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 THE 
 
 RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION 
 
 OP 
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED TO 
 
 THE CATHOLIC CONGRESS OE MALINES, 
 
 AUGUST 31, 1863. 
 
 BY H. E. CARDINAL WISEMAN. 
 
 Srnnslattb' from iljc Jfrwtlj. 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 
 JAMES DUFFY, 15, WELLINGTON-QUAY, AND 
 
 22, PATERNOSTER-ROW, LONDON. 
 
 1864.
 
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 2, CRAMPTON-QUAY.
 
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 One of the subjects proposed to be treated in the 
 great " Catholic Congress," held at Malines, in the 
 month of August last, was the situation of Catholics 
 in different countries. 
 
 England, so variously and pleasingly allied with 
 Belgium, could not fail to take a prominent place 
 in this class of topics ; and it naturally fell to the 
 author of this Address to appear as the representa- 
 tive of English Catholics. 
 
 The speech, as taken down by the shorthand 
 writers for the Compte-rendu of the meeting, has 
 been corrected, and in some places expanded; since, 
 though it occupied a long time in delivery, the 
 speaker found it necessary to compress his thoughts 
 occasionally. Delay in publication has been caused 
 by waiting for the French proofs, and by ill health. 
 
 London, December Wth, 1863. 
 
 A 2
 
 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION 
 
 OF 
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 My Lord Cardinal, my Lords and Gentlemen, 
 If practised and accomplished orators have 
 felt constrained to express to you the emotion 
 excited within them, on standing in the presence of 
 this immense and majestic assembly, with what 
 apprehension must I, a stranger (so far as a Catholic 
 can be a stranger in the midst of Catholics), in 
 feeble health, and speaking a language not my own, 
 approach the task of treating, before you, a subject 
 no less vast than delicate. I can assure you that in 
 doing so I fear to appear rash and even presump- 
 tuous. One thing, however, reassures me : I do not 
 come here as an orator, nor do I aspire to win the 
 palm of eloquence. I am a simple reporter, who 
 comes with a few plain figures to occupy your 
 attention, or, it may be to weary you, for a few 
 moments. I am about simply to relate to you facts
 
 6 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 which I believe to be worthy of the interest and 
 sympathy of all Catholics ; and the kind reception 
 which you have already given me assures me of your 
 patient indulgence. 
 
 I have undertaken to speak to you of the religious, 
 civil, and social condition of the Catholics of Eng- 
 land. But, before I enter upon my subject, permit 
 me to say that, far from coming here to teach, I am 
 come, on the contrary, to learn and to admire. 
 Whenever I visit Belgium, as I occasionally do, I am 
 amazed at the sight of all the beautiful and useful 
 works which distinguish this country, and render 
 it great, notwithstanding the narrowness of its 
 territory. I must even confess that I am somewhat 
 humbled for my country, although I cease not to 
 thank God for what He is doing there for His 
 Church. 
 
 When I contemplate your magnificent cathedrals, 
 and the ceremonies continually celebrated within 
 them ; when I look at the episcopate of your coun- 
 try, at those illustrious prelates, so exemplary for 
 their piety, their devotedness, and their zeal ; 
 when I consider this numerous body of clergy, so 
 indefatigable in their ministry and in their defence 
 of religion, labouring indefatigably, day and night, for 
 the welfare of their flocks ; when, lastly, I behold
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 7 
 
 this marvellous assembly of Belgian Catholics, both 
 laymen and ecclesiastics, united for an objeet which 
 is truly sublime, I confess that I feel overwhelmed 
 by the noble and consoling spectacle of Catholic 
 Belgium, especially at this moment, which seems to 
 put the finishing stroke to her religious glory. 
 
 You are aware, gentlemen, that Catholicism in 
 England is in a progressive state. This is a truth not 
 only recognised by all the members of the Catholic 
 Church, but admitted also by those who do not 
 belong to her. Everybody in England seems to 
 acknowledge that Catholicism is daily gaining 
 ground upon Protestantism. In fact, this admission 
 is the ground of many important proceedings on 
 the part of our religious adversaries. Gigantic 
 societies and institutions are founded for the avowed 
 purpose of impeding our growth ; and speeches in 
 public assemblies sound the alarm, and strive to 
 excite the national mind by this topic. Still a few 
 facts will enable you better to judge of the import- 
 ance of this progress, and these facts will consist of 
 simple statistics carefully framed. There is no elo- 
 quence more conclusive, or more persuasive, than 
 that of figures, on a subject like this ; and all fear 
 of exaggeration will be thus entirely avoided. 
 
 We may fix on three epochs, each of which
 
 8 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 marks the date of a step in the progress of English 
 Catholicism : — 
 
 The first is the Civil Emancipation of Catholics, 
 the commencement for them of a great material and 
 social advancement. The second, ten years later, is 
 marked by the Extension of the Episcopate, which 
 led to a great religious development. After the 
 same interval comes the third epoch, indelibly char- 
 acterised by the Creation of a Hierarchy, and a com- 
 plete ecclesiastical organization in England. 
 
 In 1829 the first of these events took place in 
 England, one which most powerfully contributed to 
 the progress of Catholicism — the Civil Emancipation 
 of Catholics. The measure for it passed on the 
 23rd of April, 1 829- By it Catholics obtained a 
 remarkable augmentation of their social privileges. 
 The oppressive laws, those especially which barred 
 their entrance into the two Houses of Parliament, 
 and the high functions of the magistracy and the 
 government, were definitely abolished. We may, 
 therefore, say that, since that moment, Catholics 
 have been legally placed on an equality with Pro- 
 testants. But, practically, various restrictions and 
 humiliations still remained which rendered the posi- 
 tion of Catholics painful, and the abolition of which 
 is still the object of our continual endeaVours.
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 9 
 
 The year 1829 was to us what the egress from 
 the catacombs was to the early Christians. Previous 
 to that date Catholics had been almost afraid to 
 show themselves openly — they concealed the poor 
 chapels which they built, not only by placing them 
 in obscure corners and ill-inhabited quarters, but by 
 disguising them under the uncomely appearance of 
 dissenting meeting-houses. Anti-Catholic feeling 
 w r as sometimes so violent, that I remember a town 
 where a priest, having ventured to cause a cross to 
 be traced in the plaster on the facade of a little 
 chapel which he was building, was warned by the 
 mayor, that he could not be answerable for the 
 safety of the building unless that sacred emblem 
 were effaced. So intense there was the hatred of 
 the Catholic name. 
 
 One circumstance which contributed to forward 
 the Act of Emancipation, was the fact that Catholics, 
 being assured of the protection of the State, had 
 already begun to assume some courage, and to show 
 themselves more boldly in the face of their enemies 
 in asserting their rights as fellow-subjects. Still, it 
 must be confessed, that it has been especially since 
 the year 1829 that the exterior expansion of Catho- 
 licism has been most visibly manifested. 
 
 Ten years later, on the 30th of July, 1840, Pope
 
 10 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 Gregory XVI. doubled the number of Bishops, still, 
 however, preserving the form of government by 
 Vicars Apostolic. This was, indeed, an immense 
 step ; for by this measure the natural action of the 
 Episcopate was enabled to develop itself more 
 widely and more energetically in England ; and you 
 will presently see how fruitful in results that action 
 has been. 
 
 Lastly, in 1850, our Holy Father, Pius IX., 
 granted to England its present Episcopal Hierarchy, 
 and nominated an Archbishop and twelve Bishops 
 to compose it. This measure has not only con- 
 tributed to diffuse the Episcopal action still more 
 widely over England, but may be said to have 
 bestowed a new life on Catholicism, by creating a 
 new form of existence for our Church. 
 
 We may say, gentlemen, that this gradual deve- 
 lopment of the English Episcopate was a providential 
 dealing. For, at an earlier period, we should not 
 have known what to do with our present privileges, 
 and with Hierarchichal organization, such as we now 
 enjoy. We should not even have possessed the 
 material means necessary to set in motion, or to 
 second the powers, wherewith the Holy See has since 
 endowed us. 
 
 Permit me to lay before you, in figures, a simple
 
 55 
 55 
 55 
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 11 
 
 view of the effect produced by these gradual 
 measures. 
 
 The census of the population of England gives 
 the following numbers of its inhabitants : — 
 For the year 1831, ... 13,896,797 
 1841, ... 15,914,148 
 1851, ... 17,927,609 
 1861, ... 20,066,224 
 that is, an increase of about two millions in each 
 period of ten years. 
 
