The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-18 00:00:00

TUESDAY

and any other country? In Roman Catholic countries,
where Roman Catholic archbishops and bishops exercised
powers not merely spiritual, their appointment proceeded
from, or at; least wis ratified by, the temporal Savem4.,rn
of the State. But, again, be found in the rescript this
passage:—
" But in the sacred government of clergy and laity, aria
in all other things appertaining unto the pastoral office, the
archbishops and bishops of England will henceforward en-
joy all the rights and faculties which the other Catholic
archbishops and bishops of other nations, according to the
common ordinances of the sacred canons and apostolic con-
stitutions, use, endmay use; and are equally bound by the
obligations which bind the other archbishops and bishops
according to the same common discipline of the Catholic
Church. And whatever regulations, either in the ancient
system of the Anglican churches or in the subsequent mis
sionary state, may have beett in force either by special co
st i tut ions or. privileges or peculiar customs, will now henceo
forth-carry no right nor obligation ; and in order that nr
doubt may remain on this point, we, by the plenitude of on

apostolic authority, repeal and abrogate all power whatso-
ever of imposing obligation or conferring right in those
peculiar constitutions and privileges of whatever kind they
may be, a-A in all customs, by whomsoever, or at whatever
more ancient or immemorial time brought in. hence it
will for the future b. 3 solely c,mpetent for the archbishop
and bishops of England to distinguish what things belong
to the executions of the comma ecclesiastical law, and
what, according to the common discipline of the church,
intrusted to the authority of the bishops."
Was there not to Le Ken in that passage evidence of giving
to the episcopacy power besides and beyond that which was
purely spiritual? There might, for example, be a Roman
Catholic priest holding a certain chapel, and having the
spiritual care of the Roman Catholics in that district, and
appointed to it More the new Roman Catholic bishops in
this country had received their appointments Under the
authority which the Pope gave such priests might be sus-
pended—they might be excommunicated ; but, supposing a
priest merely suspended, even that power would be giving
to the Roman Catholic hierarchy not only a spiritual, but
an ecclesiastical and civil status with various rights and pri-
vileges of a temporal kind. If they attempted to deprive a
priest of a care of souls and a chapel with temporal advan
tages attached to it, he might appeal to the courts of law in
this country to enable him to enforce his rights. And the
rights which Lord Mansfield held to belong to.the Protestant
Dissenters would then belong to Ronan Catholic priests;—
thus a court of law would be brought into conflict with
what was called the spiritual jurisdiction of the
Church of Rome, for that qplritual jurisdiction was
manifestly at variance with the law of England. Now,
he used this argument for the purpose of showing that
so far as a Roman Catholic bishop exercised a spiritual juris-
diction, it was a
j quasi civil jurisdiction, and something be-
yond a spiritual urisdiction—a privilege which could not be
given to any man but by the lawof the land; such powers
and privileges could only come froze the authority of the law
or from the favour of the Sovereign. Then they were told
that this being a Protestant country, Roman Catholic eccle-
siastics would not submit to any authority excepting that of
the Supreme. Pontiff; but supposing that were so conceded
for the purpose of argument, and for that purpose only,—
suppose that this country was bound to give them all that
was desired, it did not follow ttat because the law of this
country did not allow a case such as he had been supposing,
the law of Rome would not pertait it. He begged to refer
the House for a moment to what o her Protestant States of
Europe had done. In those the pope conceded the question
of the appointment of a bishop to a very great extent ; and
it appeared to him, that in the }ecently-altered state of the
law of this country negotiations-might have been opened be-
tween England and the See•of Rome for the purpose of placing
us on the same footing as other }rotestant States of Europe.
As the law now now stood on our statute-book that might
be done.—(Hear, hear.) He would ask was there anything
to prevent the Sovereign of ;this country establishing
diplomatic relations with the Popo, inasmuch as an Act had
already been pass 'd for that puryose? If the Roman Catho-
lics wanted to have any important changes made, why did
they not come to Parliament fur that purpose? If they
sought legitimate objects, theythould pursue them by legal
and constitutional means, and not by what was called an
insult, though he would not apply to it that term, because
he did not.think that any insultwas intended; but what he
maintained was that they had no right to any civil or tem-
poral jurisdiction; and he die not now inquire whether
that was their object or not; be rather regarded the
tendency and probable effect oftheir proceedings. He did
not care whether it was intended or not. He looked to
the result, and he found that-whatever the intention, the
result had been the evasion of the privileges and prerogatives
of the Sovereign, and an invasion of the liberties of a free
and independent kingdom. The vicars-apostolic had no
sees, no dioceses, and no authority to enforce the canon law.
They had nothing but the simple jurisdiction over the
members of their own faith. Itwas said that the Roman
Catholic religion absolutely required the establishment of a
regularly constituted hierarchy.; But no one had established
this position. The Earl of Arundel -and Surrey. had indeed
said that certain irregularities ',illicit had taken' place refl-

