The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-22 00:00:00

THE ROMSEY MEMORIALS TO LORD

PALMERSTON.

The ceremony of unveiling a statue to Lord Palmerston
n the market-place of Romsey, and of uncovering a
nemorial window at the west end of the Abbey Church,
ook place on Tuesday. The proceedings of the day were
>f a double character. At half-past one the mayor and
nembers of the corporation in their robes, the borough
nagistrates, the executive committee and subscribers,
ncluding the Broadlands tenantry, assembled at the
['own Hall, and proceeded thence, escorted by the 11th
Slants Rifle Volunteers and their band, and the Band of
the Royal Marine Artillery, to Broadlands Park.
The procession next went to the Abbey Church, where
there was a special service. Just before the commencement
% memorial window erected to the memory of Lord
Palmerston in the west end of the Abbey Church wa,
uncovered. The window has been designed by Messrs.
Clayton and Bell, to exemplify the idea of government
descending from heaven to earth. After the window had
been uncovered a sermon was preached by the Bishop of
London, from the 3rd chapter of Ecclesiastes, verse 8 and
part of verses 13 and 14 : " 'What profit bath he that
worketh in that wherein he laboureth ?" " I know that
whatsoever God doeth it shall be for ever."

At the conclusion of the sermon a procession was
re-formed to the market-place, where the ceremony of
unveiling the statue was performed. The statue, which is
by Mr. Noble, is of bronze, and it represents the deceased
statesman in his usual attitude whilst addressing the
House of Commons. The statue, including the bronze
plinth, is Bft. 10in., and the pedestal 9ft. Gin. in
height. The latter is formed of Aberdeen granite, and is
about Gft. 3in, square at the base, with a polished
shaft, on the front of which, in letters of gold, is inscribed
"Palmerston," and at the back " Born 1784. Died 1865."
The proceedings having been briefly opened by the Mayor,
Lord Granville, at the request of Lord Eversley, unveiled
the statue amid loud cheers.
In a few well-chosen sentences, Lord Eversley, as chair-
man of the Memorial Committee, desired Lord Granville tc
inaugurate the statue.
Earl GRANVILLE : I feel it a very great privilege to be
allowed to take a part in the ceremony which we have
just witnessed in honour of that great statesman who
within so short a time was your neighbour and your friend.
It is with great sorrow for your sake, for the sake
of Lord Russell, and for the sake of Mr. Gladstone,
and specially for my own, that I find they are prevented
from being here on this occasion. One is prevented by a
severe domestic calamity, and the other by the stern
requirements of parliamentary duty. (Hear, hear.) For
some years before Lord Palmerston's death, as Lord
Eversley has been good enough to say, I bad the honour
of holding political service under him. More than
twenty-five years earlier I entered into official life under
his auspices and under his personal superintendence.
Kindness received during that long period of more than
a quarter of a century unfits me to give anything like
a judicial opinion of Lord Palmerston, but I think it
will be with you some claim why I may make a few
observations with regard to Lord Palmerston as a friend,
as a political chief, and as one of the most sagacious and
certainly the most popular Prime Minister that eves
ruled over this great country. (Cheers.) It is a fashion
among some to say that political contests and public life
weaken and deaden the feelings of the heart and the
warmer affections. I ask you whether they had such an
effect upon Lord Palmerston— (cries of " No ")—whether
such was the case with regard to his affections or to
the constancy of his friendships. There is hardly one
of us who, even in his business hours, has not received
from him timely and considerate advice on matters
of a purely private and personal character to our-
selves. Well do I remember, at a time when he
delighted the House of Commons, at the age of nearly
fourscore years, by giving an attendance to his parliamen-
tary duties which had never been given before by any
leader of that House—at a time when he was fulfilling all
the duties of his high office—he found time for weeks
daily to write sheets of political and social news to relieve
the hours of sickness of a dear young colleague who was
sinking under disease in a far and foreign land. Gentle-
men, it is impossible not to connect those private virtues
and personal qualities with the public character of
this great man. I had the honour of serving under

