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THE LIFE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 \ REV. DR. DOYLE; 
 
 COMPILED FROM 
 
 COMPILED FROM 
 
 ftutfietttfc Oocutnctits: 
 
 HE AUTHOR OF “THE PRIESTHOOD VINDICATED.” 
 
 “ Fond mem’ry, from her living (ablets raise 
 The manly virtues, gracefully severe, 
 
 That high-exalted his aspiring goal 
 Above the crawling herd.” 
 
 Warton. 
 
 DUBLIN : 
 
 fOTYPED BY T. & J. COLDWELL, 50, CAPEL-STREET. 
 
 T THE CATHOLIC BOOK-SOCIETY, 5, ESSEX-BRIDGE J J. COYNE, 
 
 ok-street; r. grace and son, 45, capel-st.; n. clarke, 
 
 EAT BRITAIN-STREET. 
 
 I, KEATING AND BROWN ; MANCHESTER, S. BIRCHENOUGH, 
 UTLER-STRKET; R. LYNCH, BACK KING-STREETJ GLASGOW, 
 -TNKDY, &C. &C. 
 
 1834. 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 
 I’UlfidMnT m i t. 
 
THE POOR, PERSECUTED, BUT LOYAL 
 
 IPH©3PE351 ©IP HIS2!3L^BSI5), 
 
 THE 
 
 FOLLOWING ATTEMPT 
 
 T© 
 
 RECORD THE VIRTUES AND TALENTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 RIGHT REV. DOCTOR DOYLE 
 
 The first of Bishops, Patriots, and Philosophers, 
 
 IS DEDICATED 
 
 BY ONE OF THEMSELVES, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 'o write, with effect, the life of the first man of 
 lern times, would require not merely his talents, 
 an intimate knowledge of his actions, but in 
 e measure, that spirit which gave those actions 
 e and merit under God. 
 
 'hat there are men in Ireland, whose talents 
 knowledge would do more justice to the life 
 )r. Doyle than those of the present writer, 
 ould be presumptuous for him to doubt: but'he 
 vvs, from sad experience, that those who pos- 
 the most eminent qualifications for a biogra- 
 • too often take refuge in that retirement which 
 es public virtue to shift for itself, or fear cap- 
 s criticism too much to do justice to even one 
 he worthies of Ireland. 
 
 he writer is also aware, that if those feelings 
 ot prevent some from registering the deeds of 
 illustrious, that an ambition to soar above the 
 ;re of the humbler classes, often places the re- 
 i of the virtuous too high for the mass of the 
 »le, for whom perhaps, in a particular manner, 
 objects of their panegyric were intended by 
 ddence. 
 
 nder those impressions, and to excite others to 
 .ill upon a theme so exalted, the present writer 
 j. to submit to the People of Ireland —not his 
 > lucubrations, but the leading words and ac- 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 tions of the revered Bishop of Kildare an 
 Leighlin— a man whose virtues, talents, and p 
 triotism must be dear to religion, literature, an 
 humanity, whilst the world exists, or man fee 
 gratitude. 
 
 Whilst the author hopes that this book will b 
 useful in giving an epitome of Dr. Doyle s work 
 and, he trusts,’ a faithful account of his publi 
 life, he still thinks much remains to be said of th 
 great man. With sentiments of peculiar pleasu 
 the writer has to announce, that the illustrio 
 bishop, a short time before his death, handed 
 his publisher, as a legacy to the people of Irelan 
 three works in MSS. The first on religious contr 
 versy, entitled, “ A Dissertation on Popery; or £ 
 Analysis of Divine Faith, addressed to the Prote 
 
 in 
 
 ! 
 
 IE 
 
 
 at 
 
 tants of England, particularly to the men of Kent 
 The second, “ An Essay on the Abolition of Tithe i 
 and on the just application of Church Property 
 and the third on the all-important question—“ T 
 Repeal of the Union, and the restoration of natii 
 legislation to Ireland.” 
 
 Any work coming from such a splendid geni 
 would be sought for with avidity, but the publi 
 tion of works like those, at such a crisis, must 
 desired with an intensity of feeling rarely, perha 
 equalled. No time should be lost in submittii 
 those works to the public. 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OP 
 
 DOCTOR DOYLE, 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 Behold great Dotlb !—with reverence speak his name— 
 
 His life was virtue, and his death was fame 1 
 
 It has been truly said, that the influence of the Catholic 
 riesthood of Ireland is great. And why should it not be 
 ) ? Who is the first and the last to feel for the poor of 
 reland, if not the priest ? Who enters into all their joys 
 nd all their sorrows ? Who receives them from the hand 
 God, and prepares them to meet him ? Who is their 
 end in every virtuous act, and their foe in every thing 
 nful ? Who sighs for their freedom and for their happi- 
 ss, and if he cannot take part in the field of political con- 
 ict, at least can, like another Moses, ascend the mount, 
 id raise his hand for their national as well as spiritual sal- 
 U ition? 
 
 If the influence of the priesthood, then, is great, is it not 
 unded on virtue and talent ? Is it not begotten by 
 erit, and exemplified in gratitude ? Are not the Catholic 
 liJjriests honored and revered in proportion to their sanctity 
 id learning ? Why is the memory of a Betagh honored by, 
 that of a Gahan endeared to every Irish Catholic ? Is it 
 it because they had a spirit which was celestial, and a 
 ul doubly blest ? Why is it that an O’Leary had every 
 ngue singing his praise, and every pen exerted in his fa- 
 >ur ? Is it not because the lamp of sacred learning burned 
 his mind, and dispelled the murky clouds of ignorance 
 id intolerance ? 
 
8 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE 
 
 If the priest, then, be honored, it is because from his 
 mouth the law of sacred knowledge flows to thousands ?— 
 If he be respected, it is because, as the envoy of the Eter¬ 
 nal, he is sent forth, on 
 
 The great career of justice—to exalt 
 His gen’rousaim to all diviner deeds; 
 
 To chase each partial purpose from his breast, 
 
 And through the mists of passion and of sense. 
 
 And through the tossing tide of crime and pain. 
 
 To hold his course unfaltering, while the voice 
 Of truth and virtue, up the steep ascent 
 Of nature, calls him to his high reward— 
 
 The applauding smile of heaven ! 
 
 But it is not merely because the Irish priest is a man of 
 virtue and of learning, that his character is honored. It is 
 also because he feels no desire to despise the poor and lowly 
 whom Jesus so much loved! It is because—like the apos¬ 
 tles of Christ—he seeks no rag of this world’s decoration, 
 to cover his nakedness. It is because, whilst, loyal, in the 
 true sense of the word, he derives his support as it ought 
 to be derived, not from state pensions or government pro¬ 
 visions, but from the voluntary offerings of his own flock 
 —from those to whom he preaches the Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ. Therefore, it is, that no matter what political 
 revolution may happen, his religion will not suffer by 
 contamination with the state, and his character will sustain 
 itself when every other character is either justly or un¬ 
 justly destroyed. 
 
 Why do we make these reflections ? Because they prove, 
 that the man whose memoirs we here attempt to give, be¬ 
 came, in a few years, the admiration of millions—not from 
 what the world calls rank—not from the adventitious aid 
 of riches, nor from the influence of what some call power, 
 but because he loved virtue—loved religion, and loved that 
 divine benevolence which is 
 
 ** For ever exercised, y£t never tired. 0 
 
 Why did Dr. Doyle, in the course of only fifteen years, 
 from the commencement of his public life, astouish not 
 merely sages and orators, but the first statesmen of the age, 
 by the splendour of his talents, by the depth of his thoughts, 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 9 
 
 by die power of his mind, and by the strength of his judg¬ 
 ment ? Because he learned the true value of every mo¬ 
 ment,—subdued his passions by, religion,—devoted his 
 mind to useful study, and performed all his actions to the 
 glory of his God, and the improvement of his fellow-man. 
 
 Paschal says : that there are three classes of great men : 
 
 1st, Those warriors, who, by feats of arms, subdue 
 thousands. 
 
 2d, Those who by the profundity of their learning, sub¬ 
 due the minds of many to the dominion of intelligence. 
 
 3d, Those who by their wisdom, ardent piety, and true 
 religion, subdue themselves , and teach others to submit 
 themselves to the yoke of Christ. Of this latter description 
 was the late Bishop of Kildaue, Dr. Doyle. 
 
 So bright his course—his glory so complete— 
 
 Liviug and dying, he was the good, the grea* 
 
 And w 7 hy was he assailed by a low, vile, and unprinci¬ 
 pled Press ? Why was he hated by the bigot and the slave ? 
 Because he had the talent to expose their falsehoods, and 
 the resolution to ride in triumph over their fiendish machi¬ 
 nations. Thus even his enemies became his best eulogists; 
 and in him was fulfilled the saying of the poet:— 
 
 “ Murmuring Pursons hate him and admire.” 
 
10 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 dr. doyle’s birth—education, &c. 
 
 " Virtue alone can eternize his name; 
 
 Can make it soar with ceaseless flight on high; 
 
 Can build the deathless fabric of his fame. 
 
 And rear his bright memorial to the sky." 
 
 James Doyle, the subject of our present memoir, was 
 born in 1786, of pious and respected parents, in the town 
 of New Ross, county Wexford, and diocese of Ferns.— 
 Unlike some apostate Irishmen, who are more elevated by 
 fortune, but less gifted by God, he always remembered, 
 with pleasure, the place of his nativity, and gloried at its 
 piety and religion .—(See Reply to Dr. Elrington, 1828.J 
 
 The parents of Dr. Doyle appeared to be deeply sensi¬ 
 ble of the immense value of a religious and genuine system 
 of education, and, accordingly, gave to their children what 
 fitted them for the most exalted professions. 
 
 From the earliest age, James having given proofs of 
 more than ordinary virtues and talents, his natural as well 
 as religious guardians, conceived it to be the will of heaven, 
 that those virtues and talents should be devoted to the altar. 
 They accordingly watched the bent of his inclination and 
 genius, and gave him as good a preliminary education as 
 the country could afford. 
 
 Although his country was fast merging from that gloom 
 in which political bondage had, for ages, enveloped her, yet 
 the Anti-Catholic spirit of her task-masters rendered it yet 
 extremely difficult for those intended for the sacred priest¬ 
 hood, to attain their wishes at home, unless in the College 
 of Maynooth, then just established by Act of Parliament , 
 a fact alone which made many strict Catholics doubt, that 
 it was the place best calculated to preserve the religion and 
 patriotism of their children. 
 
 James Doyle, accordingly, at a very early age, was sent 
 to the Catholic College of Coimbra, in Portugal, where, 
 in less than the ordinary time, on account of his rapid ad- 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 11 
 
 vancement, he completed his sacred studies, and entered 
 iuto the Order of St. Augustine. 
 
 Dr. Doyle’s allusion to this period of his life, in one of 
 his famous pastorals, is interesting:— 
 
 ** Our great interest for your welfare, dearest brethren, in 
 these appalling times, has dictated these sentiments, and 
 we deserve to be heard by you, with attention. We are 
 no hirelings: l who feed ourselves, and leave the jlock to 
 starve We can “ call you to witness, that we have not 
 desired the silver , nor the gold, nor the clothes of any of 
 you We have at an early period of our life rejected the 
 favours of the great, and fled even from the smiles of a 
 court, that we might, in our native land, from which we 
 had become an exile, to procure an education, labour in 
 the most humble department of the most sacred ministry, 
 and since we have been amongst you: “ we have not made 
 our life more precious than our soul, provided we could 
 fnish our course, and the ministry of the word, which has 
 been transmitted to us from the Lord Jesus.” We do not 
 glory in these things, but we offer them as arguments of 
 the purity of our intentions, and the sincerity of our love 
 for you, inviting you, by our example, as well as by our 
 words, to suffer patiently for the sake of Christ, and to re¬ 
 main in allegiance to your king, as we ourselves have done, 
 when imprisonment in a foreign country, and all manner of 
 distress, as well as the most alluring prospects, tempted 
 our fidelity.”— Pastoral—June 22, 1823. 
 
 The trials of allegiance and fidelity, here referred to, 
 took place whilst Dr. Doyle was student in the College 
 of Coimbra, when Napoleon invaded Portugal and Spain. 
 
 Whilst the late venerable Primate Curtis had, at this 
 time, displayed heroic fortitude and loyalty, in the Irish 
 College at Salamanca—Dr. Doyle, (with many of his patri¬ 
 otic countrymen,) then in the College at Coimbra, changed 
 his cap and gown for the helmet and the sword, and was 
 prepared to sacrifice life, as he had suffered incarceration, 
 for what he considered the cause of national peace and re¬ 
 ligious security, against foreign violence and irreligious war¬ 
 fare. 
 
 How would this illustrious man feel if he had lived a 
 
12 
 
 LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 few days longer, to witness the introduction of that violence 
 and impiety by a native renegade, which the hero of the 
 world could not plant in the Catholic soil of Portugal ?— 
 What would he say if he had lived to hear, that the first 
 act of a man, assuming the name of a “ Liberator,” was 
 to issue an edict to have those convents and monasteries 
 closed, which, for ages, had not only promoted piety and 
 learning, but afforded asylums and support to thousands, 
 who, otherwise, might have perished, and for whose exist-, 
 ence new taxes, fresh loans, and Poor Rates, (otherwise 
 uncalled for,) must be levied, to crush a once happy and 
 contented people ? But let us hope, that the influence of 
 tyranny, under the name of liberty, and of irreligion, under 
 the pretext of piety, will be destroyed, and that the Portu¬ 
 guese shall be allowed to follow the dictates of their con¬ 
 science, and to keep from their shores that demoniac spirit, 
 which has for it object the destruction of every thing sacred 
 in religion, and social among men ! 
 
 He who writes this, takes credit for.wishing the most ex¬ 
 tended liberty to every child of Adam, and for detesting, 
 from his inmost soul, every species of illiberality, bigotry, 
 and intolerance; but it is his opinion, that the vilest despot 
 is he, who, with liberty on his tongue, refuses to the most 
 humble, the most useful, and the most holy of men, free- 
 ' dom to serve God with their whole hearts, their whole souls, 
 and their whole minds. Can these be called lovers of real 
 liberty, who, whilst they give every fundholder, every 
 schemer, every licentious libertine, every public plunderer, 
 and every profligate adventurer, licence to invade the dwell¬ 
 ings of the peaceful, and to live upon the ruins of thou¬ 
 sands, refuse even the sacred rights of conscience to those 
 whose whole object is to improve the morals of youth, and 
 to better the condition of old age ? 
 
 To return to our subject.—It is Well known that the 
 conduct of James Doyle, whilst in Portugal, had endeared 
 him to thousands of the inhabitants, and had rendered him 
 beloved by some of the very first men in that country. The 
 anecdotes which his fellow-students give of him during this 
 period, are related even now with the most pleasing recol¬ 
 lections. To manners of a more exalted character than 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 13 
 
 usual, and a dignity of comportment which made even his 
 youth venerable, he added in society all that humour and, 
 playfulness which seem the peculiar characteristics of Irish¬ 
 men. 
 
 With purest joys his ardent spirit flow’d, 
 
 Whilst wit and humour freely he bestow'd. 
 
 Dr. Doyle gives the following interesting account of his 
 studies, in his 3d letter on the State of Ireland, pp. 55 to 57. 
 From this it will be seen, that he was far from taking re¬ 
 ligion on mere trust, or that he was blindly led to adopt 
 Catholicity from prejudice, without inquiry or investigation. 
 This candid statement shows that he was a Christian from 
 the deepest conviction of the divine origin of Christianity, 
 and a Catholic from the most demonstrative evidence that 
 Catholicity was the work of Jesus Christ. 
 
 “ I had scarcely finished my classical studies, and had en¬ 
 tered college, when I found myself surrounded by the dis¬ 
 ciples or admirers of d’Alembert, Rousseau, and Voltaire; 
 I frequently traversed in company with them the halls of 
 the Inquisition, and discussed in the area of the Holy 
 Office those arguments or sophisms for the suppression of 
 which this awful tribunal was ostensibly employed. At 
 that time the ardour of youth, the genius of the place, the 
 spirit of the time, as well as the example of my compa¬ 
 nions, prompted me to inquire into all things, and to de¬ 
 liberate whether I should take my station amongst the 
 infidels, or remain attached to Christianity, a I recollect, 
 and always with fear and trembling, the danger to which I 
 exposed the gifts of faith and Christian morality which I 
 had received from a bounteous God ; and since 1 became a 
 man, and was enabled to think like a man, I have not 
 ceased to give thanks to the Father of mercies, who did 
 not deliver me over to the pride and presumption of my 
 own heart. But even then, when all things which could 
 have influence on a youthful mind combined to induce me 
 to shake off the yoke of Christ, I was arrested by the ma¬ 
 jesty of Religion ; her innate dignity, her grandeur and 
 solemnity, as well as her sweet influence upon the heart, 
 filled me with awe and veneration. I found her presiding 
 in every place, glorified by her votaries, and respected or 
 
14 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 feared by her enemies. I looked into antiquity, and found 
 her worshipped by Moses; and not only by Moses, but 
 that Numa and Plato, though in darkness and error, were 
 amongst the most ardent of her votaries. I read attentively 
 the history of the ancient philosophers as well as law-givers, 
 and discovered that all of them paid their homage to her 
 as to the best emanation of the one supreme, invisible, and 
 omnipotent God. I concluded that religion sprung from 
 the Author of our being, and that it conducted man to his 
 last end. I examined the systems of religion prevailing in 
 the East; I read the Koran with attention; I perused the 
 Jewish History, and the History of Christ, of his Disci¬ 
 ples, and of his Church, with an intense interest, and I 
 did not hesitate to continue attached to the religion of our 
 Redeemer, as alone worthy of God; and being a Chris¬ 
 tian, I could not fail to be a Catholic. Since then my ha¬ 
 bits of life and profession have rendered me familiar at least 
 with the doctrines and ordinances of divine revelation, and 
 1 have often exclaimed with Augustine : “ Oh, beauty, ever 
 ancient and ever new, too late have I known thee, too late \ 
 have I loved thee !” 
 
 : 
 
 
15 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 . i 
 
 DR. DOYLE’S RETURN TO IRELAND—PROFESSORSHIP 
 
 “ Revisit, once again, thy native green. 
 
 Where infant innocence endeared each scene; 
 
 Once more recall those sweet and blissful hours, 
 
 * When with thy playmates twining sylvan bowers.” 
 
 Dr. Doyle having now perfected his studies, his mind 
 gradually displayed its great powers, with all that depth of 
 thought and accuracy of judgment, for which it was after¬ 
 wards so pre-eminently distinguished. 
 
 Bv uniting labour and perseverance to great talents, he 
 soon outstripped all his fellow-students, and was qualified to 
 teach before others were half instructed. But it was not 
 mere dry study nor theoretic rules our divine confined him¬ 
 self to. The practical improvement of himself, and of his 
 fellow-man, was his deep desire. To leave human nature 
 better, wiser, and more virtuous than he found it, was the 
 object of'his ambition. It was his delight to acquire a just 
 knowledge, not merely of abstruse questions, and learned 
 books, but of men, of manners, and of things. 
 
 That he 
 
 “Might have the power the harden’d heart to warm, 
 
 To grieve, to raise, to terrify, to charm; 
 
 To fix the soul on God; to teach the mind 
 To know the dignity of human kind ; 
 
 By stricter rules well-governed life to scan. 
 
 And practise o’er the angel in the man.” 
 
 W ARTOX* 
 
 The agitated state of Europe, at this period, made al¬ 
 most every man a politician, but Dr. Doyle s contiguity to 
 the more immediate scenes of action, had, in some mea¬ 
 sure, formed him to become a statesman. Etom this cir¬ 
 cumstance, he had a more intimate knowledge of mili¬ 
 tary tactics, as well as of the rise and fall of the mighty 
 Eagle of France, than most men. The celebrated battles 
 
16 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 of Talavera, in 1810, of Barossa, Albuera, and Badajos, 
 in 1811, and of Salamanca, in 1812, in which his gallant 
 countrymen took such a conspicuous part, were familiar to 
 his mind. 
 
 Shortly after the retreat of the French from Spain and 
 Portugal, and of the destruction of their army at Moscow, 
 Dr. Doyle returned to Ireland, having received the sacred 
 order of priesthood, and qualified himself for almost any 
 ecclesiastical office. 
 
 After remaining for some time at Wexford, amidst his 
 parents, relatives, and friends, from whom he had been se¬ 
 parated so many years, he proceeded to Carlow, with a cha¬ 
 racter for eminence, and letters of introduction, rarely 
 attainable by a man of his age : 
 
 Witli comprehensive mind, and truth endow’d, 
 
 No vulgar passion his great soul controul’d : 
 
 Rich in the science that a priest requir'd. 
 
 With ardent zeal which love divine inspir'd. 
 
 On the day Dr. Doyle entered Carlow College, (then 
 some time established,) after dinner, he joined the presi¬ 
 dent and other clergymen of the house, in the usual walk 
 through the park. The venerable superior, the Reverend 
 Dr. Fitzgerald, after detailing the course of studies and or¬ 
 der pursued in the College, asked him “ what office he 
 would accept in the house ?” Dr. Doyle, in that dignified 
 but respectful tone for which he was remarkable, mildly 
 answered: “ Any place you please, Sir ; from Cordery to 
 Canon Law.” 
 
 Although not yet in the 27th year of his age, he was ap¬ 
 pointed professor of classics in Carlow College. Those 
 who were instructed under him, are the best judges of the 
 mode he took to advance them' in that kind of learning 
 which although common to all Universities must be ac¬ 
 quired with mare care and judgment in an ecclesiastical 
 establishment, where the minds of Christian youth must 
 be protected from the contamination of Heathen, and even 
 corrupt authors ! 
 
 If we read the accouut which St. Jerome gives of his 
 classic learning—the errors into which St. Augustine fell 
 
LITE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 17 
 
 before his conversion by studying Heathen authors without 
 the proper spirit, and the notes which the learned Vives 
 thought it his duty to add to the last-named Father’s “ City 
 of God,” we may think with the author of the “ Morality 
 of St. Augustine,” that it would be well for the Christian 
 world, if, instead of studying the obscene and scandalous 
 works of Heathen writers, judicious selections were made 
 from Latin and Greek authors, capable of informing the 
 judgment, whilst they might mend the heart. It was Dr. 
 Doyle’s aim, whilst he made his pupils familiar with the 
 principles and beauties of the classics, to afford them the 
 best interpretation of their difficult parts, and to rescue their 
 minds from the dangers which too great a love of them is 
 apt to inspire in youthful minds. 
 
 Dr. Doyle wv%soon promoted to the chair of moral and 
 natural philosophy. Here he proved that in the science of 
 metaphysics there was no truth too difficult for his compre¬ 
 hensive mind. 
 
 Even those questions, which by too much subtil ty others 
 involve in mystery, by the clearness of his judgment he re¬ 
 stored to simplicity, and rendered fit for ordinary intellects 
 to understand. 
 
 Naturally possessed of great reasoning powers and a deep 
 spirit of inquiry, in the school of mathematics he showed 
 that no problem was too abtruse for his expanded mind. 
 It was his desire to make “ mathematical studies and ex¬ 
 perimental philosophy (as he says) expel a dry scholasticism 
 from the public places of education; that a more useful 
 system of instruction might progressively diffuse its bless¬ 
 ings.”— Letter on a Literary Institute , 1829 . 
 
 But it was not merely to render mathematics and philo¬ 
 sophy plain, that Dr. Doyle aimed. He endeavoured, by 
 exploring the laws of nature, and by judicious experiments, 
 
 I able explanations, and profound researches, to establish that 
 sound study, which shows God in every thing, and which 
 only soars into the planetary and moral world, to show 
 man the wonders of Omnipotence, that he may adore with 
 greater reverence their author; and to convince even the most 
 sceptical, that 
 
 “The hand that made them is divine." 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 
LIFE OF DE. DOYLE. 
 
 18 
 
 Dr. Doyle regretted, that whilst: “ we have in Ireland, 
 many schools, where young persons are taught the dead, or 
 what are usually called the learned languages, in those, with 
 few exceptions, the very name of science or mathematics is 
 not known.”— Letter on a Literary Institute , 1829, p. 15. 
 
 He also asks : “ Even were science, as it is desirable it 
 should be, an integral j)art of education in them all, of 
 what avail, of what utility, would that be, to those whose 
 fortune could not purchase admission to such schools ?”— 
 Ibid p. 16. 
 
 Dr. Doyle was next elevated to the professorship of 
 Theology and Sacred Scripture. It was here his talents 
 may be said to have got their resting place, and that his 
 mind was more particularly at home. Thus in him was 
 fulfilled in a short time the saying of Sol|pnon: “ Wisdom 
 conducted the just man through the right way, and gave 
 him the knowledge of holy things : made him honorable in 
 his labours, and accomplished his labours.” (Wisd. x. 10.) 
 To teach those, who are to become the teachers of men, 
 and to teach them the sacred science of salvation, or the 
 art of arts, is the noblest exercise of mortals. 
 
 What more sublime thaa teach M what God inspires. 
 
 What wisdom dictates, and what faith requires?’ 
 
 What more divine than show the sacred way 
 Which ope’s the portals to eternal day ? 
 
 Dr. Doyle had qualified himself for this sublime office 
 by mot only studying in the usual manner the Scriptures 
 and approved commentaries, with the works which he has 
 himself already mentioned, but by intense application. He 
 committed to memory all the prominent passages of the 
 Sacred Scriptures and Holy Fathers, and particularly 
 those sayings of his spiritual father, St. Augustine, which 
 deserve peculiar consideration. 
 
 Dr. Doyle’s doctrine upon the perusal and interpreta¬ 
 tion of Scripture, now more immediately his study, was in 
 harmony with that of every sound theologian in ancient and 
 modern times. In answer to the scandalous assertion of 
 Anti-Catholic writers, that “ the Catholic Church locks up 
 the Scriptures,” he has shown, in his “ Vindication of the 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 19 
 
 Religious and Civil Principles of Irish Catholics, (p. 55,) 
 that “ the doctors of the Greek and Latin Churches are 
 earnest and zealous in recommending the perusal of the 
 sacred Scriptures.” “ There is no Christian Church iu 
 Europe, (says he,) which uses so many, or more inspiring 
 forms of prayer, than ours ; there is no church in which so 
 many works of piety, and on the Gospel morality, have 
 been written; there are no people on earth more devoted to 
 their perusal, or more desirous of reducing them to prac¬ 
 tice, than the well-educated of the Irish Catholics ; there is 
 no priesthood in the world more anxious for their diffusion, 
 than the Catholic priesthood; and there is no church has 
 been more steady and uniform in recommending to her 
 children the perusal of the sacred Scriptures, where such 
 perusal was not exposed to danger or liable to abuse, than 
 the Catholic.” (p. 52.) “ On the same grounds, (continues 
 he,) therefore, that the Catholic Church exhorts her chil¬ 
 dren to the reading of the Scriptures, she requires them to 
 read them with caution, with humility and faith ; and com¬ 
 mands them not to interpret the meaning of any part of them, 
 contrary to the unanimous opinion of her approved doctors 
 and holy fathers.” (p. 58.) And in his examination before 
 the Lords, March 21st, 1825, he says, “ Of all the things 
 6aid of us, there is not any thing said of us more opposed 
 to truth, than that we are averse to the circulation of the 
 word of God.” 
 
 Dr. Doyle was far from confining the course of theolo¬ 
 gical studies to foreign commentators, or to Greek and Latin 
 authors. He was anxious, that those under his care should 
 read the best English Controvertists, as well as the History 
 of the Church; and be not merely able to speak but write 
 the English language in a manner becoming divines, likely 
 to meet opponents of the faith, who confine their study al¬ 
 most entirely to that language. The splendid discussion at 
 Carlow, in 1824, and the admirable letters of Rev. Messrs. 
 M‘Sweeney, Kinsella, Clowry, Nolan, and Maher, which 
 produced the utter discomfiture of the itinerant sect-men, 
 proved the great value of this arrangement. It is admi¬ 
 rable to see a divine deeply read in the Greek and Latin 
 fathers, and in the canons and councils of the church, it 
 
20 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 is most useful to see him write and speak in the learned lan¬ 
 guages ; but if, whilst he knows all these, he has a difficulty of 
 giving circulation to his thoughts, or of refuting calumnies 
 against his religion or character, in the language of his 
 country, his deep learning may often be unprofitable to a 
 large portion of the public, and his language may be too ele¬ 
 vated to be understood by the mass of those for whose in¬ 
 struction he has been specially appointed. It may not be 
 too much to say, that to the difficulties which legislative enact¬ 
 ments have thrown in the way of cultivating English lite¬ 
 rature in some of our colleges, and to the proscription 
 which government influence has marked out for men, who, 
 like Hierophilos, desire to give vent to their sentiments 
 in all the elegance of their mother tongue, must be 
 attributed the few works which learned men amongst us 
 have given to the world for the last century. 
 
 Among the books Dr. Doyle recommended as containing 
 a clear elucidation of the Catholic doctrine, were the “ Ca¬ 
 techism of the Co.uncil of Trent,” “ Bossuet’s Exposition,” 
 “ Veron’s Rule of Faith,” and “ Holden’s Analysis.” He 
 also thought much of “ Gother’s Papist Misrepresented 
 and Represented.” He entertained a great opinion of the 
 celebrated “ Case Stated” by the Rev. Robert Manning 
 against Lesley, and went so far as to say, that “ he must 
 have written that great work at the foot of the cross, and 
 was inspired by the Holy Ghost to unravel the sophistries, 
 and refute the errors of the enemies of the faith.” 
 
 In all his lectures and theses, Dr. Doyle, with all our 
 Catholic theologians, inculcated the most undivided alle¬ 
 giance to the sovereign of our country. As to the doctrine 
 of the deposing power, so grossly attributed to Catholics 
 as an article of their faith, he says, in his subsequent “ Evi¬ 
 dence before the Lords’ Committee,” (1825, p. 240.) “ I 
 have not heard of a divine who has maintained it for a long 
 time; it is a thing which we reject at our schools. I have 
 learned theology, and taught it myself for several years ; 
 I have defended in public theses, printed and published, 
 that the Pope had no such authority, and that it is de¬ 
 cidedly contrary to reason and the public good.” And p. 
 191. “ The Pope at present does not interfere, or attempt 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 to interfere with the temporal concerns of any kingdom in 
 Europe. The case of Naples is the only one in which the 
 Popes of Rome have for the last three centuries nearly, in¬ 
 terfered in any way, directly or indirectly, with the tem¬ 
 poral concerns of any state in Europe; and I add, that if 
 they were to attempt so to interfere at present, the inter¬ 
 ference would not only be disregarded, but scoffed at by 
 every person of sense.” But that he was far from detracting 
 from the real spiritual jurisdiction and authority of the 
 Sovereign Pontiff, is clear from the following : “ The Pope 
 has the power to nominate directly or indirectly a native or 
 a foreigner to a Roman Catholic bishopric in Ireland.” 
 (p. 224.) And (in a letter signed J. K. L. published in 
 the Dublin Evening Post, March 21st, 1822,) in reply to 
 a layman, he says : “ The Catholic prelates recognise in the 
 Pope, a right and power, not only to suppress and esta¬ 
 blish chapters, but even to suppress, alter, modify, and 
 change bishoprics; to reduce metropolitans to the rank of 
 suffragans, and vice versa ., whenever the interest of the 
 church or necessity requires it; but .what may be still more 
 shocking to this layman, they even believe that the Pope is 
 the judge of the necessity which should warrant such a 
 proceeding.” 
 
 The exalted notions which Dr. Doyle had of education, 
 and his opinions on the defects of the plans for instructing, 
 rot merely the humble, but more exalted classes, now more 
 immediately under notice, may be collected from his 6th and 
 7th “ Letters on the State of Ireland,” his “ Letter on a Na¬ 
 tional Institute in Ireland,” and various other documents. 
 
 In the former he thus writes: 
 
 ** Next to the blessing of redemption, and the graces con¬ 
 sequent upon it, there is no gift bestowed by God equal in 
 value to a good education ; other advantages are enjoyed 
 by the body, this belongs entirely to the spirit; whatever is 
 great, or good, or glorious, in the works of men, is the 
 fruit of educated minds. Wars, conquests, commerce, all 
 the arts of industry and peace, all the refinements of life, 
 all the social and domestic virtues, all the refinements and 
 delicacies of mutual intercourse; in a word, whatever is 
 estimable amongst men owes its origin, increase, and per- 
 
 % 
 
22 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 fection, to the exercise of those faculties, whose improve¬ 
 ment is the object of education. ' Religion herself loses half 
 her beauty and influence when not attended or assisted by 
 education; and her power, splendour, and majesty, are 
 never so exalted, as when cultivated genius and refined 
 taste become her heralds or her handmaids. Many have 
 become fools for Christ, and, by their simplicity and piety, 
 exalted the glory of the cross; but Paul, not John, was 
 the apostle of the nations, and doctors, more even than 
 prophets, have been sent to declare the truths of religion 
 before kings, and princes, and the nations of the earth. 
 Education draws forth the mind, improves its faculties, 
 increases its resources, and by exercise strengthens and aug¬ 
 ments its powers : I consider it, therefore, of inestimable 
 value; but like gold, which is the instrument of human 
 happiness, it is, and always must be, unequally distributed 
 amongst men. Some will always be unable or unwilling 
 to acquire it, others will expend it prodigally, or pervert it 
 to the worst ends, whilst the bulk of mankind will always 
 be more or less excluded from its possession.” 
 
 “ I am truly and heartily devoted to the greatest possible 
 diffusion of knowledge, even in Ireland , and not less zeal¬ 
 ously opposed to the folly or malice of those who would 
 put this mighty moral engine to work, without guards and 
 checks to control and regulate it; or who would avail them¬ 
 selves of the public feeling in favour of education, for the 
 purpose of engrafting upon it their own wild theories in 
 religion. 
 
 “ The state of education in this country is not certainly 
 gratifying to a man of reflection. The study of science is 
 confined to a few, and the only sciences which are well 
 cultivated amongst us are those connected with the physical 
 world. * Positive sciences, which require great labour, pa¬ 
 tience, and industry, are not suited to the Irish character; 
 and hence, as well as from the small profits or honours an¬ 
 nexed to them, they are greatly neglected. Another cause 
 of this neglect is found in the excessive wealth of our Uni¬ 
 versity, and of the Established Church, where pride and 
 indolence, the natural growth of riches, occupy the place 
 of labour and study; whilst, on the other hand, a want of 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOVLE. 
 
 23 
 
 time and of means prevent the Catholic Clergy from de¬ 
 voting themselves to literary pursuits. 
 
 « Politics, political economy, religious innovation, these 
 are the subjects, not sciences, in which Irish genius delights; 
 these studies, if such they can be called, employ the in¬ 
 ventive powers of the mind; they recreate the fancy ; they 
 supply food to eloquence and to the passions, and super¬ 
 sede, in a good measure, all attention to matter of fact. 
 
 “ Most of our youth above the general condition of the 
 people are acquainted with the preliminaries of knowledge; 
 they acquire just as much of classics and of science as is 
 sufficient to deceive them into the notion that they are edu¬ 
 cated, and to precipitate them unprepared into the laby¬ 
 rinth of public life. To find in Ireland a good logician, 
 a learned historian, or a deeply read divine, is almost as 
 difficult as to discover a venemous serpent or a monster 
 such as Horace describes. You could meet with apostles 
 and prophets on any of the highways, but amongst them a 
 man of deep research is indeed a rara avis. A mathema¬ 
 tician or geologist, a man skilled in plants or minerals, is 
 not a very rare commodity in Ireland ; but compared with 
 politicians, and essayists, and preachers of the Word, he 
 bears as little proportion as the handful of Greeks did to 
 the myriads of Xerxes.”— Letter VI. p. 124. 
 
 With those feelings, Dr. Doyle, for nearly five years had 
 devoted his great talents as professor in Carlow College, 
 forming the minds of His pupils to the most exalted know¬ 
 ledge of literature, philosophy, and what is dearer than all, 
 religion and piety. 
 
 'Die time had now arrived for raising him to that office 
 which, under that of the Sovereign Pontiff, is the most ele¬ 
 vated on earth—of a “ bishop to rule the Church of God, 
 which he hath purchased with his own blood.”— Acts xx. 28. 
 
24 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OR. DOYLE CONSECRATED BISHOP 
 
 With brightest virtues he fills the bishop’s chair, 
 
 And leads his flock to heaven, with pious care. 
 
 It was said of Bossuet, that “ no ecclesiastic had preached 
 so early or so late,” on account of his youth, when he en¬ 
 tered the pulpit, and the hour to which his sermons ex¬ 
 tended. 
 
 It may be said of Dr. Doyle, that, perhaps, there is not 
 on record a more unanimous wish to elect a bishop at so 
 early an age, than there was in his case. 
 
 The Right Rev. Dr. Corcoran, bishop of Kildare and 
 Leighlin, after a short illness, died in 1819. On the 27th 
 August, in the same year, the clergy of the diocese assem¬ 
 bled, and amongst three, named first Dr. Doyle as his suc¬ 
 cessor ; although then scarcely 33 years of age, and younger 
 than any other member of the episcopal body in Ireland. 
 
 The Pope’s bull haying arrived in about two months, 
 Dr. Doyle was solemnly consecrated bishop, on Sunday, the 
 14th November, 1819, in the parish chapel of Callow, by 
 the late venerable Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Rev. 
 Dr. Troy, assisted by the Most Rev. Dr. Murray, Most 
 Rev. Dr. Everard, Right Rev. Dr. Marum, and Right 
 Rev. Dr. Walsh. 
 
 Ardent piety, splendid talents, and superior judgment, 
 were soon manifested by Dr. Doyle in the ecclesiastical 
 government of his diocese. 
 
 To reform abuses—advance piety—dispel ignorance—de¬ 
 stroy vice—secure confidence—forward education—promote 
 a love of science among his clergy—and to improve in 
 every way the spiritual and temporal condition of his peo¬ 
 ple, were his unceasing objects. The strict duties which he 
 imposed upon his clergy, and the severity with which he visi¬ 
 ted any who, unmindful of the sanctity of their office, mixed 
 themselves too much in secular affairs, soon procured for 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 25 
 
 him the character of a disciplinarian. His ministry, how¬ 
 ever, was not a ministry of mere words. He well knew 
 that— 
 
 /Ie, who the sword of heaven would wear, 
 
 • Must he as holy as he is severe. 
 
 Like a noble general, he led his officers to battle, and 
 headed his troops until the victory over sin and ignorance 
 was complete. * He preached “ the word in season and out 
 of season.'*' ** He was blameless—sober—prudent—of good 
 behaviour—chaste—given to hospitality—a teacher—one 
 that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjec¬ 
 tion with all chastity." ( 1. Tim. iii.J He well studied the 
 words of St. Paul to Timothy, so applicable to himself: 
 “ Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example 
 to ti e faithful, in word, in conversation, in charity, in 
 faith in chastity; attend unto reading, to exhortation, and 
 to doctrine. Neglect not the grace that is in thee, which 
 was given thee by prophecy, with imposition of the hands 
 of the priesthood. Meditate upon these things, be wholly 
 in these things, that thy profiting may be manifest to all." 
 —Ibid . iv. 12, 13, 14, 15. 
 
 One of his first efforts was to place in the highest situ¬ 
 ations under himself, those of the clergy who were most 
 remarkable for learning and piety, agreeably to the same 
 apostle’s recommendation : u Let the priests who rule well 
 be esteemed worthy of double honour, especially they who 
 labour in the word and doctrine."— Ibid v. 17. 
 
 Knowing that a bad priest may be the ruin of thou¬ 
 sands, he did “ not impose hands lightly upon any man," 
 that he might “ not be a partaker of any man’s sins." 
 — Ibid. v. 22. 
 
 There never, perhaps, was a bishop who took more 
 pains to ascertain the character, wants, wishes, and manners, 
 not only of his flock in general, but of his clergy in parti¬ 
 cular, than Dr. Doyle. He kept not merely a regular list 
 of their names and parishes, but also a census of their res¬ 
 pective flocks. 
 
 The following account of the names and address of the 
 rural deans in his diocese, and those of the several parish 
 priests in the district of each, with the Catholic population 
 
 B 
 
LIFE OF OR. DOYLE. 
 
 26 
 
 in round numbers subject to each pastor, was written by 
 Dr. Doyle, May 4th, 1827. It would be interesting if a 
 similar account were given of each diocese iu Ireland. 
 
 DEANERY OF CARLOW. 
 
 Parish and Post Toum. M Catholics' 
 
 Right Rev. Dr. Doyle,.Carlow,. 6500 
 
 Rev. Thomas Tyrrell,.Carlow,. 4500 
 
 --William Kinsella,.Rathrush, Tullow, .... 4000 
 
 —William Clowry,.Tullow, Tullow,. 6000 
 
 - . John Gahan,.. Rathvilly, Tullow,.... 7500 
 
 -John Kelly,.Clonmore, Tullow,.... 6000 
 
 -John Shea,.Baltinglass,. 7000 
 
 -Mr. Dolan,.Hacketstown,. 6000 
 
 -Mr. Rafter,.Killeshin, Carlow,.... 4500 
 
 -Mr. Hickey,.Arles, Carlow,. 5500 
 
 -Mr. Dowling,.Mayo, Carlow,. 4500 
 
 DEANERY OF BORRIS. 
 
 Very Rev. M. Pendergast, 
 D.D. V.G........... 
 
 Rev. James Maher,. 
 
 -Daniel Nolan,. 
 
 -John Walsh,. 
 
 — Patrick Keogh,. 
 
 --Mr. Dowling,. 
 
 -Mr. Cummins,. 
 
 --Mr. Doyle,. 
 
 > Bagnalstown,.10,000 
 
 . Leighlin-bridge,. 6500 
 
 . Goris-bridge,. 6000 
 
 .Borris, Gore’s-bridge,.. 8000 
 .Graig, (Co. Kilkenny,) 7500 
 . St, Malins Graig, do... 4500 
 
 .Myshal,. 4000 
 
 .Clonegal,. 6500 
 
 - 
 
 DEANERY OF MARYBORO'. 
 
 Very Rev. N. O’Connor, R.D.Maryborough,.. 7500 
 
 Rev. Maurice Hart,........Ballyadams, Stradbally, 6000 
 
 -Mr. Fitzpatrick,.Stradbally,.. 6500 
 
 •-Mr. Delany,.Ballinakil,. 5000 
 
 - ■ Mr. Keogh,.Abbeyleix,. 5000 
 
 — — Mr. Malone,.Mountrath,.10,000 
 
 ~— Mr. Doyle,.,,,,,,,, .Ballyfin, Maryborough, 2500 
 
LIFE OF DU. DOYLE. 
 
 27 
 
 DEANERY OF PORTARLINGTON. 
 
 P Irish and Post Town. Catholics. 
 
 Very Rev. John Dunne, R.D.Portarlington,. 9000 
 
 ^ e f) I^V C -^ uatie > | Mountmellick,. 6500 
 
 Rev. A. Dunne,.Rosenallis, do. 8000 
 
 -John Dunne,.Clonbullock, Rathangan, 4500 
 
 -James Kinsella,.Gheashal, Philipstown, 7500 
 
 -Mr. Rigny,.Philipstown,... 6500 
 
 -Mr. Murphy,.Monastereven. 7500 
 
 DEANERY OF KILCOCK. 
 
 [ 
 
 Very Rev. M. Flanigan, R.D 
 
 Rev. Mr. Earl, .. 
 
 -James Colgan,. 
 
 -F. Healy,. 
 
 -M. Kearney,. 
 
 -Mr. Nolan,. 
 
 -Mr. Doyle,. 
 
 -Mr. Nolan,. 
 
 -T. Nolan,. 
 
 -John Lalor,. 
 
 -P. Brennan. 
 
 —- Mr. M'Mahon,. 
 
 Ballina, Clonard,. 4500 
 
 Carbery, Edenderry, .. 3500 
 
 Edenderry,. 8000 
 
 Kilcock,. 3500 
 
 Mountarmstrong, Clane, 4500 
 Blackchurch, Naas,.... 2500 
 
 Naas,. 4000 
 
 Prosperdus, Naas,.... 4500 
 
 Newbridge,. 4500 
 
 Kilbride, Kildare, .... 3000 
 
 Kildare,. 5000 
 
 Sancroft, Kildare, .... 2500 
 
 I have written the foregoing with some difficulty, as you 
 may perceive, my hand being somewhat disabled by ac¬ 
 cident, but I wished to hasten the communication of my 
 thoughts and of these data to you. 
 
 I remain, Rev. Dear Sir, 
 
 Yours truly in Christ, 
 
 ^ JAMES DOYLE. 
 
 Rev. M. F-. 
 
 To hold clerical conferences, retreats, epistolary corres¬ 
 pondence, and frequent communications with his respective 
 clertry, were objects dear to Dr. Doyle. Never absent from 
 his flock, unless at the general meeting of the prelates, 
 
 
LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 28 , 
 
 or other matters connected with the promotion of religion, 
 he was constantly engaged in writing, in preaching, in con¬ 
 firming, in- ordaining, in examining students, or in holding 
 visitations throughout his diocese. 
 
 In order clearly to ascertain the state of each parish, and 
 of the religious state of its inhabitants, Dr. Doyle required 
 that each of his rectors, or parish priests, would keep an 
 exact account of the following matters, connected with his 
 immediate flock and chapel. 
 
 Names of parish or parishes united, with those of the 
 chapels and of the saints to whom dedicated. 
 
 Titles on which the chapels are held, and if by lease, 
 the names of the lessor and lessees, the term of years and 
 rent, and with whom the lease is deposited. 
 
 If presbytery or parochial house for clergy, to state some 
 particulars concerning it. 
 
 Number of chalices, ciboriums, or other altar plate, vest¬ 
 ments, including albs, copes, altar linen, missals, charts, &c. 
 
 Nature of parochial library, number of books, &c. in it. 
 
 What charitable or religious societies in the parish. 
 
 How many of the confraternity of the Christian doctrine 
 attend to teach the children. The hour it is taught in the 
 chapel, and by whom. 
 
 As nearly as possible, the number of monthly commu¬ 
 nicants, of adults in the parish, of those who approach the 
 sacraments at Easter, or not at all. 
 
 Number of schools in the parish, with the names of the 
 masters and mistresses, and the average number of scho¬ 
 lars who attend each, distinguishing free schools from 
 others. 
 
 Number of public masses on Sundays and holidays, 
 and what hours celebrated, and if special compensation be 
 made, how much, and for how many. 
 
 If Vespers, or Evening Song, be celebrated, in what 
 chapels, and at what hour. 
 
 Are all vestments, pixes, oil stocks, rituals, missals, 
 registries of births and marriages properly arranged and 
 kept in a convenient place for inspection. 
 
 That the parish priest, according to the canons of the 
 church, keep the house of God free from all worldly bu- 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 29 
 
 siness, or anything not conformable to its sanctity, as the 
 temple of God. 
 
 Also, that the rector, or parish priest, keep in writing the 
 names of the most obstinate absentees from Easter com¬ 
 munion, of public sinners in the parish, with some ac¬ 
 count of their crimes ; and of public abuses, such as illegal 
 combinations, drunkenness, quarrelling, violation of the 
 Lord’s day, night walks, public dances, scandalous houses 
 or characters, fights, secret associations, or anything else 
 which may require to be noticed by the bishop. 
 
 If one thing, however, was more dear to Dr. Doyle’s 
 heart than another, it was the religious education of youth. 
 He regarded the ignorance of the people as the source of al¬ 
 most all their crimes, and considered early culture as the best 
 means of destroying vice and wickedness in the bud. 
 Hence, from the moment he became a bishop, he made it 
 imperative upon his clergy to establish schools, or have 
 them established in every parish, or district, where they ' 
 were not previously in existence. He proceeded further, 
 in having public libraries established in every parish, from 
 which useful books were circulated amongst all classes who 
 could read, and had them read for such as could not. 
 Societies, which had for their object the instruction of 
 children in the rudiments of the Christian Doctrine, re¬ 
 ceived his special countenance and support. He tells us 
 himself, that “he catechised thousands; that confrater¬ 
 nities in his diocese for teaching the Christian Doctrine, and 
 for instructing in Sunday schools, were universal; that after 
 mass the children all attended the catechism ; and that be¬ 
 fore mass, books of instruction were read for all the adult.” 
 —Kvid. 1825. 
 
 Knowing the immense value which convents, nunne¬ 
 ries, and monasteries are to religion, and how eminently 
 calculated they are to promote genuine education amongst 
 the poor, who are too often neglected by the proud and 
 wealthy, Dr. Doyle ever gave them his warmest patronage. 
 
 Towards the end of 1819, Cardinal Fontana, Prefect of 
 the Propaganda, published a letter against the Bible Socie¬ 
 ties, addressed to the bishops of Ireland. The late Most 
 Rev. Dr. Kelly, Archbishop of Tuam, re-echoed the senti- 
 
30 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOVLE. 
 
 ments of that letter, in an admirable pastoral addressed to 
 his immediate flock. Dr. Doyle was not behind him and 
 the other bishops, in denouncing the wily machinations of 
 those, who whilst they professed superior reverence to the 
 written word of God, reserved to themselves the right of 
 interpreting that word, not according to the unanimous de¬ 
 cision, and concurrent sense of the Catholic Church in 
 every age, since the foundation of Christianity, but ac¬ 
 cording to their own unenlightened and contradictory judg¬ 
 ments. 
 
 Some Catholics, particularly Lord Fingal, and Mr. 
 O'Connell, had been induced to become members of the 
 Kildare Place Society, at its foundation, from distinct pro¬ 
 mises, that whilst it instructed the poor on the most perfect 
 elementary principles, it would not interfere with the reli¬ 
 gious principles of the children. It was soon discovered 
 that such “ promises were made to be broken," and that the 
 society had combined with the Hibernian Bible Society, 
 to produce proselytes.* At one of the public meetings, 
 Mr. O’Connell, for attempting to reiterate the original in-\ 
 tention of the society, was hissed, after which, in a letter 
 to the Catholic prelates, he denounced that body as one 
 which had broken its pledge, and with which Catholics 
 should have no connexion. From this moment, such 
 schools in which Catholic children were taught, as had 
 been in connexion, commenced separating from Kildare- 
 place Society ; and the bishops, amongst whom most pro- ■ 
 minent was Dr. Doyle, denounced it as unworthy of 
 Catholic sanction or government support. 
 
 The Catholic prelates, clergy, and laity, proceeded fur¬ 
 ther, and in 1821, met in Dublin, and formed a society 
 for the education of the people. Dr. Doyle, and the other 
 prelates, both individually and collectively, petitioned un¬ 
 ceasingly for aid, but years rolled on before any aid would 
 be allowed. In the mean time, the society already alluded 
 to, from want of government aid, had to be dissolved, and 
 whilst thousands of the public money were misapplied on 
 Kildare-place Society, against which the people, and the 
 clergy of the people, were justly arrayed, the Catholic 
 schools in the respective parishes had to depend upon the 
 
 \ 
 
LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 31 
 
 voluntary aid of an impoverished and already overtaxed 
 
 le 
 
 Dr. Doyle having kept an exact account of every school 
 in his diocese, the number of children educated, and from 
 what fund they were supported, and the Kildare-place So¬ 
 ciety having reported that several of those schools were then 
 in connexion with the society; from the official and authentic 
 returns of his clergy and other witnesses, Dr. Doyle proved 
 the falsehood of this charge. 
 
 In petitions, letters, pastorals, and evidence before com¬ 
 mittees of Parliament, our bishop continued to expose the 
 fallacies, and refute the falsehoods of this society, until at 
 last he had the gratification of seeing all government aid 
 taken from it, and it left to exist alone on the support of 
 the highest intolerants, and most noted anti-Catholics of 
 the country. 
 
