'The 16th clause provides that a Papist teaching school publicly, or in a private house, or as usher to a Protestant, shall be deemed and prosecuted as a Popish regular convict. fessed or conformed him, her, or themselves, to the Protestant religion, as by law established, and enrolled in the High Court of Chancery a certificate of the Bishop of the diocess in which she or they shall inhabit or reside, testifying The 18th clause provides that his, her, or their being a Protestant, Popish priests, who shall be conand conforming him, her, or them-verted, shall receive thirty pounds selves, to the Church of Ireland, per annum, to be levied and paid as by law established, it shall and by Grand Juries. may be lawful for the High Court of Chancery, upon a bill founded upon this act, to oblige the said Papist parent or parents to discover upon oath the full value of all his, her, or their estate, as well personal as real, clear, over and above all real incumbrances and debts contracted, bona fide, for valuable consideration, before the enrolment of such certificate, and thereupon to make such order for the support and maintenance of such Protes tant child or children, by the distribution of the said real and personal estate, to and among such Protestant child or children, for the present support of such Protestant child or children; and also to and for the portion or portions, and future maintenance or maintenances, of such Protestant child or children, after the decease of such Popish parent or parents, as the said Court shall judge fit." The 12th clause provides that all converts in public employments, members of Parliament, barristers, attorneys, or officers of any courts of law, shall educate their children Protestants. By the 14th clause, the Popish wife of a Papist, having power to make a jointure, conforming, shall, if she survives her husband, have such provision, not exceeding the power of her husband, to make a jointure, as the Chancellor shall adjudge. By the 15th clause, the Popish wife of a Papist, not being otherwise provided for, conforming, shall have a proportion out of his chattels, notwithstanding any will or voluntary disposition, and the statute 7th William III. 6. The 20th clause provides, whimsically enough, for the reward of discovering Popish clergy and schoolmasters, viz. :-For discover. ing an archbishop, bishop, vicargeneral, or other person, exercising any foreign ecclesiastical jurisdiction, 50%. For discovering each regular clergyman, and each secu lar clergyman, not registered, 201. Fordiscovering each Popish schoolmaster or usher, 107. The 21st clause empowers two justices to summon any Papist of eighteen years of age; and if he shall refuse to give testimony where and when he heard mass celebrated, and who and what persons were present at the celebration of it, and likewise touching the residence and abode of any priest or Popish schoolmaster, to commit him to goal, without bail, for twelve months, or until he shall pay twenty pounds. By the 25th clause no priest can officiate except in the parish for which he is registered, by the second of Anne, c. 7. 'The 30th clause provides for the discovery of all trusts agreed to be undertaken in favour of Papists; and enables any Protestant to file a bill in Chancery against any person concerned in any sale, lease, mortgage, or incumbrance, in trust for Papists, and to compel him to discover the same; and it further provides that all issues to be tried, in any action founded upon this act, shall be tried by none but known Protestants. The 37th clause provides that no Papist in trade, except in the linen trade, shall take more than two apprentices.' In the reign of George I. the fol. lowing acts were passed : An act to make the militia of this kingdom more useful.* 6 By the 11th and 12th clauses of this act, the horses of Papists may be seized for the militia. By the 4th and 18th clauses, Papists are to pay double towards raising the militia. By the 16th clause, Popish housekeepers in a city are to find fit Protestant substitutes. 'An act to restrain Papists from being high or petty constables, and for the better regulating the parish watches. + An act for the more effectual preventing fraudulent conveyances, in order to multiply votes for electing members to serve in Parlia ment, &c. By the 7th clause of this act no Papist can vote at an election, unless he takes the oaths of allegiance and abjuration. An act for the better regulating the town of Galway, and for strengthening the Protestant interest therein.§ An act for the better regulating the corporation of the city of Kilkenny, and strengthening the Protestant interest therein.!! An act by which Papists resident in towns, who shall not provide a Protestant watchman to watch in their room, shall be sub. ject to certain penalties. "By the 7th clause of this act no Papist can vote at a vestry.' In the reign of George II. the following were passed: "By the first clause of 1st Geo.II. c. 30. barristers, six clerks, &c. are required to take the oath of supremacy. By the 2d clause all convert, &c. are bound to educate their children as Protestants. By 7th Geo. II. c. 5. sect. 12. * 2d Geo. I. c. 9. † 2d Geo. I. c. 10. This act expired in three years, and was not renewed. 