The Sun.
London, England, 1845-04-17 00:00:00

the Maynooth question. He did not at all agree with these
who said th it tieere was anythin is in the religion of the Chuff iih
of tertgesrel repugaiire to such an tindowme .t, nor ass thee,- n
it, weir ch preclaimel the Catholic religion in Ireland as
an. i - Christ i an. eu I. y, and schismati .—(Hear, heir )
Nor did he think that they entertained any doubt of the
security of that Church, and with those opinions he could not
refuse to supp itt the grant to Maynooth. Tie Established
Church did not regard the Irish Church as otherwise than a
branch of the Church universal, and he would ask were two
gentle sisters united in the bonds of harmony and affection to
be dissevered by the rude violence of merely political predilec-
tions ? He agreed with the Noble Lord the s lember for Dor-
setshire (Lord Ashley), who spoke in the early part of the
debate of the evening, that religious considerations did not
enter into any part of this question. He could not believe
that this grant would in any way endanger the position of the
Church in Ireland. If the stability of the Irish Church was
in any way endangered, it was not by the machinations of the
supineness Jes sts , i
notth
;that
by
leftth e
t to proceedingstakerevenues, and disregard the of Maynooth, but by the
duties of the Church whose offices they fulfilled, and for the
advantage of which the whole of Christendom had been laid
under contribution, for the support of witchcraft and selfish-
ness. Seeing this he could not but regret the words which
had been uttered by the present holder of the seat which had
been formerly so worthily occupied by Jeremy Taylor, he
could nut but regret that these principles should have been so
prominently introduced, nor could he help comparing them
with the Roman Catholic primate of Ireland eDr. Crolly).
and he was tempted to place in opposition with the arguments
which had been used by the Protestant martyr on the
seaffiold, and to plead that the Church, if in danger at all, was
in danger from its own acts--and it reminded him of
the proposition in which the oak lamented that its own
body was riven by a fissure made by a wedge constructed from
its own body, and if there was danger, as he regarded the ques-
tion, it was not from the Jesuits that danger was to be appre-
hended. Whether the churchmen would support or oppose
this grant he could not say, but it was as a statesman that he
must act—(Hear, hear)—he meant, that he did not speak as a
statesman invested with authority, but as one who, taking part
in the Legislature of the country, and as a statesman opposed to
anti-Christianity, that he must support this grant from motives
of State policy ; and he felt that he must not oppose it from
any feeling of ultra-Protestantism. If he traced the progress
of feeling from the rise of this ultra-Protestantism, if they
looked to its origin, they would find it in the Dutch Conquest
of 1688.—( Hear, hear.) From that time they must
date the origin for the penal code—( Hear hear)—
which, under the present circumstances of the country,
it would be impossible to support, and which, if William
this
111. had died Stadtholder of Holland, instead of King of
wasGr the
eatßfarci.tta? Did establishment exist in spite of, or dis-
in, would never have been enforced. But what
regarded by, the State Quite the contrary ; the establish-
ment was founded at the express desire of the State. The
Noble Lord the Member for Liverpool had stated that the
Church of England had no reason to support the Ro-
man Catholic Church of Ireland. And what, he would
ask, was the use of being at the expense of 160,0001.,
as had been suggested by the settlement proposed by the Fo.
