The Sun.
London, England, 1822-07-03 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

LETTER XV.
MR. EDlTOR—Agreeably to the promise with
which I concluded my Fourteenth Letter, I shall

now lay before your Readers an extract from a
letter (it may be Pastoral, or what you will),

addressed, on the 6th of May, in the last year,
by Doctor COPPINGER, titular Bishop of Cloyne
and Ross, to his flock, and published in the
Mercantile Chronicle, in this city, in the same
month.

" At this day the Irish Catholic Prelacy and
Clergy are unanimously of opinion, that the
" marriage of two Catholics, celebrated by a

" Protestant Minister in a Protestant Church, is
cc null and void, as are all marriages of Catholics
" within the prohibited degrees of kindred, from
" the first to the fourth inclusively, where a dis-

" pensation has not been duly obtained. And it
" is only as delegates of the Holy See, that
" our Bishops can dispense in those degrees,
" or any of them----in so much, that if, with-
" out the express authority of the Pope, Irish
" Catholic Bishops should presume to admit
"as valid, such marriages, whether celebrat-
" ed by Catholic Priests or Protestant Ministers,
" his Holiness must, and most assuredly would,
" declare them invalid. Neither to any indivi-

" dual of his flock, who should refuse to sepa-
" rate from his or her yoke-fellow, in such case
" could a Catholic Bishop or Priest conscien-
" tiously administer the last sacrament—though
" his Majesty's Ecclesiastical Courts hold these
" same marriages valid, and though the husband
" has confessedly a legal right to the person of
" his wife, as has the wife to the person of her

" husband."
Here is a jurisdiction, the most despotic, exer-
cised at this day over his Majesty's subjects, by
a foreign, though au ecclesiastical, prince, de-
claring those marriages invalid which had been
celebrated by a Protestant clergyman in a Pro-
testant Church, and according to the ritual of
the religion established by law ; and boldly
avowed in defiance of the laws of the laud, by
a Romish Bishop, who holds out a menace of
withholding the last sacrament from such mar-
ried persons as " refuse to separate from his or
her yoke-fellow," at the command of the Pope,
or the instruments of his power—" though his
Majesty's ecclesiastical Courts hold these same
marriages valid."
This furnishes, or ought to furnish, matter of
the most serious consideration to those Members
of the Legislature who have been, and continue
to be, so zealous in advocating the cause of
Popery. Let them reflect, ere it be too late,
that if, when the Roman Catholics of Ireland ap-
pear in the guise of humble petitioners, though
I think they bear a nearer affinity to the sturdy
beggar who addressed Gil Bias in all the tones
of, misery, at the same time presenting a musket
at him : let them, I repeat, reflect in time, that
if, when Roman Catholics are, or affect to be,
humble petitioners, the spiritual authority of the
Roman Pontiff is thus openly and audaciously set
above the laws of the land, what will certainly
be the consequence, when Roman Catholics shall,
by their admission into Parliament, have the
power of abrogating those laws. For myself, I
will say in the words of the late Earl of Clara,
expressed in the Irish House of Lords, in 1793
" I do not know how this proceeding may strike
" other men ; but the avowed existence of a fo-
" reign jurisdiction in the heart of this country,
" governed by the laws of a foreign Prince, evi-
" dently framed for the subversion of all Protest-
" ant Stales, is to me a ground of most serious
" alarm; and the wildness with which we are
" now proceeding i❑ the modern philosophical
" system of Catholic Emancipation has very
" very much increased my apprehension of the
" danger arising from it."
So much were the Irish harrassed by this spi-
ritual tyranny, in the reign of Henry VIII., that
in his 33d year the Irish Parliament passed an
Act, entitled, " An Act for Marriage," still, I
believe, unrepealed ; and which states, in the
'ollowin,g words, the consequences arising from
,his assumed authority of the See of Rome,
' Whereby not only much discord between law-
' 61 married persons hath arisen, much de-
' bate and suit at law, with wrongful vexation
' and great danger to the innocent parties, hath
been
,procured, and many just marriages in
doubt and danger of undoing, and also many
times undone, and lawful heirs disinherited,
and marriages have been brought to such an
' uncertainty thereby, that no marriage could
be so sure knit and bounden, but it should be
' in either of the parties' power to defeat the
' same."

