The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-01-28 00:00:00

THE PAPAL AGGRESSION.

The High Sheriff of Catpbridgeshire has summoned a
county meeting, on Saturday next, at Cambridge.
Mr. James. of the local bar, has written a pamphlet to
prove that Cardinal Wiseman has been guilty of high
treason.

The English Cabinet are making inquiries in Switzer-
land as to the laws which regulate the existence of the
Popish Church among them.
The Daily News says.—The Queen is said to have been
highly dissatisfied with the paragraph of the speech, as
drawn up by ministers, relative to the Papal aggression ;
her Majesty considered it lukewarm, and framed in such
ambiguous terms as might be employed to shuffle through
a difficulty instead of expressing the honest feelings of a
sovereign and a government insulted in dignity and
authority."
The Duke of Sutherland has written to say "that he
feels regret and indignation at the extraordinary and most
ill-advised measure of " Papal aggression," which has
proceeded from Rome, and heartily concurs in our deter-
mination to m intain our civil and religious liberties, ob.
tained by the Reformation and confirmed since the Revo-
lution, and to repel the attempts of any Pope, Cardinal,
orDoctor, native orforeign, to assume power in the realm.
And he must consider it to be the duty of all good and
loyal subjects to do so to the utmost of their power."
The Irish ecclesiastical dignitaries in the diocese of
Tuam have, it is said, refused to affix their signatures to
an address to the Queen from the clergy in that c uarter.
Their names are, the Dean of Tuam, the Hon. and Rev.
Dr. Plunket, Dean Collins, of Killala, and the Very Rev.
Lord Mountmorris, the recently-appointed Dean of
Achonry. According to the Limerick Reporter the
Bishop of Limerick (Dr. Higgin) was not present at the
?reefing of the clergy of his diocese, held on Thursday, to
protest against the usurpations of the Court of Rome.
Sir W. Verner and Dr. O'Sullivan met a large body of
Orangemen at Bradford, on Wednesday, when addresses
were presented to those noble-hearted Protestants. Dr.
Burnet expatiated on the valiant deeds of Colonel Verner
on the battlefield,in defence of our liberties and how in the
Senate-house he had always been found at his post, as in
the field, to do his duty. He then referred to the bold
stand made by Dr. O'Sullivan in defence of Protestantism
and the Irish church. The proceedings throughout were
marked with extraordinary enthusiasm. Many clergymen
were present. _

A meeting of the county of Montgomery, to resist the
Papal aggression, was held on Tuesday. The High She-
riff presided ; and among the speakers were Earl Powis,
Lord Sudeley, Sir W. W. Wynn, &c. The Earl of Powis
moved a resolution to the effect hat the act of Dr. Wise-
man and the Bishop of Rome was an insult to our church
and Queen. Lord Sudeley moved, as a rider to the above,
that the Tractarians were to blame. Lord Powis opposed
this ; and asserted that Lord John Russell would let the
session pass without doing anything at all ! Lord Sude-
ley's amendment was ultimately lost.
THE IRISH CHURCH.—An address to the Archbishop
of Canterbury has been signed by every prelate of the
Irish church—by Dr. Whaely, the Whig Archbishop of
Dublin,—by four bishops appointed to their sees by the
present government since their last return to office—two
of whom were last session their constant, and we some-
times could not help thinking their not very scrupulous
supporters in the House of Lords—and by three other
prelates of Whig nomination. Of the twelve prelates of
which the Irish episcopate now consists, one archbishop
and seven bishops have been nominated by cabinets of
which Lord John Russell has been a member. One
paragraph of the address is as follows :—" We are deeply
impressed with the conviction, that if the excitement now
existing in England were to lead to the adoption of any
measure calculated to impair the integrity of the united
church, or the completeness of the union between the two
portions of it, such a proceeding would involve snore real
injury to the whole church and to the country, than any
acts of the Bishop of Rome or any encroachments from
without could possibly effect.'

