ments with a feeling of independence which he and others of his rank in life would do well to imitate, I was pointed out in this same print as an object worthy of persecution, by some cowardly scribe, who irreverently signed himself "A CATHOLIC," than which a greater libel on that honourable epithet could not have been designed. I leave the reader to guess what the feelings of my adversaries must be, when one of them was urged to become a spy and an informer, pointing me out as deserving the vengeance of the law, merely for defending my character with reason and facts against the sophistical misrepresentations of a writer, whose sphere of life and habits of education, setting the dictates of religion aside, should have taught him, that an adherence to undisguised truth would have been the most preferable line of conduct. This dishonourablə attempt was followed by the circulation of a foul and false representation that I had declared myself "a radical," a term used to brand men with holding the most odious and dangerous doctrines, and that my works were condemned by the inquisition of Rome. This information was sent to a quarter where my labours in defence of religion were at that moment highly popular, and could be done with no other view than to blast my character with the timid and unsuspecting, and reduce the profits which I was then supposed to be reaping from a particular publi cation connected with that neighbourhood. to purchase it in the volume. From, and because I defended my senti the reports of the canvassers for sub. scribers, I soon learned that even this work was discouraged by certain per sons whom I should not have suspect. ed, and for no other cause than my name appearing as the printer and publisher. Here was another blow aimed at my success, and a heavy orie too, since it deterred those who were inclined to encourage my exertions from sending me their favours, and prevented me from soliciting them, because I could not conscientiously request them to honour me with the publications of works, when I knew it would be injurious to their interests, in consequence of the personal vin dictiveness which certain persons thought proper to exercise against me With the help of a few friends, and the public spirit then prevailing in the catholic body, I continued to make head against the obstacles which my adversaries successively threw in my way, and they found themselves necessitated to seek other means to crush me. Insinuations were industriously circulated, about the close of the year 1814, that my Journal was reprobated at Rome, and that it had done more harm to religion than any other publication whatever. These insinuations however were without effect; my writ ings and my labours were before the public, they spoke for themselves, and at that time they were receiving in creasing encouragement. Thus sup ported, I continued to make my way, regardless of the designs of my enemies, and relying on the protection of my friends. But in 1816, a sad change Such are a few of the difficulties I have took place in the affairs of the country, had to contend with, from the violence which deprived me of much of that of party-spirit and prejudice, but they support I had been receiving. The are not the only obstructions which stagnation of trade in the commercial have been placed before me. As I counties of the kingdom, dried up the before noticed, there was no pros resources of industry and stopped the pect of assistance from the catholic current of information. Still I have booksellers in London, to promote the proceeded in defending the cause of circulation of my Journal, and bring our holy religion, and detecting the it into public notice. This task theremischievous designs of her degenerate fore devolved upon myself as well as professors; and with undiminished ven- the editorship. In consequence, I geance have they pursued their malig had to seek connections with various nant designs to work my destruction. parts of the kingdom, and to form agenAbout the middle of the last year Icies with persons of whom I had no was assailed in the columns of one of the basest and most infamous venal prints ever published, by an honour able member of the self-named board; personal knowledge. This was a try. ing difficulty; in many instances I succeeded; in others I failed, and experienced considerable loss, particu means are narrowed to continue those exertions for the benefit of religion, and the information of the catholic public, which it has ever been the ardent wish of my heart to render to the one and communicate to the other. Under these circumstances, and having served a seven years apprenticeship in the public cause of my catholic brethren, I now appeal to the generous sympathy of every wellwisher to the interests of true religion and his country, as well as to every lover of independency and consistency, clergy, nobility, gentry, and the catholic body at large, and solicit that support and patronage which will empow er me effectually to resist the underworkings of my prejudiced opponents, and labour more widely in the service of our cause, both civil and religious, to which the whole energies of my mind are devoted. I come not now before them unknown and untried. I ask not solely for myself, but for their own interest; for the interest of their successors and posterity, and the honour of their good name, which have in part been sullied by the intrigues and duplicity of a few design larly in my endeavours to extend the circulation into Ireland, where many