There is a case in point mentioned by, the late
Earl of Clare, in the debate that took place in
the Irish House of Lords, on the Bill, in 1793,
granting to Irish Roman Catholics the elective
franchise, which, as Dr. Coppinger has publicly
declared the supreme will of " his Holiness" upon
this national and important subject, so justly re-
prehended by the Irish Parliament in the reign of
Henry VIII. ; and at the same time the determi-
nation of the Romish Bishops and Priests to en-
force the same, may be worthy of the attention of
the Legislature and of the wation at large, and
which I am induced to bring forward at the pre-
sent time, as some Protestants are but too ready
to forget past events, and the enemies to our
Constitution in Church and State make it a point
to keep from view every circumstance that can
impede their wishes.—" It is perfectly well
" known that we have a Popish Hierarchy in this
" Country, claiming and exercising all Episcopal
" functions, under the immediate authority of
" the Court of Rome ; and it is the boast of the
" Popish Bishops that Ireland is a singular ex-
" ception to the Catholic Church discipline of
" every other country in Europe, in which their
" religion is not connected with the State ;—that
" im other Protestant States the heads of the
" Popish Church have not any episcopal juris-
" diction, being without Sees, and denominated
" from ancient Sees now a part of the Ottoman dg-

minions ; but that from the days of a. Peter the
" Popish hierarchy has been preserved in Ireland
cc by a regular succession of prelates in the
4c several Sees, where they have always acted as
cc Ordinaries ; and accordingly there is in every
" Diocess in Ireland a regular Itomish Consistorial
" Court, acting under the authority of the Pope,
" and entertaining causes of ecclesiastical cogni-
" zance, which are decided according to the laws
CC of their forum, without regard in any sort to
" the laws of this Country. If proof were
" wanting upon this most serious subject, I have
"it in my possession. A Popish Priest, h°
" acts as judge in the Consistorial Court of Elphlo,
" in the month of December, 1701, cited parties
" who had lived together as man and wife, to aP;
" pear in his Court, in a cause of nullity of
44 marriage. They had been married by a Priest,
" and had cohabited ; however, the marriage
" contract was pronounced null and void, and
cc the woman was turned loose upon the world,
" On her complaint to a neighbouring gentleman,
" one of the representatives of the County, h'
CGremonstrated against this proceeding—but 10