2d Geo. 1. c. 19. § 4th Geo. I. c. 15. 4th Geo. 1. c. 16. 6th Geo. I. c. 10, barristers or solicitors, marrying Papists, are deemed Papists, and made subject to all penalties as such. 6 By 7th Geo. II. c. 6. no convert can act as a justice of the peace, whose wife or children, under sixteen years of age, are educated Papists. The 13th Geo. II. c. 6. is an act to amend former acts for disarming Papists. By the 6th clause of this act, Protestants educating their children Papists are made subject to the same disabilities as Papists are. 'By 9th Geo. II. c. 3. no person can serve on a petty jury, un'less seized of a freehold of five pounds per annum; or, being a Protestant, shall not be possessed of a profit rent of fifteen pounds per annum, under a lease for years. 'By 9th Geo. II. c. 6. sect. 5. persons robbed by privateers, during war with a Popish prince, shall be reimbursed by grand jury presentment, and the money be levied upon the goods and lands of Popish inhabitants only. The 19th Geo. II. c. 5. is an act for granting a duty on hawkers and pedlars to the society of Protestant charter-schools. The 19th Geo. II. c. 13. is an act to annul all marriages between Protestants and Papists, or cele brated by Popish priests. By the 23d Geo. II. c. 10. sect. 3. every Popish priest, .who shall celebrate any marriage contrary to 12th Geo. I. c. 3. and be thereof convicted, shall be hanged.' The cruelty of these acts, like ambition, overvaulted their purpose they were partially inoperative. The Catholics multiplied under them; and priests, during their existence on the statute-book, were more numerous than they are at present. At length George III. bis late majesty, mounted the throne; and, though the early part of his reign was disgraced by one or two additional penal statutes, the bloody code soon after received a death-blow; though its quivering members still proclaim a painful existence. In 1774 the first act of conciliation was passed; and in 1793 the Catholics were placed in the situation which they at present hold, little or nothing having been conceded to them since. What was done for them at this period will be seen from the following list of disabilities under which they still labour: EDUCATION.-They cannot teach school, unless they take the oaths of 13th, 14th Geo. III. c. 35. They cannot take Protestant scholars, or be ushers to Protestant schoolmasters, 32d Geo. III. c. 20. 'GUARDIANSHIP.-They cannot be guardians, unless they take the oaths of 13th, 14th Geo. III. c. 35. If ecclesiastics, they cannot, under any circumstances, be guardians; nor can any Catholic be guardian to a child of a Protestant, 30th Geo. III. c. 29. 'MARRIAGE.-If a Catholic clergyman marries a Protestant and a Catholic, the marriage is null and void, and he is liable to suffer death, 32d Geo. III. c. 21. 'SELF-DEFENCE.-No Catholic can keep arms, unless he possesses a freehold estate of ten pounds per annum, or a personal estate of three hundred pounds. If so qualified, he must further qualify himself by taking the oaths of 13th, 14th Geo. III. c. 35.; unless he has a freehold estate of one hundred pounds per annum, or a personal estate of one thousand pounds, 33d Geo. III. c. 21. ' EXERCISE OF RELIGION.-The Catholic clergy must take the oaths of 13th, 14th Geo. III. c. 35. and register their place of abode, age, and parish. No chapel can have a steeple or bell, no funeral can take place in any church or chapel yard, and no rites or ceremonies of the religion or habits of their order are permitted, except within their several places of worship or in private houses, 21st, 22d Geo. III. c. 24. sect. 6. 'PROPERTY.-The laws of Anne are in force against all Catholics who do not take the oaths of 13th, 14th Geo. III. c. 35.; and also against all Protestants who may have lapsed or become converts to the Catholic religion. "FRANCHISES.-No Catholic can hold any of the offices enumerated in sect. 9. of an act here inserted. Catholics cannot sit in Parliament. They cannot vote at elections for members without taking the oaths of the 13th, 14th Geo. III. c. 35. and of 33d Geo. III. c. 21. They cannot vote at vestries. They cannot be barristers, attorneys, or professors of medicine on Sir P. Dunne's foundation, without taking the oaths of 13th, 14th Geo.III. c. 35. and of 33d Geo. III. c. 21.; or even fowlers and game-keepers. 'Catholic soldiers, by the mutiny act, if they refuse to frequent the Church of England worship, when ordered to do so by their commanding officer, shall, for the first offence, forfeit two pence; and, for the second, not only forfeit twelve pence, but be laid in irons for twelve hours; and, by the second section, art. 5. of the articles of war, the punishment even extends to that of death. 