The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-21 00:00:00

Liistop of

ics o: the; Mid 11 n 1

rt esidt nt

,vent on to E. fty—Aa we are here iu the contre or one of the

argest Catholic districts in. E2ghind, I wish to say a Sew

words to yeti—not, however, th,t I have anything -very iiu•

pertialt to Fay—about our poi•ition as Catholics

tho pro-

sent time in the country. (Hear, and applitu..e.) I dare say

you, occupied as you are from morning till evening, do not
consider the struggles which Catholicity has before now had
in this district as in the rest of England. I arc not going

to dwell upon them ; they are things which are gon© by ;

but we ought not entirely to forget, in the happier days iu
which we live, the position in which men were in former
times, especially when we remember that we are in the im-

mediate vicinity of where that excellent man, that model of

a bishop, Dr. Milner, lived—(applause;—that also you have

:hat excellent and old-established Catholic institution, the

college at Ascott—(applause)--from which so many well-
educated men and so many earnest and energetic priests
have gone forth to minister to the wants of the Catholic
body. When I remember that excellent school which is

now growing up at Egbaston, and when I remember a!so
that Mr. Patin has done so much in Birmingham for

Catholic art with the help of the energy and talent which

he found here, and by which his idea;wero carried out—

when I remember that the firm of Hardman, and others,

while second to none in charity, have been so prominent,
so earnest, and so able, that they have changed the system
of church building and church decoration—(applause)—l
cannot but call your attention to such striking facts. But
what is it we are now ? Whom have I the honour of seeing
before me? Here is the representation—and the very large
representation—of the very large Catholic body of this town.
Now I have the great pleasure of seeing before me as happy
looking, as industrious-looking, as well-to-do-looking, a

number of persons as my eyes have ever seen. It looks as if
you were happy, as if you were well-contented, as if you
had not much to complain of in this town. Unfortunately,
even in these days, there prevails a good deal of feeling
against the Catholic religion. I am not going to dwell upon
it, and I only speak of it for the purpose of regretting it;

but I believe that in the manufacturing towns, and in Bir-

mingham especially, the Catholics find more consideration

and more kindness from those of other religions than they

do in almost any other place. (Applause.) I think I have
read in our Catholic papers about the death of a venerated

man who was in his lifetime 2- town councillor of Birminghav,,
and I think I have also read in the papers of some one's death
very recently who was a member of the corporation of Bir-

miugham. I believe that in no town are the Catholic clergy
so freely allowed access to the charitable institutions as in
Birmingham. (Applause.) If anything can commend itself
to the Catholic heart, that is the thir.g. You will observe

that it is not any preference, not any favour, that Catholics
want. When they ask for facilities in such matters it is
simply for the clergyman to administer to the dying or the
sick members of his flock that consolation which he alone
can administer in times of aftiction and distress. (Cheers.)
You have all these things here. It is true that the Catholic
body throughout the rest of England wish to see some other
things accomplished. Whether they will get them accom-

plished or not I don't know. There is a good deal of preju-
dice yet to be overcome. Persons imagine that we wish for
these facilities through other motives than those by which
we are really actuated ; but this I will venture to say—that
the more facility there is given the priest to enter the work-
house or the prison the greater facility will the constituted
authorities find in keeping peace and order among those
who are committed to their care. (Applause.) It is not the
first time that I have had to speak on these matters, and I
have invariably said, "You may depend upon it that the
more you allow the Catholic clergyman to be brought into
connection with the Catholic criminal or the Catholic pau-
per the more easy will it be to reform the one and soothe
and comfort the other, and keep order among alt." (Aps
plause.) I trust that before long the snail glimmering of
liberality which has been shown by some counties in respect
to the admission of Catholic priests into the prison for
the purpose of visiring the Catholic prisoners will be de-
veloped, and that the injustice which Catholics now expe-
rience in that respect will be done away with. (Applause.)
I shall not intrude upon your time by going into the par-
ticulars of this question, but there are one or two matters
connected with it which are not, but which ought to be,
generally known, Arc you aware that if a Catholic crimi-
nal in the prison, wishing to keen his religion, which
of course is the only means of reforming hire, says he does
not wish to go to the prison chapel, leg is, being in conse-
quence of that locked up in his cell, subjected to a month's
imprisonment more in the year than his Protestant fellow
prisoner who attends morning and evening prayer and goes
to the chapel on Sundays? Again, it is said that the Ca-