 The manners of Dr. Doyle to a stranger appeared to be 
 At first repulsive, owing to their peculiar dignity; but to 
 those who knew him he was hospitable, courteous, and 
 most communicative. He was seldom from home except 
 when in Carlow College, where he went twice or thrice a 
 week, to enjoy a few hours of intellectual relaxation amongst 
 those with whom, as he often said, “ he had spent some of 
 his most delightful days.” There was a simplicity, a point, 
 and a power in his conversation, which proved him as 
 much above a mere talker, as an intelligent man is above a 
 chattering parrot, or a magpie. “ His thoughts” says one 
 who knew him well, “ were always expressed freely, fully, 
 and forcibly, so as to leave no doubt as to the meaning of 
 his words, or state of his feeling. His conversation rose 
 from simplicity to sublimity, and never descended to that 
 mediocrity, or lowness, which too often attends public men. 
 He despised and avoided that false taste which sacrifices 
 sense to sound,, or which weakens the efficacy of clear rea¬ 
 soning and simple terms, by that inferior and corrupt style 
 of writing merely polished and classical compositions which 
 dazzle the eye, are smooth to the ear and taste, but which, 
 when the substance is sought after, escapes from the mind, 
 like 4 the baseless fabric of a vision/ There is no possi¬ 
 bility of mistaking the meaning of his words, or the 
 
32 
 
 LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 state of his feelings. Eminently above all cant and pre¬ 
 tensions to exclusive sanctity, his piety was solid, practical 
 and rational; never in fitful extremes, but always in that 
 happy mean, between fanaticism and indifference, which is 
 ever ready for the practical work of the mission, and the 
 most interior and fervent meditations. Let us hear his own 
 character of himself, as sketched by his incomparable pen 
 in his letter to Spring Rice, on Poor Laws :— 
 
 “ ‘ I am a churchman, but I am unacquainted with ava¬ 
 rice, and I feel no worldly ambition. I am attached to 
 my profession, but I love Christianity more than its earthly 
 appendages. I am a Catholic from the fullest conviction, 
 but few will accuse me of bigotry. I am an Irishman, ha¬ 
 ting injustice, and abhorring with my whole soul the op¬ 
 pression of my country; but I desire to heal her sores, not 
 to aggravate her sufferings. In decrying, as I do, the tithe 
 system, and the whole Church Establishment in Ireland, 
 I am actuated by no dislike to the respectable body of 
 men, who, in the midst of fear and hatred, gather its spoils ; 
 on the contrary, I esteem those men, notwithstanding their 
 past, and perhaps still existing hostility to the religious 
 and civil rights of their fellow-subjects and countrymen; I 
 even lament the painful position in which they are placed. 
 What I aspire to is the freedom of the people; what I 
 most ardently desire is their union, which can never be ex¬ 
 pected till injustice, or the oppression of the many by the 
 few is taken away. And as to religion, what I wish, is to 
 see her freed from the slavery of the state, and the bon¬ 
 dage of Mammon—to see her restored to that liberty with 
 which Christ hath made her free—her ministers labouring 
 and receiving hire from those for whom they labour—ser¬ 
 ving the altar, living by it, dispensing spiritual things, 
 gratis, as they received them, and partaking in return of 
 the gifts of their flocks; that thus religion may be restored 
 to her empire, which is not of this world, and men once 
 more worship God in spirit and in truth .’ Tf 
 
 As a preacher, the matter more than the manner was en¬ 
 gaging. His long tone and sepulchral voice, (like that of 
 the celebrated Hayes, from the same county,) on some oc- 
 asions were effective, but generally did not affect' the 
 
 ✓ 
 
LIFE OF DIt. DOYLE. 
 
 33 
 
 passions of his audience. u He seldom or never composed 
 or wrote out his sermons ; but generally took notes of the 
 leading points, their order and division, and thus furnished, 
 he was able, at the shortest notice, to preach on any sub¬ 
 ject of doctrine, morality or discipline.” 
 
 His sermons on the consecration of the Metropolitan 
 Church, Marlborough-street, on that of Rathmines Church, 
 and others, were considered admirable in arrangement, in 
 point, in argument, in clearness, and in solidity. 
 
 " He was the first incomparably in genius, and in that 
 nervous and ratiocinating eloquence, which from the pulpit 
 may not be thoroughly appreciated by a mixed auditory, 
 and indeed which cannot, but which nevertheless is the 
 highest eloquence; that, for example, suitable to the first 
 places in the senate, or to an assembly of learned divines.” 
 
 The charity of Dr. Doyle was unbounded, and its dis¬ 
 tribution knew no distinction. He did not consider himself 
 elevated to the episcopal chair to look down with scorn 
 or contempt upon his poor and needy brethren. Charity, 
 the first and last of virtues, he deemed more immediately 
 the virtue of a successor of the apostles, who were in some 
 sense satisfied to be anathematised for the sake of their 
 brethren. 
 
 “ He visited the sick, consoled the afflicted, and was 
 truly the pastor of souls, who had no worldly or secondary 
 views in the ministry of the Lord.” 
 
 "If Dr. Doyle’s heart could be coined into gold, he 
 would apply it to the uses of the poor and religion.—He 
 was frequently known not to possess a shilling, much less 
 the price of a suit of clothes. In seasons of distress, his 
 contributions were continual and generous to private fami¬ 
 lies, and individuals struggling through life with difficul¬ 
 ties caused by casual depression of trade, or the more 
 general effect of the bad and injudicious laws which cramp 
 the energies of the industrious, to swell and enrich the 
 coffers of tax-eaters, sinecurists and placemen—thus en¬ 
 riching the few and beggaring the many, contrary to the 
 only just maxim of good government, which prescribes 
 * the greatest good of the greater number.’” 
 
 Dr. Doyle’s habits were most orderly and exemplary. 
 
34 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 He rose generally at six o’clock, but often earlier when bu¬ 
 siness required it. Whilst he was a “ prince at his own 
 table, not so much in the costly quantity or quality of his 
 hospitable board, as in his own dignified solicitude for the 
 comfort and ease of his guests,” he himself was most 
 abstemious, seldom exceeding two or three glasses of wine 
 after dinner, and during the latter part of his life he used 
 no kind of spirituous liquors. 
 
 Like the great O’Leary, from “ his earliest years he ac¬ 
 customed himself to get the mastery over ambition and 
 love, the two passions which in every age have enslaved 
 the greatest heroes;” and what, perhaps, is as rare, al¬ 
 though he might be rich, he despised money unless so far as 
 it enabled him to administer to the wants of others; whilst 
 neither himself nor his family derived any wealth from the 
 transmission of money through his hands. He often pon¬ 
 dered on the words of his Divine Master, “ that the rich 
 have their consolation here; that it is difficult for them to 
 enter heaven, and that the poor in spirit are blessed, whose 
 kingdom is in heaven.” Nay, to save the famishing images 
 of Jesus Christ, he felt as did the great Ethel wold, bishop 
 of Winchester, in the days of King Edgar, who having 
 sold all the church plate to.relieve the poor, exclaimed 
 “ There was no reason the senseless temples of God should 
 abound in riches, while men, the living temples of the 
 Holy Ghost, were ready tostarve.”— Camden, Rem. p. 184 . 
 
 But whilst Dr. Doyle made those exertions in behalf of 
 the poor, and wrote all he did in their defence, (which we 
 shall notice more particularly hereafter,) he did not forget 
 that it was his duty to look even to the material temples of 
 religion, and to all that belongs to divine worship. His 
 first object was to provide chapels in the respective parishes 
 of his diocese, which the severity of the penal code and 
 the poverty of their inhabitants had deprived them of. 
 
 After this he turned his attention to the erection of the 
 superb Cathedral of Carlow, “ which rose miraculously in 
 a few years in that small town, as a monument of his zeal 
 for the house of God, and the astonishing success of his 
 private appeals to the munificent charity of the rich and 
 industrious classes of Ireland and other countries— 
 
 ‘ Si monumentum quotras eircumspice.’ ” 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 35 
 
 Having said so much, or rather so little, out of what 
 might be said of those particular duties belonging to Dr. 
 Doyle as a bishop, it now becomes our duty to trace more 
 minutely his literary and public labouis in favor of his re¬ 
 ligion in general, and of his beloved country in particular. 
 From this review we shall best ascertain the causes which 
 produced those mighty efforts of his mind and pen, which 
 rendered him the Bossuet of Ireland, the citizen of the 
 world, and the patriot of mankind ! In concluding this 
 chapter, we cannot avoid giving the testimony of the Irish 
 bard, in his own peculiar style, to the merits of this illus¬ 
 trious man :—“ If St. Basil, St. Ambrose, and a few more 
 such flowers of the churches had been able to borrow the 
 magic nightcaps of their contemporaries the seven sleepers, 
 and were now, after a nap of about fifteen centuries, just 
 opening their eyes in the town of Carlow, they would find 
 in the person of Dr. Doyle, the learned bishop of Leighlin 
 and Ferns, not only an Irishman whose acquaintance even 
 they might be proud to make, but a fellow-Catholic, every 
 iota of whose creed would be found to correspond exactly 
 with their own .”—Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search 
 of a Religion. Vol. i. p. 71. 
 
 
36 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PUBLIC WORKS OF DR. DOYLE AGAINST THE VETO. 
 
 ** Whilst sacred science holds its place. 
 
 Or virtue bears a name ; 
 
 His deeds with pleasure we shall tracer 
 And sing his lasting fame.” 
 
 A writer who knew Dr. Doyle well, thus describes his 
 public character and the tendencies of his labours. u If 
 ever mankind had just reason to solemnize and comme¬ 
 morate the premature death of any individual, distinguished 
 above all others for sterling patriotism, unostentatious cha¬ 
 rity, profound ecclesiastical and political learning, origin¬ 
 ality of conceptions, and boldness in the expression of 
 them, the Irish Catholic public should exhibit every symptom 
 of exterior sorrow and interior piety which their religion 
 prescribes, and which gratitude demands on this most me¬ 
 lancholy occasion. He was raised up by heaven, in critical 
 times, for extraordinary circumstances; and whether we con¬ 
 sider his character in an ecclesiastical, literary, or poli¬ 
 tical view, we cannot withhold from it the loftiest tribute of 
 our admiration. He was literally the Bossuet of the Irish 
 Church in our own days—the successor and the superior of 
 Arthur O’Leary, in the number and character of those 
 pointed, timely, and fearless pamphlets and letters under 
 the immortal signature of J. K. L., and in his memorable 
 examination before the Lords and Commoners on Tithes, 
 Poor Laws, and Emancipation. Whatever progress the two 
 former questions have made amongst Parliamentary men, 
 or in the public mind, must be (without injustice to any 
 living character) attributed to his private correspondence, 
 and his invaluable publications. There was a simplicity’ 
 and strength in his conversation and compositions, which is 
 generally the mark of great genius. From 1812, when he 
 commenced his career as professor of Divinity, to the last 
 half year of his fatal illness, he was ever ready, able and 
 
LIFF OF DR. DOVI.P 
 
 37 
 
 willing to pour the majestic torrent of his reasoning and 
 sarcasm against the enemies of his creed and his beloved 
 country. It was truly and aptly said, by a venerable ec¬ 
 clesiastical friend of his, that the most expressive epitaph 
 which could be inscribed over his tomb would be, ‘J. K. L., 
 whose love of his country was only exceeded by his love of 
 God.' His influence as a writer and politician of the 19th 
 century, will be long and usefully felt, not only in Great 
 Britain and Ireland, but in America, and on the continent 
 of Europe; in fact, in every part of the habitable globe, 
 where a love of practical and rational liberty can exercise 
 its mighty and useful dominion over the human mind, in 
 checking the inroads of despotism, or extending the boun¬ 
 daries of social freedom. His history is a glorious and 
 fitting theme for some future biographer; and he who un¬ 
 dertakes to write it, cannot fail in seizing upon every point 
 of his character, to exhibit to future ages as perfect a com¬ 
 bined model of Christian perfection in private, and genu¬ 
 ine patriotism in his public career, as God, in his love to 
 mankind^ ever formed for the imitation and admiration of 
 the human race.” 
 
 It will be naturally asked, what induced Dr. Doyle to 
 commence as a public writer, not only on ecclesiastical and 
 literary, but political subjects ? The state of his religion, 
 and the unhappy condition of the Irish people, were the 
 cause ! u Providence, for its own good purposes, had cast 
 his lot on the troubled waters. He began his career as a 
 bishop when his compatriots were struggling for political 
 liberty, and he quickly thought it to be his duty to take a 
 high and commanding station in the van of the conflict.” 
 But it was not merely for political liberty, but for the com¬ 
 mon rights of conscience that the Catholics of Ireland, at 
 this time, were contending. Unhappily the enemies of their 
 country and of human freedom had made every thing a re¬ 
 ligious question; and unless a man, in some measure, be¬ 
 came an apostate, he should take his stand on the side of 
 truth and liberty. Thus, if a mitred prelate of the esta¬ 
 blishment ascended the pulpit, which his predecessors in 
 their piety had taken from Catholics, it was not to preach 
 on charity or benevolence, but to denounce those very men 
 from whom he derived his support. c 
 
38 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 j 
 
 
 If education was to be brought forward in or out of Par¬ 
 liament, “ Popery" was to be denounced as the cause of 
 Ireland’s ignorance, notwithstanding that cruel and barba¬ 
 rous laws had made it penal for Catholics to be educated, 
 unless they apostatized from the religion of Christ and his j, 
 
 apostles ! If a few drunken corporators met to decide on n 
 
 a metal-main tax, or to levy money for “ strawberries and , x 
 cream," to work they went in reviling the Pope as the 
 cause of all their evils! 
 
 But it was on the discussion of the “ Catholic claims" j 
 every religious fanatic, or stupid intolerant, shone sublime. ; 
 Here it was, to use the language of pious John Wesley, 
 
 “ they thought it a duty they owed to themselves, their pos¬ 
 terity, their religion, and their God, to unite as one man," 
 to denounce, attack and assail popery; and endeavour to 
 destroy it root and branch! 
 
 Tlius, when the Catholics talked to a few handful of 
 bigots, to restore to them their rights, they considered it 
 their business not to give back the stolen property, or make 
 restitution for the public plunder they had committed, but 
 to require such conditions as highwaymen would be anxious 
 to ensure, before they would deliver back what did not be¬ 
 long to them. 
 
 If seats in Parliament were sought for, it was deemed 
 prudent for such oaths to be required, such boards to be 
 formed, and such vetoes to be demanded, as would secure 
 a religion which could never be secure unless it were formed 
 by the hand of God. Thus religious ascendancy, not justice, 
 unchristian bigotry, not the furtherance of truth, became 
 the order of the day. Whilst the senate, in its wisdom, re¬ 
 fused justice to seven millions, half a million, were allowed 
 not merely all the good things of the state, but full liberty 
 to malign the character, and misrepresent the creed of those 
 who were emphatically the People of Ireland. 
 
 Under those circumstances, with an inborn love of jus¬ 
 tice, an unconquerable attachment to truth, and an un- J 
 dying desire for the freedom and happiness of his native 
 land, Dr. Doyle came forth from his retirement, to join 
 in exposing the sophistries of error, in refuting the calumnies 
 of falsehood, and in establishing on the ruins of bigotry, 
 the standard of civil and religious liberty. 
 
LIFE OF DR. DuYLjL. 39 
 
 " Fall of the glorious theme Iiis tow’ring muse, 
 
 With gen’rous zeal a noble fame pursues— 
 
 Religion’s cause his ravished heart inspires, 
 
 And with a thousand bright ideas fires.” 
 
 It was in the remarkable year 1821, when Napoleon 
 ed in exile, when Queen Caroline expired in anguish, 
 id when King George IV. visited Ireland, that Dr. Doyle 
 ay be said to have commenced his public career. 
 
 In the March of that year, Mr. Plunkett, (now Lord 
 lunkett,) having introduced a bill into Parliament, pur- 
 >rting to be for the removal of Catholic disabilities, it was 
 on found, that its appendages of boards, veto and in- 
 lence to the crown would not only be injurious to religion, 
 it incompatible with political liberty. Whilst Mr. O’Con- 
 11 had denounced it, in two of the most celebrated of 
 s letters, as a bill of pains and penalties, and the Rev. 
 ichard Hayes, then in England, had boldly condemned 
 as a libel upon the religion and people of Ireland ; the 
 shops, clergy, and laity, in every diocese, parish, and dis- 
 ct, petitioned and protested against it. 
 
 The clergy of the archdiocese of Dublin, headed by the 
 :e Venerable Doctor Troy, assembled in SS. Michael and 
 >hn’s Presbytery, Lower Exchange-street, Dublin, on the 
 ith March, 1821, condemned the bill as one “that would 
 ess upon their order, and upon the essential exercise of 
 e Roman Catholic ministry with great, unnecessary, and 
 jurious severity.” 
 
 Dr. Doyle attended this meeting, took a great part in 
 e proceedings, concurred in the resolutions, and was called 
 the chair after Dr. Troy. 
 
 On the 6th of April following, Dr. Doyle presided at 
 meeting of the clergy of the diocese of Kildare and 
 fighlin, held in the chapel of Carlow College, when the 
 solutions passed at the Metropolitan Meeting were reb¬ 
 ated against the bill, and against vesting in the crown 
 negative in the appointment of the Catholic bishops, 
 lere was not a diocese, and indeed scarcely a parish in 
 eland, which did not join in reprobating the contemplated 
 to, boards and pensions; and into this unanimous feeling 
 ay be attributed, in a great degree, the final destruction 
 
40 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 of the entire project, which had for its object the ruin o 
 religion in Ireland. 
 
 Although the bill of “ pains and penalties’ 7 passed tht 
 commons, it was thrown out by a majority of 39 in tht 
 bouse of Lords, ou the 21st April, 1821. 
 
 Dr. Doyle’s opposition to the veto may be further col¬ 
 lected from his evidence in 1825, when emancipation wasi 
 so much expected. When asked “would it be inconsistent 
 with the doctrine or discipline of the Roman Catholic 
 Church, to admit any interference on the part of the Pro¬ 
 testant sovereign of this country in the appointments,” ht 
 answered, “ It would be inconsistent with the discipline o: . 
 the Roman Catholic Church to admit, in such cases, the 1 
 interference of a Protestant sovereign in such appointments.' , 
 Commons ' Committee , page 180. 
 
 In answer to the question, “ Would that arrangement! 
 in your opinion, be inconsistent with the discipline of thei 
 Roman Catholic Church, even if it had the sanction of thei 
 Pope?” He says: “Were he to give his sanction to it, 1 
 think we should oppose the matter here. I think he would! 
 not sanction it; but were he to do so, we should not agree 
 to it. For my part I would not; I should resign the office: 
 which I hold, rather then assent to such a thing. I would 1 
 first remonstrate against it. I would remonstrate a second; 
 time against it; and if this were not sufficient to ward it 
 off, I should resign my office, and I hope there is not a 
 bishop in Ireland who would not do the same .”—“ Were 
 the sovereign of the realm a Catholic, I should be very 
 adverse to his having the appointment of bishops vested in 
 him; but his being of a different religion, makes me think/ 
 that I could not consistently, at all, with the principles ol * 
 my religion, consent to his having any right to interfere^ 
 directly or indirectly, with the appointment of the bishops." y 
 Dr. Doyle was not less opposed to the contemplated pro- - 
 ject for pensioning, or rather bribing the Catholic clergy of c 
 Ireland, by the means of a “ golden link or state provi - 1 
 sionbut we may have to speak of this more immediately’ 1 
 in its proper place. 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE 
 
 41 
 
 
 2 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 DR. Doyle’s LETTERS ON DOMESTIC NOMINATION. 
 
 “His were the loftiest attributes of mind. 
 
 The solid judgment and the taste refined. 
 
 The quick perception and the searching scan 
 Which measures motives, and which looks through man.” 
 
 From the period that the discussion on the execrated 
 to was introduced, the question of domestic nomination 
 Dean and Chapter was agitated. 
 
 The ten Catholic prelates who were trustees of Maynooth 
 illege, having been, in January, 1799, plied by Lord 
 jistlereagh, then Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, were im- 
 sed upon by that wily statesman, and agreed to give the go- 
 rnment such an interference in the nomination of bishops 
 they believed might be exercised without injury. They 
 ‘bsequently found, that this was intended to be nothing 
 ore nor less than a direct control in the appointment, 
 d accordingly retracted their former resolution. 
 
 The rescript of Quarantotti, procured in the absence of 
 3 Sovereign Pontiff by the influence of the British Govern- 
 3nt, in 1814, was also found to have had an injurious effect. 
 To remove the impressions of the former vote of some of 
 e bishops, and to denounce the uncanonical and injurious 
 terference of Quarantotti, there was scarcely a diocese or 
 ,rish in Ireland but had a meeting of the clergy at this 
 riod. 
 
 It appeared to many of those who took a part in the dis- 
 ssion, that the most effectual way of guarding against the 
 judicious interference of a Protestant government, and of 
 currences similar to those which had taken place in 1799, 
 id in 1814, was to allow the Deans and Chapters of each 
 ocese, in case of a vacant bishopric, to name three ap- 
 oved clergymen to his Holiness, one of whom to be se- 
 cted by him as successor to the deceased bishop. In 
 pporting this view of nomination, some proceeded so far 
 
42 
 
 LIFE OF Dli. DOYLE. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 as to deprive the suffragan bishop, or the bishops of the 
 archdiocese in which the bishop was to be chosen, of any in¬ 
 terference in the election, contrary to the canons. 
 
 Whilst Dr. Doyle had joined in condemning the Veto 
 and the Government interference alluded to, he considerei 
 it his duty to maintain the influence of the bishops, and to 
 assert their right of giving his Holiness their opinion or de* 
 cision on the three persons whose names would be sub4 
 mitted to him before the election of a bishop. 
 
 In February, 1822, Mr. Edward Hay, previously secre¬ 
 tary to the Catholics of Ireland, wrote a letter on Domestic 
 Nomination, in which he put forward some strong points in 
 favour of nomination by Dean and Chapter. 
 
 Dr. Doyle, considering this letter as not sufficiently cle: 
 upon the right of the bishops, published on the 17th Fe¬ 
 bruary, 1822, a letter in the Evening Post, signed J. K.L 
 in which he referred to the best canonists on the subject o 
 nomination, defended the authority of the bishops of Ire-* 
 land, and maintained that “ the manner of settling the 
 electing of bishops does not depend on the prelates, (much 
 less on the laity,) but chiefly on the See of Rome." 
 
 Mr. Hay replied in a letter published in the same paper, 
 dated the 19th of the same month, in which he stated thai 
 “ the utmost reliance was placed in the bishops," but stil 
 contending for what he considered the rights of the Deal 
 and Chapters. On the 7th March, another letter from M 
 Hay, dated 26th February, appeared. From this, and anoth 
 letter written by Mr. O’Connell, which was then published, 
 it appeared that both, whilst entertaining a creditable opposi¬ 
 tion to the Veto, had proceeded too far in throwing unju 
 insinuations on some of the prelates. In the same paper,! 
 a letter appeared upon the same subject, signed Laicus 
 dated from Carlow, defending nomination by Dean an 
 Chapter. 
 
 lu the Evening Post of the 21st March, Dr. Doyle, 
 under the signatures of J. K. L., wrote another letter, date 
 March 11th, in which having replied to Mr. Hay an 
 Laicus, he entered at much length into the subject of no¬ 
 mination, asserting first and principally the authority of thi 
 Sovereign Pontiff over all others in the election of bishops 
 
 —ues 
 
 ampl 1 
 cotisi 
 not i 
 1 
 
 m 
 
 ject 
 
43 
 
 LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 —next of the metropolitans—then of the bishops—and 
 finally of the inferior clergy. As to the laity, although ex¬ 
 amples were cited of their interference, it was always to be 
 considered under the approbation, or rather subject to, and 
 not distinct from, the bishops or clergy. 
 
 This letter, from which we have already given an extract, 
 appears to have closed the literary controversy on the sub¬ 
 ject of nomination. 
 
44 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE- 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DR. DOYLE’S LETTERS IN REPLY TO DR. MAGEE. 
 
 “ 'Twas bis to expose pragmatical pretence,. 
 
 And crush the pedant churchman's insolence.” 
 
 In November, 1822, Dr. Doyle may be said to have com¬ 
 menced his public literary career as a writer of more tha 1 
 ordinary power. 
 
 It was a remark of the great Ganganelli, that the more 
 men wrote against the true religion, the more people would 
 be convinced of its necessity, and that all the writers who 
 oppose it, know how only to dig a pit into which men may 
 fall; but can give nothing to supply the place of that 
 which they so furiously assail. So it is with our furious 
 anti-Catholic theologians in modem days : they can display 
 wonderful skill in calumniating the holy and venerable re¬ 
 ligion of 1800 years, but they can never give us any sub¬ 
 stitute for it. They attempt to throw down the old house, 
 but can never build up a new one in its place: for as God 
 despised the builders of Babel, so 
 
 Heaven with laughter their vain toil surveys. 
 
 And buries madmen in the heaps they raise. 
 
 The conduct of Dr. Magee, late Protestant Archbishop 
 of Dublin, afforded a plain illustration of this truth. This 
 man, when unnoticed by Government, and unfed by mam¬ 
 mon, was remarkable for liberality of sentiment and suavity 
 of manners ; but he no sooner ascended the Protestant ar- 
 chiepiscopal throne, than he manifested the most violent 
 intolerance tovvards the Catholics. 
 
 On Thursday, the 24th October, 1822, Dr. Magee de¬ 
 livered a most singular primary visitation charge in St. 
 Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. 
 
 This charge contained a curious medley of contradictions. 
 In one place, it attempted to show that the Protestant was 
 “the true and genuine Catholic and Apostolic Church, 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 45 
 
 which has handed down to us its doctrines from ages far 
 removed, freed from the errors with which its predecessor 
 was obscured.” In another place it undertook to prove 
 that this same Protestant Church was an essential and in¬ 
 tegral part of the state, without which it could not exist. 
 Here it asserted the right of private judgment and private 
 interpretation against Romanists. There it deprecated the 
 introduction of te fanciful and erroneous doctrines,” and de¬ 
 nounced the “ new lights,” who merely proceeded from the 
 same Protestant and prolific principle. But the chief beauty 
 I in this celebrated oration was the anthithetical declaration 
 that whilst the Presbyterians “had a religion without a 
 church the Romanists had a church without a religion !” 
 
 This violent tirade produced replies from all quarters, 
 i Ilierophilos on one side and Bibliophilos on the other. Here 
 ) the Rev. Father Hayes refuted it in his eighth sermon ; and 
 there Mr. Battersby in the first tract he ever wrote, entitled 
 “A Church Not Without a Religion,” exhibited the folly 
 and falsehood of the Most Rev. bigot! Acoste, and the 
 late Primate, Dr. Curtis, also assailed the pillar of the es¬ 
 tablishment. But none of these efforts created such deep 
 interest as the letters of Dr. Doyle, under the far-famed ini¬ 
 tials of J. K. L., for James of Kildare and Leighlin. Five 
 ' days after the delivery of the “ charge,” and four after a report 
 | of it appeared, his first letter, dated 29th October, from 
 Carlow, directed to the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, 
 was written. 
 
 This reply produced such an effect, that the Marquess 
 Wellesley, then for the first time Lord Lieutenant of Ire¬ 
 land, declared that Dr. Magee got “ the worst of the fight.” 
 
 Although it was published in nearly every leading journal, 
 in a few weeks it went through three large editions. 
 
 The following extracts will afford an idea of the mode in 
 which Dr. Doyle treated the arguments of the law Church 
 bishop. 
 
 u My Lord Archbishop—In the report of your Grace’s 
 charge to the clergy of your archdiocese, as published in the 
 newspapers, there are many passages better calculated to 
 give offence than to produce conviction; and whilst your 
 Grace “ exhorted, reproved and besougnt' those who heard 
 
 c 2 
 
46 
 
 LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 you, there seemed to be some want of patience, as well as 
 a deficiency of doctrine in your mind and manner. 
 
 “It must have been a painful avowal to your Grace, the 
 acknowledgment, that in this country, so famed for its love 
 of justice, ‘ there should be found many who deem it no 
 violation of cardinal virtue, to infringe or evade the laws 
 which are designed to protect the property of the church.’ 
 The reason is, my Lord, that in this country the nature of 1 
 your church property is understood by all, and is considered 
 as different from every other in it. Your property is not 
 held by deed nor conveyance, for it was transferred by law 
 from those who held it by these titles. It is not held by 
 prescription, from time immemorial; for all know when, and 
 how you became possessed of it, what your title was, what 
 the good faith by which you held it, and what the term of ; 
 your possession. You do not hold it by right of conquest, 
 for meek churchmen will not found their right on blood, nor 
 exclaim with the Scotch barons, of their domains : “ by these 
 swords we won them, and with these swords we will main¬ 
 tain them.’’ You were not put in possession of them by 
 any treaty; for you were never a party to any treaty ; and 
 no treaty, executed by you, is on record. You hold, my 
 Lord, by the law, and by the law alone—not by the di¬ 
 vine law, for that ceased, as far as regards tithes, with 
 the commonwealth of the Jews—not by the law of the 
 church, for you have no connexion whatever with the 
 church which once possessed them in this country. You 
 satisfy none of the obligations which she incurred on re¬ 
 ceiving them ; you discharge none of the duties which her 
 ministers were bound in justice to perform for them, and 
 with them. You possess your property only by virtue of 
 the Civil Law, and that law is penal, and highly penal. 
 
 It is much more penal than the laws which enforce the pay¬ 
 ment of taxes to the state, whereas the state defends the 
 subject against foreign enemies, and protects him from public 
 and private wrongs, thus giving him an equivalent for what 
 he pays. But what, my Lord, does the establishment give 
 the peasant in return for his tithe ? Yet Judge Blackstone 
 teacheth, and all allow, that the legislature, in enacting laws 
 of tribute, neither binds, nor intends to bind, the conscience 
 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 47 
 
 of the subject, and hence no man hesitates to withhold his 
 taxes, until called upon for payment; and there are many in 
 England and here, would not hesitate to evade and infringe 
 the laws of tribute, could they do so with impunity; but 
 with how much better plea can the ragged peasant evade 
 or infringe that law which takes from him the produce of 
 his field.'—the fruit of his industry, and gives him nothing 
 in return? 
 
 “ In speaking of new lights, your Grace at first is sooth¬ 
 ing, like an indulgent father to a froward child, and why 
 not ? “ For meekness came, (saith the Psalmist,) and be¬ 
 hold we are corrected ;” but this child, possessing the new 
 light, might remonstrate even with the father and say, 
 “ that he was only like him, that he was descended of a fa¬ 
 mily, all of whom had been fond of liberty and indulgence 
 in their youth, but yet in their manhood had acquired for¬ 
 tunes, and established families.” But to be serious, my 
 Lord, would it not be wiser to abstain from such reproaches 
 as are contained in your charge, than to run the risk of having 
 the shame of your own sect revealed ? And when seated on 
 the throne, in the midst of that venerable pile, hung all 
 around with awful recollections, and about to charge the 
 new lights with irregularities, why did you not recollect, 
 that the first of your Grace’s predecessors there, was a new 
 light—an apostate and a lewd monk—the vile sycophant of 
 Cromwell, the most infamous of all Henry the Eighth’s se¬ 
 cretaries of state, and the vilest pander to his lust and 
 cruelty ? 
 
 “ As an archbishop of the Established Church, I would 
 beg leave to ask you, my Lord, who are you, and where 
 did you come from ? From what heaven have you fallen? 
 What earth produced you ? Turn over the records of your 
 church, tell us the names of the bishops who preceded 
 you; show us how they were connected with the apostles, 
 or with those who received the faith from them. Produce 
 your claim to that title of “ apostolic,” which you so osten¬ 
 tatiously put forth, but to which your Grace has as good a 
 claim as to the dukedom of Leeds! The new light, with 
 all his imputed irregularities, is as much apostolic as your 
 Grace, for he professes to follow the doctrine of the apos- 
 
48 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 ties, and unquestionably adheres to their practice in zeal 
 and poverty as closely as your Grace.—Why then monopo¬ 
 lise a title which is also his inheritance ? Or is it because 
 he has appeared later than these profligate and wicked men, 
 who co-operated with Henry, with Somerset, with Eliza- 
 oeth, or with the Long Parliament, in changing the religion 
 of the country, that he is to be charged with novelty, and 
 deprived of his title to “ apostolic V* No, but he has de¬ 
 viated from the faith preached by your Grace; and has had 
 courage and disinterestedness to avow his dissent.—But I 
 would gladly know how many of those who heard your 
 Grace’s charge, and of their respective congregations, agree 
 in religious principles with your Grace ? I am bold to aver 
 there is not one in ten—and if pride, or passion, or indif¬ 
 ference, or worldly interest, prevent them from avowing their 
 dissent, are they more acceptable to “ the great bishop of 
 our souls” than if they imitated the conduct of the new 
 lights, who are thus censured by your Grace ? It is not 
 permitted, my Lord, to every one to abound in his own 
 sense ? And why then subject those “ whom Christ has 
 freed” to the yoke of your church authority ? Have they 
 not a right—that right by which your Grace is bishop in the 
 Established Church, to judge of the word of God, if they 
 be men of sound judgment, as no doubt they are, for other¬ 
 wise the piety of Swift had provided them with an asylum ? 
 Why then does your Grace rebuke them, or seek to capti¬ 
 vate their understanding to the obedience of the faith of 
 your church? A church which wisely disclaims infalli¬ 
 bility, and whose creed has been composed in part of the 
 traditions of men, and compiled from time to time by lay¬ 
 persons and ecclesiastics, whose very names are a reproach 
 to all with whom they are connected,' and whose hypocrisy, 
 and lies, and Crimes, my feelings would not allow me to 
 commit to paper. 
 
 u The Arians were connected with the apostolic times— 
 they had the support of kings and emperors—they, too, 
 had cathedrals and thrones of those who went before them 
 —they had the word of God—and there were many of them 
 men of the soundest judgments ; but they were new lights 
 like your Grace’s predecessors, and, like your Grace, they 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 49 
 
 said they were apostolic, but they were not believed. Ma¬ 
 cedonians, Neslorians, Eutychians, Arians, Vigilantists, and 
 Iconoclasts, claimed a similar connexion with the apostles, 
 whilst they taught many of the heresies which are now held 
 by men whom I would not name; they also had churches, 
 and an establishment—they censured the irregularities of 
 new lights, but, they were not apostolic. Luther, my 
 my Lord, to whom your Grace is greatly indebted,—for it is 
 from the confession of Augsburg, the fruit of his mind, 
 though written by Melancthon, that your articles are prin¬ 
 cipally formed,—he would not assume the title of apostolic, 
 but he claimed to be an apostle. Perhaps it is from him 
 your Grace’s church derives her title! If so, he too was a 
 new light—not indeed an ordinary one, but a comet, whose 
 malignant influence consumed the nations ! Cranmer, and 
 Latimer, and Ridley, and Coverdale, and Peter Martyr, and 
 Bucer, and Zuinglius, and Henry, and Somerset, and Eliza¬ 
 beth, and Cecil, and Burnet, and Tillotson, and Taylor, 
 and Hoadly—these, my Lord, are the apostles, the fathers, 
 and the supporters of your church—these are the men, with 
 a host of apostates, in whom your Grace glories, and of 
 whom I can only say, 4 non invideo quidem , miror magis .’ 
 But if they have reconstructed your church on 4 the foun¬ 
 dations of the prophets and apostles,’ the Manichean sys¬ 
 tem must be true, and the evil principle has prevailed over 
 the good one! 
 
 “ But why, my Lord, are you not satisfied with claiming 
 against new lights the character of apostolicity, but seek 
 also to usurp that of 4 Catholic,’ and endeavour to possess 
 it in common with that church to which the whole universe 
 has exclusively assigned it ? Who, before your Grace, has 
 ever imagined that the Established Church in these coun¬ 
 tries was Catholic ? Does not Catholic mean universal ? 
 And how is the Established Church universal ? Is it as to 
 doctrine ? No—for her doctrine is confined to these two is¬ 
 lands ; in one of which it is not believed by the one-hun¬ 
 dredth part of the people, in Scotland by only a similar 
 proportion, and in England by, perhaps, a moiety of the 
 population. Her doctrine may be good or bad ; but it is 
 not universal. Is she Catholic as to time ? Most certainly 
 
50 
 
 LIFE OF DR. l)OYLE. 
 
 not—for her creed was formed, and reformed, and formed 
 again, in the sixteenth century, and never before was pro¬ 
 fessed by any congregation of Christians upon earth. Is 
 she universal as to place ? She may, as Lord Cochrane 
 may profess her doctrine in the South Sea. It has travelled 
 into China with our embassy. Lord Amherst may have 
 settled it in Persia ; jand were it not that our missionaries are 
 all new lights, they would have planted it thickly on the 
 banks of the Ganges, or caused it to bloom in the sandy 
 deserts of Africa. Upon what grounds then, let me be 
 permitted to inquire, does your Grace, as a theologian, rest 
 your claim to Catholicity ? It is by analysing, my Lord, 
 that Bacon has taught us to detect sophistry, and to dis¬ 
 cover truth ; and, when applied to your Grace’s full periods, 
 it shows how devoid they are of sound principles or legi¬ 
 timate conclusions. 
 
 “ Your Grace fails to be perspicuous, when you speak of 
 the connexion between your church and the state; for, when 
 charging some with representing its government and hier¬ 
 archy as depending solely on the authority of the state, you 
 claim for both a sort of independent existence which is quite 
 unjust; it is even a usurpation of that royal authority ex¬ 
 pressed in the letters patent, by which you have been ap¬ 
 pointed to your See. Who has translated you, my Lord, 
 from Itaphoe to Dublin ? Is it not the king ? Is he not 
 supreme ordinary in the church established by law in these 
 realms ? „ And can lie not, as such, limit, modify, or an¬ 
 nul your jurisdiction ? Can he not exercise, in his courts 
 spiritual, over your Grace the same power which the Pro¬ 
 tector Somerset could exercise over Cranmer, whose mere 
 lieutenant in spirituals the latter professed to be ? Look, 
 rny Lord, to the terms of your commission, and reflect who 
 it was that sent you. Your Grace cannot inherit spiritual 
 jurisdiction as you would a title to an estate. You have 
 not received it from the Catholic Church—for she disavows 
 you, saying with Cyprian, no matter what you te^ch or 
 who you are, if you be out of the pale of her unity, you 
 are not a bishop. You have not received it by virtue of 
 your ordination, allowing that ordination to be valid, (which 
 to me is doubtful in the extreme,) for, if you did, you might 
 
51 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 exercise it while in Raphoe, as well as now. Whence, then, 
 do you derive it, unless from your commission, which is an 
 act of state ? 
 
 “ Should your Grace have read much on that subject, 
 it must be impossible for you not to doubt, and doubt 
 greatly, whether there be a priest or bishop validly ordained 
 in the Established Church of these countries.—What your 
 Grace then calls the adoption of your church by the state, 
 is rather the creation of it as to jurisdiction ; and your con¬ 
 tending for the apostolic origin and succession of a Chris¬ 
 tian ministry is totally vain in one respect, that is, as to 
 jurisdiction, and extremely doubtful in the other. Nay, 1 
 think it more advisable for your Grace never again to start 
 the idea, even by way of hypothesis, of your church being 
 severed from the state, as most men are convinced, that did 
 it so happen, her existence would not be prolonged a single 
 year. 
 
 “ Your Grace is reported to have said, ‘ that the Roman 
 Catholics had a church without a religion/ But Isaias 
 saith of that church, ‘ that every arm that is raised against 
 her will not prosper, and against every tongue that con- 
 tendeth with her, she shall obtain her cause, for this is the 
 inheritance of her children.’ 
 
 “ You say, my Lord, that ‘you object to the inveterate 
 and unscriptural corruptions of that church,’ and, ‘ are 
 freed from the antiquated abuses of her errors.’ Better to 
 abstain from harsh language than to provoke retorts. Bet¬ 
 ter, tar better, to prove the excellence of your own church, 
 than gratuitously to impute errors to another. How does it 
 happen that patience and forbearance are always found on 
 the side of the Catholics, and that they are always employed 
 in repelling attacks, not in inflicting wounds, like him 
 ‘ who when he was persecuted did not persecute, when he 
 was calumniated did not revile ?’ And whence comes it, 
 that those sects who contend with each other in all things 
 else, are only agreed in their hostility to that church from 
 which they sprung ? I believe, independent of superna¬ 
 tural causes, a Roman poet, with whom your Grace is not 
 unacquainted, has assigned a reason : ‘ Veritas odium pur it,’ 
 —■* truth excites hatred.’ 
 
52 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 “ But to return to the assertion which proceeded from 
 your Grace’s throne—the 1 inveterate and unscriptural cor¬ 
 ruptions.’ Do you blame us, my Lord, for our inveterate, 
 that is, our old and invincible attachment to our religious 
 creed and observances ? Does not your Grace believe with 
 Tertullian and Vincent of Leiins, that ‘whatever is new in 
 religion is false’—whereas the apostles were taught all 
 truth ? And I need only refer your Grace to the shelves 
 of your college library, to the works of Ephrern, Ignatius, 
 Ireneus, the Clements, the Gregories, the Cyrils, to Chry¬ 
 sostom, Jerome, Ambrose, and Augustine, to be satisfied that 
 the inveteracy of our institutions, which preceded yours, are 
 testified by all of them. Does not your Grace think they 
 are good witnesses of what was once delivered to the saints ? 
 Should your Grace be not at leisure to peruse their volu¬ 
 minous works, consult Cardinal Perron, Bellarmin, Tournelli, 
 Berti or Bossuet, and you will find our ‘ inveterate corrup¬ 
 tions’ to deserve a better name; I would refer your Grace 
 even to ‘ The end of Religious Controversy,’ and the de¬ 
 fence of it against one of your Grace’s brethren and his as¬ 
 sistant vicar, lately published by the Right Rev. Dr. Milner, 
 in order to learn, that we deserve at least to be treated with 
 some courtesy, even from an archiepiscopal throne, and, 
 ‘ unscriptural corruptions.’ 
 
 - “ Why, my Lord, you deal in offensive epithets, and al¬ 
 most descend to the calling of names. Let me inform your 
 Grace that there is more of Scripture proof adduced by any 
 one of our approved divines, than I have ever met in many 
 of those of the Church of England, though theology has 
 been my principal study for many years ; and I confidently 
 tell your Grace, that there is no dogma of the Catholic 
 Faith, nor discipline necessarily connected with it, which 
 is not supported by Scripture, or by tradition manifestly 
 proved to be divine or apostolic—farther, that this tradition 
 is the foundation of your own creed, and the only authority 
 for many of your observances, all of which is proved in 
 the works above referred to. Why then, my Lord, are we 
 calumniated ? ‘ If our enemy hath spoken evil of us, we 
 could have borne with it by all means.’ Your Grace can 
 continue the verse of the Psalmist. 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 
 ini 
 
 nr- 
 
 uj 
 
 ill 
 
 in 
 
 ill 
 
 es 
 
 * 
 
 i'- 
 
 it 
 
 e 
 
 y 
 
 ) 
 
 " Tour Grace, as reported, has again maligned us. You 
 are stated to have said, ‘ That we had a church without a 
 religion/ What, my Lord ! are we to be thus outraged, 
 and nas a theological hatred invaded your breast also, and 
 blinded your understanding ? Have we returned to the 
 days of Paganism, when our fathers were accused as Athe¬ 
 ists, and burned at a stake for devouring infants, whilst, as 
 their apologists, Justin and Tertullian, pleaded, they alone 
 worshipped t‘he true God, and practised exclusively, chastity, 
 charity, and the forgiveness of injuries ? Shall we always 
 in our native land continue ‘ objects for scorn to point his 
 slow, unmoviug finger at' ? A church without a religion ! 
 We have a church, my Lord, and one ‘ against which the 
 gates of hell shall not prevail 7 —one against which the bil¬ 
 lows of persecution have beaten in vain for eighteen hundred 
 years—a church which has been assailed by heresies, by 
 schism, and by calumny, but never overcome—a church 
 which has propagated the faith to almost every nation on the 
 earth—which has gathered the elect from every tribe, and 
 tongue, and people, and nation, under the one Lord, by 
 the one Captain, and in the one faith, distinguishing them 
 all by the name of i Catholic/ Yes, my Lord, for now, 
 as in the time of Augustine, this name is so peculiar to her 
 and to her children, that, come into any town and inquire, 
 where is the Catholic Church—no Sectarian will presume 
 to show you his own, however pompously he may claim it 
 in the assembly of his brethren. Who knows your Grace 
 as the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin ? And this church 
 lias i no religion ! 777 
 
 In the beginning of December, 1822, the charge of Dr. 
 Magee appeared in an authorised shape, with copious notes, 
 offensive and defensive. 
 
 The " slough of a slavish superstition 77 was inverted, and 
 the u church without a religion 77 was transformed into a 
 “ church without what he called a religion. 77 
 
 J. K. L. came forth again, in a second letter, dated 10th 
 December, 1822, from Carlow, which covered the esta¬ 
 blishment with confusion. 
 
 The following are a few passages from this communi¬ 
 cation : 
 
54 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLK. 
 
 “ My Lord Archbishop,—a newspaper, containing an ex¬ 
 planatory note by your Grace, of your charge, was put into 
 my hand this afternoon, and I sit down to observe upon it, 
 with feelings much more subdued than I brought before to 
 the consideration of your text. I shall, therefore, deal with 
 your Grace’s apology, for such I deem it, in the spirit which 
 the motto prefixed to this letter implies. 
 
 “ The note commences with these words, ‘ The members j 
 of the “Romish communion/ I have read it several times, , 
 and believe I have succeeded in ascertaining the meaning of 
 it. That of the first paragraph, reduced to a few simple 
 propositions, is, that the Roman Catholics, by the meaning 
 which they attach to the word * Catholic,’ exclude Pro-i 
 testants from the pale of the church, —that Protestants have 
 adopted this word in its ordinary meaning, through igno¬ 
 rance or vulgarity, and hence the established clergy are 
 forced to disabuse the public on this head; and the more 
 especially as members of parliament, by using it through 
 negligence, or a love of popularity, may otherwise confirm >} 
 the abuse. In the next paragraph your Grace suggests a 
 remedy for this growing evil by annexing the epithet Roman, 
 to £ Catholic,’ which will supersede the offensive name of 
 Papist, and the dangerous one of ‘ Catholic.’ The advan¬ 
 tages of adopting this epithet are well proved by your Grace; # 
 though, indeed, it is not a new one, for besides that it is used 1 
 in all circles, from the court to the cottage, we find it em- J 
 ployed in several acts of parliament, and in some of his 
 late Majesty’s speeches from the throne. But the advan¬ 
 tages which your Grace has discovered in it are, first, that 
 it will show how those designated by it are within the pale 
 of the Catholic Church, notwithstanding the corruptions 
 and the rubbish with which the sterling doctrines which] 
 they have preserved, are mixed; and which corruptions jus-1 
 tify your Grace, and those of your communion, in not em-1 
 bracing them as brethren. 
 
 “ Your Grace complains, that by our acceptation of the^ 
 word ‘ Catholic,’ we exclude from the pale of the Church! 
 of Christ all those to whom we refuse a participation off 
 that name. 
 
 “ This observation of your Grace, thus set forth, is cal | 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 55 
 
 culated to bring that odium on our doctrine, which is gene** 
 rally attached to the idea of exclusive salvation. But 
 Roman Catholics hold substantially the same faith on the 
 subject as all other professing Christians, or at least of all 
 such of them as have published any authentic profession or 
 declaration of their faith. We consider that whoever is bap¬ 
 tized is incorporated with Christ, and 4 has no damnation 
 in him / and tnat if he retain the grace of that first adop¬ 
 tion, pure and unsullied until death, he enters heaven, no 
 matter to what sect or denomination of Christians while on 
 earth he may have belonged. We believe that if there be 
 such ignorance of truth in any one, as cannot be removed 
 by prayer proceeding from a pure heart, and that industry 
 and research, which every person doubting is obliged to 
 use in what concerns his salvation, that such ignorance 
 will screen him from the anger of his God, that he will not 
 be punished for errors that were not wilful, nor judged by 
 truths which he could not know. Such a man cannot be 
 in a worse condition than the infidel of whom St. Paul 
 speaks, as not accountable for transgressing the law of Christ, 
 which he had not heard, and perishing, not on account of 
 his ignorance, but for the violation of that law which was 
 written on his heart. Our church holds with St. Augustine, 
 that 4 whatever is not wilful cannot be a sin/ and nothing 
 but sin can exclude a Christian from heaven. 
 
 44 Whether such ignorance as I have described, does exist 
 in this country, is known to the Great Searcher of Hearts, 
 ‘whose eye seeth all things/ but it is, undoubtedly, hidden 
 from your Grace and from me; and until it be revealed unto 
 us, we should not judge one another. We should rather 
 unite in offering up our prayers to the Father of Lights, for 
 such (if any) as sit in this darkness to be brought to the 
 knowledge of the truth, knowing, as we do, that without those 
 sacraments and religious aids, which are channels of grace 
 in that church only over which Christ presides, it is mo¬ 
 rally impossible for a frail man to repair his faults, correct 
 his errors, and walk blameless in the way of the command¬ 
 ments. 
 
 44 But these truths once admitted, we do believe that sal¬ 
 vation is to be found only in the true church. We believe 
 
56 
 
 LIFE O V D It. DOYLE. 
 
 that church, wherever extended, is in communion with the 
 See of Rome, and hence the origin of the epithet ‘ Roman,’ 
 used in this sense by Ireneus, Tertullian, and Optatus, long 
 before it was suggested by your Grace. 
 
 “ This opinion of ours, my Lord, is not substantially dif¬ 
 ferent from that professed by the Protestants of Germany, 
 in their confession of faith presented to Charles the 5th, in 
 1535 ; from that of the Swiss Cantons in 1566; from that 
 of the Kirk of Scotland in 1647; and from that of the 
 church to which your Grace belongs, as may be seen in 
 the eighteenth of her articles, where it is said in substance, 
 that they are to be excommunicated who presume to say, 
 that each person may obtain salvation in the sect which he 
 follows, provided he be careful to regulate his life agreeably 
 to its doctrine and the light of reason. 
 
 “ In fact, my Lord, there is no Church of Christians de¬ 
 serving that name from the Indus to the Pole, from Ton- 
 quin to Washington, which does not maintain the doctrine 
 of exclusive salvation, in one shape or other ; and though 
 some individuals, with your Grace, may be disposed to 
 admit within the pale of the Church of Christ, men without 
 a religion, or, having some sort of a religion, but ‘ encrusted 
 with errors, filled with corruptions, or overlaid with other 
 rubbish,’ they only differ from us, as they do from each 
 other, in defining the quantity of error which they would 
 admit; whilst ‘Catholics,’ whether Irish, French, Spanish, 
 German, Greek, Armenian, Scythian, or Roman, admit 
 only those who are ‘one,’ kept together and closely ce¬ 
 mented by their union with the See of Rome, which, with 
 them, always has been, and ever will be the centre of unity, 
 and the only criterion of their Catholicity. Whether we be 
 right or wrong in our adoption of this criterion, is a ques¬ 
 tion which I would not be unwilling to discuss with your 
 Grace, as I think I should have many and obvious argu¬ 
 ments to adduce on my side, from the present state of all 
 the churches which have separated from this common centre, 
 leaving those high, and to me convincing authorities, which 
 are found in SS. Optatus, Augustine, Cyprian, Ireneus, 
 Prosper, Avitus, Theodoret, the Council of Chalcedon, 
 those of Africa, of the Gauls, of Greece and Asia, and of 
 
 ♦ 
 
LIF.E OF DIi. DOYLE. 
 
 5 
 
 the Eastern and Western Churches. All these, my Lord, 
 represent the See of Rome, the See of Peter, as the prin¬ 
 cipality of the apostolic power, the chief principality, the 
 source of unity, the place of Peter, the mother church, 
 which hath power to govern all other churches, the head of 
 the episcopacy, from which proceeds the rod of ecclesiastical 
 government, the principal chair, the see in which alone all 
 others preserve their union. With such aids, my Lord, I 
 should not hesitate to enter upon this discussion in the hum¬ 
 ble hope of justifying our exclusive claim to the title of 
 ‘ Catholiceven should I not succeed in convincing your 
 Grace, that you can never share it with us, whilst we con¬ 
 tinue separated as we are. 
 
