death," are these words: † (which sir J. | commit them again, and by a willingness H. read:)" You know, from the catechism you have learnt, and the books of catholic instructions you have read, that the absolution of a priest can be of no benefit to you, unless you be duly disposed to a reconciliation with your offended God, by true faith, by a sincere sorrow for all your sins, by a firm resolution never to + It is but justice to the laudable and pious efforts of the compiler (an English prelate of the Roman catholic church), to subjoin the following extracts from this well-directed work. "Advertisement. "Whereas a very considerable portion of his Majesty's subjects, employed in the defence of the British empire, consists of catholics, whose chief happiness is derived from the performance of the duties of their religion; and whereas the known principles of their religion do not permit catholics to unite in prayer, or in a form of worship, with others of a different religious communion, the following form of prayer is composed for the use of such of his Majesty's catholic subjects as may be serving in his forces by sea or land, and may not have the means of recourse to the ministers of their holy religion: in the humble hope, that by the authority of the legislature, in its kind indulgence and just attention to the conscientious feelings of so numerous and so meritorious a class of the defenders of the United Kingdom, the catholic seamen and soldiers will be exempted by law from attending the service of the established church, and will be permitted to assemble together on Sundays and holidays, in some convenient place, to worship God agreeably to the service of their own communion, and to offer up their ardent prayers for their king and Country." "Before an Engagement. « Psalm xxvi. (alias xxvii.) The Lord is the protector of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? If armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear. If a battle should rise up against me, in this will I be confident. And in Psalm xxii. (alias xxiii.) Though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me." "For the Litany. "That thou vouchsafe to bless and save to satisfy God, and your neighbour also, as far as justice requires. Without these dispositions on your part, the act of the priest would not be ratified in heaven, you would be guilty of the profanation of the sacrament of penance, and provoke the indignation of the Almighty, instead of obtaining his mercy. It is only when he our most gracious sovereign George, with all the royal family, to support him by thy power, to direct him by thy wisdom, and to conduct him at length to thy eternal kingdom.-That thou vouchsafe to protect and support our commanders and officers, to inspire them with wisdom and courage, to crown their exertions with victory and success, and after this life to bless them with the everlasting happiness of heaven.-That thou vouchsafe to give us grace to fear thee, to honour our king, and readily submit to all whom it is our duty and thy will that we should obey, because it is thy will: for we know that he who resisteth thy power, resisteth thy ordinance, O God; and they that resist, purchase to themselves damnation, Rom. xiii. 1, 2." "An Admonition to Catholics serving in his Majesty's fleets and armies. "If to the faithful performance of your duties to your king and country; you add a constant attention to the worship of God, and to the salvation of your immortal souls, your happiness will be complete. "Render, therefore, to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God, the things that are God's." Matt. xxii. 21. Your families and your country are justly dear to you; but how much more dear than even these, ought your own souls to be? "What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matt. xvi. 26. "With regard to what concerns the conduct and behaviour of one man amongst you towards another, take care that no difference of religion disturb that union and peace which ought to reign in the hearts of those, who have one common duty and interest in serving and in defending their king and country. "As much as is in you, keep' peace with all men. Render to no man evil for evil, (Rom. xii.) nor railing for railing, but contrariwise, blessing, (1 Pet. iii. 9.) The grace of God be with you all. Amen..' sees you thus duly disposed, that God looses in heaven, what, by his authority, and according to the conditions of his institution, his minister looses on earth." felony." By the law, as it now stands, there is no crime, not even high treason, the concealment of which can call in question the life of the person concealing it: hence the canon law is at issue, in this respect, with the common law. This head of complaint may be concluded with refering to a well-known fact, namely, that Henry 4. of France, wished to make a law, by which confessors should be bound On the subject of secret, or auricular confession, and the obligation imposed by the church upon the priest or minister receiving it, we may derive information from the 113th canon, intitled "Peccata notoria ministris jus est denunciare, privatim confessa retegere nefas." "Pro-to reveal conspiracies against the King, vided always, that if any man confess his which might come to their knowledge, secret and hidden sins to the minister, for even under the secret of confession. But fathe unburthening of his conscience, and ther Cotton convinced Henry 4. that it is to receive spiritual consolation and ease contrary to the divine, and natural law, to of mind from him; we do not any way disclose what is known only by confession bind the said minister by this our consti--that it would not be expedient to the tution, but do strictly charge and admo- public good; for in that case, no person, nish him, that he do not, at any time, re-engaged in a conspiracy, would mention veal and make known to any person whatsoever, any crime or offence so committed to his trust and secrecy (except they be such crimes as by the laws of this realm his own life may be called into question for concealing the same,) under pain of irregularity." this crime in confession, if he knew that his confessor was at liberty to denounce him; whereas, in the absolute confidence in the inviolable secrecy that is, and must be, observed, a conspirator may disclose his guilt to his confessor without fear, and the confessor may employ the most powerful motives to engage him to renounce his criminal designs, and thus prevent evils, which would not otherwise have been known.