The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-03 00:00:00

Pi
MONASTIC INSTITUTIONS IN ENGLAND.

Mr. NEWDEGATE rose to move for a select committee
to inquire into the extensive character and increase of
monastic or conventual societies in Great Britain, and pre-
sented some petitions from different parts of tho country in
favour of his motion. He said that last April he had
proposed to the houoe to institute an inquiry
into the statements which had been made by a
a gentleman named Smee, who presented a petition re-
specting his relation Mr. Hutchinson, who became a
member of the Oratorians, who had a place of worship
at Brompton and a burial ground at Sydendam. It hap-
pened that subsequently Mr. Smee addressed letters to
the Duchess of Norfolk, which were printed and
circulated ; and perhaps no person had more rea-
sonto complain of the adoption of that course
than he (Mr. Newdegate). These letters were
printed and circulated without his authority or con-
sent; and the effect of these letters was to divert attention
from the motion he had made on the subject and to defeat
its success. He had referred to another case, in which a
gentleman, who was in orders in the Church of England
and was about to be promoted to a living, had been, as he
contended, seduced to become a member of the Oratorians,
and he read the petition which that gentleman's father
had presented, in which he said that his son
been induced by improper influence to take a course that
was detrimental to his prospects in life. This petition
was taken no notice of, a matter which much surprised
him, as the subject of the petition was of great importance.
It was contended that the Act of Parliament of 1829 did
not apply to the Oratory at Brompton, on this alleged
gaound, that it consisted of a number of secular priests
who became members voluntarily, were not compelled to
remain in the body, and had control over their property.
Against that assertion he cited the decision arrived at by
the Catholics at Geneva, to the effect that that body were
a regular order of clergy. He alluded next to the increase
of monastic and conventional institutions in this country,
and contrasted the restrictions imposed in France and
Prussia in regard to the period for which religious vows
should be taken, and to the fact that in Italy it had been
considered right to suppress some monastic institutions,
to the freedom permitted in this Protestant country. As
regarded the increase of the institution in question, he
said that from a small number they had risen to the extent
of 58 religious establishments for men, 187 convents, and
10 colleges in Great Britain and Wales ; while, with the
addition of 19 in Scotland, the number of convents were
increased to 201. To show that. monastic institutions
were deemed dangerous and impolitic even in Roman
Catholic towns in the country, he cited historical state-
ments as to the course which Cardinal Moreton deemed it
advisable to adopt in the time of Henry VII., by recom-
mending the Pope of that day to use his authority for the
suppression of those establishments. The visitation ma de
at the time developed a very lose state
of morals in those
bull, or re-
institutions, and the Pope
d
hscaridpt'receinivedc.onfolrtmiwt
Youldwitbhe theef s
eu
u ri
be ce
thatnda t °ll_nenryhe
remembered
ne or a
emdm e
in his power for their extinction, although he had
dVildlalliconsidered these institutions so dangerous that he
been entitled defensor fulei, and had written a letter against
Luther. The hon. member next adverted to the cases of
Miss M'Dermott and Miss Ryan, and quoted different nar-
ratives as to mal-practices in monasteries and convents
which were current in this country, and he appealed
earnestly to accede to his motion for the inquiry he sug-
gested.
Mr. HENNESSY said that the hon. member had not
made out any case to show the necessity for his inquiry, as
it appeared, even from his own statement, that the law
was sufficient to redress any grievance in regard to this
subject. As related by Mr. Smee the fact was this, he
had brought his case before Court of Probate, and
a jury of 12 Englishmen decided that his statements were
without any foundation, in fact utterly false. The circum-
stances connectedwith MissM'Dermott showed that the law
was quite inadequate meet any alleged grievance. The
hon. and learned gentleman then defended the moral and
spiritual training in conventual schools, and supported his
view by reference to the reports published in the blue-
book in regard to these institutions in Ireland, in which
all the inspectors, Protestant and Presbyterians, fully
concurred.