 “ You cannot embrace us, my Lord, as brethren, on ac¬ 
 count of our corruptions ! I protest I blush for your 
 Grace at writing the expression, and cannot conceive how 
 a man of taste, and learning, and high station, ever could 
 have used it, or having used it, could hesitate to retract 
 it. Fenelon, my Lord, never appeared so great as when 
 he retracted his rash opinions in the Cathedral of Cam- 
 bray. To, read the decrees of the Council of Trent, our 
 rule of Faith by Veron, the exposition of our doctrine 
 by Bossuet, the correspondence between him and Lebnitz, 
 and the Abbe Molanus, for the re-union of the Protestant 
 Churches of Germany, with the Catholic Church of Rome, 
 and yet to talk gravely of the corruptions of the Church pf 
 Rome, it is to me incomprehensible! If such language 
 were used by men whose head or heart, or both, were un¬ 
 sound, or by those dupes or knaves who go about without 
 being sent, substituting bibles and tracts for the virtue and 
 power of God, and the preaching of these ‘ whose feet are 
 beautiful, evangelizing peace, evangelizing the goods’ of the 
 kingdom of God, it would not surprise me. But to hear 
 such language from a man hitherto esteemed learned, from 
 a doctor of the law, from an archbishop, this, I say, is to 
 me incomprehensible ! I should rather, however, suppose 
 your Grace has not extended your reading to what regards 
 our religion, than that you could compromise truth and ho¬ 
 nour in speaking and writing as you have done. 
 
58 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 “ To quote Cromwell, my Lord, on a theological question, 
 is one of the strangest aberrations in your Grace’s charge or 
 notes. That man said e he died in the Catholic faith and 
 the faith of that man was, therefore, the faith which de¬ 
 served to be esteemed 1 Catholic,’ rather than the faith of 
 Roman Catholics ! My God, only think who Cromwell 
 was, of his crimes, of the parricide he was guilty of, 
 when he steeped his hands in the blood of his murdered 
 king, of the errors and remorse which agitated his latter 
 years, and of his dying in the actual possession of all his 
 usurpations ; and yet, an archbishop of the church he sub¬ 
 verted and detested, to adduce his faith as a standard of 
 what is truly ‘ Catholic !’ It seems an infatuation! 
 
 “ And Cranmer, who changed his faith according to the 
 caprice of Henry, and Somerset, and Mary, who made six 
 formal professions of it, who had no creed but what served 
 his temporal interest or ambitious views—to take his de¬ 
 finition of what was Catholic is surely to rest it * on a 
 broken reed.’ ‘ That,’ he said, ‘ was Catholic which was 
 believed in the church fifteen hundred years ago.’—The pe¬ 
 riod to which Cranmer referred, my Lord, counting back 
 from his time, was about a century after the death of the 
 Redeemer. But, permit me to ask, has the faith been ob¬ 
 scured since ? Have the ‘ corruptions, and the rubbish, and 
 encrustations,’ prevailed since that period ? Are we then 
 to reject the Councils of Nice, of Constantinople, of Ephe¬ 
 sus, and of Chalcedon, which your church and mine, my 
 Lord, venerate next after the four gospels ? Are we to dis¬ 
 card the liturgies of Clement, of James, of Basil, of Chrys¬ 
 ostom ? Are we no longer to seek for testimonies of the 
 true doctrine in Ignatius, Clement, Justin, Ireneus, Origen, 
 Tertullian, Cyril, Jerome, and Augustine ? To what straits 
 are we to reduce ourselves, or what has become of the 
 church ? has she existed, or did she fail ? or what became 
 of her with whom the Lord promised to be all days, even 
 to the end of the world ?” 
 
 On the 15th of the same month, Dr. Doyle wrote the 
 following short letter. 
 
/ 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 59 
 
 TO THF. EDITOR OF TIIE DUBLIN EVENING POST. 
 
 “Sir —Tn my letter to his Grace the Archbishop of 
 Dublin, published in your paper of Saturday last, I may, 
 perhaps, have fallen into an historical error; as his Grace 
 does not mention of what Cromwell Dr. Burnett speaks, I 
 may have mistaken Cromwell, the minister of Ilenry the 
 Eighth, for Cromwell, who was the protector of the com¬ 
 monwealth. 
 
 “ Even if this should be the case, the argument is not 
 weakened as applied to the quotation of the archbishop, 
 as the Cromwell alluded to by his Grace, must have meant 
 either the faith of the Church of Rome, or that which was 
 then established in England by Henry, and which differed 
 nearly as much from the creed of his Grace as that of the 
 Roman Catholic Church does. 
 
 “ I remain with great respect, 
 
 “ Your very obedient servan 
 
 
 “ J.K.L” 
 
 “Dec. 15, 1822.” 
 
 1 
 
 . 
 
60 
 
 LITE OF PR. DOYLF. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DR. DOYLE’S PASTORAL TO RIBBONMEN. 
 
 “Just indignation fired his ardent breast. 
 Hate of the invader, pity for the oppress’d.’ 
 
 Dr. Doyle had seen, that from the anomalous state of 
 Ireland and from the unchristian spirit of the penal laws 
 
 “A monster vile, whom God and man does hate" 
 
 had desolated his country, had, under the mask of loyalty, 
 committed all kitids of murders, and under the infamous 
 pretext of religion had made 
 
 “Havoc, spoil and ruin its gain." —Milton. 
 
 He had seen this faction, under the name of Protestant 
 boys and Orangemen, produce another body, whose first 
 object they considered self-defence, but who ultimately led ? 1 
 to scenes at which humanity wept, and religion grieved. 
 
 Begotten by religious intolerance, bad laws, and worse '! 
 government, Orangeism and Ribbonism now contender 
 which should have ascendancy, whilst the “ powers thav 
 were,” by giving an implied sanction to the former who 
 first commenced attack, gave to the latter the appearance 
 of a righteous cause or justifiable existence. 
 
 Seeing his country, already suffering from ages of pen¬ 
 alties and privations, now threatened with all the horrors of a 
 civil war, Dr. Doyle, addressed a pastoral letter to his 
 clergy, on the subject of illegal associations, dated November 
 19, 1822, to be read to such of their flocks, as they had 
 reason to think were connected with, or likely to enter into 
 those societies. 
 
 This letter for point, clearness, argument, and scriptural 
 illustration, was perhaps never equalled. 
 
 In a few pages, jit laid down the doctrines of allegiance, 
 of exclusive salvation, of forgiveness, of charity, &c., and des-f 
 cribed the fruits of secret and illegal associations, in terms 
 
 ' 
 
 .! 
 
 ; 
 
 Oli 
 
 
 at 
 
 oi 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 61 
 
 oo clear to be misunderstood, and too powerful to be re- 
 isted. This pastoral produced a tremendous effect, and the 
 eople and government joined in having several hundred 
 musand copies circulated, not merely in Ireland, but 
 iroughout the empire. It was also translated into the ma- 
 jrnal language of Ireland, by Mr. Scurry, the celebrated 
 rish scholar. 
 
 The bishop informs us in this document that he had 
 ritten and published other Pastoral Instructions, which we 
 egret that we have not been able to procure copies of. 
 
 I The following extracts will give some idea of the above- 
 imed valuable document:— 
 
 “ Dearly beloved Brethren in Christ Jesus—We take 
 )u to witness this day, that we are clear from the blood 
 l ? you all; whereas, for three years, we have not ceased 
 ight and day, with tears, admonishing every one of 
 )u to desist from these illegal associations, which have al- 
 ays augmented the evils of our country, and now tend to 
 ing disgrace on our holy religion. Whilst with you, on 
 tr different visitations, we did not cease to forewarn you 
 these things in our pastoral instructions, printed and dis¬ 
 puted amongst you; we explained at length the nature 
 id tendency of these associations, their folly, their injustice, 
 eir opposition to all laws, human and divine, which you 
 
 i e bound to obey. We explained for you the impiety of 
 oath which connected them together; and the clergy in 
 r respective parishes have not ceased to labour with us 
 bis sacred duty ; yet we will not address you in the lan- 
 ge of reproach—we will not, above all, rebuke you, 
 rly beloved, for the obstinacy and perverseness of a few 
 mgst you ; but as the object of our ministry is not to 
 ;roy, but to save ; not to call ‘ the just, but sinners to re- 
 tancewe will once again admonish even those few, 
 r ever perverse, hoping, through the influence of the 
 y Spirit, that they will attend even now to our instruc- 
 s, and be at length converted from their evil ways. 
 
 The principles of our religion, dearest brethren, on the 
 ject of our civil duties, are clear and explicit; and the 
 trine of our church respecting them has been the same 
 II nations, and at all times. Christ, in his lifetime, paid 
 
62 
 
 LIFE OF DU. DOYLE. 
 
 tribute to the state, and caused Peter, the first of his Apos¬ 
 tles, and the Representative of his Church, to do the same. 
 The Jews, amongst whom he lived, and of whose race he 
 was born, had lost their independence, and were then a con¬ 
 quered people, subject to the Romans. Caesar was their 
 King, and to Caesar, though a Pagan, and the conqueror 
 of his country, he declared that tribute should be paid. 
 
 “He who could, as he told his disciples, obtain from his 
 Father legions of angels to defend him, disarmed his disci¬ 
 ple, cured the wound he had inflicted, and suffered himself i 
 to be conducted like a criminal to the tribunal of Pilate, 
 whose power, he declared, was given him from above. He 
 never belied his own maxim, ( that his kingdom was not of 
 this worldand ‘ he underwent the cross-despising shame/, 
 that he might 4 be obedient even unto death,’ not only to the 
 will of his Father, but also to the laws of his country, 
 however unjustly administered in his regard. 
 
 “ Peter, whom he made the repository of his doctrine 
 and power, followed his example. * When persecuted inji 
 one city, he fled to another,’ but never spoke the langua_ 
 of resistance : nay, he said to those, who through his min¬ 
 istry believed in Christ, ‘ be you subject to every humai 
 creature for God’s sake, whether it be to the king as exce 
 ling, or to the governors, as sent by him for the punishmen* 
 of evil doers, for so is the will of God.’ (1 Pet. ii. 14." 
 And again, ‘ Fear God, honour the King.’ He unites these 
 two obligations, because one cannot subsist without th 
 other; ‘ if the King or he who bears the sword, be the min 
 ister of God, an avenger to execute wrath upon him w 
 doeth evil,’ how can God be feared or served if his minis 
 be disobeyed ? St. Peter, in this passage, only declared ti 
 doctrine which he heard his master teach, and had seen hi; 
 practice. St. Paul also published the same to all the natio: 
 whom he converted to the faith. 
 
 “It was this great Apostle, who lived in the time 
 Nero, a Pagan, and the most bitter persecutor of the Chur 
 who, writing to his beloved disciple, Timothy, prescri" 
 that form of prayer which we all recite as often as we ass: 
 at Mass—offering it up in his words, ‘ for the King and 
 that are in high station, that we may lead a quiet and hoi 
 
 ad 
 
 a! 
 
LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 63 
 
 ife.’ But the Apostle does not stop here ; in his Epistle to 
 he Romans, (chap, xiii.) he inculcates, in a special manner, 
 he broad principles of obedience to the State, and with so 
 nuch clearness and energy, that I cannot forbear transcrib- 
 ag the entire passage—‘ Let every soul,’ he says, ‘ be sub¬ 
 set to higher powers, for there is no power but from God, 
 nd those that are, are ordained of God; therefore, he that 
 esisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they 
 aat resist, purchase to themselves damnation; for Princes are 
 ot a terror to the good work, but to the evil— if thou do 
 tat which is evil, fear ; for he beareth not the sword in vain, 
 >r he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath upon 
 im that doeth evil; wherefore, be subject of necessity, not 
 nly for wrath, but also for conscience sake. Render, there- 
 >re, to all men their dues; tribute to whom tribute is due, 
 rstorn to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honour to 
 horn honour; owe no man any thing, but to love one ano- 
 ler; for he that loveth his neighbour hath fulfilled the law/ 
 “ On these authorities, and such as these, the doctrine of 
 ie Catholic Church is founded, and though revolutions 
 ive happened in divers nations professing her faith, she has 
 ■ways abhorred them, when effected by force or violence, 
 the effusion of blood. The design, then, into which, it 
 >pears, some of you have entered, of subverting the state, 
 id overthrowing the government established in this country 
 r the divine permission, is opposed to the maxims and ex- 
 nple of our divine Redeemer, and of his apostles, and to 
 e uniform doctrine of that church whose faith you profess ; 
 it the period you selected, and the motives which influen- 
 d you in this vain and senseless project, are not only 
 eked, out disgraceful to you as men and Christians. 
 “Shall Ireland, my dear but infatuated brethren, be al- 
 lys doomed to suffer, and to suffer through the blindness 
 d malice of her own children ? Who will in future sympa- 
 ize in her misfortunes ? Who will vindicate her rights ? 
 ho will proclaim the virtues of her sons, if a portion of them 
 t only appear disaffected, but also blind to their own 
 erests, and, if what never until now could be objected to 
 >m—that, they are ungrateful ?’ 
 
 u And what were the motives which influenced you to act 
 
64 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 thus, and even to profane the awful name of God, and rash¬ 
 ly to call upon him to attest your wicked purposes? Your 
 distress, your hatred of Orangemen, your love of religion, 
 your faith in prophecies, your hope of seeing vour country 
 free and happy ? Let us, my dear brethren, examine dispas-* 
 sionately each of these, before we come to show you the 
 absurdity of your designs, as well as the impossibility of 
 ever carrying them into effect. And first, as to distress.— 
 The distress that prevails amongst you is general and great, 
 and in many instances cannot be remedied by human power; 
 but it is worthy of remark, though I have seen and con¬ 
 versed with many individuals who were once engaged in 
 those wicked associations, I have not known one who was 
 impelled by want to enter into them. 
 
 “ And now let me ask you, how are your wants to be re¬ 
 medied, and your distresses removed by these associations ?i! 
 Is it by the breaking of canals, by the destroying of cattle, by v 
 the burning of houses, corn, and hay, and establishing a reign . 
 of terror throughout the entire country, that you are to obtain |i 
 employment ? Is it by rendering the farmer insecure in.the pos- ■ 
 session of his property, that you will induce him to increase k 
 his tillage ? Is it by being leagued against the gentry, that you i 
 will prevail on them to improve their houses and demesnes? ' 
 Is it by causing a heavy police establishment to be quartered 
 throughout the country, to be paid by taxes collected from 
 the holders of land, that you will enable them to give em¬ 
 ployment ? No; your proceedings are only calculated to 
 compel gentlemen to fly from the country, to convert their 
 lands to pasture, and to place an armed force to protect 
 their cattle, and treat you, if necessary, with the utmost ri-*) 
 gour. Your conspiracies, therefore, are calculated not to 
 relieve, but augment your distress an hundred-fold. 
 
 “ Your hatred to Orangemen. The Orangemen may be 
 foolish, may be wicked, may be your enemies; but if the| 
 be fools, they deserve your compassion; if they be wicked 
 you are obliged to seek their conversion by prayer and for¬ 
 bearance ; if they be your enemies, your Redeemer teaches 
 you how to treat them, saying, ‘ Love your enemies, do good 
 to those that hate you, pray for those who persecute and ca 
 lumniate you.’ And his Apostle, who desires you *not to 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 65 
 
 return evil for evil, but to overcome evil by good.— 6 If 
 your enemy/ he says, ‘ be hungry, give him food ; if he be 
 thirsty, give him to drink; and thus you will heap burning 
 coals (that is, according to St. Augustine, the fire of charity) 
 upon his head/ which will consume his enmity. But these 
 men, who are so very hateful in your eyes, are our brethren 
 : in Christ; they are each of them as dear to him as the apple 
 | of his eye; they have all been baptized in his blood. If, 
 
 | then, they be your enemies, by a misfortune common to you 
 and to them, they are still the children of your ‘ Father who 
 is in heaven.’ Christ died for them, and you should not 
 only forgive them, but love them for his sake. 
 
 “ Your associations are, however, the best means you 
 could devise, to increase their number, and extend their in¬ 
 fluence. Their association had lost all respectability; the 
 King smote it, like as the angel did the host of Senachevib, 
 
 ) and it became lifeless. Those who formerly belonged to it 
 were ashamed of it; public opinion condemned it; it was 
 writhing in agony, and could not exist another year; but 
 j the spirit of your conspiracy has blown upon the lifeless 
 I bones of it; the nerves and flesh are re-uniting to them; it 
 will be restored to life, and again become formidable. But 
 if your feelings be again insulted, if your wives be abused 
 and your daughters violated, blame not Orangemen; blame, 
 your own absurd and mischievous proceedings. 
 
 “ Your love of religion. Ah! my dear brethren, how 
 j frequently is the sacred name of religion abused; and how 
 j many crimes and profanations are committed in her name ! ' 
 ! Could religion be weighed in a scale, there could not be 
 j found one ounce of pure religion among all those who have 
 freely entered into your associations. For how can iniquity 
 abide with justice, light with darkness, or Christ with Be¬ 
 lial ? It was by meekness, humility, patience, suffering, and 
 unbounded charity, that Christ , 1 the author and finisher of our 
 faith/ founded his religion; by these and such like virtues, it 
 ! was propagated by his followers to the end of the earth. By 
 j these that holy Apostle, St. Patrick, whose name you pro¬ 
 fane, and whose religion you cause to be blasphemed, plant¬ 
 ed the faith in this island, which was once an island of 
 saints, but which you would convert into a den of thieves. 
 
66 
 
 LIFE ©F DR. DOYLE. 
 
 Can religion be served by conspiracies ? Can it be propa¬ 
 gated like the superstition of Mahomet, by fire and sword ? 
 Does she require for her support the aid of those who ne¬ 
 glect all her duties, disobey and despise her pastors; who 
 violate all her commands, and indulge in her name all the 
 vices which she condemns ? Does not your catechism teach 
 you that the most essential part of your religion consists of 
 the two great precepts of charity:—‘ To love God above all 
 things, and your neighbour as yourself, for the love of God;’ 
 and again, that by the word ‘ neighbour’ is signified all man¬ 
 kind, of every description, even those who differ from 
 you in religion ? But you say you have the true religion, 
 and hence, I suppose, you consider yourselves entitled to 
 hate those who differ from you. ‘ Show me your works/ 
 says an apostle, ‘ and from these I will tell you your faith/ 
 And again,‘ faith without works is dead nay, if you had 
 faith so as to remove mountains, but had not charity, it 
 would avail you nothing; for that faith only can make you 
 acceptable to God, ‘ which worketh by charityand no per¬ 
 son, whatever his faith may be, can enter into life, unless 
 he keeps that first and greatest of the commandments, which 
 obliges him to love his neighbour as himself, whatever the 
 religion of that neighbour may be. Surely, my brethren, sins 
 against charity are not less offensive to God than sins against 
 faith; and if, according to St. Paul, a wilful and obstinate 
 adherence to error in matters of faith, excludes men from 
 heaven, he also says that ‘ fornication, uncleanness, immo¬ 
 desty, luxury, witchcraft, enmities, anger, quarrels, dissen- 
 tions, envy, murder, drunkenness,’ deserve hell. (2 Cor. i.) 
 Why then is all your zeal directed against one vice, while 
 you indulge freely in the others ? You are intolerant and 
 uncharitable, brethren, on this head, but it is not your reli¬ 
 gion, but your prejudices and passions that render you so. 
 
 “ It is not every one who differs from you in religion, 
 who should be branded with the odious name of ‘ here¬ 
 tic.’ Errors in religion do not constitute heresy; but a 
 wilful and obstinate adherence to them. Hence St. Augus¬ 
 tine says, ‘ I may err, but I will not be a heretic.’ He 
 writes also, in his 162d epistle, ‘that those who earnestly 
 seek the truth, and are ready on finding it to stand corrected, 
 
LIFE OF DIt. DOYLE. 
 
 67 
 
 must by no means be reckoned among heretics.’ This 
 is the spirit of your church, which assembled by her pastors 
 at Trent, whilst she anathematised the heresies which then 
 prevailed, speaks thus in her 13th Sess. of those persons 
 who held them: ‘ The Holy Synod, like a tender mother, 
 who groans and brings forth, wishes and desires that there 
 may be no schisms among those who bear the name of Chris¬ 
 tians ; but that as they all acknowledge the same God, and 
 the same Saviour, they may also have the same faith, the 
 same language, and the same opinion; confiding in the mercy 
 of God, the Synod hopes they will return in hope and 
 charity to the holy and saving unity of the faith.’ How 
 different, dear brethren, from the spirit which dictated those 
 sentiments, is that which prevails in your unholy assemblies ? 
 But supposing that all those who differ from you in reli¬ 
 gious opinions were not of that description pointed out by 
 St. Augustine, why do.you not hope and pray, that the Lord 
 would, on the bed of death, at the moment of their depart¬ 
 ure from this life, look to the naked whom they clothed, 
 and the hungry whom they fed—the bread which they broke 
 to the orphan, the tear which they wiped from the cheek of 
 the widow ; and in consideration of these works, discover 
 to them the light of his truth, inflame their hearts with com 
 trition, fill them with his charity, and crown them with his 
 mercy? Hold fast, dearest brethren, your own faith, and 
 pray for those who differ from you. Take heed of the words 
 of the Apostle: ‘ Who art thou that judgeth a foreign ser¬ 
 vant ? he stands or falls for his master, but he will stand, 
 for God is powerful enough to raise him up.’ 
 
 “In this country your religion is not only tolerated, but 
 , protected by the law ; it is poor, but poverty is the cradle in 
 which Christianity was nursed, and riches has always been 
 its bane. Your clergy have a competency, alike removed 
 from poverty and affluence, and derived from a source which 
 secures to you their attention, and protects the purity of 
 their own lives. They seek, they desire nothing more. It 
 is clear then, that on the score of religion, your conspiracies 
 are without an object, and it is the angel of darkness who 
 transforms himself into an angel of light, that he may se- 
 
 ■ 
 
 0 
 
68 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE 
 
 duce you to violate all the charities of the gospel under 
 the appearance of zeal for the faith. 
 
 u And first, who are those who would undertake to sub¬ 
 vert the laws and constitution of this country ? Persons 
 without money, without education, without arms, without 
 counsel, without discipline, without a leader ; kept toge¬ 
 ther by a bond of iniquity, which it is a duty to violate, 
 and a crime to observe. Men destitute of religion, and 
 abandoned to the most frightful passions; having blasphemy , 
 in their mouths, and their hands filled with rapine, and of¬ 
 tentimes with blood. Can such as these regenerate a coun¬ 
 try, and make her free and happy ? No, dearest brethren, , 
 left even to themselves, they would destroy each other; 
 but opposed to a regular force, they would scatter like a 
 flock of sheep upon a mountain when the thunder-storm 
 affrights them. 
 
 “ To conclude, dearly beloved, let us remind you, that 
 the body of a nation is like, in some degree, to our own.— 
 The different ranks and orders which compose it are Or¬ 
 dained of God, that the whole may be preserved entire. If 
 any of them should seek to usurp the place of the other, 
 discord would ensue. If your feet, seeing your hands are 
 idle, would refuse to walk; if your hands would undertake 
 to do the duties of the head, how monstrous and absurd 
 would it not appear ? So in the state, if those whom God 
 has appointed to labour, should abandon their station, and 
 seek to govern, if the ignorant would take the place of the 
 wise, the soldier the place of the peasant, the tradesman 
 that of the magistrate, the schoolmaster that of the bishop 
 or judge, how could society exist ? Yet to this and such 
 like consequences all your silly machinations tend. Return 
 then, dearly beloved, to the ways of peace. 
 
 “ Leave your church to enjoy the liberty she possesses—» 
 pray for those who differ from you in religion—seek to have - 
 more charity, and less of zeal, and do not embitter the lives ] 
 of your parents, nor bring their grey hairs with sorrow to the j 
 grave—atone, dearly beloved, by every means in your power ] 
 for the inj uries you have done your neighbour, your coun- | 
 try, and your God—wipe away, by your peaceable de- 
 
! 
 
 LIFE Oi Dil. DOYLE. 69 
 
 meanour, for the time to come, that foul stain which your 
 conduct has, to a certain extent, already cast upon your 
 religion ! We wish you peace and benediction, in the 
 name of the Almighty Father, and his Son Jesus, our 
 Lord and Redeemer, through the grace of the Divine Spirit, 
 who proceeds from both; Amen. 
 
 “ James Doyle, D.. D. &c.” 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
70 
 
 LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 dr. doyle’s vindication of catholic principles. 
 
 “ To vindicate her doctrines, and proclaim 
 Her tenets pure unvaryingly the same. 
 
 Based on truth’s adamantine rock sublime, 
 
 Through centuries of innovating time." 
 
 The fame of Dr. Doyle, as a public writer, created more 
 than ordinary interest during the religious and political dis¬ 
 cussions which took place on the Catholic cause, from 1822, 
 to 1829 when it was settled. 
 
 The Orangemen and high church party had exerted all 
 their powers to print and circulate the most unfounded 
 calumnies upon the Catholic religion, and upon the civil 
 and religious principles of Irish Catholics in particular. To 
 refute those calumnies, Dr. Doyle devoted his talents, and 
 in 1823 wrote his “ Vindication of the religious and civil 
 principles of the Irish Catholics, in a letter addressed to 
 his Excellency the Marquis Wellesley, Lord Lieutenant of 
 Ireland.” This work gave a mortal stab to the intolerants; 
 and particularly to the High Church Parsons, as it contained 
 the author’s first noted protest against the present atrocious 
 tithe system. It soon ran into three large editions. 
 
 The_following extracts afford substantial proofs of the 
 merits of this work :— 
 
 “ My Lord.—Your personal character, the power with 
 which you are vested, and the influence which your judg¬ 
 ment and authority must have upon the affairs of this 
 country, are the reasons why I address your Excellency. 
 
 “ That the eviis produced by a long system of misrule 
 could at once be remedied, was not to be expected; to 
 reform the courts of law—to purge the magistracy—to 
 cleanse the various offices connected with the revenue—to 
 establish a regular system of police—to educate the people— 
 to promote public morality'—to abolish abuses which created 
 spies and promoted perjury, with all the viciousness con- 
 

 ■ 
 
 life or dr. l)oyle. 71 
 
 sequent on nightly revellings and fraud; these measures, 
 and such as these, could not altogether and at once be 
 carried into effect; but their execution, whether slow or 
 sudden, should necessarily call forth the approbation of the 
 wise and good, and could never produce a clamour which 
 would reach even the precints of your viceregal lodge. 
 
 “ The unequal state of the laws, my Lord, had created 
 amongst us many interests, whilst it destroyed others; it 
 raised one class to a degree of eminence seldom attained to, 
 j ev^n in a conquered country, whilst it depressed another 
 far below the condition of free subjects ; it reduced them 
 to a certain degree of slavery. The privileged class were 
 few in number—they acquired immense possessions, and 
 amassed enormous wealth—they laboured unceasingly to 
 secure both the protection and aid afforded them by Eng¬ 
 land, often purchased at too dear a price; and in order 
 to be more independent of the mother country, they em¬ 
 ployed all the resources furnished by her, as well by their 
 own skill and power as by those of others to reduce the nation 
 with which they struggled to a state of utter d^kness, and 
 i the most abject want. 
 
 “ The extravagance of the dominant race, the lights of the 
 last century, and the humanity of the late king, mitigated 
 those evils. The oppressed were permitted to breathe, and 
 straw, wherewith to make their bricks, was given to them : 
 not for their own sake, but that they might become more 
 valuable to their proprietors. They were allowed, under 
 certain limitations, to acquire and inherit property; even 
 the shadow of freedom, but that only, in the elective fran¬ 
 chise, was suffered to appear to them. They were permitted 
 to become educated, but they had no means of obtaining 
 education, and no means were provided for them. They 
 struggled with these small advantages, and employing, like 
 the Jews, all their energies in the pursuits of industry, 
 (being excluded from every other,) they acquired property, 
 and almost became a people. Those who ruled over them 
 saw they would become a great nation, and deliberated 
 whether they should unite with them, and live independent 
 of the sister country. They were not, however, accustomed 
 to possess a country, nor to live in the affections of a peo- 
 
72 
 
 LIFE OF OR. DOYLE. 
 
 pie; they had still the passions, and the pride, and the pre- 
 judices of those who rule slaves, and they were duped or 
 purchased by England to extinguish for ever their own 
 greatness, and the relative independence of Ireland. 
 
 “ Since the Union, my Lord, our petty princes have de¬ 
 serted those mansions and that capital where they once were 
 great, noble, and possessed of wealth and power. They 
 are become strangers to their native land, or are naturalized 
 in a happier country: but they carried away with them 
 whatever was great and glorious in that which they aban¬ 
 doned. When about to depart, they confided their estates 
 to agents, or parcelled them out to middlemen, that their 
 income might be the more secure; and a distant government, 
 oppressed with other cares, sent here your Excellency's pre¬ 
 decessors to preserve this country to England, and govern 
 her as they could. 
 
 “ Few of these governors were like your Excellency; and 
 those few were quickly removed. In general they gave 
 themselves up to be directed by the rapacious and heartless 
 men who had lingered about the capital, and whose sole 
 object was to enrich themselves, and to oppress and to de¬ 
 grade the struggling people who had been deserted by their 
 lords. In this work of oppression they were ably supported 
 by the Corporations, but above all by the Church. This 
 Church, my Lord, deserted by the legislature, has since not 
 ceased to tremble for her existence. She fears that England 
 is not greatly interested for her, and that her natural pro¬ 
 tectors are now weak or indifferent, or too far removed. She 
 knows that her wealth and possessions are immense, calcu¬ 
 lated to awaken the jealousy of her friends, and excite the 
 envy of her enemies. She fears the legislature -would ex¬ 
 amine her title, and enquire whether she holds by any other 
 than their free gift; and knowing that she does not answer 
 the ends for which any Christian Church has ever been 
 erected, she apprehends that they might new-model her 
 constitution, or lay claim to some portion of her spoils.— 
 She looks with extreme, and yet an idle jealousy to what she 
 considers a rival Church, but what in reality is no Church, 
 in her acceptation of the term; and she exerts all her ener¬ 
 gies and lavishes her wealth, to oppose the freedom of the 
 
LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 73 
 
 Irish people, or the equalization of the laws, thinking that if 
 the reign of British justice prevailed in Ireland, her utility 
 might be questioned, and her income and possessions propor¬ 
 tioned to the services she renders to religion and to the state. 
 
 “ Whilst this faction was thus arrayed in hostility to the 
 measures of your Excellency, they omitted no [opportunity 
 of insulting and misrepresenting the prostrate race whom 
 they were accustomed to oppress. Their printing offices 
 (of which they retained the old and erected new ones) teemed 
 !$ with daily and periodical publications, all tending to connect 
 if the disturbances in the South with the Catholic people, with 
 their religion, and with their policy; hoping, if they could 
 not succeed in their efforts to remove your Excellency, that 
 u they would at least mar your efforts for the public good.— 
 They laboured with the most unhallowed zeal, and the most 
 i persevering industry, to excite the fears of the timid, to 
 e arouse the indignation of the people, and if possible to 
 ;s produce an insurrection against the government and laws; 
 e they branded the Catholic body as abettors of treason, as 
 . the enemies of the constitution, as hostile to every mental 
 r and moral improvement; and their religion they represented 
 ] (where they allowed them to have one) as a degrading su- 
 s perstition, unfit to be tolerated amongst Christian men. 
 t “ If the population of a district in which, until within a few 
 j years past, the laws made it felony to educate them, were 
 . ignorant, this was imputed to their faith. If a ferocious 
 . or vindictive spirit appeared amongst rude tribes, who had 
 . been enslaved by the laws of centuries, this was said to be 
 i ithe fruit of their creed ; and if men writhing under wrongs 
 , and oppression struggled against the chains which bound 
 , them, their savage and senseless efforts for relief were 
 construed into acts dictated by their religious profession. 
 Look to the North, said the calumniators, where the people 
 are Protestant, and see them employed in industry and 
 the works of peace; but turn to the South, and view the 
 scenes of blood and devastation, but do not investigate the 
 cause—no : it is obvious—the population is Catholic.— 
 They feared the legislature would have time to reflect, that the, 
 North was inhabited by a race of freemen, who enjoyed all 
 the blessings of the constitution, whilst the South was the 
 
74 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 refuge of slaves who had never tasted the sweets of liberty 
 —who had until of late groaned beneath a bondage more 
 cruel than that of Pharaoh. Thus, my Lord, this vile 
 and malignant press, supported, conducted, and patron-* j 
 ized by the churchmen, the placemen, and the whole train 
 of corruptionists, even by those on whom your Excellency, 
 was compelled to bestow your favours and your smiles,? , 
 maligned, insulted, and calumniated the Catholic people, , 
 whom you wished to place under the protection of the law. 
 
 “ In every nation, from the Indus to the Pole, from Peru 
 to Japan, this Church has employed her missionaries; ; 
 they have reached, at one period or another, to every nation i 
 over which the four winds of heaven are wafted ; and i 
 amongst every tongue, and tribe, and people, and nation, to 
 which they preached Christ crucified, they are said to have 
 wrought miracles in attestation of the faith which they' 
 promulged—to have restored sight to the blind, hearing to 
 the deaf, to have cleansed the lepers, and in many cases to ji 
 have raised the dead to life. 
 
 “ To read the history of a Xavier, for instance—the attes¬ 
 tations of his friends and of his enemies, (for even he had 
 enemies), of the magistrates, of the governors, of the pre-> 
 lates and of the princes, of all the historians of the country^ 
 where he preached, and lived, and died, and to disbelieve 
 all the miracles attributed by them to his intercession with 
 Almighty God, requires more of what is called philosophy, 
 than falls to the lot of ordinary men. The Church to 
 which I belong, has not had the power to resist the force 
 of human testimony and the evidence of the senses. She 
 has believed and taught that miracles are wrought both at 
 home and abroad, through the prayers of those righteous 
 men whose virtues are eminent and heroic, and whom,) , 
 from time to time, she enrols, after the strictest scrutiny, inJ 
 the calendar of the saints. She feels, however, that pre-y 
 tended miracles were often recorded as true—that the credu- Y 
 lity of her children was often imposed on, and superstition, 
 propagated for piety; to guard against these evils (and 
 serious evils they are), she has decreed in her last general. 
 council, that no miracles be thenceforth published nor . 
 admitted as such, which are not previously ascertained and. 
 
75 
 
 LIFE OF D11. DOYLE. 
 
 auctioned by the ordinary of the place where they are said 
 :t» occur ; and this has proved a safeguard against impos- 
 are, as well as a means of promoting the piety of the 
 lithful, and the glory of God. 
 
 “ Why then, my Lord, have they been rebuked, assailed, 
 iviled ? Why has their religion been abused and insulted ? 
 Vhy have the most sinister and malignant views been at- 
 ibuted to them ? Why has the degraded scribe dipped 
 is pen in gall, to give vent to the feelings of the party for 
 diich he wrote and toiled ? Why has the ermine been all 
 ut stained, and one of the princes of the people almost 
 nrobed on the bench, that Irish Catholics and their re¬ 
 gion might be scoffed at ? Are they alone unfit ‘ to abound 
 * their own sense?’ Are they alone not to be permitted to 
 xercisfe their own judgment? Is it not only their faith, 
 jut even their piety, however harmless, which is to be con- 
 erted into a crime ? But, my Lord, they suffer all this 
 ecause they are a people struggling, by legal means, to 
 btain their birth-right, against a faction who would live by 
 Tong, and fatten on the vitals of their country. __ 
 
 “ Our religion is said to be Anti-Christian, that is, my 
 .ord, opposite to Christ; but not being told in any of the 
 ublications which I have met with, in what this opposition 
 pnsisted, it is not easy to disprove it, but yet the name is 
 dious, and odious and degrading names when often repeated 
 ffix contempt and some portion of scorn to the person whom 
 ley are used to designate; they often lower the person too, 
 veil in his own estimation, and induoe him, as it were, to 
 ecome what he is called. 
 
 u Wo are not Anti-Christian, my Lord, for we do not dis- 
 plve Christ, (1 John iv. 3.) nor deny that the Son of 
 lod has appeared in the flesh; we are unquestionably of 
 11 denominations of Christians the most uniform and steady 
 ssertors of his divinity, and as to the reality of his human 
 ature, that is not, now-a-days called in question. St. John, 
 owever, complained that Antichrist was in the world even 
 i his time, not in . person I suppose, but in the spirit of 
 lose who denied that ‘Jesus is the Christ,’ or who would 
 ot confess ‘ the Father and the Sonanother class whom 
 ie apostle designated as Anti-Christian consisted of those 
 
76 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 who went out from himself and his followers. But on what 
 grounds we are to be considered as forming one body with 
 those Antichrists, I feel myself quite incompetent to dis¬ 
 cover. We believe that Christ is God and man, and that 
 Jesus is the Christ, that he is distinct from the Father and 
 that both are one and the same God with the Holy Ghost. 
 We have not gone out from any body, we have deserted no 
 congregation, nor do we rebuke those who would seem to have ei 
 done so; why then is our creed Anti-Christian ? It is not on n 
 these grounds, however, that the charge against us chiefly > 
 
 rests, but on our being subject in spiritual matters to the 
 
 Pope—who is ‘ the man of sin, the harlot, the abomination of f 
 desolation/ and several other frightful things which are noN 
 now within my recollection. • The character and virtues of 
 the late Pope should have protected his memory at least from a j 
 insult, and an interregnum should have been stated to have { 
 occurred in the kingdom of Antichrist whilst Pius the VII. L 
 wore the fisherman’s ring—but, no! tros tyriusve. Our rj 
 new evangelists are no respecters of persons, and the vener- • 
 able Chiaromonte too, must have been drenching with the 
 cup of the wine of his wrath the kings of the earth. I hope, |,| 
 however, he may have given it to those only who compose ;| 
 the holy alliance, and that our gracious Sovereign has not t] 
 partaken of so dangerous a beverage! 
 
 “ It was the creed, my Lord, of a Charlemange and of a l 
 St. Louis, of an Alfred and an Edward, of the monarchs of 
 the feudal times, as well as of the Emperors of Greece and 
 Rome; it was believed at Venice and at Genoa, in Lucca , 
 and the Helvetic nations in the days of their freedom and 
 
 greatness; all the Barons of the middle ages, all the free 
 
 cities of later times professed the religion we now profess. 
 You well know, my Lord, that the charter of British free¬ 
 dom, and the common law of England, have their origin* 
 and source in Catholic times. Who framed the free consti¬ 
 tutions of the Spanish Goths ? Who preserved science and 
 literature, during the long night of the middle ages ? Who 
 
 imported literature from Constantinople, and opened for 
 her an asylum at Rome, Florence, Padua, Paris and Ox¬ 
 ford ? Who polished Europe by art, and refined her by 
 legislation ? Who discovered the new world, and opened 
 
LIFE OF DR, DOYLE. 
 
 77 
 
 a. passage to another? Who were the masters of architec¬ 
 ture, of painting, and of music ? Who invented the compass, 
 and the art of printing ? Who were the poets, the histo¬ 
 rians, the jurists, the men of deep research, and profound 
 iterature ? Who have exalted human nature, and made 
 ■nan appear again little lees than the angels ? Were they 
 aot almost exclusively the professors of our creed? Were 
 :hey who created and possessed freedom under every shape 
 md form, unfit for her enjoyment? Were men, deemed 
 ;ven now the lights of the world and the benefactors of the 
 puman race, the deluded victims of a slavish superstition ? 
 But what is there in our creed which renders us unfit for 
 ‘reedom ? Is it the doctrine of passive obedience ? No, 
 rbr the obedience we yield to authority, is not blind, but 
 Reasonable; our religion does not create despotism ; it sup- 
 aorts every established constitution which is not opposed 
 ;o the laws of nature, unless it be altered by those who 
 ire entitled to change it. In Poland it supported an elective 
 monarch; in France, an hereditary sovereign; in Spain, an 
 Absolute or constitutional king indifferently; in England, 
 -vhen the houses of York and Lancaster contended, it de¬ 
 clared that he who was king de facto , was entitled to the 
 )bedience of the people. During the reign of the Tudors, 
 here was a faithful adherence of the Catholics to their 
 prince, under trials the most severe and galling, because the 
 constitution required it: the same was exhibited by them to 
 ;he ungrateful race of Stuart; but since the expulsion of 
 lames, (foolishly called an abdication,^) have they not 
 Adopted with the nation at large, the doctrine of the Revo¬ 
 lution : 1 that the crown is held in trust for the benefit of 
 ;he people; and that should the monarch violate his com¬ 
 pact, the subject is freed from the bond of his allegiance.’— 
 Has there been any form of government ever devised by 
 man, to which the religion of Catholics has not been ac¬ 
 commodated ? Is there any obligation, either to a prince, 
 pr to a constitution, which it does not enforce ? 
 
 “ What, my Lord ! is the allegiance of the man divided 
 who gives to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God 
 what belongs to God ? Is the allegiance of the priest divided 
 who yields submission to his bishop and his king ?—of the 
 
78 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLK. 
 
 son who obeys his parent and his prince ? And yet these 
 duties are not more distinct than those which we owe our 
 sovereign and our spiritual head ? Is there any man in i 
 society who has not distinct duties to discharge ? May not i 
 the same person be the head of a corporation and an officer r 
 of the king? a justice of the peace, perhaps, and a bank¬ 
 rupt surgeon, with half his pay ? And are the duties thus > 
 imposed upon him, incompatible one with another ? If the« 
 Pope can define that the Jewish sabbath is dissolved, and that t 
 the Lord’s day is to be sanctified, may not this be believed 1 
 without prejudice to the act of settlement, or that for the e 
 limitation of the crown ? If the church decree that on a 
 Fridays her children should abstain from flesh-meat, are they y 
 thereby controlled from obeying the king when he sum- - 
 mons them to war ? 
 
 “ When I am told that I am unfit for freedom, ou account t 
 of the religion which I profess—when I have considered 1 
 all that has been said in support of so heinous a propo- • 
 sition, I feel amazed and confounded, and ask, is it possible 3 
 that any man could suppose, that were I in possession of f 
 the rights and privileges of a British subject, that all the e 
 power on earth could induce me to forego them; that 11 
 could be influenced by any consideration to reject the first t 
 and clearest principles of my religion, to hate my country, , 
 to subject her to the sway of a stranger, to destroy my own <i 
 happiness and that of my kindred? No, I conclude it t 
 is impossible that any rational man could suppose, that the 3 
 Catholics, under equal laws, would be less loyal, less < 
 faithful subjects, than any others. 
 
 “ When the lands and tithes composing the establishment 
 were given to their present proprietors, the value of them 
 could not be ascertained, on account of the unsettled state 
 of the country, and so far as it was ascertained, it was 
 small, owing to the state of devastation and ruin to which i 
 the country was reduced by the civil wars. It continued 
 so for a considerable time. Cattle, not crops, was the pro¬ 
 duce of Ireland, and the Irish Commons, by a wise vote, . 
 secured their grazing land against the inroads of the parson ; 
 had they foreseen the future state of this country, when by 
 tillage she was to be rendered the granary of the empire, 
 
LTFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 79 
 
 i 
 
 ! 
 
 I 1 
 
 and to export, after maintaining her own vast population, 
 com to the value of several millions sterling annually, would 
 they have assigned the tenth of this immense produce with 
 all her princely domains to the church ? I should suppose 
 not, unless British wisdom and British justice designated 
 other qualities then than they do now, or if they did, they 
 would have guaranteed a competent support to the officia¬ 
 ting clergy, necessary repairs for the parsonage and church, 
 and some support for the naked widow and shivering 
 orphans; they would not have left the poor destitute, until 
 their blood would be changed to water, and ‘ their faces 
 become burnt,' as the prophet expresses it, ‘ before the face 
 of the tempest of hunger; whilst they assigned their pa¬ 
 trimony to a pastor, who was not to be their pastor, that 
 he might be surfeited, that the train of his wife might be 
 borne by some pampered slave, and the crowd of his off¬ 
 spring followed by a retinue of servants. They would not 
 have done so, had they foreseen that all their own future 
 efforts to harmonize, and improve, and enrich the country, 
 were to be marred by the very men they were enrich¬ 
 ing, and that murders and atrocities which would for ever 
 stain the character of the nation, harden its heart, and 
 brutalize its feeling, as well as the most unheard of op¬ 
 pressions, were to be occasioned or committed by the agents 
 of this priesthood. 
 
 “ But then it is objected to any encroachment on the pro¬ 
 perty of the church, that if it be meddled with no other is 
 secure—silly objection. The tenure by which it is held, is 
 different, as has been shewn, from that of every other, the 
 nature of it is, a public fund always at the disposal of the 
 state, entrusted to a corporation for the certain services to 
 be performed; only let it always be employed for public 
 purposes and the public good, and the modifications of its 
 use will never excite a just alarm. 
 
 u As to our seeking to re-enter on the possessions of the 
 Church, the idea is absurd—it is revolting to common sense. 
 We should first dissolve the connexion between the two 
 islands—overthrow the constitution—establish a new govern¬ 
 ment; and then hood-wink every man of sense in the 
 country, and disarm the nation which had achieved its 
 
 
80 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE, 
 
 freedom; to effect all this, my Lord, I think we would re¬ 
 quire not only the aid of Prince Hohenlohe, of Doctors 
 Doyle and Murray, but of Antichrist himself.—The truth 
 is, my Lord, that the Catholic clergy are generally satisfied 
 with what they receive, and the mode of obtaining it; there 
 are many of them who think it a humiliation to depend oh 
 the contributions of the poor, but perhaps it is good for 
 them to be humbled: others lament the necessity of re¬ 
 ceiving support from those who are not able to bestow it,, 
 and would desire some provision which would ease the lat¬ 
 ter, and give to themselves a competency. But acquainted 
 as I am with their sentiments generally, I could assert on i 
 their behalf, that so far from desiring the possessions of f 
 the establishment, they would not accept of the tithes i 
 and all the odium which accompanies them, were they ' 
 (which is impossible) resigned in their favour by the Esta- • 
 blished Church. For my part, my Lord, I would not, no i 
 more than I would accept of a regiurn donum. The former 
 would probably corrupt my heart, or injure my ministry: 
 and the latter, like Sir Arthur Acheson in Swift, would 
 oblige me. 
 
 “To join with the court in every debate, 
 
 And rather than that I would lose my estate-" 
 
 “The writer of this letter, my Lord, (and he speaks of f 
 himself with reluctance,) may be considered as expressing 
 the opinions and feelings of every well educated Catholic 
 in the empire; he has been, from his infancy, and is still 
 connected with Protestants, by ties of friendship, of af¬ 
 fection, of good offices, and of blood ; he has been attached 
 to them with all the sincerity which pould fill an Irish 
 heart. In his intercourse with men he has never distin¬ 
 guished them by their creeds; in the discharge of his 
 ministry, he has never preached a sermon upon controversy, 
 still less has he, at any time, used arguments or influence in 
 private, to make proselytes to his creed, and though from 
 time to time he has received many individuals to the pro¬ 
 fession of his own. faith, he has sought their conversion 
 only by expounding the truths of thp gospel in public, and 
 endeavouring, as far as God enabled him, to exhibit it in his 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 81 
 
 conduct. Why those who think and act thus should be 
 arraigned for intolerance, it is difficult to understand. I 
 believe it is the fact of that odious jealousy created by the 
 law, and fostered by the ignorance and prejudices of inter¬ 
 ested men. 
 
 “ But in addition, we could refer to the public instructions 
 printed and circulated by our prelates, to their unwearied 
 zeal in the establishment of schools, to the sacrifices they 
 make out of their penury for their support, to the numberless 
 sermons preached by all orders of the Catholic priesthood 
 for the purpose of collecting contributions from an impover¬ 
 ished and still generous people, wherewith to educate the 
 poor: but there are truths so clear, that argument only 
 serves to obscure them, and this appears to be one of them.” 
 
 As bigotry ran high, it was not to be expected that the 
 severe castigation Dr. Doyle had given its advocates would 
 go unnoticed. Walsingham, Declan, and other nameless 
 authors, accordingly sent forth their ravings in the shape of 
 answers to, or observations on, the “ Vindication.” 
 
 Even the miraculous cures effected through the prayers 
 of Prince Hohenlohe, and attested by the bishops at this 
 period, of which we must speak apart in our next chapter, 
 only contributed to inflame the maddening spirit of the ene¬ 
 mies of truth, and excite their malice against the ministers 
 of Catholicity ; as the miracles of Jesus Christ, instead of 
 converting, only hardened the hearts of the obstinate Jews. 
 
 Early in 1824, Dr. Doyle wrote his “Defence of the 
 Vindication,” in which he replied to all his antagonists, and 
 refuted their objections. 
 
 We give the following extracts from this work, as samples 
 of Dr. Doyle's mode of treating his literary adversaries :— 
 
 “ Is it because some unprincipled Irishman, who casts 
 iway his religion for base lucre, and changes or conceals 
 lis name, lest the publication of it would proclaim his in- 
 amy—is e it because such a one is dead to every feeling of 
 lonour, and conducted through life only by sordid views, 
 hat the high-minded Catholics, who have never broken 
 aith with God or men, should be branded with imputations 
 )f disloyalty ? Search their history for two hundred years, 
 ind adduce almost a single instance of disaffection, on the 
 
82 
 
 LIFE OF DE. DOYLE, 
 
 part of the Catholic gentry or clergy. Search the records 
 for their oaths, and discover where they are violated? 
 
 “ But we are accused of ingratitude, for having said, that 
 4 the extravagance of the dominant race, the lights of the 
 last century, and the humanity of the late king, mitigated 
 the evils we endured/ This writer should not charge me 
 with ingratitude, for the good influence I attribute to our 
 late excellent king—nor can he be displeased with the refer¬ 
 ence I made to the lights of the last century, inasmuch as those 
 lights were propagated by that host of patriots and philoso¬ 
 phers whom we have just applauded— 4 men of great power, 
 and endued with wisdom, and by the strength of wisdom 
 instructing the people—men rich in virtue, studying beauti¬ 
 fulness, living at peace in their houses, all of whom have 
 gained glory in their generations, and were praised in their 
 days—men of mercy, whose godly deeds have not failed/ : 
 Ecc. xliv. * * * * . * * 
 
 44 But believing, as I do, that these cures were superna¬ 
 tural and divine, that they were wrought by the Spirit of 
 Christ which animates his mystic body should I not expect 
 they would be contradicted, reviled, and scoffed at, as he was 
 himself? Has the Church of God ever ceased to suffer as 
 her founder did ? Even in peace her bitterness has been 
 4 most bitfer/ Not only the Apostles but their successors. 
 in every age have been hated for their master’s name-sake; 
 and the miracles, with which they have never ceased to attest i 
 the Divinity of his Religion,have only ensured to them a por¬ 
 tion of his chalice. 4 You seek to kill me/ says Christ to the 
 Jews, 4 because my weird hath no place in you/ And the 
 vengeance which these carnal men would wreak on his i 
 head, because they could not understand his words nor 
 his works, that same vengeance has been inflicted upon his 
 members—upon the Apostles and Martyrs in every age., 
 
 44 1 could not therefore, consistently with my faith, have 
 been grieved or disappointed, though some scoffed at what I 
 respected. I should rather rejoice to find that whilst those 
 whom I considered the children of the church were favoured l 
 by God, some were found by their conduct to verify the 
 predictions of his Son. But my faith is too copious to 
 stop here, it believes also that it is only within our church 
 
LIFE OF DR* DOYLE. 
 
 83 
 
 that the true miracles are found; because I believe it is 
 there that Christ, and the Father, and the Spirit who alone 
 can effect them, always abide. I believe that they are one 
 of those many graces given to assist the labourers, in 
 planting and watering the vineyard—numerous and strik¬ 
 ing when the work is commencing—fewer as it advances; 
 but never entirely discontinued until the crop be gathered in. 
 ‘He that believeth in me/ says the Redeemer, ‘the works 
 that I do, he also shall do, and greater than these shall he 
 do.’ To disbelieve this promise requires on our part an 
 apostacy from the Faith ; to limit its operation depends not 
 on us, but on God! The disciples of Christ who were 
 sent to preach the Gospel to every creature preparatory to 
 the consummation, have been followed by the signs which 
 he described or foretold. They might take up serpents or 
 drink poison without being injured, and the imposition of 
 their hands could cure diseases. Who will disprove the 
 miracles wrought in the church according to this promise ? 
 Who can deny their existence without rejecting the evidence 
 which human testimony and public records exhibit in every 
 age ? Is it because they are now less frequent than when 
 the church in its infancy had no other external support, that 
 they are to be denied ? Do not those great lights of Christi¬ 
 anity, who account for the rarity of their occurrence, such 
 as Irenaeus, Augustine, Gregory, and Ambrose, attest of 
 their own knowledge the existence of some ? And who can 
 read the work of Benedict, the 14th de Can. Sanctorum, and 
 consider the rigorous examination to which alleded mira¬ 
 cles are subjected at Rome, and not be satisfied, that no 
 fraud with regard to them is, morally speaking, possible ? 
 
