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

notwithstanding their delay in convoking Parliament, the
greater part of their measure, when introduced, had been
found by themselves, and not by their antagonists, to be
either inadequate to its object, or to go further than that
object; and having the i-iaselves become ashamed of it, they
had asked Parliament t a allow them, in part, to withdraw it.
Now, it appeared to hi. m (Sir R. H. Inglis) that the pre-
amble of the Bill was n tiserably insufficient for meeting. the
requirements of the use. The preamble ought, in his
opinion, to have recited all the previous statutes which pro-
hibited that species of a,;gression, and likewise the Papal
brief and the ap•ostoli: letter which had produced
that excitement and agitation throughout the country.
The Bill itself ought, at the same time, to have been
much more stringent an td extensive in its operation, for it
would leave untouched . some of the greatest evils to which
the Papal system had gi yen rise in this country. His Hon.
and Learned Friend tb e Member for Plymouth (Mr. R.
Palmer) said that they aught not to legislate any further
upon that subject. becat Ise they bad already recognised the
existence of the Roman Catholic priesthood among us ; but.
he ( Sir R. H. Inglis 1 de Hied that former concessions should
be taken as a plea for perpetual wrongs and aggression.
Six weeks ago he (Sir I H. Inglis) would have said that
the Noble Lord at the In .ad of the Government was the per-
sonification of the chars eter which the late Sidney Smith
ascribed to him when he declared that in whatever else the
Noble Lord might be d efficient, no man surpassed him is
courage; but that vit. iity had now deserted him Why
should the Noble Lord recede? He had not been defeated
by a 1 o•tile division, a rid, if his present course was not
attributable to the weak, 2ess of his Cabinst, it must be the
result of some influence, not obvious to the world. The
Noble Lord's conduct b: 'ought to his recollecti nn the lines
written upon a personal pi whom he would not then name,
who—

" ills ''sand, its skill to try,
Amid the chord a bewilder'd laid,
And back recoil l'd, he knew not why,
Sc ►red at the sc and himself had made."
—(Hear, and laughter.) What had scared the Noble Lord?
His Noble Friend migh t depend upon it that his cele-
brated letter would not; have produced the effect it had
produced, were it not that it had re-echoed opinions al-
ready entertained by the. great mass of the people of this
cauntry.—( Hear, hear.) His Noble Friend had, it seemed,
been deterred by the opposition of his Irish suppOrters;
but it was clear that he had not succeeded in

conciliating their favour by the mutilation of his measure.
A great statesman ought in such a case to have summoned
his Cabinet together in the first instance, then to have ap-
pealed to the law advisers of the Crown, afterwards to have
called Paliament together, and if Parliament had not re-
sponded to his demands, he might at once have appealed to
the country.—(Hear.) He ( Sir R. H: Inglis) firmly be-
lieved that in that case the country would return such a Par-
liament as would enable hint to pass the most efficient mea-
sures he might think desirable upon, that subject. His
Honourable and Learner t Friend the Member for Ply Mouth
had said that no person would think at present of placing
Roman Catholics in the position they had occupied thirty
years ago. But be (Sit R. H. Inglis) recollected well that
one of the great arguments advanced in favour of Roman
Catholic Emancipation was, that it would completely satisfy
and pacify the Roman Catholic body; and yet they had
at that moment Roman Catholic Members of that House
praying for a tramfer of the whole of the property of
the Established Church in Ireland, although they had
themselves sworn not to do anything to disturb that property.
The conduct of her Majesty's Government upon that ques-
tion had been extremely vacillating and unsatisfactory.
They had, three years sago, received ample intimation that
some such step as the recent act of aggression was contem-
p'ated, and yet they had taken no precaution to prevent its
occurrence- But they had been told by his lion. and
Learned Friend the Member for Plymouth that in consider-
ing that question we were not to go to Roman Catholic
countfires, but to take countries like our own. His Hon. and
Learned Friend had refer red especially to Prussia, Belgium,
and Russia, and he had said that they could not in any
way take Russia as a standard of opinion or conduct.
He apprehended that the illustration failei in each instance.
There was a concordat between the Pontiff and the King
of Prussia, which there was not in England, and he
trusted in God there never would be.—(Hear, hear.) And
then there was an agreement between the King of the
Netherlands and the Pope. There then the Pope could
create as many bishops as he pleased; buy, it must be with
the con'ent of the Sovereign. In Russia no bull would be
permitted to enter the country without the inspection and
authority of a responsible Minister.—(Hear, hear.) He was.
he must say, surprised at the course which his Hoe. and
Learned Friend had had taken, even though he was one of
the two leading members of the bar who did not give in
their adhesion to the address on this subject agreed to by the
great and learned body to which he belonged; yet his Hon.
and Learned Friend had given such a vote on the first divi-
sion on this Bill which led him to hope he would be one of
its supporters on the second reading.—(Hear, hear.) He
had hoped to find his Hon. and Learned Friend his supporter
on this occasion; for though the motion on which they had
divided was that of the adjournment of the debate, still the
real matter at issue was the first reading of the Bill, which
that division decided.—(Hear, hear.) The people of Eng-
land had united on this subject in a stronger manner than
he believed they had ever done on any former occasion. and
their object in doing so was not merely to resist this attack
on the dignity of the Crown and the independence of the
eountry, but because they believed that the power of Rome
had increased in this country, by having been fostered by
many persons in high places; that her Majesty's Govern-
ment had, by their silence in some cases encouraged it,
and by their overt acts they had more unmistakingly en-
couraged it.—( Hear, hear.) What had passed with respect
to the Australian Colonies Bill, what had passed with re-
gard to the West India Colonies Bill, made them consider

