for leave to have a popish bishop established at Grenada, but I flatter myself the feries of letters addreffed by me to Lord Hillsborough prevented its effect.

And now, my lords, I will reft this great caufe, the preservation of our religious eftablishment with you, befeeching my Lord of Gloucester in particular to weigh it well, and to reflect, if it is not a fubject on which he ought to exert himself as earnestly at least as he did on the discovery of an idle, obfcene poem. The caufe of God, and of the reformed religion of this country is here certainly at ftake; and I will only add, that I am fo firmly convinced that the granting legiflative power to Roman Catholics, that the permitting the full exercife of the Romish religion in all points, and the paying popifh priests falaries out of the public money of the nation, are all matters of impeachment, that I want only your lordship's power to urge me to this neceffary duty. For these extraordinary measures, the minifter, in whose department they have been taken, intends to get indemnified by parliament. But I trust your lordships will fhew yourselves to be English bishops, and not grant your fanction to fuch violations of the act of fettlement; the only fecurity your lordships have to truft to for the peaceable poffeffion of your high dignities, or at leaft for tranfinitting them, as you received them, unimpaired to your fucceffors. PLINY, Jun.

T

TO OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

IN compliance with the request of our correfpondent X, we affure him, that the publisher has deftroyed his laft favour: we beg leave to inform our readers that the letter figned X, in our last number, though equally valuable, was not written by the gentleman who ufually takes that letter for his fignature.

The Editor thinks it the moft difagreable part of his duty, to reject any ingenious compofitions he is favoured with, but when they are either out of date, or not frictly conformable to the plan of this work, he hopes he fhall ftand acquitted by the writers. The verfes produced in the pit during the reprefentation of Da. vid Mallet's laft tragedy, for the first reafon cannot be inferted.

The Acroftic, though the poetry is excellent is refused, because it is not our intention perfonally to infult the Sovereign.--Both thefe pieces are in the hands of the publisher to be returned or deftroyed at the pleasure of the owners.

If the gentleman who imagines he has difcovered Junius, and promifes to fend us fome anecdotes of that great writer, will produce the vouchers of the strong facts he mentions in his letter, to the editor or publisher of the POLITICAL REGISTER, before the 15th of next month; he may depend on our giving him the proof of impartiality he requires, by publishing it.

Our refpectable friend HAMPDEN is defired to take notice that we will find a place for his effay in the next number though it fhould be very long, if we are favoured with it early in the month.

B. D. who feems to complain of the obfcurity of our copper plate for last month is requested to make the dates of the years 1745 and 1770 plain with a pen, the writing engraver having made a blunder through hafte. The allufion will then we hope appear clear to every Englishman and Irishman.- In 1745 the Scotch fuffered as rebels; in 1770 the relations and defcendants of the very families, who were traitors to their King and country in 1745, enjoy the first dignities of the ftate, &c.

JUNIUS CANADIENSIS, muft furely be miftaken in afferting that the popish bishop at Quebec holds his office by patent under the great feal of Great Britain; he muft warrant the authenticity of this treafon to the ftate, before we can give his excellent letter, on the fubject, a place in our REGISTER.

We are much obliged to M. Q. for the admired portrait intended by him for a frontispiece; and can only affure him that the fubjects of our plates must be general and political, for which reafon we must beg leave to decline that offer, but shall think ourselves always obliged by the favour of his correfpondence,