THE ARCHDEACON OF LIVERPOOL 373
weakness, of perpetual difficulty and of untold anxiety. We are far better off as we are. I am convinced that in the present condition of the English people, haunted as they are by fears and suspicions, that it is expedient the King should be of the religion of the overwhelming majority. The Cardinal is right : we are far better off as we are. Surely any one who will contrast the state of England from 1560 to 1688 (130 years of civil war, discord, plots, intrigues and unrest) with the last 210 years under the Declaration and the Coronation Oath and the Protestant Constitution, must frankly acknowledge that we have indeed abundant cause for thankfulness, and determine that we prefer the latter to the former. In taking this position we are acting for the interest of all creeds, not for the Protestant only, but for the Roman Catholics also. It is a simple fact that the Roman Catholics in this country have more liberty than in any other country in the world, more liberty than under the Roman Catholic Govern ment of France and Italy, and more than the Pope would give us in Rome. It is the glory of Great Britain that wherever her flag flies there is full and equal religious liberty for all creeds, and this liberty is expressly denied in the Papal syllabus of 1864."
THE END
�� �
