The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-23 00:00:00

OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY.

This protest, which was referred to a few days
since, has been published. It is as follows :
" We, the undersigned archbishops, bishops, and
priests of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland,
having studied with attention the provisions of the
Act of Charitable Bequests, take the earliest opportu-
nity which the unavoidable delay of consultation
allowed us, to declare our conviction, that the mea-
sure is fraught with the worst consequences to re-
ligion, and, if carried into operation, will finally lead
to the subjection of- the Roman Catholic Church in
Ireland to the temporal power.
"Instead of a concession, it is a new penal law of
the old leaven, forbidding the dying sinner, in his
most sincere moments—the time of his last sickness—
to eem his sins by the bequest of a single acre of
1 " d property, for any religious or charitable pur-
po in our communion.
" It enacts that Roman Catholics—perhaps bishops
—should they be found to consent, shall be the per-
sons to carry out the spirit, indeed the letter, of a
penal clause in the late Act of Catholic Emancipation,
which excluded the religious orders throughout
Great Britain from the benefits of that Act, and
against which the secular clergy, in a petition to Par-
liament, solemnly protested.
" It provides for the nomination by the Crown of
five persons professing the Roman Catholic religion.
They may be laymen, who have neither practical reli-
gion nor faith to recommend them, and whose province
shall be to judge of matters vitally connected with our
doctrine and discipline. If bishops, they will be called
on, in the exercise of their functions as commissioners,
to interfere and pronounce in spiritual matters belong-
ing to the jurisdiction of other bishops, which is a
flagrant violation of the canons of our Church. In
cases within their own especial jurisdiction, they will
have to decide, not in virtue of the inherent powers of
their holy order, but by the license and authority of
the Crown, which would be a virtual surrender of
their sacred office and jurisdiction to the authority of
the State.

"We beg leave, therefore, most firmly, but most
respectfully, to protest against a board so constructed,
whether lay or ecclesiastical. If it is to be composed
of laymen of State nomination, we must view it as a
step towards the introduction of faithless and in-
terested politicians to tamper with the independence
of our Church, for the purpose of forwarding/the anti-
Catholic views of men in power, and of promoting
their own personal interests. If the board is to be
composed of bishops, similarly appointed, we must re-
gard the novel project of selecting Ministerial favou-
rites from the hierarchy as most calculated, at once,
to create divisions in our body, to the well-being of
which union and harmony are so essential; and to
weaken, and finaallY destroy, the confidence of our
faithful people, who, having expressed so much
feverish anxiety at the mention of their clergy being
pensioned, cannot fail of being alarmed at seeing them
accept of places and patronage under the Crown.
" For these and other reasons, which could not be
crowded into a short form of declaration, we protest
against the Aet of Charitable Bequests, and declare
our determination to oppose it by all legal and con-
stitutional means in our power.
" JOHN MAciuLE, Archbishop of Tuam.
vi P. 111`NicuoLAs, Bishop of Achonry.
• JAMES KEATING, Bishop of Ferns.
k PATRICK M'GETTIGAN, Bishop of Raphoe.
k CORNELIUS EGAN, Bishop of Kerry.
k EDMOND FFRENCIi, Bishop of Kilmacduagli
and Kilfenora.
v,4t WILLIAM HIGGINSIBishop of Ardagh.
1,;e4 JOHN CANTWELL, Bishop of Meath.
k GEORGE J. P. BROWN, Bishop of Elphin.
k THOMAS COEN, Bishop of Clonfert.
• NICHOLAS FORAN, Bishop of Waterford and
Lismore.
• Tuoidas FEENY, Bishop of Killala.
k C. MINALLy, Bishop of Clogher.
LAURENCE O'DONNEL, V.G. of the Diocese of
Galway."
In addition, there are attached to this important
document the signatures of between five and six
hundred Catholic clergymen ; and it is stated that a
supplemental list is in course of signature.

OFFICIAL INQUIRY—SHINRONE POLICE.
On Monday next, J. R. Corballis, Esq., Q.C., is,
by orders of the Lord Lieutenant, to hold an investi-
gation into the conduct of some of the police from the
Shinrone station. The court will be open to the
public, and is to b 3 held in the Land Commission.
office, Dublin Castle.

The Evening post says—,,ln selecting Mr. Cor-
ballis for this duty, Lord lieytesbury has acted fairly
and wisely, as no more honourable or efficient man
could be found at the bar. Mr. Martley, Q.C., had
held previous inquiries respecting the vile system of
concocting fraudulent prosecutions, in which several
of the police at Shinrone have been implicated. But
a further and still more searching investigation has
been rendered indispensable by facts placed before the
Government.