SOME OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE EXPOSTULATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4373, 26 March 1875, Page 3

SOME OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE EXPOSTULATION.

In the course of the discussion which followed the publication of the Expostulation by Mr. Gladstone, it was found that there were Komau Catholics in England who were somewhat in accord with the principles enunciated in that pamphlet. Foremost amongst these were Lord Camoys aud Mr. Henry Petre, and the nature of their views may be arrived at by perusing the following correspondence which was published in the London Times :— “Sin,—l have read in your issue of the 7th inst. a circular addressed by the Catholic Bishop of Salford to the clergy of his diocese, which contains extracts from a correspondence that has recently passed between the Bishop and myself. I feel it incumbent upon me to publish that portion at least of the correspondence which preceded and led up to the issuing of the circular in question, and which I now forward to you, requesting the favor of its insertion in 'The Times. “ I must leave it to your readers to form their own estimate, of the spirit and tone characterising every line of that extraordinary document, in which so striking an illustration is presented of the dictation and clerical absolutism which distinguish the action of the Ultramontane party—a party which, unfortunately for the true interests of the Catholic Church, at the present time inspires and guides its policy. The claims to entire submission, joined to a suppression of all individuality, which are now sought to be imposed upon the Catholics of this country—for it is nothing less that the Bishop of Salford virtually demands —may possibly be wrung from those who, in thought and in word and in act, abdicate their freedom; but they are pretensions against which the reason and common-sense of all independent men must protest. “ I have the honor to be, Sir, ' “ Your obedient servant, “ Henry Petre. “ 12, Berkeley Square, January 9.”

“ Bishop’s House, Salford, “ November 26,1874. “Mv Dear Hr. Petbe, —I am sure you will bear with me if I -write to express how deeply pained I have been by what you have published on account of the grievous consequences which follow the' rejection by a Catholic of the dogmatic definitions of the Church. They are nothing less than excommunication. May I ask whether you have really read the documents proclaiming them, and whether you are aware that they have been accepted by the entire Episcopate ? “It will bo a relief if you can give me the assurance that you admit the power of the Church to make definitions of faith and 'morals, that you ai - e willing to accept them unreservedly, and that you do accept those of the Immaculate Conception and Vatican Council. , _•,■■■ “I regret to write upon so painful a subject, but you mil, I am sure, understand the grave reason which moves me to do so. “ Believe me to be your faithful servant, “ j- Herbert, Bishop of Salford. “ H. Petre, Esq." “12 Berkeley Square, Nov. 28, 1874. “My dear Lord Bishop,—You must permit me to say that the contents of your letter, dated the 26th inst, and received by me this morning, have occasioned me much surprise. My letter to which you allude is entirely restricted to the practical, not the theological, part of the discussion now going on. , Without intending the slightest discourtesy to your Lordship, I feel myself called upon to say that I adhere to the opinions therein expressed. “ Believe me to be, “ Your faithful servant, “ Henry Petre. “To the Lord Bishop of Salford.”

“ 12 Berkeley Square, Dec. 7, 1874. “My Lord Bishop,—l have seen in today’s issue of The Times extracts taken from your Lordship’s Pastoral of the 6th inst., read yesterday in every church of your diocese. I regret to say I cannot for one moment entertain a doubt but that I am the person to whom you have thought it becoming to make so public an allusion in the following passage—- • Only one of these owns himself in any way a spiritual subject of our jurisdiction, and towards him we have acted as became our duty.’ “ I consequently lose no time in informing your Lordship that I now no longer consider our correspondence to be of a private character, and I reserve to myself the right of making it public should I feel bound to do so on further consideration, or should I find that inferences prejudicial to me have arisen from the language of your Pastoral. It will then be for the public to decide whether the interrogatories to which P have been subjected are befitting the times in which we live, or whether they do not rather belong to that unhappy period when the Inquisition flourished. “ I have the honor to be, “ My Lord Bishop, your obedient servant, •“ Henry Petre. “ To the Lord Bishop of “ Salford, &c., Manchester.” “ Bishop’s House, Salford, “December 9, 1874. « My dear Mr. Petre.—l beg to say that I make no objection to your publication of our correspondence ; but if I might venture to make a suggestion to you, it would be to recommend you not to do so. ■“ Believe me to be, with sincere regret that there should have been any occasion for the correspondence, yours faithfully, “■(•Herbert, Bishop of Salford. « Bishop’s House, Salford, “December 17, 1874. “ My dear Mr. Petre,—l have purposely delayed writing again till you may have had time to read the Pastoral Letter which I lent you some ten days ago, treating of the subject of your letters published in The Times, As

those letters have been understood to be a rejection of the definition of the Immaculate Conception and of the definitions of the Vatican Council, and as your reply to my note of November 22 did not relieve my ,anxiety on this head, but rather confirmed the impression received from your public letters, I am reluctantly obliged to trouble you with another communication. Permit me, therefore, to express an earnest hope that you will now he able to inform me that you admit the power of the Catholic Church to make definitions of faith and morals, and that you accept unreservedly the definition of the Immaculate Conception, and those of the Vatican Council. “I trust you will understand that this letter, the subject of which may probably cause pain to yourself, as it certainly causes the greatest pain to me, is written in my capacity of Guardian of the Faith for my flock. X entreat you to consider that the purity of the faith is worth more than all the world besides ; that no Catholic can depart from it without suffering consequences which are fatal and eternal j and that, having been educated as a Catholic and instructed on the grounds of faith, your soul is in a position of the greatest peril. “ If, after a third representation to you of your duty as a Catholic, you should persist in the rejection of the definitions referred to, no alternative will be open to me but to inform you officially of the last penalty of the Church thereby incurred.

“ Believe me to be u Your faithful servant, “ f Herbert, Bishop of Salford. “H. Petre, Esq.” “ 12, Berkeley Square, Dec. 19, 1874. “My Lord Bishop, —l beg to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship’s letter of the 17th iust. I had hoped that my letter of the 2Sth ult., in reply to yours of the 26th ult,, would have been a sufficient repudiation of the inferences you had drawn from my .letter to The Tiuics —viz., that it discussed the question of the truths and dogmas .of the Catholic Church. Beyond a statement of the fact that the Immaculate Conception and personal infallibility of the Pope had been recently promulgated as ‘ Articles of Faith,’ jio opinion whatever was expressed upon th&n. These are subjects that did not appear to me as falling within my province to dispute or discuss. It only remainder me to repeat that the purport and intent of that letter is directed to the practical points raised by Mr. Gladstone’s pamphlet. I must maintain that every Catholic, in common with his fellowcountrymen, enjoys with them an equal privilege and unfettered freedom to express lijs opinion upon this controversy of the day. Ido not admit the right of any one to address to me interrogatories of the nature contained in your Lordship*s letter, and with all respect, but most decidedly, I decline complying with any such demands, from whatever quarter they may emanate. It is, of course, as open to your Lordship and those who share your views to adopt any course of action that may approve itself to you, as it is open to those' differing from you to call into question the propriety or justice of the conclusions and decisions at which you may arrive. “ 1 must here be permitted to take my final leave of this correspondence, which it can serve no purpose to prolong, and at the same time to express to yon my great regret that any occasion for it should have arisen, “ I have the honor to he, “ My Lord Bishop, “ Your obedient servant, “Henry Petre. “ The Lord Bishop of Salford, Manchester.”