The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-26 00:00:00

arose out of that common law; and thirdly the decisions
made wider it were at all times liable to be rever.ied
en an appeal to the sovereign of the realm.
If, then, in them thr-io great particulars it was liable to
be subject to the common law cf the land, how could it
become the dangerous agent which so many persons had
represented?—(Hear, hear.) Ho was not surprised that
the Roman Catholic laity of the kingdom desired to
have the existence of this law more practically effi-
cient amongst them, for they desired the presence
of a body of eminent men who would be able to settle
questions upon just and right grounds, which were now
too often decided only by prejudice or caprico.—(Hear.)
That was the real state of the case—(Bear)—but they
acted as if there was something improper or immoral in
this law. They knew that such was not the fact, and
he would ask the Noble Lord at the head of the Govern- '
ment, whether it was right—whether it was becoming—
whether it was decent to raise at this time of day a cry of
"No Popery" in the country?—(Loud cheers, and count •r
cheers.) The canon law was at this time part of the
law of England, it had been so, and would continue to be
so, without any question of the validity of its decisions,
until the Court of Queen's Bench should come
to any different result upon matters which
bad been submitted to the operation both of the canon
and the common law.—(fiear, hear.) They talked of
the doctrines which this law would be likely to
strengthen. Ho believed that many honest and able
men in the Church of England were sincere believers in
many of those doctrines.—(Cheers and counter cheers.)
And they might talk of the effect of those doctrines; but
when he saw an eminent minister of the Church of
England obliged to be protected from personal violence
by police when in the performance of his pastoral
duties, ho thought the less they dwelt upon the
effect or the liberality of those doctrines the hotter.
He would call the attention of the House to an incident
which occurred to Bishop Butler. That Right Reverend
Prelate contended for external religion, and ho was
branded as a Papist for it—mistakenly branded, of
course. Now, he thought the Tractarians could,
like the great author of the Analogy, afford
to treat the opposition raised against them
with contempt, but he warned the Noble Lord at the head
of the Government that this Bill would not set this
matter at rest. As yet they wore only on the threshold
of the excitement, and to him it seemed fearful to con-

template the results which would inevitably follow the
passing of the Bill. But it was said that the Church
of Rome was despotic and intolerant, and for
that reason it was necessary to have a law of this cha-
racter in this country. Now was ever before an argumen-
tam ad hominem more absurd than that presented to the
House? Because Rome was intolerant, the country
ought to be intolerant too. Such an argument
was so worthless that it hardly merited a reply.
and he had only referred to it for the purpose of
protesting against its introduction into this debate.
There was another topic upon which he wished to say
a few words. The Noble Lord the Secretary of Foreign
Affairs told them the other night that the Bill was a
complement to the Catholic Emancipation Act. Now
he allowed that one of the clauses of that Act, to a
certain extent, prohibited the assumption of titles
but he denied most emphatically that it prohibited their
establishment of a hierarchy, like that which the Pope
had recently created, and he hoped that argument,
like the other one he had just mentioned, would be
abandoned without delay.—(Hear, hear.) Instead
of promoting animosities between the two churches, the
Legislature ought to strive to apply itself to soothing the
angry feelings which prevailed out of doors, for ho be-
lieved the Church of England had more to fear from
irreligion than from the proceedings of Christian Rome,
and he therefore called upon the Government to retrace
its steps and rather assist the two churches
in stemming the torrent of Atheistic principles,
than strive to promote religious fanaticism and discord
by a useless system of legislation. The Church of
Rome ignored the existence of the Established
Church of tbis country, and he would recom-
mend the Government to return the compli-
ment, and treat these bishops as phantoms
or nonentities which could Rot be grasped. That was
the only safe way of dealing with the
so-called Papal aggression ; and though the
Noble Lord could not recede from this Bill
without injuring his own reputation, or proceed
with it without producing great mischief, he recom-
mended the House to adopt the suggestion at once.
He hoped, in conclusion, that as the Noble Lord valued
the peace, security, welfare, and prosperity of this great
country, he would desist from proceeding with his fatal
Bill.—(Cheers.)
Mr. PORTAL, in rising to make his
maiden speech, begged the indulgence of the
House for a few moments while he stated
the reasons which induced him to vote against the second
reading of the Bill.—(Hear, hear.) He could net admit
that the Bill consisted of that judicious mixture of good
and evil alleged by those who supportid it; so far from
it, it was totally impotent for good, and all powerful
for evil, while it was calculated to foment
and excite religious controversy and dissension
throughout the country, the injurious effect of which
might remain for many years to come.—(Cheers.)
The Bill was just large enough to irritate the Roman
Catholics in Ireland, and not large enough to Sa-
tisfy the Protestants of England.— (Hear.) He fully
shared is the indignation and resentment which
the act of the Pope had exeit, d— a spiritual
invasion which literally ignored the existence of our
own Church; but ho disagreed with those who thought
the measure of the Government was a proper one to meet
the difficulty. The Bill was a mere mockery and delu-
sion, alike unworthy the deliberative wisdom of that as-
sembly and the dignity of this great country.
