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700 Intelligence . —Protestants in France compared with Catholics m England * '
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the Court of Chancery . We take notice of It only for the sake of putting upon recotd a v ^ Aectidtk of the Lord jChgiicel-16 r * s on the Wolverhamptoii Case , which heretofore occupied so many of our pages . The Solicitor-General , on behalf of
the Trustees , said thers was a case reported in 3 Merivaie 353 , the Attorney-General v . Pearson , which bore upon the point ( the force ot the trust-deed ) . His Lordship had there declared , tjiat ** it is tfce duty of the Court to administer the trust in such a manner as best could
establish the usage as a matter of implied contract between the members of that congregation . " Here , therefore , a comprehensive principle was introduced , and was most applicable to the present case . The Lord Chancellor remembered , that , in the case cited by the learned Counsel , th £ parties differed about the
dpctrine of the Trinity , The difficulty there , if he recollected rightly , # as this- — that they could not make out ' tie usage , and that an inquiry was to be instituted as to what was the usage . The congregation , at last , however , had the good sense to find out that the Court of Chancery was the worst place in the world to find out such a usage .
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The Situation of Protestants in France compared with that of Catholics in England . - ( From the Etoile , a Paris Newspaper . ) The law in England is made for the maintenance of the Protestant religion .
In France , * on the contrary , notwithstanding the small number of Protestants , the hostility of their principles to all authority , and the novelty of their existence , the law is equal for all . It is a principle in England , that all religions which differ from the religion of the
State , ought to be destroyed . In France , far from being destroyed , they are protected ^ and even supported , at the expense of the Public Treasury , In Eugland , Protestants , considered as the friends of the new system , are distinguished by the most eminent prerogatives ; and the Catholics , who form a third part
of the population , are an outcast people . They are a children disinherited by their father , excluded from all marks of confidence , and from every pursuit which leads to honour and fortune . They bear all the burdens of the State , and share none of its advantages .
In France the twenty-nine-thirtieths of the population attached to the religion of the State do not enjoy the slightest exclusive privilege . Protestants are admissible to all public posts , and , in fact , liold them to an extent beyond the proportion of their number . They are
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electors , a ml eligible etjii ^ lly with Catholics , Wifti frequently iteturti theiby without inquiri » g ibto ttfeir ^ religioiis faith . There are among , themJPeers > Deputies , Generals of Division , Prefects , Presidents of the Royal Courts , Councillors of State
aud oF the First Tribunals * Mayors , &c . We have even seen , both tinder the old and tbe nevv regi me , several Protest an t s in the French Ministry ; whilst England would be alarmed , and think herself on the brink of ruin , if a siiigle Catholic were to enter the King ' s Council or
occupy an important office . In the British Empire the Protestant clergy live only upou the spoils of the ancient church—they enjoy immense property , founded l > y Qatholics and for
Catholics , who little imagined tii ^ t tjhese benefices , the fruit of their pious donations , would one ( lay pass into the hancte of their enemies , and be employed against the donors . Besides , the Catholics who
have outlived oppression , or who are still tolerated , are compelled to Support their Bishops and Priests , and to build , at their own expense , humble tfliapels by the side of the temples which have been taken from them . They are forced too , besides paying the ecclesiastical
taxtithf 53—to a clergy foreign to their Creed , which provides for- none of t&it spiritual wants , ro contribute to the building of Anglican Churches , which they never enter , and which are not even frequented by Protestants , hi France , on the contrary , the Catholic clergy , although
reduced to a slender lure—a poor compensation of their confiscated property—have not taken a farthing from the Protestants- There are even giveil to the latter Catholic temples , and , where there are none , they receive aid to construct new ones ; none of their property has been
confiscated ; they enjoy in peace what they possessed , and their ministers receive a salary from the Government , alr though they cannot claim it by any title of indemnity , and this salary exceeds that of indemnity , and this salary exceeds that
of Catholic Rectors , who are very differently occupied . We will uot inquire whether this is right or wrong—we will not attempt to decide whether the toleration of a religion which is not that of
the State , or even the protection of it in the event of its being ti'oiiTbled , ought , in strict propriety , to extend to favours and direct support— -we will merely report facts , establish a poln | of comparison , and shew the respective posnions of the Protestants in France and the
Catholics in England . . Notwithstanding all this , and the liberty of the former , France still passes for fanatical , intolerant and persecuting ; and under this view the English and German papers arc filled with invectives
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1824, page 700, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2530/page/60/
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