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    Untitled Article

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    Untitled Article

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    REVIEW.

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    Untitled Article

    ( 460 )

    Untitled Article

    Art . I . —Reasons for not taking the Test , for not conforming to the Established Church , and for 7 iot deserting the Ancient Faith ; with preliminary and concluding Observations : together with some Remarks on the Bishop of Peterborough's late Charge , &c , &c . By John Earl of Shrewsbury . The injustice , the folly of exclusive laws are never more apparent than when , in defence of the proscribed and persecuted sect , talents are called forth which are rendered unavailable to the public and narrowed to the service of a party .

    We are not much inclined to bow clown our heads to the pride of birth , nor to regard any one with veneration merely because he can boast the uninterrupted descent of many centuries from ancestors of high renown . With us , " Tota licet veteres , exornent undique cerse Atria , uobilitas sola estatque unica virtus . "

    But it must not be denied that high birth confers great advantages ; and when to these advantages are added learning , taste , and genius , how much it is to be regretted that a man so gifted should be excluded from every opportunity of serving the public , because he adheres to the creed of his ancestors , and worships God in a manner which the government of his country considers erroneous !

    The Nobleman whose work we are about to consider , is the first Earl in the Peerage , descended from a long line of ancestors , who for upwards of seven centuries have held baronial rank , many of them distinguished for talents and virtues ; and all of whom , we believe , with one exception , have adhered to the Catholic church . It is not to be wondered at if even a sense of honour should alone be sufficient to induce a high-minded man , so circumstanced , to maintain his attachment to that church in her adversity , which his fathers venerated in her prosperity .

    The noble author feels the injustice with which he and his brother Catholics are treated , and has stated his feelings in nervous and elegant language . He is by no means insensible to the advantages of which he is deprived by an adherence to his church . " Out of more than a hundred English Peers of my own rank , " says he , " I am the only one who refuses the test which the Legislature has thought

    proper to establish as the qualification for the exercise of constitutional rights . It is an enviable privilege to enjoy a voice in the affairs of the commonwealth , to be a guardian over the people ' s rights , and an instrument for the public good ; I therefore consider it a sacred duty to shew why I refuse the exercise of functions so exalted in their character and so important in their consequences . "

    Though the Catholic may love his country , yet how is it possible he should feel easy and satisfied with its government and institutions , while , as Lord Shrewsbury justly and eloquently observes , C ^ " The Catholic Peer is defrauded of his hereditary rights ; the Catholic ommoner , of the opportunities which wealth or talent might afford him to serve his country in situations of honour and trust ; the professional man , of

    Review.

    REVIEW .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1828, page 460, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2562/page/28/