him in the Foreign Office. I feel some difficulty
in saying what I could wish with regard to the political
character of Lord Palmerston. If I were to pretend to
you that in a life of devotion for more than half a century
to the affairs of the nation, taking in most important ses-
sions a leading part, that Lord Palmerston had never
committed a fault in Parliament or an error of judgment,
that he was never mistaken at any time with regard to
home or foreign policy, I should be saying that he
was more or less than a man, and should be substi-
tuting fulsome flattery for that language of respectful ad-
miration with which I wish to speak of that great man.
But this I will say of Lord Palmerston, that if ever he had
faults, those faults came from the overflowing of the great
qualities he possessed, and the exciting patriotism which
animated every movement of his heart and mind. Lord
Palmerston knew how to make concessions to change and
circumstances, as all wise men know. He knew how to
move in the spirit of the age, but there were some
great principles he never deserted through life—
namely, his, passionate attachment to civil and religious
liberty all over the world, his detestation of anything like
religious persecution or injustice, his horror of oppression,
and his perfect abhorrence of slavery in all its forms.
(Cheers.) His great stimulus was that patriotic feeling to
which I have already alluded, and to it he added an
unbounded belief in the destinies of the country to which
he belonged, and a wish to place every Englishman,
collectively and individually, on a pinnacle of glory, of
honour, and of advantage. (Cheers.) On that sad day
when all that was great and distinguished in England met
in that old and historical abbey on the banks of the
Thames to pay a last mark of respect to the statesman
who had gone, in the midst of the gloom, moral and
physical, which was in that great abbey, a gleam of sun-
shine appeared at the very moment his body was being
lowered into its last abode, which for a time dispelled
that gloom. That slight and accidental coincidence gave
rise to a most beautiful expression by another great

and eloquent clergyman, who, alluding to the event,
said that when human minds, gifted beyond their fellows,
left the world, they left something of a light behind
them ; and I believe that at this moment, after uncover-

ing this magnificent statue, so like and so characteristic of
Lord Palmerston, when we saw the simple and touching

ceremony which attended its unveiling, I believe there was
not one of us, whatever might be our sphez e, whatsoever
might be our opportunities, who would wish to .go away
without determining to follow his bright example, in a
lesser degree, but with the same wish to devote our lives
in simplicity and under a sense of duty to the common
country. (Cheers.)

Mr. LOWE, on being loudly called for, also testified his
admiration of Lord Palmerston's character. The noble

lord was not only a great political leader and a great
statesman, blithe was a great Englishman, and an example
to the highest and lowest, because when he undertook a

duty he did it, and did it thoroughly.
The company then dispersed, but the principal visitors
were entertained by Mr. Cowper at a luncheon in a
marquee erected at the west end of the Abbey Church.
The Duke of Argyll responded to the toast of "The
House of Lords," and Mr. Cardwell to that of " The
House of Commons."

The day's proceedings terminated with an illumination
of the Abbey Church.

A " HAUNTBD HOUSE " IN AMERICA.

The haunted house at Muchelney is one of those extra-

ordinary cases which puzzle the scientific, furnish food to
the superstitious, and excite the sneers of the supercilious

and would-be-knowing. The farmhouse, an old substantial
one, stands alone at the entrance to the village of Muchel-
ney, about three miles from Langport. Its only occupants
are Mr. Traves, his housekeeper, and a young servant girl.
Soon after Christmas last a slight shock of an earthquake, as
supposed, was felt in the neighbourhood, and since then
the farmhouse has been the scene from time to time of
the noises and "manifestations" before described in these
columns. The most common form is noise resembling at
first the running of fingers over a hollow partition, or as if
passing rapidly upstairs, and always ending abruptly with
a kind of discharge, as loud as that of a rifle, but
with no reverberation whatever—merely a dead thud—
often followed successively kept up at intervals for days
together, and then becoming silent for weeks. For
some time the tin cover of a copper in the kitchen was
wont to be thrown violently off upon the floor, and the bells
about the house to be set ringing. But these are at
present quiet, and the newest manifestation is in one of