 From 1831 to 1841 the population increased 14 
 per cent. ; in the same period the number of priests 
 was increased 25 per cent., or, in nearly double the 
 proportion. 
 
 During the ten following years the population in- 
 creased 13 per cent., the number of priests 45 percent. 
 
 Lastly, from 1851 to 1861, while the population 
 increased 12 per cent., the number of priests has 
 augmented by nearly 37 "67 per cent. 
 
 We see, therefore, that, as the population in- 
 creases, the number of our priests has grown in a 
 double and even triple proportion. 
 
 I will now give you some exact figures, which 
 will better enable you to judge of the consoling 
 extension of the Catholic Church in England. 
 
 In 1830 we numbered only 434 priests for the
 
 12 THE EELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 whole of England. We have now 1242, that is, 
 three times as many, within sixty. The number of 
 our churches, which was then only 410, now 
 amounts to 872. From 16 convents, which we 
 possessed in 1830, we have risen in 1863 to 162. 
 Lastly, while in 1830 no house of religious men 
 existed there, in 1850 there were 11, and their 
 number at present amounts to 53. 
 
 Allow me now to say a few words concerning 
 that vast city, over which I have received the un- 
 merited honour of being placed by the Holy See as 
 Archbishop, and the true condition of which I 
 have, therefore, the best means of ascertaining. 
 
 At first sight, it might be supposed that the 
 progress of Catholicity would be most strikingly 
 manifested in London. Such, however, gentlemen, 
 is not the case. For there we meet with obstacles 
 of which you could hardly form an idea. London 
 is not only the principal centre of the industrial 
 activity of the country, but it is the seat and focus 
 of those most powerful and varied associations, 
 whose great end is to oppose Catholic progress. 
 There it is that all the influence of the Court, the 
 Anglican aristocracy, a wealthy national hierarchy, 
 and the leading press, are arrayed in powerful coali- 
 tion against our holy religion. In the metropolis
 
 CATHOLICS IX ENGLAND. 13 
 
 are held those periodical meetings, occupying one 
 entire month, at which the most eloquent religious 
 orators are permitted, or rather encouraged, to pour 
 forth their unchecked bitterness against the Church. 
 till the place of their meeting, Exeter Hall, has 
 become an epithet, signifying anti-Catholic feeling 
 and violence. There is a command of almost un- 
 limited wealth lavished to draw our poor children 
 from our schools and institutions, and to entice 
 away the poor from their fidelity to their Catholic 
 pastors and their faith. 
 
 At the same time, there is no city, perhaps, in the 
 world in which the mere material obstacles to the 
 outward expansion of the Church are so formidable 
 as in London. Thus, to speak only of the acquisi- 
 tion of land for the building of churches, chapels, 
 &c, T w r ill state one fact, which would seem 
 incredible but for its having been mentioned before 
 parliament by a minister of State : — A small parcel 
 of land, about three quarters of an acre, situated not 
 in an aristocratical part of the town, but in one of 
 its commercial centres, near St. Paul's Cathedral, 
 was sold at the fabulous price of £180,000. 
 
 No, gentlemen, it is not to London that one 
 must go to contemplate the visible and material 
 growth of Catholicity in England. If you would
 
 14 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 fully appreciate it, you must go beyond the limits of 
 the capital. You will find in other dioceses of the 
 country, beautiful churches, magnificent colleges, 
 and convents, which would bear to stand, in Bel- 
 gium, side by side even with your own noble reli- 
 gious edifices. This is an acknowledgment which I 
 am glad to make, to the honour of my dear brethren 
 of the English Episcopate, far more worthy than 
 myself of the high mission to which they consecrate 
 themselves with so much zeal, devotedness, and 
 self-denial. And if I desired to rejoice the heart of 
 a Catholic stranger by monumental proofs of the 
 progress of the faith in England, I would take him 
 at once to St. Cuthbert's College, near Durham, or 
 St. Mary's, near Birmingham, to the beautiful Priory 
 of Stone, in the same diocese, to the Orphanage of 
 Norwood, in the diocese of Southwark, or, indeed, 
 to a number of other religious foundations, such as 
 those of the Benedictines, at Belmont and Downside. 
 Let us not, however, forget to render full justice 
 to those religious bodies which, conquering every 
 discouraging obstacle, have succeeded in adorning 
 London with edifices great and noble in their 
 design and execution.* 
 
 * I will instance the Oblates of St, Charles (secular priests), 
 the Ladies of Nazareth House, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 15 
 
 Iii connexion with this subject I am tempted to 
 relate an anecdote which is full of truthful elegance. 
 The Cathedral of York is, perhaps, the most perfect 
 in grandeur and grace of any in England. All who 
 have seen it acknowledge it to be a monument 
 worthy indeed of the ages of faith. Now, by the 
 side of this splendid Basilica, there stood, till lately, 
 an humble Catholic chapel. The city, being in 
 need of the ground on which it stood, purchased it, 
 and the proceeds of the sale, together with the con- 
 tributions of the faithful, have enabled the Bishop 
 of Beverley, who, I am glad to say, is present 
 amongst us to-day, to erect in its place a beautiful 
 church, which will certainly contribute much to the 
 progress of religion. It was, indeed, a bold idea, to 
 raise another church almost within the shadow of 
 that overpowering Minster. But, so far from this 
 proximity having bred contemptuous feelings towards 
 the new and yet infant structure, a Protestant 
 judge, not long ago, as he gazed upon this elegant 
 building, observed : " The old Roman Catholic 
 Cathedral must have struck its roots under ground 
 
 and of Compassion, the Marist Fathers, the Passionists, the Colle- 
 tines, the Sisters of Mercy, the Franciscan Nuns of the Third 
 Order, and many others. The Dominicans are now building a 
 church and convent worthy of their noble Order.
 
 16 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 and sent up this graceful sapling at so short a 
 distance !" 
 
 Yes, gentlemen, the Catholic Church is springing 
 up again ; it had left its tap-root under the religious 
 soil of England, from which new suckers are now 
 shooting upwards; the sap which was believed to 
 be drained out is rising in them once more. The 
 old plant scents again the waters, and revives, 
 endowed with a marvellous fertility. 
 
 But I check myself by remembering that I stand 
 before you to tell the whole truth without any con- 
 cealment or extenuation. We in England have our 
 weak side, our afflictions and our dangers, as well as 
 our consolations, and, shall I say ? our triumphs. 
 Our weak side is the education of our children, 
 whom our poverty prevents us from bringing up as 
 we would desire. Oh ! how gladly would I lead 
 some of those generous benefactors, who are always 
 ready to help the unfortunate, into those miserable 
 quarters of London, which swarm with the thick 
 and countless multitudes of England's prolatarians ! 
 How deeply would they be stirred to compassion 
 by the sight of these wretched quarters, threaded by 
 narrow, crooked, and loathsome alleys, in which the 
 air can hardly circulate, and where vice and crime 
 shelter themselves so securely, that the very agents
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 17 
 
 of the police scarcely dare attempt to follow them ! 
 I have been obliged of late frequently to pass 
 through these haunts of misery to visit a Belgian 
 community, which a good priest of your country has 
 had the courage to establish there, to instruct and 
 reclaim that wretched population. Well, gentle- 
 men, I have met hundreds of ragged children in 
 those streets, living the life of absolute abandon- 
 ment, scarcely having ever known their parents, and 
 ignorant, perhaps, of their own names. To this 
 strange form of childhood has been popularly given 
 the picturesque name of the London Arabs. 
 
 We are doing all we can to gather these poor 
 little outcasts together, and to give them Christian 
 training. The schools in which they are taught, 
 and to which I am at present alluding, are them- 
 selves situated in a truly fearful spot, Charles-street, 
 Drury-lane. We owe them in great measure to the 
 zeal of the Fathers of the Oratory. Their cost has 
 been no less than £12,000. The Religious Sisters 
 of St. Andrew, from Tournay, with a devotion truly 
 heroic, have undertaken the care of the girls' 
 school. 
 
 For some time past we have had the consolation 
 of seeing increased, by a thousand a-year, the num- 
 ber of children attending our schools for the poor. 
 
 B
 
 18 TIIE KELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 But, notwithstanding all the efforts of charity, there 
 must still remain at least 17,000 poor children who 
 attend no school, or only Protestant schools. This 
 is, as you may believe, gentlemen, an unspeakable 
 sorrow, which I share with all the faithful of my 
 diocese. The cure of this evil seems so beyond our 
 strength, that charitable foreigners have made pro- 
 posals, which I have gladly accepted, for establish- 
 ing, on the Continent, an association for promoting 
 the education of the poor in London. 
 
