120 EPITOME OF INTELLIGENCE. THE BOARD OF BRITISH CATHOLICS. Othing can more strongly depict tuted body, than the events which have transpired during the last few weeks, of which the following is a concise account. At the close of the last month, it was whispered about that a letter had been received from Rome, but no one was able to give the substance of its contents. After the expiration of some days, however, the following circular was issued to the members of the Board: Lincoln's Inn Fields, Feb. 28th, 1815. Sir, I have the honour to inform you, that a Letter has been received from his Holiness Pope Pius VII, addressed to the Catholic Inhabitants of Great Britain; the same being in reply to the Address forwarded by your Committee in August, and presented to His Holiness in the month of November last.Your Committee having deemed it proper to defer any proceeding upon his Holiness's letter, until it has been previously communicated to his Majesty's Government and the Vicars Apostolic of Great Britain; your attendance is requested at the Board, on Monday the 13th of March next; when your Committee will communicate to you the Letter of his Holiness, and will receive your instructions for publishing the same to the Catholic inhabitants of Great Britain. I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient humble servant, EDW. JERNINGHAM. The Board will assemble at No. 2, Stonebuildings, Lincoln's-inn; and the Chair will be taken at two o'clock precisely. a general meeting of the Board to re- Board, nor to the individuals who Agreeably to the requisition, the Board assembled on the 13th, but, out of a list of upwards of 200 nobleThe reader cannot fail of being men and gentlemen, of which this struck at the delicacy of the Commit- body is composed, about forty only tee, in deferring to proceed upon this attended the meeting. According to letter, until it had been previously report, the first proceeding which oc communicated to His Majesty's Go-cupied the meeting was the reading of vernment and the Vicars Apostolic of the Pope's letter, after which it was Great Britain, particularly as two of resolved, that copies of it should be the latter were out of the kingdom, delivered into the hands of those who and were, no doubt, previously in- had signed the address. It was afterformed of its contents. Equally deli-wards proposed that the letter should cate were the persons composing this be published in the newspapers, which Committee of their own powers, since was also agreed to. It was then subthey deemed it necessary to summons mitted to the meeting that a deputa tion should wait on Lord Castlereagh, | Bill, in compliment, it is supposed, for his tender anxiety to preserve the integrity of the Catholic faith, and insure the loyalty of the Catholic Prelates. But, lo! when the members were preparing to depart, it was discovered that some one had filched the and disorder. The Chairman immediately resumed his seat, and communicated the unfortunate and dismal event to the company. Angry looks and warm language, were now exhibited by the leaders, and every one expected a renewal of the general search warrants, which created such a lively interest some years ago. No traces, however, of the choice trifle could be found, and the members of the Committee deplored the unlucky circumstance with looks of keen dis with a copy of the Pope's letter, and enquire of his Lordship whether his Majesty's Minister had in contempla. tion any measures of relief for the Catholic subjects of this realm, and if so, of what extent and nature they might be. This proposition was high-precious copy, and all was bustle ly, approved of and adopted. It was then suggested, that as a letter from the Pope, in answer to their address to his Holiness, had been received; the Catholic Board had thereby boCome the undoubted and acknowledged representation of the Catholics of England, and the only organ of Catholic affairs, and that the publication of it in the papers would be a complete reputation of the assertions of Dr. Murray, in Dublin. To this, however, a member observed, that no such construction could be put upon it, as the letter was directed to the Catholic inhabitants of Great Britain, and not to the Catholic Board. It was afterwards asked by another member, whether it would be expedient to Petition the Legislature? upon which a worthy Baronet said, that it would be unnecessary, as the Irish Catholics were petitioning, and consequently, if any thing were done for them it would equally benefit the English Catholics. In this opinion the assembly seemed to concur. The business of the meeting had thus far proceeded very moothly, and the Chairman having nothing more left for him to do, but to receive the thanks of the assembly, quitted the Chair for that purpose, when a circumstance occurred which threw the whole groupe into confusion, and struck them all with dismay and disappointment. The reader The reader must know, that the Committee, not doubting but the proposition of a deputatation to their noble coadjutor in duplicity and intrigue would be carried, had caused a copy of the Pope's letter to be beautifully engrossed and illuminated on vellum for presentation to the noble framer of the vetoistical and schismatical clauses in the late Relief OETHOD. JOUR. VOL. III. appointment, and language of despair. Hitherto the daring offender has not been discovered, at least it has not been announced; and it is become a subject of conjecture whether it might not have been done by the invisible hand of some indignant spirit of one of their ancestors, who, unable to bear, even in the grave, the grossly servile conduct of the present race of English Catholic noblemen, in