'An Irish Catholic officer or soldier, on landing in Great Britain, Jersey, or Guernsey, is immediately liable to the penalty, among others, the English act 1st Geo. I. c. 13. of forfeiting three hundred pounds. Catholics are excluded from holding the offices of Governor, Deputy-Governor, or Director, of the Bank of England. 'No part, scarcely, in fact, of the penal code is repealed, but all of it is now the law of the land, and in full force against those Catholics who have not qualified themselves for relief from its violence, by taking the oaths of 13th, 14th Geo. III. c. 35. or who may have lapsed or become converts to the Catholic religion.' I have made no alteration respecting the right of burial, as Mr. Plunkett's late bill is inoperative. Having now traced the causes which have given fame to the Rocks, I shall, in my next Number, return to the history of my own private haffairs. HAMILTON ROWAN. WHEN I was a boy the name of Rowan was venerated in Ireland. He was in fact one of those patriots whose memory, unlike the oriental city, shall not pass away; but which, like Erin's native shamrock,' shall bloom, and look for E ever green. Recent events have = brought this gentleman's name before the public; and, as the charge made against him has been triumphantly repelled, I shall at present do no more than extract from a cotemporary, the following notice of him from the pen of Mr. Sheil. In the progress of my Memoirs I shall have to speak more at large respecting -1 Mr. Rowan. the minister to come forth, and re- conse It has no Hamilton Rowan's exterior is full of interest. Whether you meet him abroad, or in a drawing-room, you are struck at once with his physical pre-eminence. Years have now rendered his frame less erect, but all the proportions of a noble model remain. In his youth he was remarkable for feats of strength and activity. The latter quality was put to no ordinary test, in a principal incident of his life, to which I shall presently refer. His face, both in feature and expression, is in strict accordance with the rest of his person. thing denoting extraordinary comprehension, or subtlety of intellect; but in its masculine outline, which the workings of time have brought out into more prominent reliefin the high and bushy brow-the unblenching eye-the compressed lips, and in the composed yet somewhat stern stability of expression that marks the whole, you find the symbols of high moral determination-of fidelity to principle-of self-reliance and self-oblivion, and above all of an uncompromising personal courage, that could front every form of danger face to face. The austerity of his countenance vanishes the moment he addresses you. His manners have all the fascination of the old school. Every tone of his voice is softened by an innate and undeviating courtesy, that makes no distinctions of rank or sex. In the trivial details of common life Hamilton Rowan is as gentle and complimentary to men as other men are in their intercourse with females. This suavity of demeanour is not the velvet of art; it is only one of the signs of a comprehensive philanthropy, which as habitually breaks out in acts of genuine sympathy and mulast of that host of patriots who first broke through that dark chain of silence' which had so long controuled the energies of Ireland. Grattan, Curran, Leinster, CharSee his trial in Howell's State Trials lemont, &c. are now no more; and this Of all the remarkable men I have met, Hamilton Rowan, I think, is the one whose external ap-quences, effected his escape to a pearance most completely answers foreign land. After several years to the character of his mind and passed in wandering and exile, the the events of his life. The moment merits of his personal character prevailed against the remembrance of his political aberrations, and an act of Royal clemency, generously conceded without any humiliating conditions, restored him once more to his country. There he has since resided, in the bosom of domestic quiet, and in the habitual exercise of every virtue that can ennoble priHe has the satisfaction, too, in his old age, of finding that, in a public point of view, his debt of gratitude to the crown has not been wholly unpaid. In his eldest son (Captain Hamilton, of the Cambrian frigate) he has given to the British navy one of its most gallant and distinguished commanders, and for whose sake alone every man of a generous spirit should abstain from gratuitous and cruel railings at the obsolete politics of the father.