 Permit me now to give you a glimpse of the pro- 
 gress which Catholicity has made even in London, 
 notwithstanding all the obstacles with which it has 
 to contend. 
 
 In 1826 there were in London 48 Catholic priests; 
 in 1851, 113; in 1863, 194 (now above 200). 
 The number of our churches for these three periods 
 respectively amounts to 24, 46, and 102. At the 
 first of these dates there w T as but one single convent, 
 at the second 9, now there are above 25. Lastly, 
 while, in 1826, religious houses of men, and institu- 
 tions of Catholic charity had no place in the statistics 
 of the diocese, the first now amount to 15, the second 
 to 34. 
 
 These different pious institutions comprehend an 
 hospital served by religious aggregated to the Order
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 19 
 
 of St. John of Jerusalem, for whom a member of 
 parliament, a convert to Catholicism,* has just now 
 erected, at his own expense, a convent and a mag- 
 nificent church. They comprise also, almshouses 
 for aged men and women, a large asylum of the 
 Good Shepherd, three reformatories for young crimi- 
 nals of both sexes, six or seven orphanages for boys 
 and girls, to which we hope to add, at no long 
 distance of time, an asylum for deserted children. 
 
 All this is, in a manner, new, and is a signal proof 
 of the Divine goodness, and of the care with which 
 our Lord watches over His children. 
 
 By the side of our ordinary duties we have others 
 to fulfil which hardly exist out of London. We 
 have to provide for the foreign Catholic population 
 which flows thither. In the month of November 
 last I had the happiness of opening a large and 
 beautiful church for German Catholics, served by 
 priests of their nation. A venerable old man 
 was present at the inauguration of this building. 
 Seventy years before he had witnessed, as a Pro- 
 
 * Sir G. Bowyer. The Holy Father has presented a chalice 
 of massive gold to the new church. The Order of St. John has 
 given a magnificent altar, and the generous founder has en- 
 riched it with the most costly vestments and sacred vessels fur- 
 nished by the Great Exhibition. 
 
 B 2
 
 20 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 testant, the opening of the temple which we had 
 now devoted to Catholic worship. He had then 
 heard his uncle, officiating as the Protestant minis- 
 ter, predict the speedy downfall of papistical super- 
 stitions. The clouds of Catholicism were, according 
 to the prediction of this poor blind guide, to dis- 
 appear before the Protestant light then rising over 
 London ! 
 
 On the 16th of April of the present year, with 
 the attendance of nearly all our Bishops, we inau- 
 gurated another magnificent temple, a true Basilica, 
 copied from that of St. Chrysogonus at Borne, for 
 the use of the Italians in London ; while its spa- 
 cious crypt serves as a chapel for the Poles, and is 
 served by a priest recommended to me by the 
 Archbishop of Posen. The French have already, 
 it is true, a chapel of their own, served by excellent 
 priests of their own nation ; but it is inconvenient 
 in this respect, that it is at a considerable distance 
 from the part of London which they chiefly occupy. 
 We hope, therefore, before long, to see a church 
 arise nearer to the French quarter, in which they 
 may receive instructions in their own language. 
 The land for this purpose is already purchased. 
 
 There is another standard by which to measure 
 the progress of Catholicity in England, concerning
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 21 
 
 which you would, doubtless, desire to be informed, 
 the number of conversions to the faith. This is a 
 subject of great delicacy, on which you will pardon 
 me if I touch but lightly. 
 
 At the beginning of the religious movement in 
 England, which has been fitly termed amongst us, 
 the Catholic movement, some public journals took 
 pleasure in announcing the conversions which were 
 wrought. Such information was, doubtless, very 
 consoling to us ; but this very publicity raised, at the 
 same time, a formidable obstacle to conversions. If, 
 as sometimes happens, the conversion was not 
 complete, timid persons were alarmed, or exposed 
 to various kinds of trial and perplexity. Some even 
 turned back, while almost all felt their spiritual joy 
 diminished, by the vexations which publicity in 
 such matters never fails to bring with it. Many 
 were even persecuted on account of their conver- 
 sion. The custom of publishing matters connected 
 with conversions was, therefore, gradually dropped. 
 Observe, however, that the publicity formerly given 
 to them was not the work of the clergy, who were 
 fully alive to its danger, but often of other impru- 
 dent though well-intentioned persons, who, in their 
 zeal, rejoiced to see the number of the faithful 
 increased by the addition of persons distinguished
 
 22 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 by their social position. Do not suppose, therefore, 
 gentlemen, that because you hear less than you for- 
 merly did of conversions, the current of proselytism 
 is stopped. On the contrary, conversions are con- 
 tinually increasing ; they embrace persons of every 
 position, extending, as formerly, even to the highest 
 in the social scale. 
 
 That which is to us a special source of joy is, that 
 more conversions now occur among the middle and 
 industrial classes, in the very heart, that is, of those 
 social regions, which, until lately, had comparatively 
 resisted the exertions of the clergy. Not a few 
 students in the professional classes, such as law and 
 medicine, return to the faith of their fathers. I have 
 lately had the happiness of confirming several new 
 converts belonging to the learned professions. 
 
 The generosity of our brethren, thus restored to 
 the unity of the Church, is truly magnificent. 
 Suffice it to allude to one of the members of this 
 great assembly,* who, at his own expense, has 
 built a church at Belmont, near Hereford, large 
 enough to serve as the cathedral of an extensive 
 diocese. I will add, also, that the number of 
 churches built, or being built, by converts, amounts 
 to at least forty -two. 
 
 * Mr. Wegg Prosser, late M.P.
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 23 
 
 This shows, gentlemen, that many of our new 
 fellow-Catholics have been blessed by Providence 
 with worldly advantages, and seek to enter the 
 kingdom of heaven, as did the first converts, by 
 making generous sacrifices of them for the advance- 
 ment of true religion. 
 
 The second epoch of Catholic progress, of which 
 I have spoken, dates from the year 1840, when the 
 Holy See created a new circumscription of Vicariates 
 Apostolical, increasing their number from four to 
 eight. This measure produced the happiest effects, 
 by augmenting the number of centres of episcopal 
 vigilance and responsibility, and, consequently, of 
 pastoral activity. At first the new Bishops found 
 themselves in such destitution of apostolical labourers, 
 that, being sometimes alone and without the assist- 
 ance of a single priest at their episcopal residences, 
 they were obliged to fulfil the office of parish priests 
 themselves. Gradually their zeal, under the in- 
 fluence of an almost miraculous Providence, over- 
 came all difficulties, and triumphed over every 
 obstacle. Where was once only a miserable chapel, 
 we now find one or more beautiful churches ; new 
 sources of light have been kindled, which cast their 
 quickening rays upon spots hitherto out of the 
 reach of Catholic influence. New missions have
 
 24 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 been formed and solidly established ;* thanks, in 
 great measure, to the upright and equitable character 
 of our people, which allows us to address them with 
 frankness, and to their naturally serious and reli- 
 gious turn of mind, which leads them to give a 
 favourable reception to the efforts of disinterested 
 zeal. 
 
 To all these causes of progress was now added 
 the most important event in the history of English 
 Catholicity, the creation of the Hierarchy, decreed 
 on the 27th of September, 1850, by the great 
 Pontiff, who now so gloriously rules the Church. 
 
 You may remember, gentlemen, that when the 
 tidings reached Eng]and of this courageous measure, 
 so worthy in all respects of the Holy See, it excited 
 keenest apprehensions. It was supposed to be 
 fraught with, I know not what of danger and hosti- 
 lity to the nation. Violent passions were awakened, 
 and threatening manifestations, unrepressed by 
 authority, burst forth against the new organization. 
 It was assuredly a moment of delusion with our 
 adversaries, and perhaps a critical moment for 
 ourselves. To many it was a subject of fear and 
 
 * In England what is elsewhere termed a parish, is called by 
 Catholics a mission. All priests, in fact, bear the name there of 
 
 Missionary Apostolic
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 25 
 
 anxiety, to us all it was a matter of pain and suffer- 
 ing. But, thanks be to God, our countrymen, since 
 that sorrowful period, have made us such noble and 
 touching reparation, that those days of violent 
 excitement are, I can assure you, for ever effaced 
 from the memory of Catholics. 
 