Many of the Roman Catholic clergymen about Bever-
ley have issued an address in which they state that the
restoration of their hierarchy will be prejudicial to their
interests unless guarded by limitation.
A wooden shed is now being temporarily fitted up in
Gateshead, for the celebration of mass and other services
of the Romish Church ; the building will be opened in
the course of a few days by that very modest functionary
the Rev. F. Betham, who recently, by Papal order, styled
himself " Parish Priest Elect of Gateshead."
A soiree was given at Manchester on Thursday night,
at the Albion Hotel, to Mr. Cobden, M.P., Mr. Bright,
M.P.,and Mr. Milner Gibson, M.P. It was a substi-
tute or the usual annual meeting in the Free Trade Hall,
which is this year engaged for several weeks to come or
until after the meeting of parliament. All three mem-
bers declared themselves adverse to the agitation respect-
ing Papal aggression.
It appears that in nearly all the new churches which
have been built in Westminster within the last 20 years,
as well as by some of the parish curates, " the Roma-
nism, which has brought the Pope's archbishop here, is
taught. The doctrines of the Reformation are repudiated ;
and the sentiments embodied in the protest from which
we derive our common name of Protestants are not only
disavowed, but condemned, and that in the most positive
manner."—London City Mission.

ROMANIST DIVISIONS.—We hear something from time
to time about a malcontent party among the Romanists
themselves. The seat of disaffection is in the northern
counties, particularly in the Beverley district, where a
number of clergy are said to have met last week to insist
upon their " ancient rights," and remonstrate against the
infringement of the prerogative of the Crown. Their
wants and wishes are developed by an anonymous writer
(said to be a Romanist clergyman of influence) in the
Daily News. They are these,--Diocesan Synods, Dio-
cesan Courts, leave to elect their own Bishops, the right
of having their temporal matters decided by Municipal
Courts of Law, emancipation from the control of Propa-
ganda, and a new Statute of Provisors against the inter-
ference of the Pope. in short, they want a reformation
of their whole ecclesiastical system by Act of Parliament.
STRATHAVEN AND CARDINAL WISEMAN.—Our readers
may perhaps be astonished to learn that this celebrated
Cardinal, according to current report, is a regular descend-
ant of the Wisemans, cheese-dealers, &c., in the town
of Strathaven. It is generally reported in the Middle
Ward of Lanarkshire—with what proof we know not—
that one of the Wisemans adventured as far as Cork
about the middle of last century, to try his fortune in
Ireland ; that the said Mr. Wiseman took up a cheese
and provision-store in Cork; that, by a subsequent mar-
riage, he became entangled with a Roman Catholic wife;
and that the mother, thinking that she was ruling the fate
of the boy, sent him to Spain, whencewe have received Car-
dinal Wiseman. There can be no doubt that Wiseman is
nearly a local name, and that it is peculiar to Strathaven.
Many of the name are yet cheese-dealers.—Falkirk
Herald. _ _ _