 : Men may disbelieve the Gospel, but as long as we Catho- 
 ! lies retain our faith, we will believe history, public records, 
 and the solemn oaths of disinterested men : we will believe 
 that miracles are wrought in our church by the power of 
 God for the propagation of the Faith, or the consolation of 
 his people. 
 
 “ In Deuteronomy it is written, ‘ Conglutinatus est Deus 
 cum populo suo.” God is united, is mixed up as it were, 
 and made one substance with his people. He makes them 
 by his incarnation partakers of his own nature, nourishing 
 
 • * 
 
84 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 them with his own blood, as the Pelican docs her young. 
 He is patient towards them, and of much compassion; so 
 that whenever they ask any thing of the Father in his name, 
 not hesitating, he has promised it will be given to them. The 
 grace of curing bodily diseases, as the Apostle testifies, was 
 one of the first he granted to their infirmity, and one which he 
 will never withdraw from them, as perhaps there is no other 
 so well calculated to excite their faith and gratitude, and 
 strengthen their confidence in his mercy. . He wept over La¬ 
 zarus before he raised him from the tomb, and was moved 
 by the distress of the widow of Naim, before he stopped the 
 bier and restored her sou to life. His charity for his people 
 well proves that they have a high priest who, having encom¬ 
 passed himself once with infirmity, knows how to compas¬ 
 sionate their distress. - Hence the church in all her liturgies 
 prescribes prayers for the sick, in which her reliance on his 
 promises is expressed ; and did she not believe they are ‘ 
 Accepted, and cures wrought by their efficacy, her worship 
 would not be Religion, but mockery and insult. 
 
 “ Dr. Doyle, I am confident, awaits with the most perfect - 
 composure for the coming of those events, and seated in 
 the Church upon a rock, with Christ presiding and govern¬ 
 ing by't^jis Spirit, he does not fear apostacy, or that the 
 children will desert their father, or deny his name. x Their 
 forehead or hand, never he is certain, will be marked by any 
 other sign than that in which they glory, and for which with the 
 Apostle, they will never blush. They require no new teacher, 
 no other mediator than the one who has become a propitia¬ 
 tion for their sins, nor look for signs or prophecies except 
 from him who promised to be with them all days, even to the' 
 end; who conquered the world for his little flock, and caused* 
 them to increase and multiply until they filled the earth.— 
 Let those, who tossed about by every wind, as clouds deprived 
 of water, wandering through the air, or falling in mists' 
 which do not fertilize but blight, let them consider Antichrist 
 and watch his coming, for he too will deal in novelties, be •' 
 filled with lies, and quote like Lucifer the word of life ; his t 
 pride and power will be great, but he will arise from earth, 
 wiil have his origin in time, the day of his coming will be 
 marked as that of Arius or Luther, his reign whether long 
 
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 lit 
 
 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOVLE. 85 
 
 or short will end, but the Church will be taken up to God 
 with Christ, with whom the Saints will reign for ever! 
 
 “ But this writer speaks of ‘ the blessed effects of her doc¬ 
 trine, the purity and reasonableness, and the scriptural foun¬ 
 dation of her doctrines/ Silly man , with whom would she 
 contest these things , as you would havp it ? or who could 
 preside in judgment over her to whom all power is given by 
 him to whom the Father consigned all judgment? or could she 
 teach a lie , with whom Christ is present teaching all days 
 even to the end ? 
 
 “What then is Transubstantiation, but the presence of 
 Christ’s real Body in the Sacrament? And who, as Calvin 
 said, can believe in the one, and yet deny the other ? All 
 there is mysterious and incomprehensible, as the confession 
 of Augsburgh well expresses it. ; But is not Christianity all 
 mysterious? A God, Supreme and One, whose eternal 
 wisdom or whose word remaining in him, yet proceeds abroad 
 and founds the heavens ; whilst the connecting love of both, 
 abiding always with them, yet proceeds from them and 
 *ives to the creation all its ornament and virtue; as light 
 and heat from the sun proceeds with powers as wonderful as 
 the great source from whence they flow. And this Word 
 made flesh, this God made man, giving of his fullness to 
 jail who believe, is not this mysterious ? And the atone¬ 
 ment which he made for man, and the propitiation’of that 
 sin which Adam committed, is it not incomprehensible? 
 And yet we believe, because we know that God has told it ; 
 and if he walked on earth, and was seen by men, and lived 
 and died amongst us in that servile form which he took, and 
 promised to bestow upon those whose feet he washed, an 
 aarnest of his love,—a bond of union for his people,—a 
 source of grace for his elect,—a pledge of resurrection and 
 i)f future glory,—and shall we disbelieve him because he 
 said it was his body, not cut into particles, as the gross 
 Capharnaites thought, but veiled as bread and wine, to 
 aourish and exhilerate the soul ? 
 
 “ Can he who called the world out of nothing, or who 
 moved on the abyss, putting chaos into order, who slept in 
 Bethlehem, was numbered among the wicked, who bled be- 
 :ween two thieves, whilst all the hosts of heaven worshipped 
 » 
 
 i 
 
 t 
 
86 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 him above, can he not take his place within the breast of 
 man, and disseminate his virtues through the soul, as the 
 diamond sheds its lustre in obscurity ? 
 
 “ Surely he can, nor does he here deceive our sense, for 
 he has told us he would be with us, and as we believe that 
 1 God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself/ though 
 we could only see or touch the form of man in which he was; 1 
 so when he says, 1 this is my body/ we can believe the truth 
 of what he says, just as we could believe that he was hidden 
 on the Cross. For surely that Deity which could conceal 
 himself can also ravish from our eyes the glorious and im¬ 
 passible flesh, which in heaven or earth is always with him, , 
 and partaking, as far as it is capable, of his glory. This 
 flesh does not corrupt in us, or feel vicissitude or change, , 
 but when the veil which covered it is dissolved, it then de- 1 
 parts with that divinity and soul of Christ from which it 
 never was disjoined. Wonderful and incomprehensible, 
 it is true, yet only like the other mysteries of Christian faith 1 
 
 “ My opponent accuses me of inconsistency for speaking 
 at one time of the overgrown wealth of the clergy, and at 
 another representing them as needy, ‘ unfit to hold the place 
 of gentry.’ Does he wish I should state what cannot be 
 calculated because studiously concealed, to wit, the value 
 of the Irish Sees,—of the Glebes, some of which contain 
 several hundred acres,—of tithes of certain unions or plu¬ 
 ralities, in order to prove this the first assertion—or would he 
 oblige me to refer the public to Doctors’ Commons or 
 the Prerogative Court to number up the hundreds of thou¬ 
 sands, if they do not exceed a million, bequeathed by those i 
 Irish Prelates who died within the last few years; or again, 1 
 does he require that I should exhibit the indigent vicar, on 
 wretched curate, subsisting with his family on some seventy! 
 pounds a year ? 
 
 “ As to the notes which this writer affixes to the Churchy 
 of God, namely ‘ my sheep hear my voice/ and f our loving 
 one another/ they are marks as uncertain as the professions 
 of mankind are doubtful and insincere. If we ourselves 
 be credited, we all hear the voice of God, one from under' 
 a stone where he seeks the Deity,—another from the brawl¬ 
 ing, canting Methodist,—a third from the bible or the hymn- 
 
 aKM -v 
 
Life of or. doyle. 
 
 87 
 
 book,—a fourth from his own conscience,—a fifth from those 
 of whom it was said, * he who hears you hears me.’ And if 
 loving one another were a certain sign of the church, who 
 does not do so, if his own word be believed ? And who 
 does so if his works be made the criterion of his charity? 
 But not even works, though by them ‘we gave all our 
 substance to the poor, or delivered up our bodies so as 
 to be burned/ would prove, that we loved each other 
 in Christ for his sake. It is only ‘ the union of spirit in the 
 bond of peace/ which shews where true charity resides; 
 and certainly we Catholics are more of one mind, and have 
 in our head or centre of union a more powerful bond to 
 unite us, than any others who profess the name of Christ. 
 
 “ To sum up these observations ! 1. We are certain, as of 
 any similar historical fact, that St. Patrick was at Rome, and 
 received his mission from the lips of Pope Celestine. 2. 
 It concerns us not whether he received it from him or from 
 his delegate, St. Germanus. 3. That were he sent here 
 even without the knowledge of the Pope, his mission would 
 still be sanctioned by the tacit consent of the latter. 4. That 
 the Church of Ireland has never at any period been inde- 
 i pendent of the Holy See, however the intercourse l>etween 
 j it and Rome may have occasionally been interrupted : and 
 I lastly, this church is almost the only national church in 
 the universe that has never given birth to heresy or been torn 
 by schism, while it has produced a greater number of holy and 
 apostolic men than any other church equally numerous upon 
 the face of the earth ; Rome the mother and mistress of 
 all churches not included in any comparison. 
 
 “ While engaged in writing these sheets, J. K. L. has 
 heard of a composition for tithes having been made with the 
 parson of the parish adjoining his residence at the rate of 
 13 or £1400 a-year, and having examined a registry of re¬ 
 turns of the emoluments of the parish priest of the same 
 parish, in 1820, he found that they amounted to sixty-five 
 pounds! This is the only return of the kind from that 
 parish to which he has access. The writer also has been 
 i himself the Catholic Incumbent of a parish which has 
 lately offered to the parson £1200 a year in lieu of tithes, 
 and he declares, in the presence of the country, that to the 
 
88 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 best of his judgment and recollection, he never received 
 from that parish £200 in any shape within one year. The 
 curates of parish priests who reside within their principal, 
 receive one-tifth of the emoluments, and should they lodge 
 elsewhere, they are allowed one-third. 
 
 u With both our hands we protest against the impudent 
 assertion! The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the 
 entire body of the Catholic clergy has continued in Ireland 
 through every vicissitude uninterrupted and unbroken ; 
 they have been dispossessed of temporalities which tlie state 
 gave, and again took away ; but they are always the same. 
 Dr. Curtis has succeeded as regularly and canonically to 
 Dowdall and Plunkett, as those did to Patrick and Malachy. 
 There was no disruption of continuity, it is true, but it is 
 equally true, that no two Catholic prelates ever ruled the 
 same church, or ever sat in the same see with the same 
 title. The established clergy may have a good title or not , 
 but beyond all doubt they were never engrafted upon our stock, 
 never succeeded to our places , which were not vacated , never 
 inherited jurisdiction from our church , and have no just 
 claim to an identity with us, or continuity from our fathers, 
 who held no communion with them. 
 
 “ This character of the church does not belong to the 
 church of any nation, unless inasmuch as she is an integral 
 part of the church of ail nations, which alone is properly 
 called Catholic. 
 
 “ The Catholic Church of Ireland, or of England, or of 
 France, signifies only that portion of the Universal Church 
 which is found in these countries respectively, and should 
 they, or any one of them, or any portion of one of them, 
 separate itself from the Head, which is the centre of unity 
 and bond of connexion to the entire, it ceases from that 
 moment to belong to the Catholic Church! It is a branch 
 which has been broken or lopped off—a tower that has 
 fallen from the mighty edifice which Christ has constructed 
 on the earth.” 
 
LIFE OF DU. DOYLE. 
 
 89 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DR. doyle’s authentication and defence of miracles. 
 
 High heaven forbids the bold, presumptuous strain, 
 
 That Jesus promised those great works in vain f 
 
 It has been remarked by Ganganelli, that some men, call¬ 
 ing themselves Christians, in their anxiety to run from what 
 they call the 1 days of superstition/ fall into those of infi¬ 
 delity ; and that whilst men of past times adored a multitude 
 of gods, at present we have men who affect to acknowledge 
 no God at all! Thus, as the same Pope observes, “ Virtue, 
 vice, immortality, and even annihilation, appear to some 
 synonimous terms, provided a silly pamphlet serves them as 
 a rampart against heaven.” Nothing has perplexed Protest¬ 
 ants more than the continuation of miraculous powers in the 
 Catholic Church. On the one side, many of their most learn¬ 
 ed men have been forced to admit, that, as Christ expressly 
 promised that after his days miracles should be performed, 
 we cannot doubt the continuation of miracles, when God 
 
 I deems it proper to perform them through his ministers, for 
 his own wise purposes, without doubting the truth of Jesus 
 Christ himself. But on the other side, Protestants not be¬ 
 ing able to show, as Erasmus humorously said, that “ they 
 could even cure a lame horse,” much less, that they ever 
 did, or could effect, a real miraculous cure ; the conclusion, 
 however severe, is demonstrative that they cannot be the dis¬ 
 ciples of Christ, who were to perform miracles like himself, 
 in his name. Hence, we find, that Protestants have been 
 divided into two parties, one class contending with Camp- 
 hell, and others, that miracles were not only performed 
 oy Christ and his apostles, but by the successors of the apos¬ 
 tles in subsequent ages of the Christian Church; another 
 ftass contending with Conyer Middleton, that as nothing 
 3ut Popery prevailed immediately after the apostles, if 
 ve but allow one age of miracles, we must be constrained 
 o receive all the doctrines of Popery; as the Mass, Pur- 
 
90 
 
 LIFE OF DIt- DOYLE. 
 
 gatory, Supremacy, &c. in attestation of which those mira- 1 
 cles were performed. ( 
 
 Thus, when in 1820, 21, 22, and 23, it pleased Providence, * 
 to perform a number of miracles through the instrumentality a 
 of the Rev. Alexander Hohenlohe, in that very country where c 
 profligate Luther apostatized, and usually through the tre- ^ 
 mendous sacrifice of the Mass, so impiously assailed by his f 
 disciples; the Protestants rejecting all evidence or reason, & 
 which they so pertinaciously contend for in mysteries, that £ 
 of their own nature are above the province of both, would not 
 believe their own senses, nor the senses of thousands; or t 
 rather, when they could not reject their evidence, instead of i 
 believing, like the incredulous Jews, they cried out: “ this is ' [ 
 done by the power of Belzeebub.” When Doctor Doyle, i 
 therefore, attested the miraculous cure of Miss Lalor, of ( 
 Maryborough, and that Doctor Murray authenticated the { ' 
 miraculous cure of Mrs. Stuart, on the 1st of August, 1823, »s 
 in Ranelagh Convent, they were both wantonly assailed, | t 
 not by facts, nor evidence, nor argument, but by pure ma- I 
 lice, direct falsehood, and outrageous bigotry! li 
 
 A 
 
 Letter from the Rev. Dr. Coombes to that Prelate, on 
 the authenticity of the said Documents, with his Lord - 
 ship's Answer and Attestation thereto. 
 
 G 
 
 0 
 
 u Shepton Mallet, July 14, 1833. 
 
 “ My Lord —It was not without the deepest sense of gra- 
 v titude to the Divine bounty, that I lately read the Pastoral 
 Letter of your Lordship to your flock, together with the ac -1 j 
 companying documents, in which the miraculous cure of Miss j jt 
 Maria Lalor, is fully detailed. It canuot be a matter of doubt, tl 
 that such an event is calculated to produce those desirable 
 and important consequences, which are there displayed with 
 that force of piety and eloquence, which marks your Lord¬ 
 ship’s compositions. To realize the same effects in my own 
 little flock, I wish to reprint the < whole of the documents 
 in a small pamphlet, and to circulate it for the edification of it 
 the reader. But as in the estimation of many persons, who * 
 for obvious reasons dread the performance of any miraculous i 
 operation, the appearance of these documents in a newspaper, 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 91 
 
 might seem to detract from their authenticity, I must request 
 of your Lordship to send me a declaration under your hand 
 and seal, stating that the Pastoral Letter bearing your name, 
 and dated June 22, 1823, and the accompanying documents 
 contained in five numbers, printed in the Dublin Weekly 
 Register, Saturday, June 28, 1823, are authentic in all their 
 parts. Your Lordship will oblige me much by executing 
 such an act as will give a form of authenticity to papers, which 
 many would gladly represent as deserving little credit. 
 
 “As the paper in my possession has been so much used, as 
 to render some words in the first paragraph of the Pastoral 
 illegible, can I ask your Lordship to have the goodness to 
 give me the whole of the sentence in the first paragraph, 
 which begins with these words: ‘ Our gracious God, who 
 causeth death/ &c., and goes to the sentence beginning with 
 ‘But we hasten, dearly beloved/ &c. &c.—1 am really 
 sorry to give your Lordship so much trouble amidst the ac¬ 
 cumulated labours of your station; but I feel convinced that 
 I shall stand excused, in consequence of the motives which 
 have given birth to the request. I remain, with sentiments 
 of high respect and consideration, my Lord, your Lordship’s 
 i obedient servant, 
 
 “W. H. COOMBES. 
 
 1 “ To the Right Rev. Dr. Doyle , 
 
 Old Derrig , Carlow /* 
 
 [As the Bishop’s Letter consists principally of an enume¬ 
 ration of the typographical errors referred to in the attestation, 
 it has been thought unnecessary to publish any more of it 
 ; than a short extract.] 
 
 Extract of the answer to the preceding Letter , with the 
 requested Attestation. 
 
 “ Old Derrig , Carlow , July 20, 1823. 
 a Rev. Sir, — I feel great pleasure in complying with the 
 j request expressed in your letter of the 14th of the month, by 
 ! sending you on the following page the certificate you de- 
 \ sire.—I remain, your obedient humble servant in Christ, 
 
 “J. Doyle/* 
 
92 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 ATTESTATION. 
 
 “ We hereby testify that the Pastoral Address signed with 
 our name, as well as the accompanying Documents, marked 
 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and published in the Dublin Evening Post 
 on the 26th of June, and in the Dublin Weekly Register 
 of the 28th of the same month, in the present year, were 
 and are genuine and authentic, excepting some typographi¬ 
 cal and clerical errors, which do not alter the sense. 
 
 “ Given under our hand and seal, at Old Derrrig, Carlow* 
 this 20th day of July, in the year of our Lord, one thou¬ 
 sand eight hundred and twenty-three. 
 
 , “James Doyle, 
 
 [L.S.] “ R. C. Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin.” 
 
 “ To our well-beloved the Catholic Clergy and People of 
 
 the United Diocess of Kildare and Leiglin , health and 
 
 Benediction. 
 
 “We announce to you, dearest brethren, with great joy, a 
 splendid miracle, which the Almighty God hath wrought 
 even in our own days, and at the present time, and in the 
 midst of ourselves. We anounce it to you with a heart filled 
 with gratitude to heaven, that you may unite with us in 
 thanksgivings to the ‘ Father of mercies, and God of all 
 consolation, who consoles us in every tribulation,’ and who 
 has even consoled us by restoring miraculously, Miss Maria 
 Lalor, to the perfect use of speech, of which, for six years 
 and five months, she had been totally deprived! Our gracious 
 God, * who causeth death and giveth life, who leadeth to 
 hell, and bringeth back therefrom,’ has been graciously 
 pleased to have regard to the prayers and the faith of his 
 servants, and looking to the sacrifice of our altars, and to 
 the merits of the blood which speaketh from them, better 
 than the blood of Abel, to loose by his own presence and 
 his own power, a tongue whose functions had been so long 
 suspended. But we hasten, dearly beloved, to impart to you 
 as it is the duty and privilege of our office to do, (Trid. sess. 
 25. deer. 2.) the particulars of this prodigious cure. 
 
 “ When, in last February, we had been engaged, according 
 to the custom derived from our fathers, in preaching a part 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 93 
 
 ; of the lent at Mountrath, we were waited on by Mr. James 
 Lalor, of Rosshelton, who stated to us that his daughter, 
 then about eighteen years of age, had, for the last six years 
 been deprived of the use of speech, in consequence of a se- 
 j vere and protracted illness, which at that period had affected 
 her; that he had had recourse in vain to every medical and 
 surgical aid within his reach, and had now no hopes of her 
 cure, unless from the mercy and goodness of God. That 
 having heard of the miracles lately wrought through the 
 prayers and intercession of the Prince De Hohenlohe* he ex¬ 
 pected, that if his Highness could be engaged to implore heaven 
 on behalf of his child, she might be restored to the use of 
 i speech; that, assured of our disposition to serve him, he ap¬ 
 plied to us, entreating we would state the matter to the prince, 
 and request the intercession of his Highness. Mr. Lalor was 
 accompanied by the clergyman who usually attended his fa¬ 
 mily, and who added some particulars noticed in our letter 
 marked in the appendix No. 1, and which, in compliance 
 with Mr. Lalor’s wish, we wrote in a few days after to the 
 Prince. ‘ 
 
 u On the first day of the present month, we received the let¬ 
 ters from Bamberg, marked Nos. 2 and 3, and immediately 
 wrote No. 4, to the very Rev. N. O’Connor, Rector of the 
 parish of Maryborough, our Rural Dean in that district, and 
 m whose vicinity Mr. Lalor resides. The letter of this Rev. 
 clergyman, marked No. 5, gives a detailed account of the 
 miracle as it occurred, and exhibits a prodigy, only differ¬ 
 ent in kind, but not inferior in magnitude to the raising of the 
 dead to life, He who at the gate of Naim, put his hand to the 
 bier, raised the widow’s son to life, and gave him to his mo¬ 
 ther, here spoke to the heart of a faithful servant, loosed the 
 tongue which infirmity had paralysed, and restored a happy 
 daughter to the embraces of her parents. We ourselves have 
 participated in their joy, on conversing, as we have lately 
 done, with this favoured child of heaven. 
 
 “ Exult, then, dearly beloved brethren, and rejoice that the 
 Almighty God has thus visited you his people, re-animating 
 your faith, enlivening your hope, and exalting your charity, 
 consoling your sorrows, relieving your distress, and healing 
 your infirmities, preparing in your sight a table against all 
 
94 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYT.E. 
 
 who afflict you, and urging you, by these manifestations of I 
 his power and goodness, to rely upon his providence^ 
 
 ‘ whereas he has care of you/ 
 
 “ Signs and wonders are not necessary at all times, nor in i 
 all places; yet they have never ceased in the Church of f 
 God, because he is always in the midst of his people, and t 
 must fulfill his promise to them, ‘ that whatever they ask 
 the Father in his name will be done for thembut in our f 
 times it is meet that signs and wonders should, in some de- • 
 gree, revive, because error hath pervaded the earth, and the i 
 very foundations of the faith have been assailed. Hence, it! 
 is just that the Lord should arise, to judge, as it were, his i 
 own cause. Therefore it is that ourselves have beheld him: i 
 * ruling with a strong hand, and an outstretched arm, and ! 
 with anger poured outon one day chaining a persecutor r 
 to a rock, on another dissolving the league of Infidels, or by r 
 prodigies compelling his very enemies to exclaim 1 surely 
 the finger of God is here/ 
 
 “At this time, and in this place, it is worthy of his provi- . 
 dence that the light of his countenance should he shed upon j 
 his faithful people. We have long experienced the truth off 
 his prediction to those who were to walk in his footsteps 
 and carry after them their cross, namely, ‘ that the world 
 would rejoice, but that they would be sadand the present 
 period has added sorrow to our sorrow, and pressure to our 
 distress. Our religion is traduced—our rights are withheld 
 —our good name is maligned—our best actions are misre¬ 
 presented—crimes are imputed to us, against which our very 
 nature revolts, our friends are silenced, and our enemies in¬ 
 sult us, and glory in our humiliation. It is meet, therefore, 
 and just, that he for whose name and faith we suffer, should 
 cast upon us a look of compassion, lest we faint in the way, or 
 be overcome by temptation—that he should comfort his peo¬ 
 ple, and renew to them, by visible signs, an assurance that he 
 watches over them—that a hair of their heads will not perish, 
 and that possessing their souls in patience, they may expect 
 his return * to wipe away every tear from their cheek, and fill 
 them with that joy which no one can take away from them/ 
 
 “To these and such like sentiments we desire, dearest, 
 brethren in Christ, that you turn your attention, and having 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 95 
 
 your hearts elated to this late event, that you renew your con¬ 
 fidence in the Lord, so that,‘ denying impiety and worldly 
 desires, you may live soberly, piously, and justly in this 
 world, expecting the blessed hope, and the coming of the 
 glory of the great God, the Saviour Jesus Christ, who will 
 reform the body of our humility, making it like in figure to 
 the body of his own brightness/ 
 
 “ Above all, we beseech you that you do not belie your 
 pure faith by your evil deeds, nor glory in your name and 
 your profession, to the prejudice of those who are not gifted 
 like yourselves. If miracles belong to you, because you are 
 of the ‘ household of the Faith/ do not assume any pre¬ 
 eminence over those less fortunate of your brethren, who 
 have left their father’s house, and gone into a strange country 
 to dissipate his goods. Our God, the Father of all, only 
 sighs for their return, that he may meet them at their ap¬ 
 proach, clothe them from his wardrobe, and feast them at his 
 table. You are his own children, and all his goods are yours, 
 ‘ if by good works you make your calling surebut you 
 should pray unceasingly, that he who had died, should be 
 restored to life.’ 
 
 “ In times when the minds of men are deeply anxious, 
 and strongly agitated, they cannot divest themselves of 
 friendship and hatred, of fear and love; and when these pas¬ 
 sions prevail, they impart their own colours to the subjects 
 of deliberation, and sway the subject of the most enlightened 
 men: we ourselves have our fears which are groundless, 
 and our antipathies which are ill-founded ; we are often a 
 prey to false alarms, and impute to others thoughts which 
 perhaps they never once conceived—yet, we overlook our 
 own mistakes—we pardon our own errors, and why not, 
 dearest brethren, mete to others as we would measure to 
 ourselves? Is it not a rule of equity to do so? Is it not the 
 law of the Gospel? Time will restore the dominion of 
 truth—facts will disprove the strongest and foulest imputa¬ 
 tions—patience will soften down the anger of our opponents 
 —and charity will sweeten even the bitterness of their gall. 
 They will yet blush at the injuries they have done us, and 
 inding no justification for themselves in your reproaches, 
 hey may yet relent, nay, they may forgive, and be num- 
 
96 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 bered amongst your friends; but the storm of passion must be 
 first allayed. Who has ever been converted till he ceased 
 to hate ? Who has ever repaired an injury whilst he was 
 upbraided with injustice? Recall to your minds, dearest 
 brethren, the situation of those whose proceedings you com¬ 
 plain of, and see whether that ‘charity which thinketh not 
 evil,’ may not excuse their errors, and palliate their faults ! 
 Have they not imbibed with their mother’s milk prejudices, 
 which nothing but education, of which many of them are 
 destitute, and a free intercourse of Catholics could remove ? 
 The nurse told them you were a nation of Idolators, their 
 pastors pointed you out to them as followers of Anti-Christ, 
 their books of instruction represented you as the enemies of 
 God, the laws proclaimed to them that you were disaffected, 
 and the courts of justice not unfrequently announced it in 
 judgment. When the law and the prophets were thus per¬ 
 verted to condemn you, when, from the pulpit as in the 
 nursery you were denounced as heathens and publicans; 
 when the titles of property, the pride of conquest and of 
 ancestry, the laws of the empire, the maxims of the wise, 
 and the conduct of those placed in authority, proclaimed 
 you as impious or disaffected, how could you be estimated 
 as ordinary men ? How could you be considered as religious 
 Christians and faithful subjects ? 
 
 “ But you will ask me, are we then to suffer in silence and 
 not vindicate our good name ? Far from it, brethren—you 
 should uphold, by every lawful means, your own character, 
 and promote your own interests. These interests are the 
 interests of truth and justice, Rnd they must advance. The 
 ways of their progress are obvious, and nothing can retard 
 them but your own imprudence. 
 
 “ You have increased in property, in numbers, and in 
 strength; these give you a moral weight which carries you 
 forward with an accelerated motion. Education has ar¬ 
 rived to a state of excellence amongst those of you who are. 
 blessed with the means of obtaining it, and is united with a 
 pure and sound morality. These will illuminate, and enli¬ 
 ven, and direct the movements of our body, that we may 
 act in concert, dissipate prejudice, make our merits manifest, 
 and attach to our cause the virtuous and intelligent of every 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 97 
 
 creed and class. The progress of our religion, which is 
 such as to excite even our own surprise, will of itself make 
 known our principles and refute every calumny—the piety 
 and zeal of your priesthood, the appearance of your places 
 of worship, the multitudes who frequent them, their pious 
 demeanour, their strict integrity, their faithful attachment 
 to the ever uniform creed of the saints—these of themselves 
 will have, as they daily have, an insensible but powerful 
 effect; but when aided by the exertions of your friends, and 
 the violence of your enemies, r -—joined to your own willing 
 obedience to the law, were a Balaam to be found, they would 
 compel him to exclaim : ‘ How lovely are thy tabernacles, 
 O Jacob, and thy tents, O Israel !’ These are the lawful 
 and efficient means of mitigating the evils you now endure, 
 and a few of the grounds of your future hope. These will 
 plead for you in a language which will speak to the 
 understanding of the wise, to the interests of legislators, 
 and to the hearts of men. Supported on these pillars, let 
 your cause rest;—do not, dearest brethren, justify intole¬ 
 rance by your own imprudence ; do not verify the imputa¬ 
 tions of calumny by deviating from your usual course ; do 
 not paralyse your own energies by dissensions, and enable 
 your opponents to rivet your chains anew. A momentary 
 cloud has overcast the legislature; a bad spirit has breathed 
 on their councils. Some of those who lead in the senate 
 have adopted a false maxim, others have unwisely exalted 
 an unholy league over the King’s subjects, and placed it 
 perhaps too near the throne. These men will regret having 
 cast away principle, or acted on a bad one, and the collec¬ 
 tive wisdom of the nation will yet peuetrate this cloud which 
 overhangs it, and by a new effort of its power and its justice, 
 secure the throne, and fill with gladness the hearts of the 
 people/' 
 
98 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A, 
 
 DR. DOYLE’s DEFENCE OF THE CATHOLIC CLERGY. 
 
 “ He, full of fraudful arts. 
 
 This well invented tale for truth imparts.”—V irgil. 
 
 When we look back to the period when the Catholics of 
 Ireland were seeking to obtain the restoration of those rights 
 which belonged to them as men and as Christians, we find 
 many who were called their “ most particular friends,” the 
 most insidious enemies of their religion. 
 
 Thus Canning, and Plunket, and Huskisson, whilst 
 they advocated the Catholic claims, always made a reserved 
 point—that the veto, the pensioning project, or the predo¬ 
 minance of the church established by law, should be secured. 
 In this class the late Counsellor North took a conspicuous 
 part; he was the last supporter of the Bible Societies and 
 fanatical intolerants, who, not satisfied with following the 
 dictates of what he called his conscience, endeavoured to 
 force the consciences of Catholics; and whilst he called him¬ 
 self their advocate, both in and out of parliament, he tra¬ 
 duced the character, and misrepresented the principles of 
 the Catholic priesthood. 
 
 To gratify the biblical intolerants, in March, 1824, this 
 orator stated in parliament, “ that until the establishment of 
 the Kildare-place Society in 1812, the Catholics of Ireland 
 were involved in thick and palpable darkness, and that im¬ 
 moral and seditious books were generally used in the Ca¬ 
 tholic schools, with the tacit santion or connivance of the 
 Catholic priesthood.” 
 
 The Catholic Association, then a most influential body, 
 respectfully called upon the bishops of every diocese, and 
 the clergy of every parish, to refute this slander. State¬ 
 ments, evidence, and facts, in the form of letters, were for¬ 
 warded from all parts of the country on the subject, which 
 
LIFE OF I)li. DOYLE. 
 
 99 
 
 subsequently led to those education reports and evidence 
 submitted to parliament, which fill so many volumes. As ' 
 one of the very first who took part in this work, Dr. Doyle 
 on the 8th April, 1824, forwarded a letter from Carlow, 
 from which the following is an extract:— 
 
 “ To the Secretary of the Catholic Association in Dublin , 
 
 on a recent mis-statement relative to the state of Catho¬ 
 lic Education in Ireland. 
 
 u Sir,—I feel greatly indebted to the Catholic Association, 
 for the notice they have taken of the mis-statements reported 
 to have been made to the House of Commons by Mr. North, 
 relative to the state of education in this country—mis-state¬ 
 ments which are, no doubt, unjustly attributed to the learned 
 gentleman. 
 
 “It was incorrect to state of those parts of the country 
 with which I am acquainted, ‘ that until the establishment 
 of the Kildare-place Society, in 1812, they were involved 
 in thick and palpable darkness.’ I have had, for some years 
 past, constant and close intercourse with persons of every 
 rank and condition throughout the Counties of Wexford, 
 Carlow, Queen’s County, and County Kildare, and I do 
 affirm, of my own knowledge, that a vast majority of the in¬ 
 habitants of these counties, under forty years of age, can, at 
 least, read, and are as well instructed in their moral and 
 religious duties as the inhabitants of any equal portion of 
 the British dominions; also, that they are not indebted to 
 the Kildare-place Society for these advantages, or for almost 
 any portion of them. 
 
 “ Old persons in the above-mentioned counties are ge¬ 
 nerally, but not universally illiterate; they have not been 
 instructed in books, but their moral culture has not been 
 neglected. The generation of men which is now passing 
 away, were gifted with principles of religious, moral, and 
 social integrity, as marked, as strong, as ever distinguished 
 a people. They had scarcely been liberated from the prison 
 in which they had been confined by the penal laws, when 
 their native virtue, as well as their national character, ap¬ 
 peared. 
 
100 
 
 LIFf, OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 “ I am enabled moreover, to state, from personal obser¬ 
 vation, and from official communications made by those 
 persons who are intimately concerned with the education of 
 youth, that a strict superintendance is exercised b) the 
 Catholic Clergy over schools in the above mentioned coun¬ 
 ties, and has been from the period when Catholics were first 
 permitted by law to instruct each other. 
 
 ** But, before this order of men are charged with neglect¬ 
 ing the education of the people, it should be considered 
 how few in number they have been, when compared with 
 the population ; how multifarious their duties are, as ar¬ 
 biters in disputes, keepers of the peace, as well as min¬ 
 isters of a religion which requires that they should be as 
 attentive to the wants of each individual committed to them, 
 as if such individual were the sole object of their care. 
 
 “ Only ‘a few yesterdays’ have passed since the Catholic 
 clergy were tolerated in the exercise of their ministry. The 
 aged people, with whose ignorance they are reproached, 
 were the sentinels and outposts of the station where they, in 
 some glen or desert, used to celebrate the divine mysteries. 
 To this day, the old people relate the instances of persecu¬ 
 tion which occurred in their own time—not the traditions 
 of their fathers, but what they themselves had seen and felt. 
 Yet even then, the clergy endeavoured to guard the embers 
 of knowledge which the law sought to extinguish. In the 
 glen or the cavern where they sojourned, they taught the 
 rudiments of learning. The Catholic bishop of this diooese, 
 in a shed built of mud, and covered with rushes, on the verge 
 of the Bog of Allen; in this shed, the refuge of a man not 
 inferior in mind or virtue to Fenelon, he instructed youth 
 with his own tongue, and shared with them the crust which 
 he had first watered with the tears of his affliction. 
 
 u When the Catholic clergy were permitted to live secure 
 at home, they opened schools many of them in their own 
 houses; and as soon as their places of worship had any 
 other roof than the arch of heaven, they were used as school 
 houses for the instruction of youth. This calumniated or¬ 
 der of men have proceeded steadily and perseveringly in the 
 discharge of their duty, and, without succour or support, 
 have succeeded, in this part of the country, in removing ‘ the 
 
LIFE OF Dlt. DOYLE. 101 
 
 ' / 
 
 thick and palpable darkness’ created by a flagitious code of 
 law. 
 
 “ Evils, to which no prudent man would refer when dis¬ 
 cussing the state of education in Ireland, are to be imputed, 
 it seems, not to the causes which produced them, but to the 
 apathy or neglect of the Catholic clergy; yet, when the 
 trumpet shall sound, these men will arise, and come to 
 judgment, free of the guilt with which they are charged. 
 
 “ The statement set forth in the reported speech of Mr. 
 North, would also imply, that immoral and seditious books 
 were generally used in schools by Catholic children, until 
 they were replaced by the tracts published since 1812, by 
 the Kildare-place Society, and that they were read in them 
 with the tacit sanction or connivance of the Catholic priest¬ 
 hood. 
 
 “ I believe Mr. North is totally incapable of conceiving or 
 uttering so gross and unfounded a calumny. Such books 
 as have been mentioned, might have been introduced into 
 some of the hedge schools in Ireland, where no priest could 
 be found, except one moving in the solitude of the night, or 
 the silence of the glen, in those eventful times, when the 
 population of Ireland was without form, and void, and no 
 spirit of order moving on its troubled surface ; when revo¬ 
 lution after revolution, war after war, confiscations, robberies 
 and reprisals were the ordinary events of each succeeding 
 year; when courts of equity were dens of thieves, and the 
 laws of the country armed the father against the son, and 
 the son against the father; when there was a church without 
 a religion, and some remnant of religion without a church; 
 when a banditti, such as now infest the Sierra Morena in 
 Spain, shared in the general plunder, and drowned the re¬ 
 collection of the sufferings they endured and inflicted in riot 
 and licentiousness; then, and after then, many books and 
 ; rhymes, embodying the popular tales, and suited to the de- 
 1 ranged taste of a distracted people, were composed and cir- 
 1 culated, and introduced too often into schools; but they 
 ' were few in number; and to impute, in a direct or covert 
 manner, their introduction or circulation to the neglect or 
 
102 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 connivance of the Catholic clergy, is as foul a calumny as 
 ever has been uttered. 
 
 “ To this clergy the removal of these books, and the total 
 suppression of them, are entirely owing, and that before the 
 Kildare-place Society had any existence, and where no book 
 or tract published by it has ever reached. 
 
 “ The lessons compiled by the Right Rev. Dr. England, 
 late of Cork, those of Miss Leadbeater, of Ballytore, with a 
 vast variety of moral and historical tracts, which are daily 
 issuing from the Catholic Press in this country; these and 
 such as these alone, are in general use throughout the se¬ 
 veral counties I have before mentioned. 
 
 “ The following summary will, I hope, suffice to give to 
 the Catholic Association the information they desire to have 
 for the purpose of correcting the mis-statements imputed to 
 Mr. North. 
 
 “ There were, in the last year, 246 schools in the diocese 
 of Kildare and Leighlin, frequented almost exclusively by 
 Catholics, and supported, generally, by the contributions of 
 the parents of the children. There are thirty seven which 
 may be denominated ‘ free schools,’ and in which the teach¬ 
 ers are paid chiefly by donations or annual subscriptions, 
 collected by the clergy, or by committees composed of lay¬ 
 men and clergymen. The clergy, in some instances, are 
 burthened almost exclusively with the support of these 
 schools, besides, that in the others not denominated ‘ free’ 
 they pay privately for the children of the most indigent of 
 their parishioners, thus sparing families the pain of exposing 
 their distress, or leaving their little ones destitute of in¬ 
 struction. 
 
 “ There are two schools only known to me in this diocese, 
 frequented by a few Catholic children under circumstances 
 somewhat different from those stated above. In one of these 
 the governors passed a resolution, (a copy of which they 
 directed to be furnished to me,) ordering, ‘ that the Catholic 
 children be dismissed previous to the reading of the Sacred' 
 Scriptures/ In the other, the priest, as instructed by me, 
 withheld his sanction from the school until a Catholic as-" 
 sistant was appointed to the master. 
 
LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 103 
 
 “ Should the information here furnished be deemed in¬ 
 sufficient for the purpose intended by the Association, I shall 
 freely enter into a more minute detail, as I can, without 
 much difficulty or delay, ascertain with the utmost accuracy 
 whatever regards the education of Catholics within this dio¬ 
 cese.” 
 
 “ I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 “ Your faithful, humble servant, 
 
 “ J. Doyle. 
 
 “Old Derrig, Carlow , April 8th, 1824.” 
 
104 
 
 LIFE OF DU. DOYLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 DR. DOYLE’S LETTERS ON THE UNION OF CHURCHES 
 
 “ And the Lord added to the Church daily, 
 
 Such as should be saved.”— Acts ii. 47. 
 
 That those who have separated from the Catholic 
 Church should be united to the “ one sheepfold and the 
 one shepherd/’ established and appointed by Jesus Christ, 
 has ever been, and must continue to be, the wish of every 
 lover of peace, and every one anxious for the salvation 
 of man. 
 
 No individual sacrifice is too great to effect such an im¬ 
 portant purpose as this. He cannot be a true disciple of 
 Christ, who would not readily lay down his life if neces¬ 
 sary to insure the return of the lost sheep, or to save those 
 souls for whose salvation Jesus died. 
 
 But there are two modes of proposing a union of 
 churches: the one is, that the erring part should return to 
 the pillar and ground of truth ; or that those who ran away 
 from the fountain of divine knowledge, in order to drink 
 from muddy cisterns or broken vessels which can hold no 
 water, would return back and drink at that fountain which 
 proceeds from God. The other is, that truth should enter 
 into a compromise with falsehood, and that the invariable 
 doctrines of Jesus Christ, should be changed or superseded 
 so as to gratify the supporters of novelty and error. 
 
 It is evident to all who believe that Jesus Christ esta¬ 
 blished a true church, which is directed by the Holy Ghost 
 to teach all truth for ever, and “ against which hell's gates 
 cannot prevail,” that she cannot, without ceasing to be that 
 , true church, alter a single iota of the faith which she re¬ 
 ceived from Jesus Christ. 
 
 Matters of local discipline may be changed, unessential 
 ceremonies may be added to, or be dispensed with, school 
 opinions may be admitted or received, but the doctrines of 
 faith which have been declared, defined, and delivered by 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 105 
 
 the Catholic Church, cannot be added to, nor subtracted 
 from, can never be changed nor superseded without heresy 
 or schism. So far from it being charity to attempt here a 
 variation, it is an impiety, it is an attack upon the author 
 and finisher of the faith, who has declared that although 
 “ heaven and earth should pass away, one iota of his law 
 cannot pass away.” 
 
 Whoever then proposes an union of the Protestant with 
 the Catholic Church, must contend for the branch to be 
 united to the tree from which it separated, that the limb 
 should be joined to the body from whence it was broken, 
 that the prodigal son should return to his offended father, 
 and that the unfortunate daughter who (as the prophet says,) 
 “ was taken up with many lovers,” should come home with 
 corresponding dispositions to her afflicted parent .and com¬ 
 passionate mother! 
 
 It was in this way that a Bernard sought to re-unite the 
 Albigenses; that a Xavier desired to unite the Indians; that 
 an Ignatius endeavoured to unite the Lutherans; that a Dei 
 Sales attempted to unite the Calvinists; and that a Fenelon 
 exerted his best powers to unite the Hugonots of France. 
 
 Some Protestants have proceeded so far as to wish that 
 themselves and their separating brethren should return to 
 the bosom of Catholicity. The author of an “ Essay for 
 Catholic Communion,” after proceeding at great length, to’ 
 [ show that there are reason and evidence for every doctrine 
 taught by the Catholic Church, and that school opinions on 
 other matters had nothing to do with the reception of those 
 doctrines, confirmed his statements by uniting himself to 
 the Catholic religion. 
 
 When the Princess Walfenbuttle was about to be mar¬ 
 ried to Charles III. of Spain, she applied to the university 
 of Helmstadt, and the Protestant professors of that uni¬ 
 versity, by an article dated April 28th, 1707, declared 
 that the Princess could conscientiously become a Catholic, 
 and receive and publicly profess the doctrines of that 
 church .—( See this at the end of Brunswick's Fifty Reasons.) 
 
 Nearer to our days, Baron de Starclc, a German Protes¬ 
 tant minister, and first preacher to the Court of Hesse 
 Darmstadt, seeing with Mr. Ross the frightful divisions 
 
106 
 
 LIFE OF Dlt. DOYLE. 
 
 and horrid impieties which Protestantism has created in his 
 once Catholic country, has written a most celebrated work 
 “ On the Re-union of the different Christian Communions," 
 and at the very same time another Protestant at Rome, was 
 publishing a similar work to show, that until the Protes¬ 
 tant Churches return from their errors to the bosom of Ca¬ 
 tholicity, there is neither peace nor rest for them. It was 
 this view of the subject, which lately induced De Haller, 
 one of the most learned men in Germany, at the sacrifice of 
 every tiling earthly, to profess himself a Catholic, and pro¬ 
 claim these motives for his conversion to the world. 
 
 Inspired by a spirit of union such as this, when Mr. 
 Robertson in May, 1824, on a motion of Mr. Hume, rela¬ 
 tive to the church establishment, declared that he was anx¬ 
 ious to see the Protestant and Catholic Churches united, Dr. 
 Doyle without much delay on the 13th of that month, ad¬ 
 dressed to him a letter on the subject headed “ Conciliation 
 of Ireland." This letter created a great sensation throughout 
 the British empire. 
 
 We here give that part which more immediately discusses 
 the subject. 
 
 “ One of the principal Secretaries of State has said in his 
 
 f lace in Parliament, that every means of tranquillizing 
 reland had been tried, Catholic Emancipation alone ex¬ 
 cepted, and to that measure he was not then prepared to 
 yield his assent. The head of the government in the upper 
 house has deliberately declared, that in his opinion, the 
 admission of the Roman Catholics to the privileges of the 
 constitution, would only aggravate the evils of the country. 
 These personages are manifestly at a loss how to conduct the 
 interests of Ireland. They must be aware that the whole 
 body of the Catholics are impatient, that their pride and 
 interests are wounded, that disaffection must be working 
 within them, if they be men born and nurtured in a free 
 state, and yet enslaved. These ministers of the crown 
 must know, that the mind of a nation fettered and exas¬ 
 perated, will struggle and bound, and when a chasm is 
 opened will escape by it in a toireut like lava from the 
 crater of a volcano. 
 
 “ They must see the rising greatness of France, and of the 
 
LIFE OF DU. DOYLF,. 
 
 107 
 
 United States; the growing empires in South America ; the 
 character of those wars which are approaching, as well as 
 the dispositions of six millions cf the king’s subjects; and 
 they must have their misgivings as to weather they will be 
 able to weather the coming storm. They are themselves 
 preparing fuel for the flame in Ireland ; they are educating 
 the people without providing for their distress, and thus 
 putting the sharpest weapons into the hands of men, who, 
 as they learn to read, will also learn to calculate their 
 strength, and to devise and meditate on schemes of re¬ 
 taliation and revenge. They will not pacify the country, 
 or induce the absentees to return, or the resident gentry to 
 abide here in peace; by and bye there will be no link of 
 connection between the government and a zealous, if not 
 disaffected people. The ministers of the establishment, as 
 it exists at present, are, and will be detested, by those who 
 differ from them in religion ; and the more their residence 
 is enforced, and their number multiplied, the more odious 
 they will become. This may seem a paradox in England, 
 but whosoever is acquainted with the oppression arising from 
 tithes and church rates, and with the excessive religious zeal 
 which has always characterized the Irish, will freely assent 
 to this truth, however strange it may appear; I doubt as 
 little of it, as of any other thing I have stated. 
 
 u The minister of England cannot look to the exertions 
 of the Catholic priesthood; they have been ill-treated, and 
 they may yield for a moment to the influence of nature, 
 though it be opposed to grace.—This clergy, with few ex¬ 
 ceptions, are from the ranks of the people; they inherit their 
 feelings; they are not, as formerly, brought up under des¬ 
 potic governments, and they have imbibed the doctrines of 
 Locke and Paley, more deeply than those of Bellarmin, or 
 even of Bossuet on the divine right of kings; they know 
 much more of the principles of the constitution than they 
 do of passive obedience. If a rebellion were raging from 
 Carrickfergus to Cape Clear, no sentence of excommuni¬ 
 cation would ever be fulminated by a Catholic prelate, or if 
 fulminated, would fall, as Grattan once said of British su¬ 
 premacy, like a spent thunder-bolt, ‘ some gazed at it, the 
 people were foundv to touch it/” . 
 
108 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 
 . “ The Catholics possessed of property in Ireland either 
 cannot or will not render any efficient services to the go¬ 
 vernment, should eventful times arrive. The number of 
 the ancient proprietors of land amongst the Catholics has j 
 pf late years rather diminished than increased, and those 
 \yho remain of them have at present less influence than at 
 any former period of our history. The system of clanship 
 is entirely dissolved in Ireland ; the Catholic aristocracy, as 
 they are called, since the penal laws were relaxed, have gra¬ 
 dually withdrawn themselves from the people; they have 
 shown on some occasions an overweening anxiety for eman- • 
 cipation, at the expense of what the priesthood and the ; 
 other classes deemed the interests, if not the principles of i 
 their religion ; hence they are looked on with suspicion, and 1 
 can no longer wield the public mind. The men who have ; 
 purchased properties in land, who have lent their money, , 
 acquired by industry, on mortages,—those who are engaged 1 
 in commerce, or in the liberal professions, are, with a few 
 exceptions, on the side of the people. These are men of f 
 literature or of trade, and, therefore, if history and expe¬ 
 rience can be credited, they are bold, ambitious, fond of f 
 justice and of freedom : from such men the government, 
 should it persist in its present course, has only to expect 
 defiance or open hostility. 
 
 “ Such is the view which this country must present to the 
 eye of a British statesman, and when he turns from it and 
 says he knows not what to do, he professes his incompe¬ 
 tency to guide the public councils. 
 
 “ In such a state of things it behoves parliament to apply 
 to itself what the Roman senate used to say to the consul 
 or dictator in times of peril, Curet , ne^uid republica 
 detrimental patiatur ; and I have little doubt, if your sen¬ 
 timents were adopted by it, but that Ireland could be tran¬ 
 quillized, the union of the countries cemented, peace and 
 prosperity diffused, and the empire rendered invulnerable, 
 
 “ These results cannot be attained by Catholic Emanci¬ 
 pation alone, still less by those futile measures which are 
 now in progress; if the mind of the nation be notr well 
 directed, and the will made to co-operate with the legisla¬ 
 ture,' the disease may be repressed or shifted, but no reno- 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 109 
 
 rating principle of health will be infused into the frame of 
 society. 
 
 “ Catholic Emancipation will not remedy the evils of the 
 tithe system, it will not allay the fervour of religious zeal— 
 the perpetual clashing of two churches, one elevated, the 
 other fallen, both high-minded, perhaps intolerant; it will 
 not check the rancorous animosities with which different 
 sects assail each other; it will not remove all suspicion of 
 partiality in the government were Antonius himself the 
 viceroy ; it will not create that sympathy between the dif¬ 
 ferent orders in the state which is ever mainly dependant on 
 religion, nor produce that unlimited confidence between 
 man and man, which is the strongest foundation on which 
 public welfare can repose, as well as the most certain pledge 
 of a nation’s prosperity. Withal, Catholic Emancipation 
 is a great public measure, and of itself not only would ef¬ 
 fect much, but open a passage to ulterior measures, which 
 a provident legislature could without difficulty effect. 
 
 “ The union of the churches, however, which you have 
 had the singular merit of suggesting to the commons of the 
 United Kingdom, would together and at once effect a total 
 change in the dispositions of men; it would bring all classes 
 to co-operate zealously in promoting the prosperity of Ire¬ 
 land, and in securing her allegiance for ever to the British 
 throne. The question of Emancipation would be swallowed 
 d up in the great inquiry, how Ireland could be enriched and 
 strengthened, and in place of the prime minister devising 
 arguments to screen an odious oppression, and recon¬ 
 cile an Insurrection Act of five-and-twenty years dura¬ 
 tion, with the Habeas Corpus Act and Magna Charta, we 
 would find him receiving the plaudits of the senate, the 
 thanks of his sovereign, and the blessings of millions, for 
 the favours which he could so easily dispense. 
 
 u This union,' on which so much depends, is not, as you 
 have justly observed, so difficult as it appears to many; 
 and the present time is peculiarly well calculated for at¬ 
 tempting, at least, to carry it into effect. 
 
 u It is not difficult; for in the discussions which were 
 held, and the correspondence which occurred on this subject, 
 early in the last century, as well as that in which Archbishop 
 
110 
 
 LITE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 Tillotson was engaged, as the others which were carried on 
 between Bossuet and Liebnitz, it appeared that the points 
 of agreement between the churches were numerous, those 
 on which the parties hesitated few, and apparently not the 
 most important. The effort which was then made, was not 
 attended with success, but its failure was owing more to 
 princes than to priests, more to state policy than to a dif¬ 
 ference of belief. But the same reasons which at that pe¬ 
 riod disappointed the hopes of every good Christian in 
 Europe, would at present operate favourably. For what 
 interest can England now have which is opposed to such a 
 union, and what nation or church in the universe can have 
 stronger motives for desiring it than Great Britain, if by it 
 she could preserve her church establishment, perfect her in¬ 
 ternal policy, and secure her external dominion. 
 
