The Express.
London, England, 1851-02-15 00:00:00

a diocesan form of government to administer that law.
But see the difficulty and the evil of legislating on such
subjects—go but a little way, and your act is impotent. ;
make it something more than a dead letter, and you went
leo far. (Cheers.) The Attorney-General had informed
the house that he had grounds for believing that one conse-
quence of this bill would be to prevent synodical action,
and he believed the hon. and learned gentleman made that
statement on the allegation contained in Cardinal Wise-
man's celebrated appeal. But if that was the only autho-
rity for making it he (Mr. Peel) very much doubted whe-
ther it would be found that the resources of the Roman
catholic church would be so easily exhausted, or that they
would not find means to evade the provisions of the bill in
that respect. (Loud cries of " Hear" from the opposition.)
But though some evil hail already been experienced in
Ireland, and though evil was apprehended in this country
on the introduction of the Roman canon law (and the noble
lord the member for Bath had dwelt with emphasis on the
subject, stating, that one of the avowed objects of the con-
stitution of the diocesan form of government in this country
was to introduce the code of the catholic church—the canon
law—and with great research the noble lord quoted many
Maggifrom that code), yet it must not be forgotten that
tiowell, sitting as an ecclesiastical judge in the dio-
cesan court of London, eulogised that law as a system
founded on the wisdom of man. (Hear, hear.) The
noble lord had read, however, a number of passages,
and showed from them that the canon law was op-
posed to the genius and spirit of the common law.
But the question was, he thought, what was the sanction
of the canon law in this country, and was the submission to
the moon law, and to its provisions, merely voluntary ?
(Hear, hear.) There was a gnat difference between the
canon law and ecclesiastical law of this country, for in-
stance ; hut we had incorporated the ecclesiastical law into
our common law, and had authorised the civil courts to give
effect and sanction to its decisions with reference to both.
(Hear.) lie confessed that he greatly questioned the
policy of protecting the Roman catholic laity of this country
from the provisions of a code to which they only paid a
voluntary submission. (" Hear," and cheers.) But it woo
said—not said, for in this ease we not only knew hut felt
the inconvenience of the power of synodical action—it was
asked, what had we seen in Ireland? We had seen the
bishops of the Roman catholic church there meeting
together fur the purpose of nullifying to the utmost of their
power that beneficent act of the legislature which afforded I
to the middle classes of that country an opportunity that
he trusted that they would not be deterred from availing
themselves of—(hear, hear)—of giving to their children the
advantages of a sound education in every branch of litera-
tore and science, without exposing them to the slightest'
fear of having their faith, their doctrines, or their morals
interfered with, an far as anything passing within the
schools was concerned. (Hear, hear.) Ile condemned the'
impropriety of that interference, seeing that we had re-
cognised education nt last as the great moral agent—es the
great security for the stability and permanence of our in-
stitutions. But if our object was to interfere with the
introduction of the administration of the canon law—if we
wished and intended, by the present bill, to prevent syno-
dical action, he greatly feared we had miscalculated our
resources, and left the question out of slew whe-
ther we should not hereafter want the ability to
carry out that which we were desirous of effecting.
(liear, bear.) lie felt almost satisfied that the only
thing the house would do would be to afford one other
illustration of how powerless was the henry arm of temporal
power in dealing with the voluntary submission of the
mind—imaginary sentiments, as they had been called,
which rested in the breasts of the people. (Hear, hear.)
It was not, perhaps, on opinion shared in by many,
but, nevertheless. he was impressed very strongly with
the conviction that at no period—and this, too, was
owing in a great measure to the cebace of legislative
restrictions—at no period was the church of England, not-
withstanding the dissensions and differences which had been
prevailing within her bosom—(hear, hear)—notwithstand-
ing the efforts of those who were labouring to overlay the
simplicity of the prayer-hook with ritual and ceremonial
ohactrancese—(hear, hear)—not with that spirituality which
characterised Protestant worship—(hear, hear)—notwith-
standing, too, what the hon. member for Manchester (Mr.
Bright) hail alluded to the other night, namely, the effort'
of those who were labouring to give to the clergy the
functions of a vicarial and mediateirial priesthood—(hear,
hear)—notwithstanding all this, he believed that the church
of England was never more firmly grounded in the offer-
time; of the great bulk of the linglish people than she was
at this present moment. (Loud cries of i• Hear, hear," and
cheers.) His firm impression was that the church of
England had nothing to fear from the assaults of
the church of itonie. The principles on which she was
placed, the sufficiency of the Scriptures alone, the right of
every mats to use his own judgment in their interpreta-
tion—these constituted for toe a position which rendered
her unassailable, a position which rendered her Impreg-
nable to the assaults of the lope. (Cheers.) He con-
fessed, in conclusion, that he saw no reasons for aban-
doning that wise and prudent course of giving
full toleration to every denomination, which the church of
England, with a true appreciation of her own interests, and
with a wise insight into what was most conducive to her
real interests, had tardily, though, as he believed, happily
at last, consented to recognise. The hon. gentleman resumed
his seat amid loud and continued applause.