-Henry was perfectly satisfied that his intended law would have defeated its own purposes. With respect to the situation of the Catholic military under the existing laws, the bare mention of it ought in justice, and, indeed, in common decency, to be enough to insure redress; nevertheless the complaint has been necessarily reurged, as often as this subject has been renewed in parliament; repeated applications have been made to ministers, to every administration in succession, it may be said, since the year 1793, when the Irish Act opened the army to Catholics, but no adequate redress has been obtained. A member (Mr. Wilberforce,) on the bench behind sir J. H. here interrupted him by saying, "That is a canon of the church of Rome." Sir J. H. replied No, it is a canon of the established church, and as late as the year 1603, of the latest class of canons, which constitutes the principal ecclesiastical code for the government of the church. The King's ratification gives an authority, which is considered as binding on all those who are subject to him in ecclesiastical matters. Such is the construction put upon them by ecclesiastical writers: but it is of more importance to examine the opinion entertained in Westminster Hall. In the case of Du Barré v. Levitte, 31 Geo. 3. on a question raised relative to the examination of an interpreter, Mr. Garrow cited a case determined by Mr. Justice At Chatham, it is true, a spot of ground Buller; it was a case in which the life of was granted by government, to erect a a prisoner was at stake:-the King v. chapel for the use of the Catholic military, Sparkes. The prisoner being a Roman and, under successive commanding ofCatholic, made a confession before a Pro- ficers, the Catholics were separated from testant clergyman, of the crime for which others, on the Sunday parade, and marched he was indicted, and that confession was to their own place of worship. In other permitted to be given in evidence, upon places, the Catholic military have experiwhich he was convicted and executed. enced a very capricious fate; sometimes, Lord Kenyon observed, " I should have though rarely, allowed to attend their paused before I admitted the evidence own pastors exclusively; at other times, there admitted." Lord Coke also says, obliged to attend the service of the estain his 2d institute, " If high treason is dis-blished church, previously, or subseclosed to a clergyman in confession, he quently, to their own service; but oftener ought to reveal it, but not in a case of marched indiscriminately to the esta blished church, without permission to attend their own. The Catholic prelates of Ireland have frequently addressed government upon this subject, particularly on the 28th of May, 1800; which address, sir J. 'H. said, was transmitted to the duke of Portland by himself; and stated that, "notwithstanding the assurances given to the Catholics upon taking service in Ireland, no sooner was a regiment though chiefly composed of Catholics, arrived in England, or in any other part of the empire, than they were forced to conform to the established church, and often restrained even in their dying moments, from the exercise of their religious duties." The address proceeded to pray, that some parliamentary regulation might take place, to assure to the Catholic soldier, liberty of conscience in this respect. It had been stated by an honourable general, on the motion of thanks to sir S. Achmuty, "That the seventh regiment, which had so gallantly fought at Monte Video under the command of sir Edm. Butler, was composed altogether of Catholics, and that in point of fact, he knew that, of the 4,000 men who had attacked that garrison, no less than 3,000 consisted of Catholics." Sir J. H. observed, that it was consistent with his own knowledge, that of three levies of 1,000 men each, marched into the Isle of Wight, a few years since, in two of those levies 160 only were not Catholics; and of another regiment, then in the south of England, consisting of about 900 men, 860 were Catholics; it is also well established, that the proportion of Catholic recruits, at present, greatly exceeds that of Protestants. In Austria, it is well known, that the army is open to Jews, and so much attention is paid to the rights of conscience, that a military order regularly issues every year to exempt the Jews, for a certain time, from duty, in order to allow them undisturbed attendance on their solemn festivals. It had, in a former debate been stated in the House by sir J. H. that his Majesty had granted commissions of chaplains to Roman Catholic priests in the several regiments of the Irish brigade, * One of these commissions to the rev. B. O'Brien, is dated 1 Oct. 1794, and that of the rev. J. Macdonnel of the (Scotch) Glengary fencibles, 14 Aug. 1794. All the regiments of Irish brigade have had chaplains appointed to them, whose commissions were all signed by his Majesty. and also in the regiment of Glengary fencibles, which had been raised on the British establishment: this fact is now stated in answer to some gentlemen, who had expressed an opinion, that those who advised such a measure, had advised a breach of the coronation oath; let it be remem bered, however, that Dr. Milner's refutation of the restrictive operation of that oath, as affecting the question now before the House; had been declared, even by the late chancellor Sturges, to be unanswerable. In the naval service, Catholics were not less numerous; Sir J. H. held in his hand a list of 46 ships of the line, which, at two different periods, had belonged to the Plymouth division, and in the majority of which, the Catholics greatly exceeded the Protestants. In some of the first and second rates they amounted even to two thirds; in one or two first-rates they formed nearly the whole; and in the naval hospital, about four years since, of 470 sick, 363 were Catholics. The proportion indeed at present in the naval hospital at Plymouth, is less than almost at any antecedent period, scarcely amounting to a fourth.* As the difficulties opposed to Catholics, with respect to an attendance upon their own pastors, must necessarily be greater in the navy than in the army; the little manual of devotions, which has been mentioned as being more particularly applicable to their situation, will, it is to be hoped, receive that countenance which is prayed for, and to which it is so justly entitled. The memorable bill introduced some years ago, by a noble lord since removed to the other house of parliament, would have applied an effectual remedy for the grievance complained of; and would not only have assured to the Catholics a full protection of the rights of conscience, but have held out the means of inviting young men of condition to those ranks, in which they might with honour distinguish themselves in the service of their countryranks which they must now seek, if they seek them at all, by stealth and under every disadvantage: nevertheless those who are so prone to withhold those ad * In the year 1780, when fewer Catho lics entered the service than at present, the crew of the Thunderer of 74 guns, commodore Walsingham, was composed two thirds of Catholics. vantages from them, do not scruple to in vite them, in the last resource, to the post of danger. Even the Catholic priest is Occasionally selected to acquit ardous and high confidential commissions-involving great personal risk and delicacy of maBagement. The defection of the marquis de Romana from the cause of the enemy, it is known, was produced by such a resort*. A Catholic priest was also sent by government to appease the mutineers at the Nore; their services were very properly acknowledged, as the well-known father O'Leary's had been at an antecedent period in Ireland.--The eulogies pronounced upon the latter by members of that House are upon record: and no man had rendered more substantial services to his country in the hour of danger. The continent for many years had opened a great field for the exertions of this class of our proscribed fellow-subjects; and George the second is said to have exclaimed, at the battle of Dettingen, where he had occasion to witness their valour-"Curse on the laws that deprive me of the aid of such subjects!" With all the resentment, however, which we may suppose to be inseparable from a high spirit of honour, when surely oppressed, it is well known, that in the year 1745, not a single domiciliated Irishman joined the standard of rebellion. Lord Chesterfield (then lord-lieutenant) was instructed to raise 4,000 additional troops, for the defence of Ireland. He took it upon himself not to raise a single man; but, on the contrary, he sent four regiments from Ireland, to join the duke of Cumberland. Upon his return, being asked by the King, whether there were many dangerous Papists in Ireland, he replied, "that he had only discovered two, in the persons of two handsome young ladies of the name of Devereux, who had danced at the castle, on his Majesty's birth-night." This head may be closed with an observation made by a noble friend, many years since, in reference to the condition of some of his own country men, "that after having served their country with fidelity and honour, and after having bled in her cause, they were * The rev. J. Robertson, one of the professors of Maynooth, was selected for this dangerous service; and the rev. Plunkett, a Roman Catholic priest, was sent from Chatham to the Nore to endea vour to appease the mutineers, liable to be ruined by fines, and subject to punishments fit only for felons." A learned gentleman, in an interesting collection of Memoirs* recently published, addressed to the University of Oxford, has asserted, that “ the provisions of the marriage act have been complied with, by the Catholics, without objection." Sir J. H., could not agree with him in this assertion, having considered it as a well-established fact, that the provision of the act, by which Catholics are obliged to submit to the marriage ceremony in the Protestant church, has, for half a century, been a subject of complaint amongst Catholics, and particularly of their clergy. On the known principle of their church, that it is unlawful for Catholics to join in acts of religion, or in any sacred rite, with others of a different communion, the late Catho lic bishop Challoner considered himself bound to consult Rome on the subject, and, in his pastoral instruction, addressed to his clergy in the London district, in 1759, charged them to caution Catholics, as much as possible, against going to the Protestant church to obtain the sanction of the marriage ceremony. In 1791, the Catholic clergy certainly expressed a wish to obtain redress of this grievance; they have no objection to be placed under restrictions similar to those of our