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attributed to the Holy Ghost, was now pronounced ' a new thing, imagined and devised of singular opinions.'"* .'"* Acts were passed against conventicles— the people were commanded to attend the restored service, and thus the foundation was laid for the ultimate severity, with which the disobedience of the Ultra-Protestants to the new law eventually rendered it necessary for Bonner to proceed; to prove both his loyalty to the Queen, his attachment to the Catholic ritual, and his proper abhorrence of the UltraProtestant union of heresy in the doctrines, and of schism, in the discipline of the Church.

Neither was Bonner empowered to proceed to the rebuilding of the first temple by the statute law alone. The Convocation, the legitimate authorized ecclesiastical deliberative Senate of the Church of England, was no less anxious to pronounce the Communion Service, with my friend Froude, "a judgment on the Church," and to supersede the Prayer Book, by the antient forms. Those who approve of the principles of myself and brethren, will meet with much to confirm them in their love to our system, in the sermon of Harpsfield, the Chaplain of Bonner, who was appointed preacher to the Convocation —in the addresses of Weston, Dean of Westminster, the Procurator-in the speeches of the Dean of Chichester, and of the Archdeacon of London,-as well as in the harangue of Bonner, who was directed to

* Lingard, 8 Ed. vii., 182-3.

198

WE APPEAL TO THE CLERGY AND TO YOUTH.

believer in the sacrifice of the Eucharist. To accomplish this object-one plan only is necessary. He who would give laws to the men of the next generation, must first give opinions to the children of the present generation, and those opinions can only effectually be given by means of the Clergy. We have addressed the Tracts and Reviews, therefore, in which we advocate those pious opinions which Papists hold, but which are not by us called Popery, to the younger Clergy. We address them ad clerum. We begin with the youth of the University of Oxford. If we win that stronghold, we obtain the key of the position. We break down the walls of Troy. We place the horse in the citadel. We call for the serpents which shall devour our Ultra-Protestant Laocoons, and we give them shelter behind the statue of Minerva. We throw the shield of our own high reputation for wisdom and orthodoxy, on the serpent poisoners of those Laocoons, who would warn the alarmed and anxious citizens of their danger. If we can poison the clergy and youth of this generation, we secure the men of the next generation; and we may hope that such a portion at least of the constituency may be with us that we may be able to give the power to an active minority, who are the rulers in every country, to destroy the second temple and to rebuild the first. If England can only be ruined by its Parliament, it can only be blessed by its Parliament. The present system of religion was established by the people. It must be destroyed by the people, and it must be

NATIONS ARE GOVERNED BY ACTIVE MINORITIES. 199

destroyed by the influence of opinion without the walls of Parliament changing their decisions and the laws within it. Neither does this hope appear quite so visionary as I should have imagined it twenty years ago. The Parliament in the reign of Mary, which completed the rescinding the decrees, and which overthrew the Prayer Book, of King Edward, was returned by the active minority of the people, under Mary's influence. "Those employed by the Court in these elections," says Beal,* "did by violence hinder the Commons from coming to choose-false returns were made-others were turned out of the Commons, and thus a House was procured which restored the Catholic ritual." When the rulers of States resolve to change the religion of their country, they must run all hazards. The cause is the cause of God. Their crown is a trifle when compared with the soul, and Mary, like James, said "she would part with her kingdom, rather than lose her soul." James the Second acted on the same plan as Mary, to obtain a House of Commons, which should not oppose him. "All arts," says Burnet,† "were used to manage elections, so that the King should have a Parliament to his mind. Complaints came up from all parts of England of the injustice and violence used in elections, beyond what had ever been practised in former times. In the Charters that had been granted, the

* Ap. Burnet, Reform. part 2, book 2, p. 252 : but sce Collier, vol. 2, p. 348. He refuses to give credit to Beal. † Rapin, vol. 2, p. 745.

200 MARY, AND JAMES THE SECOND, ENDEAVOR TO

election of the members was taken out of the hands of the inhabitants, and restored to the corporation men ; all those being left out who were not acceptable at Court. In some boroughs they could not find a number of men to be depended upon so the neighbouring gentlemen were made corporation men and in some places, persons of other counties, not so much as known in the borough, were named. This was practised in the most avowed manner in Cornwall, by the Earl of Bath, who put the names of the Officers of the Guards in almost all the Charters of that county, so that the King was sure of forty-four votes on all occasions. There were not above forty that were chosen." The same advice also is given by Parsons. He points out the manner in which "a well affected Parliament, which the right time and the good Catholic Prince, whom God will one day send, will easily procure, shall begin anew, to build up from the foundation the external face of our Catholic Church, and to follow the model which themselves will choose; and if that be a good and perfect model, it will endure, at least, for a time, and be the true pattern of Christianity to the rest of the world, and according to this account must our purpose be of a Reformation."* Such is the language of Father Parsons, and it entirely expresses our own plans and projects. Neither do we, indeed, despair of seeing a Parliament assembled which shall make such changes as we propose by our "poisoning system." For not * Jesuit's Memorial for the conversion of England, p. 16.

PACK A HOUSE OF COMMONS.

201

only is our scheme of altering the public religion, gradually affecting our youth, our Clergy, and our Universities; but those enemies of the Ultra-Protestants (I do not call them Papists, but true Catholics,) who invocate Saints, pray for the dead, hold the sacrifice in the Eucharist, and own other pious opinions respecting the claims of the Church and Priesthood to be the sole interpreters of Scripture, are so rapidly increasing among us, that six hundred Chapels decorate what was once called Protestant England: and our brethren of the first temple, who equally or rather more than ourselves dislike the second Prayer Book of King Edward, are rejoicing at the prospect of our conversion. I should but be departing from the reserve and caution, which I deem our "poisoning system" requires, if I say more, on the number of Peers, Bishops, Baronets, and wealthy country gentlemen, on whose aid we rely, in that moment when we hope to make more decided efforts to give the force of law to our pious opinions; and to pull down the second temple. Mary acted on the same plan, and Bonner was but one of her faithful coadjutors, in restoring the antient faith, as we ourselves should have been, if we had lived in the reign of Mary.

The Parliament met on the 6th of October, and continued its first session till the 21st. Its second

* But see the progress of the system which prays for the dead, and attacks our Prayer Book, and which is nick-named Popery, in a Tract printed from Fraser's Mag. for March and April, 1839. It is called "Statistics of Popery."