But far different will be the issue of the contest, we confidently trust, if ere the threatened attack commence, an equitable plan of conciliation shall have been established. Perpetual discord in Ireland and frequent dangers to the empire have been the consequences of a long series of acts of injustice. The reverse of

enced from a change produced by the prevalence of wisdom and benevolence. Mutual

good-will and amity will then unite the now contending sects; gratitude on the part of the Dissidents to a country at last persuaded to be just and kind to them, will be combined with the warmest attachment to the constitution, and fidelity to an impartial government will then be the universal vow; invasion though it may still annoy these islands will cease to ter

rify them; because the danger of a forced se paration will no longer exist; because the fears and jealousies, the concealed distrust and hatred, the avowed disaffection and rage of past times which our intolerance had excited, will all be turned against the ruthless invader, and our subjugation to France then will have become an impossible event. Disasters indeed may befal us, defeats may check our arms; and devastation for a time may mark the progress of our enemy through the country; but his efforts to enslave it will be vain.

A free and united people will resist the invader, as they ought, with unconquerable energy; from every part of the country, troops, no longer wanted as garrisons to keep down commotion, will be freely called from their stations

to encounter the enemy; host after host will crowd to the standard of national defence;

a holy enthusiasm in the cause of their country will inspire them. They will spurn the treacherous arts, the insidious offers of the usurper in his tent; and in the field of battle their well-regulated heroism will disconcert his tactics, and overpower the mercenary bravery of his troops; at last, we may justly trust he will be driven back to France with shame; or he will remain in ignominy a captive here: he will thus meet the just reward of his perfidy and lust of power; everlasting infamy will fasten on his name; and the wisdom and goodness of providence will be finally justified to mankind.

And if such will be the happy consequences,

in a political view, of a system of religious liberty wisely tempered with satisfactory securities to our establishments in church and state, how incalculably must their value be inhanced in a religious view, by the benign effects sure to follow from christianity, when it has been thus freed from the restraints of intolerance and the disgraceful fetters of worldly policy, and left freely to its own inherent efficacy, to accomplish the gracious design of providence to diffuse happiness wherever it is known, and to spread piety and benevolence through the world. How enrapturing is the glorious prospect! And when seen under this aspect, by good and pious men, how devoutly will they hail with us the spreading light of the gospel? And how will they assist the progress of that liberty of conscience from which

alone the more rapid diffusion of that light can be expected, with their wishes, their pray

ers, and every possible exertion of their powers!

To the petitioners the rectitude of these principles appears to be incontestable; and that their conduct ought to be absolutely conformable with these principles they cannot doubt, for one moment; they presume, also to think, that kings and legislative assemblies are equally bound to act in conformity with the sacred rules of justice and religion as the individuals whose governors they are. Under these impressions, and fervently desiring to promote the safety of their country, and to accelerate the diffusion of the benign spirit of the gospel through this empire and gra