The Sun.
London, England, 1838-04-04 00:00:00

CATHOLIC FUNEIf.AL RITES.

Sir R. BATE SON said, in rising to move for the napters of
which he had given notice he would not detain them lon n
the 14th of Jan., about 3 o'clock, the funeral of Mrs. Cathcart
a Catholic arrived in the cathedral churchyard of Derr v.
Not'ee had been given that the Priests were going to attend,.
and the Dean at once said, that he would not allow the law to,
be broken—he would not allow a Catholic funeral to he cele-
brated in a Protestant churchyard. Upon such intimation the
nearest relative said, if the Priests attempted to attend, he it euld
not, and he ( Sir R. B.) believed that he did not attend..
He had the written depositions in h:s hand, sworn before the
Mayor of Derry, which stated that the funeral took place
contrary to the wishes of the Protestant clergy, and of
the officers connected with the Cathedral ; but the Ro-
man Catholic priests attended there in their robes ; that all
the ceremonies of the Raman Catholic burial took place
—the consecrated clay—the ceremony of the mass and prayers
in Latin for the soul of the deceased. All this took place as
was stated in the depositions. The Dean of Derry, upon the
16th, wrote a letter to Mr. Drummond, calling upon the Irish
Government to purish that gross infringement of law and breach
of the statute. On the 27th Mr. Drummond wrote an answer to the
Dean of Derry, stating that he had consulted the law officers
of the Crown, aed that they considered there was no breach of
the Act of the 10th of George IV., chap 7, because Mr:
Attorney-General Wolfe assumed the Dean of Derry
had granted permission fur the funeral. He begged to ask
the Noble Lord opposite if that was not a most extraordinary
assumption, when the Dean of Derry wrote and complained
of an inlraction of the law, that the Attorney-General
should assume that he had given permission to the per-
formance of that,ceren ony. It was an Irish assumption,
and caire with a peculiar ill grace from the Attorney-Gene-
ml of Ireland, he Laing himself a Roman Catholic. The
Dean of Derry immediately wrote a contradiction to the
assumptior, that he Lad given the slightest countenance
to the ceremony taking place in the Cathedral church-
ard. . After the lapse of t:-see weeks from that time
another letter came from Mr. Secretary Drummond,
stating that the Law Officers of the C own conceived it
was a breach of the statute, and that the Roman Catholic priests
had rendered themselves liable, under that statute, to a fine 0f.50/.
It arpeared to him very udd that in the first place an
answer was given that no violation of the law had taken
place, and then when the Dean stated that he had
not given permission, the Law-officers of the Crown
took three weeks to read the Act before they stated
that the law had been violated. When that answer was given,
it was not the wish of the Dean, or of the Protestant inhabi-
tants of Derry, that any severe punishment should be visited
upon the offending parties, but only that they must nut repeat
the outrage.—( Hear, hear.) Dr. Maclachlan, the titular
Bishop, wrote to Mr. Drlmmond to say that he regretted
the occurrence, and that such a thing sleadd never again be
done by any person under his authority. The titular Bishop
was a most respectable man, and esteemed by all rrties ; but
unfortunately for himself and others, he was in a state
of infirmity, and had no power in his diocese, which was
entirely under the control of his coadjutor, who was the
guilty party, and had made no promise not to repeat the of-
fence. But a repetition of the offoece would he ( Sir R.
B.) believed lead to bloodshed. The Protestants of Derry
had a sacred regard for the ground in which the bone
of their fathers were laid, and amongst them were the bones
of many who had died martyrs in the Protestant cause.
The feelings of these persons had been grossly insulted, and
they were
two
to obtain redress.—( Hear, hear.) Since
that tine, other attempts had been made to insult the
Protestants. Ile had also been informed, this day, by
a l otter he had received from Derry, that a Protes-
tant child had been forcibly taken from Wynn's Charity-
school. lie could not conceive any justification for such
csnduct. His constituents felt very sore upon the subject,
and wished for an explanation from her Maj, sty's Govern-
ment ; and for the purpose efgiving an opportunity to
Ministers to give that explanation, he should mov e
for a copy of the correspondence that had taken place
between the Irish Government and the law officcrs of the
Crown ; also b stn cell the Dean of Derry and D r.Maclachlan
relative to the disturbances that bad taken I lace in the church-
yard of Derry, on the 14th of January.
An 110 N. MEMBER seconded the motion.

