The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-15 00:00:00

i ~.

ud cheers)--a draggle which, in a country containing
ie over e..000,e00 of nth bitints, hat called forth the test
efforts of an army o 90,000 men.- (Cheers.) That nation
had been roused, not to unfold once aeai k on the
b inner of Victory the federal cross against forrign fosse,
not in another battle of Mogarten to crush the prid
of Austria, or as against a Maximilian with a view of en-
forcing the ratification of Swiss independence, not as against
France in the 16th century to win a Novara, or to piunuder
End lay was'e the fertile plains of Burg• rely and besiege
Dijon, but, under the influence of religious excitement and
animosities, stirred up by artful Jesuits and Papal political
emia-aries,to wage a religious e ar against one another, and.
in a fratricidal contest, to pour out the most gallant bli fed
that ever warmed a pat.iot's heart on that soil, which. like
an oasis in the desert, still afforded a last retreat against the
despotism of Europe,-still preserves intact the hoepitable
abate of liberty.-(Loud cheers.) He admitted, indeed, it
was with difficulty be could control his feelings and main-
tain that rigid and impartial observance which the Noble
Lord had absolutely imposed on him, when he w itnessed
e iniquity and intolerance with which Rome had tee-
tered these dissensions, an t that after the capitulation of
Freibourg she had been instrumental in inducing Lucerne to
prolong a hopeless contest.-(Cheers.) The country had
hardly yet recovered the consequences of that struggle and
the shock of contending parties. The horrors of war, the
losses, misery, the ruinous expense it entailed were only
relieved by the greatest forbearance and met by the greatest
sacrifices coupled with the entire orgetfulnese of the past.
And yes, f the Confederacy had not shown energy iu stem-
ming that outbreak at once, he shoe d like t know where
would have now been the liberty-where the tel gloss tole-
eaten that at present that c ountry enjoyed? (' beers.)
And had '2ot the consequences of that wa proved what dan-
gers were to be apprehended from apparently insignificant
causes—for they all knew the origin of the struggle id
Switzerland-how step by step, if unchecked, they
gradually attained a magnitude capab a ultimately of
convulsing an entire nation Luther said that Rome was
the seat of hypocrisy and Hot ranee. And certainly the
at teced nts of Papal history confirmed that op nion, and
proved that there was in her pelicy a tendeocy the
most dangerous to, and moss, subversive of, civil and
religious liberty.- (Cheers.) rest your eye (said the
Hon. Baronet) over the page of history. See what - pain
once was •nd what she now. See what is Rme -what is
Yaples-what is Florence at the present day ! Where with
Roman Catholic intolerance is civil liberty ?-(Loud cheers.)
Recollect what Hildebrand, Gregory I'll , said of Spain
-" It were better she should belong to the Seracen than
not tender homage to the Sovereign Pontiff." Recollect
that another Pope-boon compagno-Gregory XIII., re-
velling in his unholy orgies, celebrated to Almighty
God public thanksgiving for the massacre of St. Bar-
tholomew, and recollect that her policy still continues in
the same spirit.-(Great cheering.) Its course unchanged
still flows through the same channels of intolerance. Recol-
lect, above all, that this is the enemy we have to ward off,
and whose arrogance and hypocrisy, whope indifference
to the consequences likely to ensue, provided her own
selfish ends are attained, or, failing that, succeeds in
throwing the firebrand of religious discord amidst this
happy, this contended people, with the hope of deriving some
ultimate advantage in the conflict of party now urge e her on.
she is an enemy whom it requires all our zeal and attentiole
to counteract, and, as I believe from my heart this recent
aggression was but the first step of a premeditated and or-
ganized system of attack - (Tremendous cheering)-under-
taken with a view of enslaving the conscience, shackling the
liberties, and shaking the allegiance of the people, I would
entreat the Nehe Lord, as be respects and values that course
which he has so long and advantageously to the country
advocated, to keep a watchful and a vigilant eye over the
interests commit. ed to his keeping as head of the Govern-
ment of this great empire, and I entreat the Housef by timely
legislation, to prevent an abuse from taking root unheeded,
the frui's of which will inevitably endanger the safety of the
State.-(The Hon. Baronet resumed his seat amid great
cheering, and was immediately surrounded by numbers of
Hon. Members to offer him their congratulations.)
Mr. M'CULLAGII said he had listened to the speech
which the Hon. Baronet had just delivered, with fee logs
which he would tether not express. Bisto if he (Mr.