 If the multiplication of Vicariates produced re- 
 markable effects on the progress of religion, the 
 establishment of the Hierarchy must necessarily have 
 added to these advantages, if only by the fact that 
 it brought five additional Sees to the aid of those 
 which already existed. Not to weary you with 
 details, I will only state the fact, that wherever a 
 Bishop appears, a true religious oasis is immediately 
 formed around him, and peopled by Catholic 
 institutions. 
 
 The great towns of Manchester and Liverpool, so 
 pre-eminently Catholic, thanks to their Bishops, be- 
 hold spacious and beautiful churches arise, almost 
 daily, in the midst of them. At Northampton and 
 Plymouth, where but lately Catholicity made but 
 little appearance, cathedrals have sprung up, while 
 religious communities are being established both in 
 town and country. 
 
 Around Birmingham, and in other towns of its 
 diocese, several large churches, cemeteries, assigned
 
 26 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 by the municipalities to the exclusive use of 
 Catholics, convents, orphanages, hospitals, and other 
 charitable institutions, have been also founded by 
 Episcopal zeal. 
 
 The town of Hereford, the residence of the 
 Bishop of Newport, boasts the Cathedral of Belmont 
 already mentioned, and a monastery of Benedictines, 
 whose young and fervent Prior is present with us in 
 this assembly. It possesses also a beautiful convent 
 of the religious of the Good Shepherd, and an 
 admirable establishment of Sisters of St. Vincent 
 of Paul, occupied, here as in all other places, in a 
 variety of good works. 
 
 If I do not review all our dioceses it is for fear of 
 encroaching upon your time. I must name them 
 all if I would enumerate the consoling fruits which 
 they present, and do justice to the illustrious 
 prelates who govern them. I will only say, that I 
 lately spent a few days in the North of Wales, which 
 now forms a portion of the new Bishopric of Shrews- 
 bury, a region once most remote from Catholic in- 
 fluences. Well, in that distant part of the country, 
 where formerly two or three chapels (of which one 
 was private) sufficed to shelter the scanty number 
 of the faithful, we now find a large college of Jesuit 
 Fathers, a very picturesque convent of Capuchins,
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 27 
 
 by the side of a stately church at Pantasaph,* two 
 houses of religious women, one of them from Holland, 
 and seven new missions, or parishes, founded in 
 perpetuity. 
 
 Besides these multiplications of religious advan- 
 tages, consequent upon the increase in the number 
 of Bishoprics, the Hierarchy has conferred upon us 
 other benefits, which the simple augmentation of 
 Vicariates Apostolical would never have been able 
 to obtain for us. Such are the germ of the organi- 
 zation of the parochial system by the nomination in 
 certain missions of priests, with the title of Mission- 
 ary Rectors, w r ho cannot be removed at pleasure ; 
 the creation of diocesan Chapters in full enjoyment 
 of their canonical rights and privileges, to which the 
 Holy See, preserving, nevertheless, its own right of 
 nomination intact, has generously granted the honour- 
 able privilege of submitting the names of three 
 ecclesiastics for its choice, on the vacancy of a See. 
 
 But more important still is the power of holding 
 provincial councils, of which three have been already 
 assembled. After three centuries of disorder and 
 persecution, it was necessary to establish a uniform 
 
 * Built at the expense of Lord Feihling, a convert, "\vlio also 
 gave the land for the houses of the Fathers and of the Sisters of 
 Charity at Pantasaph.
 
 28 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 system in accordance with canonical arrangements 
 and with the new Hierarchial order. Amongst other 
 measures of great importance, I will only instance 
 that which was decided in our last Synod — the 
 foundation of an ecclesiastical seminary in every 
 diocese. 
 
 Allow me now, gentlemen, to give you some in- 
 formation as to what English Catholics have to do, 
 and are still doing, to complete the work of their 
 emancipation, and to fill up the gaps, and supply the 
 imperfections, still remaining in their social position, 
 especially with regard to the necessitous classes, and 
 those who are unable to help themselves. 
 
 I have already remarked upon the difficulty, not 
 to say impossibility, of finding adequate means for 
 the education of our poor. Before the organization 
 of the Hierarchy a kind of council had been formed, 
 under the name of the Poor School Committee, to 
 watch over the interests of our poor children. It 
 is composed of three deputies from each diocese, 
 one of whom is a priest, and the other two laymen 
 of high position, and well known for their zeal and 
 religious self-devotion ; for, I am happy to say, that 
 these two qualifications, nobility and faith, are to be 
 found united in England no less frequently than in 
 Belgium.
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 29 
 
 The president of this council has been, up to the 
 present time, a man who is equally venerated by 
 Catholics and respected by Protestants, who is 
 listened to with all deference, even by persons in the 
 highest official position ; a man who, for many years 
 past, has been at the head of all Catholic works of 
 charity, who has but to make an appeal in the name 
 of religion, to rally around him all that is noblest 
 and most intelligent among Catholics ; a man who 
 has deserted his comfortable country home to live in 
 the metropolis, in order that he may be better able 
 to labour for the poor ; a man, in short, who not 
 only by reason of his virtues, but by reason of the 
 advanced age which, for the benefit of religion and 
 charity, Divine Providence has permitted him to 
 attain,* I may venture to place by the side of the 
 venerable man and irreproachable judge, who pre- 
 sides over this assembly, f 
 
 Our Poor School Committee has a twofold office: 
 the first consists in the distribution of the gifts and 
 alms collected on a certain day in all the churches 
 of England on behalf of its work. This distribu- 
 tion is made amongst all the schools which stand in 
 
 * The Honourable Charles Langdale. 
 
 f The Baron de Gerlache, supreme Judge of the Court of 
 Cassation.
 
 30 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 need of assistance, with consummate impartiality, 
 judgment, and tact. There has never been a com- 
 plaint or a remonstrance on the subject of a partition 
 so delicate, and at times so difficult to manage. The 
 meeting for this purpose takes place in London after 
 Easter, at the same time with that of the Bishops of 
 England, and no dissension has ever arisen to 
 disturb the harmony which prevails between these 
 two bodies. 
 
 But the Poor School Committee has a higher 
 mission, and one still more important than that of 
 which I have just spoken. It is recognized by 
 government as the official organ of Catholics in all 
 matters relating to the education of the poor. By 
 its intervention, we have negociated with the 
 government, and obtained the advantages which I 
 am about to enumerate. 
 
 I. A separate allotment of the funds granted by 
 parliament during the last fifteen years for educa- 
 tional purposes, in favour of schools exclusively 
 Catholic. During this period our schools have re- 
 ceived, as their legitimate shares of these funds, a 
 sum total of £239,757, partly for the construction, 
 and partly for the maintenance, of poor schools. 
 Besides this, within the course of eight years, the 
 Privy Council, which is entrusted with the adminis-
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 31 
 
 tratioD of the funds devoted to education, has 
 granted £21,543 to Catholic normal schools for 
 both sexes. 
 
 The total amount of grants to Catholic schools 
 obtained by our committee is £268,062. 
 
 II. A simple and uniform arrangement, by which 
 the land and building allotted to any poor school are 
 secured to it in perpetuity, and guaranteed against 
 any legal difficulty or interference. 
 
 III. The direction of the schools : — Each school 
 is placed under the superintendence of a local com- 
 mittee of Catholics, the president of which is the 
 missionary priest. He is the sole judge of all 
 matters of moral order, or affecting the conduct, 
 instruction, or direction of the school. In case of 
 any difference arising in the council the appeal is to 
 the Bishop of the diocese. 
 
 IV. Inspection. — Schools which receive assistance 
 from government are subject to periodical inspection. 
 In our schools, however, this inspection can only be 
 entrusted to Catholic inspectors, approved by the 
 Bishops, and recommended by the Poor School Com- 
 mittee. They are salaried by government, which 
 also defrays the expenses of their journeys. 
 
 Such are tbe concessions granted to Catholics 
 with regard to their poor schools ; they are due, in
 
 32 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 great measure, to the perseverance of Catholics, both 
 ecclesiastics and laymen acting together with com- 
 mon zeal and in perfect accordance. 
 
 I will unite under one head two separate insti- 
 tutions which are intimately related to each other, 
 Reformatory Schools and Schools of Industry. 
 
 The former date from 1854. A law passed at 
 that period enacted, that juvenile offenders, con- 
 demned to imprisonment, should, after having passed 
 some weeks in prison, complete their term of punish- 
 ment in a reformatory, i. e n in an establishment 
 recognised and approved by the Secretary of State 
 for the Home Department. 
 