dered the appointment of the netv bishops nee'essary Elov
far the Noble Earl had stated tbla of his esird ienovrledge he

did not know. But according to .the experience of us all,
the life and conduct of the Roman Catholic clergy had been

exemplary in the extreme—(.Cheers)—and no one had heard
of irregularities on their part.--,(Hear.) Dr. 'Wiseman let
the truth out He said the Catholics required a regular
hierarchy brcause they wanted to introduce the canon law,
and thsy could not do that as loag as they had vicars-apos-
tolic. Dr. Wiseman said nothing of the discipline of the
Church.—(Hear.) Now, had the Roman Catholic religion
declined under the government of vicars-apostolic? The
Papal brief recited, on the contrary, that the members of
the faithful were daily increasing, and that the Church in
England was in a most prosperous condition. It was clear
that what was wanted was the canon law and synodical
action.—(Cheers.) Did any °be desire to see archbishops
and bishops looking to R me as the fountain of jurisdiction,
a' d, sitting side by side with the Imperial Parliament,
provincial synods appointed by the see of Rome? He did
..ot. We had seen enough of that in the sister country. He
could not forget the Synod of Thurles—(Cheers)—or the
way in which that synod of ecclesiastics had set itself
in opposition to the enactments of this and the other Hous3

of I.irliament. The large suns voted for the establishment
of colleges in Ireland had been received with universal satin•
faction by the gentlemen and laity of Ireland.—(No, no,
and cheers) hut it happened that the see of Rome had
sent to Ireland, and placed in do great archbishopric of Ar-
magh an ecclesiastic who, thDugh an Irishman by name,
was really an Italian monk. hr. Cullen was sent to Ireland
by the Pope to prevent the establishment of these colleges.
Mr. MAURICE O'CONNELL—Dr. Crolly was arch-
bishop when the Act was pased for establishing these col-