Lord MORPETII ittAl no objection whatever to the pro-
duction of the documents, except the opinion of the law officers
of the Crown, which he believed it was not usual to l ro,luee.
With respect to the case itselr. be hal no doubt that the pro_
ceding alluded to was a most impr(per, ni:auttimiscd, indeli-
cate, and illegal proceeding.__( Hear, twat.. ) Ile ttid t
understand that the Dean of D.:rry had e!.,)r!,5.-,1 iaty
wish for Government to institute any prosceu.ion a r,
hear, hear.) What he called on Goit:run-tent to do was to
pro. •
red the inhabitants of Derry against the repetition of
such outrages on their feelings. The Government thought
this could be best done by pointing out to the Roman Catho-
lic impropriety of their proceedings,
lie Clergy the and a letter
was written to their titular Bishop, acquainting
him with the
nature of the proceeding,, and warning hint against committing
any repetition of them. The Bishop in reply stated that
no such proceedings should ever take place again. He

( Lord Morpeth) bad also the satisfaction to inform the Hon.
Member opposite that the Dean of Derry had called
at the Castle, and expressed himself satisfied with the
course pursued by her Majesty's Government.—( Hear, hear.)
With respect to the invasion of the town of Derry by a sti-
pendiary magistrate, the visit was made on the representation
of several respectable inhabitants, that a breach of the pesee was
likely to occur. He had no objection to produce the docu-
ments, with the exception of those referring to the law Officers
of the Crown.
After a few words from Mr. SHAW,

O'CONNE LL said it was really ludicrous and absurd
to get up a discussion on such a subject. What were the
facts? An old woman named Cathcart bad died.
She was a Roman Catholic, and she was buried in
the old Cathedral churchyard of Derry. Two priests
went in and prayed over her ; not a human being was injured ;
there was no riot or disturbance ; and the whole complaint
was that these prayers were said in Latin. That
constituted the grave charge. Why, proceedings like the
present were calculated to keep up and excite the worst
feelings. The Hon. Baronet stated that the priests
had said mass over her at three o'clock in the afternoon ; but
either the affidavit was read wrong, or it stated what was not
and could not be true. That person bad a right to be buried
there, and he believed there was no refusal to pay the par-
son's fees, and the only action that could lie against the
priests at common law would be for a trespass upon the
parson's freehold, as the church-yard was termed.
It was against one of the statutes which was passed during the
progress of emancipation, the 6th of Geo. IV. commonly called
the Easement of Burial Bill, this alleged outrage had been com-
mitted, and by it a penalty of 501. was inflicted on any
Roman Catholic Priest who should attempt to say prayers
over the dead in a Protestant churchyard, without
the authority of the incumbent. What a case was this to
go to Government with ?—( Hear, hear, hear.) The Dean
of Derry, instead of employing an attorney himself,
writes to Government to induce them to make this a
Government prosecution. What was to prevent the Dean of
Derry front prosecuting himself ? He had not done so—
he had shown somewhat of a better feeling—and he hoped
that the House would not now interfere in the matter. What
was the case after all ? Was it not enough that they should be
separated by the spirit of religious animosity while living, with-
out carrying it to the grave with them ?—( Hear.) The Hon.
Member for Derry had taken offence at the interment in the
same church-yard with the bones of the apprentices of Derry of
those of poor old Mrs. Cathcart—(" Hear," and laughter.) Who
would have thought that they had lived to see the day when the
bones of Mrs. Cathcart should be interred in the same grave with
the apprentices of Derry ?—( Laughter.) The Hon. Member
had alluded to the religion of the Attorney- General for Ireland.
It was true that he was a Roman Catholic, but it so happened
that he had given no opinion at all with respect to this matter,
the opinion having been given by the Solicitor-General, Mr.
Brady, who is a staunch Protestant.; He had no doubt
that if the Dean of Derry had not made such a work about
the matter, but had merely remonstrated with the parties, his
object would have been just as well accomplished as by a
Government prosecution ; the bones of other old women would
have been buried elsewhere, and those of the apprentices of
Derry would not be in future contaminated.—( Laughter. )
Mr. COL QtiH 0 UN said that, even upon the showing- of
the Noble Lord opposite (Morpeth), it was a very indelicate
and illegal proceeding, and be thought the Hon. Baronet had
only done his duty in bringing it under the notice of the
House, as the Government had failed to do their duty when
it was brought under their notice.

Mr. HUME said the Government deserved great credit for
having endeavoured to settle this unfortunate difference. That
man was not a friend to Ireland who raked up bad feelings
between Protestants arid Roman Catholics.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. PLC MPTRE complained that the Government had
shown great partiality in the affair.
Captain JONES contended that an outrage was committed
on the Protestants of Derry which the Government were
bound to redress, or they would be suspected of partiality in
the administration of the law.
Sir E. SUGDEN said the Act of Parliament to which
the Hon. Member alluded was passed on account of the con-
dition of Ireland, and, as the Cathclic Bishop was present on
the occasion alluded to, when a breach of the law was com-
mitted, it ought not to be passed over lightly.
Sir G. SINCLAIR said that the Catholic Emancipation
Art was violated every day. He found the Roman Catholic
Bishops assuming the titles which they were bound by the
Act not to assume.

Lord was sorry Hon. Gentlemen oppocite
should f, el it necessary to bring the matter forward, when it
was overlooked by the Dean of Derry, who had the most
cati.e to complain.
After a few words from Sir R. BATE SON, in reply, 0 e
snotic:n was agreed to.