 One day, when I was presiding at a charitable 
 meeting, it had just came to my knowledge that 
 Catholics, placed by the police in these establish- 
 ments, were not only mixed with Protestants, but 
 exposed to the danger of losing their faith, since no 
 religious instruction was given, or even allowed 
 them. Shocked at this intelligence, I engaged, upon 
 the spot, that before another year, Catholics should 
 have a reformatory of their own. This engagement 
 was fulfilled. In the course of that year our 
 good Catholics bestirred themselves ; a separation 
 was obtained between the Catholic and Protestant 
 delinquents, a large house was hired in the neigh-
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 33 
 
 bourhood of London, and, in a very short space of 
 time, the first Catholic reformatory was established 
 there, under the direction of the Brothers of Mercy 
 from Malines. I take tins opportunity of testifying 
 to the excellence of that institution, founded by your 
 own Canon Scheppers. 
 
 Similar establishments were successively opened 
 in different parts of the country, so that we have 
 three for children of each sex. 
 
 In 1857 the benefits of this system were extended 
 to children unconvicted of any crime, but abandoned, 
 i. e., without home, or shelter, or parental care, who 
 are found by the police in the streets, and often 
 associated with well-known malefactors. Without 
 obliging them to pass through a prison, which might 
 impress upon them an indelible stigma, the police 
 magistrate sends them to an industrial school, recog- 
 nised by the Secretary of State, for a fixed period, 
 according to their age. It was necessary to provide 
 for this new order of wants, and we set ourselves to 
 do so with all the zeal of which we were capable. 
 
 I began my part by purchasing a house, on free- 
 hold ground, close to my little country residence in 
 the neighbourhood of London. I have since made 
 considerable additions to it ; and this new Catholic 
 industrial school is managed by my secretary, Canon 
 
 c
 
 34 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 Searle, and by the zealous priest of the mission. 
 We have now 70 boys in it. These useful institu- 
 tions have since multiplied, and we have now three 
 for boys and as many for girls. 
 
 At first some magistrates, for want of information, 
 persisted, notwithstanding the instructions of the 
 Secretary of State, in sending our children to Pro- 
 testant institutions ; but they have gradually become 
 more alive to the conditions of the case, and have 
 changed their practice. 
 
 The members of the Conferences of St. Vincent 
 of Paul also watch closely over their decisions, and 
 are often able to rescue these poor little derelicts 
 from the illegal penalty of the loss of their faith. I 
 may add, that the Inspector of Prisons is strictly 
 forbidden, when he visits these establishments, to 
 address any question to the children on the subject 
 of religion. 
 
 A fourth (perhaps more) of the British army 
 is composed of Irish Catholics, yet no steps had 
 ever been taken to provide for the exercise of 
 their religion, or to give them the beneBt of Catholic 
 chaplains. The law had provided for the army none 
 but Anglican ministers ; but it has at last come to 
 be understood that piety does not stand in the way 
 of valour, and that soldiers who go to confession
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 35 
 
 fight none the less bravely than those who do 
 not. 
 
 When the Crimean war broke out, the assistance 
 of some priests was asked to accompany the troops ; 
 and several young and admirable ecclesiastics, of 
 whom some have left their bones in the cemeteries of 
 that distant land, immediately offered themselves, 
 and soon gained the esteem of the officers, and the 
 love of the soldiers entrusted to their pious care. 
 
 But these extempore chaplains had no recognised 
 official position, so that their relations and their cor- 
 respondence with the war office, or the staff of the 
 army, necessarily passed through the hands of the 
 Protestant chaplain-in -chief, a humiliating position 
 for these disinterested and devoted men. 
 
 In the month of June, 1S58, General Peel put an 
 end to this vexatious inequality. A body of Catholic 
 chaplains was nominated on an equality in all re- 
 spects with the Protestant, having rank, promotion, 
 salaries, and retiring pensions, precisely similar to 
 theirs. Their number, according to the official re- 
 port of the 1st of June, 1862, amounted to eighteen, 
 to which we must add sixty-three assistant-chaplains 
 or priests, attached to the troops in their barracks, in 
 all eighty-one, receiving from government £5,921. 
 
 The first time that a proposal was made to Parlia- 
 
 c 2
 
 36 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 ment to take similar measures in behalf of Catholic 
 sailors on board the fleet, it was received with con- 
 tempt, almost with indignation. But on this point, 
 also, time and perseverance have wrought their effect 
 upon the minds of our people. The government 
 carried without opposition, in the budget, the sum 
 necessary to repair this injustice. In each of our 
 three great harbours a vessel is moored, prepared 
 for Catholic worship, with a chaplain, having a salary 
 of £125, specially appointed to the spiritual care of 
 the Catholic sailors. 
 
 The men of war 3 in the neighbouring ports, are 
 obliged to send them on Sunday to hear Mass on 
 board these ships, and they are thereby dispensed 
 from the hard necessity of attending the Protestant 
 service. 
 
 Two important matters still occupy our attention, 
 of which one may be considered as already arranged, 
 and the other on the way to a settlement. I mean 
 the deplorable and iniquitous position of Catholics 
 in our prisons and workhouses. I will say a few 
 words on both these points. 
 
 In England there are two principal classes of 
 prisons. There are seven set apart for the deten- 
 tion of prisoners undergoing their punishment ; 
 these are under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 37 
 
 State. The country and borough gaols are under 
 the management of the local justices of the 
 peace. 
 
 Besides the prisons, we have large and numerous 
 establishments in England, called Union Work- 
 houses. These are new institutions, belonging to 
 several parishes, associated together to maintain, by 
 means of local taxes, persons, who, from sickness or 
 want of employment, are unable to earn their bread. 
 Once shut up in either, no Catholic could obtain 
 assistance of a priest, without a formal request made 
 as often as his aid was desired. At the same time, 
 the Protestant chaplain had free access daily to the 
 Catholic prisoner, even in his cell, where the system 
 of solitary confinement prevails. The wicked and 
 hardened naturally cared not to make a petition, 
 which was usually received with a bad grace, and 
 which sometimes exposed them to persecution. 
 They were often made to feel the difference between 
 Catholics and Protestants. 
 
 As to the poor orphan children who were sent to 
 the workhouse, when once within its doors, there 
 was no more thought of Catholicity for them. The 
 authorities refused even to give the names of these 
 unfortunate little creatures to the priest, when he 
 inquired for them ; they denied their existence, and
 
 38 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 sent them to a great distance in the country, the 
 better to secure their perversion. 
 
 These evils were common to these two classes : — 
 the vineti in mendicitate etferro, those " in bonds 
 for destitution or crime," — in the workhouse and 
 the prison, — were confounded together in the same 
 injustice. The measure was full ; and liberal and 
 honourable Catholics could no longer, without being 
 wanting to their duty and their conscience, tolerate 
 an iniquity which cried to heaven for vengeance. 
 
 In 1853 Mr. Lucas spoke of it with strong emo- 
 tion in the House of Commons. One of the liberal 
 ministry replied by an assertion, which was wholly 
 inaccurate, that the Catholic Ecclesiastical Autho- 
 rities made no complaint of the existing state of 
 things, and that no change was required. 
 
 Our Catholics, however, did not lose courage, but 
 continued their energetic efforts with the ministry. 
 At the same time, with their venerable Nestor at 
 their head, they assembled, on the 8th of June, 
 1859, in the great St. James's Hall, in London, 
 forming the most numerous and imposing meeting 
 of Catholics which had ever taken place, as to 
 ability, social position, enthusiasm, and perfect 
 unity of sentiment. They did not come together, 
 as on former occasions, to vindicate their right as
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 39 
 
 Catholic citizens to a place in the two Houses of 
 Parliament. No, it was to obtain for the most 
 miserable of their fellow-Catholics, for criminals and 
 paupers, those spiritual consolations which religion 
 alone can afford. Thank God ! faith and charity, 
 far more than politics, awaken, excite, and set in 
 motion now-a-days the Catholic spirit in England. 
 
 It is but justice to remark that, during the short 
 administration of Lord Derby, the head of the Tory 
 party in 1858, Catholics received encouraging re- 
 plies to their remonstrances on the abuses and acts 
 of oppression, proved against the establishments of 
 which I have been speaking. 
 