+ your eye has taken in the whole of his fine athletic configuration, you see at once that Nature designed him to be a great massive engine of a popular cause. When he entered life, he might easily have taken his place as a leading member of the aristocracy of his country. He had high connexions, a noble fortune, manners and accomplishments that would have graced a court-but his high and adventurous spirit could not have brooked the sedentary forms, and still less the despotic maxims, of an Irish state-career.He never could have endured to sit at a council-board, with his Herculean limbs gathered under him, to deliberate upon the most expedient modes of trampling upon public rights. As a mere matter of animal propensity, his more natural vocation was to take the side of enterprise and danger-to mingle in the tumult of popular commotion, and, leading on his band of citizensoldiers" to the portals of the Castle, to call aloud in their name for vate life. for 1794.' See the motion for a new trial, and the documents there used.-Howell's State Trials.' Mr. Rowan, I believe, is one of the hoary patriot must have felt a severe pang, on hearing that his name was stigmatized, in the British Senate, as that of a traitorhe who suffered for Ireland pronounced a rebel!-proh pudor! nificent relief, wherever a case of human suffering occurs within its range, The circumstances of Hamilton Rowan's escape from imprisonment, as I once heard them minutely detailed, possessed all the interest of a romantic narrative. The following are such of the leading particulars as I can recall to my recollection:-Having discovered (on the 28th of April, 1794) the extent of the danger in which he was involved, he arranged a plan of flight to be put into execution on the night of the 1st of May. He had the address to prevail on the gaoler of Newgate, who knew nothing farther of his prisoner than that he was under sentence of confinement for a political libel, to accompany him at night to Mr. Rowan's own house. They were received by Mrs. Rowan, who had a supper prepared in the front room of the second floor. The supper over, the prisoner requested the gaoler's permission to say a word or two in private to his wife in the adjoining room. The latter consented, on the condition of the door between the two rooms remaining open. He had so little suspicion of what was meditated, that, instead of examining the state of this other room, he contented himself with shifting his chair at the supper-table so as to give him a view of the open door-way. In a few seconds his prisoner was beyond his reach, having descended by a single rope, which had been slung from the window of the back chamber. In his stable he found a horse ready saddled, and a peasant's outside coat to disguise him. With these he posted to the house of his attorney, Matthew Dowling, who was in the secret of his design, and had promised to contribute to its success by his counsel and assistance. Dowling was at home, but unfortunately his house was full of company. He came out to the street to Mr. Rowan, who personated the character of a country client, and, hastily pointing out the great that they had recognised the iden. tity of their passenger with the printed description. 6 Your con risk to be incurred from any attempt to give him refuge in his own house, directed him to proceed to the Rotunda (a public building injectures are right, my lads," said Sackville Street, with an open space Rowan; " my life is in your hands in front), and remain there until -but you are Irishmen." They Dowling could dispatch his guests, flung the proclamation overboard, and come to him. Irish guests were and the boat continued her course.* in those days rather slow to sepa- On the third morning, a little after rate from the bottle. For one hour break of day, they arrived within and a half the fugitive had to wait, view of St. Paul de Leon, a fortified leading his horse up and down be- town on the coast of Bretagne.fore the Rotunda, and tortured As the sun rose, it dispersed a dense between fear and hope at the ap- fog that had prevailed overnight, pearance of every person that ap. and discovered, a couple of miles proached. He has often repre- behind them, moving along under sented this as the most trying mo- easy sail, the British Channel fleet, ment of his life. Dowling at length through the thick of which their arrived, and, after a short and anxi. little boat had just shot unper. ous conference, advised him to ceived. mount his horse, and make for the country-house of their friend Mr. Sweetman, which was situate about four miles off, on the northern side of the bay of Dublin. This place he reached in safety, and found there the refuge and aid which he sought. After a delay of two or three days Mr. Sweetman engaged three boatmen of the neighbourhood to man his own pleasure-boat, and convey Hamilton Rowan to the coast of France. They put to sea at night; but, a gale of wind coming on, they were compelled to put back, and take shelter under the lee of the Hill of Howth. While at anchor there, on the following morning, a small revenue-cruiser sailing by threw into the boat