reign Powers at the conclusion of the war? At that time the
object of the Foreign Powers had been that the Irish church
should be supported ; but that great man, the Duke of Wel-
lington, had been compelled to strike his pen through the whole
of that arrangement. But was the delinquency of
which the House complained to be ascribed to the
Chapel of St. Patrick, or the mansion of St. Ste-
phen Was the 9,0001. --a miserable dole, te be
divided amongst the men who held in their hands the spirits
and the minds of the people of Ireland, to be subjected to the
depression of poverty, the pressure of want, and the vileness
of all those necessities which make the body minister to the
mind. He was aware that such was the custom with all those
who were the agents of passive obedience and Christian for-
bearance. He might cite the opinions of the titular Bishops of
Armagh and Dublin, and he thought, without con-
tradiction, that the ascription of theoretical loyalty and
theological truth would have been more effectual, if the provi-
sion for the temporal wants, for the spiritual necessities of the
Roman Catholic priesthood in Ireland, had been more
tenderly cared for. In zeal, energy, and perhaps he might
say discretion, few men would exceed himself in the sober
estimate of the requirements of the people of Ireland. He was
anxious to exhibit a conscientious regard for the interests cf
all classes who were not immediately concerned in the benefit
of this grant. Ile might say, with Dr. Christopher Wordsworth,
that it was a mistaken notion that a support to
the Roman Catholic Church of Ireland was an injury to the
rights of the Established Church of either of the
two countries, for with him he also repudiated the doctrine of
the supremacy of dogerel. Yet while advocating this grant he
did not forget no bishopb could exercise his functions—that no
archbishop could enter upon his office without the investiture of
the pallium from Rome—that neither bishop nor priest, nor
archbishop, could exercise his functions without permission
from the Church of Rome : yet while looking at the
interests of the Church, he did not at the same
time forget the interests of the empire.—( Hear, hear. )
These were the reasons which had weighed with him in coming
to a decision upon this most important question. He had not
endeavoured to reply to some of the arguments which he had
heard made use of, but he could not refrain from expressing his
cordial concurrence in some of the argu rents made use of in
favour of the grant. He did not, like some of his Hon. Friends,
vote for this measure because it was likely to create a feeling
in favour of Protestantism in Ireland. He voted for it as
frankly, and generously, and confidingly as the Right Hon.
Baronet intended it to be received. But he would remind the
House that the Roman Catholic Church was not the only
ecclesiastical body in those realms to which the Government
might be expected to act in a kindred spirit. The opposition
which this grant had received from so large, and respectable, and
influential a portion of the Church of England was not the less
strong, because they saw that the conduct of the Government
was based on a totally different principle from that which was
exhibited towards themselves. When they looked to the con-
duct of the Government in relation to the English Church in
Canada, in Australia, and above al in Wales, they felt them-
selves aggrieved, slighted, and wronged. He thought he
might draw an augury from the conduct of the State towards
the Irish Church, that they would also reconsider the claims
of the Church of England. He should be glad that happier
days were returned to the Church of England, but he voted
for this grant because he regarded it as one honestly intended
as a measure of justice towards the Roman Catholics, whom
they had so long oppressed and injured ; and however they
might wish the advance of that faith which they humbly pro-
fessed, lie thought that by measures like these they would
hasten the day when Protestant and Catholic alike might
kneel before a common altar. He trusted the period had come
when the wounds of bleeding and distracted Ireland would be
ballad up, and win n England would endeavour to retrieve her
ancient name by granting in some degree justice to the in-
jured sister country.
Mr. RUTHERFORD, who could scarcely be heard in the
gallery, in consequence of the noise prevailing at the bar and
in the body of the House, was understood to say that he could
not think of giving a silent vote upon a subject like the pre-
sent, for whether he looked to the history of Ireland or to the
original institution of the College of Nlaynooth, in every aspect
he friend that this measure was imperatively called for. This
Bill was an earnest to Ireland that she would now reap the
fruits of her union with this country—a union which might be
supposed, if they looked merely to the past, to have been en-
tered into for the mere purposes of oppression and degradation,
but which now, he trusted, would be used for nobler pur-
poses. He might not please his constituents by the vote he
intended to give on this subject, but minor considerations must
give way before the performance of his duty. He should,
therefore, support the second readi ig of the measure.
Mr. SMYTHE remembered having read a remark made by
the Right lion. Baronet at the head of the Government, when
he proposed the Catholic Relief Bill—a measure somewhat
analogous to the one under discussion. In bringing forward
tha- measure he stated that one reason which would induce him
to be aware that the measure must sooner or later be carried
was the fact that all the young men of the day who
were sent from the Universities into that House, were
in are or less in favour of Catholic Emancipation.
He thought it was somewhat strange that the
anttl large,mean the Secretary at War, and by
wisp, and conciliatory course
Right Hon. Gentleman, who had himself pursued a large, a
wise, and conciliatory course in introducing that measure,
bhyis shouldtßh ieg behnt
Right
tib followedton r
Hun.
Friend
Gentleman
Fnh ed
that evening, the Member for Lynn,
Gen-
tleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who, still true to his
ancient reminiscences, could not speak of the Roman Catholic
priesthood, even when bringing forward a measure of concession,
e ir
while at the same time it was curious that the Right Hon.
without declaring the present system of education at 3lay-
nooth as disgraceful to the country which awarded
the means fur the sustenance of that education as it was de-
grading to the priests who received it. The Hon. Gentleman
the S eretary for Ireland spoke of this measure as an act of
charity. Now, feeling strongly upon this subject, it was a
different spirit that brought him to support the measure.