 When the Conservative Cabinet was dissolved, 
 the new minister, Lord Palmerston, found, accord- 
 ing to custom in use amongst us, two memoranda 
 left by the outgoing ministers, Packington and 
 Estcourt, proving the good intentions of the 
 previous government with regard to Catholics in 
 the navy, and those confined in prisons and work- 
 houses ; in consequence of commissions confided to 
 the two ministers above mentioned, by the chief 
 of their cabinet. 
 
 The change of ministry took place in the month 
 of May, 1859, and on the 20th of June following a 
 numerous deputation of Catholics was received by
 
 40 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 the Premier, now re-established in his former position, 
 to lay before him those great questions which, with 
 good reason, filled and agitated the minds of the 
 faithful. 
 
 We must here separate the grievances, the redress 
 of which we seek, because of the different effects 
 produced by our remonstrances. Suffice it to say, 
 that the deputation presented to Lord Palmerston 
 a memorial carefully drawn up, which had received 
 the assent of the great assembly, to which I have 
 alluded. This memorial contained six demands, 
 which, if granted, would give full and entire satis- 
 faction to Catholics on all the points at issue. 
 
 In 1861 a Catholic committee was formed in 
 London, to undertake the cause of the prisoners 
 with the government, and, in the House of Commons, 
 Lord Edward Howard, having proposed a measure 
 to the same end, withdrew it on a promise made by 
 the minister that he would take the matter seriously 
 in hand. 
 
 Accordingly, in the following year, Lord Palmers- 
 ton proposed, in the budget, a sum of £550 to be 
 divided amongst the Catholic chaplains of seven 
 penal prisons, dependant upon government, in 
 which Catholics were thenceforward placed on the 
 same footing with Protestants. The subsidy was
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 4] 
 
 granted, and amounts exactly to the same sum 
 which had been proposed to the House by the same 
 minister in 1854, and which was then rejected. 
 
 As to the gaols in towns and counties, the 
 government was unable, from lack of authority, to 
 act in the same effectual way ; but, after much dis- 
 cussion, a law was obtained, empowering the local 
 magistrates to appoint a salaried Catholic chaplain 
 to a prison, whenever they should judge the number 
 of Catholic inmates sufficient, or even to indemnify a 
 priest who should consent to visit them freely ; with 
 authority, in both cases, to defray the expense thus 
 incurred from the county rates, which had not 
 hitherto been allowed. 
 
 This law has passed the legislature during the 
 course of the present year. It remains to be seen 
 whether it will be sufficient, or whether it ought to be 
 rendered obligatory.* It at least excludes all relations 
 between the Protestant minister and the Catholic- 
 prisoners, unless by their expressed desire. 
 
 On the workhouse question, the debate is not 
 yet terminated, but we have little fear of the result. 
 
 * While this Address is being prepared for the press, the 
 experiment has been tried. It has had favourable results at 
 Worcester, Liverpool, and partly at Wakefield. It has failed 
 in Middlesex, and some other places.
 
 42 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 To overcome the obstacles still raised by our adver- 
 saries, it seemed necessary to form, in I860, a 
 Catholic committee in London, to superintend and 
 direct this matter. 
 
 A young but able and devoted ecclesiastic has 
 contributed, with great zeal, prudence, and skill, to 
 the success of this holy cause. As secretary of the 
 committee he has borne the hardest burthen of its 
 labours, having made it his peculiar care to publish 
 a monthly report devoted to the cause of our unfor- 
 tunate brethren. 
 
 To this same priest, the Canon Morris, we owe, 
 also, the direction of the parliamentary inquiry, 
 which we boldly demanded. The facts, on which 
 we grounded our remonstrances, were denied ; we 
 were told that Catholics were perfectly well-treated, 
 and subjected to no kind of injustice in the unions. 
 The commission of inquiry was granted to us in 
 1861. The majority was composed of Protestants, 
 chosen from all the different parties in the House, to 
 whom were added three Catholics. Witnesses were 
 heard on both sides. The proofs of oppression and 
 injustice were glaring, the defence pitiable. 
 
 The report to the House has been drawn up. 
 Peculiar circumstances have hitherto prevented its 
 publication, but we have every reason to believe
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 43 
 
 that it is entirely favourable to us, and that the 
 measures which it will suggest will put an end to 
 the last of our just grievances. 
 
 Gentlemen, these are certainly not great facts 
 worthy to attract the attention of the world, or cal- 
 culated to shed new lustre on the Church ; but they 
 testify, as it seems to me, to the zeal and persever- 
 ance which English Catholics bring to the vindica- 
 tion and defence of their religious liberties ; and it 
 is enough for me that, on this plea, they will obtain 
 your sympathy and your prayers. 
 
 But, before I pass on to the second part of my 
 subject, permit me to discharge a debt which weighs 
 upon my heart. 
 
 I return thanks, in the name of all the Bishops of 
 our Hierarchy, to my Lords the Prelates of the 
 Belgian Episcopate, for the inestimable services 
 which they have rendered us, and which have con- 
 tributed so largely to the progress of which I have 
 been speaking. 
 
 An English seminary has been recently founded 
 at Bruges by the generosity of an English convert. 
 This establishment is already flourishing under the 
 direction of Belgian Superiors ; and there, besides 
 the student of our own nation, several Belgians 
 are preparing themselves for the exercise of their
 
 44 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 ministry in England. If we are to calculate in anti- 
 cipation their services, by those already rendered to 
 us by their zealous countrymen, who have volun- 
 tarily preceded them, we may rejoice beforehand in 
 their full success. 
 
 The prosperity of such an establishment must 
 always depend, in great measure, upon the benevo- 
 lent protection of the Bishop who superintends it. 
 Alas ! gentlemen, I avail myself, with real sorrow, of 
 the sad circumstance which permits me to speak 
 with greater freedom than I could have ventured to 
 do, but for the severe illness which deprives us of 
 his presence here, of that distinguished Prelate, who 
 is one of the ornaments, not only of Belgium, but of 
 the whole Church. Others may praise him for his 
 varied and profound erudition, his administrative 
 activity, or even his Christian and Episcopal virtues. 
 I must content myself with offering to him, in the 
 midst of his sufferings (which may God relieve !) 
 the tribute of the deep and lively gratitude of Eng- 
 lish Catholics for his paternal goodness to one hum- 
 ble college, and its young students who are learning 
 there, to imitate the virtues of the excellent priests 
 who surround and direct them. 
 
 I have already mentioned, with the praise which 
 they deserve, the Brothers of Mercy of Malines, who
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 45 
 
 direct most admirably two large institutions in my 
 diocese. We have also seven communities of reli- 
 gious women of Belgian origin, who aid us by their 
 works and their prayers. God alone can recompense 
 their charity and their self-devotion. 
 
 Indeed, to Him alone do we owe all. You, gen- 
 tlemen, have preserved, and have only to continue 
 the great and noble works of your fathers. For us, 
 everything has to be created: and the only Creator 
 is God. 
 
 Gentlemen, I have now reached the second part 
 of my Address ; and I feel that it is by far the most 
 difficult and the most delicate. I have to lay 
 before you the means which have been employed 
 by the Catholics of England, and, with God's 
 blessing, successfully, to obtain the concessions justly 
 claimed by them.* I have shown you that the 
 efforts to obtain some of these have lasted, without 
 intermission, for ten years before being crowned 
 with success ; and T should not be doing justice 
 to my theme if I did not communicate to you 
 
 * There were seven enumerated in the first part : 1 st, separate 
 education of Catholic poor children ; 2nd, separate reforma- 
 tories ; 3rd, similar industrial schools for children in danger; 
 4th, chaplains for the army ; 5th, for the navy ; 6th, prison 
 chaplains ; and, 7th, the same for workhouses.
 
 46 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 the manner in which such exertions have been 
 made. 
 
 First, let me observe, that we are in a different 
 position from you. We have not had ours to 
 choose ; we have not had the responsibility of 
 selecting our own form of government. Divine 
 Providence has done all this for us. We find 
 ourselves under the constitutional form of govern- 
 ment, which has existed in our country for cen- 
 turies, and gladly accept it ; we throw ourselves 
 loyally into its duties and principles, and employ, 
 energetically, those means and instruments which it 
 places at our command, for obtaining the redress 
 of wrongs continued, and the concession of rights 
 withheld. 
 