that her Majesty's Government were favourable to the ascen-
dancy of the Church of Rome in the distant parts of the em-
pire. —( Hear, hear.) He held in his hand three ppers re-
ferring to distant dependencies of the empi e ; and be told
his Noble Fri, nd that he was not to be esteemed guiltless in
these transactions as long as he took charge of the general
administration of affairs, and when such results fol'owed tram

the policy pursued by their COlOTiralliiiii;CeTend. the Lord.
Lieutenant of Ireland. The original concession of territorial
titles was made at the bidding of the Lord-Lieutenant of
Ireland. and it had been but too willingly acted upon by the
Noble Lord the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and what
had followed? He had moved for a return of the correspon-
dence that had taken place between her Majesty's Govern-
ment at home and the administration of their Church in the
Australian colonies. He found that a very able address bad
been forwarded by the Bishop of Sydney to the Governor of
the Australian colonies, hnd when he asked for a return of

the answer that had been sent to that address, lie was told it
was " nil." He asked why was i not answered? They ought
to remember that as a communicant of the Protest.,nt Epic-
copal Church of England the Sovereigns of the House f
Brunswick had held, and did still hold, the Crown of these
realms. - (Hear.) He asked them was it fitting that the
Church of teat Queen should be placed in a subordinate posi-
tion and its prelates regarded as of inferior rank to the
prelates that had been nominated by a foreign Sovereign, and
that this, too, should be done without her Majesty's know-
ledge or consent?—(Hear.) According to Dr. Wisernan's
doctrine, Roman Catholic prelates did not take their titles
from districts, but from cities. Now let them look to New-
foundland, and they would find the system fostered by their
Colonial Secretary ; they would there find " the Lord Bishop
of Newfoundland" assuming a title conferred by her Majesty
upon ecclesiastics of her own Church. This was done by a
bishop nominated by the Church of Rome. In Trinidad the
Pope had created an archdiocese—this was eone in another
portion of her Majesty's dominions.—(" Hear, hear" from
Mr. Moore.) Then that was not merely recognised as a fact,
but it was cheered as a matter of congratulation.—(" Hear,
hear," from Mr. Moore.) He asked the Hon. Member if
when the colonies were attached to the Crown of Spain such
an aggression would be submitted to, or the Spanish
Sovereign would, under such circumstances, receive such '
an arc. bishop?—(Hear.) But this was not merely dene
in the colonies, but titles were taken from portions of
her Majesty's awn dominions. His Noble Frien'_ kn-w too
much of history and antiquity not to f• el that there was
an aggression when the Pope named a Bishop of Menevia,
and thereby took ep scopal possessi' n of the ancient see of
St. David's. Bu the Pope took two other sees—he took
the sees of Shrewsbury and Nottingham, and it they looked
to the Act of Henry VIII. they would find that these were
suft.aganbishoprice,and might be called into existence at any
time b, her Maje ty. This might be sad to have been
accident or ignorance, but he believed it was done in ma-
lice prepense, and was a wilful violation of the existing law.
Then in Ireland the Pope had created a bishop in Galway,
and even since the Papal brief had arrived in E gland the
P. pe had, by his own direct author ty, created a Bishop
o Ross. (Hear, hear.) lie thanked the house for the
patience v ith which it had listened to him ; but before he
closed he wished to re nark that the ground of opposition to
this aggression on the p ,rt of the Pope was their strong at-
ta.:hment to the Reformation and their conviction of the
blessing' they enjoyed through the Reformation.—(Hear. )
They looked to the state of England before the Reforma-