Sir JAMES DUKE defended Lord John Russell from
the charge of agitation, and recapitulated the numerous,
meetings upon the subject of papal aggression which had
taken place or been announces', before the publication of
his letter to the Bishop of Durham. Ile declared that the
voice of the country was with the premier and his measure.
Mr. B. WALL opposed the measure. He saw no insult
in the papal act, but only the necessary consequence of the
decision of the British legislature in prohibiting all diplo-
matic intercourse with the Vatican. Under such circum-
stance's the Pope could do only one of two things with
regard to England—excommunicate or ignore. By adopt-
ing the latter, he had chosen the milder alterna-
tive. The bill was a recantation of the tolerant
principles once professed by the ministry, and gave
an impulse. to persecution. lie ace used the government of
bad faith and inconsistency towards the court of Rome.
The proposed bill would make every man a Jesuit and
every priest a spy. It would he found almost impossible to
work it in Ireland. He thought the most gracious course
would be to ignore the steps which the catholics had lately
taken, whereas ho thought the proposal of the government
amounted to the maximum of persecution, and persecution
of the worst kind, for it depended upon the amount of
mental reservation entertained by the persecuted, and
would diminish in proportion as that reservation increased.
Mr. HAMILTON followed up some personal observa-
tions in defence of his collcage, Mr. Napier, by. arguing
that the act of papal aggression justified legislative inter-
ference, provided there was no intolerance shown to the
religious principles of the catholics. His approval of the
government measure must depend upon the tenor of its pro-
visions, of which, as yet, he knew nothing.
Mr. SADLEIR wished to see protestantism resting upon
faith and the scriptures instead of the factitious strength of
statutes. lie proceeded to adduce numerous instances to
support a complaint that Irishmen and catholics had been
unfairly treated in the distribution of government patronage.
Ile complained of the policy which hail hounded on the
musses with the cry of " No Popery.," reminding the agi-
tators that such a course was most efficient service to the
cause of infidelity.
Mr. MILNEIt GIBSON said he had been in parlia-
ment, with a short interval of absence, since the year 1837,
and this was the first occasion on which he had been invited
to embark in a policy upon the principle involved in the pro-
posal of the noble lord. (Hear.) He was thereforedesirous of
taking no step in a matter of this importance without the fullest
' consideration. (Hear, hear.) He had been asked frequently
to oppose the removal of disabilities from various portions
of his fellow-countrymen but this was the first time he had
been invited to impose disabilities on men for their religious
opinions. (Hear, hear.) For what was the bill? What the
principle of the noble lord? The noble lord hail invited
him to join him in passing a penal law against men who de-
sired by voluntary support and contributions among them-
' selves to support that form of ecclesiastical discipline which
they believed bestadeulated to promote the religion they pro-
famed. This was not a proposal on the part of English catho-
lies calling upon the legislature to invest their bishops with
legal jurisdiction, or to give those bishops legal powers to
tax this country for the purpose of spreading the Roman
catholic religion. (Hear, hear.) It was nothing of the
kind; but it was a proposal against those over whom he
hardly thought we had any jurisdiction in the case.
Parliament had not been asked to dip into the pockets
of the taxpayers, or to impose any law upon the subjects
of this realm, in order to support the Roman catholic
religion ; but they were called on to impose penalties on men
for seeking by voluntary association to support their faith.
He Mr. Gibson) hardly thought that after all, it was in-
tended the present measure should be carried. (Hear,
hear.) lie had heard certain reports that day, and there
was a statement in a leading journal, supposed to have a
semi-official character—the rinses, in which they were in-
formed that Ireland ought to be left out of the bill. (Hear,
hear.) And if Ireland stood in the bill there was an under-
standing that it was not to be enforced in the case
of that country. He did not think that such a
course on the part of the government was at all
commendable. It would be much better for men to be
.open and fair and aboveboard, and not seek for the sake of
an apparent uniformity to introduce Ireland without the
intention of carrying it into effect there. (Loud cries of
" hear, hear.") In his opinion it seemed strange that her
Majesty's government should propose to place the catholics
lof Great Britain and Ireland practically in a worse position
Ithan those of other portions of this country's dominions.
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theyth eacltknoomawlnzethlidothnie
spiritual authority of the Pope—that the house was
called on to exclude these men from parliament.
(Hear, hear.) All these descriptions of arguments were
I constantly used, but he (Mr. Gibson) would not be de-
terred from scrutinising this measure because those who
supported it said they were the friends and the advocates of
religious liberty. They had been told that the country had
' taken up the question in a spirit quite in accordance with
the principle of full religious liberty, and the ground on
which this legislation was demanded they were told had
nothing at all to do with any attack on religious
opinion. On looking at the proceedings which had taken
place in the country, he found that there had been
no absence of discussion as to the tenets of the
Roman catholics, and these tenets were put forward as
the reason and the principal reason why the house was
to enact these penal laws. (Loud cries of " Hear, hear.")
The noble lord at the head of the government, in the
letter which he had put forth, and which had been the
foundation of this movement, a movement which to that
moment had never reached the working classes—(loud
cries of " Hear, hear")—in that letter the noble lord had,