The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-08 00:00:00

PROTEST OP THE ROMISH DUTCH

BIS II 01'S.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
MR. EDITOR.- -in your pop. ef I,st S7iturday you
pu Ult-ti certain; RASt, ral uction=, signed by John,
Archbishop of Utrecht ; Henry John, Bishop of Haar-
lem; and Herman, Bishop of Dever, ter. You head the
paragraph—" Protest of the Romish Dutch Bishops
against the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception ;"
and commence with this remark :—" The following sig-
nificant paper forcibly exhibits that worthless cheat called
lenity' in the schismatic Church of Rome."
Allow me, then, Mr. Editor, to remark for your infor-
mation, and that of the public, who might otherwise be
misled by the p;'rusal of the Pastoral Instructions, that
neither the Archbishop nor the Bishops who stn the
document are in any sense either " Romish" or Catholic
Bishops, but that they are the Bishops of the Jan•enist
Church of Rolland. They, and their predecessors for
above a century, bave been cut off from all communion
with the Catholic Church, for refusing to submit to and
accept the decrees of the Popes Urban VIII., Inno-
cent X., Alexander VII,, and several of their successoir,
condemning as heretical certain propositions on Grace
of Cornelius Jansenius, Bishop of Ypres, who died 1638.
This sect, once so powerful, is fast dying away.
While on a tour last autumn through Holland, I ex.
pressly visited Utrecht, the head-quarters of Jansenism,
for the purpose of seeing their archiepiscopal church,
and informing myself of their present position in Hol-
land. I found the church a small building, of no preten-
sions, and scarcely capable of containing 300 persons.
Their Hierarchy consists of the Archbishop of Utrecht
(an old Alan nearly 90), and four Bishops, with a very
scanty supply of priests. I was told tuat they had
scarcely a dozen students in theology in their seminary.
Murray, in his " Handbook of Holland," states that the
Jansenists scarcely exist in any number except in Hol-
land, where they now are reduced to 5,000 souls.
Besides the Jansenist Hierarchy there is also in Hol-
land the Catholic Hierarchy, restored by the present
Pope about four or five years age.
I need hardly inform you that, by the Catholic Hier.
arcby, which also consists of an Archbishop of Utrecht,
and several bishops, the decree of the present Pope de-
fining the Immaculate Conception as an article of Ca-
tholic faith was accepted and received with respect and
veneration. The Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht,
mate of Holland, John Zuizen, consecrated 1853, was
one of the Archbishops expressly invited by his Holiness
to Rome to take part in the discussions previous to the
definition. His name stands the 39th in the list of
Archbishops assisting in St. Peter's when Pius IX.
pronounced the solemn dogmatic definition of the Imma-
culate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Bth
of December, 1854. Oa the same occasion, as a mark
of especial honour, the Archbishop was raised to the
dignity of an Assistens ad Solium, or a prelate entitled
to take his place besides the Pontifical Throne when the
Pope celebrates the offices of the Church publicly.
May I request, Mr. Editor, you will either explain to
your readers the error into which you have fallen in
attributing to the Catholic hierarchy of Holland a docu-
ment which proceeds from the excommunicated Jan-
senist Bi4iops, or that you will kindly give my letter a
place in your journal.

I remain, Mr. Editor, your obedient servant,

CUTHBERT W. CLIFTON.
Workington, Cumberland, April 6, 1857.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—As I believe the document referred to in
the following note has appeared in your columns,
may I beg the favour of your inserting the expla-
nation given in my letter to the Herald this day.
Yours truly,
N. W. HODGES.
April 7th, 1857.

DUTCIZ ROMISH BISHOPS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "MORNING HERALD."
Sir,—As the headin4of, and introduction to, the pro.
test which appears in the Morning _Herald of to-day,
and which you designate as proceeding from the "Dutch
Romish Bishops," is liable to be rnisunthrstood, I claim
your permission to state that the three pereons described
as "John, Archbishop of Utrecht ; Henry John, Bishop
of Haarlem ; and Herman, Bishop of Deventer," are
not, and never have been, in communion with, or in any
way recognised by the Holy See, and, therefore, they
cannot be in any sense "Romish" Bishops. Indeed
they are, and their predecessors have been, formally ex 4
communicated and their doctrines condemned. They
are the only remaining Jansenist bishops, and their
authority extends only over 10 clergymen and some
3,000 of the laity (including men, women, and children),
so that Mr. Spurgeon can boast of a larger number of
followers than they. On the other baud, the Catholics
of Holland in communion with the Holy See form two.
fifths of the entire population, and their prelates—viz.,
the Archbishop of Utrecht, the Bishop of Haarlem, the
Bishop of Breda, the Bishop of Rurimonde, and their
coadjutors, all in communion with Rome—have, in nom•
mon with the rest of the Roman Catholic Church
throughout the world, accepted with thankfulness the
definition by the Pope of the dogma against which the
Jansenist Bishops protest.
I trust to your sense of justice to insert this explana.
tion.—l am, sir, your most obedient servant,
London, April 4, 1857. N. W. HODGES.