 “ In Ireland, I am confident that, notwithstanding the 
 ferment which now prevails, a proposition, such as you 
 have made, if adopted by government, would be heartily 
 embraced. The clergy of the establishment are unpopular, 
 and they feel it; they are without flocks, and every profes¬ 
 sional man wishes for employment; their property is at¬ 
 tacked, and even endangered, for the state has touched it, 
 and the- people have no respect for it. The Dissenters have 
 encroached on them; and the Catholic clergy have des¬ 
 poiled them, in many places of their flocks. The Catholic 
 laity, as I before mentioned, are tired of their degradation; 
 they are wearied in pursuit of freedom; they love their 
 country, and are anxious for repose. Their clergy, without, 
 I believe, an exception, would make every possible sacri¬ 
 fice to effect a union; I myself would most cheerfully, and 
 without fee, pension, emolument, or hope, resign the of¬ 
 fice which I hold, if by doing so, I could in any way con¬ 
 tribute to the union of my brethren and happiness of my 
 country. 
 
 “ The proprietors and capitalists in Ireland, are affected 
 at the prospect which lies before them, and are, if not blind 
 to self-interest as well as dead to patriotism, anxious to es¬ 
 tablish peace and security amongst us. The government 
 has no interest in preserving disunion, unless for the pur¬ 
 pose bf securing its power; should it find an honourable 
 
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LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 and safe substitute for so detestable and precarious a system, 
 it would be blind and besotted if it did not embrace it. 
 
 “It may not become so humble an individual as I am 
 to hint even at a plan for effecting so great a purpose as the 
 
 I union of Catholics and Protestants in one great family of 
 Christians; but as the difficulty does not appear to me to 
 be at all proportioned to the magnitude of the object to be 
 attained, I would presume to state that if Protestant and 
 Catholic divines of learning, and a conciliatory character, 
 were summoned by the crown to ascertain the points of 
 agreement and difference between the churches, and that the 
 result of their conferences were made the basis of a project 
 to be treated on between the heads of the Church of Rome 
 and of England, the result might be more favourable than 
 at present would be anticipated. 
 
 “ The chief points to be discussed are the canon of the 
 sacred Scriptures, faith, justification, the mass, the sacra¬ 
 ments, the authority of tradition, of councils, of the Pope, 
 the celibacy of the clergy, language of the liturgy, invo¬ 
 cation of saints, respect for images, prayers for the dead. 
 
 “It should be the duty, as it is obviously the interest of 
 the ruling powers, to provide for the happiness of the peo¬ 
 ple, by enlightening their minds and by curbing their pas¬ 
 sions, not by reproachful speeches and coercive laws, but 
 by means suited to their real wants; and if, through the 
 wisdom of parliament and the efforts of government, the 
 churches of these countries could be united, a new era of 
 lappiness would commence in our history. The laws in 
 bis country could be equalized, the most perfect confidence 
 would prevail between the government and the subjects; 
 :heir natural protectors would be restored to a generous and 
 warm hearted people ; the aristocracy would become what 
 it never had been in Ireland—a link between the prince and 
 ;he peasant; industry would be protected; capital would 
 flow into the country; all the resources of the soil, climate, 
 jenius, and talent of the nation would be called into life 
 ind activity; the union of the countries would be consoli- 
 3ated, and Great Britain would not only be queen of the 
 tcean, but mistress of the world, 
 wttrm'-'- 
 
112 • LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 # 
 
 w Hoping that you will again call the attention of parlia- 
 -ment to the consideration of this important subject, 
 
 “ I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 u Your obedient humble servant, 
 
 “ J. Doyle.” 
 
 “ Carlow, May 13, 1824.” 
 
 Impartiality demands that we should observe the fol¬ 
 lowing paragraph of this letter gave some offence, or at 
 least, was not generally understood; “ on most of those 
 (chief points already enumerated) it appears to me, that 
 there is no essential difference between Catholics and Pro¬ 
 testants ; the existing diversity of opinion arises in most 
 cases from certain forms of words which admit of satisfac¬ 
 tory explanation, or from the ignorance or misconceptions 
 which ancient prejudice and ill-will produce and strengthen, 
 but which keep us divided on any subjects; not a love of 
 Christian humility, charity, and truth.” 
 
 Whoever reads the other works of Dr. Doyle, and par¬ 
 ticularly his letter on the Carlow Discussion, will feel as¬ 
 sured he believed, that the unvarying creed of Catholics is 
 very different from that changeable one which Protestants 
 profess to hold. The brevity with which he discussed the 
 subject in the letter now before us, left his meaning liable 
 to be misunderstood. 
 
 It is clear from his own explanation, that all he meant 
 was, that if Protestants would remove prejudice from their 
 minds, and seek truth in earnest, they would find many 
 things which they consider Catholic doctrine, no Catholic 
 doctrine at all, and that those things which are of Catholic 
 faith, when truly explained, have not oidy facts, evidence, 
 and arguments to support them, but even the testimony of 
 the most learned Protestants themselves in their favour. 
 
 Had the illustrious prelate mentioned, that as there is 
 scarcely a doctrine of the Catholic Church, which is not 
 contained in, referred to, or deduced from some or other of 
 the homilies, articles, liturgy, canons, prayer books, and 
 first catechisms, of the Protestant Church of England* 
 (saying nothing of its most eminent divines whose testimonies 
 
■ - 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. . 113 
 
 are in Brerely’s Apology,) if modern Protestants were actu¬ 
 ated by a love of truth, and a hatred of novelty, they would 
 avoid their gross slanders on the religion of all ages, (par¬ 
 ticularly those slanders contained in the criminatory, or 
 rather calumniatory parts of their thirty-nine articles, &c.) 
 and return to the bosom of that church, in which their Me- 
 lancthton said there was salvation, which their King James 
 declared was the mother church ; but from which their pre¬ 
 decessors separated by a love of lust, a love of plunder, or 
 a love of ease. If this hod been introduced into Dr. Doyle’s 
 letter, it might have removed mistakes or misrepresentation 
 on this important subject. 
 
 
114 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 LETTERS OF DR. DOYLE, IN 1824, ON SEVERAL SUBJECTS. 
 
 “ His was not the fear which shakes the frame 
 Of crouching slaves, when passion’s flame 
 Glares in the tyrant’s eye.” 
 
 Whilst Dr. Doyle, as a Christian bishop, found it his 
 duty to support the interests of religion as paramount to all 
 other matters, he did not forget that he was a citizen whose 
 duty it was to improve his country, and to better the con¬ 
 dition of its inhabitants. He remembered the saying of 
 Cicero : “That a just man should be ready to lay down his 
 life, if by doing so he could render it any necessary ser¬ 
 vice and he thought as did Southey, when, as a patriot, 
 he said : “ Life is but a vapour; and since it must pass 
 away, who would not rather that it rose like incense from 
 the altar of our country’s freedom, than that it mingled 
 with the pestilence which floats from the grave V* 
 
 Under those circumstances, Dr. Doyle not only joined 
 the Catholic Association in all its constitutional struggles 
 for the happiness and freedom of Ireland, but recommended 
 others to join it; and not only subscribed to the Catholic 
 Rent, but called on every man to do the same. 
 
 Those things, coupled with some parts of his letters not 
 favourable to despotism, called forth the calumnies of the 
 intolerants in and out of parliament, who charged the Ca¬ 
 tholic clergy as treasonable and disloyal. 
 
 To refute the foul calumny, the five leading professors 
 of the College of Maynooth published the following decla¬ 
 ration of loyalty and allegiance:— 
 
 “ Royal College of St. Patrick , Maynooth. 
 
 “ In consequence of recent public allusions to the do¬ 
 mestic education of the Catholic clergy, we, the undersigned 
 professors of the Royal Catholic College of Maynooth, deem 
 it a duty which we owe to religion and to the country, solemnly 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 U5 
 
 and publicly to state, that in our respective situations, we have 
 uniformly inculcated allegiance to our gracious Sovereign, 
 respect for the constituted authorities, and obedience to the 
 laws. t-5 : ■ 
 
 “ In discharging this solemn duty we have been guided 
 solely by the unchangeable principles of the Catholic reli¬ 
 gion, plainly and forcibly contained in the following precepts 
 of St. Peter and St. Paul:— 
 
 “ Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for 
 God’s sake, whether it be to the king as excelling, or to go¬ 
 vernors as sent by him for the punishment of evil doers, and 
 for the praise of the good: for so is the will of God, that 
 by doing well you may put to silence the ignorance of fool¬ 
 ish men; as free, and not as making liberty a cloak for 
 malice, but as the servants of God. Honour all men ; love 
 the brotherhood; fear God; honour the king. For this is 
 thanks-worthy, if for conscience towards God a man endure 
 sorrows, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if com¬ 
 mitting sin, and being buffeted for it, you endure ? But if 
 doing well you suffer patiently, this is thanks-worthy be¬ 
 fore God/’—(1 Ep. St. Peter , ch. ii.J 
 
 “*Let every soul be subject to higher powers: for there 
 is no power but from God : and those that are, are ordained 
 of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, resisteth the 
 ordinance of God. And they that resist, purchase to them¬ 
 selves damnation ; for princes are not a terror to the good 
 work, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the 
 power ? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise 
 from the same. Wherefore be subject of necessity, not only 
 for wrath, but also for conscience sake.’’ (Ep. to the Rom. 
 ch. xiii.) 
 
 “ Our commentaries on these texts cannot be better con¬ 
 veyed than in the language of Tertullian :—‘ Christians are 
 aware who has conferred their power on the emperors—they 
 know it is God, after whom they are first in rank, and se¬ 
 cond to none other. From the same source which imparts 
 life, they also derive their power. We, Christians, invoke 
 on all the emperors the blessings of a long life, a prosper¬ 
 ous reign, domestic security, a brave army, a devoted sen¬ 
 ate, and a moral people.”— Avologv, c. 30. 
 
116 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 “ Into the sincerity of these professions we challenge the 
 most rigid inquiry, and we appeal with confidence to the 
 peaceable and loyal conduct of the clergy educated iu our 
 establishment, and to their exertions to preserve the public 
 order, as evidence of the soundness of the principles incul¬ 
 cated in this college. These principles are the same which 
 have been ever taught by the Catholic Church ; and if any 
 change has been wrought in the minds of the clergy of 1 re¬ 
 land, it is, that religious obligation is here strengthened by 
 motives of gratitude, and confirmed by sworn allegiance, 
 from which no power on earth can absolve. 
 
 “ L. E. Delahogue, Fellow of Sorbonne and Emeritus, 
 Professor of Theology in Sorbonne and Maynooth. 
 
 “ John M‘Hale, Professor of Dogmatic Theology. 
 
 “ Francis Anglade, Professor of Moral Theology. 
 
 “James Brown, Professor of Sacred Scripture. 
 
 “ Charles M‘Nally, Professor of Logic and Moral 
 Philosophy.* < 
 
 “June 2nd , 1824.” 
 
 t 
 
 Dr. Doyle, four days afterwards, confirmed this declara¬ 
 tion in the following letter :— 
 
 “ To the Editor of the Dublin Evening Post. 
 
 1 “ Old Derrigy Carlow , June 6, 1824. 
 
 “Dear Sir, — I gladly avail myself of this occasion to 
 assure you of the grateful sense I entertain of your kindness 
 to me, so frequently evinced in the columns of your Journal. 
 
 “It may be useful at the present moment for me to assure 
 you, that the publication in your paper of yesterday, signed 
 by some gentlemen at Maynooth, has my full and entire 
 approbation. 
 
 ^ “ An observation made in Parliament during the last ses¬ 
 sion, by a noble lord connected with this country, relative 
 to certain of the Roman Catholic clergy, and opinions of 
 nearly a similar nature having been lately, as is supposed, 
 given in evidence before a committee of the House of Lords, 
 render it necessary to remind the public of the principles of 
 allegiance as taught in our church. 
 
 i 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 117 
 
 u That those principles may be misconceived by many, is 
 to be inferred from the manner in which a certain letter 
 lately written by me, has been characterised by a noble lord. 
 
 “ In Ireland no such mistake as that of the nobleman al¬ 
 luded to could occur, because here my efforts to support the 
 laws and check disaffection are too well known—and the 
 principles of allegiance, as inculcated by me, are recorded 
 in my writings. I fear, indeed, exceedingly, that should the 
 political opinions, entertained by that noble lord, with re¬ 
 gard to the mode of governing Ireland, prevail, commo¬ 
 tions, such as seem to occur periodically amongst us, may 
 again rise—and, if they should, I do suppose that we could 
 no more stem the torrent, than the Catholic bishops of 
 France, of Spain, or of South America could have res¬ 
 trained the spirit of insurrection in their respective coun¬ 
 tries. This opinion of mine may be erroneous ; it was the 
 opinion of only an individual, but of one greatly interested 
 in the peace and happiness of Ireland, and most sincerely 
 anxious to promote them. 
 
 M I am, dear Sir, with the highest > respect, 
 
 " Your much obliged and very obedient servant, 
 
 “ J. Doyle.” 
 
 On the 18th September, 1824, he wrote the following letter 
 to the secretary of the Kildare Catholic Rent:— 
 
 " Old, Derrig, Sept. 18th, 1824. 
 
 “ Dear Sir, —I am greatly indebted to the good people of 
 Kildare for the expression of their thanks to me, conveyed 
 in your very obliging letter of the 10th of this month. 
 
 “ I am happy to find that the late general distress had 
 scarcely subsided in your town, when those who suffered, as 
 well as those who administered relief, resolved to collect the 
 Catholic Rent. 
 
 “ A great characteristic of the Irish people is, patience in 
 distress. Our spirit has not yielded to oppression; and, like 
 the ruins of our ancient greatness which overhang your 
 town, it reminds us of what we were, and excites us to exer¬ 
 tion, that we may become free, great, and happy, as we once 
 had been. r « 
 
 / 
 
118 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 “ Our country is still enslaved. A tyranny, generated by 
 the laws, and introduced by a worthless, heartless, and bi- 
 gotted faction, to the fireside of every peasant, requires of 
 us all to take from our competency, or even wretchedness, 
 whatever may have escaped the hand of the despoiler, and 
 consecrate it to our public and personal redemption. 
 
 “ Our doing so is approved of by every wise and just 
 man within the empire, who, like the noble proprietor of 
 your town, prefers equal rights and the dominion of just 
 laws, to a vexatious tyranny and the perpetuity of abuse. 
 
 “ Our religion continues to be maligned—the course of 
 public justice is still disturbed—the legislature, at the close 
 of six centuries, is unacquainted with the state of Ireland— 
 the public Press, which should be a medium of light, has 
 become a vehicle of slander, and they who persecute us seem 
 to think 1 they thereby render a service to God/ It is our 
 duty, therefore, to labour with one heart and one mind, in 
 such a manner as the laws permit, to vindicate our religion 
 —to relieve the oppressed—to enlighten the legislature, and 
 to establish, if possible, the sway of truth and justice in the 
 roo'm of prejudice and error. 
 
 “ It is just that amongst us, Kildare, which was once the 
 abode of sanctity and learning, and which in its greatness, 
 and decay, and ruin, presents a picture of the Irish nation, 
 should now afford an example of public virtue to the sur¬ 
 rounding country, and awaken the energies of those excellent 
 men who claim an alliance with her name. 
 
 “I glory in my intimate connexion with her; and I 
 am, as I have already mentioned, greatly indebted to 
 her children for their thanks; and I beg you may assure 
 them, that whilst they continue to labour with me in the faith 
 of the gospel, I shall endeavour with them, by every consti¬ 
 tutional means, to show ourselves worthy of that freedom 
 and justice which we seek to obtain. 
 
 “ I remain, my dear Sir, with great respect, 
 u Your faithful, humble servant, 
 
 “ J. Doyle.* 
 
 “Wm. Dunne, Esq., &e. &lc. ,> 
 
LIFE OF DU, DOYLE. 
 
 119 
 
 On the 18th October, same year, he wrote a letter to Mr. 
 Brennan, of Maryboro’, in favour of the Catholic Rent, from 
 which we publish the following-extract:— 
 
 “ Old Derrig, Oct. 18, 1824. 
 
 “ My Dear Sir, —I was highly gratified by the receipt of 
 your letter of the 15th instant, inclosing a copy of your reso¬ 
 lutions at Maryborough. 
 
 “ There is no sentiment expressed by the respectable and 
 intelligent meeting at which you presided, if I except those 
 which regard myself, in which I do not most heartily 
 concur. 
 
 “ The treaty of Limerick was most perfidiously and dis¬ 
 gracefully violated; and the stain of that crime, which is 
 spoken of throughout the civilized world, cannot be effaced 
 . from the soul of England—no, not even by our eman¬ 
 cipation. 
 
 “ Our allegiance and loyalty have not only been chivalrous 
 but almost chimerical; yet they have been badly requited. 
 Franklin is apotheized, who has written on his tomb, 
 * eripuit c&lo fulmen septmmque tyrcmnis 1 —whilst we con¬ 
 tinue enslaved, who have adopted the motto of the last of 
 the O’Neils, “ Pro Deo et pro Rege.” 
 
 “The Catholic Rent is undoubtedly the most efficient 
 measure ever adopted by the Catholic body. The Israelites 
 would never have been restored by Cyrus, had they not been 
 kept together in exile by a domestic government. England 
 will either dissolve the association or emancipate the Ca¬ 
 tholics. 
 
 “You do well to identify yourselves with the Catholic 
 Association; they represent every interest and sentiment in 
 our body. If they be wise and temperate, they will achieve 
 much; and the Catholic who is not for them, is against his 
 religion and his country. 
 
 “ It is right to publish your sentiments—I wish it were 
 done also in the English papers. Much is granted to prayer 
 —much to importunity—much even to clamour; but the 
 < silent slave will be converted into a beast of burden.—- 
 
120 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 ( Arise/ says an apostle, ‘ and Christ will enlighten thee/ 
 And another—‘he that is in filth, let him lie in filth still/ 
 
 “ I remain, my dear sir, always your obedient servant in 
 Christ, 
 
 Doyle.” 
 
 “ To Peter Brennan, Esq.” 
 
 In November, 1824, he wrote the following letter to j. 
 P.helan, Esq. Secretary to the Abbeyleix Rent Committee: 
 
 “ Old Derrig f Nov. 22, 1824. 
 
 u My Dear Sir, — I am greatly indebted to you for your 
 interesting account of the meeting held at Abbeyleix, pre¬ 
 paratory to the collection of the Catholic Rent. 
 
 “ I beg you may assure my friends in your parish, of the 
 high value I set on their approbation of my labours, in the 
 discharge of my several duties, and to assure them, that 
 these labours will continue unrelaxed as long as they can be 
 useful to Ireland, or, to the religion of our fathers. 
 
 “ If I sought by anything which I do ‘to please men, I 
 would no longer be the servant of Christ/ but yet it is grate¬ 
 ful to my heart to experience, as I daily do, new proofs of 
 the confidence and affection of those whom die Holy Ghost 
 has vouchsafed to commit to my spiritual care. How vain, 
 how fruitless, nay, how senseless are'the efforts of those de¬ 
 luded men, who seek to sepa&te us who are called in the 
 unity of one faith—who are one body by the participation 
 of the one bread, and are cemented together, not only by these 
 causes, and the mutual love which they generate, but also 
 by the external pressure which, of itself, would be sufficient 
 to keep us united. 
 
 “ As to the next, let us proceed with dignity and perse¬ 
 verance in our constitutional course, as it becometh the 
 wreck of a mighty nation. Lef all our proceedings be in 
 strict conformity with the law, that those who are at the 
 opposite side may have no evil to say of us, and that our 
 conscience or our posterity may not reproach us with having 
 severed from the patience and long suffering which our re¬ 
 ligion and our interest enjoin. 
 
 “ May I request you will impress this advice of mine on 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 121 
 
 the minds ef the people in your neighbourhood; for the old 
 and implacable enemies of our just claims having not reason, 
 or wisdom, or counsel, whereby to oppose them, will seek, 
 ars they are doing, to excite in our body feelings of im¬ 
 patience, which they would precipitate into feelings of dis¬ 
 content; and when not reverence for royal scruples, or 
 regency restrictions, or foreign wars, or vetoistical arrange¬ 
 ments, or the ignorance of the people, or the incompati¬ 
 bility of our religious principles with those of the consti¬ 
 tution, can debar us from freedom, they will seek new 
 pretexts for continuing their injustice, in the slightest indis¬ 
 cretion into which any portion or individuals of our body 
 might be betrayed. 
 
 “ Be patient, therefore, in your sufferings, but at the same 
 time lift up your voice and proclaim your wrongs loudly; 
 contribute, under the auspices of the excellent nobleman, 
 who is the patron, the protector, almost the father, as he 
 is the founder of your beautiful town, to defray the necessary 
 expense which must be incurred in seeking redress from the 
 tribunals, and from the legislature. You may thereby excite 
 the enmity of the infatuated Orangeman or bigot,—but you 
 will also awaken the sleeping justice of England, and unite 
 every friend of humanity, as well as every friend of liberty 
 in the prosecution of your claims. 
 
 “ I am, dear Sir, with great respect, 
 
 “ Your faithful humble servant, 
 
 “ J. Doyle.” 
 
 It was at this period the famous biblical discussion took 
 place at Carlow, between Messrs. Pope, Daly, Wingfield, 
 &c. on the Protestant side, and Rev. Dr. M‘Sweeny, Rev. 
 Messrs. Clowry, Nolan, Maher, and Kinsella, on the Ca¬ 
 tholic side. Although Dr. Doyle took no direct part in the 
 discussion, yet it is understood that he directed the final 
 movements by which the itinerant gentlemen were utterly 
 defeated. 
 
 Towards the close of the same year he published two 
 very clever letters on Education and Bible Societies, which 
 in the ensuing year were reprinted among the twelve letters 
 to which we shall next solicit public attention* 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 122 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 DR. DOYLE'S TWELVE LETTERS ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. 
 
 " Popularibus verbis est agendum quum loquamur de opinione 
 puj-ulari.” — Cicero. Off. lib. n. 
 
 Early in 1825, Dr. Doyle, under the famous initials 
 J. K. L., at the request of a friend in England, wrote his 
 twelve “ Letters on the State of Ireland/' 
 
 Although those letters, occupying nearly 400 pages, 8vo. 
 communicated information on nearly all' the religious and 
 political questions which then agitated his unhappy coun- 
 try, yet his character of parties are so just, and his defence of 
 truth is so applicable to all times and circumstances, that 
 we consider an epitome of the work extremely grateful to 
 all men anxious for peace, happiness and freedom. 
 
 ON THE IRISH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 In his first letter on this subject he says:— 
 
 u Unless the whole system be altered; unless the funda¬ 
 mental abuses from which the minor ones issue be eradi¬ 
 cated, and the government be exercised for the good of the 
 people at large, there can be no peace, nor confidence, nor 
 security, nor repose. No government seeking to administer 
 the laws as they now are, can acquire the character of 
 strength or wisdom; it may be weak, or artful, or tyran¬ 
 nical, but it cannot appear strong, or wise, or consistent, 
 nor can it fulfil the only ends for which power is given by 
 God. The spirit and letter of almost all our laws, not only 
 ef the old penal laws, but of those which are every day 
 enacting, are hostile to the people. To select one out of 
 five hundred as an illustration, there is a law passed in the 
 fiftieth year of his late Majesty, entitled, ‘ An Act for ena¬ 
 bling Tenants in Tail and for Life to grant land for the pur¬ 
 pose of endowing schools in Ireland this statute, though 
 evidently intended to favour education, is enacted in the 
 same spirit which pervades the ancient penal code. It re- 
 
LIFE OF D11. DOYLE. 
 
 123 
 
 (■ 
 
 e 
 
 ii 
 
 V 
 
 1 
 
 V 
 
 ie 
 
 i- 
 
 Quires, as I am informed by one of those who are styled 
 ‘learned in the law/ that lands granted in virtue of it must 
 be leased to the Protestant ordinary and church-wardens, and 
 it subjects indirectly, if not expressly, the schools to be 
 built on such lands, as well as the system of education to 
 be adopted in them, as also the appointment or removal of 
 the masters, to the absolute control of the minister of the 
 parish. The absurdity of such a provision is obvious, as in 
 one half of the parishes throughout Ireland, perhaps not a 
 single child professing the faith of such a minister, would 
 attend a public school; but yet such is the law; and what 
 can a chief governor do in the administration of such laws ? 
 Could he allow them to remain a dead letter, he might pre¬ 
 serve the peace; but they will be put into operation even 
 against his will; and his sole business seems to be to re¬ 
 press by force the discontent they generate, or to allay, by 
 the influence of his personal character, the passions which 
 they excite. 
 
 “ That Ireland should be oppressed and aggrieved, seems 
 only a portion of her destiny; that the mass of her popula¬ 
 tion should have new burthens imposed upon them in propor¬ 
 tion to their strength and patience, is the ordinary course of 
 things; that one portion of Irishmen should afflict and per¬ 
 secute another, is the natural effect of the policy by which 
 they have been ruled; that our evils should continue to 
 accumulate, is what every person versed in our history is 
 led to expect; but that the Irish gentry should have been so 
 bewildered, so inattentive to their own rights and interests, 
 as to suffer the Tithe Composition Bill to be enacted, and 
 that at a moment when the evils of the tithe system had 
 arisen to such a height as not to be longer tolerable, is some¬ 
 what calculated to excite our surprise. 
 
 “ But the value of tithes throughout the kingdom will be 
 ascertained by it, and all who have eyes can see the glories 
 of the establishment. Only let the church lands be now 
 ascertained and estimated, let her parochial assessments by 
 vestries be placed before the public, and we shall see whe¬ 
 ther this mighty Babylon can be suffered to exist; whether 
 this enormous mass of wealth can remain untouched in a 
 country which has no exchequer, which cannot pay the in- 
 
124 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOVLE. 
 
 terests of her debt, which has no public institution that is not 
 sectarian; a country where there is upwards of a million of 
 paupers, and one half of the operative classes destitute of 
 employment. We shall see whether this magnum latro- 
 cinium , as it was called by Burke, be compatible with the 
 exigencies of the state, the interest of the proprietors, and 
 the peace or prosperity of the empire. 
 
 “We may hear in and out of parliament special pleading 
 and electioneering harangues, proving the utility and deco¬ 
 rum of this monstrous establishmentwe may hear of her 
 ministers being all saints, and their children without the 
 comforts of life, but we can refer, in reply, to the thou¬ 
 sands, and hundreds of thousands, which she wrenches 
 from the hand of industry? We may be told that it is the 
 proprietor alone who pays her income; but the proprietor, 
 in self-defence, will argue for the inviolability of his estate; 
 and he will also plead for the seed, and sweat, and labour i 
 of his tenant, which are now overlooked, or entirely forgotten. 
 The claim of property will be advanced ; and some lawyer, , 
 from his brief, will support it against common sense and ho¬ 
 nesty, and without regal'd to the title by which it is held: 
 but he will be passed unheeded; whilst every man will see 
 that the establishment was created only for the good of the 
 people, to provide them with religious teachers, to support 
 their public worship, to clothe the naked, and to feed the 
 poor,—and that it no longer fulfils those ends. The law 
 will be advanced as the great safeguard of this mammon of 
 iniquity in the hands of churchmen; but the wisdom of the 
 law and its justice will be questioned, when, like other nox¬ 
 ious laws, it operates not for the good, but to (he detriment, 
 of the commonwealth. The excess of the establishment, to 
 be ascertained by this act, must be corrected. Religion 
 must be rescued from the plague of riches, her ministers 
 must divest themselves of all characters but their ewn; the 
 absurd fiction, by which they are compared to proprietors, 
 must cease, or the real proprietors themselves must become 
 vassals of the church. 
 
 “ I have the honour, &c. i 
 
 “J.K.L.” 1 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 125 
 
 ON PARTIES IN IRELAND. 
 
 In his second letter he says :— 
 
 u My Dear Sir, —The object of this letter is to give you 
 some idea of the state of parties in Ireland, their composi¬ 
 tion, and ulterior views, and to throw some light on the cha¬ 
 racter of our gentry. 
 
 “ The country is divided into three great parties: the 
 Orangemen, the Catholics, and the Government party, be¬ 
 sides a vast mass of inert matter, or what Swift would call 
 prudent men, who, solely intent on their own interest, whis- 
 I per away the characters of all the others, pass judgment in 
 secret upon whatever occurs, are never pleased with any 
 thing, and are ready to pray with Cromwell, or cry with 
 Charles, but not until the contest between them is decided. 
 
 “ The Orange party are next to the government in the 
 paucity of their numbers, in their knowledge of court dis¬ 
 cipline, in the array of their responsible officers, in their 
 legal forms and proceedings, in the formality of their atti¬ 
 tude, in the show and circumstance of their dignity, in 
 keeping up a standing army, in administering oaths of alle¬ 
 giance, in having a council of state, plenipotentiaries and 
 envoys, with a public press to publish and defend their 
 proceedings. 
 
 u This party would be even stronger than it is, and more 
 than able to cope with either of the other two, if it were 
 not overbearing, haughty, insolent, and cruel. Monopoly 
 and injustice are written on its standards, oppression is its 
 watchword, falsehood and slander are its heralds ; it has no 
 reason or justice with it, but it is so clamorous, and so me¬ 
 nacing, and so unblushing, as to overwhelm or confound 
 ! whomsoever would approach it with argument, or seek to 
 treat with it on a basis just, useful, or honourable. 
 
 “ This party, like Catiline and Cethegus, has collected 
 into its ranks every spendthrift, every idler, every punished 
 or unpunished malefactor, every public robber, and private 
 delinquent, all the gamblers, all those whom gluttony or ex¬ 
 travagance has reduced to want; in fine, all who love com- 
 Qiotion, and who hope to live by corruption, or to rebuild 
 their broken fortunes on the ruins of their country 
 
 w There is also a large class of saints, or fanatics, another 
 
126 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 of conscientious Protestants, a third of .traders in education, 
 with almost the entire body of the established clergy, who, 
 through fear or hatred of the Catholics, are induced to give 
 their support to the Orangemen: these classes form in ap¬ 
 pearance a neutral power, but constitute in reality the force 
 which sustains the warfare in this country. 
 
 “ Government should exist for the sake of the people, and 
 not the people for those who govern them. The forms of 
 speech to which we are accustomed sanction this mode of 
 expression, and we may suppose, therefore, that the go¬ 
 vernment here is formed and carried on for the good of the 
 community. The Catholics, therefore, who are, morally 
 speaking, the people of this country, should engross the 
 principal attention of our rulers ; their interests in the state 
 of Ireland should be considered like those of other subjects. 
 Their rank, or station, or property, however respectable,' 
 should not be so much contemplated as their numbers ; for 
 just laws make no distinction in providing for the happiness 
 and security of the rich more than of the poor. To treat of 
 the Catholics, then, as of a party in Ireland, is not alto¬ 
 gether correct, according to this theory; nor again, is it just 
 in point of law; for such is the profound wisdom of our 
 laws, that they almost ignore the existence of the people, and 
 contemplate as subjects men who are no where to be found. 
 
 “The Catholics,then, under the fostering care of penal' 
 statutes, and quite unnoticed by the laws made to protect 
 and foster the faithful subjects of this part of-the realm, have 
 grown at least into a party. 
 
 “ This party is kept in a state of constant excitement; 
 they are goaded by the Orangemen, they are insulted by 
 the press, they are taunted with insult by the education so¬ 
 cieties, the distributors of bibles, and itinerant saints; they 
 are stripped naked and almost starved by the squirarchy and 
 church ; the legislature does not attend to them ; the govern¬ 
 ment do not protect them ; the judges, who would not give 
 a stone to them for bread, are generally inaccessible to them; 
 they are reduced to such a state, that thousands upon thou¬ 
 sands of them look to death for repose, as the exhausted 
 traveller looks to the shadow of a great rock in a land faint¬ 
 ing from heat. Add to these causes of excitement, the ha- 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 127 
 
 rangues of their own leaders, the recollection of their former 
 greatness, the history of their country ; recollections 4 plea** 
 sing and mournful to the soul,’ and which are known by 
 reading or by tradition to them all; but, above all, we 
 should add, their enthusiastic attachment to the faith of their 
 fathers; a faith rendered more and more dear to them by 
 being daily and hourly reviled. When you have considered 
 ail these things, you may judge of the state of feeling which 
 pervades the Catholic population. 
 
 44 Should it be suffered to continue ? Should this party or 
 this people, whichever it may be called, remain neglected 
 by the legislature; should their grievances be left unredressed 
 —should their poor be left to perish—should their children 
 be left a prey to evangelicals and methodists—should their 
 religion continue to be insulted—should the agent, and the 
 tithe-proctor, and the church-warden, like the toads and lo¬ 
 cust, come still in succession to devour the entire fruit of 
 their industry—should their blood when wantonly spilled go 
 unrevenged, we need no Pastorini to foretel the result. We 
 have only to refer to our own history, or open the volume 
 of human nature, in order to ascertain it. A Police Bill, 
 and a Tithe-composition Bill, and an Insurrection Bill, and 
 fifty thousand bayonets may repress disturbances, but who 
 can contemplate a brave and generous people so abused ? 
 —who can dwell in a country so accursed ? What man can 
 appear before his God who has looked patiently^at so much 
 wrong, or who has not contributed by every legal means to 
 relieve his fellow-creatures from sufferings so intense ? 
 
 44 The gentry have as many grades as there were steps in 
 Jacob’s ladder. Those of them who are possessed of large 
 estates, and whose education and rank should lift them above 
 local prejudices, and bless them with a knowledge of men 
 and things, are, for the greater part absent from the coun¬ 
 try ; they know not the condition of their tenantry, unless 
 from the reports of their agents, some of whom, to my 
 knowledge, are most excellent men; whilst others of them 
 are unfeeling extortioners, who exercise over the tenantry 
 an inconceivable tyranny, and are the very worst description 
 ©f oppressors.—I have the honour to remain, dear Sir, &c. 
 
 “J.K.L” 
 
128 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 ON THE STATE OF RELIGION, &c. 
 
 In his third letter he says :— 
 
 “ The Irish are, morally speaking, not only religious, like 
 other nations, but entirely devoted to religion. The geo¬ 
 graphical position of the country, its soil and climate, as 
 well as the state of society, have a strong influence in form¬ 
 ing the natural temperament of the people ; they are more 
 sanguine than the English, less mercurial than the French; 
 they seem to be compounded of both these nations, and 
 more suited than either to seek after and indulge in spiri¬ 
 tual affections. When it pleased God to have an Island of 
 Saints upon earth, he prepared Ireland from afar for this 
 high destiny. Her attachment to the faith once delivered to 
 her was produced by many concurrent causes, as far as na¬ 
 tural means are employed by Providence to produce effects 
 of a higher kind. .• The difference of language, the pride 
 of a nation, the injustice and crimes of those who would 
 introduce amongst us a second creed, are assigned as the 
 causes of our adhesion to that which we first received. 
 These causes have had their influence, but there was another 
 and a stronger power labouring in Ireland for the faith of 
 the gospel; there was the natural disposition of the people 
 suited to a religion which satisfied the mind and gratified 
 the affections, whilst it turned them away from one whose 
 origin, as it appeared to us, was tainted, and which stripped 
 worship of substance and solemnity. Hence, the aboriginal 
 Irish are all Catholics, for the few of them who have de¬ 
 parted from the faith of their fathers only appear ‘ rari 
 nantes in gurgite vasto 7 To these are joined, especially 
 within the ancient pale, great numbers who have descended 
 from the first settlers, and who in process of time have be¬ 
 come more Irish than the Irish themselves ; every year 
 also adds considerably to their numbers, not only, as we 
 suppose, through the influence of divine grace, but also 
 by that attractive power which abides in the multitude; so 
 that were it not for the emoluments and pride attached to 
 Protestantism, and the artificial modes resorted to for re¬ 
 cruiting its strength, there would not remain in three pro¬ 
 vinces of Ireland, amongst the middling and lower classes, 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 129 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 more than a mere remnant of the modern faith. These 
 Catholics have for nearly three centuries been passing 
 through an ordeal of persecution more severe than any re¬ 
 corded in history. I have read of the persecutions by 
 Nero, Domitian, Genseric, and Attila, with all the barba¬ 
 rities of the sixteenth century; I have compared them with 
 those inflicted on my own country, and I protest to God 
 that the latter, in my opinion, have exceeded in duration, 
 extent, and intensity, all that has ever been endured by 
 mankind for justice sake. 
 
 “ They are obliged to sweat and toil for those very mi¬ 
 nisters of another religion who contributed to forge their 
 chains. Their hay and corn, their fleece and lambs, with 
 the roots on which they feed, they are still compelled to 
 offer at an altar which they deem profane. They still 
 are bound to rebuild and ornament their own former parish 
 church and spire, that they may stand in the midst of them 
 as records of the right of conquest, or of the triumph of 
 law over equity and the public good. They still have to 
 attend the bailiff when he calls with the warrant of the 
 church-wardens to collect their last shilling, (if one should 
 happen to remain,) that the empty church may have a stove, 
 the clerk a surplice, the communion-table elements to be sanc¬ 
 tified, though perhaps there be no one to partake of them ; 
 they have also to pay a singer and a sexton, but not to toll 
 a bell for them, with a school-master perhaps, but one who 
 can teach the lilies how to grow, as he has no pupils. Such 
 is their condition; whilst some half-thatched cabin or un¬ 
 furnished house collects them on Sundays to render thanks 
 to God for even these blessings, and to tell their woes to 
 heaven. 
 
 “ The ministers of the Catholic religion are invited to 
 their office by the impulse of divine grace, but as the Al¬ 
 mighty disposes all things wisely, he makes use of external 
 things to determine the will of those who deliberate on en¬ 
 tering the ministry. This ministry is seen amongst us en¬ 
 compassed by dangers and privations of no ordinary kind. 
 
 “ The ministers of this religion, however, are in general 
 well stored with classical and scholastic knowledge, less re¬ 
 fined, perhaps, than persons who are unacquainted with 
 
130 LIFE OF DR. DOVLE. 
 
 their vocations might desire, but not deficient, certainly, in 
 those qualifications which the parochial clergy of a young 
 nation (for such Ireland may be deemed) should possess. 
 They are energetic, active, laborious, shrewd, and intelli¬ 
 gent ; they are the most moral class of persons not only in 
 this country, but, I think, existing on the earth : they are 
 exact, or rather they are filled with zeal, in the discharge of 
 their duties; their office, their connexions, their necessary 
 habits of intercourse, mix them up and identify them with 
 the people; they are acquainted with, and take an interest 
 in the domestic concerns of almost every family; they 
 possess the full and entire confidence of their flocks; they 
 are always employed; there is nothing dull or quiescent 
 about them. Such are the ministers of the Catholic reli¬ 
 gion in Ireland; a class of men, who either direct the ge¬ 
 neral feelings of the people, or who run with the current 
 in whatsoever direction it may set. * 
 
 “ The Protestant Church in Ireland has always partaken 
 more of a political than a religious establishment; she was 
 planted here by force in a soil no way congenial to her; but 
 that force which planted her threw over her the shield of its 
 protection. It gave to her an immense share of the spoils of 
 the country, it preserved her possessions, that in them, as 
 in some happy valley, the children of the state might be fed 
 and educated. All the retainers of the great paid obeisance 
 to her, and she was always looked on, not as the spouse of 
 the Redeemer, but as the handmaid of the Ascendancy. 
 
 “ The latter, whenever she became insolent, or forgot her 
 rank, (if rank it could be called,) rebuked her into a de¬ 
 portment becoming her situation. They extend their pro¬ 
 tection to her for their own advantage only; and she, 
 working alternately on their hopes and fears, continues to 
 hold her place as a necessary appendage of the family to 
 which she owes her existence. When indulged she is in¬ 
 dolent ; when rebuked, she becomes attentive; she draws 
 tight, or relaxes her discipline, as it may please, or be per¬ 
 mitted by her masters; her eye is ever fixed upon her own 
 interests, and she deems nothing forbidden or unhallowed 
 which can serve to promote them. As those who do an in¬ 
 jury never can forgive, she is implacable in her hostility to 
 
131 
 
 LIFE 01- DM. DOYLE. 
 
 the church which she supplanted ; and at this day she ap¬ 
 pears indifferent to all things else, but to t^e concealment 
 of her riches and the persecution of Popery. 
 
 “ She occasionally revolts against her fellow-servants, 
 who lay bare her spoils, who tell her of her frauds and op¬ 
 pressions, who remind her of her origin, and upbraid her 
 with the profligacy of her mispent life; but she is much 
 more frequently employed in forming offensive and defen¬ 
 sive leagues with her fellows in the corporatoins, showing 
 the advantages of injustice and oppression, in confounding 
 the charter of her servitude with the title-deeds of her em¬ 
 ployers, in asserting her claim to a tithe of the land 
 and labour of the kingdom, and proving to the satis¬ 
 faction of a Christian community, that though she receives 
 the patrimony of the poor, she is not bound to exercise 
 towards them a single act of mercy. When pressed on or 
 confounded, she cries * wolf, wolf,' and assures the dupes 
 who assemble, that the Pope was about to devour her. 
 
 “ The ministers of this establishment are as various in 
 character, as their callings are different. We must take it 
 as a certain truth, that they are all moved by interior grace 
 to take upon them the cure of souls, as they themselves 
 declare in the presence of God and of the church ; but then, 
 as there are many mansions in the house of their heavenly 
 Father, so they fit themselves for them by a great variety 
 of occupations whilst on earth : some are given to agricul¬ 
 ture, others are devoted to angling; many of them, like 
 Abel, are fond of tending flocks, and uot a few of them 
 are famous hunters before the Lord. Being appointed of¬ 
 ficers in the church militant, they are frequently found at 
 the head of armed detachments ; and from a love of justice, 
 and a hatred of hearing the name of the Lord profaned, it 
 is almost impossible to find a bench of magistrates not 
 studded with them : indeed, it is at petty sessions they often 
 discharge the more weighty duties of their ministry, in is¬ 
 suing decrees for the recovery of tithes. They are also di¬ 
 ligent in promoting comfort amongst the poor, or esta¬ 
 blishing peace and good will in their several parishes, by 
 taking from the peasant his last shilling, that he might not 
 spend it in the ale-house; or by deciding between two 
 
132 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 scolds, on the sworn testimony of their peers, that the goat 
 of the one had not browsed upon the other’s hedge. Much 
 of their leisure time is also usefully employed in collecting 
 for their favourite newspapers, details of atrocities lately com¬ 
 mitted ; in transcribing notices just posted up on the chapel- 
 doors by Captain Rock ; in making up reports of the con¬ 
 versions of benighted Catholics for the Home Missionary 
 Society ; in depicting, with all the warmth of Irish feeling, 
 the rapid progress of the Bible Society, and the vast num¬ 
 bers of Irish Testaments which were administered by them 
 to the poor Papists, (not a word of tithe in the report,) who 
 were now indeed beginning to be enlightened. The saints 
 amongst them, in addition to the above employments, have 
 to attend to the sick and the dying, the naked child, and 
 the hungry parent, to know whether they would exchange 
 their faith for money, for clothes, or for employment ; they 
 have to descant on the superstition or idolatry of their re¬ 
 ligion, the tyranny and craft of their priests. 
 
 “ On the whole, it appears to me that religion at present, 
 in the Established Church, is rather excited by the spirit of 
 party than the spirit of the gospel; that she has been awakened 
 rather by the sounds of discord than by the voice of peace ; 
 and that, when the present effervescence shall have subsided, 
 she will be found weakened rather than purified by the or¬ 
 deal through which she will have passed. Like the declining 
 patient whom the evening fever animates and enlivens, but 
 whom the morning finds relaxed and helpless, so the esta¬ 
 blishment is flushed in her decline, whilst her strength de¬ 
 cays, and all her force is wasting. 
 
 “ I have the honour to be, Sir, &c. &c. 
 
 “J.K.L." 
 
 ON THE LAWS. 
 
 In his fourth letter he says :— 
 
 “ When I consider that justice, whether in a nation or in 
 an individual, is a fixed disposition of the will to give to ,» 
 every man his due, even to the last farthing; to distribute 
 impartially the honours and emoluments, as well as the 
 burthens, of the state ; to apportion punishment to crime, 
 aad rewards to virtuous actions, without distinction or ex- 
 
LIFE OF Dlt. DOYLE. 
 
 133 
 
 ception cf persons :—when I consider this great principle 
 emanating from Him who is the fountain of all justice ; ex¬ 
 isting before the gospel, with the gospel, and to last to eter¬ 
 nity ; when I view it thus, and compare it with what is 
 called by its name in Ireland, a thrill of horror pervades 
 my blood, because we are all hastening to Him who will 
 judge us in justice, and weigh all our actions in the scale 
 of the sanctuary. 
 
 “ Corporations should protect and promote commerce; 
 they should be the very citadels of a nation’s liberty. They 
 are in Ireland like nightmares upon commerce, and the very 
 fastnesses of corruption. Cicero would seem to have writ¬ 
 ten of them, neque enim expletur unquam , nec satiatur in 
 eis cupiditatis satis ; neque solum ea qua: habent libidine au~ 
 gendi cruciantur sed etiam amittcndi metu. They are from 
 the ***** which is the largest of them, to the 
 pettiest borough on the Western coast, a palsied and a pa¬ 
 ralyzing nuisance; cruel, heartless, and dissipated, like an 
 old gamester and sensualist, who would extort or borrow, 
 beg or steal, that he might gratify the wasted remnant of 
 his- pdssions. 
 
 “ The laws of Ireland are a confused mass—a moral 
 chaos; they have not educated the people on principles 
 agreeable to reason or the law of God ; hence, human na¬ 
 ture has either been perverted by them, or revolted against 
 them; strife and contention have sprung from them ; anar¬ 
 chy, fraud, and oppression, have been the fruits of them; 
 all the evils of Ireland could have been healed—and they 
 have been aggravated by them ; the wisest judges who ever 
 graced a bench could not dispense them to advantage : but, 
 with the exception of a few, the judges themselves have had 
 their minds and hearts influenced by them, and the people, 
 whom they afflicted, always feared and hated them. Efforts 
 have been made, and are making, to administer these laws 
 justly; but it is impossible until they are equalized, and 
 fitted to the people ; until the spirit of conquest, and mo¬ 
 nopoly, and persecution, is extracted from them ; until they 
 are made to accord with that immutable justice which I 
 have above defined, they cannot be made to produce order, 
 prosperity or peace. To labour at the administration of law 
 
 ti 
 
134 LIFE or DU. DOYLE. 
 
 in this country, whilst the laws themselves, and the abuses 
 grafted on them, are suffered to remain unchanged, is like 
 rolling a stone against a hill, which before it has reached the 
 summit, rolls back again. 
 
 ON THE POPULATION. 
 
 In his fifth letter he says :— 
 
 “ Dear Sir,— It seems to be allowed on all hands, that 
 there has been a prodigious increase of people in Ireland 
 during the last thirty or forty years. I also think there has 
 been an increase, but not to the extent which is generally 
 supposed. There has been no accurate census pf our 
 population at any period; the last is more near to the 
 truth than any which preceded it, yet it is imperfect. I 
 have no doubt that there are (1825,) considerably more 
 than seven millions of inhabitants in Ireland. 
 
 “ The only means of ascertaining accurately the ratio of 
 this increase would be, the examination of the parochial re¬ 
 gisters of births, and marriages, and deaths, wheresoever 
 they happened to be kept with regularity. Those which 
 belonged to the Catholic clergy in the diocese where I live, 
 and which had been commenced as soon as the penal code 
 was relaxed, were, as has been given in evidence by the late 
 Catholic bishop, destroyed in the year 1798, lest they should 
 fall into the hands of the Orangemen. This precautior 
 was deemed necessary, as these loyalists had in one in¬ 
 stance at least in this country, seized upon a parochial re¬ 
 gister amongst other plunder, and having discovered in it a 
 list of rebels, as they charitably supposed, sought them out 
 as victims for their fury. 
 
 “ Before I notice the causes which appear to me to have 
 accelerated the increase of the Irish people, it may not be 
 irrelevant to observe, that, without adopting the opinions of 
 Mr. Owen on the capability of this country to support 
 eighteen or twenty millions of inhabitants, I am inclined 
 to the opinion that its present population is not at all ex¬ 
 cessive; and that the legislature might in a single session 
 pass such laws as would, in the course of very few years, 
 render the poor of Ireland, who now create so much anx- 
 
LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 135 
 
 iety and alarm, if not as comfortable as those of the same 
 class in England, at least place them beyond the reach of 
 want, and in a way of promoting their own comforts. There 
 is a large surface of land in Ireland, which, if once re¬ 
 claimed, would not, like the commons of England or 
 marshes of Scotland, be ungrateful to the husbandman: on 
 the contrary, it would be exceedingly fertile. They are not 
 these lands, however, on which I would depend for the sup¬ 
 port of the population, but on the lands actually employed 
 in pasture or tillage. 
 
 u The writer of this letter is connected with upwards of 
 200,000 Catholics, rich and poor, and he receives from 
 them all little more than one-third of what a neighbouring 
 parson receives for the tithes of a single parish; and 
 this pittance he shares freely and affectionately with his 
 children, who are the poor. In doing so, he only copies 
 the conduct of his brethren; and he states it not through 
 self-e.* 1 -"t in justification of the order of men to whom 
 he has the honour and happiness to belong. 
 
 u As to the general influence of the increased number of 
 the people on the state of the country, this deserves to be 
 considered in two points of view. If the axe be laid to 
 the root of the evil in Ireland, and a provident system of 
 legislation adopted for her, the present population is not ex¬ 
 cessive, nor likely to become so; I think it no more than 
 adequate to her wants. A new system of government in 
 Ireland would shortly create a very great demand for labour, 
 and afford an opportunity to landlords either to provide per¬ 
 manently for the poor on their estates, without permitting 
 them to multiply their dwellings, or enable them to re¬ 
 move to other parts of the country where labour might be 
 more valuable, not as it happens now, when they may be 
 driven to perish on the highways by a death more piteous 
 than that of the Hindoos whom Hasting’s cruelty sent to 
 perish in the Ganges. 
 
 “ But if the policy of governing by division be pursued 
 longer, then the people will perish by famine, or emigrate 
 to Britain, or be cut off by the sword. If strong measures 
 be resorted to, and some of the Irish gentry and absentees 
 . proceed as they have been doing, these results, or some 
 
136 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 one of them, will be accelerated. Captain Rock will re¬ 
 sume his sway, the poor will instinctively confederate, the 
 Insurrection Act will be in constant operation, and if a fo¬ 
 reign war should occur, and circumstances favour it, there 
 may be a general rebellion, the most sanguinary which has 
 ever occurred in Ireland. What the result would be, God 
 only knows. I know that my office as a minister of reli¬ 
 gion, and my duty as a loyal subject, require that I should 
 state my opinions at a time when effectual remedies may be 
 safely applied; and I do so, totally regardless of the slave 
 and the bigot; nay, though I were doomed, like the pro¬ 
 phetess mentioned by the poet, never to be believed." 
 
 ON EDUCATION AND BIBLE SOCIETIES. 
 
