The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-24 00:00:00

iIiELAJND.

'S_RITAB LE BEQUP.,STS
DUBLIN, Dec. 21. We have ken enah!el to obtain
a copy of the " Pastoral Address to the Roman
Catholic Clergy and Laity of the Diocese of Dublin,
by Daniel Murray, D.D., &c." This very important
document, which we subjoin, will be published in ths
form of a pamphlet, next week, by Mr. Coyne, of
Chapel-street, publisher to the Roman Catholic Bishops
of Ireland :
"TO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY AND LAITY OF
THE DIOCESE OF DUBLIN.
" Beloved Brethren—The time has at length ar-
rived when I deem it right to address you, on a sub-
ject which has given rise to much angry discussion,
the recent Act for the more effectual application of
Charitable Donations and Bequests in Ireland.
"The machinery for carrying that Act into opera-
tion is now formed. A share in the execution of it
has been assigned by her Most Gracious Majesty to
me. And as much misapprehension regarding it
appears to prevail, it becomes my duty to place it,
by a plain statement of facts, in its true light before
you.
" It is to me a source of inexpressible pain, that
the deep convictions of my mind compel me to adopt,
on this subject, a course of proceeding at variance
with that whieh some of my most respected and
beloved brethren would recommend. But conscience
is a stubborn monitor. It is unsafe to despise its
admonitions. And it warns me, with a voice which
penetrates my inmost soul, that it would be in me a
gross dereliction of pastoral duty to fling away,
through any human respect, the opportunity which
this Act, imperfect as it is, places within my reach, of
guarding in safety the treasury of the poor, and of
securing for the service of the Church whatever pro-
perty benevolent individuals may choose to vest in
the new Board, to be permanently dedicated to that
purpose. This is the duty, and the whole duty, which
will devolve upon those whose office it will be to carry
this Act into effect. It is a duty worthy of religion,
and dear to God; a duty, in the faithful discharge of
which his minister should think it well worth his
while to encounter any share of unjust obloquy which
the mistaken zeal of his opponents might move them
to cast upon him.
Few Catholics, perhaps will believe that this Act.
is anything like a perfect measure. It has defects
which I deplore ; they are defects, however, which
leave it still a measure of substantial value. And
although even these may be removed or lessened when
Parliament shall assemble, we should remember, that
before that time shall arrive the Act must, of neces-
sity, come into operation in its present state. The
law requires that this Act shall commence from and
after the Ist day of January, 1845,' and of course
that the Board of Management must be then ready
to carry the provisions of it into effect. Ten com-
missioners must have been previously named, of whom
five should ' be persons professing the Roman Catholic
religion.' It will be the peculiar duty of those five
to watch over the due application of Catholic chari-
ties, whether intended for the poor or for the Church.
And if her Majesty, for the want of accurate infor-
mation to be derived from the heads of the Catholic
religion, should be forced to appoint to that duty
professing Catholics, at random, how could we ever
afterwards complain, how could we render with
confidence an account of our stewardship to God,
if, through our fault, an unfortunate choice should be
made, and those important interests be confided to
unworthy or incompetent hands ? Blessed he God,
we have not to answer for that crime. .Appointments
have been made which, as far as human vigilance can
avail, will render those interests secure.
" But were not our charities safe hitherto ? And.
who called for any new Act on the subject?
" In answer to these questions, permit me to place
before you the following document. It is a memo-
rial adopted by the Roman Catholic Archbishops and
Bishops of Ireland, at their annual meeting, held in
Marlborough-street, on the 15th of February, 1840,
and addressed to Lord Viscount Morpeth, then Cnief
Secretary for Ireland:—