copies of the proclamations that had issued, offering 20001. for the apprehension of Hamilton Rowan. The weather having moderated, the boat pushed out to sea again. They had reached the mid-channel, when a situation occurred almost equalling in dramatic interest the celebrated" Cæsarem vehis" of antiquity. It would certainly make a fine subject for a picture. As the boat careered along before a favourable wind, the exiled Irishman perceived the boatmen grouped apart, perusing one of the proclamations, and, by their significant looks and gestures, discovering The party, having landed, were arrested as spies, and cast into pri son; but in a few days an order from the French government procured their liberation. Hamilton Rowan proceeded to Paris, from which, in a political convulsion that shortly ensued, it was his fate once more to seek for safety in flight. He escaped this time unac companied, in a wherry, which he rowed himself down the Seine. The banks were lined with military; but he answered their challenges with so much address, that he was allowed to pass on unmolested. Having reached a French port, he embarked for the United States of America, where at length he found a secure asylum. Hamilton Rowan, though of Irish blood, was born and educated in England. In his youth he acquired a large property under the will of his maternal grandfather, Mr. Rowan, a barrister and layfellow of Trinity College, Dublin, who, in a kind of prophetic spirit, made it a condition of the bequest "that his grandson should not come It is now several years since the particulars of Mr. Rowan's escape were related to me by a friend, as they had been communicated to him by the principal actor himself; and my present recollec tion is that the above incident was not in cluded. I have often heard it, as I have given it, from other sources.' Birman empire. Even the Jews to Ireland until after he should be according to Symes, supports the Tithe, or a partial perception of the gross produce of the land, was common to all countries, before coin or metal, as a medium of exchange, had been known or introduced. Tithe, as now paid to the clergy, was in many nations levied for the support of the state; and Pisistratus, in a letter to Solon, says, "though every Athenian Lithes his subsistence, διχα την του αυτού κλήρου, it is not for my service, but for the sacrifices, and other public wants, as, when we propose for war," &c.-Diog. Laert. Solon, p. 36. Tithe constitutes the revenue of the Emperor of China.--Barrow, p. 397. Tithe, Thus originated tithe, or the to avert evil, or promote success ;' Josephus says that Jacob made a vow lib. i. c. 19. "Milchizedek supplied Abram's army in a hospitable manner, and gave them abundance of provisions; and, as they were feasting, he began to praise him, and to bless God for subduing his enemies under him; and, when Abram gave him the tenth part of his prey, he accepted the gift."-Josephus, lib. i. c. 10. which they offer as an heave offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit."-Numbers, xviii. 24. Observe tithes are here called a heave offering; and in Numbers, xxxi. 29, the portion of the spoil of the Midianites, set apart for the high priest Eleazar, is called an heave offering of the Lord. Among the Pagans tithe was offered on success in war; and of this various instances are recorded in Grecian story. After the battle of Platæa, the tenth of the wealth collected was consecrated to sacred purposes.-Herod. lib. ix. c. 18. Again, the Athenians imposed a ransom of two minæ on each of the Chalcedonians, the tenth of which they consecrated.-Ibid. lib. v. c. 77. The same people, in some cases, apportioned a tithe of the land of the vanquished: having conquered the Mytilenians, and possessed their lands, they divided them into 3,000 shares; 300 shares, the tithe of 3,000, they de dicated to the gods.-Thucydides, lib. iii. p. 206. Zenophon, after his expedition, offered up a tithe, (Lib. v. p. 49); as did Agis, (Ibid. Hist. Græc. lib. iii. p. 493); as did Agesilaus, who consecrated a hundred talents, the tenth (dxarny) of the treasure which he had won from the Persians.—Ibid. p. 657. The Phoceans also, having killed 4,000 Thessalians, consecrated the tenth of the fruits of this victory at Delphi.-Herod. lib. iii. c. 27. These tenths, or tithes, though the proportion+ varied, were vowed to some paramount divinity; to Apollo frequently, to Mars; and Lucian explains why the tenth vowed to him was reserved by the Bythinians for PRIAPUS, because, they said, he was the foster-father of Mars.-Opera Omnia, p. 506. The Cretonians, being informed that they were to conquer, not by arms, but by offerings, vowed the tithe of the spoil to Apollo; but the Locrians, hearing the response of the god, vowed the ninth, nonas voverant, in order to excel in their donations. Thus tithes were considered a bribe to the god, or his shrine, or his priests.' |