 The Catholics of England expect no favours, and 
 do not ask for them. Justice, as done to their 
 fellow-citizens, is all they demand. Were any one 
 to come to them, as did the prophet to the Suna- 
 mite, and offer to obtain their just petitions through 
 favour, were he to say, " Have you any affair about 
 which you would wish me to speak to the highest 
 authority in the realm, or shall I use my influence 
 at the War Department, in the matter of your 
 military chaplains?" I believe they would answer, 
 with that wise and good woman, " I dwell in the
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 47 
 
 midst of my people."* That is, I require and 
 desire no favours ; I am one of the nation ; I am 
 satisfied to be like any of my fellow-subjects, treated 
 on a footing of perfect equality with them. 
 
 And this is, and has been, the language and the 
 sentiment of our Catholics in England ; " You may 
 have knocked off our fetters, but while the ring, by 
 which they were fastened, still remains round our 
 ankles or wrists, we cannot rest satisfied. Our 
 Protestant fellow-subjects bear no such remnant of 
 old oppression, which would gall even if it did 
 not hold captive." They have made up their minds 
 that, within the limits of the constitution, they 
 must not rest till they have gained this equality. 
 And how ? 
 
 We know of only one way under our form of 
 government. In a constitutional monarchy we 
 recognize only two powers in intimate relation ; 
 the crown and the people represented in its two 
 houses. One can recognize no third estate, no 
 intermediate power. 
 
 A ministry is the organ of communication between 
 these two essential powers. It bears from the higher 
 
 * " Numquid habes negotium, et vis ut loquar regi, sire 
 principi militia? ? Quos respondit ; in medio populi mei ha- 
 bito." — 4 Reg. iv.
 
 48 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 to the lower the resolutions emanating from the 
 supreme prerogatives invested in it ; it carries up 
 from the lower to the higher its wishes, its desires, 
 its respectful suggestions, to obtain the final sanction 
 of the throne. 
 
 The moment this mechanism fails in its object; so 
 soon as the measure which, through its responsible 
 agency, the royal authority has sent for deliberation 
 to its assembled councillors, is rejected by them ; 
 or the determinations of these are such, that it 
 cannot consistently, with its avowed principles, hold 
 itself responsible for them to the crown, it is deranged 
 in its organic action, and must be either replaced or 
 repaired. But, as a power in itself, it is no recog- 
 nized element of constitutional government. And 
 particularly we can recognize in it no distinct power, 
 as having right or might to perpetuate old abuses, or 
 create them for the future. 
 
 It is, then, to the Constitutional Powers of the 
 State that the Catholics of England address them- 
 selves. But here how different is their condition from 
 vours ! You form the nation. Your whole electoral 
 bodv is Catholic. Your candidates are for the most 
 part Catholics. Your chambers are mainly com- 
 posed of members of your own religion. 
 
 In England it is the opposite way. The Catholics 
 
 t
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 4Q 
 
 there form a small minority, scattered thinly over 
 the country, except in a few parts, and in some large 
 towns. Out of these their power and influence as 
 electors is almost null. In fact, England sends only 
 one Catholic to the House of Commons. Still, the 
 inequality of the electoral contest, and the smallness 
 of their chances, do not make the Catholics despair. 
 There are places where their number is totally in- 
 sufficient to secure a seat for one of themselves; but, 
 where there are several candidates, they maybe able, 
 if united, to make one or the other side of the balance 
 prevail, and seat a member who professes just views, 
 and, at any rate, not hostile intentions. 
 
 It is only lately that Catholics have learnt their 
 power, even in large constituencies, and have given 
 some startling proofs of it. I will illustrate this by 
 allusion to a case which occurred at our last election. 
 A candidate in a considerable town came before 
 the electors on liberal principles, and was surprised 
 to find himself rejected by the preponderance of 
 Catholic votes, which turned the scale. He was 
 informed that the motive for this conduct was his 
 having exceeded even the liberty accorded to an ad- 
 vocate, in a cause which he had pleaded against a 
 Catholic bishop, in order to excite the religious pre- 
 judice of a jury. He was told that he would meet 
 
 D
 
 50 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 with the same determined and organized opposition 
 in another place where he intended to try his chance. 
 This was the case. So, having to stand for the very 
 place where that bishop lived, he called upon him, 
 and made his peace. 
 
 I will mention another instance, to show what 
 very limited influence may accomplish. In a small 
 borough, a candidate came forward, canvassing on an 
 anti-Catholic principle, as the great promoter of a 
 bill to harass religious houses. He expected, no 
 doubt, to carry all the Protestant, and, particularly, 
 the Dissenting interest. There was only one Catholic 
 voter of any position in the town, and he the only one 
 of his family. But he brought his fellow-townsmen 
 together, and convinced them, from the candidate's 
 antecedents, that, though an enemy to Catholics, he 
 was no friend to Dissenters, and he lost his election. 
 
 These examples may show how Catholics strive 
 to avail themselves of the very small electoral power 
 which they possess in England. It has been suf- 
 ficient, first, to exclude a certain number of adverse, 
 or, at least, more than ordinarily prejudiced mem- 
 bers from the House of Commons, and to make their 
 influence, in divided and nearly balanced consti- 
 tuencies, worth estimating in their calculations by 
 the great political parties of the country.
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 51 
 
 It is evident that, were we to rely on our power 
 in influencing parliamentary votes through our action 
 on constituencies or on elections, in order to obtain 
 what we are entitled to, our chances would be indeed 
 extremely small. We have, therefore, to put our 
 trust in more powerful influences. First, we have 
 an unbounded confidence in the justice of our cause. 
 Those who have undertaken it, in every instance, 
 can have no selfish or even personal interest in it. 
 Poor children, youthful delinquents, soldiers, sailors, 
 and the inmates of prisons and workhouses, belong 
 not to their own class, or even to those classes with 
 whom they are brought habitually into contact. They 
 are removed from them by many intermediate 
 layers in society. Nothing but a deep, religious 
 sense of justice can urge them to give up time, energy, 
 and influence to the succour and alleviation of the 
 most destitute and helpless. 
 
 Now, the cause of all such is the cause of the 
 God of justice and of power. And when the depri- 
 vation of rights or the exercise of oppression is the 
 consequence, at least accidental, of their conscien- 
 tious adhesion to the Catholic religion, it is not 
 wonderful that we should feel it an absolute duty 
 to exert all our means in their favour. " Thrice is 
 
 d 2
 
 52 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 he armed," says the greatest of our poets, " who 
 hath his quarrel just." 
 
 Hence, our full conviction of the justice of our 
 demands is equivalent to an unlimited confidence in 
 the Divine justice, that, if we persevere in our efforts, 
 sooner or later we shall succeed. This is our first, 
 our firmest, and our surest trust. 
 
 Then we have an unbounded confidence in the 
 ultimate justice of our fellow-countrymen. We 
 know that individuals may have their minds 
 thoroughly penetrated with prejudices from early 
 education, and later influences, particularly from 
 the press. But experience has proved that at the 
 bottom, buried beneath this confused heap of false, 
 and even absurd convictions, there is a powerful 
 sense of justice, which, if properly evoked, will make 
 its way through these erroneous teachings, and, 
 standing above them, will tread them under foot. 
 
 But as we cannot address each individual con- 
 science, we feel an equal confidence, if, true to 
 constitutional principles, we appeal to the general 
 resultant of their forces through their representation 
 in parliament. Hence, every one of the important 
 concessions which I have mentioned, as obtained by 
 Catholics, has passed through this channel, whether
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 53 
 
 by special Act or admission in the estimates ; in 
 fact, have been awarded by the nation, gradually, 
 steadily, and perseverently convinced of the justice 
 of each claim. It has not been a struggle of party, 
 to which we were unequal : it has been the contest 
 of patient confidence ; at first, once and again losing, 
 then slowly gaining, till at last the justice of our de- 
 mands has been acknowledged. Then, perhaps, 
 have come partial concessions, then greater; till we 
 have either obtained, or feel sure of obtaining, all 
 that we desire. 
 
 We have little or no command of the periodical 
 press ; scarcely any facilities for addressing large 
 meetings ; hardly personal weight in guiding pub- 
 lic feeling. But we have a few zealous and sincere 
 advocates in both Houses of Parliament, who appeal 
 there to the national conscience, and, by degrees, 
 succeed in rousing it. We have the unlimited 
 power of petitioning ; and this, when employed by 
 large united multitudes, carries great weight. But, 
 more particularly, on important and contested points 
 we have the still more valuable right of asking for 
 a Special Committee of either House, composed of 
 members belonging to every party, who may call 
 before them or accept the evidence of voluntary 
 witnesses on both sides, together with documentary
 
 54 THE KELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 corroborations ; and then report to the House their 
 judgment on the whole evidence, printed with the 
 Committee's recommendation. 
 
