The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-11 00:00:00

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on the METHOD of DRAWING from MODELS,
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EDUCATION.

CLASSES under the DIRECTION of Mr. GANDEE, Teacher
of Perspective, Drawing, &c., meet every TUESDAY and FRIDAY
EVENING, and a class for Geometrical Perspective every Taves-
DAY EVENING.

Terms, and ffirther particulars, may be obtained at the Hall.

IRELAND.

MR. O'CONNELL'S LETTER ON THE CHARI-
TABLE BEQUESTS ACT.
DUBLIN, JAN. 9.—The Pilot, of to-morrow evening,
will contain the promised letter of Mr. O'Connell, ad-
dressed to the Right Rev. Dr. Cantwell. The following
is a considerable portion of the letter:—
Derrynane Abbey, Feast of the
Epiphany of our Lord, 1845.
MY REVERED LORD,—It was my intention to have
confined this letter to an exposure of the truly shuffling
opinion about, rather than upon, the Bequests Act, pub-
lished with the names of Messrs. Smith and Greene, by
apparently Catholic authority. But matter of infinitely
greater importance presents itself. The plan of the
English Government to undermine the Catholic Church
in Ireland is daily developed more and more. The fatal
facility with which some of our exemplary prelates, with
pious intentions and pure essstgns, fall into ono snare after
another, encourages the ancient enemies of our faith and
fidelity to augment their exertions, and to mature their
plans, until they render them, as they conceive and hope,
irresistible.
Through your Lordship I address the people of Ire-
land, and I sadly but most solemnly assure them that we
are arrived at a conjuncture which involves the civil as
well as the religisais liberties of the Irish nation in the
greatest and most imminent peril.
I am able to state as certain facts that the English
Government have had fur some time past active agents
at the Court of Rome. The one a Mr. William Petre,
an English Catholic—for no treachery to the Irish would
be complete without the intervention of an English
Catholic ; the other an Austrian, nominated by the
Austrian Government. The design and object are to
obtain for the British Minister control over the Catholic
hierarchy of Ireland.
The modes of obtaining that control are two-fold ;
the first, by making a State provision for the Irish
Catholic clergy ; the second, by a concordat with the
Pope, giving a power either direct and affirmative, or
indirect and by negation, to the British Crown to nomi-
nate to the Catholic prelacy all over Ireland.
The English Catholic agent, Mr. William Petre, has
succeeded in convincing the Pope's Ministers, that he is
authorised to pledge the British Government to give
great countenance and liberal pecuniary assistance
to the Catholics in the British colonies and foreign
possessions. This bait has taken, and has produced
a letter from the Propaganda to the Most
Reverend Dr. Crolly unfavourable to the repeal
agitation. It is said there was some dexterity in pro-
curing this letter. It has, however, been some time in
the hands of his Grace ; but it is not a canonical docu-
ment ; and, at all events, as far as it may treat of mat-
ters of a temporal nature, or maters relating to the poli-
tical rights and liberties of the Irish people, it is plaint),
void and of no effect.
But the great strength of the English envoy consists
in the support and assistance of the Austrian, agent. The
tendency in various parts of Italy, including the Papal
States, to insurrectionary movements amongst the
Italians, causes the great military force kept by Austria
in Italy to be considered as essentially necessary for the
preservation of peace and order from revolutionary.
violence. The leaden despotism of the Austrian Govern-
ment over the Catholic religion and the Catholic clergy
in its subject States renders that Government justly
odious and detested at Rome. But its influence and
power over the Roman Court are not one whit the less.
Its power is feared more than it is hated—the hatred
being mitigated by the supposed necessity for the use of
that power ; and thus the influence of the British agent,
augmented by the Austrian, is almost irresistible with
the politicians of the Roman Court.
I have, my revered Lord, most unquestionable autho-
rity for the statement I thins make. I have it from a
person who is utterly incapable of deceiving, and being
at Rome in a situation in which he himself cannot be
deceived. I have full permission to give tlse facts to the
public, though I have not that of publishing his name.
I ans, however, at liberty to mention his name in any
way consistent with its not appearing in the public news-
papers ; and I accordingly transmit it to your Lordship
in a private letter.
It is most melancholy and highly deplorable that at
footsu c h
against a m
socwtmtoi.
ret
the
Ites,
t oulafesrnhhei disesahm Grace
Catholic
witherusaatuoomtit
iihooeChurch,
powerful
there should conspiracy
on
e
resolution
so animated a dissension amongst the Catholic prelates,
clergy, and laity of Ireland on the subject of the Be-
quests gt
Ie
Archbishopu inopportune n
thatopp ori
ut u
tnh
of D
e e appendix p euribol
m i
n
o o t
hsete s
a p Aat
a resolution which, instead of being framed to subdue
to
dissension, and create unanimity, appears in fact and
come
truth to be a mere license to dispute. Under existing
circumstance% I hambly consider it to be the duty of all
sincere Catholics to combine in order to prevent further
mischief.
I was in hopes, when the pastoral of the venerable
Archbishop of Dublin was announced, that it would
contain materials for a general peace and concord ; pre-
disposed, as we all should be, to listen to his Grace with
the greatest deference and all proper submission. I did
hope that a pastoral issuing from so master a mind, and
such venerated authority, would contain such arguments
in favour of the line of conduct he has conscientiously
adopted as should silence all cavil, and satisfy every
scruple.
But, alas! it is not so—it is very far from being so.
The tone and temper—the language and manner of the
pastoral are all excellent. The pastoral is written with
that subdued sweetness of disposition for which the
venerated character of his Grace is so much respected.
But there is nothing to conceal the mistakes in point of
law into which he has been led; or the errors in point of
fact, into which, with the best intentions, he has un-
happily fallen.
I hope I use no language unbecoming that most un-
feigned respect which I entertain for his Grace. If one
word bearing a contrary appearance falls from my Tsen,
I retract it beforehand, and respectfully seek for pardon.
In this temper and disposition, I submit the following
remarks. I observe:—
First —That his Grace has, in his pastoral, repeatedly
admitted that the Bequests Act is defective. Ile tells
us, page 6, that the Act "is imperfect." He tells us in
page 7, that it is " nothing like a perfect measure." In
page 21, that it has " partial blemishes." He tells us
in page 20, that it contains " a NISCKIEVOUS clause."
Again, in page 7, that it has " deNcte which he de-
plores."

