The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-04 00:00:00

repetition of them, would be met by a suitable
remedy, and taken away. It would be strange, indeed,
if those prelates would denounce: as uncanonical a power
which was granted to them for the sole and express
purpose of enabling them to preserve inviolate the
discipline and usages of our Church in the very case
to which the objections allude. In the progress
of this Act through Parliament, when there was
question of ascertaining who, in a case of doubt,
would be the persons entitled, according to the discipline
and usages of the Catholic Church, to the benefit of
a bequest left to a pa,rticular parish, an implied pledge
was, it is understood, given at the request of some
Catholic Member of the House, that Catholic bishops,
as the authorised expounders of that discipline, shou!d
be placed on the Board for the purpose of declaring in
what manner this portion of the Act should be carried
into effect, so as to be in perfect conformity with the dis-
cipline and usages of our Church. This has been done,
and the object for which it was proposed has been
attained. The very first act of those prelates, on
entering the Board, was to place on record a decla-
ration of what, in such cases, the discipline of our
Church is, that it may serve as a guide to regulate
the decisions of all future Catholic Commissioners—
namely, that in every such ease the testimony of a
bishop is to be received as conclusive evidence as to who
is the rightful pastor of any parish in his diocese. Not
only did this declaration, so laid dow n as a rule for
the guidance of the Catholic Commissioners, receive,
at once, the sanction of the entire board, but a
si-
milar rule was adopted by those members of the board
who belong to other religious persuasions for their gui-
dance also, with regard to the pastors of their respective
communions ; so that the Protestant Bishop is thereby
recognised to be the judge of who is the authorised rector
of a parish ; the Presbyterian authorities who
is the authorised minister of a congregation ; and
the Catholic bishop who is his authorised parish priest.
" By this rule the inviolability of our discipline, as far
as regards the present question, is fully recognised. To
the strict observance of this rule, all the members of
the Board are solemnly pledged, not only by their own
recorded declarations, but also by the duty which they
owe to their respective religions—a rule rendered thereby
as binding upon men who have a character to sustain, as
it could be rendered by any sanction of law.
" Still, there are some, surprising as it must appear,
whose over-sensitive scruples even this ample security
has not been sufficient to satisfy. Those scruples,
groundless as they are, we have felt it our duty to re-
spect • and we have never, therefore, concealed our
wish that such a legislative explanation should be given
as would wholly remove them.
" But why has not this been done during the present
session ? The reason is obvious. It would be clearly
inexpedient to introduce into Parliament without urgent
necessity (and no such necessity exists), a new subject
for angry debate about Catholic doctrines and discipline,
while the deafening outcry against Maynooth and its doc-
trines was still ringing in the public ear, and spreading
the must inflammatory excitement throughout the land.
" With respect to the hope expressed in the subse-
quent part of your speech, ' that the Catholic pre-
lates will see what course they should now take, and that
they will not permit themselves to be committed any
longer to the exercise of an uncanonical power.' I hare
or ly to repeat
.that they have not committed them-
selves to the exercise of any such power ; and I beg
further to assure you that it is their fixed determina-
tion to persevere, with the blessing of God, so long as
the multiplied duties of their station will permit, in that
charitable course, on which, at a great sacrifice of time
and personal convenience, they have, as members of the
Charitable Bequests Board, deliberately entered, with
the sole view of serving the poor, and of protecting, if
necessary, the interests of our church.
" I have the honour to remain, with respectful esteem,
my dear Mr. O'Connell, very sincerely yours,
• " k 1). MURRAY."