tion, and since; they contrasted the state of Protestant
England with the state of any Roman Catholic country
whatever. They felt that the contest at issue was one be-
tween light and darkness, between freedom and slavery, be-
tween the development of all the powers of the intellect are,
the prostration of all those powers.—(Cheers.) He did net
then say one word of the religion of Rome, but he referred
to the interference of Rome with the growth of literature and
the spread of science.—([fear.) The people of England
knew well what were the blessings they had enjoyed person-
ally and socially since the Reformation, and they were of
opinion that those blessings were endangered by every step
taken by the Church of Rome in this country. Though he
never had permitted himself, since the Roman Catholics were
admitted to that House, to state his objection to their reli-
gion which the Scriptures afforded him, still he must say
that the objections that might be made were felt deeply by
the great body of the people of England.—(Hear.) In the
success of the aggression now made they believed that there
was great danger lest the blessings that had been so dearly
purchased, and at such an expense, might be risked and pos-
sibly destroyed. The object of this Bill did not ace )ntplish
all that he desired; but still, such as it was, he was pre-
pared to take it., and he hoped to find a majority of that
House supporting the second reading.—(Hear, hear.)
Several Members then rose to address the House, but they
all gave way to
Sir R. PEEL, who rose at the same moment. He said he
was quite aware of the responsibility of the task he was now
about to fulfil in attempting thus early at the commence-
ment of his Parliamentary career to trespass on the attention
of that Hon. House; but the importance of the subject under
discussion induced him to lay aside those scruples which,
under ordinary circumstances, would unquestionably have
silenced him into a mere formal expression of opinion, and
gave him boldness to make the attempt at addressing them.
—(Cheers.) Previous, however, to submitting the few ob-
servations which he should have occasion to offer, he was
desirous of soliciting that courteous attention and forbear-
ance which he believed was invariably extended to all those
who from inexperience in Parliamentary deliberations, or
even of public speaking, and consequently from the novelty
of their pnsition, required that seine allowance should
justly be made.—( Hear, hear.) And would that on this, his
first appearance ou the floor of that House, he might not be
altogether unsuccessful in acquitting himself as became the
cause he was about to advocate, as well as of the dignity and
character of that assembly.—(Hear, hear.) Before en-
tering on the discussion before the House, he wished to make
I a few preliminary observations with the view of estab-
l4hing the broad basis upon which he grounded his views of
' religious subjects, and more particularly with referenceoto
religions toleration. It appeared to him natural to. conceive
oneive
that man was a being endowed with all the faculties
neces-
sary for accomplishing what was reqnired of him, and, al-
though the pat's by which one a
might apparently be in a totally different pursued
direction, or be
subject to totally different appreciationsall powers of reasoning
from the course
which another might pursue, yet to
were given for discerning, conscience
for loving, and liberty
for choosing that which was good;
giftsand in the gradation in
which they had received those of a divine economy he
imagined they would all have to render an account. Although
he he was the uecompromising, advocate of the religion in which
he was not only educated, but which reason and subsequent
conclusions haii taught him to consider as the most likely to
lead to an adequate interpretation of the Divine will as ex-
pres ed to us in the Bible, he was prepared unhesitatingly to

MAR CR l5, ISSI.