flattering the vanity of a man who attempted to ensnare the venerable hierarchy of Ireland, who duped the laity of that country, and who is now playing the same game with such English Catho lics as are childishly anxious to eceive their temporal privileges upon the terms held out to them, snatched the disgraceful deed from their possession, in the hope of curing their folly, by causing them to reflect upon their mischance. Be this as it may, the leaders attributed the theft to some one who wished to get a copy for insertion in the Irish Papers; and to this impression upon their minds, it is thought we are indebted for the publication of the following copy of the Address to the Pope, and his reply thereto. R MOST HOLY FATHER,-We, the undersigned Members of the Catholic Church in Great Britain, beg leave to approach the sacred feet of your Holiness with our most humble and sincere congratulations on the happy restoration of your Holiness to your City of Rome, and assurances of the deep and unalterable respect and veneration which we feel for your sacred person and character. If we have seen, most Holy Father, with long and bitter regret, the cruel captivity and unprovoked severities under which your sacred person has for so many years languished; permit us also to say, that we have viewed, with affectionate veneration, the meek and unshaken courage, with which the chief Pastor of the Church of Christ has opposed the impenetrable armour of the faith, to the fiery darts of the enemy; setting to the world at large, and to the faithful in particular, a shining example, which we in humility hope we shall ever be ready to follow. Manifold and severe have been, in these latter days, most Holy Father, the trials by which it has p'eased the Almighty, that his church should be proved: on the altars of her temples, from which the cross of Christ had been torn down, shameless profligacy has been exalted in impious triumph. The blood of her priests and prelates, venerable from age and sanctity, has, without even a pretence, been poured out on the soil of our neighbouring country. The sacred persons of her Pontiffs have been contumeliously dragged from prison to prison, deprived of the necessaries of life; and, when the sword was weary of destroying, thousands of her innocent Clergy were driven with blows and curses into vessels, which placed them, destitute of money, of raiment, and of food, on the shores of this country. Those fools, who said in their hearts, There is no God, hoped, that in a land disjoined from them by long animosity, yet further removed by difference of faith, these blameless confessors might meet, if not a speedy termination of their miseries, the long protracted torment of unnoticed, unpitied, though consuming want. Fools! they knew not how, under every form, they who call on the name of Christ, are bound by a golden chain, knit by the hand of God, and which the utmost force of man or demon cannot break. Every heart was moved with a charity truly Christian; every hand was stretched out to raise from the ground their wounded and languishing brethren and it is not to be doubted, that these exiled and suffering men, by their most exemplary purity of manners and touching gratitude, conferred, in their turn, on our generous countrymen, a benefit of no small account; they inclined the hearts of their be nefactors to a more just estimate of the me rits of a church, which had for a long series of years been the object of their terror and abhorrence, and we hope, drew down from Heaven the peculiar favour, which has exempted from the horrors and miseries of invasion this happy land, and has placed in those hands, which were opened to shower on their suffering brethren the fruits of their own enterprising industry, that force which has nerved the arm of Europe, nearly sinking under the monstrous power of the Oppressor, and enabled it at length to shake off the disgraceful yoke, and, by the restoration of order, give peace to a bleeding world. For ourselves, most Holy Father, we ac knowledge, with deep gratitude to the Anthor of all Good, that we have not only been exempt from the peculiar and awful trials of the church in these days, when the abomination of desolation had entered the holy places, and seemed to threaten the extinction of the very name of Christ; but have seen ourselves, by successive acts of the Legislature of our country, under the mild and enlightened sway of our revered monarch, admitted to the name of Britons; secured in the enjoyment of our property; and per mitted, without the dread of death, exile, perpetual imprisonment or confiscation, to offer our supplications at the throne of mercy, and perform the sacred duties of the holy re ligion we profess. From any participation in the Legislative or Executive branches of our Government, from all offices, civil and military, we still however remain excluded; and, if we continue our strenuous exertions, to obtain from our country a full enjoyment. of those rights, so peculiarly valuable to Britons, we trust that we are not actuated by meaner motives, but by the wish to render ourselves useful to our country, by the exer tion of the various talents we possess! in her service, and the conscientious discharge of that high debt, which every man owes to the State of which he is a member, and by the anxious and earnest desire to be united to our fellow citizens by every tie of affection and confidence, and to see the mists of prejudice removed, and our faith no longer branded with the imputation of superstition and idolatry. In With these great objects constantly in our view, we have not fainted in our course, though obstacles equally distressing and unforeseen