marriage act. In speaking upon the subject some years since, sir J. H. then observed, that they contended only that the sacramental essence should be reserved to the spiritual primacy, and that the civil effects should wholly be regulated by the civil jurisdiction. Both in Ireland † and England, it is of great importance that this solemn contract should be established and legalized by some unequivocal and uniform act. Sir J. H. could venture to assert, that all those Catholic prelates with whom he has ever communicated, would be content that a registry was established by the civil magistrate, which might be certified and registered at the general courts of quarter sessions. The Quaker, and even the Jew, are by a provision of the marriage act itself, exempted from the penalties and disabilities imposed by it on others, Some * Memoirs of the Catholic question, by J. F. Dillon, esq. of Lincoln's-Inn, barrister-at-law. + In Ireland the certificate of a Roman Catholic priest marrying a Catholic to a Catholic is admitted as evidence to substantiate the marriage. with the result of his elaborate researches into general councils and decretals, and has recently given to the public the concentration of all his former labours, in a work intitled, "The nature and demands of the Irish Roman Catholics." The attack therein made upon the administration which he honours with the name of " the Talents," is not the least prominent part of his work. He compliments the wisdom of his Majesty, in discovering their intrigues, and removing them from his councils, and "thus rescuing the nation from their machinations," adding that, thus removed," they fell with the universal exe writers have contended, as it has been observed, that the discipline of the council of Trent is paramount in Ireland. The fact is, that, in the arch-diocese of Dublin, and in the dioceses of Meath, Kildare, Ossory, Fernes, and in the wardinate of Galway, containing a vast mass of Catholic population, the discipline of the council of Trent has never been received, and of course has no canonical operation upon clandestine marriages. The regulations of the council of Trent exact the presence of the parish priest, two witnesses, and the consent of parents and guardians in the case of minority, as are also required by the statute of 26th Geo. II. The consecrations of every good subject in the emquence is, that marriages, which, under certain circumstances, are deemed valid, in each of the dioceses that have been mentioned, are considered as null and void, in all those districts where the discipline of the council of Trent has been received: -The whole of Great-Britain, as well as France, stands in the predicament of those six dioceses.* Nothing more need be said to urge the propriety of some state provision, in concurrence with the wish of the Roman Catholic clergy, on this point, to remedy what cannot but be considered as a serious evil, particularly as affecting the descent of property and honours, which cannot be secured, as the law now stands, without a violation of the liberty of conscience. It should indeed have been stated, that, within certain prohibited degrees, a dispensation of the Pope is absolutely necessary; but, by the statute of the 13th of Eliz. such dispensation exposes the parties receiving it to the penalties of high treason.† pire!"-He has, however, omitted to state how soon it happened after " their fall," that his right hon. friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who now presides in his Majesty's councils, and to whose hands, as himself declared, " His Majesty, bound by his regard for the establishments and religion of his country, had confided the administration of his affairs, upon remov ing them from those to which they had lately been entrusted :"-how soon after that removal, he had invited a noble lord, at the head of that so execrated adminis tration, with his friend, a noble earl, to resume their seats in his Majesty's councils in order to give strength and stability to the government! The learned author has also omitted to inform us, how much the more recent and better informed opinions of the Chancellor of the Exchequer ap→ peared to have been seconded by that graceful array of the high prelacy of the church, who supported the election of the noble lord to the office of Chancellor of In attempting to rescue that vast class the most ancient seat of learning and reof the community from the operation pro-ligion in the United Kingdom. duced on the public mind, through igno- It is to be regretted, that the strength of rance, or wilful misrepresentation, it may the learned gent.'s prejudice has not yet be proper to advert to certain other charges yielded to the force of such bright examagainst them collected, with great in-ples for his imitation. But we will still dustry, by a learned and right hon. gent., not at present in his place, but who, on a former occasion, had favoured the House hope for his support of measures better suited to the state of the empire, than the re-enactment of the Anti-Catholic criminal code. We know, that in 1798, contemplating the union, he has recorded, in a letter to the right hon. mover of the question now before the House, his opinion, "that were we one people with the British nation, the preponderance of the Protestant body in the whole empire would + Vide this question stated more at be so great, that all rivalships and jealength, in sir J. H.'s "Substance of Ad-lousies between Protestants and Romanists ditional Observations." Faulder, 1806. would cease for ever, and it would not be F * In France, where any part of the discipline of the council of Trent has been received, it has been in consequence of a national regulation, independently of the authority of the council." VOL. XVII. |