leges.
The SOLICITOR-GENER4.I.4 believed Dr. Crolly was an
assenting party to the passing of the Act.—(Cheers.) But 1
he unfortunately died, and vas succeeded by Dr. Cullen,
who, though an Irishman hYrsame, was to all intents and
purposes an I alien monk. I; defiance of the usages of the
Irish Roman Catholic Church Dr. Cullen was elected.—
(Oh, oh, and cheers.) The established usage was that the
clergy should send three nanits to Rome upon a vacancy for
the election of the Pope.
'-
-ey were also in the habit of
re
writing against one name te
word dignus, against the
other dignior, and against the third dignissimus, which
last was usually appointed 1.). the Pope. The Irish clergy
sent those three names, but the Pope passed by them all,
and, violating the establishki usage and practice of the
Church, sent Dr. Cullen to henna as Archbishop of Armagh.
—(Cheers.) Dr. Cullen had sever exercised pastoral juris-
diction in Ireland before. IT
e
,summoned the synod of
Thurles, and, by his casting iknLto
decided that the Roman
Catholics should not adopt le
-se colleges which were being
established under the provisions
of the Act of Parliament.
Now, was that interference s
Ilritual or ecclesiastical? Did
the people of this country desire to see a synod of this de-
scription sitting in England? Let the House observe that
in our Church we did not pertait the action of convocation,
although it was subject to the control of the Crown. It was
summoned and presided over by an authority on the part of
the Crown, who had the power to prorogue or to dissolve it,
and in so far as it was composed of bishops and other digni-
taries, appointed by the Crows, a considerable control was
exercised by the Crown over its proceedings. But a synod
of Roman Catholic bishops in this
country would be com-
posed of persons over whom the
Crown would have no
control, and it would exercise Power, jurisdiction, and au-
thority in competition, and Perhaps in, conflict with the
Imperial Legislature.—(Cries ef•
" Hear, hear.") If we
looked abroad did we find theel,owers and prerogatives
ercised with forbearance ? Losk at Belgium, where the
ex-
clergy and the Sta e were in conflict upon more subjects
than one—on education amonz te
——e rest. It was complained
in Belgium that education had been I ustrated by the oppo-
sitio i of the clergy, emanating 1,
-(ma the Court of Rome. In
Sardinia the clergy had made the most immoderate and pre-
posterous pretensions. They had
claimed immunity from
the operation of the civil laws, and
the Archbishop of Turin
had refused one of the Ministers the sacraments until he bad
expressed his deep repentance for the attempt to make eccle-
siastics amenable to the civil lane. Roman Catholics could
not deny, and ecclesiastical .history
proved the truth of the
assertion, that the priesthood sot of the working clergy,
but of the higher order of the hierarchy—swas one of en-
croachment and aggression. What was the intention of this
Bill? If he turned to the Papal rescript, he found the fol-
lowing passage
Wherefore, after diligently weioing the state of Catho-
lic;ty in England at the time that now is, and after reflect-
ing upon the increase which, in various places, is manifest in
the already large number of Catholics, and after considering
how the hindrances which stood in the way of the spreading
of the Catholic faith are daily being removed, we have
judged that the time has come in which the form of eccle-
siastical government may be restored in
England, which
freely prevails in other countries where no special cause
requires the extraordinary ministry of the vicars-al ostolic.
In forming this judgment we felt that the circumstances
of times and things had rendered the government
longer rnment of the
no neces-
Catholics of England by
sary, and, indeed, that such a vicars-apostolic
change had taken place that
called for the establishment of the ordinary form of episcopal
rule in that kingdom."
These were to him ominous words, The ti.
There wasmes and
'alcir-
cumstances chosen for this act were remarka
a schism in the Established Church of this country.—
( Hear, hear.) Multitudes, deluded I).y mediwval tendencies,
and by a fondness for the picturesque in religion—(A laugh)
were passing over to that which, if
not the Roman Catholic
•
religion, was something uncommonly like it. It was thought
the time had come when a great blow might be struck —.
when the contest might be renewed for the prerogatives,
power, advantages,
and emolumentstr__ of the Church. It was,
therefore, incumbent on the House to be watchful and
wary. Whatever was essential to the exercise of the Roman
Catholic religion, let it be granted, not as a matter of favour,
but of right. But, on the other hand, let them be careful
to allow of no evasion or encroachment upon the law or the
Constitution. He could not agree with the Hon. and Learned
Member opposite that l'ar iament ought to wait, and not
to act until the evil became intolerable._(Hear, hear.) He
said let them take their stand upon the law and Constitu-
tion in the first instance. For in every instance where an
invasion or infraction had once been admitted, it was set up
Legislature had, per-
as a precedent. It was said that the
mitted the evasion and infraction of the l
exceptional case.
law in Ireland.—
an (Hear, hear.) Ireland was undoubtedly
—, Hear, hear, from the Irish Members.) It bad a Roman
Catholic population and an established Church which would
not minister to that population.—(Cheers.) It had Raman
Catholic bishops there, by whom the law had been tacitly
evaded. But was there no difference between the manner in
which the law had been evaded in Ireland and evaded in
England? Had there been a cardinal sent to Ireland in flam-
ing attire and wearing the cardiraalitial hat to proclaim the
bulls of the Pope? Yet, b cause the Government had al-
lowed the law to be evaded ill Ireland, this was put forward
as a reason why no notice should betaken of the evasion of the
law in England. Ho deeply regretted the necessity
of includ-
ing Ireland in this measure. But the state of things had
changed there since the Pope had sent over an ecclesiastic
to govern the country who had not been nominated by the
clergy. What was to binder him sending over foreign ec-
clesiastics to this country who did not profess to be bound by
our laws, but by the canon law? He had heard it said that
this question ought to have been settled through the inter-
vent on of the Foreign-office, and that the Noble Lord
(Palmerston) ought to have sent a fleet and an armed
farce to Civita Vecchia. Suppose the question had been
treated in this manner, and that a geet had bombarded that