Some time ago, it would be remembered, he anticipated the
Right Hon. Gentleman so far as an increase in the grant went.
His watch, however, was five minutes too fast, but he need
not tell the House that there was a considerable difference
between coming before and coming in company with the Right
Hon. Baronet. But he remembered he was met on that occa-
sion by some obloquy and some compunction from many Gen-
tlemen who then believed that concession hail been carried out
to the ut,nost.—( Hear, hear, and cheers.) In particular, the
Noble Lord the Member for Liverpool spoke warmly on the
subject, but he could assure the Noble Lord that he war not
then going to criticise him with the severity and harshness
with which the Noble Lord had treated his proposition. If the
Noble Lord; was still of the same opinion as he was then, he would
vote again -it that grant as an absurdity ; but if the Noble
Lord did not intend doing so, the wantonness of the
insult of the Noble Lord the Member for Liverpool
would be manifest. But the Noble Lord was an hereditary
waverer, and he would only take his revenge of the Noble
Lord, by stating that the Right Hon. Baronet was a better
judge than he was. The Right Hon. Baronet had been justly
characterised by the Hon. Member for Sheffield as the
greatest doer of his age. He had done Emancipation, and by
his extreme Protestantism he had deceived the Right Hon.
Baronet the Member for the University of Oxford. The
Right Hon. Gentleman was said to be the enemy of Ireland,
but he (Mr. Smythe) had some misgivings whether Ireland
Honourable Baronet.
was not the enemy of the Right
Us tried to be as courteous, as ceneiliatory, as tender,
as if t was in opposition.
as caressing—almost as caressing
He caressed all the measures at once, and amongst those mea-
cessary than the pre-
sures none were more wise, or more ne •
II
sent, and among the contrasts which the Right on.Gentle-
man'swas none which history
long career presented, there
vo urably, as the
would deal with so leniently, and report
contrast between Mr. Secretary Peel and so fPriame Minister Sir
Robert Peel. The yours, proscribing partisan had become the
triumphant benefactor oflr-elanci—the young Octavius of in-
tolerance had merged into the August us of conciliation.—
Right Hon. Baronet he
(Loud cheers.) In supporting the
knew quite well thatsliesh outd be offending( an arehiepii•copal
constituency, because he had once before been at issue with
them on a similar aubject. But he altogether preferred his
own convictions to the whims of his constituents. lie was sur-
prised to see the number of pamphlets which had been distributed
amongst the itinerant lecturers, trading in their own ima-
ginative turbulence, which had gone amongst the constituencies
of the country. But he was still more so to see a Noble Lord
string together a rosary of abominations,—(Laugtr ) Now
suppose the Irish were to retaliate—suppose they were to com-
pile an annual for the class-books of the colleges and schools,
ere was, to say the least of it, something suspicious in the
epics of Oxford...eq.. giver. ) Suppose they were to take
an
one of the tragedies of Euripides and form it into an ar •
title. If they were to take the sentimen
• ts of Socrates
would quite put in the s
he thneght it • sh
shadeuld they have
the tirades of
Wesleyans
and Independents. Then why -
o
this one-sided, this farcical hypocrisy ? But he was far from
underrating the effects of aNo -Popery, ery cry, and he believed
it would be as easy to u
to it was in 1807, 1827,
g who in one
du now asge
or 1829. But the pa 4 ties .• din this pry woeld still
ender the control of a man who made speeches in Par-
liareent. lie wished that some of these No-Popery cry en-
thusiasts—(in using the term enthusiast he did not mean to
say there were any in that House)—he wished that some of
these No-Popery cry enthesiasts would look bacl4 200 years,
and review What they had beheld from Titus Oates to Lord G.
Gordon, and front Lord George Gordon down to their own
th
times, and then he thought -would see with him that
the superstition was not all on one side. At the same time
they should take a retrospective glance at the literary articles,
and then he thought they would be no less satisfied than they
now were, and they would learn and know the providential in-
siruments of England's greatness. They would discover that
they bad always been betrayed by their own leaders. The mo-
ment a great Protestant leader entered that House, flushed