have opposed themselves to us. those days of mourning, when we saw the head of our holy church despoiled of his pos sessions, driven from his see, his clergy dispersed and destitute, himself a prisoner in an unknown dungeon, we were told, not without triumph, by some of our adversaries, that 66 Babylon was no more, and the reign of Antichrist was at an end." To these taunts we answered not, but looked forward with confidence unshaken, though silent, to that day, when He, who founded his Church on a rock, should lay the storm which beat furiously over it, and shew it again to the world un shaken and unimpaired. To those who still continued to charge us with want of faith to persons differing from us in religion, who told us that our most solemn oaths of loyalty to our king, and fidelity to our country, were We cannot, most Holy Father, contem-but an impious mockery; for that a power plate, without emotions of the most lively existed, whose word could make it not merely joy, and sentiments of the most humble graan innocent, but a meritorious act to break titude to the Great Disposer of all events, and them-our conduct has been our answer. the giver of all good gifts, the prospect of They, who thus revile us, have seen us uni- peace and union among all the nations of the formly obedient to the laws and rulers of earth, after the long years of misery and opthis realm, and anxious to give every pledge pression which we have witnessed. The reof our civil fidelity to our country; but, by storation of your Holiness to that most veneour steady refusal of those oaths and declara-rable throne on which your long tried virtues tions which interfered with our religion, and our patient and long suffering of privations the most important as well as the most humiliating, fully proving, that we held a strict adherence to our sworn truth-a duty which no power on earth could suspend or absolve us from, depositaries of your authority, during your captivity, have spoken the genuine and full sentiments of your Holiness's paternal heart, towards the faithful of these countries. These imputations on our Church, from persons who had viewed her with those long rooted prejudices, which had prevented them from ever examining her doctrines, gave us less pain, most Holy Father, than the reproaches which were poured on us by some of our own brethren, who ceased not to accuse us as apostates, and ready to sacrifice our faith to the acquisition of worldly advantages, and, for temporal to barter the eternal. Conscious that there was not one amongst us, who would not have turned with disdain aud horror from him, who could have proposed to us this impious and foolish traffic: certain that we might render to Cæsar the things that are Cesar's, without ceasing to render to God the things that are God's; and not forgetting, that our Divine Master ordered his disciples to fulfil the one as well as the other of those bigh duties, we were not affrighted by the menaces of these our bosom enemies. And, we have lately with unspeakable joy received from these venerable men, to whom your Holiness had in your absence delegated the and sufferings shed a new lustre, is as it were the crown of all these mercies. To our most humble and fervent thanksgivings for these happy events, which have come to pass in a mode which'human wisdom could not have foreseen, nor human power compassed; to our prayers, that the inestimable benefits now conferred on us may not be withdrawn from us and our children by our own unworthiness, we add our constant supplications to the Throne of Grace, for the prosperity and happiness of your Holiness. Long, most Holy Father, may your wisdom guide, and your virtues adorn the Church of Christ, over which the Divine Providence has placed you! In these wishes, in these vows of your health and felicity, we speak the voice of all Europe; but, as Britons, we feel a peculiar tie of gratitude to your Holiness! Against us the peculiar hatred of your Holiness's oppressor was directed; the steady and inflexible refusal of your Holiness, as the common Father of Christendom, to declare war against this country, drew on your sacred head the peculiar vengeance of the tyrant: with what united sentiments of affection and veneration do we now, therefore, approach your sacred feet, and offer our praises, our thanks, and our prayers, for the Chief Pastor of the Church of Christ! CLIFFORD, Chairman. power of inquiring into, and sanctioning by their approbation, the conduct of the faithful, a Rescript, in which, after a full examination, they declare their decided sense of the blamelessness of our conduct, and use the most cordial expressions of respect and thanks to the Legislators of our country, who had by the bill, proposed last year in Parliament, intended to remove all impediments to the union of British hearts and hands in the common cause, and for the common good of our native land. To the sentiments contained in this Rescript, we have given our fullest and most unequivocal assurances of adherence and respect; and we have exhi-To EDWARD JERNINGHAM, Esq. bited the document to our countrymen, as containing the most decided proof, that no part of our submission to, and union with the Apostolic See, can be construed to interfere With our loyalty to our country and our algiance to our Sovereign; confident that, on the return of your Holiness to the free exerfise of your apostolic functions, we shall receive the assurance, that these venerable EDWARD JERNINGHAM, Sec. On the 25th of February, 1815, the sub joined answer from his Holiness was transmitted to the Board, accompanied by the following communication from the Rev. Mr. Macpherson, Agent for the British