POPERY IN ENGLAND.—The Hon. and Rev. G Spen-
cer, alias " Father Ignatius of St. Paul, Passionist," who
has made the " conversion of England" his special voca-
tion, is on a begging errand in Dublin, in reference to
which he has, in an appeal to the Irish Catholics," let
out some curious facts. His errand is to beg money for
an establishment of the order of Pusionists near London :
—" We have a community already settled in the place in
an hired house, which we have but for a short time, and
which is altogether inadequate in point of size, and almost
untenable from its bad condition ; and it is of great im-
portance that near London we should have an establish-
ment in which we may be able to carry out the objects of
our institute becomingly. We have secured a piece of
ground, and the payment for this, together with the ex-
pense of the necessary buildings on it, will amount at a
moderate estimate to £5,000 or £6OOO, which I have to
raise through the world." And then, as an excuse for
coming to beg of the Irish for an estabishment in England,
he states that " the Catholics in England consist, in a
proportion vastly preponderating, of Irish people, and
these not the wealthiest of Ireland," and that " the body
of Catholics in London principally formed of about
200,000 Irish settlers—are, of all great bodies of Catholics
in the world, the most destitute of means of religious in-
struction and care."
ROMISH BISHOPS IN IRELAND.—In the leading arti-
cle of the Globe of the 9th inst. the following passage
occurs:—" In Ireland the Catholic hierarchy has main-
tained its unbroken succession from the days of St.
Patrick." The Roman Catholic hierarchy is, of course,
what is here meant, and it must be well known to all even
moderately acquainted with history, how utterly un-
founded is this statement. It may, however, be well per-
haps to repeat that the only hierarchy in Ireland that
maintains an unbroken succession from the days of St.
Patrick, are the prelates of the established church. On the
accession of Queen Elizabeth every bishop in Ireland,
with the exception of two, Leverons of Kildare, and
Walsh of Meath, conformed to the established religion.
Leverons and Walsh were deprived for refusing to take
the oath of supremacy. It is remarkable that these two
tohmeiarnorCdaetrhsoflircomhieararfochreyiganndclergy
bishops were themselves intruders, their predecessors
having been deprived because they were married men.
tveß. source—thein
Church of Spain. In order to preserve an episcopate, the
Pope sent over McGauran, from Spain to Armagh, in
1598, and " in the see of Dublin there was no Catholic
Tlrirlanpdredseerni
bishop from 1559, when Curwen abandoned his faith,
until 1600, when Matthew, of Oviedo. a Spanish Francis-
can, was appointed." From these Spanish ecclesiastics
the present Romish bishops derive their orders. O'Sul-
livan, " Hist. Cath. Iberniae," states that in 1621 there
were but two Romish bishops in Ireland, and two others,
who resided in Spain.
THE ANTI-PAPAL MOVEMENT NOT ONE OF PERSECU-
TION.—TO our Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen we
desire to address a few words, in no unkind spirit. We
have no dispute with the Irish peasantry. They are no
more responsible for the doings of the Synod of Thurles,
than for the proceedings of the Council of Trent. We
declare it to be the incumbent duty of all Protestants to
labour incessantly for the temporal welfare of our pea-
santry, and that utterly irrespective of their religion.
We agree, for once, with the Tablet, that to dismiss our
Roman Catholic domestics on account of the ravings of
that incorrigible fanatic, Father Ignatius, would be an act
of injustice. Everything which Christianity enjoins we
are bound to do for the welfare of our fellow-countrymen.
To the Roman Catholic gentry we would put this ques-
tion—Are you aware of the tyranny which would be ex-
ercised over you if Drs. Cullen and Mac Hale should
succeed in introducing uncontrolled into Ireland the
system now existing in
.Rome ? Look at Rome—her
people rebellious—abhorring the rule of the priest, and
laying on the priest's head the ruin of their country.
Look at Rome again--she tolerates not one free institu-
tion at home. Look at Rome abroad—in Italy, wherever
there is liberty, as in Piedmont, Itome hates that liberty
and curses it ; and wherever, as in Naples, there is ty-
ranny unchecked, and superstition revolting, Rome loves
and blesses both. We claim for you, our fellow-country-
men, as against the domination of Rome, all the liberty
we claim for ourselves. We desire that your thoughts,
i your actions, and your studies may be as unsllackled as

Jan. 28, 1851.

our own. We shall rejoice in your wealth and prosperity.
We would not deprive you of any privilege you possess;
but we have a right to require, according to the compact
entered into when your emancipation was granted, that
you will use all your privileges to enjof the blessings and
honours of our free constitution—not to subvert it. We
desire to stand between you and the Papal system which
would crush you first, next ourselves ; and assuredly then,
as in Rome, all liberty, all knowledge, and all happiness.
Do not, then, misunderstand us as recommending your
persecution, or that of any human creature. We contend
for your liberty, in contending for our own, and for the
maintenance of a constitution which, while preserved irt
strength and independence, will save you from a domina-
tion, of the severity of which you can have but a faint
conception. Follow the example of the Premier Duke of
England, and we shall be content. The conduct of many
Roman Catholic merchants, in the late municipal elec-
tions for our city, fills us with hope. We cannot believe
that our brethren of that faith will prostrate theirreason,
their right of judgment, and their liberty of thought and
action, at the feet of Dr. Cullen and the Synod of Thurles.
If they do, they, not we, are responsible for the evils
which will be entailed on Ireland—to be repressed only
by the final triumph of Protestantism throughout the
country and the empire.—Dublin University Magazine.