the passages, where a clock stands, with a table near,
against the wall, and over it some bridle bits hung upon
nails. About a fortnight since, during Mr. Traves's absence
in the hayfield, the housekeeper and servants were terribly
alarmed by the table being suddenly turned violently
upside down, and the bits thrown off the nails upon which
they were hung. The females immediately summoned
Mr. Traves, who came in, and expressing his determina-

tion to judge for himself, took a scat near the table and
w ached. He had not been seated five minutes ere the
table was again suddenly dragged, as it were, along the
floor, and dashed down. We plainly saw the breakage
which resulted, and heard the story from Mr. Traves's own
mouth. It was only one of several stories of an equally
startling nature. The mysterious part is that the walls
are entirely Unshaken and the floors undisturbed.—
Eithaan'OrsesivEmb

LORD DENBIGH ON THE IRISH CHURCH.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SUN."

Sir.,—When the Bishop of Oxford uttered his
bold challenge respecting the early Irish Church
in his speech on the Suspensory Bill, I endeavoured,
though unsuccessfully, to obtain a hearing, that I
might give to his statement an unqualified denial.
There now only remains for me to meet them on
paper. Having asked for his authorities, he sent
me those he relied on, and I propose, as shortly as
possible, in order not to transgress the limits of a
letter, to examine them and expose their worthless-
ness for the object in view, viz., as proofs that the
early Irish Church was entirely independent of
the Roman See, and did not in any way acknow-
'edge the jurisdiction of the Pope; also that the
doctrines of that Church were the same as those
held by high Churchmen of the present day.
I will commence by quoting the Bishop's words
as reported in your columns of June 30.
"Three fourths of the whole of the Irish Church
property was given between the time of St. Patrick
and Henry 11. to the native Irish Church. Do
hey teach the same doctrine ? I maintain, and I
lefy any one to contradict, that the Church of
Ireland at that time agreed more completely with
the High Church of England at this time than
with the Ultramontanists on the other side.
They were jealous of Rome ; they boldly refused
to come under the Romish yoke ; they were con-
demned by the Church of Rome as schismatics, if
not as heretics, because they resisted the oppres-
sions which were broUght upon them. The Church
of Rome forbid the marriage of the clergy, the
Church of Ireland allowed it. St. Patrick's father
and grandfather were married clergymen. Which,
then, did the ancient Church agree with—our
Church or the Church of Rome ?"
In proof of these statements I am referred by
the Bishop principally to the annals of Cardinal
Baronius for the years 516 and 604, and to the life
of St. Wilfrid. As these refer to the most im-
portant points, I will, to avoid prolixity, confine
myself to them.
The first of these passages, No. 21, refers to a
schism into which the Irish bishops, as well as
certain African and Italian bishops, fell, through
an opinion which they had formed that the Fifth
General Council which the Roman Church had
approved had by its condemnation of the three
chapters infringed in some degree the decrees of
the Fourth General Council. This misunderstand-
ing lasted some time, but was removed by St.
Gregory the Great, says the same Baronius, under
the year 592, No. 6, who remarks, " A certain
proof that the Irish gave up their schism and re-
turned to Catholic Communion and unity is found
in the fact that afterwards, like all other Orthodox
men, they consulted Gregory on doubtful points,
which they would not have done had they con-
tinued still in schism."
You will observe that there was no question
here of " tyranny "or " Romish yoke." The Irish
bishops were deceived into thinking that the Ca-
tholic faith had been infringed, and when their
error was removed, they returned to their ac.
customed attitude towards the Roman See. I may
here remark, by way of parenthesis, that the most
unimpeachable writers, Irish as well as foreign,
bear witness that Ireland received her Hierarchy
directly and immediately from Rome, along with
her first teachers of the Gospel, St. Palladius first,
and after his death St. Patrick, having been sent
by Pope St. Celestine.
The Bishop's second reference to Baronius, in
the year 604, No. 65, relates to the difficulties
which Archbishop Lawrentius, the first successor
of St. Augustine, experienced from the temper and
conduct of the Celtic bishops of that day in \Vales
and in Ireland. The heathen Saxon, for 150
years, had inflicted on the British Christians the
most terrible calamities. They had finally driven
them into Wales and the western parts of the
island, and the enmity felt by the remaining British
was so intense that they refused to communicate
the Christian faith to those who had expelled them
from their country. This was the cause of the
little co-operation which they offered to the Roman
missionaries in their efforts to convert the Saxon.
But whatever differencies that existed as to the
Irish time of celebrating Easter and the Tonsure,
the Parliament of Whitby, convened by King
Oswy in 661, discussed all the questions at issue
between the Celtic and the Roman missionaries.
The Celtic party was then represented by Col-
man, a monk of that great monastery of lona,
whose missionaries, the spiritual children of St.
Columba, had converted the north of England.
The Roman part was represented by St. Wilfrid,
and I quote from Montalembert's recent work*
the issue of the conflict. The bishop had pleaded