tholic prisoners do not wish to see their priests ; they do not
ask for them. Well, the reason of that we have over end
over again repeated, and I shall confine myself here simply
to saying that of course a poor man of that kind who goes
to prison would be the last to like to see the priest at first ;
ho would be most ashamed; but if there is one man on the
face of the earth able to reform him it is his priest. (A.pplause,)
We all know that if we have respect for a man and have in-
jured either him or what he holds to be good and holy, that
is the last person we wish at a certain time to be brought
into contact with. The Protestant chaplain is obliged to see
all the Protestant prisoners. The Catholic chaplain ought to
have the same facilities, and that shamefacedness of the Ca-
tholic prisoner, which is to the man's honour, ought not to
be turned against him, nor the only chance of reform taken
away from him by the assertion that he is giving UP his re-
ligion when we all know it is not so. I hope sincerely that
persons will be brought to a better consideration of the

to,
agnntod
fttotohskaetes pot
sort—get
eh":
igulhe
toa
will
theiret ot their
cot
ihwr enpprir,:ilpsecnre
ipauljecoetehientrwys:ot,
narekniciehdTtc:rtuh.ehsidesein'lti :
dm with,ll
prevent s t
not alllba While
hui these e
bhocepkt. everybody
iboorsnlNr :
cvlawchyeeuialimesirteshcul
vshoy:Nelte'oi. islicuth j
question. I have, perhaps, gone into this matter too lone:.
I shall only once more advert to your local affairs. You are
met here to-night in the most laudable manner to encourage
the schools of this district. (Hear.) What a blessing it is to
see so much enthusiasm about your schools ? All your
schools are, I understand. managed by one committee, and
this no doubt is the cause of unity of feeling among you, and
makes you all feel an enthusiasm about your schools which
may not be felt in other places where each school is con-
fined to a small sphere, and there is nothing to connect with
any but one small neighbourhood. There seems to b 3 a.
general feeling of pride among you about your schools, and
an eageiness to support them, and this it is to a great ex-
tent that has brought you here to-night. You all of you
know, and I am not going to enlarge upon the importance
Catholics
aicbenhedii endeavournnwcge ehanennpdsoeutwlooes
fa, hhttsheehudvl
eplei
I,"
of education. You know it is education which must give
the young a chance of growing up to be good and useful.
members of society, and which must assist them to continue
our own. I want no more than that; but I want to see the
Catholic body not inferior to other bodice of mm. (Cheers.)
wlthawinnat to see them—not by gambling or speculation or any-
thing and
hotnohltuiecnss
ifportingaiwb t schools,llhtabout,
bwtteohuiw'ieti
sidtbrahowaenseithdclamiebotansol
fhefeoeul "It:. poorer
nsooe(s oyeuuat
irgnpoewphdpfrp' otlitltrlhthoenetsihave
membersafvaem iol
at fi t 3
heart.in theiri honour
society.nolatis g 0 0 d
for
—thatwhom tahaerceatahrooliesso,
each of us to wish for the time, and to endeavour to bring
this large town or as individuals, the eyes of many
whethermany,
as shouldthe b e
large
yhneoegmui chapelirabfnoe
you, and that you should always behave yourself with a
view to do honour to the religion in which you have been
nurtured. If you do that you will do much to dispel pre-
judice ; but am sure you must all of you feel that if Catho-
lics are seen to appear much at the police offices, if they are
brought up as drunk and disorderly, if they arc seen to be
spendthrifts, dishonour is thrown upon the whole body, and
people on the lookout to abuse us say that those who belong
to the Catholic religion are always in broils and troubl.A.
Let us feel that as wo walk along the streets we walk along
as belonging to the Catholic religion, and let us feel that
when we are respected members of society the Catholic
religion is then respected through us. (Applause.) I
need only further remark that, while we as Catholics are
proud of our religion, and do all we can. to advance it.
among the members of our own flock, we ought always to
behave with the most perfect friendship and kindness to,
those who do not agree with us. (Hear, hear.) While wo
avoid their errors and do not agree with them in religious
matters, there will be often many other matters in whieliwa
may agree with them, and in which we may always
fit
friends, and thus contribute to the great Christian be
east
9f a w,•Il •organised community. (A.pplause.) A. 8 we_r°,l___ic.
our own feelings, let us always respect the feelings or til,
de-
sire to obtain. noble lord resumed
After a few further observations the
his seat, and was heartPy applauded.
gm' hi
iant
iinsgl conciliateiikheilnygtsowh ih
th e Catholica ntl obtain
bo
Ifyo.rs c
juvs e
rt
yh ergueuh yet re
—...------e!'-'-' ar e drrutphooii
in,

EASTERN.--Another tinit in the
Court of Admiralty has been commenevd tga'alst
THE GREAT
the Great Eastern. Captain Paton, the commander. has
caused the vessel to be arrested for the rum of £2,000.
Thee are now two arrests in great force against the ship.
one at the suit of the owners of the late ship Jane for :CO,OOO
and the other by Captain Paton for £2,000,