Mr. J. O'CONNELL spoke the opinion of the whole
of the Roman Catholic body when bo affirmed that the
Pope had no temporal jurisdiction in this country. He
did not think that anything that had transpired in the
course of the deb sto had at all advantaged the case in
favour of the Bill; and it was clear that no Crown
lawyer would so far risk his reputation as to assert thet
the supremacy of the Crown in religious matters was at
all consonant with the common law. Blackstone, who
whole not have hesitated to assert such a doctrine, had
it existed, had said nothing of the kind. He did not
mean to enter into the subject, because the Right lion.
Gentleman the Member for Ripon (Sir J. Graham) had
in a few sentences admirably refuted all that could be
said upon it. He trusted that the Right lion. Gentleman
would go on in the course he had commenced, for the
people of Ireland would appreciate his sentiments and
his desire to protect them from insult, and to place them
on a footing with the other subjects of the empire. At
the same time it was a part of the case that Roman
Catholics could scarcely be called upon to argue, be-
cause it was the very essence of their religion that they
should allow the absolute supremacy and power of the
Pope; and if any kings in former times bad denied
that supremacy they had ceased to be Catholics. In
speaking of the affairs of Switzerland, the Noble Lord at
the head of the Foreign-office stared that the .iaroteetant
majority in that country had a right to interfere with
the education of the children of the Catholic cantons,
simply because they were the majority. Was that doc-
trine to be entertained by this country, because, if so, he
oonfessed that he should think it of the most startling
consequence to the people of Ireland, for, though the Ca-
tholics formed toe majority in Ireland, they were yet the
minority in the empire? It was no unreasonable fear
upon his part that such might be the case; and it was
remarkable that there had been no answer from the
Treasury bench to the eminent legal opinions that bad
been quoted to show that the first clause of the proposed
Bill carried with it all the venom, and would have ell
the practical effect of the others which had been struck
out. The Most Rev. Prelate the Catholic Archbishop
of Armagh had been most peculiarly the subject of unfair
attack in the course of the debate. But it was not title
that Dr. Cullen was a man ignorant of Ireland. NC_ 'ea,
the representative for many years, and chosen agnenbt? :tt
the Catholic bishops of Ireland at Rome,
d ho
had therefore the most intimate acquaintance
net on
the affairs of Ireland. His choice
the prrt of the Pope; but the covni:entoo(ent bishops of
pra
Ireland being required was a perfectly _
el
d "bona e;
be
that was a concession made by the Pope,
He had done so
°
novel
chose he might revoke that concesaion,
tie found that
in this case for a most laudable puri
`iTeeee divided among
the Roman Catholic episcopacy
b who was
themselves by the arts and bla
vcrnment, and he had selected Dr. Cullen,
wom
monk, but but an eminent and illustrious man, of
h
[The Hon. Gentleman
n:dishments of the G
no
o-
land had reason to be proud.
pastoral of Dr. Cullen, to
ndemned secret societies,
roadshow
th; stronglyeeced the upholding of treason-
the preaching
t e extractsha d
o
of saultThiss had been made of the pro-
Thurles, but whet crime was
able practices.] CeirdiPoar
ceedings of the Synod
othfereed ad been
distinctly laid
down by
Protestant Church that education
hioen?decliatrsahhtions_of that synod on the suect
iunc a the
the province of the bishops and
was a matter witcherch, and this principle had only
writers of the Enghliin
pastors of that
by
the Catholic prelates. (To show
been carried of
the mixed system of education, the
the danger o
nr bar read some extracts from
the evi-
Honourable kiLein
professor
be a in 18-7 before the Perlin-
dence given j
riil9SlOn of inquiry into the Belfast educa-
tional Com
• al institutions, who admitted that he did not con-
don
Chist to he God, but believed him to be a
cider Jesus
A professor of ono of those institu-
created ue
dons also wrote a work of such infidel tendencies that
hie brother professors, although no two of them enter-
tained the somereligious belief, were completely
shocked, and called him to account. It was, then, a
mockery to say that there was no danger in this mixed
system of education, when such men were allowed to
exercise the office of professors, and the law had no
right to require that Catholics should place their chil-
dren in such establishments. But the Noble Lord (Lord
Russell) had endeavoured to cast a slur upon the
loyalty of Catholics because they would not violate
their conscientious feelings by accepting these institu-
tions. That was a most audacious insinuation, and he
(Mr. O'Connell) threw it back 'with indignation. In
1844 the Noble Lord declared that ho thought it a foolish
prohibition to prevent Roman Catholic bishops from
styling themselves by the names of their dioceses; and
the Noble Lord might be assured, that whatever Par-
liament might do, the Irish people would still uphold
their bishops, obey their counsels, and reject everything
that might tend to impair their authority.
Mr. LAWLESS considered that every Member re-
presenting a Catholic constituency was bound to raise
his voice against the present Bill, and he felt himself
the more bound to do so because he was a Protestant re-
presenting a Catholic constituency. When the Noble
Lord now at the head of the Government succeeded to
office bonfires of rejoicing were lighted up throughout
Ireland, because the people retnbered the opinions he
had expressed in opposition, and especially his declara-
tion that Ireland was occupied, and not governed.
There were now, however. other bonfires in Ireland, and
in every one of them the Noble Lord was burnt in effigy.
(A laugh.) It might be said this was but a proof of the
fickleness of popularity and at the capriciousness of the
people. That be (Mr. Lawless) denied. It was the