Secondly.--We must take the Act rig it is. Imperfect,
deft•ctive, and mischievous as it may be, we must take it
as it is. His Grace does not tell us of any pledge or
promise on the part of Government to amend the ble-
mishes, the imperfections, the defects, or to remedy the
mischief. It would indeed have been consolatory to learn
that any such pledge or promise existed. How often
have we been told by the advocates of the Act that such
a pledge was given ? Now, this pastoral would appear
to me—l may be wrong, but it would appear to me—to
be the proper place to afford us that consolation. If,
therefore, the Catholic prelacy, clergy, and people of
Ireland, acquiesce in this statute, they
must take it with
all its imperfections and defects on its head.
Thirdly.—There are other &tansies in the statute
which his Grace would certainly condemn still more em-
phatically, if ho understood their legal meaning and
operation as I do, and if he had not been misled by the
shuffling of the Crown lawyers. I, of course, regret that
his Grace should prefer their opinions to mine ; but that
preference is one that I accept with dutiful submission
and humility—reserving mil
provingity— my undoubted privi-
lege- am right, and that
the Crown lawyers are wrong—a. Usk, I believe, not
difficult to perform.
Fourthly.—ln page 21, his Grace:is pleased to say that
retosehrvisinGgrtaoceintb6aeitt:
the Act in question, the Bequests Act, "confers on us ad-
vantages of the very highest order." Ile then proceeds
to enumerate those advantages. He' says first, "It places
our charities in precisely the state in which we ourselves
wished to have them four years ago ;" and " it gives us
the power of vesting property with trouble or ex-
pense, in perpetual security for proc• tiring glebes for our
clergy, and for building, enlarging, and upholding, or
furnishing, oar places of religious worship."
Now, my Lord Bishop of Meath, turn to you, and I
most respectfully assure you, that the venerable Arch-
bishop of Dublin labours under a to tal misapprehension
and mistake in believing that the Lequests Act confers
any advantage whatsoever on Catholic charities. No
man living is more incapable, more 'entirely incapable, of
making a wilful mis-statement than his Grace ; and it is
with the most profound conviction fof the perfect purity
of his mind, that I dispute the ex;s.stence of a fact which
he deems certain.
To discover whether the Bequests Act confers any ad-
vantages on Catholic charities, two :things are necessary.
1. To ascertain what was the pre :ise state of the law
respecting Catholic charities in Ire land previous to the
Bequests Act.
2. 'fo ascertain whether any, and if any, what altera-
tion, have been made by the Bequests Act in the law
respecting Catholic charities in Irclaud.
r
His Grace has been led to belie've that the law has
been altered
that
reifor
theth
In order to test this matter, I berg leave to refer to the
opinion which I gave to you, my Lord Bishop of Meath,
ela better.whas b I
en haveake the efor the worse.
on the 24th of August last. Your Lordship will find
emost thorough
conviction
that I laid down the law in the following words :
" To the first question arising on the state of the law,
previous to the recent statute, my answer is, that before
the recent Act there were no restrictions or limitations ,