of my best and warmest friends imagined I should meet with great encouragement. These impediments operated much against me, and the want of a capital at the commencement, was a still greater hinderance; besides which, although I experienced the utmost li berality and urbanity of conduct on the part of one gentleman in the catholic trade, in every concern except the Journal, yet I was viewed by others as an object of jealousy, and met with much peevishness and ill-nature, when they had an opportunity of manifesting their feelings. To enable me to surmount the first obstructions, I found myself compelled to engage in other works, for my agents represented to me, that it would not answer their purpose to devote their time to recommending the Journal only, as the profits arising from one publication would not bring them a living; neither, in fact, was it sufficient for my own maintenance, as the expenses incurred to establish its circulation, and the losses usually attendant on trade, made it a losing concern for some time. Thus situated, I entered into the num-ing ecclesiastics and lawyers, whose ber trade, and after continuing it for three years, I was in a fair way of succeeding to my fullest desire, when the financial distresses of the country, which began first to shew itself in the year 1816, and has continued to the present day with accumulating force, added to the before-mentioned strug gles I was making head against. The almost total stagnation of trade, owing to the restriction of the issues of the bank, and the overwhelming weight of taxation, have deprived the tradesman and mechanic of any spare money for the purchase of books, and of course have nearly ruined the bookselling trade, particularly that branch of it pertaining to the sale of works in numbers, which laid almost wholly among that class of the community most affected by the calamities of the times. The natural consequence of this national misery is, that I have not now that ready facility in the return of payments which I formerly possess. ed; it is with extreme difficulty I obtain remittances from distant parts of the country, while my stock has been accumulating, and thus my wrath is excited against me for the exposures I have made of their tricks. That my days have not been spent in idleness and dissipation, since I be. came the servant of the public, will be admitted by both friends and enemies, when I inform them that I have written with my own hands and from my own head upwards of two hundred and twenty essays in The Orthodox Journal, exclusive of straggling paragraphs. I have also written fifty-two weekly numbers, containing eight large and closely printed pages each, under the title of The Catholic Vindicator, and edited the Catholic School Book, and A Narrative of Titus Oates's Plot, consisting of nearly 300 large pages in octavo. Beside which, I have superintended the printing of all the works which I have published, occasionally assisted in the composing, read and revised every sheet for the press, and answered the numerous communications and letters received from my agents and friends, from all parts of the country, with the exception of three or four, during the time I was engaged in the controversy with the Scotch "Protestant." In fact, to overcome the sneaking and disgraceful designs of party, I have united in my own person, the avocations of author, compositor, reader, publisher, warehouseman, and porter; and such has been my application to business, that from the time I first entered London to the present moment, I have not slept a single night out of it. Exertions such as these are enough to im. pair the best constitution of body, and subdue the strongest mind, nevertheless I am not inclined to shrink from still greater, if it be possible to make them, for the cause of God, my religion, and my country, provided my friends will furnish me with the means, and encourage me with their patronage. As an AUTHOR and a CONDUCTOR of a CATHOLIC PRESS, I have endeavoured to preserve consistency of principle, by a rigid attachment to the laws of God, the precepts of the church, and the constitutional axioms of the country. I have avoided the trammels of party, looking to measures and not to men. And, whether truth has been violated by the misinformed unbeliever, or the interested and selfish believer, I have fearlessly and honestly vindi cated this divine attribute of the Deity, nor can I be proved guilty of having wilfully transgressed its rules during the course of my public career. to As a PRINTER, my ambition has been to shew the world, that neatness and skill were not confined exclusively protestant ability; and I refer to my fine editions of Dr. Milner's Letters to a Prebendary, printed in 1815; to Appleton's Discourses, printed in the same year; to the fine edition of St. Augustin's Soliloquies, in the year 1817; to the Disquisition on the Jesuits in 1818; and to the last work from the pen of Dr. Milner, viz. A Sum mary of the History and Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, in 1819, fine paper copy, as specimens of the typographic art, far superior to any that have ever before been issued from a catholic press. Had my means not been circumscribed by the numerous difficulties I have struggled with, all my works would have partaken of similar execution. As a PUBLISHER and BOOKSELLER, I consider myself the servant of the public, and not the instrument of a party. I have neither sought my own private interest in the art of book-making, nor of book-suppressing. My