y in England, which I know the latter
consider to be very impertinent; and he makes it apropos of a passage
in one of my original letters in January. He quotes me as saying that
"Catholics differ from Protestants, as to whether this or that act in
particular is conformable to the rule of truth," p. 48; and then he
goes on to observe, that I have "calumniated the Catholic gentry,"
because "there is no difference whatever, of detail or other, between
their truthfulness and honour, and the truthfulness and honour of the
Protestant gentry among whom they live." But again he has garbled my
words; they run thus:

"Truth is the same in itself and in substance, to Catholic and
Protestant; so is purity; both virtues are to be referred to that
moral sense which is the natural possession of us all. But, when we
come to the question in detail, whether this or that act in
particular is conformable to the rule of truth, or again to the rule
of purity, then _sometimes_ there is a difference of opinion _between
individuals, sometimes_ between schools, and _sometimes_ between
religious communions." I knew indeed perfectly well, and I confessed
that "_Protestants_ think that the Catholic system, as such, leads to
a lax observance of the rule of truth;" but I added, "I am very sorry
that they should think so," and I never meant myself to grant that
all Protestants were on the strict side, and all Catholics on the
lax. Far from it; there is a stricter party as well as a laxer party
among Catholics, there is a laxer party as well as a stricter party
among Protestants. I have already spoken of Protestant writers who in
certain cases allow of lying, I have also spoken of Catholic writers
who do not allow of equivocation; when I wrote "a difference of
opinion between individuals," and "between schools," I meant between
Protestant and Protestant, and particular instances were in my mind.
I did not say then, or dream of saying, that Catholics, priests and
laity, were lax on the point of lying, and that Protestants were
strict, any more than I meant to say that all Catholics were pure,
and all Protestants impure; but I meant to say that, whereas the rule
of truth is one and the same both to Catholic and Protestant,
nevertheless some Catholics were lax, some strict, and again some
Protestants were strict, some lax; and I have already had
opportunities of recording my own judgment on which side this writer
is _himself_, and therefore he may keep h