The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-23 00:00:00

if 'l'44
-ahem-were prepared at that -college nd sent over to
England, where they were endeavouring gradually to
undermine the institutions of the country. Father Igna-
tius, the late Rev. Mr. Spencer, had directed Roman Ca-
tholics to get into Protestant families, not to mind how
low was their situation in life, to humble themselves, in
order to be true and faithful teachers, to hire themselves
as servants in Protestant families, and to take every oppor-
tunity which such station afforded them of doing their
duty to the Church. Re knew he might incur the censure
of some hon. members for introducing the subject ; but
he would not shrink from saying that, in supporting
Popery, they were supportingidolatry—Rupporting that
which would take away from them their only comfort in
life and. in death, to substitute for it themiserableinven-
tions-of the Roman Catholic priesthood, who, achninis-
tering'wha.t they called " extreme unction," carried on
the dehision to the hour of death, and I,,efe-1 not even
there, but took from the survivors money, under the
pretence that they could administer comfort to the de-
ceased in purgatory. And all this under the garb of re-
ligion. In conclusion, he entreated the. Government to
come forward manful/y, and put an-end to the support
which they gave to this system. The Roman Catholics
were now setting themselves up, not for toleration, but
with the determination that they should not rest content
till the whole incubus of the Protestant Church was
removed, and they would go on, unless the Government
had the moral courage to stop their progress. Re en-
treated her Majesty's Government to come -to the
rescue of the country, and to save it from the danger
which was impending over it, and to throw themselves
upon the Protestant feeling of the country, feeling con-
vinced that if they did so they would be able to bid de-
fiance to all opposition, from whatever source it might
come. He appealed to the Government as a Protestant
Government, to its members as the Ministers of'a Pro-
testant Sovereign, to stand firmly by those Protestant
principles to maintain which the Sovereign had taken a
solemn oath. He trusted that the Government would
stand faithfully by their Sovereign, and enable her, by
their counsel and advice, to support and uphold that
Constitution in Church and State which it had been the
work of so many years to establish. (Hear, hear.) The
honourable member concluded by moving the following
resolution :—"That this house do resolve itself into a
committee, to consider the act 8 and 9 Vic., c. 25, being
'An act to amend two acts passed in Ireland for the
better education of persons professing- the Roman Catho-
lic religion, and for the better government of the college
established at Maynooth for the education of such per-
sons, and also an act passed in the Parliamquiottaa—
'l:3nitetrKiiikcicini"ref-amending the said two acts,' com-
monly called the last Maynooth Act, with a view to the
repeal of those clauses of the said act which provide
money grants in any way to the said college."
Mr. JAMES M'GREGOR seconded the motion. As
an independent member of that house, belonging to no
party, and ready upon all occasions to tender his vote
for every measure, by whomsoever proposed, which he
believed to be for the benefit of the country, he ventured
to offer the testimony of his convictions of the necessity
of inquiry into the College of Maynooth. A large and
influential body in the country believed the statements
which had just been made respecting that college. If
they were wrong in that belief, the true way of meeting
the case was ,by inquiry, and to refute it by evidence. If
hon. gentlemen upon his left shrunk from inquiry, that
fact was a proof there must be something behind the
scenes which they dreaded being brought to light. (Oh,
oh.) If a committee of inquiry were granted, evidence
would be taken to justify the course proposed by his hon.
friend.

~,
~_!,,

A MEMBER—The motion is not for a committee. (A
laugh.)

Mr.'M'GREGOR—It was plainly put before the house
that the motion was for a committee.
Severil MEMBERS—No, no.
Mr. M`GREGOR—The motion was, "That this house
do resolve itself into a committee to consider the act 8
and 9 Vict., c. 25." (Hear, hear.) The house would
perceive from this that he was not very well acquainted
with its forins. But whether the subject was considered
in a committee of the whole house, it was referred to
a select committee, he was satisfied that the only way of
dealing with the case was to inquire whether or not the
information given to the house by his honourable friend
was founded on' ruth. (Hear, hear.) He (Mr. M`Gregor)
was not a bigot—he was a friend of civil and religious
liberty, but he claimed that the allegations made by his
hon. friend should be inquired into, and if possible re-
butted. If the College of Maynooth was a valuable
place of education for her Majesty's Roman Catholic
subjects in Ireland there could be nothing in the estab-
lishment which its friends would not be ready to have
ventilated ; but if, upon the contrary, it could be shown
that the tenets taught there was not in accordance with
what was due to the Protestant Sovereign and the Pro-
testant constitution of this country, he could easily un-
derstand why the friends of Maynooth would shrink
from investigation, whether made by the whole house
or a select coramittee. (Hear, hear.) He had a strong
conviction that there was only too much truth in the
statements of his honourable friend the member for
North Warwickshire ; but he should be glad to be
assured that the doctrines taught at Maynooth were in
accordance with civil and religions liberty, and with the
free enjoyment of the eleCtive franchise. (Hear, hear.)
Committees of that house had reported that bribery
and corruption had extensively prevailed at the late elec-
tion.

