REMONSTRANCE. To his Holiness Pope Pius VII The humble address and remonstrance of the General Board of Roman Catholics of Ireland. Most Holy Father, "The general board of the Roman Catholics of Ireland with sentiments of veneration, which are due to the supreme head, upon earth, of the Roman Catholic church. They desire to assure your holiness, that no change of circumstances shall ever induce them to interrupt that spiritual connexion with the holy see, which they esteem to be essential to the Catholic communion and which their ancestors protected and preserved in defiance of most cruel persecutions and the most seductive temptations. It is therefore, with deep regret that they find themselves called upon to submit to the paternal consideration of their holy father, any expression of disappointment or dissatisfaction; but their zeal for the preservation of their religion compels them to unfold to his Holiness the subjects of their anxiety and the sources of their affliction. They could not with safe conscience admit that they discover in the recent conduct of the advisers of the See of Rome, any proof of an existing reciprocity of attachment. It would seem to have been forgotten, that the conduct and perseverance of the Roman Catholics of Ireland had entitled them to any share of regard, or even of favourable consideration-the martyrs of three centuries appear to be already forgotten, and the zealous perseverance of the present generation is not esteemed worthy of being taken into account. We put forth no claims to gratitude. What the Catholics of Ireland did in support of their religion, they did it not from human respect, but for God's glory and their own sanctification; and with cheerful hearts do they avow the gratitude which they owe to Providence for their preservation, notwithstanding the continual dangers of persecution and neglect. The Catholics of Ireland have observed with painful emo tions the marked disinclination evinced at Rome to entertain their most humble solicitations for attention. Nearly two years have elapsed since they forwarded to the Holy See an address and remonstrance by the hands of their delegate, the Rev. Richard Hayes to this respectful communication to the sentiment of which they unalterably adhere, no answer has been obtained nor has any inclination been manifested to cherish those Catholic principles which induced that address; this sense of indifference is much aggravated, when the Catholics of Ireland observe an active anxiety evinced to forward the wishes and accomplish the purposes of that power; which persecuted our ancestors and still oppress their posterity on account of their adherence to the Catholic faith. The consummation of our disappointment is accomplished by the banishment of the faithful delegate of nearly six millions of the most constant and attached members of the Catholic church. We sincerely lament the necessity which obliges us to address this remonstrance to your Holiness, whose character we venerate with unequalled attachment; we cannot for a moment entertain the belief, that the conduct against which we complain, could have been approved of by the head of the Catholic church or sanctioned by him. We cannoot suppose that your Holiness would willingly discountenance the prayer of the Irish Catholics to preserve their faith and discipline from the intrigues and hostilities of the avowed enemies of their church. Neither can we entertain the opinion that your Holiness would direct, or willingly admit that the delegate of so large a body of Catholics, whose conduct was most earnestly approved of by his constituents and who possesses, as he well merits, their confidence, esteem, and gratitude, should have been consigned to an ignominious exile, without the institution of any judicial proceeding, or without any representation of misconduct being attempted. This board can feel no difficulty in ascertaining that this offensive indignity did not arise from any misconduct on the part of the Irish delegate, on the contrary, they attribute it to the too successful intrigues and influence of the enemies to the Catholic religion in Ireland, who considered the expulsion of the Rev. Mr. Hayes from Rome a necessary preliminary step towards the accomplishment of their hostile purposes. For we have learned with regret, that a lay interference has taken place at Rome in the affairs of the Catholics of Ireland, We solemnly protest against the interference of the statesman to whom, in particular we allude, and we distinctly renounce any submission to him or his measures. We will not yield to a minister, what we would not concede to his master-the right of interference in our temporal affairs. Our intercourse with Rome is exclusively confined to spiritual concerns, and we never can agree to have that intercourse regulated by the interests of the court, or to have it directed by the political minister. We cannot avoid declaring to your Holiness that our apprehensions of undue and temporal interference are much increased by learning that your holiness is soon to