 To this, as I mentioned, we had recourse in the 
 very grave question of relief to Catholic inmates of 
 workhouses. An impartially selected Committee 
 of the Commons sat for months, and carefully 
 examined many witnesses. The real merits of the 
 case were thus brought before the nation in the 
 most constitutional form. As an illustration of the 
 utility of this proceeding, and readiness to acknow- 
 ledge just claims, though we need expect no favour, 
 I may cite the confession of one member of the 
 Committee, who mentioned to a friend that he 
 entered upon it under the persuasion that we had 
 nothing to complain of in this matter ; but that the 
 evidence brought before him had convinced him 
 that our poor were suffering great oppression, and 
 that he would do all in his power to have justice 
 done us. 
 
 In this change of feeling we put immense trust. 
 This gentleman is but the type of many ; these 
 many constitute a strong power, sure to grow into 
 an honest majority. And so, although owing, I 
 believe, to special reasons, which it is not necessarv 
 to detail, the Eeport of the Committee has not been
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 55 
 
 laid before the House, we look forward to its results 
 with calm confidence in public justice. 
 
 There is one instance of the security of our reli- 
 ance on the good faith and justice of our fellow- 
 countrymen, which I am sure will gratify your 
 feelings. Some years ago, a most gratuitous 
 attempt was made, and steadily pursued by mem- 
 bers of our parliament, to interfere with the liberty 
 of the religious life. Not only were measures 
 proposed which would throw obstacles in the way 
 of entering into religious houses, but domiciliary 
 visits, both unbecoming in themselves, and totally 
 at variance with English usage and feelings, were 
 proposed to be made, almost at discretion, to the 
 chosen retreats from the world of ladies exclusively, 
 or in great part, belonging to the highest and most 
 honoured families in England. 
 
 There were found many to applaud, and some to 
 second this unworthy proposal, which filled all 
 Catholics with sorrow, shame, and indignation. 
 But Providence brought about its own solution, 
 through the justice of our public national feeling. 
 The question was decided, not on the floor of the 
 House of Commons, but on the shores of the 
 Chersonesus, on the scarp of the .Redan, with 
 carbine on the arm, and sword in the right hand.
 
 56 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 The Crimean war broke out, and it was wisely con- 
 sidered that every comfort should be provided for 
 the poor soldier, sick or wounded. 
 
 The demand now was : " Matter em fortem quis 
 inveniet ?" — " Who will find us the courageous 
 woman ?"* — the woman who is ready to brave the 
 sea and its storms — perhaps fever and pestilence ; 
 who does not fear to abandon her native land, and 
 be an exile among strangers and heathens ; still 
 more to exchange her peaceful and sacred home 
 for the life of the camp, in company often with a 
 rude, or an unthinking, soldiery ? And the Catholic 
 Church replied : I will — not seek or find one such, 
 but give, for I already possess many. The calm, un- 
 impassioned, and retired religious ladies, so much 
 misunderstood, are readv at once to start for the seat 
 of discomfort and of danger, to nurse and solace 
 our suffering soldiers. 
 
 And so they went cheerfully from Ireland and 
 from England, and did their work bravely; and, 
 when they returned, instead of meeting any wish to 
 pluck their consecrated veils from their heads, they 
 found the readiness to fasten on them the medal, 
 equally awarded to the soldier and the nun — a 
 testimonial that the courage of the one on the 
 
 * Pro v. xxxi. 10.
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 57 
 
 battle-field is rivalled by the other's in the field of 
 charity. Since, then, we have had no more 
 attempts to interfere with ladies who have proved 
 themselves to be as patriotic as they are virtuous. 
 
 This reliance on the justice, not of a party, but of 
 the country, necessarily makes the course of action 
 pursued by the Catholic body in England indepen- 
 dent of temporary circumstances. They do not 
 wait for what might be considered propitious mo- 
 ments, or periods of ministerial crisis. Their pro- 
 gress must be slow ; one claim must be made at a 
 time, that it may be calmly and leisurely enforced ; 
 and then another must succeed, till all shall have 
 been favourably exhausted. Even the most just 
 takes a long time to reach the surface of public 
 opinion. 
 
 The pursuit of one of the most important of our 
 demands has traversed three ministries without 
 deviating in its course, and, I am happy to add, has 
 traversed them successfully. 
 
 Considering, in this manner, any cause of charity 
 and religion as out of the sphere of mere political 
 opinions, it is not wonderful that English Catholics 
 should make their prosecution of such sacred pur- 
 poses independent of any party differences, within 
 themselves.
 
 58 THE KELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 And here I feel the importance of expressing my 
 sentiments with all candour and plainness. You 
 have granted complete liberty of speech to all who 
 have addressed you ; you must have granted equal 
 liberty of thought to all who have listened. There 
 is no solidarity of sentiment amongst us here. No 
 one is bound to the theories, however eloquently as 
 to ideas, however elegantly in phrase, they may 
 have been delivered. On the contrary, the more 
 brilliantly such theories are propounded, the more 
 persuasive or seducive the treatment of them may 
 be, the closer guard we must place over our minds, 
 lest we be carried away from our steady principles. 
 And none will more respect this independence of 
 opinion and of speech than those who have most 
 strongly advocated perfect liberty. I have only to 
 speak of England ; — and I feel confident that the 
 attempt to force the Catholics there into one ex- 
 clusive and extreme political view, or to make our 
 obtaining of redress or of right dependent on all 
 holding the same principles beyond those of consti- 
 tutional unanimity, would prove not only dan- 
 gerous but fatal to our purposes. 
 
 In our body there exist all possible shades of 
 political opinions. We have men professing the 
 most decided conservative principles ; we have
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 59 
 
 others who push their liberal ideas as far as is con- 
 sistent with moral and social maxims. But, when a 
 question of justice arises, there is no inquiry made 
 concerning these differences. All unite as in one 
 common cause, and concur in one uniform course 
 of action. So far, with the Divine blessing, we 
 have succeeded ; and I trust that, when the Church 
 has need of our services, especially on behalf of her 
 poor, the same unanimity will prevail, without any 
 admixture of political contention. 
 
 Gentlemen, it is not for the weak to encourage 
 the strong. We are but few, you are many • we 
 are a fragment of the population, you are the 
 nation. Yet, one has heard repeatedly, almost from 
 every speaker, that the Catholics of Belgium are 
 suffering wrong ; are deprived year by year of fresh 
 rights ; are trodden down and oppressed. I cannot 
 but ask, by whom? 
 
 Not by the violence of any foreign invasion, 
 against which you have not even thought of 
 sharpening your swords. 
 
 Not by the power of the Crown: of that dynasty 
 which you have so heartily adopted, and which has 
 given to your nation a king as attached and de- 
 voted to it as if it had been his own country; a
 
 60 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL POSITION OF 
 
 queen, the memory of whose virtues is yet embalmed 
 in the hearts of all her subjects ; and a family of 
 princes, who, body and heart, by birth as well as by 
 affection, are entirely Belgian. 
 
 Is it, then, by the use of the constitutional power 
 of the people that you are wronged and oppressed ? 
 But you are the people, and surely can command 
 the direction of your own power. To be cast down, 
 assaulted, wounded, and have your political life ex- 
 tinguished by your own arm — why this is suicide — 
 the only suicide of which a nation is capable. 
 
 Gentlemen, the arms of Belgium display a beauti- 
 ful motto : " L'union fait la force." — " Union 
 makes strength." It represents to us various com-, 
 ponent elements, each weak, if alone; but, when 
 closely united, capable of resisting much violence 
 and adverse strength. 
 
 The Church has one more beautiful still, but 
 which cannot be assumed by any earthly principality, 
 for it describes a characteristic which can only be 
 communicated from above. " Union" she says to 
 you, " constitutes your strength : Unity makes 
 mine" — the unity of that rock, which no endless 
 action of time can wear away, no fury of the infernal 
 tempests overthrow or shake. As Belgians, be
 
 CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. 61 
 
 united in loyalty, fidelity, and community of in- 
 terests ; as Catholics, be one in faith, in charity, in 
 zeal, and in adhesion to the centre of unity: and 
 you will carry all your just claims, and attain all 
 your sacred ends. 
 
 the end. 
 
 J. Moore, Printer, 2, Crampton-quay, Dublin.
 
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