" ` THE MEMORIAL OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCH-

BISHOPS AND BISHOPS OF IRELAND.
" Sheweth,—That memorialists having every confi-
dence in the present Administration, and entertaining, is
they gratefully do, a deep conviction that existing abuses
in Government departments need only be proved to be
promptly reformed, avail themselves of this their general
stated meeting in Dublin, to attract, through you, the
attention of her Majesty's Cabinet to the following cir-
circumstances, in immediate relation to the embarrass-
ments by which the Roman Catholic charities of Ireland
have been, and are still, surrounded.
" That, in the year 1763, an Act, the 3d Gen. 111.,
s. 18, was passed, requiring returns of all charitable be-
quests in Ireland to be made to the Protestant Primate
and bishops of each diocese at their annual visitation,
and subsequently, a committee of charity, of the Irish
House of Lords, was appointed, under an order of that
House, bearing date the 15th day of March, 1792.
" That, by the Act of Union, the said committee
of charity necessarily ceased ; and by the Act of the
the 40th Geo. 111., c. 75, which has never since been
either altered or amended, the present Commissioners of
charitable donations and bequests were incorporated.
and consist of the Protestant Archbishops and Bishops
of Ireland, the Dean of St. Patrick's, the Incumbents of
all the parishes in Dublin, and the Judges. The latter,
it is well known, never attended the board; consequently
it is managed exclusively by dignitaries and clergymen
of the Protestant Church.
" ' That by the Act referred to it is imperative that an
archbishop or bishop should attend every meeting of that
board, which clause gives an exclusive Protestant charac-
ter to it and its whole proceedings. Another objection-
able part of the same Act is, that on empowering the
board, on its recovering charities, that should It be
deemed inexpedient to apply the same according to the
directions or intentions of the donors, then the Com-
missioners are empowered to apply the funds to such
charitable or pious uses as they shall judge most con-
formable to the intentions of the donor or donors.
expedient' is a word both vague and indefinite, and
leads many Roman Catholics to think that their bequests
for the purposes of education or other general charitable
uses might be transferred to institutions or purposes the
very reverse of their benevolent intentions.
" That during the last session the House of Com-
mons printed copies of the minutes of the Lords of the
Treasury, calling upon the Irish Government to intro-
duce measures tending to divest the board in. question of
its exclusively religious constitution.
" That that board, on its foundation in the year
1800, was substituted for the Committee of the Irish
House of Lords, which House was then exclusively Pro-
testant ; but as Roman Catholics are now eligible to
seats in both Houses of Parliament. no just objection can
be supposed to exist why that public department should
not be promptly remodelled and bear the same resem-
Islaneo to the existing Legislature. As the great ma-
jority of the people of Ireland are of the Roman Catholic
religion, it is not unreasonable to expect that that
religion and its charities should be represented in such
a commission, particularly as its expenses are defrayed
by Parliament.

" That your memorialists and their clergymen are
trustees of very considerable funds and property fur
charitable uses, and the legacies to them for charities
have been, and still are, increasing to a very great extent.
" ' That, as such a department must be supposed to
have much influence and control over charities latended
for Roman Catholic purposes, it is but natural that
your memorialists should feel that, whilst it remains
constituted as it is, the apprehensions of its utility will
not only be doubted by them, but by those of their re-
ligion._

—"
' Your memorialists, therefore, entreat. that the
Board of Irish Charities may be rendered more gene-
rally useful and popular, by the introduction to it of
Roman Catholic Commissioners, or by some other mea-
sure which may hare a tendency to place their charities
upon the same footing es those of their Protestant
fe low-countrymen:

" Thus spoke the assembled prelates of your
Church in 1840. Their prayer could not then be
heard ; but the recent Act appears to have been in-
tended to grans all that we then sought. It admits
to the Board of Charitable Donations and Bequests
Roman Catholic Commissioners in sufficient number
to check any adverse influence which might be
attempted regarding the application of Catholic
charities i • and it takes away the dangerous power
enjoyed by the former board of alienating, under
certain circumstances, Catholic bequests from the
known objects contemplated by the testator, and of
applying them to purposes which, if living, he would
abhor. So far our prayer has been granted. The
state of insecurity in which our charities were placed,
has been removed, and had the Act stopped there, we
could not, without the greatest inconsistency, utter
one word of complaint against it.

" But the Act had a second object, namely, to
enable us to invest property in perpetual security,
for the purpose of procuring glebes for our clergy,
and building and maintaining churches for the due
celebration of Catholic worship. Let us now turn
our attention to that second object. Towards the close
of the session the most distinguished member of the
Catholic body introduced into Parliament a Bill
which, had it passed into a law, would have been
effectual for that purpose. It was a Bill to enable
Roman Catholic archbishops, bishops, and priests, to.
Wit?. grants or conveyances to them and their succes.
sors, without the intervention of trustees. Thy
would have been a perfect measure. It would secure
to the Roman Catholic bishops and parochial Clergy
respectively the direct conveyance of whatever grants
should be intended for the permanent benefit of them-
selves and their successors, and it also supplied the
means of removing all doubts as to the bishop or
priest for whom suoh grant would be intended. It is.
unfortunate that this Bill slid not pass into a law..
Afflicting circumstances, however, which are but toes
well known, prevented it from passing beyond its first
stage ; and the Charitable Bequests Act bec.arno, a
very important substitute for it. When the latter
Act was first introduced into Parliament, on the 18th
of June, it contained a clause by which it was pro-
posed to grant a power of vesting property, not in
archbishops, bishops, and parochial clergy for them-

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