A MEMBER—Not in Ireland. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. M`GREGOll,—They had not yet come to the
Irish inquiries ; but 'what corruption, prevail where it
might, could be so terrible as denunciations from the
altar against parties who had not voted as their priests
expected ? No bribery, no corruption, was more ter-
rible than this. (Hear, hear.) He contended that, un-
der all the circumstances, a case had been made out
which demanded inquiry.
Mr. SCHOLEFIELD moved as an amendment, that
all the words after " consider" be left out, and that the
following be substituted :—" All enactments now in force
whereby the revenue of the State is charged in aid of any
ecclesiastical or religious purposes whatsoever, with a
view to the repeal of such enactments." In moving
this amendment he congratulated himself that the terms
of it did not call upon him to enter on the controversial
topics which had, almost exclusively, formed the subject
of his honourable friend's speech. If the' mendment
should fail, as he expected it would, then he should most
unhesitatingly vote against the proposition of his hon.
friend. It had been said by a number of his own con-
stituents, and even in that house—Why not make a
beginning with Maynooth ? (Hear. hear.) Because he
had a strong opinion that, if he selected such an endow-
ment as the first object of attack, it would be evidence
of an unjust and an ungenerous policy. (Hear, hear.)
If the question of religious endowments must be taken
piecemeal, he was prepared to attack the richer and
more powerful Church first, rather than the Church
which represented one-third of her Majesty's subjects,
and one-third of the most destitute of the population.
His honourable friend had quoted the language of
the First Lord of the Admiralty ; and he (Mr.
Scholefield) would call attention to the warning
words of another right honourable gentleman who
spoke on this very subject only last year. The right
honourable gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer
(Mr. Gladstone) then used the following words :—" If
this endowment be withdrawn, the Parliament which
withdraws it must be prepared to enter upon the whole
subject of the reconstruction of the ecclesiastical institu-
tions of the country." (Hear, hear.) Was his hon.
friend (Mr. Spooner) prepared to encounter all the diffi-
culties of such a reconstruction ? Was he prepared to
summon round the Church to which he belonged new
elements of danger, in addition to its already complicated
• difficulties ? (Hear, hear.) He bid thus attempted to
lead the house from the narrow.ged,,,,rian ground taken
by his' hon. friend, and endeavoured to place the ques-
tion of Maynooth upon the broad basis of religious
liberty, upon which alone, in common justice, he thought
it ought to be treated. (Hear, hear.)
Sir W. CLAY seconded the amendment. It WAS im-
portant that the house should clearly understand the na-
ture and character of the motion before them, because it
was perfectly clear that there were gentlemen who did not
exactly comprehend it. It should be perfectly understood
that this was a motion not for inquiry, as the hon. gentle-
man who had seconded the motion seemed to suppose,
but for the entire abolition without inquiry of the grant to
Maynooth. It was put in the form in which it stood
on the paper—that the house should resolve itself into a
committee to consider the acts in question, because it
was one of the rifles of the house that certain questions
could only be discussed, not in the house itself, but in a
committee of the house ' but in the committee of the
whole house there would be no opporjunity of inquiry.
The only point to be discussed there would be t'he gene-
ral principle, whether the grant should or should not be
continued. It should further be perfectly understood,
and he hoped that it would be understood by the public,
that the present motion was different to that which the
hon. gentleman had brought forward on the same sub-
ject last year. • The hon. gentleman's motion last year
was that a select committee be appointed to inquire into
the system of education carried on in the College of
Maynooth. He (Sir W. Clay) had listened attentively
to the honourable gentlersi's_
assigned sufficient
reason for it, he haodn speech to see whether hey
character of his motion
for having changed the
but s oecifarthfra
to mthfiend finding
oaunry.
able gentleman had failed to lay even any ground
for inquiry Under all the circumstances, then,
he held that the
justified in in house would, in the first place, be
inquiring into the system of education at
Maynooth. If malversation were detected. or if the ob-
jects for which the college had been endowed were not
carried out, then he conceived Parliament would be at
liberty either to amend the organisation or to discontinue
the grant. Malversation, however, bad but little to do
in the feelings which had been created in the country
against this college. The feeling of the countryneo
wasa
r
Protestant feeling, which disapproved of the State
tak-
ing money from the public revenue to diffuse a
believed
to
be
Christianity which the people of England f.
conscientious objection on the part of the
to that con-
scientious objection he could make p
entirely wrong. If, then, ho were toldthaetotphleereefwEasega.
Eng-
land to support Roman Catholic
would add that, in a Protestant community,
doctrines,
no ans w e
which
h; i buteh whe es
founded upon the right of private
judgment, there could
be no logical defencestract principles of ecclesi-
asticaln
just as much an infringementf
endowments. upon Any eaebel e
of
fi a stthi
ec a la
iez:tdroawe
tm
rightentw aesf
to support the religion o
egathred
ttimo Church
Establishment private judgment, as yfuenteotohkeithwehimeohnehyeohfeloineveemdaten
Establishment of Ireland rwwheitthherr
be false. He was not clea
arrived for the consideration of that question. He would
not say with whom the first fault had been, but he con-
fessed he could not look to Ireland alone whilst any por-
tion of the religious instruction of the- nation was paid
for by the State. At all events he hoped the question
would
be considered carefully. He had thus endeavoured
to put the question of Maynooth upon its true grounds.
If the honourable gentleman (Mr. Spooner) denied the
necessity of inquiry, and the question was taken upon
the broader ground Ni the grant being a payment for