MeCullagh) could imagine the feelings witle eivitioli the Ito-
man Catholic Members of that House hadlAsteped to thilit
s ngular address, he would, as a Protestant, its sire to say,
let not the first step in legislation of one whoiriel lisheade•l for
nig own inexperience be conclusive in the fin-mad= of the
judgments of Hon. Members. Let the House remember there
was a debt of gratitude still due to one whoie name that
H. n. Baronet bore ( Hear, hear)-and for the sake*of the
great deeds of the father, he would ask the House to forget
for a moment what he (Mr. M'Cullagh) hoped he might
characterise with justice as the inconsiderate expressions
of the son.-(Oh, oh, and laughter.) For his (Mr. M'Cul-
lagh's) part he had but one duty to discharge, and that was
to speak as a Protestant Member of that House on this ques-
tion. He, as a Protestant, protested against this Bill, be-
cause he was a sincere believer in the truth of the principle
of Protestantism, and because he believed the principle of the •
Reformation to be nothing less than the perfect and unabridged
right of of private judgment, and because he believed this
Bill was an indirect attempt to oppress those who con-
scientiously differed from him on the great matter of
eternal salvation. For these reasons, and because he re-
garded the Bill as a departure from the proper province of
legislation, he would give it his perfect and unqualified oppo-
tog ire It seemed to be taken for granted that the bishops
of Ireland, in assuming the titles of sees, were offenders
against an acknowledged law; and the Right Hon. Gentle-
man (Sir George Grey) in the course of his speech on this
question commented on the faot, that in a recent address to
the Throne they had signed their names simply without ap-
pending the names of their sees. The probable explanation
of that war, that those prelates only signed by the names of
their sees wuen the documents they so subscribed had re-
ference to diocesan acts. It was a tact within his own know-
ledge that the Most Rev. John Roman Catholic
Archbishop t f Tuam, had had letters of administration
granted to him from the Prerogative Court of Ireland, by the
Most Reverend John George, Archbishop of Armagh, who
in those letters of administration addieesed him as " the
Most Reverend John M'Hale. Roman Catholio Archbishop
of Tuam."-(Hear, hear.) So that they had the first Pro-
testant prelate in Ireland recognising the titles, the eseump-
tion of which was now called an offence. One of the
first acts which the Archbishop of Tuam did under those
letters of administration was to make an affidavit before
Master Litton, one of the Masters in Chancery in Ireland,
and who was strongly attached to Protestant principles, but
who nevertheless permitted that prelate to sign such affidavit
as John, Archbishop of Tuam. The Master of the Rolls is
Ireland. the Hon. I'. B. Smith, who made an order ou that
very affidavit, not only granted the application in favour of
the Archbishop of Tuam, sad against the persons with whom
he contended, but also awarded costs to him.-( Hear, hear.)
Again, in the course of a sharply contested suit between the
late Protestant corporation of Drogheda and their successors,
which was referred by the Lord Chancellor to Master Henn,
a Protestant official of the Court of Chancery in Ireland, and
a man distinguished by experience, worth, and learning, that
gentleman, in refuting the mode in which the trust in ques-
tion in the suit was constituted, wrote at the head of the list
of trustees, "the Most Rev. Dr. Crolly, (the then) Primate
of all Ireland ;" and after the death of Dr. Crolly, Sir R.
Sugden nominated the Rev. Paul Cullen, D.D., Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ire-
land," to act in his stead in the trust.-(Hear, hear.) And
was he to be told that these men were now to be punished
for assuming titles which the most eminent men had
conferred upon them ?-(Hear, hear.) Although it might
be contended that they could not make void by statute the
spi-itual acts of the Roman Catholic bishops, still they 'had
attempted by this statute, as originally frame , to make a
criminal offence a signature to any deed or writing, or an,
other act of a Catholic bishop signed in his capacity of a
di-
cesan bishop. But what was the fact ? The omission of
the 3d and 4th clauses left the Bill as obnoxiout as it was
before. - (Cries of "Oh !") He held iu his hand an op nion
given to him within the last three hours, the opinien of three
eminent lawyers, which left no doubt upon that point. It
struck him, looking at the preamble of the Bill, whether the
three omitted clauses were not contained in the fiat proposi-
tion. It was a very serious matter, which the Right Hon.
Gentleman the Secre ary of State .hould.look to, whether
her Majesty's subjects should be set in a net or doubtful int• ler
pretation, where crimes were charged, and the chief pastors of
their faith were to be made amenable. If they were to legis-
late, they ought to do so openly. In a case se banned to Mr.