object has been to discharge my duty to the public with independence and integrity, and not permit certain individuals in this metropolis to dictate to the catholics of this kingdom what books they shall read, and what they shall not read. I never have admitted, nor ever will admit, any authority over my concerns but that which is legiti mate and conformable to the canons of the church and the laws of the country. At the same time I have sought to place the works which I have pubduced within the reach of all classes of our body. Thus I had three copies of the edition of Letters to a Prebendary, that the connoisseur might gratify his taste for fine printing, and the mechanic be enabled to satisfy his appetite for knowledge. A similar plan I adopted for Appleton's Discourses, St. Augustin's Soliloquies, and the Summary of the Holy Scriptures. To avoid exhorbitant prices, too, I have preferred printing a large edition to a small one, which has been an advantage to the public but a disadvantage to myself, by adding to my stock, and taking the chance of a ready or slow sale. Upon these grounds of action I rest my claim to public approbation and patronage. I have never sacrificed the public interest to increase my own; on the contrary, I have suffered severely, because I would not betray the cause of our body, to gratify the venal inclinations of a faction. I therefore feel confident that the public will not separate their interest from mine, at a time too when the existence of a free press was never more wanted, but will come forward and enable me to extend my efforts in defence of all that is worth defending, the recovery of our civil and religious rights, unclogged and unrestricted. If I have reprobated the conduct of some of the clergy in strong language, let it not be supposed that I am desirous of lessening that sacred order in the eyes of the people. No; in condemning the measures unhappily persisted in by a few ecclesiastics, my design is to warn them of the mis, chief which they are working to their own order, by destroying that influence which the pastor should always have over the people, The good shepherd is known to his sheep by the impartial discharge of his duties; but the partisan is the fomenter of faction and schism, and his conduct is therefore deserving of reprobation, as the scandalizer of religion, in an age of infidelity and impiety. That my language has been warm I readily admit; but some excuse may surely be found for me, when our divine Saviour, who was the pattern of meekness, could not restrain his anger at seeing the temple of his Father prostituted by the buyers and sellers in it. My adversaries represent me as opposed to the clergy, but by so doing they only follow the practice of misrepresentation, and place themselves upon a level with the enemies of catholicity, who, from the want of truth, are obliged, like my opponents, to have recourse to this unjust and cowardly weapon. God forbid that I should contravene the divine labours of their holy ministry. My every endeavour has been to excite a public feeling against the encroachments meditated, by protestant statesmen and catholic place-hunters, on the imprescriptible rights of the catholic clergy. I admit that in the course of my labours I have censured abuses committed by a few clergymen, who have outstepped the bounds of their authority, and intermeddled with secular matters; but, surely, such conduct ought to entitle me to the praise of every well-wisher to the purity of our church, rather than their condemnation, because thereby I exonerate the clergy generally from a stigma which the proceedings of a few, if tacitly passed over, would fasten upon the whole. Somehow it appears that the dread of revolutionary opinions operates so strongly on some minds, that they are willing to be confounded with guilt, rather than the offence should be detected, and public opinion set right with regard io what are and what are not our principles. The venerable and learned Dr. Milner, in his second Letter to Dr. Sturges, says, "Admitting, as I have explicitly and repeatedly done, both in my History and in the present Letter, that pontiffs, like other men, were liable to the self-love and passions of human nature, it would be a greater miracle than any recorded in holy writ, if some of them had not abused both their spiritual supremacy and their temporal principality, to the gratification of their ambition. Some abuses of this nature I have recorded, not in terms of approbation, as you suppose I was bound to do, but of strong censure, and I have shewn, that they were resisted and condemned by the princes, prelates, and writers of those times, no less than they are at present." Now, if pontiffs, like other men, are liable to the self love and passions of human nature, it cannot be denied that bishops and priests are equally as subject to the frailties of our frame; and if it is considered praiseworthy in writers of olden times to resist and condemn the abuses of popes in the exercise of their spiritual supremacy, can it be criminal in me to avail myself of this same privilege to resist and condemn the innovations and abuses practised by some misguided and vain clergymen of these days, whose measures are calculated to bring dishonour and suspicion on our holy religion? Were I indeed to charge them secretly with unfounded offences, and were I, after having made the charge, to use my endeavours to prevent them from making a defence, then I might justly be reproached with seeking to traduce