" vain : the Consistorial Judge persisted in en'
" forcing his sentence ; and, in justification et;
44 himself, inclosed to this gentleman a decree °
" the Council of Trent, ' De Reformations Ma;
44 trinzonii,' under which he had proceeded, and
44 in the course of his correspondence on this
44 subject, which is in my possession, lie veil:
44 gravely stated that an attack upon the laws 0'
" their Church would be an attack upon the
" whole body of Roman Catholics. That this
" being a clear case, he had full and final juris'
cc diction ; for that appeals were made to the
" Court of Rome in causes of ecclesiastical cog'
" nizance only in cases of difficulty, ve/proPtec
dignitatem personarum, as in the case of
64 Henry VIII. and Queen Catherine."
There are two circumstances deducible froeit,
the extracts I have given in this letter, which
are worthy of notice : the first from the pastoral
letter of Doctor Coppinger, which shews that he,
could, in May 1821, in support of the spiritual
authority- of the Pope, and in defiance of tlll
Laws of the Land, call forth, or threaten to Cal,.
forth, the severest anathema of the Romish Chart'
—that of witholdinc, the last sacrament 1'01"
a dying sinner, who had refused to violate 111.
marriage vows ; yet he could afterwards let that
thunder slumber, when treason was stall"
through the land, with all its concomitant horror
in its train ; which clearly proves how well he
merited 44 the encomiums that flowed from t";
judicial Bench," or " the compliments from elit;
of the first Law Officers of the Crown :"---t";
second, that in December, 1791, the very 9e.
in_, in__ which the Universities of France and SPare
most jesuitically denied the doctrines of t',l
Romish Church, confirmed by General Council
the Priest, acting as judge in the Consist°l
10i$H.
Court of Elphin, referred to 44 the most 11°'./0
Council of Trent," as Priests swear it to ,10
support of his decree of nullity of marriage ; fr°
which it is evident, had I adduced no other
proof, that the Irish Romish Bishops and PrleS4
consider that Council, confirming all Orr°-
Councils, to be in full force.
If the Parliamentary advocates of PoPerl
consider these circumstances unworthy of noteice;
in this enlightened age, I trust, at least,
may have their due weight with the great 17,
of Protestants ;—that is, with those that are Proteso
tants in principle. lam not vain enough to suPeo
that any authorities I have cited, or any argUale°oo
I have advanced, can have any influence oPthe
the minds of men, who can graVely assert, i°r,e,
face of Parliament, " that the prosperity of "o
land had risen and increased with her Cathi°go
millic.is ; for they constituted, in fact anu,c,
truth, the nation ;" or " that the Roman CaLag
';
Tics were to the Protestants as twelve to one, or,
has lately been asserted by a Right Hon.Aut,ll,,p
When I look into the history of certain fariliiitol.
I am not surprised at the zeal and advocaciej
some persons : for, when their parents confer'llor
to the established religion, not from convictio°o;
the errors of Popery, but from worldly metiveto
and still continued attached, though secretl9llo
their former faith,—it is natural to suppose , 10..
they would instil into the minds of their et of
dren the tenets of the Romish Church, 011 00
which they doubtless conceived there Wasticl)
salvation.; and I could name the son of se of
parents, who had always advocated the cause
Popery, and who had retained in his faill"
Romish Priest as a tutor to his childreli•oret
could also mention an Irish Peer, now ne 11'
who had imbibed the tenets of Popery fr°lll the
mother, a furious bigot ; and who, prior Top
Union, always voted in the Irish House ef aro
in favour of Emancipation ; as he did afterwpor
in the House of Commons, in the Imperial
liament : but for a few years before his &t"
openly professed himself a Roman Cath°licihe
The same might probably be said of some cta
be
o
present generation ; and it is most devoutli t
I, tot
wished that they would, like the Noble°llloo°
luded to, throw off the mask ; as an open, 41 tbal)
enemy is less dangerous to the Constitutiollhoe
a pretended friend. In the unhappy event/00f
ever, of the subversion of that Constitution,..taot,
that are now generally regarded as Prote'
will openly embrace Popery.
Cork, June 12, 11322. Sly'
.ftf
MARRIED. ty,ll'
On Monday last, at St. Stephen's, near Canterbulo. oter
William Carter, Esq. M.D. and F.R.S.E., of Cantie;ll.7'.
Louisa, fourth daughter of the Rev. 11. Plun p re, i
tor of Claypole, near Newark.

° VP
DIED. #feet,
Friday morning, at his residence in Northgate-s-vt icle .1.
terbury, after a long illness, Mr. J. Delmar, late 0 f PPr - ili r '
On. Saturday, at Chart Sutton., after a short aloes'
Leaver, aged la years. P'
i q 2 yea1,,,,,%t.:
SUDDEN DEATIIS.—June 2"), at Dover, ageu ----toauralipi
W. Pearne, proprietor of the caravan from Dovercor
bury; the deceased was returning to Dover by his „WI. 1,411 g
the evening of the thunder storm on the 10th ult, - s t 013,00
supposed the lightning had such an effect upon big' °the 6`.01P
on a fit of illness, which terminated his existence 0111,, 10, #
day.—Lieut. Wm. ILmwood, on the half-pay thet - stse_e;iY,'
aged 35 years, suddenly dropped down dead in 'hur,-Di#
short distance from the Bull's Head, in Stroud, on ,rjeft,f
and was taken to the Workhouse. It appears he b•asoPerf
house, in King-street, Troy-town, in the ruornin,.l4oll,o*
health, for the purpose of taking a walk, and sie,il;', jec
tension of returning with something for dinner. -1.:
was subject to fits.—( Maitletone, Jim rnal, Jag 2'i Syr'
,he
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