MR GLADSTONE ON RELIGIOUS TOLERATION.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 390, 3 August 1889, Page 6

MR GLADSTONE ON RELIGIOUS TOLERA TION.

In* a speech recently dcliveied, Mr (JJad" stone made the following lemaiks on the above subject • — " Now ifc is nob an unnatural thing that there should be in this country among Protestants, and especially among 1 NonI confoimisb Piotestants, an apprehension on the subject of the tutuve maintenance of full toleration in It eland. And why is it not unnatural? Because theie is in iina:land a painful recollection derived from, the reign of Queen Mary in the 16th century that when the Roman Catholic Church had the upper hand in this country she made on that unhappy occasion a. ferocious use of her power in the attempt to pub down the movement of religious conviction which was leading the country in a direction adverse to herself. It is not unnatural that you should feel can apprehension that the earn© state of things, that some trace of a similar spii it might be iound in Ireland in case the supieme political power weie to be conceded to the lush nation in the manage ment of its own concerns. Now, with the fullest conviction, without the smallest sciuple or reserve, I be&eech you to lay a&ide entiiely all such apprehensions. (Hear, hear ) It is impossible for any impartial man to study the history of Ireland without an iving at theconclucion that bheie is no giound lor that whatever. (Cheei.-. ) I will not now give you a full exposition of the reasons which justify me in this utnescrved appeal to your sense of justice, but 1 will mention some things which will show you that I do not spe.ik lightly or unadvisedly, and that tnerc are grounds and reasons, I think absolutely demonstrative, why nob only you may mitigate and qualify, but why you may wholly banish trom your minds every ieat of what is to happen in Ireland. (Checre.) I will nob speak of the uniform and unread ved assurances of the Irish themselves, because where suspicion exists it it> not easily put away by the meio assurance ol thote who arc suspected, but I will point to histoiy, and will briolly and summarily, fioin tho necessities ot time, iefcr to the facts w Inch, in my opinion, arc conclusive. (Chceix.) I have been obliged toremindyouthatin England theie was a >anguinary and ferocious pei seen tiondu ling the reign of Queen Alary. Now, what had happened in Ii eland at that time? In lieland nearly tho whole opinion was Koman Catholic. Theie was hardly any divi&ion of leligious opinion at all, and yet, although that was the state of things in Ireland, there stands on recotd this fact, that fiom Bristol and irora the Mersey — 1 believe from the Dee — at any rate, from tho different ports of those days the Piotestants of England, in appieheiibion of their lives, fled to Ireland ior security, and remained there ii\ perfect safety under the protection of their Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, while the fires of Smibiitield were in full blaze. (Hear, hear.) Now, gentlemen, I will give you these two propositions that can be made good upon every page of Irihh histoiy. The people of England ha\e on many occasion^ — inchiding that to which I refer— shown a most ardent desire to maintain religious freedom. Secondly, they have never for one moment, to my knowledge, deviated into the paths of bigotry and cruelty excepting under the most desperate provocation, and then in a degiee far less than according to the ierocious example which was set by their oppressors. I daresay you have heard of the Rebellion of 1641, the greatest) lebellion that ev6r happened in Ireland, when the Irish people, rising up against tho ] cruelties that were really intolerable, became po?. e e%&ed of a large portion ot the country, and continued through a war ot ten or oleven years, till it was finally put down by Cromwell, to fight for what they deemed to bbande — and nobody can blame them — tho cause of their country. Well, what happened ? There was a certain bishop ot that day, Bishop Bedel, an illustrious name, almost the only illustrious name amongst the very few connocted with the history of the Protestant Church in lieland, the translator of the Scriptures into Irish, and the Roman Catholic people were in possession of the country where ho lived. They received him, tliey even tolerated his giving shelter to their enemies. When they remonstrated with him what they said was, 'We know we shall be very likely put down, and then these men whom you are sheltering will be the first to destroy us,' but tho bishop said, 'It i« my duty to fehelter them and I must shelter them.' That bishop died in the middle of the rebellion ; the whole of tho Roman Catholic population of tho district attended his funeral and fired military salutes over