 In his sixth Letter, in addition to what we have already 
 quoted, he says:— 
 
 “ If Proselytism be disavowed by the government—if the 
 disavowal be sincere—if it be acted upon, why hesitate to 
 intrust the education of the child to his own parent, or to 
 the pastor whom the parent selects ? Why hesitate to con¬ 
 fide the instruction of youth to those who are appointed to 
 teach the men ? Why weigh in opposite scales the natural 
 and original rights of the Catholic clergy in this country, 
 against the unfounded pretensions and usurped authority of 
 a self-constituted society, or of any society composed of 
 men whose religious opinions would form a very Babel ?—• 
 men who have no connexion, or communion, or sympathy, 
 with the people of Ireland; who feel no interest in giving 
 them such education as their parents wish for, as their re¬ 
 ligion requires, or as God enjoins ; nay, who feel and pro¬ 
 fess, many of them, a direct interest or desire in debauching 
 the minds of youth, by withdrawing them from the autho¬ 
 rity of their parents and pastors, and inducing them to go 
 with themselves afloat upon an ocean of doubt, to be tossed 
 to and fro by every wind of doctrine, the victims of their 
 own ignorance, or error, or passions. 
 
 u Yes, but it is necessary that all the children of the same 
 state be educated together; and how is this to be effected 
 if the Catholic clergy be permitted to select the teachers, or 
 
< 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 137 
 
 regulate the instruction ©f the youth of their communion ? 
 In the first place, the interests of the many should not be 
 made subservient to those of the few; but when, as is ge¬ 
 nerally the case, the persons requiring the aid of the state 
 are exclusively of the Catholic religion, their pastors alone 
 should be vested with the right of superintendence and con¬ 
 trol ; but when the children are of different creeds, the in¬ 
 terests of the majority should preponderate, and those of 
 the minority should be consulted for, at least, in a nega¬ 
 tive way. An assistant, of their own creed, should be pro¬ 
 vided for them in each school, to watch over their moral 
 conduct and religious improvement. 
 
 “ Let such persons be commissioned to dispense the 
 public bounty in a way calculated to promote a well-ordered 
 system of education ; a system which not only will not in¬ 
 terfere with the religious opinions of any, hut which will 
 secure the religious instruction of all. Let such men be em¬ 
 ployed, and the desires of the government and of the peo¬ 
 ple will be easily and speedily fulfilled. 
 
 a This objection on our part to the scriptural extracts 
 published by the Kildare-place Society, is applicable to the 
 books circulated by each and all of the other societies. 
 Whereas these books are composed, at least in part, of ex¬ 
 tracts from a version of the Scriptures which we—(whether 
 justly or not is not here to be discussed,) but which we 
 consider as an adulterated copy of the word of God. It 
 may be said that the version authorized by law does not 
 differ materially from ours ; but even if this were the case, 
 it would still be objectionable, as nothing can be deemed 
 immaterial in a thing so sacred as revelation ; and John had 
 so much reverence for its integrity, that he anathemizes in 
 his Apocalypse whomsoever would add to, or take away 
 from it. Though the adding to or taking away from it are 
 not, perhaps, the very worst modes of perverting it. The 
 taking from it is not. so bad as taking from it and substi¬ 
 tuting in the room of what is taken some effusion of Beza’s 
 spleen, as Catholics charge the English translators with 
 having done. 
 
 “ But the fact is, that the Catholic and Protestant ver¬ 
 sions differ not in a few place*’ only, or on indifferent sub* 
 
 H 2 
 
m 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 jects, but in several hundred places, and almost on every 
 subject which is controverted between the churches wherever 
 these subjects occur, from Genesis to Revelations. 
 
 u Many of our legal forms are, God knows, apparently 
 absurd, and yet they are retained, perhaps wisely retained; 
 and why should religion, which holds her courts throughout 
 the earth, whose forms of prayer and worship are conse¬ 
 crated by a usage of 1800 years—why should she strip her¬ 
 self of them, and expose herself naked to the gaze of her 
 suitors ? Why should she suffer the books of her authority, 
 the volume of her statutes, the very form of her proceed¬ 
 ings, to be despised, altered, or neglected, as it might suit 
 the caprice of the stripling, of the knave, or the fool, who 
 presumes to teach in her name ? 
 
 “ But they are not only the forms of prayer and the words 
 and canon of the Scriptures which are brought into doubt, 
 and exposed to strife, by these unhallowed societies, but 
 the very substance and essence of the faith. 
 
 “ The mystery of the Trinity and the divinity of our Lord, 
 which, as Tertullian says, are the cardo fidei, the very hinges- 
 of religion, these are sought to be upturned by some of 
 these men. They endeavour to introduce into a country 
 which has never generated a heresy, that most destructive of 
 all heresies—or as it is called by the Church of England 
 in her last synod, that wicked and damnable heresy—that 
 frightful Socinianism, which rising from the ashes of Calvin 
 and Beza, has already infected the greater part of their fol¬ 
 lowers even in this empire, and seeks now, like the serpent, 
 to emit its poison against the Church of God. 
 
 “ The tendency of all these societies is one and the same 
 -—the subversion, by indirect means, of the ancient faith 
 and the establishment on its ruin of a wild and ungovern¬ 
 able fanaticism. They have, under the specious pretences 
 of diffusing the Word of God and educating the poor, ob¬ 
 tained the money, and the patronage, and the support, of 
 some of the most exalted and liberal characters in both 
 countries. The bigots in Ireland are all with them, actu¬ 
 ated chiefly by the deadly hatred they bear to our religion. 
 The Established Church lends them its aid, as it would ally 
 itself with the priests of Baal against those whom it hat. 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 m 
 
 supplanted ; and also because it cannot oppose itself to sec¬ 
 taries without being taunted with its abandonment of the 
 right of private judgment. 
 
 u These societies have lately thrown off the mask, which 
 had been too much worn to conceal them; they have openly 
 avowed their hostility to our faith. They have questioned 
 the authority of those whom God appointed to rule his 
 church; they have scoffed at the idea of tradition, and 
 oudly professed the competency of all to read the Word of 
 God without guide or instructor, and become wise by it 
 alone to salvation.” 
 
 ON EDUCATION AND BIBLE SOCIETIES. 
 
 In his seventh letter he writes :— 
 
 “ My Dear Sir, —St. Augustine (Tract. 18. in John 
 cap. 5,) has very justly observed, that ‘ heresies have sprung 
 up; and certain perverse opinions, ensnaring souls, and preci¬ 
 pitating them into the abyss, have been broached only when 
 the good Scriptures were badly understood ; and when that 
 which was badly understood was rashly and boldly asserted/ 
 
 “ We may lament the existence of these opinions ; but, St. 
 Paul tells us, that heresies must be; and if they must, we 
 should only make the best use in our power of them. The 
 same Augustine, in his Book on true religion , (cap. 8,) says, 
 that heretics are very useful, not by teaching the truth, which 
 they do not know, but by exciting the tepid Catholics to 
 the study of truth, and the spiritual men of them to the ex¬ 
 position of it. ‘ We use/ he adds, 1 the heretics, not to 
 approve their errors, but that by maintaining the Catholic 
 doctrine against their wiles, we may ourselves become more 
 vigilant and cautious, should we not succeed in bringing 
 them back to the way of salvation/ 
 
 “ What this holy doctor says of heresies and heretics, we 
 may apply, with some colour of justice, to those societies 
 of whom I treated, en passant, in my last letter, and who, 
 under the pretext of educating the poor, come not to broach 
 any particular error, but to disturb the whole constitution of 
 the Church of God. 
 
 “ For my part, I cannot conceive any heresy or fanati- 
 
 BOSTON COLLEUE LIBRARY 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 
140 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 dsm more wild or dangerous than that which seeks to up¬ 
 turn the foundation placed by Christ, and to establish ano¬ 
 ther, or rather nothing, in its place. Innovators generally 
 attacked this or that truth revealed by God, and believed 
 by the faithful, but here no specific error is broached, no 
 particular dogma is assailed; but it is proposed to cast off, 
 as useless lumber, the men whom the Lord deputed, in his 
 own name, and with his own power, to govern his people 
 until his second coming. 
 
 “ It is proposed to take the law and the testimony out of 
 the hands of the men with whom it was deposited by Christ 
 and his apostles ; to leave the house of God without a mas¬ 
 ter, his kingdom without a sovereign, his fold without a 
 shepherd, his altar without a priesthood, and his people 
 without a pastor. This system will have no church to be 
 called * the body of Christ, compact and united but every 
 member is to be a head, and every sense to usurp the place of 
 the other; the church is no longer to be the pillar and ground 
 of truth, but a chaos of opinions more confused than the 
 tongues of Babel ; she is no more to be proof against the 
 powers of hell, or, divided against herself, she may continue 
 to stand, contrary to the maxim of Christ; heresies and 
 sects may devour her very entrails, she is to have no right to 
 reject them; and they no longer, like Heathens and Publi¬ 
 cans, can be excluded from the kingdom of God or Christ. 
 
 “ Why, we should ask, did he say, that ‘ his Spirit would 
 abide with them for ever,—would teach them all truth, and 
 suggest' to them whatever they had heard from himself;— 
 that whosoever heard them would hear him; and whosoever 
 despised them despised him, and not only him, but the Fa¬ 
 ther who sent him?' Why did he say these things, if they 
 were to have no power or authority to teach t Why did he 
 call these apostles as Aaron was called, and as he himself was 
 called when the Father glorified him, making him a priest 
 after the order of Melchisedech ? Why did he call them to 
 the priesthood, and desire them to do as he had done him¬ 
 self, and show forth his death until his coming ? Why did 
 he vest them with a power of forgiving sins, of binding and 
 loosing on earth and in heaven ? Why, when thus prepared 
 with power and privileges altogether divine, did he give 
 
LIFE OF DR, DOYLE. 
 
 141 
 
 them their last commission, to go and preach his gospel—• 
 the truths which he had heard from his Father and made 
 known to them, which, during his mission, and for forty 
 days after his resurrection, he had revealed but not written ? 
 Why did he send them to preach these truths to every crea¬ 
 ture until the elect would be all gathered in, and the work of 
 the redemption consummated, if their ministry was to be su¬ 
 perseded by certain societies ?—societies to be formed in after 
 times, without order, or power, or mission, or authority; 
 having with them not signs, nor wonders, nor tongues, nor 
 prophesies; nothing but a portion of that gospel which they 
 had purloined from the body to which it was committed by 
 the Lord. 
 
 “ Frightful and impious, Sir, is this system, which thus 
 strikes against the corner-stone of Sion, which thus upbraids 
 with impotence the Son of God, and discards the Provi¬ 
 dence which built and rules his church. 
 
 “ What! is there no regard to be paid to Christ, or to his 
 election, or appointments ? The Father of mercies, not flesh 
 and blood, had revealed to Peter that his master was the 
 Christ, the Son of the living God; and a divine charity, 
 bestowed from above, had filled the heart of that apostle 
 more than those of his companions. He is, therefore, elected 
 to be the head of his brethren, that there might be no divi¬ 
 sion amongst them, and the powers given to all collectively 
 are given to him alone, and greater powers than these are 
 given to him; not only is he entitled to bind and loose 
 throughout the world, but the very keys of the kingdom are 
 entrusted to him, that he might regulate all power, even as 
 Christ himself, who is head over all the churches. His pre¬ 
 rogatives are not yet filled up. Christ was the corner-stone, 
 the rock—he is about to depart, but the church, whilst in 
 this desert, requires a rock whereon to repose, or at whose 
 fount she may drink the refreshing waters of truth and grace: 
 Peter, therefore, is made a rock, firm and immoveable; on 
 him the church, by divine appointment, must be built, that 
 it may be safe against the power of hell. Peter must found 
 it at Jerusalem; he must engraft the Gentiles, in the person 
 of Cornelius, on the seed of Abraham—the old trunk of the 
 genuine olive: he must establish his chair at Antioch, fix 
 
142 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 his see in Rome, plant by the hand of Mark the seed of the 
 gospel at Alexandria, and collect under the shade of these 
 great patriarchates all the nations of the earth. James might 
 labour with him, John might pray with him, Paul might 
 run with him; but if they laboured, or prayed, or ran with¬ 
 out him, they would, as the most eloquent and laborious of 
 them testifies, labour, and pray, and run in vain. Whoso¬ 
 ever did not gather with him, as Jerome said to his successor 
 Damasus, scattered; whosoever did not eat the lamb with 
 Him was profane. The Redeemer has not yet dismissed him; 
 he must accumulate upon him the plenitude of his powder; 
 he must pray to the Father specially for him that his faith 
 should not fail, and that, if infirm for a moment, he might 
 return, and not only return, but confirm his brethren less 
 gifted, less secure titan himself. Now, indeed, he is pre¬ 
 pared, and at length dismissed to the exercise of all his 
 powers: to feed the lambs, yea, and a second time to feed 
 them, not by violence, or for the sake of base lucre, but to 
 feed them as much by love and example as by power; and 
 to feed not only the lambs, but also the sheep—the whole 
 fold, the pastors and the flock. 
 
 “ As a general conclusion from the foregoing observations, 
 it seems to me, first, that these societies are embarked in 
 propagating an intolerable error, by seeking to introduce the 
 indiscriminate perusal of the Sacred Scriptures, without 
 note or comment, and substituting a chaos of undisciplined 
 opinion for the wisdom, and order, and power of the Church 
 of God. Secondly, it appears to me that their labours, so far 
 from being in accordance with the spirit of the Christian re¬ 
 ligion, are calculated to subvert it, and to plant in its room 
 fanaticism or infidelity. Thirdly, I am clearly of opinion 
 that these labours hitherto have been, and must continue to 
 be fruitless, whether in converting infidels or in disturbing 
 Catholicity, whilst they have increased the confusion of the 
 Protestant churches, and may ultimately subvert them alto¬ 
 gether. I have not as yet, however, closed my accounts 
 with them. I said at the commencement, that they are 
 opposed to tradition ; 1 shall, therefore, proceed to inquire 
 with what justice they presume to attack this, one of the 
 fundamental truths of religion. 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 143 
 
 ON CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 
 
 In his eighth letter he says :—• 
 
 “ Dear Sir, —When Burnet, in 1686, was admitted to 
 the councils of the Prince and Princess of Orange at the 
 Hague, and undertook to assist the revolution, which was 
 then in progress, he fulfilled his engagement chiefly by those 
 writings wherein he represented popery and tyranny as in- 
 seperably blended together. From that period till the pre¬ 
 sent, those who are opposed to the Catholics have frequently 
 shifted their attacks, but they have never ceased to employ 
 such men as Burnet, for the purpose of coupling our religion 
 with something odious, that they might thereby render the 
 people of England hostile to our claims. At one time they 
 represent us as the advocates and supporters of arbitrary 
 power; at another, as the abettors of Paine’s principles, 
 hostile to every kingly government. Sometimes they intro¬ 
 duce us as the worst description of Idolators ; and again as 
 persons who violate our oaths, and keep no faith with here¬ 
 tics. For upwards of a century they held us forth as the 
 adherents of an exiled family ; and when that family ceased 
 to exist, they transferred our allegiance from the Stuarts to 
 the Popes. Besides these inherent and constitutional faults 
 in the system of Popery, they always hang about it shreds 
 and patches, to excite contempt or ridicule. They bring our 
 beads and our incense, our vestments and holy water-pots, 
 our saints and our pilgrimages, our prayers and our crosses, 
 and they place them in such attitudes as that they necessa¬ 
 rily create laughter or disgust. By such means as these they 
 feed the passions of the vulgar, and keep alive the prejudices 
 of the best informed. They are so wealthy, and they have 
 such an interest in our depression, that they do not hesitate 
 to expend large sums annually in keeping such men as 
 Burnet employed to vilify and defame us; whilst Anniver¬ 
 sary Sermons, Bishops’ Charges, new editions of Fox’s 
 Martyrs, and a cloud of tracts and pamphlets intercept every 
 ifrort that we can make to dispel the public illusion. 
 
 “ England, since I have known her by history, has been 
 always governed by a party, and that party always kept the 
 \atiort hoodwinked. Whether it was a council, or a parlia- 
 
144 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 ment, or a convention, or Whigs or Tories, who possessed 
 themselves of supreme power, they always contrived to rule 
 by the same principles. They have had many conflicts with 
 each other, but the body of the people have always been 
 their victims or their dupes. 
 
 “ There are many false pretences resorted to in order to 
 screen an opposition to the public interests, which opposi¬ 
 tion is grounded on causes not to be avowed. As soon as 
 these pretences cease to be plausible, and that the real causes 
 of the opposition are laid bare before the public, the force of 
 truth and justice will prevail. To repeal virtually the Na¬ 
 vigation Act, to abolish transit and protecting duties, to dis¬ 
 solve monopolies, and encourage a universal competition in i 
 trade, seemed to be a oreaking down of all the safeguards 
 which secured to us a pre-eminence in trade; it was like 
 throwing open our commercial constitution to all the nations 
 of the earth. It has been done, however, and the result is 
 what every wise man anticipated—to wit, improved industry 
 and augmented wealth. Our ships have not been stolen, , 
 nor our harbours deserted; our looms, our forges, or our 
 fields have not been abandoned; we have not ceased to pre¬ 
 fer our own country, our own clime, our own language, our i 
 own laws, to those which could be found elsewhere; and in i 
 throwing open our commerce to strangers, we have only ob¬ 
 tained access to the depots of foreign industry, and to the 
 wealth of foreign nations. 
 
 “ There is no Protestant holding or administering any 1 
 office, or entering any learned profession in these countries, , 1 
 who must not, in order to prove his loyalty, declare in the 1 
 presence of God his belief that ‘ the pope has not nor ought r 1 
 not to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-emi- 1 
 nence or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this 1 
 .realm/ Were such a declaration a mere form of words, it ’ 
 would only be ridiculous; but when the awful name of God ? 
 is interposed it becomes terrifying, and is certainly a bur- j 
 then too heavy for a conscientious man to bear. Were la* 1 
 Protestant, I would forego the highest dignity in the state | 
 rather than make such a declaration. Whether the Pope ' 
 ought or ought not to have spiritual authority within this ** 
 realm, is a question which depends on that other—whether v 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 145 
 
 
 he be or be not the head of the Catholic Church ; for if he 
 be, it is manifest that wherever there are Catholics, he must 
 have jurisdiction over them; and as there are several millions 
 of them within this kingdom, his spiritual authority necessa¬ 
 rily extends to them all. But leaving this question, I 10 W 
 can a man declare that he has not jurisdiction in this realm, 
 whereas his having it, and exercising it, is as notorious as 
 the existence of the sun at noon ? 
 
 “ I can therefore discover no reason why a man can swear 
 that the pope has not jurisdiction within this realm. It is 
 
 NOT A QUESTION OF RIGHT, BUT A MATTER OF FACT. I 
 
 think a true Protestant might, if there were a just cause, call 
 God to witness that he does not believe that the Pope ought 
 to have jurisdiction in this country; but to declare solemnly 
 before God, his belief that the Pope has not such jurisdic¬ 
 tion—a jurisdiction constantly exercised by him—requires 
 a degree of indifference about oaths and declarations, which 
 unhappily is but too general, but which certainly should 
 not be encouraged by those in authority: still less should 
 such suspected intercourse with heaven be rendered neces¬ 
 sary to enable a man to enter into office, or step inside the 
 portals of the constitution. 
 
 “ Man, on entering into society, is master of his own 
 mind and conduct; when he attaches himself to a commu¬ 
 nity he does not become its slave, but only a member of it, 
 contracting with it, as it were, and giving to it, or engaging 
 to give to it, a certain portion of his goods and services, for 
 the protection and advantages which it can afford him in re¬ 
 turn. There are two contracting parties,, the individual and 
 the society; both are independent, free, and possessed of 
 something valuable, for which, on contracting, each requires 
 a consideration. If this be the case, as is allowed by all 
 who are acquainted with the great principles of law, why 
 should a member of society be required to give more than 
 is just for that to which he becomes entitled ?—why should 
 he be required to give to the other party what not enricheth 
 him who receives y but makes him who gives it poor indeed ?— 
 Why should he be required to surrender those internal 
 thoughts and volitions which are peculiarly his own, by 
 which he holds' converse with the Deity, and which have no 
 
 i 
 
 / 
 
146 
 
 LIFE OF DII. DOYLE. 
 
 / 5 | 
 
 connexion with those ends and purposes for which society 
 is constituted ? Is it not enough that he engages to labour 
 for his country; to give to her a portion of the fruits of his 
 industry ; to employ for her his wisdom and his ‘talents; 
 and to shed, if necessary, his blood in her defence ? Should 
 she require more, she is unjust, selfish, mercenary; she seeks 
 not to act the part of a just dealer, but of a Jew, who will 
 not lend his money unless at usury, and advances his charge 
 in proportion to the distress of the applicant. There is not, 
 therefore, a right in Government to exact of the subject more 
 than a sufficient pledge of his allegiance. If our Government 
 has been justified in requiring of its subjects to exhibit cer¬ 
 tain marks of this or that religion, or to disclaim particular 
 doctrines or opinions, the right of doing so has not, or cannot 
 have arisen, from the nature of the social compact, but from 
 certain accidental or temporary occurrences. Let these acci¬ 
 dents cease, and the right of the Government to enforce such 
 marks or disclaimers ceases with them. Henoe it is that I 
 cannot sufficiently express my surprise at hearing men say 
 that our constitution is essentially Protestant: no civil con¬ 
 stitution can be essentially either Catholic or Protestant, for 
 we might all become Pagans or Turks and the constitution 
 remain untouched. Constitution means the fundamental 
 laws of any state; the fundamental laws of ours are chiefly 
 usages and some old charters, to which, in time, other laws 
 were added. These have subsisted in Catholic and Protest¬ 
 ant times; some of them were in use before we were either 
 Catholics or Protestants : but to say that certain laws made 
 in the seventeenth century are fundamental, so that they can 
 undergo no change, is really unworthy of a wise and learned 
 man. 
 
 “ To say that the State does not punish by exclusion is 
 absurd, not only because exclusion is infamy, but also be¬ 
 cause it is a positive and substantial loss to the persons ex¬ 
 cluded, and a positive and direct injustice in the party 
 excluding; it is so, because the Government has no property 
 in the administration of public affairs; they are only the 
 trustees of the community, bound in the strictest justice to : 
 assess the public burthens, and distribute the public ho- > 
 nours and advantages impartially. If, therefore, they impose 
 
 1 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 147 
 
 burthens on a certain class, and withhold from them all dis¬ 
 tinction and emolument, without a sufficient cause, they are 
 evidently guilty of doing such party a wrong. 
 
 }•- “ The Redeemer has laid down in a few words the prin¬ 
 ciples which regulate our spiritual obedience : “ My king¬ 
 dom/ he says, ‘ is not of this world.’ And ‘ For this I came 
 into the world, to give testimony of the truth. 7 And again, 
 * Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to 
 God the things that are God’s.’ It is in the kingdom of 
 Christ, which is the Church, that we acknowledge the Pope, 
 to rule as his vicar or deputy, and we profess to be faithful 
 and attached to him as children to a father, and submissive 
 to him when he administers, or executes the laws of God or 
 of the Church; but as the power of the State is derived 
 from God, and totally independent of the Church, we re¬ 
 cognize IN THE POPE NO AUTHORITY WHATSOEVER TO IN¬ 
 TERFERE with it. Should he presume to intermeddle 
 with the rights of our prince, or with the allegiance which 
 we owe to him, our answer, so often given, not only in words 
 but in works, would be : ‘ Your kingdom is not of this world, 
 he who intrusted the Church to you,’ as the great Osius 
 expressed it , 1 has committed the State to our Sovereign, 
 and has commanded us to give him all his rights—our fidelity 
 and obedience, our lives and fortunes; this is the law of 
 Christ, and we must obey God rather than men.’ ” 
 
 THE SUBJECTS OF THE FOREGOING LETTER 
 
 CONTINUED. 
 
 In his ninth letter he says :— 
 
 “ Dear Sir, —The oath and declaration taken by Pro¬ 
 testants proceed to set forth, that £ there is not any transub- 
 stantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body 
 and blood of Christ, at or after the time of consecration 
 thereof by any person whatsoever; and that the invocation 
 or adoration of the Virgin Mary, or any other saint, and the 
 sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used in the Church 
 of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous.’ 
 
 “ This portion of the oath and declaration, though not 
 partaking of any political character, and introduced chiefly 
 
148 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 through religious spleen, is more painful to a man of upright 
 conscience than even the former part, and to read it merely 
 is sufficient to show how well it is calculated to suppress 
 peace, and foment ill-will between members of the same 
 community. 
 
 44 1 shall say nothing of what our Church teaches on the 
 subject of transubstantiation, having discussed it in my 4 De¬ 
 fence of the vindication of the Irish Catholics but I am 
 bold to say, that no man who reads Doctor Parkers (the 
 Bishop of Oxford) 4 Reasons for abrogating the Testy will 
 swear or declare to God, without pain,‘that he believes there 
 is not any transubstantiation of the bread and wine at or after 
 the time of consecration.' But admitting that there is not, 
 how can an appeal to heaven on such a subject be justified ? 
 Whereas, we should not only suppose, but know, (and know¬ 
 ledge, according to Locke, implies certainty,) that what we 
 swear is conformable to truth. 
 
 44 1 have heard that when my Lord Grey, and I believe 
 General Thornton, brought forward this subject in the 
 houses of Parliament to which they respectively belong, it 
 was observed by many members that the declaration was 
 exceedingly objectionable, but that it was taken with a cer¬ 
 tain intention, or in a sense different from that conveyed by 
 the words which compose it; but besides that, mental reser¬ 
 vations and equivocations are not only unworthy of gentle¬ 
 men and Christians, but expressly excluded in the declaration 
 itself, I cannot conceive why a form of words, impious 
 perhaps in their tenor, dubious in their sense, useless or un¬ 
 necessary as a test of religious faith, but above all, provo- 
 kingly offensive, and even insulting, not only to the Catholics 
 of the empire, but to the whole Catholic world, should, 
 through indolence or bigotry, be let to remain on the statute- 
 book. Lord Eldon or the Bishop of Canterbury may be 
 able to account for it, but to a person unacquainted with 
 state secrets, or feeling a reverence for the awful name of 
 God, or being attached to the simplicity of truth, it is, in¬ 
 deed, inexplicable. 
 
 44 What will become of the Church ? Why what matter 
 what becomes of the Church; let her fare like every other 
 institution; let her stand or fall by her own merits. If Iter 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 149 
 
 .establishment be useful to the country, let it continue and 
 flourish; if not, let it go in the way of all flesh. Religion 
 does not depend on an Establishment, and if she be pruned 
 of her excrescences, she will only be the more useful. But 
 why put her in the scale against the interests of a nation? 
 
 THERE IS NOT AN INDIVIDUAL IN IRELAND WHO WOULD 
 TAKE FROM HER AN ACRE OF LAND OR A FLEECE OF 
 WOOL, TO BESTOW IT UPON ANY OTHER CHURCH ; and if 
 
 she were deprived to-morrow of a moiety of her wealth, she 
 would be vastly more useful than she is at present. Catho¬ 
 lic emancipation has no more connexion with the downfall 
 of the Church than any one other measure of justice which 
 may be devised for the benefit of this country. The name 
 of a Church has something sacred in it; it is also connected 
 with many prejudices, and on that account it is put forward 
 against the Catholics as a sort of outwork to defend the ci¬ 
 tadel of corruption against those regular approaches of 
 truth and justice which are making against it from every 
 quarter. 
 
 “ The Irish will become reformers. Ay to a certainty 
 they will if you continue to treat them unjustly, and reform¬ 
 ers of the very worst description ; they will ally themselves 
 with any enemy that political corruption may have. The 
 man who is in pursuit of a robber, and seeking to recover 
 his goods, does not inquire of the person who joins him in 
 the pursuit, whence he came, or what his character or object 
 is; he wants his assistance to seize the culprit, and without 
 thinking whether he may not also be a robber, and of the 
 worst description, he takes him as an ally. Just so the Irish. 
 Reject them, insult them, continue to deprive them of hope, 
 and they will league with Beelzebub against you. Revenge 
 is sweet, and the pride of a nation is like the vanity of a 
 woman, when wounded it is relentless. They will repeal 
 the union. Yes, undoubtedly. The present generation will 
 not pass, if you continue the old system, until you will find 
 the cry for emancipation turned into a clamorous demand 
 for that very measure. 
 
 u Could you by any power create a happy valley, like 
 that to which Rasselas was introduced, in every parish in 
 Ireland, and place all the inhabitants within it, yet if you 
 
150 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 left the penal laws on the statute-book, though not in opera¬ 
 tion, you would not remove the discontent and heart-burn¬ 
 ings from Ireland. There are thousands of people in this 
 country who scarcely know the nature of any law, whether 
 favourable or penal; but you will not find an old woman 
 or a ragged child who has not imbibed from the breast, or is 
 not taking into the grave, the hatred and horror of the system 
 by which you govern the Irish Catholics. They know not 
 what the system is, but they think it is a something horribly, 
 ineffably unjust, and wicked. This is the case : that it is 
 so there is not perhaps in Ireland a man better enabled to 
 know than the person who addresses you ; he assures you 
 of it solemnly, and in the face of the country, without fear 
 of contradiction : and it being so, is it not au infatuation to 
 seek to govern a people so affected without removing the 
 cause of so much alienation and hatred—a cause upon 
 which any man can breathe and blow into a flame as easily 
 as he could cause a train of powder to explode ? 
 
 “ How often have I perceived in a congregation of some 
 thousand persons, how the very mention from my own tongue 
 of the penal code caused every eye to glisten, and every ear 
 to stand erect; the trumpet of the last judgment, if sounded, 
 ■would not produce a more perfect stillness in any assemblage 
 of Irish peasantry, than a strong allusion to the wrongs we 
 suffer. And there are men who think that this country can 
 be improved whilst such a temper continues, or that this 
 temper will cease whilst emancipation is withheld.—Vain 
 and silly thought! Men who reason-so know nothing of 
 human nature, or if they do, they know nothing of the nature 
 of Irishmen. 
 
 “ But then if you change the system, you begin to make 
 concessions, and where can you stop ? I answer, you may 
 stop as you stop in England, when you have satisfied the 
 enlightened portion of the community; when you have sa¬ 
 tisfied the good sense of the country; when you have done 
 what the public interest requires ; you may stop then, and 
 not before. You cannot stop whilst you leave six millions 
 of men clamorous for clear and fundamental rights ; rights 
 founded on the law of nature—on the law of the Gospel— 
 on positive treaty; you cannot stop whilst intestine wars are 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 151 
 
 I suppressed by military force alone; you cannot stop whilst 
 I the Insurrection Act is the common law of the country; you 
 I cannot stop whilst millions are in an habitual state of famine 
 I and nakedness; whilst property, on that account, is insecure, 
 I and whilst capital and industry can find no resting place; 
 I you cannot stop whilst a quarter of a million of men are the 
 [ lords and masters of seven millions, and the exclusive pos¬ 
 sessors of honours and emoluments; you cannot stop until 
 the absurd, and preposterous, and unjust system prevails of 
 compelling one class of religionists to bear almost exclu- 
 i sively the immense burthen of two Churches; you cannot 
 stop whilst these things remain undone: but only begin with 
 sincerity the work of reformation, and if a demagogue or 
 agitator interrupt you, however slowly you proceed, there is 
 not a nation on the earth will be so quick or zealous in 
 coming to the support of its Government, as Ireland will be 
 ini giving her best assistance to your endeavours.’' 
 
 ON THE DISFRANCHISEMENT OF THE FORTY 
 SHILLING FREEHOLDERS, 
 
 In his tenth letter he enters at length against the diminu¬ 
 tion of the Elective Franchise: he says:— 
 
 “ But if there be one measure more than another calcu¬ 
 lated to seal the doom of Ireland, to eradicate from her soil 
 the veiy seeds of freedom, and to insure for ever her degra¬ 
 dation, that measure is, in my opinion, the disfranchisement 
 of the forty shilling freeholders ! 
 
 “ It is the natural right of man—a right interwoven with 
 the essence of our constitution, and producing, as its neces¬ 
 sary effect, the House of Commons, that a man who has life, 
 liberty, and property, should have some share or influence 
 in the disposal of them by law. Take the elective franchise 
 from the Irish peasant, and you not only strip him of the 
 present reality, or appearance of this right, but you disable 
 him and his posterity ever to acquire it. He is now poor 
 and oppressed, you then make him vile and contemptible; 
 he is now the image of a freeman, he will be then the very 
 essence of a slave; he has now a hope that, should his 
 country improve, he may one day raise his voice on the hus- 
 
152 
 
 LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 tings, and plead the cause of all who belong to his class of 
 life, whilst he proclaims the virtue of the candidate whom he 
 supports, or upbraids the recreant who betrays the public 
 trust: but take from him his freehold, and you cast him out 
 of the constitution. Like the Helot at Athens, lie may go to 
 the forum and gaze at the election, and then return to hew 
 his wood or fetch his water to the freeman, an inhabitant, 
 but not a citizen of the country which gave him birth. 
 
 “ Why do we decry, and so justly, these despotic govern¬ 
 ments which depress the energies, debase the faculties, and 
 break down the health and vigour of the human race ? Why 
 do we preach up to kings and states the justice and ne¬ 
 cessity of giving constitutions to their subjects ? What do 
 we mean by the lectures we read them, if it be not to admit 
 those who constitute the community, and bear the burthens 
 of the State, to have some actual or virtual share in the 
 making and administering of the laws under which they are 
 to live ? Are they absolute monarchies we wish them to 
 establish ? No: these are blessings which they already en¬ 
 joy. Are they republics we recommend them to adopt ? 
 Ah, no : we wish these to flourish only beyond the Atlantic. 
 Do we submit to them whether an aristocracy or an oligar¬ 
 chy be not desirable ? Of these we are so enamoured that I 
 believe we would not be disposed to infringe on such nations 
 as enjoy a monopoly of this species of government. What 
 is it then that we so forcibly and frequently recommend ? 
 We want these foreign governments to admit some little 
 tincture of democracy, to let in on the inert pool of wealth 
 and the indolence of hereditary wisdom even a little acid ex¬ 
 tracted from the people. 
 
 “ The taking away a vote is the taking away a shield 
 which the subject has, not only against the oppression of 
 power, but that worst of all oppression, the persecution of 
 private society and private manners. 
 
 “ But the present system produces perjury and immoral¬ 
 ity. It does; and there is no man in Ireland laments these 
 evils more than I do; but are they to be removed by redu¬ 
 cing still more the Irish peasant in the scale of political ex¬ 
 istence ?—by increasing to an incredible extent, the number 
 of paupers ?—by throwing the famished population into the 
 
1IFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 153 
 
 ranks of Captain Rock ?—by multiplying house-burnings, 
 assassinations, murders, robberies 1 —by raising up a class of 
 heartless unrelenting middlemen ?—by scourging the poor, 
 not with rods, but with scorpions ? Are there no remedies 
 for the evils of the country, unless, such as have a manifest 
 tendency to multiply and aggravate those which exist ? Is 
 there not in the heart of a freeman something which would 
 make him revolt from the idea of robbing of their birthright 
 half a million of subjects, and plunging so many men who 
 have still a hope of improvement, into a state of irremedi¬ 
 able servitude— of hopeless despair, blotting their names 
 for ever from the book of the constitution ? 
 
 “ They already have power, and it is the very exercise of 
 this power which has contributed to raise an outcry against 
 them. It is a power at present only in its bud; every friend 
 of civil liberty should shield it from the blast which might 
 now destroy it; he should protect it with all his might, as 
 the very palladium of Irish rights; and the Englishman 
 who does not wish to see all hope of improvement in the 
 state of the representation of his own country cut off, should 
 rally round the weak and defenceless freeholders of Ireland. 
 If they be sacrificed to the ambition or selfishness of the Bri¬ 
 tish aristocracy, or to the vengeance of the Irish Orangemen, 
 the cause of civil liberty throughout the empire will receive 
 the deepest wound which has been inflicted on her for a 
 century,—a wound from which perhaps she may not reco¬ 
 ver. 
 
 “ But if to remedy those evils you disfranchise the mise¬ 
 rable serf, you thereby directly decree his expulsion from 
 the wretched hovel of his fathers, to make room for some 
 more solvent or improving tenant, who will unite in one the 
 several holdings of the then deserted village. But what will 
 become of the population thus ejected and abandoned ? Are 
 they, with their wives and children, to die upon the scaffold, 
 or perish on the highways ? Is the legislature to become in¬ 
 sensible to the cries of humanity, or will it pass an act to 
 depopulate the country, or to fill it with rivers of blood ? I 
 should hope not. I should expect, that if it were resolved 
 to pluck up the root of our liberties, some mode of doing it 
 would be devised other than that of disfranchisement. 
 
154 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 “ I should rather suffer injustice and wrong than be the 
 dupe of any man ; the former might be inflicted on me by 
 force, but to the latter I would myself become a party; and 
 a feeling of wounded pride at being overreached by my ad¬ 
 versary would be the most bitter ingredient in the cup of my 
 affliction. No ! I would expect that if it were proposed to 
 the Catholics to barter the elective franchise for emancipation, 
 that they would indignantly reject the unworthy compromise. 
 I do hope they are intelligent, and can see that this franchise 
 is the germ of Ireland’s greatness ; that they are generous, 
 and will not betray the interests of their fellow-subjects with 
 their own; that they are patient, and will labour for the at¬ 
 tainment of all their rights; and that they will transmit to 
 their posterity the best blessing bestowed on them by a gra¬ 
 cious monarch, and by those great men of their own country, 
 who by their labours, as memorable as their patriotism and 
 talents, raised their helpless brethren from a state of abject 
 servitude, to a position from which they can at least descry 
 the temple of the constitution. 
 
 “ I have the honour to be, 
 
 “ Dear Sir, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 u J. K. L.” 
 
 ON A LEGAL PROVISION FOR THE IRISH 
 
 POOR. 
 
 In his eleventh letter he says:— 
 
 u I feel whilst writing these letters that I, without com¬ 
 paring myself with the great man now mentioned, owe to 
 you and to the public a justification of my own conduct in 
 discussing at such length questions foreign to my profession, 
 and in which it might appear unseemly that I should be en¬ 
 gaged ; but besides that, in the several letters which I have 
 written, but especially in this, I am labouring as the advo¬ 
 cate of the poor, of the unprotected, and of the distressed; 
 I can ask with Cicero, how could I fail to be interested in 
 the general agitation of religious and political, civil and 
 ecclesiastical interests ; or how could I be insensible to the 
 general impulse of our nature ? St. Paul himself exclaims, 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 155 
 
 * Quis infirmatur et ego non infirmor , quis scandilizalur et 
 ego non uror. f In every nation a clergyman is separated 
 from society only that he may labour the more efficiently for 
 his fellow-men, and his duty of administering to their tem¬ 
 poral wants is not less pressing than that of devoting him¬ 
 self to their spiritual concerns. The one ought to be done 
 by him, and the other ought not to be neglected. There are 
 times and circumstances when he is justified—nay, when he 
 is obliged to mix with his fellow-countrymen, and to suspend 
 his clerical functions whilst he discharges those of a mem¬ 
 ber of society. I myself have once been placed in such cir¬ 
 cumstances, and devoted many a laborious hour to the 
 service of a people engaged in the defence of their rights 
 and liberties ! The clerical profession exalts and strength¬ 
 ens the natural obligation we are all under of labouring for 
 our country’s welfare; and the priests and prophets of the 
 old law have not only announced and administered the de¬ 
 crees of heaven, but have aided by their counsel and their 
 conduct the society to which providence attached them. In 
 the Christian dispensation priests and bishops have greatly 
 contributed to the civilization and improvement of mankind : 
 they have restrained ambition, they have checked turbulence, 
 they have enlightened the councils of kings, and infused 
 their own wisdom into laws and public institutions. Arts 
 and sciences are their debtors; history and jurisprudence have 
 been cultivated by them. They have been the teachers of 
 mankind, and have alone been able to check the insolence of 
 power, or plead before it the cause of the oppressed. 
 
 “ In contemplating man unconnected by any social agree¬ 
 ment with his fellow-men, we behold him a sovereign in his 
 own family; the prince, the priest, the legislator, and the 
 judge of his own household. This view, presented by rea¬ 
 son, is like to that furnished to us by divine revelation. In 
 such a state, the head of a family would be a monster did 
 he not provide for such of his children or dependants as hap¬ 
 pened, through any dispensation of Providence, to be unable, 
 to provide for themselves. 
 
 “ It has been often asserted that the poor have a strict right, 
 to be supported, whether by their own industry or at the ex¬ 
 pense of those who hold in property the entire goods of the 
 
156 
 
 LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 community. This is my opinion also; but I doubt whether 
 I arrive at this conclusion by the same reasoning which 
 other men adopt. I feel that it is not only a dangerous, but 
 also an unsound doctrine, to tell the poor man that he has 
 in any case a right to his neighbour’s property, because this 
 announcement induces him to believe that his right is 
 founded, not on distributive, but on commutative justice; 
 it thereby encourages him to commit theft, and to do so in 
 circumstances condemned .by the law, and not justified by 
 natural equity. He has, in my opinion, a right to his sup¬ 
 port, but it is one which, as a general rule, it may be said it 
 is never lawful for him to enforce. He has a right to get, 
 but not to take ; a right to be supported, but not a right to 
 extort his support. His right is founded on the obligation 
 his richer neighbour is under of supplying his great or ex¬ 
 treme want. Si non pavisti occidisti —‘ If thou hast not fed 
 the poor man thou hast murdered him,’ is a saying conse¬ 
 crated by a usage of 1400 years; it was addressed by St. 
 Ambrose to individuals, but it applies not only to them, but 
 also to the State; and if the heads of the community omit, 
 when necessary, to provide for the poor, we may address 
 them, saying: ‘ Si non pavisti occidisti.’ The care of the lives 
 and well-being, as to food and raiment, of each member of 
 the community, is perhaps the first obligation of those who 
 are charged with the care of it; it is not less sacred or less 
 binding than that of waging war in self-defence; for this 
 duty arises only because men have a right to preserve their 
 personal and social existence, and the person or persons 
 whom they may have placed at their head is bound to pre¬ 
 serve this existence by waging necessary wars : but if this 
 existence be endangered or wasted in the persons of the poor, 
 he who should arm the community to defend them if at¬ 
 tacked by enemies, should assess this same community, if 
 necessary to do so, in order to preserve their health or their 
 lives 
 
 i “ The clergy of the Catholic Church have been accused 
 of many faults; but in no nation or at no time, not even by 
 the writers of the reign of Henry the "Eighth, have they been 
 charged with betraying this sacred trust, or embezzling the 
 property of the poor. In Ireland, above all, Where their 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 157 
 
 possessions were immense, their hearts were never corrupted 
 Dy riches; and whether during the incursions of the Deans, 
 or the civil wars, or foreign invasions, which desolated the 
 country, they were the clergy who repaired the ravages that 
 were committed, rebuilt cities and churches, restored the 
 fallen seats of literature, gave solemnity to the divine wor¬ 
 ship, and opened numberless asylums for the poor. Whilst 
 Ireland, though a prey to many evils, was blessed with such 
 a clergy, her poor required no extraordinary aid; the hea¬ 
 venly virtue of charity was seen to walk unmolested over 
 the ruins of towns and cities, to collect the wanderer,-to 
 shelter the houseless, to support the infirm, to clothe the na¬ 
 ked, and to minister to every species of human distress; 
 but \fuii Ilium et ingens gloria Dardanidum P When the 
 ancient religion was expelled from her possessions, and ano¬ 
 ther inducted in her place, the church, and the hospital, and 
 the cabin of the destitute, became alike deserted, or fell into 
 utter ruin. This change, with the others which accompa¬ 
 nied or followed after it in Ireland, threw back all our social 
 and religious institutions into what is generally called a state 
 i of nature—a state such as Hobbes describes it, in which 
 ! men are always arming or engaged in war. Clergymen (so 
 called) still appeared amongst their fellow-men, but they 
 were no longer ‘ of the seed of those by whom salvation had 
 been wrought in Israelthey did not consider it a portion 
 of their duty to be employed in works of mercy, or to de¬ 
 vote the property which had passed into their hands to those 
 sacred purposes for which it was originally destined. They 
 were, like the generality of mankind, solely intent on indi¬ 
 vidual gain, or the support or aggrandizement of their fami¬ 
 lies, but totally regardless of those sublime virtues or exalted 
 f charities which the gospel recommends. They found them¬ 
 selves vested with a title to the property of the poor; they 
 did not stop to inquire whether they held it in trust; there 
 was no friend to humanity who would impeach them for 
 abuse, and they appropriated all, every thing to which they 
 could extend their rapacious grasp. The churches were 
 suffered to decay, anu the spacious cloister or towering dome 
 tlirough which the voice of prayer once resounded, became 
 for a while the resort of owls and bats, till time rased their 
 
158 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 foundations, and mixed up their ruins with the dust. The 
 poor were cast out into the wilderness, and left, like Ismael, 
 to die; whilst Ireland, like the afflicted mother of the re¬ 
 jected child, cast her last sad looks towards them, and then 
 left them to perish. These men ‘ ate the milk, and clothed 
 themselves with the wool, and killed that which was fat; 
 but the flock they did not feed, the weak they did not 
 strengthen, and that which was sick they did not heal, nei¬ 
 ther did they seek for that which was lost; but they ruled 
 over them with rigour and with a higli hand V They could 
 not be blamed ; they had a title and a calling different from 
 their predecessors; and the State, from which they derived 
 their commission, could not infuse into them virtues which 
 can only emanate from Christ. 
 
 a The evidence already given to parliament shows that the 
 average wages of a labouring man in Ireland (and a great 
 mass of the poor are labourers) is worth scarcely three¬ 
 pence a day !! Three-pence a day for such as obtain em¬ 
 ployment, whilst in a family where one or two persons are 
 employed, there maybe four,perhaps six others,dependant 
 on these two for their support. Good God! an entire family to 
 be lodged, clothed, fed, on three-pence a day ! less than 
 the average price of a single stone of potatoes; equal only 
 to the value of a single quart of oatmeal 1 What farther il¬ 
 lustration can be required ? why refer to the nakedness—to 
 the hunger of individuals ? why speak of parishes receiving 
 extreme unction before they expired of hunger? why be sur¬ 
 prised at men feeding on manure ?—of contending with the 
 cattle about the weeds ?—of being lodged in huts, and sleep¬ 
 ing on the clay ?—of being destitute of energy, of education, 
 of the virtues or qualities of the children of men ? Is it not 
 clear, is it not evident, that the great mass of the poor are 
 in a state of habitual famine, the prey of every mental and 
 bodily disease ? Why are we surprised at the spectres who 
 haunt our dwellings, whose tales of distress rend our hearts 
 —at the distracted air and incoherent language of the 
 wretched father who starts from the presence of his famished 
 wife and children, and gives vent abroad in disjointed sounds 
 to the agony of his soul ? How often have I met and la¬ 
 boured to console such a father: how often have I en- 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 159 
 
 deavoured to justify to him the ways of Providence and 
 check the blasphemy against heaven which was already 
 seated on his tongue! How often have I seen the visage of 
 the youth, which should be red with vigour, pale and ema¬ 
 ciated ; and the man who had scarcely seen his fortieth year 
 withered like the autumn leaf, and his face furrowed with the 
 wrinkles of old age ! How often has the virgin, pure and 
 spotless as the snow of heaven, detailed to me the miseries 
 of her family, her own destitution, and sought through the 
 ministry of Christ for some supernatural support, whereby 
 to resist the allurements of the seducer, and to preserve 
 untainted the dearest virtue of her soul! But above all 
 how often have I viewed with my eyes in the person of the 
 wife and of the widow, of the aged and- the orphan, the ag¬ 
 gregate of all the misery which it was possible for human 
 nature to sustain 1 and how often have these persons disap¬ 
 peared from my eyes, returned to their wretched abode, and 
 closed in the cold embrace of death their lives and their mis¬ 
 fortunes ! What light can be shed on the distresses of the 
 Irish poor by statements of facts, when their notoriety and 
 extent are known throughout the earth. 
 
 “ But Ireland, always unhappy—always oppressed, is re¬ 
 viled when she complains, is persecuted when she struggles; 
 her evils are suffered to corrode her, and her wrongs are 
 never to be redressed! We look to her pastures, and they 
 teem with milk and fatness ; to her fields, and they are co¬ 
 vered with bread; to her flocks, and they are numerous as 
 the bees which encircle the hive; to her ports, they are safe 
 and spacious ; to her rivers, they are deep and navigable; 
 to her inhabitants, they are industrious, brave, and intelli¬ 
 gent as any people on earth; to her position on the globe, 
 and she seems to be intended as the emporium of wealth, 
 as the mart of universal commerce ; and yet, * *. * ■ * 
 but no, we will not state the causes, they are obvious to the 
 sight and to the touch ; it is enough that the mass of her 
 children are the most wretched of any civilized people on 
 the globe." 
 
160 
 
 LIFE OF Dlt. DOYLE. 
 
 THE SUBJECT OF THE FOREGOING LETTER 
 
 CONTINUED. 
 
 In his twelfth letter he says :— 
 
 “ Would it then, let me ask, be an additional burthen, or 
 rather would it not be an equitable distribution of the pre¬ 
 sent burthen, to assess by law, and according to a well-dL 
 gested system, those very sums which are now extorted by 
 the cry of distress from the charitable and humane, whilst 
 those who should in justice be the most generous are totally 
 exempt from the common contribution ? 
 
 “ But admitting that at all times, and in all places, an ad¬ 
 ditional burthen is imposed on property; besides, that the 
 laws of nature and of God ordain that the distressed mem¬ 
 bers of the community should be supported by those who 
 possess abundance, will the introduction of poor’s rates be 
 productive of no social advantages ? Is it no advantage to 
 a nation to redeem its character, and save thousands of its 
 inhabitants from death by famine? Is it no advantage to 
 raise the character of the lowest class in the community to 
 some sensible degree in the scale of existence ? Is it no ad¬ 
 vantage to rescue the virgin from prostitution—the parent 
 from despair ? Is it no advantage to prolong the life of our 
 fellow-creature to the term fixed for it by Almighty God ? 
 Is it no advantage to turn away the child from theft, from 
 lies, from disobedience, from deceit ? Is it no advantage to 
 purify from filth and rottenness the dwellings, the board, the 
 bed of the Irish pauper ? Is it no advantage to enable even 
 the dregs of the people to acquire some education, so as to 
 enable them to discern between vice and virtue ? Is it no 
 advantage to point out to the starving labourer or artizan 
 some resource in the hour of need, to turn him away from 
 that rapine, violence, and murder, in which distress has 
 prompted him but too often to engage ? Are these no ad¬ 
 vantages ? And if they be, are they not worth being pur¬ 
 chased at some expense ?—do they not deserve that we 
 should make soipe sacrifice to obtain them, even though 
 such sacrifice were not commanded both by justice and 
 religion ?” 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 161 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 dr. doyle’s evidence before parliamentary com¬ 
 mittees. 
 
 ** Dupe to no party, and no slave to fear— 
 
 In sentence candid ; yet in judgment clear.'* 
 
 Dr. Doyle had evinced such an uncommon knowledge 
 of all things connected with the religious and political state 
 of Ireland, that in March, 1825, he was summoned, with 
 the Most Rev. Dr. Curtis, Most Rev. Dr. Murray, Most 
 Rev. Dr. Kelly, and Right. Rev. Dr. Magauran, to give 
 evidence before the Lords and Commons, in committee, ou 
 those subjects. 
 
 On the 7th March, in that year, Dr. Doyle left Carlow 
 to proceed to England, and he and the other prelates ar¬ 
 rived in London on the 13th of the same month. It is 
 important to bear those dates in mind, as Mr. O’Con¬ 
 nell subsequently stated in the hurry of his speech, at St* 
 Audeon’s, that his proposition for the pensioning of tht 
 clergy, and the disfranchising of the forty-shilling freehold¬ 
 ers, had received the sanction of the prelates, although Mr. 
 O’Connell’s evidence in which he proposed those measures, 
 took place on the 25th February, and on the 1st, 4th, and 
 11th of March, and entirely terminated before the arrival of 
 the prelates in London; nay, although Mr. O’Connell in pro¬ 
 posing those measures, in his evidence, expressly stated that 
 he had no communication whatever with the Catholic 
 clergy on the subject! 
 
