The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-03-05

THE
and inconvenience to the Church would be
fore, Of tho Cisaipine Clubaand Of the "Ca-
tholic Beard" who encouraged Mr.. Pitt IN
his project, were acting, In fact, - eDemies
Of the Church of which they professed 20
be the loyal servants. Assuming to them
selves, a. they were WON'T powers whlcn IN
NO wise belonged TO thems they ventured TO
offer the Minister the exercise Of veto on
the election of the Catholic bishops, and
Pitt, of course, had no scruple In avaiilng
himself of this oficious proposal, and OF
bringing the subject formally before the
consideration of ten Irish bishops who were
trustees for the college of Maynooth. The
moment which he selected was one of I'M
usual excitement and terror. The rising of
1898 had just been quelied, aud tho peas
antry were still smartihg under the effects
sof fire and sword. The pastors of the
Church were tempted by the prospect Of q
State provision for the clergy, whom the
pillaged and houseless cottiers We're unable
adequately to support. They listened with
Difference to the Premier's proposal, and
they gave it their assent, but with import
ant reservations. They were willing to
submit to the veto in case the provision for
the clergy were " competent and securely"
in case the loyalty only of candidates for
A1PAoSORsSOO 100000
quiry by the Government, andIn case also
(Which was the most important reservation
of ally the transaction were ratified by the
Holy See.
From caIses which have already been
glanced at, the Veto question was set aside
for eight years. It was then revived by
the Wings, who had been in opposition
while Pitt was in office, but who fastened
on his plan of subrogating Catholic Bish-
ops to the Crown rs an expedient of rare
promise. The Veto suited exactly the pol
icy of Lord Granville and the temper of his
mind. He wishes to grant Emancipation,
but he was no less DESTROYS Of correcting
Gas he thought) its dangerous tendencies,
and of recommending it in some sort to the
adoption Of Protestants by combining it
with a provision which should make King
George III head of the Catholic Church in
England and Ireland; should attach the
Catholic Bishops to his person and dignity
and should render them as loyal as the
Right Reverend Prelates who wear lawn
sleeves and sit on the benches of the House
of Lords. Bishop Miner had been appoint
ed by the Irish Bishops to represent them
in this critical affair /; and he, being anx-
ious to smooth away every difficulty in the
way of Emancipation, had, in the first IN
stance, advocated a very moderate species
of Veto but finding that undue advantage
was taken of this concession, that Ministers
| already boosted of the Catholic Bishops
| the Pope, he recoiled from the position
| which he had taken up, and declared him
| self the Incorporating opponent OF the
| veto in any shape. The Irish Bishops also
assembled in September, 1908, and nobly
| defended their Independence against the
insidious measure advocated by Lord Gren-
vile, Mr.. Ponsonby and Grattan. They
declared it to be inexpedient to make any
| alteration in the canonical mode hitherto
observed in the nomination of their Bish-
ops, and they pledged themselves to recon-
mend to his Holiness for the Office of Chief
pastor such pe,s9s cPiy az WsIa Of san Ia y
| peachable loyaltExhd peaceabis CONDUCT.
Their resolutions were signed by twenty
three prelates, three only dissenting; the
clergy and laity of Ireland in general loud
ly expressed their gratitude to them TOR the
course which they had pursued OConneil
opposed the veto, as he had from Che nrst !;
and letter by Edmund Buke to an Irish
Peer, which was republished and widely
| circulated at the same time, produced
strong and healthy feeling of hostility to
any such mean and degrading concession as
that which the right of veto would involve.
1t is the privilege and the JOY Of Catholics
in every country to be ruled by prelates
who regard the integrity of the faith and
discipline of the Church as the highest OF
all considerations, and who are ready to
forego amy temporal advantage rather than
betray their trust. The three Bishops
above mentioned who dissented from the
general vote of their brethren, had been
among the ten Bishops who IN 1879 accept
ed with reservations) Pitts proposed veto:
That conditional acceptance, however, had
| been kept profound secret, and did not
fully come to light till the year 1910.
A BRAVE OFFIcER.-The following ex-
tract is from the letter of a correspondent,