TOPICS OF THE DAY.
MAYNOOTFI : A VOICE FROM THE PAST.
THE Protestant Gathering, in the course of their church-militant agitation, have concocted a circular in support of " our common Protestantism," which bears the respectable signature of their Chairman, Sir Culling Eardley Smith, and has been freely ad- dressed in all directions. Unluckily, as it turns out, one of these letters-missive was sent to the Very Reverend Heneage Horsley, the son of that Bishop Horsley whose "mighty spear," in the words of Gibbon, "has repeatedly pierced the Socinian shield of Priestley "; whose labours in the cause of Biblical literature show that to zeal he united knowledge, (which is not always the case); and whose Toryism, or rather whose resistance to uncon- stitutional change in Church or State, is well known. A short i residence in Ireland, added to other opportunities, has convinced Mr. Heneage Horsley that "there are but two ways by which the Irish Church can be preserved: the one is, by acts of concilia- tion, similar to the one now pending in Parliament ; the other by holding Ireland as a conquered province; to accomplish which, it will be necessary to maintain constantly within her borders a standing army of not less than 60,000 men." Mr. Horsley, there- fore, could not go along with the views of the exclusive Pro- testants of Exeter Hall and the Crown and Anchor ; and having, a year or two ago, before this Maynooth-extension was thought
• explained his opinion to the Archbishop of Dublin, he did
not.feel inclined to submit to the imputation of a want of Pro- testant principle, which the Crown and Anchor circular imputes to those who reinse to admit the Infallibility of the self-elected nolinesses. Instead, however, of putting forward his awn argu- ments, Mr. Horsley, in a short pamphlet before us,4 falls back upon his father ; and shows, by extracts from his speeches in the House of Lords, from 1791 to his death, that, jifty years ago, Bishop Horsley was prepared to advance further than Sir Robert Peel is even now—that, besidesadvocating the abolition of the Penal Laws to the extent of-Catholic Emancipation, he was really prepared to recognize the Pope, and pay the Romish clergy. These extracts are interesting for their vigorous and manly style ; but still more curious for their suggestions. How slow is the pro- gress of-opinion and " the march of mind"! Half a century ago, all the great political leaders of every party—Pitt, Fox, Burke, Grenville—were anxious to concede Catholic Emancipation, to endow the Priests (if paying them is endowment,) and to open up diplomatic relations with Rome ; whilst one of the most emi- nent Prelates and stoutest champions of the Established Church was willing to march with them paripassu. Now, a miserable ad- dition of 17,19001. a year is denounced as "destructive," and "damnable," and certain to draw down the direct vengeance of Heaven upon the whole country—by those who take upon them- selves to
" deal damnation round the land?'
Yet, as a matter .of principle, it is impossible to suppose that such a Protestant Monarch as George the Third would ever have permitted the original establishment of Maynooth, could the most lynx-eyed bigotry, in a state of reason, have detected Re- /118MM in : and with respect to amount, a large addition might be claimed as a mere matter of bargain, from the increase in prices, the more expensive, the genteeler style of living among the middle classes, and, greater than all, the effect which -our improved and improving modes of locomotion have had in equal- izing prices between the capital and the provinces. All things considered, it is probable that 1,0001. a year, in Ireland in the last century, was equal in real value to at least 2,000/. now. There is more of Bishop Horsley than of his son in this Letter to Sir Coiling : the writer's own arguments are chiefly incidental or subordinate. Two points, however, are so well put—the talk about the uselessness of " conciliation," and the fact of the state
Maynooth (denied by some Protestant orator)—that we quote them for the benefit of Sir Robert Inglis and the rest, who will come up on Monday like giants refreshed to oppose the third read-
" I have heard it frequently asked, in the course of my last visit, and more than once in the four days I have now been here [in Dublin]—what is the use of eonciliationt what benefit is to be expected from it? what good has it as yet affected? CONCILIATION Sir! why, this is surely mockery. Does anything w hich the British Parliament has as yet done to improve the condition of the Roman Catholics in Ireland, when the manner of the doing of it, and the delay in the doing of it, are taken into consideration, deserve the name? The old adage, 'Air dal qui cito day is in no instance of greater force and verity than when ap-
ed to cases of legislative .grace and favour. When conferred promptly, cheer- , and freely, they do win the hearts and affections of those on whom they are • but when wrong from an unwilling Senate by fear and apprehension, they are totally valueless. Where, in the name of all that is equitable and just, has been the ' tiro' in the alleviatory dealings of England with Ireland ? "I remember well the period of the Union. I was then at an age when the aiactuision of such topics of, exciting interest by men of powerful minds, as those topics were that were connected with that measure, leave a lasting impression on the mind. It was my good fortune frequently to hear such discussions, at the table of my father, of Lord Thurlow, of BE Windham, of Sir John Cox Hippesley. On all these occasions, and on several others of a similar kind, I heard it averred again and again, that oneof the most powerful inducements employed to reconcile the Irish people to the Union, was an explicit promise given by the then rulers of the country, that Emancipation, or in other words the repeal of the Penal Laws, should follow 4 hard upon.' Was a delay of nine-and-twenV.years a following bard upon? No wonder, Sir, that hope so long deferred made the hearts of the Boman Catholics sick. No ;sander that a people should fret and groan, and be- come clamorous, unruly, and turbulent, under such long-procrastinated Jim- tree. Then again, this silly—for silly it really is—Protestant agitation, and revival of the absurd hio-Popery' dry about Sfaynaitli !II Sir Culling, I have visited the establishment there. Two years ago, I narrowly. all its miserable, and wretched, and destitute, and I will add,(I offence, for it must be the poverty of its means and not the will of its OLP* that consents,) its dirty, and nasty, and filthy economy; and I eonfesi, blushed for the meanness of my countrymen, that can dignify the paltry pit their Government at present doles out to the institution, with the title of an
bounty to the Irish Roman Catholic Church. ."71.
" No, Sir; such acts of bounty and conciliation will effect nothing. They wrest be of a different character; more in number, and more promptly (or they will come too late) and more cheerfully rendered: and even then it will take time to soften dawn and entirely extinguish the asperities and bitterness of feeling which a long train of injury and oppression have engendered. But, tinder God, time will ex- tinguish them."
a "A Letter from the Very Reverend Heneage Horsley, to Sir Calling Radio, Smith, Barb, on the subject of the Maynooth Grant ; embodying the opinions of the late Bishop Horsley on the Policy and Necessity of extending 1118BOUre8 of Legistative Relief Is Roman Catholics." Published by Longman and Co.
Previous page
