TAKING THE VEIL.
[From the Times.] A petition from the Hon. Craven Berkeley has been presented to the House of Commons, the facts disclosed in which are worthy of particular attention at the present moment. They are so discreditable to some of the parties concerned that nothing we could say would add to the indignation which the bare recital of them must call forth. We will, therefore, state them in their naked simplicity, and leave our readers to draw their own conclusions.
The Hon. Craven Fitzhardinge Berkeley married some years ago Augusta Talbot, the widow of the half-brother of.the present Earl of Shrewsbury. This lady had two children by her first husband—namely, John, since dead; and Augusta, who is, now nineteen years of age and upwards. This young lady resided with her mother and stepfather until the death of the former, which happened on the 25tb of April, 1841. From that period until the month of September last she was less fortunately placed, being left under the care and guardianship of the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury. How the noble personages have fulfilled their sacred trust will presently appear. At her brother’s death Augusta Talbot became absolutely entitled to the sum of £BO,OOO and ren ains during her minority—which will end on the 6th June, 1852—a ward of the Court of Chancery. Her interest in this large sum of money at once made her a mark for the manauvres and intrigues of the Roman Catholic priesthood. The opportunities afforded by her sojourn under the roof of the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury must have been most sedulously improved, for we find that in the month of September last year—we must follow the words of the petition lest we libel the noble personages concerned—“ the said Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury placed the said infant Augusta Talbot (notwithstanding sue is a ward of Court) at the convent called the Lodge, situate at Taunton, in the county of Somerset, not as a pupil or visitor, but as a postulant, with the avowed object of allowing the said Augusta Talbot to take the veil and become a nun 1” The prize was worth a bold venture 1 A sum of .4180,000 at one sweep, and won with no greater labour than is involved in playing on the religious feelings of a young credulous girl who stood almost alone in the world—without counsel, without defence, without protection I. The persons who should have interposed between her and the lamentable intrigues by which she was surrounded, must, if we accept the statements of the petition as true, have absolutely, assisted in the practices of which she is now the victim. Is it intelligible, even taking such a view of conventual vows as a Roman Catholic may be supposed to take, that any persons placed in the responsible situation of guardians to a young girl under age should permit her to immure herself for life in the walls of a convent before she has attained even that slender degree of discretion which in ordinary cases 21 years experience of life may give ? For, mark the course which this unfortunate young lady’s story will take unless there be some stringent interference m the matter. In the month of September next her period of postulancy expires • and then, as Mr. Berkeley tells us, she will be compelled by the Roman Catholic priests to take the white veil, although even then she be a minor and a ward of the Court of vnaiicery. Those who seek io obtain possession of the £BO,OOO imagine that they have shrewdly calculated their times and seasons. In the month of September 1852— when she will have been three months of age but not till then, the black veil, which is t 0 divide her for ever from the external world, will be drawn «ver her head. She will then
be competent to execute any leo S l to which her superior may nature, and the rich It is evident that, unless the bah has excited their appetency be at ■ moved from the reach of the perso — could so shamefully practise upon »b Wllt lity of a young girl, her fate is sealed w! s ' the first step is taken, and a y OUn ‘ has committed herself to the. care o[ ventual superior, to the influences of*' 011 ’ ventual life, and above all to the dit-cil an astute priest, farewell for ever to Ji ] / pendence of action or liberty o f t J , The method of bringing the feeling* 11 timents—it is idle to talk of reason-hs' subjection has been reduced to ence by the Roman Catholic priest, 'tor’ once a patient is handed over to his etd ■ care, and he can shut out every w h o i Q,|,e influence from the external world, the tion is decided at once. The Roman cT” lie convent is like the Cave of gia nulla retrorsum. There is no DeS personal violence; that would simply treatment of a clumsy practitioner. unctuous words in season, a few volußau the “Lives of the Saints,” and 11 “sweet” pictures, with a plentiful ai£ ture of flattery well wrapped up, would k’ ’ more than sufficient to turn the head of m young woman in Miss Talbot’s ation, until the sacrifice shall have been cot. summated and indignant nature shall anen her rights. Then, indeed, she may awah to a painful consciousness of the realities o! her position ; and, if spirit enough be left ia her, will indignantly protest at the series o[ artifices and manoeuvres of which she bu been the dupe. But then it will be t Ol late. It would be idle to dilate upon this moat disgraceful story. Is all remedy impossible! That is the only point which it behoves us to consider. So far as any act of volition ot the part of the young lady is concerned, v e may dismiss that hypothesis at once. The superior of the “ladies" would no doubt be ready to produce her at a moment’s warn, ing, exulting in the prospect of self-iwmoh. I tion. It remains to be seen if a removal d the bait which has aroused the cupidity of the Roman priesthood might not produce some effect. Mr. Berkeley proposes, in the peii-1 tion which he has presented to the House of | Commons, that clauses shall be introduced I into the Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Bill now before the House, which shall forbid the reception in any convent, or similar institution, belonging to the Church of Rome, of any young person underage as a "pound lant.” He proposes further, that in thecsse of “infants” who during the period of their minority shall have Leen admitted as “postulants ” into convents for the purpose of becoming nuns, all their property, absolute or contingent, shall become forfeited to th Crown to be disposed of as her Majesty mij appoint under her sign manual. This would meet Miss Talbot’s case to a certain degree, although we greatly fear that even so th crafty intriguers who pull the pupptH strings might find means of evading the provisions of the clause. Suppose that thetiH ing of the veil is deferred, is the property til become forfeited to the Crown upon the bsril proof of “postulancy” with the intention It I become a nun? Would the CrownJ)e.«dvifJ ed to detain the money from Miss raiboi >■ she were sent back into the world, assMl clearly would be, when the loss of such <1 sum, or its transference from the control I its present possessor, might be the quence of her seclusion? The natural to every honest man on reading wj I disgraceful story might no doubt be gr* ll I at a direct act of retribution which u® 1 deprive the intriguers of the golden sp« 11 I which they have calculated. It is, b«’ f I clear enough that such a remedy as twl proposed by Mr. Berkeley, in Miss T* I case, would very imperfectly meet tw I with which we are called upon to conten, | only in her instance, but in a thousand o . It is no doubt something to gain yl defer the sacrifice for a few years ; * J matters stand at. present, or as stand, even should Mr. Berkeleys | be adopted, the sacrifice would simpr i postponed. The difficulties of upon such a point are great; but t e | far greater.
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New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 630, 16 August 1851, Page 4
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1,401TAKING THE VEIL. New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 630, 16 August 1851, Page 4
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