be addresed in person by one of the most active opponents to the independence and purity of the Irish church, Sir John Cox Hippesley, We earnestly conjure your holiness to give no credit to his representations of any portion of the Irish people. He has exhausted all the resources of his ingenuity to find precedents of degradation and despotism in ecclesiastical matters, in order to apply them to the prejudice of the Catholic claims in Ireland. We implore you Most Holy Father to protect, by a timely interposition, the Catholics of Ireland against the dangers which impend over them. We entreat your Holiness to allay all national alarms, by establishing such a concordat with the bishops of our church in Ireland as will render the election of their successors perfectly domestic and purely Ca tholic, and will at the same time insure the institution to the person so to be elected. We urge this measure the more earnestly, because we know it to be approved of by every class and rank of Catholics, ecclesiastical and laical in Ireland. Such a measure would satisfy the doubts of every protestant mind not bent on the annihilation of the Catholic faith and would, at the same time remove all the sources of disunion which generate hostility in the Catholic body. Most holy Father, we further pray your holiness to cause to be revoked the order of banishment which has been issued out against our delegate. With a view to allay the feelings of dismay which now universally and most powerfully agitate the minds, and affright the consciences of your long persecuted and ever faithful Catholic children in Ireland. Signed by order Secretary of the Catholics of Ireland. Board Room, Dublin, July 19, 1817. To which the Pope transmitted the following answer, it was the authenticity of this document that Mr. O'Connell doubted, and which called forth from him so many severe remarks concerning the conduct of some of the members of the Catholic board. "To our beloved children of the general board of the Catholics, Dublin.' "Beloved children, PIUS P. P. VII. "Health and apostolical benediction !-In your letter dated the 19th day of last July, which our venerable brother Lawrence Cardinal Litta, of the Holy Roman Church Bishop of Sabinum, and Prefect of the Congregation for the propagation of the faith, delivered to us, you complain that we had given no answer to the letter in which you had two years before, recorded your remonstrance concerning the subject of the election of bishops. But you should by no means have inferred from this our silence, that we have less at heart the interest of the Catholic religion in that kingdom, or that our disposition is less favourable or less prompt towards the people of Ireland, whose constancy in the faith, unshaken by any adversity, and whose distinguished merits in the cause of religion, we ac knowledge and admire. For the unwearied solicitude which, it appears from public records, we had devoted to the interests of all churches, even in the midst of peril and of difficulties and which we now devote with increased energy, and even your own approved faith and religion should have furnished you with abundant proof, that there existed another cause why it appeared inexpedient to answer your letter. In truth, we then had a double reason for adopting this cause, for, in the first place, whereas, at the same time, there was brought to us, along with yours, a letter also from the Irish bishops, relating to the same subject, and as we stated to those bishops, as well as by personal communication to their delegates as well as by our letter, dated the 1st of February, 1816, our opinion concerning the proposed difficulties, and the subject of your alarm, we thought it by no means necessary to repeat the same to you, which you could have so easily learned and ascertained from them; secondly, the tenor of the letter which you addressed to us on that occasion, contributed in no small degree, to induce us to act towards you in that manner. For though many assurances of your devotion to the Catholic faith were mingled with your expostulations, yet contrary to our expectations, we observed, that you frequently gave expression to such language and sentiments as seemed by no means in unison with that devotion and zeal which the people of Ireland have at all times manifested towards the Apostolic See, from which they justly glory, that they have derived the the light of faith. Therefore, as on the one hand, your many and illustrious merits induced us to act kindly towards you and on the other, we could neither approve nor altogether suppress our opinion of those matters, which contrary (as we are persuaded) to your intention had crept into your letter, we thought it better to send you no answer, especially when, as we have already stated our opinion, and judgment as to the proposed difficulties, could have been fully made known to you by other means. You have then, the causes of our silence, which we do not now hesitate to disclose to you, that we may deliver you from all anxiety, and that henceforth you may |