 The evidence of Dr. Doyle had a powerful effect in dis¬ 
 abusing the English mind of preconceived erroneous opi¬ 
 nions and deep-rooted prejudices on the Catholic religion, 
 and on the condition of the Irish people. The tone and 
 manner in which it was delivered excited astonishment.— 
 With a self-possession, dignity of character, and clearness 
 of judgment, perhaps never evinced before, Dr. Doyle 
 added such a love of truth, and withal such a respect for the 
 
169 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE> 
 
 judgment of others, that he made an impression on even the 
 minds of the highest intolerants, which all their bigotry could 1 
 not remove. Among others, the celebrated Mr. Brownlow, , 
 and Mr. Dawson, from being violent opponents of the Ca¬ 
 tholic claims, by this evidence, as they themselves admitted, 
 became their warmest supporters. Even the Duke of f 
 Wellington, and the Honorable Sir Robert Peel, from their 
 subsequent conduct in carrying emancipation, gave proofs,,, 
 that the most malignant enemies of Catholics were not 
 insensible of the power, argument, and persuasion of her t 
 talented advocate. “ Fortunately, says one (although a Pro- • 
 testant, always his admirer,) for the fame of this illustrious ; 
 bishop, the chiefs of the land have had an opportunity— 
 including the leading bishops of the establishment, of listen- • 
 ing to Dr. Doyle, when under the ordeal of a hostile and 1 
 what was intended to be an acrimonious and insulting ex¬ 
 amination before the committee of both Houses of Parlia- ■ 
 ment.” We might appeal to more than one noble lord, to ! ) 
 more than one Protestant bishop, and to many members i 
 of the House of Commons, as to the bearing of the learned i 
 prelate, the mastery of his subject, aud the domination which 
 in a short space he assumed, and maintained to the last over 
 his interrogators. The impression he left upon the memory 
 of those who heard him will not be very soon obliterated. 
 It is recorded in the books of Parliament, and we happen 
 to know, that the evidence is just given as spoken,.for being 
 ourselves in London during part of the time, and urging 
 Dr. Doyle, as we remember, to revise the minutes of his evi¬ 
 dence before it went to press, he declined with a laugh, 
 saying, that he did not much care about the graces of style, 
 provided the short-hand writer gave his sense; “ and yet, 
 upon reading these examinations, one is not more stiuck 
 with the extensive knowledge and power of argument which 
 they display, than with the propriety, the pointedness, and 
 felicity of their diction." (Evening Post , June 17th, 1834.) 
 This evidence is so long, and on so many subjects, political 
 and religious, that it would require more space than this 
 entire book affords to give it all, we must therefore be con¬ 
 tent to give a few passages, and refer those who wish for 
 more information, either to the authorised folio parliamen- 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE 
 
 163 
 
 tary copy, or to its digest published at the time by Andrews 
 of London. 
 
 "You are the Roman Catholic Bishop of Kildare and 
 Leighlin ?—I am. 
 
 “ According to the principles which govern the Roman 
 Catholic Church in Ireland, has the Pope any authority to 
 issue commands, ordinances, or injunctions, general or spe¬ 
 cial, without the consent of the King ?—He has. 
 
 “ If he should issue such orders, are the subjects of his 
 Majesty, particularly the clergy, bound to obey them ? The 
 orders which he has a right to issue must regard things that 
 are of a spiritual nature; and when his commands regard 
 such things, the clergy are bound to obey them. 
 
 " Does it not happen frequently, that there is such an in¬ 
 termixture of spiritual and temporal power in such cases, 
 that it is very difficult to know where the spiritual power 
 ends, and where the temporal power begins ?—Such difficul¬ 
 ties have occurred from time to time; but I conceive that at 
 present, and even for some centuries past, the limits between 
 the temporal and spiritual things which such commands of 
 the Pope might affect, are so well ascertained, that no mis¬ 
 take could, morally speaking, possibly at present occur. 
 
 “ Is the authority of the Pope, in spiritual matters, abso¬ 
 lute or litnited ?—It is limited. 
 
 “ Is it limited by the authority of councils ?—It is limited 
 by decrees of councils already past ; it is limited by usage, 
 also, in this respect—that when he directs any decree res¬ 
 pecting local discipline, to any nation whatsoever, beyond 
 the limits of his own territory, (I mean by his own territory, 
 what is called the patrimony of St. Peter, or the Papal states,) 
 the assent of the bishops of such country is necessary, in 
 order that his decree shall have effect. 
 
 " Would it be possible, according to the discipline of the 
 Roman Catholic church, to hold a council in ireland with¬ 
 out the consent of the Pope ?—It would be possible to hold 
 a council in Ireland without the consent or the knowledge 
 of the Pope; but such decrees of that council, if it were a 
 national, or even a provincial one, as would regard faith or 
 discipline, would not have force unless they were approved 
 or sanctioned, after they were passed here, by the Pope. 
 
164 
 
 LIKE OK DR. DOYLE. 
 
 But every bishop, within his own diocese, has the power of 
 holding a diocesan synod or council—the decrees of which 
 have force independent of the Pope, and without his being 
 made acquainted with them. 
 
 “ In the case of Catholic Emancipation being granted, 1 
 would the Catholic clergy feel any objection to an arrange¬ 
 ment being made, by which they might receive a salary for 
 the performance of their ecclesiastical duties ?—Upon that 
 subject I could not make known to the Committee the sen¬ 
 timents of the Clergy as a body, or even of many of them as: 
 individuals ; but 1 can tell what I think myself upon the 
 subject: I should be adverse to the receiving of any emo¬ 
 lument or compensation whatever from the crown; and I 
 should prefer receiving the slender support which I receive 
 at present from the people whom I serve. 
 
 “ What would be the nature of the claim, which, under 
 this arrangement, the coadjutor would have to succeed to 
 the vacant prelacy ?—He would succeed upon the demise of 
 the principal, as a matter of right, because the bull of his ap¬ 
 pointment to his coadjutorship would say : ‘ We appoint you 
 bishop of such a place, in partibus / as we call it (that is, 
 in some country where Christianity formerly flourished, but 
 where infidelity now prevails) cum jure successionis; so that 
 his election to the coadjutorship would secure to him the 
 succession, upon the demise of the person to whom he would 
 be appointed coadjutor. 
 
 “Are the coadjutors at present bishops in partibus Jide- 
 Hum? —They are, but with the right of succession. 
 
 “ Supposing after the election of a coadjutor, it should so 
 happen, in some individual case, that the coadjutor should 
 misconduct himself, and to such a degree that in the opinion 
 of the original electors he should be unfit for the prelacy, 
 would his right of succession still be absolute, or without 
 any control on their part ?—It would be without any con¬ 
 trol on their part, but if he committed a canonical fault he 
 could be tried for it, and be removed from his right of suc¬ 
 cession, as he could be removed from his see. 
 
 “ Where would the trial take place ?—The trial of a bishop 
 is one of the causa majores mentioned in the council of 
 Sardis, and should be referred to the See of Rome. That 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 165 
 
 )uncil was held some thirty or more years after the first 
 )uncil of Nice, and it decreed that the causa majores should 
 }t be definitely settled without the concurrence of the Pope, 
 henever such concurrence was thought necessary by any 
 ? the parties who happened to be aggrieved; those causa 
 ajores included oases where the faith was concerned or he- 
 sy broached, and also criminal accusations of bishops ; so 
 at when a bishop is accused of any crime, in the first case 
 he be a suffragan, the charge can be preferred before his 
 metropolitan; he can appeal from the metropolitan, formerly 
 i could make such appeal to the provincial council, but as 
 tw provincial councils are seldom or never held, he can 
 ipeal from the metropolitan directly to the Pope; and that 
 age has remained in the Catholic Church from the begin- 
 ig, and was decreed at Sardis, a little after the middle 
 the fourth century, and still holds good. 
 
 “ Then the evidence by which the person in that situation 
 >uld be affected, would be remitted from Ireland to Rome ? 
 Yes. 
 
 u Would the evidence be taken upon oath ?—The evi¬ 
 nce would be taken upon oath. 
 
 s “ Suppose a party summoned before the tribunal in the 
 fct instance, if it may be so called, the tribunal existing in 
 •land refused to take an oath, would the proceedings be 
 spended ?—In cases of that kind we have no remedy, we 
 : obliged to call in a magistrate, and request of him to 
 minister an oath to the witness whom we wish to examine, 
 !i when he has done so, the witness is interrogated either 
 ough the magistrate or by one of us. 
 
 How many parishes are there in your diocese ? Forty-two. 
 ?< How is the appointment to a Roman Catholic parish 
 anged?—When the incumbent dies, the bishop has the 
 .ver of appointing any priest of the diocese to succeed him 
 sve have two classes of clergymen, the one are the incum- 
 lts or parish priests, and the other the coadjutor or assist- 
 priests. When a parish becomes vacant, if it be a place 
 ere we wish a man of experience and information and 
 us habits of life to reside, and that we have not a person of 
 > description amongst the curates, we take him from some 
 er parish where he has shown himself to be possessed of 
 
166 
 
 LIFE OF OR. OGYL£. 
 
 those qualities, and we appoint him to the vacant living; 
 but if it be a parish where a person not specially gifted is 
 necessary, we take from amongst the curates some man 
 who has laboured for several years, and whose morals have 
 been good, and who has a capacity for giving instruction in 
 public, and place him there. ‘ But if a curate should at any 
 time have been immoral, or not be capable of preaching, we 
 leave him in the rank of curate all his lifetime. 
 
 “ Have you any idea of the actual number of parish priests, 
 and coadjutors in Ireland?—I believe the number of parish> 
 priests is about 1000, and, at an average, I should suppose: 
 that each of them has a coadjutor; in some parishes the 
 parish priest has no coadjutor, in others, the parish priest 
 may have two. 
 
 “ Are not the parishes in the Roman Catholic Church,! 
 generally speaking, the same as those in the Protestant ?— 
 I might say generally so, but not universally, by any means.: 
 
 "Are there various unions of parishes in the Catholic 
 Church ?—Yes. 
 
 “ You mentioned, that in filling up vacancies in parishes i 
 the bishops selected those of their diocese whom they* 
 thought the most deserving; do you mean to say they never 
 go out of the diocese to select ?—They have a power of 
 doing so, but I have not known any case wherein they have 
 exercised that power; I should not consider myself at 
 liberty to go out of the diocese where I live, because the! 
 clergymen officiating within the diocese consider, and I also 
 consider, that they have a right to such livings as may hap¬ 
 pen to become vacant; so that to bring in a stranger, and 
 exclude them, would in my mind be unjust. 
 
 “ Is there a chapter in your diocese ?—There is no chapter: 
 in my diocese. 
 
 “ Are there chapters in many of the Catholic dioceses ?— 
 There are. 
 
 “ Does the bishop name to the offices in the chapter ?— 
 To all offices except to that of dean. 
 
 “ Who names to that of dean ?—The Pope appoints to 
 the office of dean. 
 
 u Is not the office of dean attached to a particular parish 
 in the diocese ? Not attached to a particular parish generally. 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 167 
 
 u Have the bishops in Ireland, who are appointed by tlte 
 Pope after domestic nomination, been nominated in Ireland 
 by the chapter, or by the inferior clergy ?—In no case have 
 they been nominated or appointed by the chapter alone ; 
 bot they have in some cases been elected by chapters, and. 
 then they have been recommended by the metropolitan and 
 suffragan bishops of the province in which the vacancy ex¬ 
 isted.—In other cases, such persons have been elected by 
 the parish priests of the vacant diocese, and the metropoli¬ 
 tan and suffragan bishops concurred in the election; in 
 other places they have been elected by all the serving clergy 
 of the vacant diocese; and the person so elected by those 
 clergymen has afterwards been recommended by the bishops; 
 for instance, I was recommended to the see of Rome, by 
 the parish priests of the diocese in which I live, and by 
 the metropolitan and all his suffragans. 
 
 “ Do you mean the recommendation of the metropolitan 
 and all the suffragans followed the recommendation by the 
 parish priests ?—They happened in my case to be, as it were, 
 simultaneous; the metropolitan and suffragans resolved to 
 recommend me to the Pope, and this resolution they adopted 
 and signed ; but knowing that the clergy were about to as¬ 
 semble to elect a person, they kept the matter secret till 
 such election did take place; the clergy assembled, and 
 they also elected me; their instrument of election was 
 placed in the hands of the metropolitan, he transmitted it to 
 Rome, with that of himself and suffragans, and the appoint¬ 
 ment followed. 
 
 u In that respect you allude to, was not the power of the 
 court to interfere with the nomination of bishops recognized 
 as not inconsistent with the discipline of the Catholic 
 Church ?—It was recognized by a man who outstript his 
 authority, by this Quarantotti, who was incompetent to decide 
 upon a matter of so much moment; but though it had hap¬ 
 pened to have proceeded from higher authority in Rome, we 
 would have acted as we did, that is, the prelates would, for 
 I was not then a bishop; they would have remonstrated as 
 they did. 
 
 “How long have you been a bishop V —Unhappily too 
 long for my own peace : six years. 
 
168 
 
 LIFE OF PR. DOYLE. 
 
 “Are the committee to understand from you that this 
 rescript of Qarantotti’s did not come from the see of Rome ? 
 —It did come from the see of Rome, but the Pope of that 
 time was a prisoner in France, and he vested his spiritual 
 jurisdiction in several individuals in Rome, first in one, and 
 then provisionally in others; so that in case the first, second, , 
 and third happened to be removed by the French from Rome, 
 some person might remain to administer the affairs of the 
 church: the first individual, and I believe the second, who 
 were entitled to do so were removed by the French; this > 
 Quarantotti, who was an obscure individual at the time, . 
 happened to remain; he had those affairs, and began toj 
 exercise them, and not being at all acquainted with our r 
 affairs, gave this rescript upon an application being made i 
 to him by some interested person, and as soon as we ; 
 received it we protested against it. 
 
 u What are the different degrees m the Roman Catholic : 
 Church in Ireland ?—The degrees are, an archbishop, a 4 
 bishop, and where there is a chapter, it consists of a dean a 
 with some other dignitaries and prebends. 
 
 “ What other kind of dignitaries ?—Chancellors, precen¬ 
 tors, and soforth ; the same dignitaries precisely as those of f 
 the chapters of the establishment. Next come the parish, i 
 priests, and then their curates. Besides those, each bishqp j> 
 has one or two vicars general, and also as many rural deans i 
 as the necessity or extent of the diocese may seem to him to 
 require. 
 
 “ When crimes, such as murder or treason, are revealed in 
 confession, is the confessor bound not to disclose that ?—• 
 He is bound not to disclose it in any case whatever. 
 
 “ Has not such disclosure been allowed at Rome ?— 
 Never. 
 
 “ Not in the case of a conspiracy against the Pope ?—No. 
 That statement has been made. It is a matter which I have 
 taken pains to ascertain. 
 
 “ It is said by one Du Thou in his history, that it has 
 been allowed in France ?—I would no* believe, on the au- 
 thority of Du Thou, nor any authority whatever, that it could 
 have been allowed, for we hold universally in the Catholic 
 Church, that the revealing of any secrets confided to the 
 
i6d 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYT.K. 
 
 priests in confession is contrary to the law of nature and the 
 authority of God, in respect of which no Pope or Council 
 can dispense, or exercise any authority, unless to enforce 
 such law. 
 
 “ It must frequently occur, that a person comes before 
 the priest, who has been engaged in plans for doirfg mis¬ 
 chief, either public or private ; what is the uniform conduct 
 of the priests in your church, in such cases ?—Our uniform 
 conduct is to oblige such person to withdraw himself from 
 any wicked society of men with whom he may have been 
 connected; to make reparation to the full extent of his 
 power for all the injuries which were done by him, or by 
 the party with which he was associated. 
 
 ** In cases of mischief intended to be done, either to the 
 public, or to an individual, would not every priest of your 
 church feel it his bounden duty to prevent that mischief 
 being done, without disclosing the name of the individual, 
 by apprising either the state or the party to whom the mis- 
 hief is intended to be done ?—We can make no use of any. 
 nowledge derived from confession ; but it is uniformly our 
 ractice to dissuade the penitent from the intended crime; 
 nd I myself have frequently prevented the commission of 
 ischief, by obliging the person who felt compunction at 
 being concerned in plotting some evil, not at first to inform, 
 but to dissuade his companions from doing the intended 
 wrong; if he did not effectually succeed thus, then by 
 Dbliging him to warn the person concerned, of the danger. 
 Dr to give such information to him or to a magistrate, or 
 Dther proper authority, as would effectually prevent the in- 
 ended evil. 
 
 “ In the event of the introduction of any of those illegal 
 conspiracies into any part of the country, was not one of the 
 earliest signs of the existence of those disturbances the ab¬ 
 sence of the peasantry concerned in them from confession ? 
 —’Yes it was; the persons who entered into conspiracies of 
 that kind uniformly absented themselves from confession.— 
 Commons Committee, p. 196. 
 
 “ Will you have the goodness to explain what is meant by 
 the infallibility of the Pope ?—There are so many divines 
 who have written on that subject, and they have given such 
 
170 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 very long definitions of it, that I should do much better by 
 referring your Lordships to them than by giving a definition 
 myself. Melchior Cano has a long treatise on the infallibility 
 of the Pope. 
 
 “ Is the Pope’s authority received by the Irish Roman 
 Catholic Church as supreme, in matters of faith and morals ? 
 —We recognize him as the head of our ohurch, and, there¬ 
 fore give him the executive authority ; but that is limitted 
 by the sacred canons. He cannot create new articles of faith. 
 —Lords , Mar. 21, 1825. Report, p. 387. 
 
 <e Is the creed of Pius the Fourth the creed acknowledged 
 in the Irish Roman Catholic Church?—Yes; every Catho¬ 
 lic acknowledges that creed. 
 
 “ Does not the last article but one of that creed declare 
 every thing done in that council (of Trent ) binding ?—That 
 regards faith and not discipline.— Lords , Mar. 21, 1825. 
 
 “ When Roman Catholics are required to profess their 
 assent to all things declared and found in the canons of 
 councils, what councils are meant ?—The canons universally 
 received by the church, or such parts of them as are received 
 by the church. 
 
 “ The whole of some, and parts of others ?—Just so. 
 
 “ What is the most approved and authentic summary of 
 the creed of the Roman Catholic Ghurch ?—The most ap¬ 
 proved and authentic summary of the creed of the Roman 
 Catholic Church will be found in the decrees of the Council 
 of Trent, and in the profession of faith by Pius the Fourth, 
 and in what we call the Roman Catechism or the Cate¬ 
 chism of the Council of Trent. The latter work particularly, 
 is perhaps the most authentic summary, because in the Coun¬ 
 cil of Trent, many things are mixed up with the declarations 
 of faith ; whereas, the catechism of the council is confined 
 I believe, exclusively to matters of faith and morals.— 
 Lords, March 21, 1825. 
 
 “ If the Pope were to intermeddle with the rights of the 
 king, or with the allegiance which Catholics owe to the 
 king; what would be the consequence so far as the Catholic 
 clergy are concerned ?—The consequence would be, that we 
 should oppose him by every means in qur power, even by 
 the exercise of our spiritual authority. 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 171 
 
 * Jn what manner would you exercise that spiritual au¬ 
 thority ?—By preaching to the people, that 'their duty to 
 God as Catholics, required of them to oppose every person 
 who would interfere in any way with that right which the 
 law of nature and the positive law of God established in 
 their prince, a prince whom we as subjects were bound to 
 support; we would therefore exercise our spiritual autho¬ 
 rity, by preaching the gospel to the people, and by teaching 
 them to oppose the Pope, if he interfered with the tempo¬ 
 ral rights of our king.— Com. Mar. 18, 1825. Report, 
 p. 192. 
 
 “ Is there any distinction between the power of a vicar 
 apostolic and a Roman Catholic bishop, as to the power of 
 withholding the publication of any bull or rescript from the 
 See of Rome ?—I should think there is a material difference, 
 because the vicar apostolic depends, as to the existence of 
 his office, upon the will of the See of Rome, he can be 
 removed from it at the good pleasure of the Pope; the fa¬ 
 culties which he exercises can be restricted or limited, or 
 modified, just as the See of Rome m&y please. It is not so 
 with us bishops, we cannot be removed, we have a title to 
 our place; our rights are defined from the gospel, and from 
 the canon law, defined as well as those of the Pope himself; 
 we cannot be obliged to do any thing by the mere good will 
 or pleasure of the Pope.— Com. Mar. 18, 1825. p. 209. 
 
 “ By what authority are such decrees {of the Council of 
 Trent) received in some parts of Ireland, and not in others ? 
 —The mode of receiving the council is this; the bishops of 
 the province assemble, and deliberate whether the discipline 
 enacted at Trent would or would not be useful to their 
 church. If they think it useful, they immediately publish 
 a declaration, and cause it to be read by the parish priest in 
 each chapel, and thus the decrees of discipline become pub¬ 
 lished and have force. And if they think that such discipline 
 of the Council of Trent will not be useful to their church, 
 they separate and do nothing.— Lords, Mar. 21, 1825. 
 
 “ In the address of the Roman Catholic bishops to their 
 clergy, published at the end of last year, and to which your 
 name is affixed, it appears that you object to the possession 
 of the Bible by the Roman Catholic *aky; does that apply to 
 
172 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 the Bible attempted to be circulated by the Bible Society, or 
 does it equally apply to any other version of the Scriptures, 
 such as that called the Rheims, or Douay version ? 
 
 “ It applies to the version sought to be circulated by the 
 Bible Society amongst us, and not to the Rheimish or 
 Douay version, which is sanctioned by our prelates. That 
 we have no aversion to the reading of the Bible, and to the 
 possession of it by the laity of our Church, is best proved 
 by the great many editions it has gone through in Ireland, 
 under our express sanction, and to which editions there is ! 
 affixed a rescript of Pius the Sixth, directed to a prelate in j 
 Italy, called Martini, who had translated the Bible out of 
 the vulgate into the Italian language. We prefix this res¬ 
 cript of Pius the Sixth to our editions in English of the 
 Bible, in order to show, that not only we, but the head of 
 our church is joined with us in exhorting the faithful to read 
 the word of God. We have not only procured editions of 
 the Bible, I believe three by Coyne, two by O’Reilly, and . 
 one by Cross, (perhaps it is two), but this very year we 
 have procured a stereotype edition of the Bible, of a small 
 print and low price, to circulate among all; * so that of all 
 the things said of us, there is not any thing said of us more 
 opposed to truth, than that we are averse to the circulation 
 of the word of God.— Lords, Mar . 21, 1825. 
 
 “ Are the miracles of Prince Hohenlohe generally credited 
 in Ireland ?—I believe they are generally credited. 
 
 “ Are they considered by Roman Catholics as evidences 
 of divine favour towards that church ?—I was personally 
 concerned in one of them. I have considered that an instance 
 in which the Almighty was pleased to interfere, and show 
 his mercy to the individual who was afflicted. 
 
 Is it not likewise considered as a proof of the intention 
 of the Almighty to interfere for the recovery of the Roman , 
 Catholic Church from its present state of oppression ?—As 
 a proof that the Almighty has watched over a faithful mem¬ 
 ber of that church. 
 
 “ Have those miracles been acknowledged by the court 
 of Rome ?—The court of Rome has taken no cognizance of 
 them.— Lords, Mar. 21, 1825. Report, p. 398. 
 
 • Published by Coyne, and sold by the Catholic Book Society, at 8$. 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 173 
 
 u You conceive the principal source of the amelioration m 
 the condition of the poor of Ireland must be derived from 
 increased habits of industry?—I think so. 
 
 “ Are you to be understood, that you conceive that the 
 desirable result cannot be expected to take place, unless 
 what is generally called the Catholic question is settled ?— 
 I think, before God, it is utterly impossible.”— Lords , April 
 21, 1825. Report, p. 512. 
 
174 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 dr. doyle's return to Ireland in 1825. 
 
 w The justice of the righteous shall deliver them : and the unjust 
 shall be caught in their own snares.”—P kov. xi. 6. 
 
 Dr. Doyle, having with the other Catholic prelates, deli¬ 
 vered evidence before parliamentary committees, which pre¬ 
 viously entertained most erroneous notions of the Catholic 
 religion, and “ Catholic claims’'—in May, 1825, returned 
 to his native land! 
 
 Immediately after his return, various meetings were held 
 to congratulate him, on the support he had given to the 
 cause of religion and liberty. 
 
 In June, 1825, a public meeting was called in New 
 Ross, his native town, at which the clergy and laity unani¬ 
 mously passed a resolution of the warmest thanks to him. 
 
 The following are the address and answer on this oc¬ 
 casion 
 
 To the Right Reo. James Doyle , D. D. Catholic Bishop 
 of Kildare and Leighlin. 
 
 "We, the Catholic inhabitants of the town and the vicinity 
 of New Ross, impressed with the deepest feelings of vene¬ 
 ration and gratitude towards your Lordship, for the many 
 and great services you have rendered to our cause upon all 
 occasions, and more especially upon your late examination 
 before the committees of both houses of parliament, beg 
 leave to avail ourselves of the opportunity of your Lordship 
 being now here, (in your native county,) to express our 
 most warm esteem and admiration of the transcendent talent, 
 unbending integrity, and ardent zeal, so pre-eminently .dis¬ 
 played by your Lordship, on behalf of your afflicted country, 
 of which you are a distinguished ornament, and in support 
 of that persecuted religion of which you are the intrepid and 
 uncompromising defender. 
 
175 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 “ May your Lordship long live the ornament of your re¬ 
 ligion and country, and may prosperity appreciate the good 
 you have done, in the same degree as your name and your 
 fame are now so universally applauded.—Signed on behalf 
 of the meeting. 
 
 “ William Chapman, Chairman.” 
 
 His Lordship having been engaged during the evening 
 in visiting his friends, the deputation waited on him this 
 morning, to whom he was pleased to return the following 
 
 ANSWER. 
 
 “ Gentlemen, —The sentiments expressed in your address 
 are highly flattering to me. Your partiality for one born and 
 educated amongst you, has induced you to estimate, so 
 highly as you do, the services which I have endeavoured to 
 render to our common interests. 
 
 “ When called on by the committee of both houses of par¬ 
 liament to give evidence on the state of Ireland, I had only 
 to mention what I had touched and seen, and when interro¬ 
 gated on the doctrines and discipline of our Iloly Church, 
 which, like the character of an honest individual, are best 
 defended by inquiry, my duty and my only object were to 
 unfold to the view of others, those divine truths, and that 
 salutary practice which are known to Catholics of almost 
 every description. 
 
 “ Our country continues afflicted; our religion, if not per¬ 
 secuted, is grievously oppressed in the persons of those 
 who profess it. The union of Irishmen of all classes can 
 alone rescue us from this thraldom, and make us all equal 
 before the laws. 
 
 ** It is our duty, therefore, to study concord, to cherish 
 conciliation, to be firm, temperate, as well as submissive 
 to the laws; and when, in the fulness of time, (and, perhaps 
 It is nearly filled) British interest and British justice, which 
 is now awakened, will combine with the undivided exertions 
 of Irishmen, the empire will be saved from the disasters 
 which an unjust and short-sighted policy would bring upon 
 
 1 
 
176 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 it, and our efforts to recover our constitutional rights, and the 
 rights of concience, be crowned with success. 
 
 “ Gentlemen, whilst I may continue in this life, I hope to 
 have no views before me but ‘ God and my country/ No 
 interest, fear or hope, can, with the divine aid, ever prevent 
 me from discharging the duties which I owe to both; and 
 I shall always deem it a high honour, as well as a great re¬ 
 ward, to possess the esteem, and deserve the approbation, 
 of any portion of the inhabitants of this virtuous and high- 
 spirited county. 
 
 “ Be pleased, gentlemen, to accept the expression of my 
 affection and most sincere gratitude, and to convey it also 
 to such of our townsmen as are not now present, and who 
 have concurred in honouring me with this address.' 
 
 “ I have the honour to be, gentlemen, with sincere regard, 
 your obedient servant, 
 
 “ James Doyle, D. D. See." 
 
 “ Ross,' June 23, 1825." 
 
 In a few days afterwards, the Catholic clergy of the en¬ 
 tire diocese of Kildare and Leighliu, assembled and pre¬ 
 sented the following address to that profound scholar, zealous 
 bishop, consistent politician, and most disinterested man. 
 
 • -h 
 
 To the Right Rev. James Doyle, Bishop of Kildare and 
 
 Leighlin. 
 
 €t My Lord —It is now more than six years since the clergy 
 of Kiidare and Leighlin gave the strongest proof of their 
 admiration of your talents, and their reverence for your many 
 virtues, by selecting you as their bishop, and since that time 
 the intercourse which they have had with your lordship has 
 powerfully contributed to increase their respect and to 
 strengthen their attachment. The unwearied zeal which 
 you have exhibited in the work of the ministry—the power¬ 
 ful talent and extensive learning which have distinguished 
 you as a preacher and writer, and the apostolic disinterested¬ 
 ness and contempt for the things of this world, which have 
 uniformly marked your conduct, have all combined to render 
 
LTFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 177 
 
 your character beloved and revered by all who know you, 
 but particularly by the clergy and people of these dioceses. 
 The perfect spirit of a Christian pastor, which has caused 
 you to resign every thing in this world, in order to devote 
 your whole existence to the glory of God and the servioe of 
 religion amongst us, has long since filled the hearts of your 
 clergy with sentiments of veneration and affection, to the 
 expression of which no words could do justice. 
 
 u Fortunately for the Church of Ireland, your Lordship has 
 been lately called upon to answer for your religion and your 
 country before the highest tribunals of the empire. We do 
 not think it necessary to describe the evidence which you 
 gave and the light which you diffused on that memorable oc¬ 
 casion, because the whole kingdom has already stamped it 
 with the seal of their admiration and approval; but we do 
 think, that those who have the good fortune to be placed un¬ 
 der your Lordship’s jurisdiction, and who have more than 
 all others reaped the fruit of your labours, are called upon 
 to give some permanent mark of their affectionate regard. 
 It is, my Lord, necessary to let posterity know with what 
 feelings you were regarded by those whom God has commit¬ 
 ted to your charge. 
 
 “ A meeting of your Lordship’s parochial clergy was held 
 on this day, and it was unanimously resolved, * That anxious 
 to signify to our revered prelate, the Right Rev. Doctor 
 Doyle, the sincerity of our attachment and gratitude, we do 
 forthwith institute a subscription in order to procure for him 
 such a residence as will fix the attention of posterity on the 
 period and on the Prelate.’ The numerous disadvantages 
 of your present abode would at all events have rendered 
 some change necessary; and we considered that the most 
 proper means of giving expression to our feelings would be 
 by procuring a residence, which while it is absolutely ne¬ 
 cessary for your Lordship, will be hereafter a permanent 
 advantage to the diocese, and will serve to remind future 
 bishops of your eminent virtues and of our grateful affec¬ 
 tion. 
 
 « We trust our Resolution will be acceptable to your Lord- 
 ship, and that you will receive it as a testimony of our pro¬ 
 found respect and unalterable attachment. We earnestly 
 
178 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 pray that the same Bountiful Providence which has placed 
 you over us will preserve and prolong that valuable life which 
 is so necessary for the improvement and happiness of your 
 Lordship’s children in Christ. 
 
 “ Signed in behalf of the meeting, 
 
 “ Michael Prendergast, V. G. Chairman.” 
 
 REPLY, J 
 
 “Very Rev. and dearly beloved Brethren.— Your r 
 presence and your address, unexpected at this close of our r 
 religious exercises, have greatly affected me. You have 2 
 brought to my recollection the period when your partiality j 
 contributed to impose upon me a burden to be dreaded, as j 
 the Spirit of Truth declares in the S. Council of Trent, even i 
 by an Angel. That zeal for the House of God, that emi- • 
 nent piety and disinterestedness which then prompted you u 
 to select for recommendation to the Holy See, the person n 
 whom you consider most worthy to preside in these ancient it 
 and venerable churches, caused you to prefer to clergymen 11 
 distinguished for every virtue, a stranger who had been but nt 
 a few years resident amongst you, and whose faults and jd 
 infirmities, on account of the seclusion in which he had d 
 lived, were hidden from you. 
 
 “ Your wishes, beloved brethren, were fulfilled, and I sub- > 
 mitted to a yoke, which if I rejected, I feared I might op- - 
 pose the will of heaven. In seeking to discharge the duties s 
 imposed upon me, I have not, through the grace of God, I, 
 yielded to flesh and blood; nor have I made my life more e 
 precious than my soul, provided I could finish my course e 
 and the ministry of the word, which, through the successor 
 of Peter, I have received from the Lord Jesus. In feeding 
 the flock of Christ confided to me, your faith, your patience, 
 your labours, your example, have excited me to do so, not 
 by constraint, but willingly—not for filthy lucre’s sake, but 
 voluntarily—not as lording it over God's inheritance, but 
 seeking, through his aid, to be a pattern to the flock from 
 his heart. 
 
 You have referred to a late occasion, when I was called 
 upon to give evidence, a portion of which related to the 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 179 
 
 doctrines and discipline of our church. I should repute 
 myself happy, if I were made the occasion of refuting some 
 ! portion of the calumnies—any part of the foul misrepresen¬ 
 tations, which commencing in crime, supported by power, 
 upheld by pride, by self-interest, and a wilful opposition to 
 the known truth, have continued for three centuries to keep a 
 fine people—a great nation estranged from the Faith ; and 
 our church and our country obscured, persecuted, divided, 
 and oppressed. 
 
 “The intention you have expressed, Dear and Very Rev. 
 Brethren, of providing a suitable residence' for me and my 
 successors, is worthy of you, and of these dioceses so dear 
 to my heart. Were I the sole object of the generous offer¬ 
 ing you propose to make, I should undoubtedly decline ac¬ 
 cepting of it, for my soul abhors gifts, and I desire not to 
 have here a lasting abode. I rather look in hope for one 
 that is to come, but I shall view with pleasure such a record 
 of your zeal for religion, and of your attachment to your 
 bishop, that the world may know that we are His disciples, 
 whose last and best commandment was, that we would 
 love one another—that we would be One in mind and in 
 affection, as He and his Father are one in nature, and in 
 >ubstance. 
 
 “You desire for me, beloved Brethren, length of days. 
 Length of days is not computed by the number of our years; 
 we may in a short time fill up many of them by holiness of 
 life; it is this you pray for, and in your prayer I earnestly 
 :onchr; but whether the days of my pilgrimage be short¬ 
 ened or prolonged, they will, through the grace of our 
 Redeemer, continue to be devoted to the advancement of 
 God’s glory, of the interests of religion, and, in seeking to 
 oromote your spiritual welfare, your honour and your peace, 
 is well as the happiness and welfare of that numerous 
 >eople, whom, the Holy Ghost has committed to our com- 
 non care. 
 
 “ Very Rev. and Rev. Brethren, accept my best thanks ; 
 md believe me your ever devoted servant in Christ Jesus, 
 
 “James Doyle.” 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 180 
 
 .A 
 
 In a very short space of time the splendid mansion of* 
 Braganza House, about a mile from Carlow, was purchased 
 by public subscription, and became the future residence of 
 the esteemed prelate. 
 
 Mr. O’Connell having unfortunately proposed the pen¬ 
 sioning of the clergy, and the disfranchisment of the freeholders, 
 as terms of emancipation, on his return from London, he 
 was not received with all that warmth of feeling which the 
 people had displayed on previous occasions towards him. 
 On the 11th of July, a meeting of the parishioners of St. 
 Audeon’s, was held to denounce those measures. Mr. 
 O’Connell attended, and, in self-defence, charged the adop-, 
 tion of those measures on Dr. Doyle and the other prelates, 
 although they were not at all in London, when he had pro-? 
 posed them. When this speech was published, Dr. Kin- 
 sella wrote a reply in vindication of Dr. Doyle, from which 
 we give the following extracts :— 
 
 “There are,in Mr. O’Connell’s speech, two statements on 
 which I wish to observe. The first is contained in the fol¬ 
 lowing words; ‘ I saw that there was a prospect of achieving 
 the liberty of Ireland, by means, at which, under other cir¬ 
 cumstances, and if acting only upon my own judgment, I 
 should have shuddered with horror. But I did not rest on 
 my own authority; I was in communication with two pre¬ 
 lates, who are the ornaments of Ireland—-Doctor Doyle and 
 Doctor Murray. Can I offer a better plea than,when I 
 say that I did nothing, said nothing, which had not their 
 entire concurrence and sanction/ Now, Sir, at the meeting 
 in Bridge-street, the whole question at issue was, the pro¬ 
 priety of Mr. O’Connell’s Conduct, in approving of the bill 
 for increasing the qualifications of electors, and of the pro¬ 
 posed plan for pensioning the Catholic clergy. If, then, I 
 understand him rightly, he means to say that his reason for 
 laying aside his horror for these bills was, that they had been 
 sanctioned by the Catholic prelates, and that it was in con¬ 
 sequence of his communications with the bishops that his 
 approbation had been given. If such be his meaning, he 
 labours under a great mistake; and in pointing out his error 
 to himself and the public, I shall rest upon the authority of 
 dates and documents, which every one can verify. 
 
LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 181 
 
 “ Dr. Doyle left Carlow on the 7th of last March, In order 
 to proceed to England, and until after that period he was 
 totally ignorant that it was intended to add ‘ wings’ to the 
 Catholic Bill. He and Dr. Murray arrived in London on 
 the 13th of March, and previous to that time he had held no 
 communication whatever with Mr. O’Connell. Now, Sir, I 
 beg your attention to the dates. On the 7th of March (the 
 very day on which Dr. Doyle left Carlow,) Mr. O’Connell 
 addressed a letter to the Catholic Association, and in that 
 letter he mentions both the obnoxious measures in terms of 
 approbation. I do not blame him for approving of what he 
 ' certainly thought right, but I think he will himself perceive 
 that he was mistaken in saying that his approval was the re¬ 
 sult of a communication with Dr. Doyle. 
 
 “ Mr. O’Connell’s examinations before the committees of 
 Parliament took place on the 25th of February and on the 
 1st, 4th, and 11th of March, and they had entirely terminated 
 before the arrival of the bishops in London. In these ex¬ 
 aminations he had expressly approved of what are called 
 the ‘ wings,’ and at this period he had never^ communicated 
 with Dr. Doyle. 
 
 “ Letters on the state of Ireland by * J. K. L.’ had been 
 published so early as the middle of February. These letters 
 were generally supposed to have been written by Dr. Doyle, 
 and at all events they have received his explicit sanction. 
 Now the author of them had expressly condemned the mea¬ 
 sures in question, and surely this fact might have reminded 
 Mr. O’Connell that his approval could not have been founded 
 on Dr. Doyle’s opinions. 
 
 “ Soon after Dr. Doyle’s arrival in London he was himself 
 examined before the committees of both Lords and Com- 
 t mons. It is unnecessary to repeat the particulars of his 
 evidence, but most certainly neither then, nor at any other 
 time, in private or public, did he give the plan for pension¬ 
 ing the clergy his sanction or approbation. 
 
 “ These facts, Sir, appear to me perfectly conclusive, as 
 far as Dr. Doyle is concerned. I do believe that the same 
 statement could be made on the part of Dr. Murray, but, as 
 I have already promised, I shall strictly confine myself to 
 what I can assert of my own knowledge. 
 
 L 
 
182 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 “ The second statement of Mr. O’Connell, to which I am 
 compelled to refer, is contained in the latter part of his 
 speech. He says of the bishops ‘ they may have been taken 
 by surprise. The purity of their own motives and the con¬ 
 sciousness of their own integrity may have exposed them to 
 the artifices of designing persons, but the period will never 
 again arrive when they will be unprepared for any measure 
 which the government may propose.' The obvious inference 
 to be drawn from this statement is, that (in Mr. O'Connell's 
 opinion) the bishops were duped by the Government, and 
 were thereby led to approve of what they have otherwise 
 condemned. This, Sir, I must deny altogether. Some per¬ 
 sons may have been deceived, but most certainly Dr. Doyle 
 was not one of them. The opinions which he entertained 
 of the generosity and good faith of the Government were such 
 as to prevent him from being entrapped by any snare that 
 might be laid for him and his brethren. During his residence 
 ■ in England he frequently wrote to his friends in this country, , 
 and were it proper to produce his letters, it would be seen , 
 that he was neither circumvented nor deceived ; the very 
 contrary would be very clearly demonstrated. 
 
 “ So far, Sir, as Mr. O’Connell’s speech is concerned, I ' 
 have now done with this painful subject. The character of ( 
 Dr. Doyle stands on the very highest point of estimation, ,, 
 both here and in England. Could it, however, be supposed 1 
 that in public he would condemn certain measures, and in i 
 private give his sanction to Mr. O’Connell’s support of them, , 
 his consistency, nay his honesty, would appear extremely i 
 doubtful. I am sure that, if Mr. O’Connell had looked at t 
 the matter in this light, he would have anticipated my remarks i 
 by coming forward to explain his meaning. The opinion of f 
 so very humble an individual as I am can be of no impor- ■ 
 tance to any one, but least of all to Mr. O’Connell, whose 
 country has repeatedly expressed her gratitude for his un- J 
 wearied zeal and important services. I may however be per- j 
 mitted to say that, while I endeavoured to correct in his speech • 
 what appears to me to be an error, I still feel in his regard ( 
 the same sentiments of admiration and gratitude which every j 
 honest man who loves his country must feel for one of her j 
 best and most powerful friends. . J t 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 183 
 
 a As to the opinion of Dr. Doyle on the bill for pension¬ 
 ing the clergy, and the bill for disfranchising the freeholders, 
 a few words may not be unnecessary; and, as I have repeat¬ 
 edly heard him give expression to his sentiments on these 
 subjects, I can be sure of giving them with perfect accuracy. 
 His opinion on the first point is at present, and always has 
 been the same; he never approved of such a provision for 
 the clergy—he did, and he does strongly disapprove of it in 
 any shape. His anxious wish for the emancipation of the 
 Catholics, and the peace of the country, could alone have 
 induced him to acquiesce in some such arrangement; but 
 this reluctant acquiescence would not have been given to any 
 
 f jrovision which could trench in the slightest degree on the 
 iberties of the Irish church or the independence of her pre¬ 
 lacy and priesthood. During his examination before the 
 Parliamentary Committees he perceived clearly that the op¬ 
 ponents of Catholic Emancipation would have been delighted 
 if he had exhibited an unqualified opposition to both the 
 e wings,'—they would have then thrown upon him all the 
 odium attached to the rejection of emancipation. He there¬ 
 fore extricated himself from the necessity of giving any evi¬ 
 dence with regard to the forty-shilling freeholders, because 
 if he had expressed his opinion, it should have been opposed 
 to the opinions of Mr. Blake and Mr. O’Connell. His 
 sentiments, however, on this subject could not possibly be 
 mistaken ; the letters of J. K. L. afforded ample testimony 
 of feelings on this point; and I most positively assert 
 thaffiis opinions are at present, and always have been, the 
 same as those expressed in the Letters of J. K. L.” 
 
 In December, 1825, a great provincial meeting was con¬ 
 vened at Carlow, to petition for Emancipation. Various 
 schemes and tricks, by the trucking lawyers, were here 
 adopted to prevent the condemnation of the “ Wings,” as 
 they were called, which they thought would carry the Re¬ 
 lief Bill through the two Houses. At a preliminary meet¬ 
 ing of the committee, Mr. O’Connell again attempted to 
 throw the onus on the bishops. He had not well concluded 
 his remarks, when Dr. Doyle entered at the lower end of 
 the room, to the astonishment of Mr. O’Connell, and with 
 that dignity of character which was so peculiarly his own* 
 raad^ the following statement:— y 
 
184 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 “ Mr. Chairman —I wished to hear read the terms of the 
 resolution which is now being discussed ; as having entered 
 the room only a few minutes ago, I was led to infer from 
 the observations then falling from my learned and much 
 respected friend, Mr. O’Connell, that something was about 
 to be done whereby the resolves of the Catholic bishops- 
 would appear to be opposed to the evidence given by them 
 before the Committees of Parliament. I was led to think 
 that you were about to adopt a resolution which some bible- I 
 man or fanatic could use in order to shew that the Catholic; j 
 prelates were inconsistent within themselves. But as the j 
 resolution now read is not a resolution of the Catholic bi-J 
 shops, but of the Leinster meeting, a meeting consisting ofijl 
 the nobility, gentry, and lay people, with some admixture off 
 ecclesiastics, even if it were opposed to our testimony, itn 
 would not follow that the prelates were inconsistent with* 
 themselves. But there is not any opposition whatever be-I! 
 tween the resolution which you, Mr. Chairman, have causedij 
 to be read, and the evidence to which reference has beenfl 
 made. As I was informed before I entered the room, that! 
 frequent mention had been made of my name, and of them 
 assent which I was supposed to have given to the measured 
 now under your consideration, I feel myself called upon to| 
 give such explanation with regard to that measure, as inayj 
 serve to remove from the minds of the gentlemen present J, 
 any misconception under which they may labour or into* 
 which they might be led. I do so w’ith great reluctance, oni 
 account of my aversion to appear in the tumult of ptdklarK 
 meetings ; but I do so as I feel myself called upon inIma 
 measure to vindicate my own character, and that of the pre-l I 
 lates with whom I co-operated. When Mr. O’ConnelllJ 
 observed that I assented to a provision being made by law! 
 for the Catholic clergy in Ireland, he has only said so, t| 
 am well assured, with reference to my evidence given in| 
 London; from that evidence it appears that if our emanciV 
 pation could not be obtained upon any other terms, I would* 
 accept of such provision, providing it did not trench upon 
 the liberty or independence of our church; but that if left to 
 my own choice, I would prefer receiving my support from 
 the people for whom I laboured. Upon this declaration of 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 185 
 
 mine there is no room for douhts; I only wish to explain 
 those circumstances which will serve to place it in its proper 
 light. When we arrived in London, we found that the bill 
 for your emancipation was in progress, that the freedom to 
 which you had so long and so justly aspired, and for the at¬ 
 tainment of which you had made such powerful exertions 
 was for the first time placed, perhaps, within your reach. 
 We saw that an ecclesiastical arrangement was about to be 
 annexed to it, which if we directly opposed, we would take 
 upon ourselves an awful responsibility—inasmuch as your 
 opponents, your friends, and yourselves, would attribute to 
 such opposition on our part the failure of the bill for your 
 relief. {Cheers.) We saw your numerous deputation in 
 London, and your still more numerous Association in Ire¬ 
 land, (for the Association was still a legal body,) both silent 
 with regard to these arrangements, and that if we disapproved 
 of the measure in question, all the consequences of your de¬ 
 feat would rest upon our heads. We saw that a pit was 
 dug for us, and our duty was to seek how to get beyond it 
 without falling into it. {Hear.) To this point I confess I 
 applied all the energies of my mind. The several documents 
 which came before me, and all the information furnished to 
 me, clearly proved that the Regium Donum, and nothing but 
 the Regium Donum, was the precedent, the form, and the 
 model, by which the provision for the Catholic clergy was 
 to be fixed and regulated. On my return from one of the 
 Committees of Parliament, I stated fully my opinion on this 
 matter to my colleagues, and I then resolved, coute qui coute, 
 if such a plan were proceeded with, that I would denounce 
 it to the country , and seek amongst the Irish people at home 
 some support in resisting it. Before I would have recourse 
 to such a mode of proceeding I thought it my duty to do 
 every thing in my power to avoid the consequences which 
 would then ensue—and to the exertions of the bishops it is 
 owing—yes, to the exertions of the bishops alone it is owing, 
 that the basis of the measure was altered, and a resolution 
 taken that the provision should not emanate from the bounty 
 of the crown, but be founded on a law and secured by it. 
 This principle was adopted and set forth in the resolution 
 which passed the House of Commons. The next object to 
 
136 
 
 LIFE OF l)il. DOYLE. 
 
 be attained was, that time should be given to the prelates 
 and clergy and people of Ireland to deliberate on the mea¬ 
 sure. This was also gained, whereas it was agreed that the 
 proposed arrangement for making the provision could not 
 be settled or proposed to the legislature until the following 
 year. A whole year then was given that all the prelates in 
 Ireland might consult their clergy, the clergy the people, 
 and then the prelates assembled to dpcide upon the whole 
 merits of the project of the law. What my opinion was 
 I declared in London, to my brethren; I repeated it since 
 in Dublin ; I may have sometimes mentioned it in private 
 conversation; but it was this—that if the prelates approved 
 of a provision emanating from the Treasury, if the ministers 
 of Christ were to be paid bp the minister of state for dis¬ 
 pensing the mysteries of God, in that case , I would not 
 create dissension amongst them, but that sooner than my 
 hand should be soiled by it, I would lay down my office at 
 the feet of him who conferred it, for if my hand were 
 to be stained with government money , it should never grasp 
 a crozier—or a mitre , ever afterwards, be fitted tq my 
 brow . (Loud and continued cheering .) This was and is my 
 fixed determination. But as the principle of a legal provi¬ 
 sion might be approved of; as I did not know but the Ca¬ 
 tholic prelacy might accede to an arrangement such in 
 substance as that which was latterly contemplated, we 
 thought it our duty to render it as salutary as it was pos¬ 
 sible for us to render it. We therefore suggested many 
 improvements, and excepted to some things that were ok* 
 jectionable in what was submitted to our consideration. 
 But as I intended, if ever the matter came before the Irish 
 prelacy, to object to the acceptance of any provision emana¬ 
 ting from the treasury, I wished to justify myself from all 
 liability to an imputation of bad faith. I was anxious that 
 I should not hereafter be reproached by some person on the 
 part of the Government, saying, ‘ In London you gave us to 
 understand that you would accede to this arrangement, and 
 now having obtained your emancipation, you refuse to do 
 so/ To be free then, at all times, from such a reproach, I 
 gave in, through the only channel by which communications 
 reached us or could be made, a counter protect, a copy of 
 
LIFE OF Dll, DOTLI. 
 
 187 
 
 which I now hold in my hand, and by which at all times I 
 would be willing to abide. If we gained the principle of 
 having the provision to be made by law; if we also gained 
 a year for deliberation in Ireland, upon the merits of the 
 arrangement; by this counter project I also gained for my 
 own vindication, if it should be necessary, the power and 
 right of saying ( I never acted with bad faith; I agreed to 
 the principle of a legal provision, I am ready to abide by 
 that agreement, but here is a copy of the only plan upon 
 ! which, as I long since communicated to you, I can approve 
 of that principle being carried into operation. ( Hear , hear.) 
 Agree to this, and I am ready to meet you : if you adopt 
 any other, I shall not create dissension; I will retire, but I 
 will not agree to what you propose.’ (Cheers) This, Mr. 
 Chairman, is the explanation I offer to the assent which I 
 gave in London to the measure on which you are now d&. 
 liberating; this is the vindication (if I be obliged to vindi¬ 
 cate myself) which I offer of my conduct. I hope that I 
 have satisfied this committee of the purity at least of my in¬ 
 tentions, and that I have sustained that character which I 
 have always been anxious to maintain, the character of an 
 upright and honest man. ( Great cheers .) As to the resolu¬ 
 tion which has been read, 1 know there is a division of sen¬ 
 timent about its adoption or rejection; I shall not throw 
 the weight of my opinion, whatever it may be, into either 
 scale; it is ray duty rather to withdraw, and beseech the 
 God of peace to banish all dissensions from amongst you.” 
 
 When Dr. Doyle had finished, Mr. O’Connell made a 
 most humble apology. Dr. Doyle withdrew amid the 
 warmest and most heartfelt testimony of esteem and admi¬ 
 ration. Mr. O’Connell now said he saw no objection to the 
 resolution against the clerical Wing, if they would prefix to 
 it these words :— In consequence of newly acquired informa¬ 
 tion. Several persons said that it ought to be and was known 
 to the persons leading in Catholic affairs, that the bishops 
 had protested against the clerical Wing. The supporters 
 of the resolution, however, thought that after Dr. Doyle’s 
 Admirable expose, it would be a handsome and deserved 
 compliment to him to leave the measure entirely to the 
 bishops. This proposition was H ouce acceded to, and the 
 resolution omitted accordingly* 
 
188 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 In the evening a dinner was given by the Very Rev. Dr. 
 Fitzgerald, principal of the college, to the gentlemen of the 
 committee and others, in the study-hall. After dinner seve¬ 
 ral routine toasts were given, and the health of Dr. Doyle 
 being proposed by the chairman, Lord Killeen, was drunk 
 with the most rapturous applause. 
 