his grave, ancU* the priest ab „bheir head said, 4 May my soul bo with tho soul of Bedol.' (Cheers.) There is nob a nobler record to be found in history than that simple record to which I have so briojly referred. (Renewed cheers.) Gentlemen, I must be very short. If Igo back only a hundiod years, ab that time the whole Protestant population of the North was united with the Roman Catholics and struggling to rcliovo them from their political and their poeial disabilities. There ~A as an admirable union amongst the people of Ireland ; but, unfortunately, the enemies of Ireland determined to intuse into the country the poison of religious bigotry, and for that) purpose thoy founded thoso Orange lodges which will hand down to posterity the memory oi in tolerance and narrowness for many generations. (Cheers.) Fortunately, theircliaraclorisriow much mitigated, butat the time of their foundation *"hey weie foundod for the purpose of dividing Ireland fiom England, and to their foundation you may trace that remarkable change which hdb taken place among many of the Protestants of the North, who aio now banded together to oppose tho ■^cry cau&o of which 100 yenrs ago thoir forefathers were most ardent supporter". (Cheers.) [t is not, perhaps, to bo hoped that its effect? will disappear in a moment. They will, lam satisfied, disappear under the influence ot Irish patriotism, both on tho one side and tho other, when li eland is relieved from the unnatural po&ition that she now holds, and is invented with t.ho reasonable prmlegc, which she constitutionally asks, in tho management of her own affairs. (Clieois. ) 1 will only us-o tho&o minutes which lemain to mo in calling to your mind a rcnnukablo fact which! think, if any apprehension *lill remains in the mind of a timrlo individual, ought to fcuflice to remove tint appichens>ion. It is this? tact : Kmi youi eye o\er the lhfc of those who ha\e led tho Jrish people in thoir c-ti ugglo for liberty. You will find that in almost eveiy case — I beliexe in e\cry important case e.Nccpl that of O'Connoll — the liiah puoplo ha\o been led. not. bv a Roman Catholic, but by a Piotostant. (J rattan was a Piotostant, Cunan was a Protestant, Butt u'as a Protcotant — I cannot lecollect the names to tun them over without moie time for reflection —and you know that the leader they now follow with an implicit and unquestioning confidence — I mean I'arnell — (loud cheers) — is a Protestant. Moreover, ho must have boon surely a Protestant of Protestants, as John Bright said ho wa? a Di'&cnter. Parnell must have been a Protestant of Prolcttants, for lie was actually chosen after the disestablishment of the Irish Church as a lay delegate to rcpicsent his church in the synod which was called together. (Cheers.) lloweauyoube lieve that that nation which has made such choice of ita loadcifc — who chose O'ConncU, not because he was a Roman Catholic, but because he was a great man and by far the greatest man of hi& day, and tho best and most patriotic instrument they could find to yive etlect to their national desiro-^— how can you suppose, under these cit cum stance^, that these Irish R?man Catholics will be found untu.e to the principles which, as I have shown you, they ha\e supported and followed and shown their attachment to by conspicuous examples under circumstances far moio difficult? (Cheers.) Ko ; lely upon it this lloman Catholic people will be found fighting breast to bienst with you tho battles ot religious libevty They will hold tho same opinions upon those subjects which you have held, which your fathers have contended for, and which have marched triumphantly towards po many successful and mobh beneficial and brilliant results. (Renewed cheers. ) They will • set an example to the other Roman Catholic peoples of the woild. They will show the sinceiity of their attachment both to Tin one and to tho law, and to the principles upon which the law will, or I hope will, bo uniformly founded, among which none will occupy a higher place, none will be moie vital to the happiness and piosperity of the country than the fullc=b and the most absolute uecognitioij of the great law of religious freedom to the 'consciences of all, ii respective of this pi ofosoion or oi that profession, wliich we may hope and believe to bo held with a firm personal conviction, but each one respecting the convictions of c\cry other man even as ho claims ic-pect for hi.s own." (Loud and prolonged cheeiin^. )