Bethell, of the Chancery bar, Mr. Bramwell, and Mr. Saville,
of the common, those gentlemen bad given the following
opini ne upon these three questions-1, If any name. or
style, or title, designated under the second clause of the Bill,
were attached to any deed or writing, whether that deed or
writing would not be void, notwithstanding its omission?
The answer was in these remarkable words:-" We are of
opinion that any deed or writing such as is there designated
would be void in law.-(Hear, hear.) The second question
fee put was this- Whether, if the third clause be omitted, any
endowment or gift toanyßomanCatholie bishop ar archbishop ,
in the manner designated in the clause, would be void? The
answer be received was this:-" By the first claueee any gift
or endowment for the benefit or support of a Roman Catholic
bishop would be void ;" and they went on to state the rea-
sons tor, that opinion at length, but he would not trouble-the
House at that late hour of the night by going into them in
detail. Auy gentleman who felt curious to see them 'might.
have a copy. The gist of the matter was this-that 1"
second and third clauses were conclusions, and,legarily
speak-
ing, consequences, derived from the first. So, although the
second and third clauses were left out of the Bill, they were
as completely dealing with the question of
what the en-
dowments, and were going as much beyond
wof the Govern-
Hon. Gentleman stated it was. inn
the Bill. No
ment to do, as if the clauses remained
arß Baronet the Member for
wonder, then, that the Honourable
conciliated opposition
Oxford found that concession bad not
that the Bill daily looked upon
in Ireland. No wondertheinbteenY
with increasing aversion and opposition, and he trusted that.
thethe aneonu.rhinmemenbero
fort the Rouse.
1.2
ear:).
oppositionfeaent defa vs
such
reshi oane would until
massive.
-thh(eeti terairumhp h ea,
s'len into several fallacies. one of will h removed, all thi
air.MWOOOOßDEsamidotvheadt
frest fell to the ground. The Hots. Member had begun with'
giving ha definition t f civil and religious liberty. be (Mr.
Wood) would yield to no gentleman on either side of the
House in zeal to defend the principles of civil and religious.
liberty to the utmost verge consistent with the safety of the
state; but, once permit the Pepe to take the poeition he had
attempted to assume in England, let it be
permitte t that
subjects of the Crown of England
might refer to the Pope
the resolution of questions of jurisdiction, and we should at
oece be, thrown back to that period of darkness and iutoler-
ance when civil and religious liberty had not even been
heard of. (Hear, hear.) He considered that the few
words which had been uttered on a former occasion by
a Right Honourable Baronet opposite had a tendency
to throw back the cause of civil and religious liberty
in Europe, more hen anything which had taken place
in the last 300 years.-(" No, no," and loud cheers.) What
effect, for example, would those words, if adopted by the
Legislature of England, have upon the people of Sardinia,
now engaged in a desperate struggle f r religious liberty,
such as that which England herself had gone through ? Let
it not be forgotten that one of the Ministers of Sardinia had
htehaecis march of
f that
of
been allowed to expire without the consolations of his relie
gion, solely on the ground that he had been the author of
three measures which were distastefulate to
Church, because they were so ysteosthien
civil freedom. Let the avumptiens of
Sardinians
be sanctioned
by the English Parliamdt, and the would think
their cause desperate indeed.-(Hean) His (Mr. Wood's)
definition of religious liberty was the right which every man
had to worship his Creator is the mode which he deemed
best ; to select for his religious instructors those whom he
wished to select, and to exercise his religion freely, with this
safeguard-Sic utere teo ut non alien lcedas-(Hear, hear;)
-while civil liberty as compared with religious liberty was
this. that no man should be deprived of any civil privilege
whatever on account of any religious opinions whatever.
But the Hon. and Learned Gentleman had kept back the real
difficulty, which. indeed, solely influenced his (Mr. P.
Wood's) vote. The Hon. and Learned Gentleman admitted
that the' Roman Catholic acknowledged a foreign :
'
superior,.
but he said, "if that is your objection you should have.
thought of it when yon admitted the Roman Catholics to to
seat in Parliament." But he did not meution.oueTeeutiaritrt
of the Church of Rome that it mixed up temperal and spiri-
tual matters. so that you could scarcely sever one from the
other. -(llear, heir.) And if that Church were allowed to
introduce the canon law into this country, as Cardinal Wise-