The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-19 00:00:00

CON YERSIONS TO CATHOLICISM.

In last week's Tablet we read—ln addition to
Mr. and Mrs. Pye, the daughter of the Bishop °E
Oxford, we have to record the reception into the
Church of Captain Pye, which took place in Staf•
fordshire on Sunday last. On Monday, Mr. J. g'
Bellew, with his wife and family, made their sub•
mission to the Church. Mr. Pye, in leaving the
Anglican communion, was called upon to give UP 5
stall in the Cathedral of Lichfield and a rich fatal
living. Mr. Bellew also has had to resign the in•
cumbency of one of the London churches, the value
of which is estimated at £l,OOO a-year. In the
literary world Mr. Bellew has earned a high and
well-merited reputation as one of the most acconr
plished and telling public readers of the day.
In the course of one month during the present
year 104 persons were received into the Church i 0
London alone.

In the Tablet for the present week we find, in fur-
ther illustration of the above, the following :
" We have to record the reception into the Church
of a Protestant community in Market Harboroughl
Leicestershire. Four pious ladies, devoting them-
selves to the education of a number of orphan gide
after having carefully examined their religious dif-
ficulties, were received into the Church by the Rev'
F. Buckler, U.P. The brother of one of thee°
ladies, Mr. Douglas, a clergyman of the Church of
England, hastened to remonstrate with them on the
step they had taken ; but, upon further examina-
tion of their motives, he ended by taking the step
himself. He has now entered the English College
at Bruges. The ladies offered to send home the
fourteen orphans under their charge ; but their
guardians and relatives declined to receive them,'
expressing their perfect satisfaction that they shout'
be brought up in the faith of their teachers'
Nothing can be less desirable than the circulation
of doubtful reports ; but it is right that we should
mention the more notable conversions which tags
place from time to time, not in any unworthy
spirit of triumph, and far less in order to indict
pain or annoyance on those who conscientiously
reject the Catholic religion. We do so for a die"
tinct purpose—as an example of disinterested ad'
herence to the dictates of conscience, and an an
encouragement to those numerous persons who are
actually on the threshold of the Catholic Chureb'
The domestic and social persecution which 100:
converts have to suffer, is a subjtct of constant
sorrow and sympathy. We gladly, however, render
this justice to the larger portion of the Loudon
Press, and to the higher walks of public life, by
saying that they neither ostracize nor brand WI/
for their conscientious convictions."

Mr, Wallis, ex• Editor of " the Tablet'°

A proposition has been made to present to gr;
Wallis, the late proprietor of the Tablet, some kin'
of substantial token of the respect and esteem ill
which he is held by his numerous friends. Having
become by bona fide purchase the sole and indepetv
dent proprietor of the Tablet, there is nothing t°
restrain us from rendering our free and disiate'
rested testimony to the services of Mr. Wallis, nor
is there any surviving relation in Mr. Wallis to tlle
.
tablet which should prevent his accepting it A oar
hands.

Mr. Wallis has always shown an unswerviog
fidelity to the Holy See; he was among the first t°
defend the doctrine of the Temporal Power, wherl
there were few among us who had then 105'
tered its true import and necessity. He has fro
the first moment he entered upon the editorsblP
of the Tablet borne fearlessly before the people of
this country his testimony to the doctrines of the
Catholic Church. lie has never for a moment ta'
pered with heresy on the one hand ; and, on the
other hand, he has never poured out venom all'
bitterness upon souls that were groping after the
truth, and endeavouring to console themselves ILI
the delusion that their communion formed part 0f
the Church of God. Nor are these titles to 01-1'
gratitude surprising in one of Mr. Wallis's antece-
dents. The circumstances which led to his couilee'
tion with the tablet may not now be fresh in the
memory of our readers; we shall, therefore, briefli
recall them.

When Mr. Lucas passed away from his laboure'
there seemed to be no one left capable of the.
post which he had created in the Catholic journalist
of the country. Mr. Wallis was then in the prime °f
life ; a lengthened course of legal studies had bee°
completed; he had been called to the bar, and 109
actually following circuit with equals who are now ett•
joying thehigh honoursof their profession. His read!'
ness of speech and command of language, the keen'
ness of his perception and a well-developed legal
which
mind, laid before him the promise of a future
would have been enough to fascinate a calmer eye
than his. But there are turns in the path of life
which no man can foresee, and so it happened Viri
tti
Mr.
,Wallis. His friends came around him, suggest-
ing to him another course. They felt that if he de'
voted those talents, which were already beginning
to attract attention, to the cause of Catholic par'
nalism, a great service might be rendered to the
Catholics of this country, and a great loss, in
part at least, supplied. Nor was it only the
personal friends of Mr. Wallis who pressed 110°
him the adoption of this new career, but 01
also who had the Church's interest most
heart approved the choice and encouraged hid
to embark upon it. Mr. Wallis was Dot
Catholic to close his eyes to the great interests °
his Church, nor to place his own personal and 21.0'
fessional aims before the claims of religion. Never;
theless, slowly and reluctantly he gave way hefor,3
the opinion of his friends, and determined to lea/
the profession of his choice for the hazardous iln;
dertaking of a weekly journal. In this he has sPeP
the best years of his life, and so far as those great
prizes which the legal profession offers to its
lowers are concerned, Mr. Wallis's chances are gone.
His chances are gone, and the Tablet has boell °o
equivalent for the sacrifices he has made.
We do not intend to enter upon any appreciatil
of the political line which has characterized 1
Wallis's career as a journalist, nor to
pass sentecupon the ecclesiastical policy which has marked the
latter years of the Tablet. We feel that, in spite 0
whatever divergencies we may recognise in the'
fd
from the path which we have traced out for cut-
selves, Mr. Wallis is entitled to any public recl-0
nition of his services which his friends may decide
on giving him. Whatever errors in judgment 1111,
Wallis may have committed—and who is not liable
to err?—they have not been committed on the side
of subserviency to general opinion, or in the intere'e
of his own paper ; for he must have been well avr3bo
that by the advocacy of his own peculiar views .
forfeited much support which he might most ea
hi 4
have retained, and alienated many who had be°
sl"
friends. Whatever his conclusions, they wer-
A
ways honestly formed and expressed, and ae led
parried with an exposition of such reasons as 1,-id
him to adopt them.
es in
We shall therefore be happy, so far as it l, es
our province to do so, to further tha propcsl.,b,
~0
which Mr. Wallis's frien Is have male, and to sti
scribe to any testimonial which it may be thou"
fit to present.--'Tablet.