the practice of St. Columba and his successors—
men eminent for the works they had done, and for
their miracles. Wilfrid replied—" Admitting the
holiness of your fathers, how can one prefer to the
Church spread over the whole earth a handful of

saints in a corner of their remote isle ? And as to
your Columba, whom I will willingly call ours, as
a servant of Christ, however holy and powerful he
may have been by his wonderful virtues, can he
be preferred to the blessed Prince of the Apostles,

to whom our Lord said—' Thou art Peter, and
upon this rock I will build my Church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and I will
give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.'"
Then the Saxon king said to his bishop—" Is it
true, Colman, that these words were said by our
Lord to Peter ?" "That is true, 0 king," answered
the bishop. " Can you," rejoined the king, "show
me a like authority given to your Columba ?"
" No," said the bishop. " You are, then," said

the king, " both agreed that the keys of the
kingdom of heaven were given to Peter by our
Lord?" " Yes," both adversaries at once replied.
" Then," said the king, " I say as you do, that he
is the doorkeeper of heaven, and that 1 will never

contradict him ; but, on the contrary, obey him in
everything, lest when I reach the gates of the
heavenly kingdom there be nobody to open them
to me if I oppose him who bears the keys. In my
life never will I do aught, or approve thing or
person contrary to him." And the whole assembly
approved, by its vote, this conclusion of the king
by lifting their hands—the Lords who were seated,

and the Freemen, who were standing —and all de-
cided to adopt the Roman usages. From that
time forth these contests between the Celtic and
Roman custom, which had never Ouched matters

of faith, dropped away. The British Church was
united in its obedience to the Roman See, and

all on which the bishop relies, as showing a repug-
nance to the " tyranny of Rome" and " the yoke of
the Papal See," disappears.
But the Bishop specially referred to a transient
schism, lasting about thirty years, of the Irish

bishops in the latter half of the sixth century.
Now, it so happens that this period coincides
exactly with the missionary labours of the great

St. Columba above referred to, and that in his life
by his successor, Adamnus, in the seventh

century, we have an authentic picture of what the

Irish Church then believed, and which the Bishop
of Oxford claims as agreeing with the present

High Church Anglican.

St. Columba was an

Irishman of the Irish, a prince of the Royal house
of O'Donnell, who, in the year 562, at the age of
forty, imposed on himself the penance of leaving
his country, and founded the monastery of St.

lona. In the thirty-fifth year which followed, up
to his death in 597, he set himself to the work of

converting the heathen Picts and Caledonians, and
he did so by settling monasteries throughout their

country. "Modern erudition," says Montalembert,
" has discovered and registered the names of ninety

churches, which trace their origin to him, and all,

or nearly all, of which mu,t have been attached,
according to the usages of the time, to monastic
communities." This, I presume, is the first point
_ _

of resemblance which the Bishop would establish

between the Irish Church of the sixth century and

he high Church at present.

