The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-19 00:00:00

etitution, because it is, as things now stand, the sole
connectintt political principle between the constitu-
tions of t e two independent kingdoms. I have another
and infinitely a stronger reason for wishing it well; it is,
that in the present time I consider it as one of the main
pillars of the Christian religion itself. The body and
substance of every religion I regard much more than any
of the forms and dogmas of the particular sects. Its
fall would leave a great void, which nothing else, of
which I can form any distinct idea, might fill. I respect
the Catholic hierarchy, and the Presbyterian republic.
But I know that the hope or the fear of establishing
either of them is, in these kingd, ins. equally chimerical,
even if I preferred one or the other of them to t Esta-
blishment, which I certainly do not.
"These are sine of m, reasons for wishing, the sup-
port of the Church of Ireland, as by law established.
These reaso is are teutteed 3, w• it t,n the absotu.te as on
the r,lattve saute:on !tt..t kinedooi."
To the retison. thus a.lduce.l by
air Burke for the
support of the Church in Ireland, must be now added
the weight and authority of that, comp %cr. guaranteeing
its maintenance, to which, at the time of the et.,is la ive
Union, the Parliameets of tile two kingdoms were con-
senting parties.
In a, subsequent part of the same letter Mr. Burke
proceeds to observe ,
" Ireland has an establishol Government, and a reli-
gion legally established, which are to be preserved. It
has a people who are to be preserved too, and to be led
by reason, principle, sentiment, and interest to acquiesce
in that Government. Ireland is a country under peculiar
circumstance. The people of Ireland are a very mixed
people, and the quantities of the several ingredients in
the mixture are very much disproportioned to each other.
Are we to govern this mixed body as if it were composed
of the most simple elements, comprehendiug the whole
in one system of benevolent legislation ; or are we not
rather to provide for the several parts according to the
various and diversified necessities of the heterogeneous
nature of the mass? Would not common reason and
common honesty dictate to us the policy of regulating
the people in the several descriptions, of which they are
composed, according to the natural ranks and classes of
an Ordel civil society, under a common protecting So-
vereign, nd under a form of constitution favourable at
once to authority and to freedom, such as the British
Constitution boasts to be, and such as it is, to those who
now enjoy it?
" You have an ecclesiastical establishment, which,
though the religion of the Prince, and of most of the first
class of landed proprietors, is not the religion of the
major part of the inhabitants, and which, consequently,
does not answer to them any one purpose of a religious
establishment. This is a state of things which no man
in his senses can call perfectly happy ; but it is the
state of Ireland."
It was with reference to that state of Ireland, and with
reference to such considerations as those to which Mr.
Burke has adverted, that the Gavernment with which I
was connected brought forward measures which consti-
tute no precedent for any other part of the United King-
dom, but are specially applicable to the peculiar con-
dition and structure of society in Ireland.
Some of those measures encountered vehement opposi-
tion; the more formidable, because it was offered much
leas from party or purely political considerations, than
from sincere conscientious scruples. But, Gentlemen, I
am bound to avow, that I look back with cordial satis-
faction to the part which I took in support of those mea-
sures, and to the spirit in which they were conceived. It
was a spirit of justice and kindness towards our Roman
Catholic fellow-subjects in Ireland—a spirit which will,
I trust, animate our future legislation wit!! reference to
that country. It is strongly recommended to us by many
powerful considerations, by painful recollection of our
relations with Ireland in earlier periods of our history—
by sympathy with her present sufferings—by the
urgent necesssty, not more for her welfare than our own,
to improve the condition, moral and physical, of her
people.
I will not be deterred, by the risk of provoking new,
or reviving dormant hostility, from recalling to your re-
collection the general character and object of the mea-
sures to which I have adverted.
In the first place, we altered the law in respect to Cha-
ritable Donations and Bequests in behind. We enabled
the Crown to appoint Commissioners for the better
management of such donations and bequests, of whom '
one-half in number must necessarily be persons profes-
sing the Roman Catholic faith. Fur the exelusise con-
sideration of the Roman Catholic Commissioners were
reserved all questions relating to bequests which con-
cerned the usages or discipline of the Church of Rome.
We gave full power to all persons and bodies corporate,
by deed or by will, to give estates or property of any
description, in trust, for the building or upholding of
Roman Catholic places of worship, or for the mainte-
nance of any person in holy orders of the Church of
Rome having pastoral superintendence of a con-
gregation. •
We enabled her Majesty to endow new colleges for the
advancement of learning in Ireland. We gave every
facility to the students in those colleges for receiving 1
religious instruction according to the creed which they
might profess, and for attendance on divine worship at
the church or chapel which should be approved by their
parents and guardians. We at the same time provided
that there should be no obligation to attend any theo-
logical lecture or religions instruction, excepting with
the approbation of parents and guardians ; and we pro-
hibited the administration of any religious test as a qua-
lification for the admission of students, or for the tenure
of an office, or the enjoyment of any privilege or advan-
tage in connexion with the new colleges.
We increased the grant for the College of Maynooth.