the character of the clergy; but I have done no such thing. I have stated my charges openly and fairly, I have proferred the same facility and means of replying to them that I possess myself, and I think it is impossible for any one to act with more candour and justice. Besides, many of the abuses of which I complain relate to my own works and character, which have been privately misrepresented and calumniated by clergymen, who have also abused the power of the holy father, by representing that my works were condemned by the church, than which a greater falsehood was never invented. Here let me ask, whether it would be any credit to the clergy, were unworthy members of their body to be permitted to vilify and slander persons whose conduct may be obnox10us to them, without the injured being allowed to speak in their own defence? Whether it would reflect any honour on their order, were they to consider an attack made upon those who abuse their sacred functions as an attack made upon those whose con duct is exemplary, and whose lives are without reproach? I should not have said so much on this point, but for a letter received within a few days from a valued friend, who writes, "It is very strange how general is the opinion that you make rather free with the clergy-I know it hurts your interest much." Well, if certain clergymen make free with me, and I am not to be allowed to use the same freedom with them, without a sacrifice of my interest, I cannot help it. I never took up my pen for the sake of lucre, but for the sake of truth; had I been influenced by the former motive I should not have exercised it so long and laboriously to my own pecuniary disadvantage. The defence and honour of religion I have always had in view, and it has ever been my opinion that wolves within the fold were always more dangerous than those without, because they were the more difficult to discover from having the clothing of sheep. When therefore any one of these began to disclose himself by acts pernicious to the welfare of the fold, I considered it my duty to caution the flock against his designs, and to resist and condemn his behaviour; not at all imagining I was implicating, by so doing, the innocent with the guilty. If I am not to be allowed to detect error and condemn abuses, by whomsoever committed, without my interest being hurt, that is without the honest part of the body taking offence at it, I had better cease my labours at once, for I should exercise them to very little purpose, were I to write under such an impression, and the title of Orthodox would be a fallacious one. Let the fastidious friend of the clergy and the dreader of revolutionary movements learn to distinguish between fiction and facts. IfI deal in the former, it is very easy to convict me, and then let me be delivered up to the just vengeance of an insulted public. But if I state facts, and my clerical enemies have recourse to fiction, who, I ask, are the most opposed to the interests of religion and the good name of the clergy? The man who spurns at such irreligious acts, or the party which resort to them? If I have expressed myself in strong terms at the tacit submission of our aristocracy to the futile and puerile projects of an intriguing party, let me not be understood as wishing to under value that high rank they hold in society; my regret is, that they do not come forward and maintain that rank, by taking a lead in all public questions, according to the principles of the consti tution; the blessings of which they are now deprived of, and are desirous to recover. A reference to my declar ed sentiments will shew that my aim has been directed to convince them of the impropriety of their conduct, in permitting the most important publie concerns, relative to the catholic body, to be managed in secret by a vain baronet, or an intriguing lawyer, without any regard to the feelings and ma nifestations of public opinion. I have called upon them to rescue themselves from this state of degradation and dishonour, and to place themselves at the head of the people, whereby they would exalt their body in the eyes of the country, and occupy that station which their rank and the constitution secure to them. I have not sought to lessen the dignity or respect due to title and wealth; contrariwise, I have laboured to bring the nobility and gentry to a sense of their own importance, when supported by the people, and the necessity of their taking an active part, not only in matters concerning the emancipation of the body, but in public affairs generally. I have repeatedly and urgently cautioned them against the consequences which have and always will follow projects conceived by doubledealers and forwarded by intrigue; and surely it is high time that they should begin to adopt some more certain plan than those which have been devised by the leaders of the self-named board, all which have ended in accumulating disgrace. Let them no longer listen to the suggestions of prejudiced men, but consult the dictates of their own minds, freed from party. spirit, and they will find that I am not so great a sinner against their interests as I have been and now am represented by the factious. The question then is, will the catholic public suffer themselves to be governed by a party, or will they support a press that is directed by principle, and which has never yet led, nor ever will lead, them wilfully into error? Will they suffer a faction to domineer over the press, by suppressing such works as may be obnoxious to it, and |