Catholics in Rome. "SIR, I have the honour to inform you, that the Address of the Catholic noblemen and gentlemen of Great Britain, was most graciously received by his Holiness, Pius VII.; and, along with this, I enclose his Holiness's answer. I have the honour to be, &c. &c. P. MACPHERSON. Secretary of the Board of British Catholics. DILECTIS FILIIS, Catholicis Magnæ Britanniæ Incolis. DILECTI FILII, Salutem et Apostolicam Benedictionem. Singularis in nos amor, et excellens in Sedem Romanam observantia vestra, ex om nibus partibus se ostendunt in his Litteris, quas à vobis proxime accepimus; ut constantem nostram de pietate, ac Religione vestra opinionem non confirmatam solum verum et auctam esse senserimus. Pium de calamitate nostra mororem, amantissimam de reditu nostro gratulationem et lubentissime excepimus, et memori semper, gratoque animo recolemus. Vobis autem, Dilecti Filii, nos etiam vicissim gratulamur, quod vestra et Catholicorum omnium conditio melior isthic facta sit: Vestorum scilicet morum integretate, vestraque circa innocuas istius Regni leges obedientia ostendistis, calumniose conjecta in Catholicos esse convicia illa, ob quæ tam dure antehac habiti estis. cern for our troubles and most affectionate congratulations on our return, we have res ceived with the greatest pleasure, and shall ever preserve the recollection of them with a grateful heart. We, on our part, congratulate you, be loved children. that the condition of your selves, and all Catholics in your parts, is also ameliorated. By the integrity of your conduct, and your obedience to the just laws of your country, you have shewn that the ac cusations under which you have heretofore so severely suffered, were calumnies thrown out against the Catholics. But, being desirous to further the laudable and earnest desire, with which you are inflamed, of serving your country, not only in heart and mind, but also by active service consistently as certainly is your resolution with the principles of your religion), the Rescript which, during our absence, and the Nos autem cupientes adjuvare egregiam illam qua flagratis cupiditate, ut communi Patriæ vestræ non solum animo, et mente, sed opera etiam ipsa (salva tamen ut certe constitutum apud vos est Religione) inser-dispersion of our venerable council, was on viatis; Rescriptum illud quod absentibus nobis venerabilique Senatu nostro disperso, die xvi Januarii proxime elapsi a Dilecto Filio Secretario Congregationis nostræ de Propaganda fide datum, missumque ad vos est, cum circa rem maximi penitus momenti versetur, mature, atque ex integro, ut jam scitis examinandum tradidimus illis è venerabilium Fratrum nostrorum cætu cardinalibus, quibus harum rerum demandatum munus est. Persuasum vero habeatis volumus, nos in hoc gravissimo negotio, quantum religionis Catholicæ dignitas, puritas, integritasque pa titur, desideriis esse vestris libentissime obsecuturos. Ceterum nostra in vestram Patriam studia, vestraque erga ipsam agendi ratio firmam in spem nos adducunt fore, ut vos ipsi eam humanitatem experiamini, quæ vestræ nationis propria est, quamque totà nuper Europa sensit, Anglicis potissimum consiliis opibus, armis, ab immanissimæ servitutis jugo Liberata. Cavete interim diligentissime, dilecti filii, ne quid unquam committatis de quo Potestas, cui subditi estis merito reprehendere vos possit. Id nobis a sapientia, prudentiaque vestra pollicentes, Apostolicam vobis benedictionem præcipuæ charitatis nostræ pignus peramanter impertimur. Datum Romæ apud Sanctam Mariam Majorem sub annulo Piscatoris die xxviii Decembris MDCCCXIV. Pontificatus Nostri Anno Decimoquinto. DOMINICUS TESTA. Health and Apostolical Benediction. The singular love and high respect towards the sixteenth day of January last issued, and sent to you by our beloved son, the Secretary of the Propaganda, inasmuch as it turns on a matter of the highest moment, we have given, as you already know, to those of the congregation of our venerable brethren, the Cardinals, to whom matters of this nature are usually referred; in order to be examined by them maturely, and ab integro; we, however, intreat you to be persuaded, that in this important matter, we shall most willingly comply with your wishes, as far as the dignity, the purity, and the integrity of the Catholic religion will allow. As to the rest,-our own attachment to your country, and your conduct in respect to her, make us confidently hope, that you yourselves will experience that humanity, which is the peculiar character of your na tion, and which all Europe has lately experienced, in her delivery from the yoke of the most oppressive slavery, chiefly obtained by the wisdom, the wealth, and the arms of England. In the mean time, most beloved children, be particularly careful to avoid every thing which can give the power, to whom you are subject, just causes for blaming you. Promising this to ourselves, from your wis dom and prudence, we most affectionately impart to you our Apostolical Benedictiona pledge of our special love, Given at Rome, at St. Mary Major, under the Ring of the Fisherman, on the 28th day of December, 1814. In the fifteenth year of our Pontificate. DOMINICUS TESTA. The Editor had prepared some remarks on the unconstitutional and foolish address of the Board, but for want of room he is under the neces the See of Rome, which are evinced in every sity of postponing them till next part of the letter we have lately received from you, have not only confirmed, but increased the constant opinion, we entertained of your piety and religion. Your pious con month. ERRATUM in last number, page 64, col.ly 1.3 from the bottom--for 1815, read 1810: Andrews, Printer, 5, Orange street, London. |