That grant was originally made in the reign of George
111., and by the advice of Mr. Pitt, at a period of great
national peril, " when, to guard this empire and Ire-
land in particular, from the enterprises of a dangerous
and malignant power, and to protect all civilised society
from the inroads of anarchy, the King found it neces.
eery to avail himself of every rational aid, foreign and
domestic, and to call upon the skill, courage, and expe-
dience of all his subjects, wheresoever dispersed."
It was at such a crisis, and under such circumstances.
that an Irish Parliament, exclusively Protestant in its
character, established the College of Maynooth, and re-
ceived from the Throne congratulations " on having laid
a wise foundation for educating at home the Roman Ca-
tholic clergy."
Fifty years had elapsed in 1845 since those con„era-
tulations were offered. For fifty years a grant of public
money bad been annually continued for the avowed pur-
pose of aiding the education of Roman Catholic youth in
'Roman Catholic doctrines, and fitting them for .holy or-
ders in the Church of Rome. We considered that there
was, at any rate, no new violation of religious principle
in making that grant less inadequate to the purpose for
which it was destined, and in giving to it avowedly that
character of permanency which it had acquired practi-
cally by the prescription of half a century. We thought
this a wiser and more dignified course for the House
of Commons to pursue than to exhibit annually the
surly acquiescence in a niggardly vote,which was equally
open to any just objection on the ground of violated
principle, and which effected no good and excited no
gratitude.
In the course of the discussions which took place on
the Maynooth Bill two questions were put to me—the first,
whether the increased grant to Maynooth was part of a
systematic arrangement which contemplated ultimately
the endowment of the Roman Catholic clergy in Ire-
land ; the second, whether I would give a pledge, on
:the ground of conscientious objection, against the en-
tertainment, at any future time, of a proposal for such
endowment.
To the first question I returned an answer on the part
of the Government c illectively. I stated explicitly, that
tie increased grant to Maynooth was proposed as a
si.agle and separate measure, not iatended to facilitate,
in the slightest degree, the endowment of the Roman
Ca tholic clergy. I knew, indeed, that many members
of ,the Government, not adverse to the grant to May
nooth, would offer the most decided opposition to any
proposal for endowment.
In answering the second question I spoke then, as I
am speaking now, for myself,exclusively. I said, in sub-
statrce, that I would not give the pledge required from
me; that I foresaw, indeed, very great practical difficul-
ties YLi the way of endowment—great difficulties, as well
from the declared objections to such a measure on the
part o f the Roman Catholic laity and Roman Catholic
clergy in Ireland, as from the strong repugnance to it in
the public mind of this country; that I had no plea for
aolvueg those difficulties; but that I would not fetter my
diacrwtion as a legislator by a positive pledge to ref use
even the consideration of any such plan, at all times, and
ui tamarr all circumstances.
eccasioni are very rare on which it is consistent
"'" '"" Proper discharge of Parliamentary functions to
en ter io nt specific it
engagements of this nature.
justifiablyy gby perhaps, in this case, be entered into
mat deliberation,
stipend
those who, after extended inquiry and
.ave come to the conclusion that
by- allowing a decent
him end to a Roman Catholic pries
in: ;teed of leaving dependent for the means of sub-
sis fence ;on an impoverished
spiritual, and, in truth, aisoft
abotod be confirming an influence of which he is the
_temporal guide, we
a .puarlarreadfy too great, and
ob str acting the diffusion of
aith—still more
jus tiff ably by those whose conscientious conviction it is,
the by such an act we are sanctioning and adopting
i
err or, and sinfully offending Almighty God, by consent-
ing ti) the endowment of men who deny and reject
Div in( 3 truth.
But I cannot give my consent to either of these con-
clusion (S.
fee,l with regard to the first that nothing can be less
su,'cessi rul in weakening the influence of the Roman Ca-
r eligion in Ireland than the course we have hither-
to ti tker ..—that we have made no advance towards that
obje ct, e ither by penal laws or civil disabilities, or by a
syst em o f complete alienation from the ministers of that
rell.gion.
Vith rt 'gard to the second, I cannot admit that the
PitYment, with the sanction of Parliament, being
given
8u to to the minister of a religious creed not being that
or the Suva, is tantamount to the adoption or sanction,
by the Sta,te of the doctrines which that mi-
111ste's enky teach, and is subversive of the prin-
ciple of are established church. If it be so, we
ought se to rescind many acts of the Crown
and of Pall 'lament, which are open substantially to the
same objets eon. Year after year (frequently without one
dissenting t •oice), We have voted the sum required for
support of the Presbyterian ministers in Ireland,
there being included among the number many pro-
fessing anc I teaching unitarian doctrines. 'We
have provid ad by Act of Parliament fixed allow-
ances, paid from a public fund, to Roman Ca-
tholics
chapi ains in attendance on prisons and on
workhouses. In order to facilitate the submission, and
en retain quiet
possession of important colonies, we have
not hesitated t ;o guarantee, not only the endowment of
Ron can Catholi c priests, hut the continued establishment
° n Roman ( 'atholic
IF 0. the •
the ound of couscientious scruples, we are
1 're
even the consideration of any proposal
bound Cc fusi*-fest
ipend to the Roman Catholic priests in
for al outs, iga n tertaieing such a proposal, we imply
Ireland, it, by
ofe iou2nn Catholic errors, and justly blow
sanction