ON THE PRESENT POSITION OF CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND: ADDRESSED TO THE BROTHERS OF THE ORATORY. BY JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, D.D. PRIEST OF THE CONGREGATION OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 17, PORTMAN STREET, AND 63, PATERNOSTER ROW. TO THE MOST REVEREND PAUL, LORD ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH AND PRIMATE OF ALL IRELAND. MY DEAR LORD PRIMATE, IT is the infelicity of the moment at which I write, that it is not allowed me to place the following pages under the patronage of the successor of St. Patrick, with the ceremony and observance due to so great a name, without appearing to show disrespect to an Act of Parliament. Such appearance a Catholic is bound to avoid, whenever it is possible. The authority of the civil power is based on sanctions so solemn and august, and the temporal blessings which all classes derive from its protection are so many, that both on Christian principle and from motives of expedience it is ever a duty, unless religious |