The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-03 00:00:00

Sir G. Bowyer, M.P., on the Papacy.

A brief report of Sir George Bowyer's speech at 1
Wolverhampton on Tuesday has already been
printed. A further account is now given. The hon.
hart. said that when their respected pastor, the Rev.
J. Kelly, informed him that he was at liberty to •
choose his own subject on which to address them
that evening, he felt not one moment's hesitation in
complying with his request. (Applause.) For there
was one subject which now occupied the minds of
men throughout the civilised world on which he felt
that he should like to speak to them. The subject
to which he referred did not affect in any way those
other great questions of prestige in Europe, as to
whether this great kingdom or the other great king-
dom should obtain a preponderance over the rest.
No, it was a question regarding the future of a very
small slip of country, with but one seaport, with a
population that did not exceed in number that of
some of our great cities, with no manufactures, no
mineral wealth, with no resources of• its own, and
which of itself was insignificant and might almost
pass unnoticed. He said insignificant, and he meant
politically and socially, though there was still an
interest connected with it which would ever be at-
tached to remnants of antiquity. But in that small
territory, that poor little State, was the centre
of Christendom, the head of the universal
Church on earth, for there resided the Supreme
Pontiff, the Vicar of Christ. (Loud che•3rs.)
He was there in two capacities--as the Bi-
shop of Rome—the successor of St. Peter, the
representative of Christ on earth, and the Heal of
His Church—and he was there in the capacity of
King of that country—ltaly—the last remnant of
which alone had been spared to him by those who
had robbed him of the greater portion of his domi-
nions. Now this brought him to the subject on
which he was about to briefly address them. To
say that the union of the temporal sovereignty
with the spiritual supremacy was a necessity
would be an error in history, and almost a
heresy in theology. It would be an error in his-
tory, because, as many of them were aware, there
had been Popes who had been vicars of Christ,
and possessing all the spiritual power of the ponti-
ficate, but who yet had not been sovereigns. It
would almost be heresy in theology, because the
supreme pontificate, being a Divine institution, it
did not need any human adjunct. Just let them
look for a few moments at the historical part of the
question--let them look into what was termed the
logic of facts, and they would then the better un-
derstand the bearings of the question. In the first
place, the independence of the pontificate above all
other earthly powers was necessary for the proper
fulfilment of those high duties and functions belong-
ing to that sacred office. Now, just let them see how
that independency had been secured by the mysteri-
ous working of Almighty God. Of course, if it
had so pleased Almighty God, He might have adopted
some other means to maintain the supremacy of the
pontificate than those to which he was about to refer
them. But when they found Almighty God using
particular means for successive centuries for the
attainment of particular ends, he thought it was not
too much to say that it was the will of God that that
end should be attained by those means. He thought
even their Protestant friends would admit that that
principle was a sound one. Now, it had been often
said, and was recorded in history, that the supre-
macy of the pontificate was secured first by martyr-
dom, and secondly by its sovereignty. When the
first ceased then the sovereignty of the Pope com-
menced. The first Popes vindicated their supre-
macy with the shedding of their blood, and the
next by their sovereignty. They also found,
as recorded in history, that this sovereignty
continued through many centuries, and it was
preserved in a most remarkable manner. He knew
it was usual for Protestant writers to make answer
to this argument by saying that the independence
of the Pope, as secured by his sovereignty, was a
delusion, because in his sovereign capacity he had
always been more orless under the protection of some
other temporal sovereign. But to show how ab-
surd was the notion on this subj ect, he would mention
a somewhat remarkable fact. He (the speaker) met
at Rome a few years ago a most eminent diplo-
matist, who now occupies one of the principal
embassies abroad, and this eminent personage said
to him, " Before I came to Rome I always thong
the management of the ecclesiastical affairs of the
Church, as well as the temporal, were under the
influence of the particular sovereign power who had
the pontificate under its protection—influenced by
the will and authority of sometimes one sovereign
and sometimes another. I always was under the
impression that the temporal interest had great in-
fluence in the Pope's councils, and in the manage-
ment of the Church generally, and that whatever
sovereign exercised a temporal power in protecting
the interests of the Holy See also exercised great
sway in the management of the Church in its eccle-
siastical affairs. I had not been long in Rome,
however, before I found out that was a great mis-
take ; that, in fact, it was not so, and that although
the Pope had the assistance of French bayonets to
assist in protecting his temporal interests, yet that
the Emperor Napoleon has no greater influence in
the management of the Church in its ecclesiastical
affairs than has any other sovereign or power."
(Applause.) It was the same, too, with regard to the
neighbouring kingdom of Austria. So that the pro-
tection or assistance afforded to the Pope by other
sovereigns merely referred to the temporal interests
of the pontificate, and never exercised any influence
over his Holiness whatever in regard to his spiritual
functions. (Hear, hear.) Now, in support of his argu-
ment, be would just take a rapid review of some of the
principal events in the history of the last few years,
as illustrative of the special intervention of God for
the protection of the Holy See, and for the mainte-
nance of the Pope's supremacy. Going back no
further than the time of the First Napoleon, it was
well known from what he said in his conversations,
whilst a captive at St. Helena, that he had during
the days of his power imagined a plan, and which he
endeavoured to carry out, for reducing the Pope as
a temporal sovereign, but making him the first eccle-
siastical dignitary in the empire. In furtherance of
that plan he made Pope Pius VI. a prisoner, took
possession of the dominions over which lie ruled as a
temporal sovereign, and made his (Napoleon's) own
son King of Rome. But what was the result.? Pope
Pius VI. died, and then it was the anxious wish of
Napoleon that Cardinal Fieschi should be Pope, as
he thought he would be a willing instrument in his
hands, and thus the pontificate would be subservient
to the empire. But Napoleon was disappointed, and
notwithstanding the great power which he then pos-
sessed as the arbiter almost of the destinies of all
Europe, with kings welting behind his chair, he was
unable to carry out his design for the election of
Fieschi, and Pius VII. was elected Pope instead.
What happened afterwards ? Napoleon fell ; and
then the Pontiff, who had since his election been
living in exile, was brought back to his dqminions,
and the most remarkable thing was that no less a