St. Columba was the father of a great number
of monasteries, which followed his rule, and obeyed
the government of his successors. I refer again
to Montalembert (vol. 3, p. 299).
" The most attentive and conscientious exami-
nation of all the monastic peculiarities which can
be found in his biography (byAddumna, Abbot of

lona, in the seventh century), reveals absolutely
nothing as to the observance or obligations distinct
from the rules drawn by all the religious commu-
nities of the sixth century, from the tradition of
the Fathers of the Desert. But that which is evident
in them is—first, the necessity of a vow or solemn
profession (Volum monachiale voverient—votum
monochicunz—devotus vovit—Adamn.l., 31-2., 39)
to establish the definite admission of the religious
into the community after a trial of various dura-
tion. Next the absolute conformity of the reli-
gious life followed by Columba and by his monks
with the precepts and rights of the Catholic
Church of all ages. Texts, both incontestable and
uncontested, demonstrate the existence of
Auricular Confession (expressly indicated in the
history of Libranius, 2, 89), the Invocation of
saints at every page, their protection and inter-
vention in temporal affairs, 2,5, 13, 39, 40, cele-
bration of feasts and offices in their honour, 2, 45
—3, 11—), the celebration of tie Mass (a sancta
Jussus Christi corpus conficere Eucharist ix mysteria
celebrure pro animo sancta Colgan vita prima, c. b,
Adammus, 3, 12) ; the real presence in the Eucha-
rist ; ecclesiastical celibacy, fasts, and ahstinences ;
prayer for the dead ; the sign of the Cross, and
especially a constant and profound study of the
Holy Scriptures."

These, I presume, are the other points of resem-
blance which the Bishop asserts between the Irish
Church, from 431 to 1170, and tha present High
Church. The Right Rev. Prelate is doubtless
prepared to rise in his place in the House of Lords
and, make this profession of his faith.

Certainly all this exactly agrees with what the
Ultramontanists, as he terms them, of the present
day hold and profess, and St. Columba was a fit
representative of the faith of the Irish Church in
the sixth century; and these proofs of his faith are
drawn from an almost contemporary author, who
lived the same life and governed the same
monastery as he did. The argument of the Bishop
is that the Irish Establishment should not be dis-
establislied ; because, first, it holds the same faith
as did the Irish Church between the years 431 and
1170; and, secondly, that the faith is the belief of
the High Church of England of the present day.
Which of these daring assertions would appear to
be the furthest from the truth it is difficult to
say, in testimony whereof I confidently appeal, first,
to the evidences I have given above of the faith and
practice of the Irish Church in the time of St.
Columba ; and, secondly, to those who know what
the temper of the present Irish Establishment
has always been.

The Bishop's last argument, drawn from the
'fact of St. Patrick's father and grandfather having
been married men, is a mere sophism, unless he
can prove that they married and had children while
in holy orders. It is not at all infrequent for
those who have been married to enter as widowers
into holy orders. The present Archbishop Of
Westminster was a married man, and Dr. Clifford,
the Bishop of Clifton, is the grandson of Cardinal
Weld, who was likewise a bishop.
To conclude, the Irish Church was part of that
great spiritual community termed the Catholic
Church, of which the Apostolic See is the head
and bond, from the time of St. Patrick to Henry

IL, and the High Church of England during the
whole term of its existence has, on the
contrary, never formed a part of it, but has ever
protested, as it does now through the mouth of
the bishop, that this community is corrupt in doc-
trine and tyrannical in Government.

Were I to pursue the Bishop through his argu-
ments I should fill a pamphlet instead of confining
myself to a letter. Those who wish to see the
whole subject treated in extenso, may refer to Rev.
Dr. Rocks' letter to Lord John Manners, published
by Dolman in 1844,-1 remain, sir, yours obedi-
ently, DENBIGH.
July 21, 1868.

* Les Moines d'Occident, 4, 171, translated from Beds,
3, 25, and from Eddi, c. 10.

&pot tr„
4,

II El? MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, July 21.

The Queen, accompanied by the Duchess of
Coburg, Princr2ss Christian, and Princess Louise
drove out yesterday afternoon.
The Queen, accompanied by Prince and Princ3s3
Louis of Hesse, Prince and Princess Christian, Prin-
cess Louise, Prince Leopold, and Princess Thatrice
walked in the grounds this morning.

ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.—Their Royal HightiesseS
the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh, accom-
panied by his Royal Highness Prince Louis of Hesse'
honoured the performance at this theatre last night With
their presence.