THE ENDOWMENT OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. (From the Morning Herald.)

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 157, 1 December 1847, Page 3

THE ENDOWMENT OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. (From the Morning Herald.)

We expect to be told very shortly by all the ' Liberal 1 press, that the raising the question of the endowment of Popery at the ensuing election is a "Tory trick," an endeavor to revive " the. exploded no Popery cry." We therefore think it advisable to warn these gentlemen before-hand, that to ascribe auy such origin or object to the discussions now everywhere going on, between candidates and their constituents, is palpably in contradiction of known and recorded facts. For instance, is it not known to all the world that the Quarterly Review, certaiuly a leading Tory organ, has been advocating for two years past, this verymea? sure of Romish endowment, of which the people are everywhere showing the greatest horror? Nor does the Quarterly Review stand alone in this matter. Many persons of v the greatest eminence among the Conservative party share in the same feeling: and desire, with Lord John Russell and Sir Robert Peel, to see the Romish Priesthood taken into connexion with the , State. In fact, as we have more than once observed, there never was a question on which there was so great a majority of public and official men on the one side, opposed to so great a majority, among the religious and educated of the middle classes on the other. The opposition to Romish endowment, which is now .becoming so general, was not commenced or inculcated peculiarly by Comervatives or Tories. Long before last Christmas Mr. Bright began his canvass of Manchester, and one of the very first declarations that he was called upon to make, was, " that he would resist any attempt to apply the revenue of the Irish Church to the endowment of any religious sect," Mr. Bright' s votes against the Maynooth grant served him well at Manchester, while Lord Lincoln, admit* I ting that he desired to see some measure passed for | the endowment of the Irish Priests, found instantly that any chance he might have Wad of gaining a seat at Manchester, was utterly destroyed by that avowal. So, in like manner, in the spring, Mr. Roebuck paid a visit to Bath, and met his constituents, and he was obliged to tell them that he repented of his vote in favor of Maynooth, and was " decidedly opposed to paying the Roman Catholic Priesthood." But within the last Month, canvassing has been commenced in every part of the country, and everywhere we find, " not Tory candidates" principally, but " Liberal candidates ' with equal readiness pledging themselves against any such measure. Thus, Mr, Campbell, son of a cabinet minister, makes opposition to any scheme ,of the kind, his chief claim on the lupportof the .electors of Cambridge, telling them that he will give to every proposition of this nature " a most unequivocal and decided negative. 1 ' In the neighboring borough of Ipswich, we have this pledge from a Liberal candidate :—

" In regard to the endowmentof the Roman Catholic Church, f could not support auy measure to that effect. Hugh Edward Adair." In the bordering county of Norfolk, two Whig candidates, in order to have the slightest chance of success, are obliged to publish this specific declaration :— "To the endowment of the Roman Catholics we cannot too strongly express our dissent. Edward Keppel Coke. Anthony Hammond." At Huddersfield, the popular candidate puts forth this avowal:— j "l am opposed to the endowment of the Roman | Catholic religion, whether from the revenues of the State, or from the funds of the Irish Protestant Es tablishnient. John Cheetham." At Shrewsbury the Whig candidate thus declares himself;— " 1 trust that I have satisßed you all that lam firmly attached to our Protestant institutions, and shall be opposed, in concurrence with vast numbers of our countrymen, to every scheme for the endowment, from Church or State funds, of the Roman Catholic Priesthood in these islands. This is very different from eligibility of all Christians to civil office, and complete toleration as established by law. Robert A.Slavey." At Lincoln, a Liberal par excellence, makes this emphatic declaration;— " I should give my most strenuous opposition to any pecuniary grant, director indirect, proposed by any Minister, or based on any pretext, for the endowment of the Roman Catholic Church, or the propagation of the Roman Catholic belief. E, Bulwer Lytton." But where is there a more decided Liberal than Sergeant Talfourd?- And what more full, and more distinct conld any one ask than the following voluntary pledge? — " In offering myself for the third time as a candidate for your suffrages, I refer to my past conduct as the best assurance I can give of the future; but on one question of solemn interest to the Christian world, the propriety of endowing the Priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church, 1 feel it right to volunteer a distinct avowal. " To that measure, and to all others which may tend to weaken the security of the Prbtestant faith, I shall offer my most strenuous opposition, from whatever party thay may proceed. T.N. Talfourd." It is clear, then, that this demand, made by the electors of all classes, and of all parts of the kingdom, is no more a " Tory device" than it is a Ministerial manoeuvre. The fact we believe to be, that the heads of all the great parties would prefer to be left at liberty oti this subject, and would rather dis courage than encourage any such movement as is now taking place. But the truth is that the people are alarmed, they see that there is danger in being apathetic at the present moment and they are using, with one consent — Whigs and Tories, Liberals and Conservatives — the present opportunity to obtain from all candidates, if possible, security against farther concessions to Popery.