 Dr. Doyle rose to return thanks, but was prevented for 
 some minutes from being heard, so loud and so warm was 
 the applause with which his rising was accompanied. He 
 begged from his heart to thank them; at the same time he 
 would take the oportunity of stating that he and the clergy 
 of Ireland, for whose opinion he believed in this matter he 
 might answer, that it was ever their determination to co¬ 
 operate with the laity in the pursuit of their common rights. 
 (Loud cheers .) But, at the same time, while he said this, he 
 was bound to declare, that so long as dissension and dis¬ 
 union existed among the laity they would remain in si¬ 
 lence and seclusion, as best became their sacred character. 
 It was not by seeking the advancement of any man, or any 
 opinion— (loud applause )—that they must expect the assist¬ 
 ance of their body (the clergy); when they should be guided 
 by the common council and not by an individual whim (re¬ 
 peated cheers ) then would the Catholic clergy come to their 
 aid and support. With regard to one of those purely poli¬ 
 tical questions which had agitated their body, and oh which 
 the present was probably the only opportunity he might 
 for some time have to address them, (as it was not in the 
 confusion of a popular assembly he wished to be known, or 
 to take an active part,) his opinions were long before the 
 public; from the opinion with regard to that measure (we 
 understood his Lordship to allude to the freehold Wing) 
 which he had expressed he should never swerve—to that 
 opinion he should most earnestly adhere. (Hear, hear.) Of 
 the other measure (the clergy pensioning Wing) he would 
 only say that the clergy and laity have an equal right to take 
 it into their consideration. The religion of each was the 
 same; they had each an equal share in that holy commu¬ 
 nion which bound them together; their souls were equally 
 dear to them, and all had but one means of salvation. With 
 regard to that measure, he took this opportunity of declaring 
 
LIFE OF OH. DOYLE. 
 
 189 
 
 that he was resolved and determined never to sanction, on 
 the contrary he would be always opposed to any thing 
 which would, in the slightest degree, infringe on the inde¬ 
 pendence of the church.— (Hear, hear.)—There shall be no 
 compact with us ; there shall be no agreement binding us to 
 any thing.—( Cheers .)— We shall never allow any infringe¬ 
 ment upon the principles of that religion which has been 
 earned by the s\veat of our ancestors, and sealed by their 
 blood. Our hands shall never be stained with the acceptance 
 of a paltry bribe. In the present state of affairs the Catho¬ 
 lic Church could never, in case of such a compromise, be secure 
 —could never be pure.—( Cheers.)—The crown is opposed to 
 its security ; the minister is averse to its political integrity ; 
 and it is therefore impossible that the clergy cun ever consent 
 to this compromise. — (Loud and tremendous cheers.) — Unless 
 the church be made totally and securely independent we 
 shall never listen to any other terms. There are some who 
 may say that there are prelates who would accept the condi¬ 
 tions that have been proposed ; but all he (Dr. Doyle) 
 would say of such men was, that they knew nothing of the 
 opinion of the Irish Catholic Prelates.— (Hear.) —If those 
 prelates were called on to assemble to-morrow, they would, 
 or he (Dr. Doyle) was much mistaken, coincide with him, 
 and determine to preserve the Church of Ireland undefiled 
 and inviolate.— (Loud cheers.) —He concluded by again 
 drinking all their healths, and proposed the following toast: 
 u Unanimity and concord among the Catholic Body.”—. 
 (Drank with applause.) 
 
 The unanimous condemnation which the people of Ire¬ 
 land soon passed upon the hateful “ Wings,” proved that 
 Dr. Doyle had reflected their genuine principles, and that 
 they loved their religion too well to have its ministers tied 
 to the car of error or despotism, for any human advantage. 
 
 About this period Dr. Doyle wrote a letter to Mr. Blake, 
 the Remembrancer, upon the Report of the Commission¬ 
 ers of Education, in which, among other things he ob¬ 
 served :— 
 
 " It may be that the Roman Catholic Archbishops, who 
 do not appear to have been consulted on the subject, will 
 be gratified with having masters provided for the children 
 
190 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 of their flocks by the Kildare-place Society, and appointed 
 by Royal Commissioners, (against which project, even now, 
 I earnestly protest;) but, if they be, I am much deceived 
 if their joy he not turned into sadness, unless more can¬ 
 dour, truth, and impartiality be found amongst the new 
 commissioners than ever yet resided in any body of men 
 appointed by the crown in this country to transact business 
 connected with the religion of the Irish people. Indeed, I 
 anticipate that as our archbishops are highest in rank, so 
 they would be foremost in their opposition to such an ar¬ 
 rangement. 
 
 “ Whilst, however, I look to many parts of this report 
 with feelings of disappointment and regret, whilst 1 am satis¬ 
 fied that it behoves Catholics to look to the purity and in¬ 
 tegrity of their faith, and of whatever is connected with it, 
 more at this moment than at any period for the last century; 
 whilst for entertaining such views some intemperate and 
 loud fanatic, some oppressor of the people and abettor of 
 wrong may accuse me of going to an extreme, like to that into 
 which such a person as himself may have been precipitated 
 by passion, I am yet sufficiently patient to await ‘the general 
 issue’ of ‘ the Report,’ and either to combat or support it 
 according to the mode in which it may be put into ope* 
 * ration. 
 
 4< I have the honour to be, dear Sir, 
 
 “ Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 “ J. Doyle.* 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 191 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 dr. doyle’s letter prohibiting a sfcond oral dis¬ 
 cussion WITH THE BIBLICALS. 
 
 *' He saw self-dnbbed doctors in divinity. 
 
 Without orders, mission, or humility.’' 
 
 In August, 1825, the Biblical crusaders, who for so many 
 years had disturbed the peace of Ireland, enraged at the 
 defeat they had met with the preceding year in Carlow, put 
 on another face of impudence, and challenged the Catholic 
 clergy of that town to meet them again on the arena of reli¬ 
 gious disputation. Dr. Doyle, on his visitation, the 28th 
 of August, wrote from Edenderry a letter, prohibiting 
 his clergy from meeting those itinerant orators, who had 
 been already so successfully refuted. The following ex¬ 
 tracts from this document must be interesting to every 
 Catholic:— 
 
 “ Rev. and dear brethren — I have only heard of a 
 challenge to dispute being published, wherein certain mem¬ 
 bers of the Bible Society, in Dublin, propose to meet some 
 individuals of our clergy, in presence of a select portion of 
 the public, in order to discuss some question or questions 
 previously agreed upon, and which are to relate, I suppose, 
 to the religious belief of the parties to be thus engaged. 
 
 “ I need not remind you, dearest brethren, of what is ruled 
 by the supreme authority of the Church, (see Ben. xiv. de 
 Syn. Dioc.) with regard to individuals, unauthorised thereto 
 by their bishop, not entering into public disputations with 
 persons maintaining heretical opinions; your own good 
 sense, and the very nature of divine truth, as deposited by 
 Christ with his apostles and their successors, show to you, 
 that whatever relates to faith, morals, or discipline, should 
 be regulated by those whom the Holy Ghost has appointed 
 to govern the Church. I, therefore, hearing of the above 
 challenge, wish to inform you, and all those concerned with 
 
192 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOVLJE. 
 
 you, that, having given to this matter what consideration it 
 deserves, it is my wish that no such disputation as is above 
 mentioned be had by you, or by any of you, with the gen¬ 
 tlemen alluded to. 
 
 “ First, because the character of the Christian religion is 
 peace; and the end of it, to establish peace and good will 
 upon earth, as the means of fitting men for heaven ; this end 
 of our calling was announced by the angels at Bethlehem, 
 when the humanity and benignity of our Saviour God first 
 appeared : and it was repeated by himself when he was 
 about to leave us and return to his father, in these words: 
 * My peace 1 leave you, my peace I give you/ To the es¬ 
 tablishment or preservation of this peace, the disputation 
 mentioned would, in itself and in its effects, be directly 
 opposed. 
 
 “ Secondly, St. Paul says , 1 if any one be contentious or 
 fond of disputes, we have no such custom, nor the Church 
 of God/ We would, therefore, deviate from the principles 
 of God’s Church and the custom of the saints, as well as 
 prove ourselves unmindful of the apostle’s suggestion, if we 
 become fond of disputes. 
 
 “ Thirdly, because all experience proves the justice and 
 truth of Tertullian’s remarks, in his book on ‘ Prescription/ 
 wherein he says, that disputes with Heretics weary the weak, 
 create anxiety in the mind of others, and that the only thing 
 we obtain by them is, to have our anger excited by their 
 blasphemy. 
 
 " Fourthly, Because no general principles, to which the 
 questions to be discussed could be finally referred, can be 
 agreed upon between the parties; for this reason, that the 
 members of the Bible Society do not admit our creed, not 
 have they any creed of their own. They do not admit our 
 creed, for they accuse the church of having decreed error, 
 and of having been sunk in idolatry for upwards of eight 
 hundred years. See the Book of Homilies. 
 
 "With such men there can be no common principles 
 to which they could be bound to adhere; or if there were 
 any, they could be departed from by them as soon as their 
 Opinions underwent a change, but in no case would such 
 principles express a form of religious belief binding upon 
 
LITE OE DU. DOYLE. 
 
 193 
 
 any others than those who might subscribe to them. You 
 who are Catholics, professing a clearly defined faith, can ne¬ 
 ver meet men who are thus tossed about by every wind of 
 doctrine, upon a footing of equality; they may be worsted 
 in argument, convicted of error, confounded at the exposure 
 of their own contradictions or folly, but they alone can suf¬ 
 fer—no one is responsible for their errors, no person need 
 blush at their confusion, no man is a partner in their shame; 
 not so with you. If through error, mistake, ignorance, or for¬ 
 getfulness, you leave an objection unrefuted, or an aspersion 
 not wiped away, such objection or aspersion stands recorded 
 against your Church, and the chaste spouse of Christ suffers 
 in your person from the blasphemy of her apostate children. 
 
 “ Fifthly, you are to avoid these disputes, because by en¬ 
 tering into them you appear to call in question those truths 
 which are already defined by the Holy Ghost and by us, 
 that is, by the bishops, the successors of the apostles. You 
 agree, as it were, to impanel a jury, of I know not what des¬ 
 cription of persons, to try the question whether Christ is 
 with us teaching all days, even to the end of the world; 
 whether the Holy Ghost has or has not taught our fathers 
 all truth; whether we be placed by him to rule the Church 
 of God; whether this Church be, or be not, the pillar and 
 ground of truth; whether those whom we leave bound on 
 earth be bound in heaven; or whether the gates of hell have 
 prevailed, or can prevail against the Church; whether, again, 
 this Church has been buried in idolatry for eight hundred 
 years; whether, in fine, those who refuse to hear her, and who 
 thereby despise Christ and the father who sent him, are, or 
 are not, as Heathens and Publicans before God. These 
 truths, Rev. brethren, which would be thus subjected, as it 
 were, to trial, are clear and incontestible; you yourselves 
 have enforced them by much argument and great eloquence; 
 and it is because they are immoveable, and because your 
 arguments in support of them are able, convincing, and un¬ 
 answerable, that the members of the Bible Society wish, by 
 inviting you to a renewed discussion, to turn public attention 
 from the palpable folly of their proceedings. 
 
 “ Sixthly, you should not dispute with these men in the 
 manner proposed, because there is no tribunal on the earth 
 
 0 ■ 
 
194 
 
 LIFE OF Da. DOYLF.. 
 
 competent to try the issue between you. The errors main¬ 
 tained by the members of the Bible Society regard either the 
 primary articles of the Christian faith, or truths already de¬ 
 fined by the church. Both these classes of truths are im- 
 moveably and indefinitively settled : God or his Church, 
 or rather both, have spoken ; and as St. Augustine said to 
 the Pelagians, 1 The cause is concluded, I wish the error 
 would at length cease, causafinita est, utinam aliquando 
 finiretur error. There can be no new hearing, no new trial. 
 The Church at Trent invited the Heretics of the sixteenth 
 century (those who broached or renewed the errors which are 
 now revived) to plead their own cause before the Council; 
 these blind and obstinate men refused to do so, but their cause 
 was examined fully and dispassionately—sentence was at 
 length passed, and the matter set at rest for ever. Causa ji- 
 nita est. It can never be revived : it hath seemed good to 
 the Holy Ghost and to our fathers so to determine; there 
 can be no re-hearing of the case; there is no higher tribunal 
 constituted by God, no one or many to whom a new issue 
 could be directed for trial; ‘ Whomsoever does not hear the^ 
 Church, let him be to thee a Heathen and a Publican/ 
 
 “ Lastly you should not contend, as is proposed, with 
 men over whom a triumph could be productive of no per¬ 
 manent advantage; as individuals they may be learned and 
 respectable, but as religionists they are deserving only of 
 your unmixed pity. They profess to be seeking for truth— 
 this can only be found in the Catholic Church: and the 
 faith which believes in it, as there propounded, is a gift of 
 God—to be obtained, not by disputation, but by humility, 
 almsdeeds and prayer. The judgment of man is too slow 
 and too unsettled—the objects of its investigation are too 
 mysterious and too far removed—it may reason intermi¬ 
 nably and dispute, but it can never determine; authority 
 alone can decide. 
 
 “ I once was moved by such reflections, and by the love 
 I bear to my brethren who are in error, (for whom, like the 
 apostles, I would willingly, for a time, be even an anathema, 
 or separated from Christ,) to suggest, through an eminent 
 individual, [in his letter on the Union of Churches,] not to a 
 society of ladies and gentlemen, but to one of the highest t 
 
195 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 states in the realm, a propositi lor seeking to bind up that 
 which has been broken—to heal that which is infirm, and 
 to bring back that which has strayed; but the spirit which 
 was once sent to seduce Achab, has been permitted to seduce 
 many in this empire, and the term of his seduction has not 
 yet expired; perhaps it will yet terminate, if it should, the 
 means of conciliation and peace are at hand, if not, it is 
 our duty to adore the councils of that God whose judgments 
 are inscrutable, and whose ways cannot be investigated. 
 
 " Praying the Almighty God, Pev. brethren, that he may 
 keep our minds and hearts united in his love, and in the love 
 of one another, 
 
 " I remain your truly affectionate 
 " And humble servant in Christ Jesus, 
 
 “ J. Doyle.” 
 
 The celebrated Dr. M‘Sweeny, who, in a few words, 
 had silenced the crusaders in the former discussion, could 
 not bear their silly boasting. He accordingly wrote a let¬ 
 ter, in which he stated, that he- had given up his office, as 
 Professor in Carlow College, that he might with more res¬ 
 pect to Dr. Doyle, follow up his intention, and that he 
 alone would meet six uncommissioned apostles, on the fol¬ 
 lowing terms:— , 
 
 " First, As to the combatants: I alone shall advocate the 
 Catholic Doctrine, while you six may add to your number 
 if you think proper. The controversy being intended solely 
 with the view of finally settling the question so long agitated 
 between Catholics and Biblicals, the readiest and most ef¬ 
 fectual way of arriving at the truth is to be adopted. Every 
 one is aware that speeching answers no useful purpose, and 
 hence, that no time may be lost in this way, the business 
 shall be managed in the form of question and answer. 
 
 "Secondly, as to the time and place. Upon these points 
 I am perfectly indifferent. You may choose the time, and 
 also the place, provided it may be somewhere within the 
 United Kingdom. 
 
 "Thirdly, As to the matter to be contested. This, by 
 the acknowledgment of all, is resolvable into the question, 
 —-Whether every one, by Divine appointment , be considered 
 
196 
 
 LIFE OF D1U DOVLE. 
 
 the judge of the Scriptures , and should form that faith, ne~ 
 cessary for salvation, only by the exercise of his own 
 judgment upon the Saci'ed Volume .—If I recollect well, in¬ 
 stead of this single proposition, you would have six to form 
 the subject of debate. To what purpose?—Unless it was to 
 embarrass the discussion, and to protract it into an inter¬ 
 minable and fruitless altercation. If it be true, as you con¬ 
 tend, that each person is, for himself, the judge of the mean¬ 
 ing of the Scriptures, it follows necessarily, that every one 
 should read them, that there is'no infallible Church, &c. &c. 
 If, on the other hand, it was the design of God that the 
 faithful should, as I maintain, receive their creed from an 
 established authority, it is a matter of course, that they may 
 be restricted in the use of the Sacred Volume; that they 
 cannot be deceived by the injunctions of the tribunal to 
 which they submit, &c. &c. Those at your side, or at mine,, 
 who, for some time past, have been agitating these questions 
 ill the public papers, without any reference to the great car¬ 
 dinal point, upon which they all hinge, may as usefully have 
 been entertaining the public with a description of the inha¬ 
 bitants of the moon. 
 
 “ Fourthly, as to the judges. These, who are to be the 
 only auditors, shall be 100 in number, of known respectabi¬ 
 lity and information, fifty Protestants and fifty Catholics, 
 The Protestants to be selected by me, and the Catholics by 
 you. It will be required of them, that, at the close of our 
 discussion, they will pronounce a conscientious verdict upon 
 the point argued between us, and you and I must sign a de¬ 
 claration of our willingness to abide by their decision. This 
 gagging clause I have thought necessary to add, inasmuch 
 as I find that some of you, whom I conquered on a former 
 occasion, have again come forward, as if they had never be¬ 
 fore measured their strength with me. 
 
 “ Fifthly, and lastly, as to the termination of the contest 
 -—Having been prompted to enter the lists with you, solely 
 with the view of dissipating that cloud of prejudice in your 
 favour, which overhangs the minds of our English brethren, 
 I am desirous of making some provision, whereby I may be 
 enabled to put into the hands of almost every one of them, 
 aa authenticated copy of the result of our proceedings. What 
 
LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 197 
 
 I would propose is, that as I have made some sacrifice, in 
 giving you a splendid opportunity of advocating your doc¬ 
 trines, you should agree, in case of my vanquishing you, to 
 give me some of the hundreds you draw from the establish¬ 
 ment of the Bible Society, for the furtherance N of my cha¬ 
 ritable views. This, however, I do not press. I am sure 
 the Catholics of Ireland will not fail to respond my wishes 
 ! in this respect. 
 
 “ Such, gentlemen, are the terms on which I am willing 
 to meet. I shall leave the public to judge if they be not 
 fair and reasonable. Any communication from you to me, 
 directed to Richard Coyne 4, Capel-street, on or before the ( 
 15th of October, shall be immediately attended to. 
 u I have the honour to remain, Gentlemen, 
 
 “ Your obedient humble servant, 
 
 “ P. M‘Sweeny, 
 
 “ Late Professor of Theology in Carlow College." 
 
 The Biblicals first thinking that the letter was a hoax, 
 through Parson Daly, proposed a qualified kind of accepta¬ 
 tion of the challenge, but on application to the gentleman 
 referred to by Dr. M‘Sweeny, the swaggerers modestly de¬ 
 clined the invitation, and thus retired from a field to which 
 they had so magnanimously challenged their antagonist. 
 
198 
 
 LIFE OF DU. DOYLE. 
 
 • CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 : / * 
 
 Da. doyle’s defence of transubstantiation. 
 
 u The literal sense Is hard to flesh and blood. 
 
 But nonsense never can be understood.”—D rtdbW. 
 
 Early in 1826, Mr. O’Connell having been brought into 
 a religious controversy with the Wicklow Biblical, the Rev. 
 Robert Daly, the discussion turned on the mystery of the 
 real presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrament and sacrifice 
 of the altar. Mr. O’Connell published a very solid letter 
 in defence of his faith, and in reply to the cant of his adver¬ 
 sary on the awful subject. Mr. O’Connell having more than 
 once insinuated that the parson was not guilty of telling truth 
 in favour of popery, the controversy was likely to be more of 
 an acrimonious and personal character than of a serious na¬ 
 ture on a subject so venerable and so important. To refute 
 calumny, state truth, and silence error, Dr. Doyle, under 
 the initials B. E. addressed two letters to the editor of the 
 Dublin Evening Post , dated May 18th, 1826. Those let¬ 
 ters were afterwards re-printed in 1827, with letters to Mr. 
 Daly and Dr. Singer, by the Rev. Wm. Clowry, from 
 which we make the following extracts :— 
 
 “ It is not just in Mr. Daly to taunt Mr. O’Connell, or 
 any other Catholic, by saying, ‘ will you ‘suffer the priest 
 thus to domineer over you, or to regulate what books you 
 are to read V It is not the priest who domineers or regu¬ 
 lates, but it is the law of the Church, which prescribes what 
 is to be done, and the priest executes, as far as becomes his 
 office, what the law enjoins; in doing so, whether the law 
 be a good one or not, the clergyman best observes the golden 
 maxim, too much neglected in other departments, non domi- 
 nemur regulis sed regulte dominentur nobis , and Mr. O’Con¬ 
 nell or any other Catholic, in attending to his admonitions, 
 submits, if submission it be, not to the priest, but to the law 
 or discipline of his Church. *' 
 
 “ The Catholic clergy are hostile to the reading of the 
 Sacred Scriptures by children at school ; therefore, they are 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 199 
 
 hostile to the reading of the Scriptures generally/ That 
 argument is illogical, as from a particular premise it draws 
 a universal conclusion; it is only fit for a*mob, it is discre¬ 
 ditable to a scholar; it conceals the truth, and produces a 
 j wrong impression. Mr. Daly is very culpable in having 
 ! used it, and the more so as he knew how the matter stood ; 
 so when he quotes Dr. Doyle’s testimony to prove that a 
 Catholic persisting obstinately in reading the authorised ver¬ 
 sion of the Scriptures would be excluded from the sacra¬ 
 ment in the Catholic Church—he should have quoted from 
 the same page, or the same testimony, the passage wherein 
 that prelate expresses his strong and decided approbation of 
 all the Catholic people, who could afford to purchase a 
 Testament of their own approved version, reading the same. 
 
 w I think it not only irreverent, but exceedingly danger¬ 
 ous, to set about investigating the mysteries of the Christian, 
 religion, by letters or speeches in a newspaper, and when 
 not only this is done, but done in an illiterate and vulgar 
 and virulent manner—the person doing it should be made 
 to feel by men of sense, that by seeking to degrade religion 
 he has degraded himself. Every body knows, that as many 
 books as would cover Powerscourt glebe have been written 
 by Catholics and Protestants in support of their respective 
 opinions as to the true meaning of the few words of our Re- 
 ij deemer in instituting the Eucharist. These disputes have 
 produced an abundance of evils, and will never be termi- 
 |j nated by books or newspapers; but whenever such disputes 
 are revived, it is quite obvious that they should be conducted 
 with decorum, with a due respect for the peace and order of 
 society, and a becoming deference for the feeling of the very 
 respectable communities whom they interest. To speak of 
 Catholics shutting up the Divinity in a box, reducing the 
 Almighty to a state of helplessness, or carrying Him from 
 place to place, Him in whom all things consist and are, is 
 to pander to the worst passions of an ignorant and bigotted 
 rabble. The man who acts thus is like an intoxicated scold 
 who brawls in the street, and abuses some respectable per¬ 
 son who cannot possibly retort. Precisely in this manner 
 the Pagans in the third and fourth centuries insulted and 
 reviled the Christians, saying —* Your God was shut up for 
 
200 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOSLE. 
 
 nine months in the womb of Mary. Your God fled from 
 Herod, lest he would be killed by him; he was hungry and 
 thirsty; he said he’would come to judge us all, but he knew 
 not the day nor the hour. The Romans put him to death, 
 and you say he lives; you think he can do what he pleases; 
 let him then save those who believe in him, from the rack; 
 or in the amphitheatre, from the beasts.’ Was there can¬ 
 dour or justice in these taunts—taunts employed to insult 
 the most virtuous, and to gratify the most licentious of men ? 
 There was precisely the same candour as in Mr. Daly’s re¬ 
 flections about the adoration paid by the Catholics to Christ 
 in the sacrament. Christ, to use the strong language of St. 
 Paul, annihilated himself, taking upon himself the form of 
 man, that he might be among them, teach them by his word 
 and example, and die to atone for their sins. This he did, 
 as Mr. Daly believes, the divinity which dwelt in him not 
 undergoing any change ; the body and soul only being sub¬ 
 ject to infirmity. So the body being spiritualized, as the 
 Scriptures show, after the resurrection, and being united in¬ 
 separably to the soul and divinity, Christ, whole and entire, 
 becomes present in the Eucharist, but remains invisible and 
 untangible—whiist the accidents, or whatever they may be 
 called, of the bread and wine, undergo those vicissitudes and 
 changes which Mr. Daly, in a manner as unbecoming a scho¬ 
 lar, as unsuitable to a gentleman, attributes to the Divinity 
 in the belief of Catholics. To inquire how the body of 
 Christ can be present without being seen or touched, or in 
 many places at the same time, is a question which no per¬ 
 son will pretend to answer, unless in the Irish mode, that is, 
 by asking another question, as how can there be three per¬ 
 sons, each perfect God, and yet only one God ? Or how 
 could the Deity in whom we live, move, and have our beings 
 be whole and entire in Christ ? that is, how could it be in 
 every place, and beyond all space and time, and yet be whole 
 and entire at Bethlehem or at Calvary ; or again, and with 
 more plausibility, it may be asked, how could the soul of 
 Christ be hypostatically united to the divinity, the divinity 
 being immense, whilst the soul was circumscribed by the 
 body of Jesus; or if the soul be thus united with the divinity, 
 without losirtg its identity and circumcription, must it uot 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOTLE. 
 
 201 
 
 be present wheresoever the divinity wills it to be; and if the 
 body be inseparably united to the soul, can there be a place 
 or time, even conceived, wherein the divinity is present, that 
 the body and soul hypostatically united to it, may not also 
 be made present, if such be the will of the divinity to which 
 they are indissolubly joined ? This obvious and necessary 
 result of the hypostatic union of the divine and human na¬ 
 ture in the person of Christ, when pushed to an extreme by 
 Luther, produced the heresy of the Ubiquists , who main¬ 
 tained that the body of Christ was every where, giving to it 
 the attributes of the Divinity—just as Eutyches, not able to 
 conceive how the identity of the soul of Christ could be pre¬ 
 served after its union with the Deity, supposed it to be en¬ 
 tirely absorbed therein, and thus was obliged to hold that the 
 Godhead suffered and died ; an error too ridiculous for any 
 out those enthusiasts of which every age, and no age more 
 than the present, produces such a copious assortment.—If 
 the Catholics gave true and real adoration to what appears 
 in the Eucharist, they would be idolaters certainly, but they 
 do not, as every person knows. They adore in the Eucha¬ 
 rist the same Deity which the wise men adored in Bethle¬ 
 hem, which the apostles adored in Bethania, and which every 
 Christian believing in the divinity of Christ adores in every 
 place. The Catholics say, the substance of the bread and 
 wine is changed into the body and blood of Christ, but 
 they say that what remains, however it is called, •' accidents’, 
 * species,’ ‘ qualities,’ is liable to the same vicissitudes, and 
 has in it the same powers or qualities, as ordinary bread and 
 wine. Whosoever reads the best work extant on this subject, 
 4 Pcrpetuite de la foi'* will see that beyond all doubt this 
 belief was, and is, the belief of the whole Church, Greek and 
 Latin, from the beginning, as well as the belief of all the 
 ancient heretics who were enabled to form Churches; so that 
 to call it idolatry is not only to despise argument, but it is 
 to defame the whole world, and to assert, in other words, 
 that truth disappeared with Christ, or that the Lord of Glory 
 was an impostor. The Lutherans believe the reality of 
 Christ’s bodily presence. The Church of England drew up 
 an article on this subject, intended to be understood either 
 
 • Just translated from the French, and puhTishetLiuJDublin. 
 
202 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 as admitting or as denying this bodily presence, as it might 
 suit the belief of the person subscribing to it. Mr. Daly, it 
 appears, does not believe it, and few would quarrel with him 
 on the subject if he only allowed to others the liberty which 
 lie enjoys himself. But for him to attach to this belief the 
 charge of idolatry is exceedingly foolish—idolatry has as lit¬ 
 tle connexion with the adoration which Catholics pay to 
 Christ in the Eucharist, as it has with the power of magnet¬ 
 ism. When Mr. Daly administers the Eucharist, he believes, 
 if he be not a hypocrite, as he says Mr. O’Connell must be 
 if he be not an idolater, that Christ is truly and really pre¬ 
 sent, or verily and indeed given and received. If then Christ 
 be in the sacrament, he may lawfully be adored, and hence 
 the communicant kneels, for as St. Augustin says, ‘ no per¬ 
 son should receive Christ in that sacrament without first t 
 adoring him.’ But surely the communicant at the hand of f 
 Mr. Daly is not an idolater, for he does not worship what t 
 he sees or touches, but Christ who is verily and indeed re¬ 
 ceived by him. Where, I would ask, is the difference be-i 
 tween this adoration and that of the Catholic, whereas the 
 latter believes that he receives Christ, adores only him, and i 
 does not adore what he sees or touches in the sacrament ? 1 
 Is the Catholic to be reputed an idolater because he believes 3 
 ' that a change is effected in the substance of the bread and 3 
 wine by Christ becoming present, whilst the qualities of if 
 both, as before mentioned, remain unchanged; and the Pro- • 
 testant who believes also that Christ is present with, or in \ 
 the sacrament, to be exempt from idolatry, whilst he adores 3 
 Christ, merely because he does not believe that the substance 
 of the elements is changed; for my part, I cannot see why f 
 the believing or not believing in the change of the elements 
 can at all, or in any manner affect the adoration which both 
 Catholic and Protestant are bound to pay to Christ, when 
 given and received in the sacrament; indeed it is quite clear 
 that the adoration has nothing whatever to do with that be¬ 
 lief, and that the charge of idolatry founded upon it is mon¬ 
 strous and absurd; if so it be permitted us to designate 
 what the statute prescribes, and what so many honest men 
 are compelled to swear to be their belief. 
 u If, as was said before, the body and soul of Christ be 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 203 
 
 hypostatioally united to the divinity, and that it pleased him 
 so to dwell with his people, as to be verily and indeed re¬ 
 ceived by each of them in the sacrament, if he thus dwells 
 in them, and they in him, the making them through the 
 Eucharist more intimately partakers of the divine nature, 
 not showing himself in figures as formerly, nor again, even 
 as he is, as he will do hereafter; but in a manner suited to 
 his love for us, and to our infirmity and state of pilgrimage 
 on earth ; if this be the case, and that by the power of his 
 divinity which is every where, he makes his body and soul 
 be present—verily and indeed in the sacrament, who will 
 tell us by the use he withdraws from that sacrament, (in 
 which it is admitted that he was present,) whilst the appear¬ 
 ances under which he veiled his presence continued—no di- 
 ; vine ever said or thought any thing so silly. All, all agree, that 
 i the hallowed words of consecration, or benediction pro- 
 nounced by the priest, sanctifies the elements, and produces 
 whatever change or sanctity is produced in them. To the 
 recital of those words by a minister rightly ordained, is at¬ 
 tached the presence of Christ, of whatsoever nature, whether 
 s real or figurative, corporeal or spiritual, that presence may 
 |be supposed by the different religionists to be; it does not 
 depend at all upon the reception-or non-reception of the sa¬ 
 crament, it exists before the use, and who will affirm that it 
 cannot continue after the use? It is not by the faith of him 
 who receives the sacrament that it is rendered a sacrament, 
 but by the benediction. Thus it is that it carries all bless¬ 
 ings with it to the worthy communicant, whilst the unwor¬ 
 thy receiver eats and drinks judgment to himself, not 
 (discerning in it, or seeing with the eye of faith, the body of 
 the Lord. The Catholics then are as little guilty of idolatry 
 ;in adoring the Eucharist in the tabernacle, or when carried 
 abroad, as when it is blessed upon the altar or received by 
 them: and this, which is true upon principles common to 
 Catholics and Protestants, is still more manifest when the 
 Eucharist is considered as a sacrifice. 
 
 “ When one looks into the Gospel, or into the writings of 
 the most apostolic men, nothing of cant presents itself; there 
 is no yawning about grace and light, nor any of those sense¬ 
 less self-gratulations and uncharitable censures with which 
 
204 
 
 life of dr. doyle. 
 
 modern sanctity abounds; for my part when I see a man or 
 woman, in manners or language, depart from Christian mo¬ 
 desty and moderation, affecting more than ordinary virtue, i 
 and proclaiming by their phrases and attitudes, that they are 
 not like other men; like that Publican for example, who 
 laughs and dances, I generally suspect them of hypocrisy, , 
 or despise them as fools. A community of Wesleyan Me¬ 
 thodists may make wry faces, and fashion the Lord of earth 
 and heaven in forms suited to their own heated fancy; but : 
 a man who introduces ascetic language and manners into 
 society, unless he sustain them by apostolic, by extraordinary ' 
 virtue, is a contemptible nuisance—he offends against good 1 
 manners, detracts from the sanctity, the simplicity and the 
 dignity of true religion, and often ends his career by be- • 
 coming a prey to his own passions.—The last paragraph but t 
 one of Mr. Daly’s letter unloeks, like a key, the mystery of f 
 his piety and zeal; he is, for he let it escape him, brimful! I 
 of nonsense about Rome and the Pope being Babylon and ! 
 the great w—e. It is really lamentable to see a man thus be- - 
 reaved of common sense, as well as unacquainted with the e 
 history of theology, for the last century, and yet capable of f 
 giving, and willing to give, offence to a whole people. If f 
 this man be a rector, and have a parish and glebe, why seek k 
 to deprive Gideon Ousely of the little vineyard left to him i 
 by his ancestors ? Gideon had in these latter times proved 1 
 most satisfactorily that the Pope was Antichrist—and a very f 
 worthy opponent of his had, with not less ability, demon¬ 
 strated that London was Babylon, and our gracious Sovereign 
 George the very 4 Man of Sin.’ Now, was it, Mr. Editor, 
 just or honorable for a third person to enter the lists and 
 snatch the laurel, almost won, from the brow of Gideon ?. 
 Verily, Mr, Daly, as I once heard my Lord Norbury say to 
 a perjured witness— 4 You are a very respectable person, but 
 you have done yourself no great credit to day.’ 
 
 ‘‘There is a sort of tribunal in the Established Church, 
 for she undertakes to judge of heresies; it is indeed weak 
 and vacillating, or it would not suffer what now prevails; 
 but there is not, nor can there be any tribunal in the leaves 
 of a book : nor can I conceive any thing on earth so prepos¬ 
 terous as to raise controversies upon the text the Bible 
 
LIFE OF DU. DOYLE. 
 
 205 
 
 I 
 
 and then appeal to that text to decide upon them; nothing 
 to illustrate so great an absurdity occurs at present to my 
 mind, unless it be that John Doe and Richard Roe dispute 
 about a field, and go to Richard Roe and John Doe to de¬ 
 cide for John and Richard. Augustin does not say, * Neither 
 ought I to allege the Nicean Council, nor you that of Armi- 
 liium, for neither am I bound by the authority of the one, 
 nor you by that of the other.’ But he says to an Arian ad¬ 
 versary, who denied the authority of the Council of Nice, and 
 referred to that of the Council of Rimini, that he would not 
 quote the former, nor should his opponent quote the latter, 
 but that the dispute between them should be carried on with 
 argument taken from the Scripture, (a store sufficiently large 
 aud common to both,) just as Mr. Daly and his associates in 
 the Bible warfare with the Catholic Clergy, left the Synod of 
 Dort, (King James’s Synod) and the Council of Trent un¬ 
 molested, while they found quite a sufficiency of arguments 
 in the Bible, and were just as near coming to the same con¬ 
 clusion upon them as Augustin and Maximinus were, when 
 engaged about Arianism.—This objection of Mr. Daly is so 
 used and abused, that like the other which follows in his 
 letter, it only serves to fill waste paper. 
 
 te Mr. Daly resumes the subject of the Eucharist, on 
 which it must be allowed that Mr. O’Connell had dealt 
 upon him some severe strokes, and appeals to an old ac¬ 
 quaintance, Rev. Mr. Clowry, to confute the assertion of 
 his opponent—‘ that transubstantiation is a necessary con¬ 
 sequence of the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament.' 
 But Mr. Daly’s chief hope of combating his adversary with 
 success on this point rests on this, that a Spiritual Presence 
 may be a real presence. 
 
 “It is very clear that the presence of a spirit may be real, 
 but it is not equally clear, that a person or thing spiritually 
 present is really present. Mr. Daly plays with words, or in 
 what the French call an equivoque. I would wish to know if 
 that body and blood of Christ, which, according to the 
 established liturgy, are verily and indeed given and received, 
 be really or only spiritually present. If it be really present, 
 it may be given and received, but if it be not present more 
 than in spirit or in virtue, it would be something curious to 
 
 M 
 
208 
 
 LIFE OF Dlt. DOYLE. 
 
 learn how it can be verily and indeed given by the minister 
 and received by the communicant. I think his bishop 
 should require of Mr. Daly to make a profession of faith 
 on this point, as his Grace thinks the clergy should be very 
 orthodox, and that only the laity are entitled to a latitude 
 of belief—then, as to how Mr. O’Connell and Mr. Clowry 
 may settle the supposed differences of opinion is not my 
 concern; but if, as Mr. O’Connell supposes, that the sub¬ 
 stance of the bread and wine are changed in the sacrament 
 ©f the Eucharist into the body and blood of Christ, it is 
 hard to conceive how the Real Presence, thus produced, can 
 be separated from the change or transubstantiation in which 
 it is effected. When the priest, according to Mr. O’Connell, 
 says, 4 this is my body/ the bread is changed, and Christ 
 becomes present—the presence and the change are therefore 
 in this hypothesis quite inseparable. Certainly Christ might 
 descend and be present with the bread ; but if this were 
 the case, the words ^this is my body,’ would not be veri¬ 
 fied of what the priest blesses, nor would any change be 
 wrought in the elements. In this supposition the words of 
 the institution would have no efficacy or special force, nor ! 
 would there be any grounds in the Scriptures for supposing \ 
 that Christ descended either really or spiritually. So that | 
 Mr. Daly and Mr. O’Connell should both seek for some 
 new creed or liturgy. 
 
 44 As to the proofs concerning the blessed Eucharist ad¬ 
 duced by Mr. O’Connell from the gospel of St. John, they are 
 very forcible; and it would be better for the argument of 
 Mr. Daly to disprove them than to quote Popes and bishops 
 who did not employ them as Mr. O’Connell did. Now the 
 truth is, that St. Augustin, in his third book de Consensu 
 Evang. refers to the sixth chapter of John as containing in 
 a very full manner all that was written by that Evangelist on 
 the Eucharist, but he generally expounded only such pas¬ 
 sages of it as related to the inserting of the new "Christian 
 by faitli in the body of Christ. In this he was, and is to 
 this day, imitated by Catholic Popes, Bishops and Doctors, 
 who know as well as he did, that the same Scripture has 
 often several meanings—as, for example, 4 Abraham had 
 two sons, one of a freed woman and one of a slave’—this is 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 207 
 
 • a simple historical fact, but according to Paul, these women 
 signified the two Testaments. So the eating of the flesh 
 and blood of Christ mentioned by John, may very well be 
 
 \ understood of the partaking of it by faith, when, through 
 1 baptism, the believer is inserted in Christ, and it may also' 
 ; be understood of the participation of the blessed Eucharist 
 
 * which was to be instituted as the best and greatest means 
 i of uniting man with his Redeemer. About the time of the 
 I Council of Trent, as Palovicini mentions in his history, the 
 
 Germans pressed the Catholics with those texts of John, to 
 I prove the necessity of communion in both kinds, and some of 
 I the Catholic divines, to evade the difficulty, not only took up 
 the interpretation of Augustin, which was, and is always cur- 
 ! rent in the Catholic Church, but they went farther, and denied 
 that the passage at all applied to the Eucharist; but of those 
 divines not one, not even Catejan, who fell into many errors, 
 ever denied or questioned the Catholic doctrines respecting 
 the Eucharist, as held by Mr. O’Connell.—The panic, it 
 was a sort of late panic, reached only to a few, and very soon 
 subsided, and the text of John continued, as before, to be 
 quoted in the obvious sense assigned to it by Mr. O’Connell. 
 
 “St. Augustin, as quoted by Mr. Daly, says, that when 
 any thing cruel or revolting is mentioned in the Scripture as 
 to be done, it should be understood figuratively, like that 
 i of eating and drinking the flesh of Christ; but why did Mr. 
 Daly not add what shows the true meaning of the rule of 
 interpretation there laid down by Augustin, and inform his 
 ; readers why that eminent father considered the eating of 
 . Christ’s flesh cruel and revolting—Tract 26, in Joh. Au¬ 
 gustin says, * the Capharnaites thought that Christ was to 
 give them his flesh cut in pieces, nt in cavadere dilaniatur 
 cut in macello venditur ;* this would be cruel and revolting, 
 j and therefore the saying should have been understood in a 
 * figurative way. But Augustin, in the tenth chapter of the 
 book quoted by Mr. Daly, remarks what is well worthy of 
 attention: i If,’ says he , 1 any erroneous opinion occupy the 
 mind, whatever the Scripture asserts against that opinion 
 men will understand figuratively.’ According to the doc¬ 
 trine of that book, the plain and obvious sense of the Scrip¬ 
 ture is never to be departed from, unless when it would 
 
208 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 seem to prescribe what would be immoral, or approve of 
 what is clearly dishonest. That little treatise of Augustin is 
 certainly much more favourable to Mr. O’Connell’s mode 
 of interpreting Scripture than to that of Mr. Daly; nor can 
 there be much doubt but that the African bishop believed, 
 on the subject of the Eucharist, precisely as Mr. O’Connell 
 does. In his first explanation of the 33 Ps. as he found it 
 in the Septuagint; again bn the 65 Ps ; in his book against 
 the Donatists, in his 5th book on Baptism, he proves or 
 asserts at length and expressly—1st. That when Christ in¬ 
 stituted the Eucharist he verified the saying of the prophet, i 
 he was carried in his own hands,’ really holding his own 
 flesh and blood. 2nd. That he took flesh from the Virgin 
 Mary, that he lived in that flesh, and left us that same flesl 
 to eat for our salvation. 3rd. That in the Eucharist, Chris 
 is really and substantially received by the communicant. 
 Augustin, like all other pious divines, earnestly exhorts men 
 to participate of the Eucharist with a lively faith, and not to 
 render useless or injurious to themselves by a want of proper 
 dispositions so great a grace ; but I doubt whether Mr. 
 O’Connell would yield either to him or Mr. Daly in prac¬ 
 tising what they recommend, and were he, O’Connell, en¬ 
 gaged in disputing with some half-believer, we should hear 
 him declaim most vehemently against carnal men, and extol 
 the efficacy of faith and grace, as compared with the inertness 
 and inutility of flesh and blood. 
 
 “ Mr. Daly’s reply to his adversary’s argument, from the 
 words of the institution of the Eucharist, is meagre and 
 scanty; it consists in adducing half a dozen metaphors from 
 the Scripture, and leaving the public to infer from those 
 that every text is figurative. This is bad logic, if it can be 
 called logic ; but every person who reads will see its futility. 
 If O’Connell’s argument admitted of a reply, it ought to be 
 met fairly; if not, let it prevail. It is dangerous to give to 
 it an answer which will sanction the Socinian in rejecting 
 the obvious and natural meaning of the text of John, 4 the 
 Word was God’ and 4 the Word was made flesh.’—The 
 words of the institution are simple, plain, and strong; it is 
 difficult to set them aside. The church in which Mr. Daly 
 ministers, has not, could not, set them aside. Luther him- 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 209 
 
 self, a rough wedge as he was, could not set them aside: and 
 the minister who sets them aside, as Mr. Daly does, may 
 be a good Protestant, but his orthodoxy is very doubtful.—- 
 People may dispute, but the faith of the Christian world, 
 that Christ is really present in the blessed Eucharist, ought 
 not to be trifled with. Bellarmine might say, (though he 
 does not say it,) that Transubstantiation requires the autho¬ 
 rity of the church to prove it. Bishop Bull may rest his 
 argument on the divinity of Christ on the same basis. Au¬ 
 gustin may receive the gospel and what it teaches, only on 
 account of the same authority; but if the gospel, and the 
 Church, and the consent of the Christian world be worth 
 any thing, the Real Presence of Christ—his real substantial 
 presence must be believed. To compare the institution of 
 the Eucharist, the last act of the power and love of Christ 
 on earth, the source of the Christian priesthood, the last tes¬ 
 tament of the Lord, the seal of the new covenant, the great 
 passover of the Christian people, to any thing of an ordinary 
 kind, is pure unmixed folly. It is too late at the close of 
 1800 years, to discover that this was a mere commemoration 
 of any thing. Whatever it is, it is a rite full of grace, it con¬ 
 denses all the mysteries of the redemption, and as such has 
 ever been venerated in the Christian world. The time of 
 speaking in parables had ended at the last supper; there 
 were none present but those who were called friends, and 
 to whom it was given to know the secrets of the kingdom of 
 God. The words used by Christ were plain. It would be 
 hard to turn them into a metaphor, wheresoever they might 
 have been spoken ; but to distort them from their obvious 
 meaning, considering the time, place and circumstances in 
 which they were used, is doubly difficult. It is hard to 
 believe them, certainly ; but it is just as easy as to believe 
 in the existence and nature of original sin, in the incarnation 
 of the Word, or in any of the mysteries on which, in order 
 I to subject our understanding to the obedience of faith, the 
 ! whole fabric of Christianity rests. There is reason in that 
 saying of Tertullian, credo quia impossible ; and whether the 
 i creation, the incarnation, the redemption, or the Eucharist 
 be considered, we may and must say, with Augustin, Ep. 3. 
 ad. Vdusian—in talibua rebus tota ratio facti est potentia 
 
 M 3 
 
210 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 facientis. The concordance of the evangelists, and the over¬ 
 whelming testimony of Paul, who says, that he received from 
 the Lord himself what he wrote to the Corinthians about 
 the Eucharist, show, that there must have been a precon¬ 
 certed design to keep the matter in doubt and darkness, if 
 the obvious meaning be not the right one. And certainly 
 the testimony of Ignatius and Justin, coming shortly after 
 Paul—the general calumny of the Christians sacrificing hu¬ 
 man beings, and devouring their flesh, in their secret assem¬ 
 blies, show, that the system of the Catholics accords best, as 
 well with the institution as with the practice and notions pre¬ 
 vailing in the earliest times, amongst both Christians and 
 Pagans, respecting this sacrament. To be just to Mr. Daly, 
 he more than half admits the doctrine of the Real Presence, 
 though it is very evident that his leaning is to the Calvinis- 
 tic opinion; otherwise he would not adduce the little trite 
 objections, 1 1 am the way, the truth, and the life’—‘ the three 
 branches are three days’—‘ the seven ears of com are seven 
 years’—I am the vine, you the branches, my father is the 
 husbandman’—You shall eat the lamb standing, with your ? 
 loins girded, for it is the phase (that is) the passage of the 
 Lord ;’ and say to any thinking man, that because are or ii 
 in these texts have a metaphorical or figurative sense, there¬ 
 fore the words ‘ this is my body,’ ‘ this is my blood,’ 
 are figurative expressions. The sense of the texts objected, 
 with the exception of the last, is so plain, that 4 he who runs 
 may read.’ No simpleton could mistake it—to object to them 
 seriously, shows that argument on that side is exhausted. 
 The last of them only, has made a noise in the controversial 
 world, because Zuinglius said it was suggested to him by a 
 black or white spirit, he did not know which—probably it 
 was of the same family as that which disputed with Luther 
 about the Mass, and for my part, I do not see why men, se¬ 
 lected to found sects in these latter ages, should not have 
 their demons in attendance, if it was only for the honor of 
 the thing, as well as Socrates, Brutus, or Doctor Johnson, 
 for I think the Doctor also had intercourse with sylphs or 
 genii. But this ethereal or infernal attendant of Zuinglius 
 was not much read in the Scriptures, or he would have seen 
 that the word phase, in the twenty-first verse of the same 
 
LIFE OF DU. DOYLE. 
 
 ill 
 
 chapter from which he quoted, was put down, not for pas¬ 
 sage, but for victim; and had he been acquainted with the 
 original language of the Bible, he would find that not only 
 there, but also in Exod. 30th and 35th chapters, and in second 
 Chron. the word pesach is often put for zevach , pesach , and 
 not only signifies the passage of the angel, but also to cele¬ 
 brate, to sacrifice, to eat, to broil or roast, the victim of or 
 for the passage. Were the objection capable of force, and 
 it is not, there should be no passage or text at hand, to ex¬ 
 plain the sense in which the word phase was used ; but un¬ 
 fortunately for the demon, and Zuinglius, and Mr. Daly, the 
 Catholics were enabled to show the utter futility of the ob¬ 
 jection, by referring to the identical word, as used even in 
 the same chapter, to explain its true meaning. 
 
 “ When a great truth of religion is assailed with such ar¬ 
 guments as these, it may have much to encounter from 
 pride, passion and interest, but reason and revelation must 
 be on its side ! 
 
 u If Mr. O’Connell is to be driven from his position, sup¬ 
 ported, as he is, with a mighty argument from Scripture 
 with .the universal consent of the Christian world, witli the 
 clear and unequivocal testimony of all the Greek and Latin 
 Fathers, with the Liturgies, the Tabernacles, tha Altars, 
 with all the monuments of antiquity, something besides ears 
 of corn or vine sticks, and the devices of Zuinglius’s de¬ 
 mon, will be required to dislodge him. v 
 
 “ But Mr. Daly evidently wishes to blink the question of 
 the real presence of the body and blood, soul and divinity 
 of Jesus Chist, in the sacrament of the Eucharist; he cavils 
 about the words ‘ Real Presence and would wish to con¬ 
 found it with a ‘ Spiritual Presencebut he should not 
 escape on that point; he should declare himself a Calvinist, 
 or acknowledge that Jesus Christ is truly and really, or as 
 the liturgy has it, verily and indeed, present in the sacra¬ 
 ment—until he does so, he has no right to argue against 
 Transubstantiation. If he declare for the doctrine of Calvin, 
 then let him meet O’Connell on the question of the Real 
 Presence, on which he already seems to confess, (though 
 against his will,) that he is weak and powerless; but if he 
 admit that Christ is whole and entire present-—verily and 
 
212 • LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 indeed given and received, then the question of Transubstan- 
 tiation may be discussed in an intelligible way. Without 
 this clear understanding there can be no conclusion come to; 
 and if the Ileal Presence be admitted, 1 anticipate that as 
 Luther for fourteen years struggled to deny Transubstantia- 
 tion, and at length returned to it, as Melancthon reproaches 
 him with doing, so Mr. Daly, in the end, must strike to his 
 adversary, or desert the doctrine of the Real Presence. 
 
 “ The truth is, that every argument which proves the Real 
 Presence, is futile, unintelligible, and absurd, if it do not 
 prove that the elements are changed into the body and blood 
 of Christ. Touto estin to soma emou , ‘ this is my body,' 
 must be either verified or not verified, with regard to what 
 the priest holds or blesses. If it be verified, the thing held 
 or blessed is changed or transubstantiated into the body of 
 Christ: if it be not verified, there is no earthly reason to sup¬ 
 pose that Christ is present, yerily and indeed, or in any 
 manner whatever. The change is effected, or it is not; that 
 it is effected, all antiquity, with one voice declares; the east 
 and the west, the Greek and the Barbarian, the doctor of 
 the law and the peasant, the liturgies, the altars, the temples, 
 the very beams from the roof proclaim it.—The whole world 
 believes that Christ is present in the Eucharist, with the fol¬ 
 lowing exceptions:—the Capharnaites, Judasites, Simonites, 
 Phantasites, Entrensiastae, Berengarius, Peter de Bruis, some 
 of the Albigenses, Corlastadius, Zuinglius, Bucer, Calvin, 
 the Socinians, with some few others, equally respectable. 
 These individuals and sects say * Christ is not present,’ and, 
 of course, are no way concerned about a change of the ele¬ 
 ments being wrought or not; if Mr. Daly unite himself with 
 those persons and sects, he may argue as they do; but if 
 he admit that Christ is really present, how or upon what 
 grounds can he maintain it, if he deny the efficacy of the 
 words of the blessing or consecration; and if he admit that 
 efficacy, how or in what maimer does he admit it, consis¬ 
 tently with common sense or common language, if he deny 
 that the elements are changed! ‘ This is my body,’ 1 this is 
 my blood,’ when these words are pronounced, it is admitted 
 that Christ is present, and yet it is said, * this’ is not his 
 body, but bread; * this’ is not his blood, but wine. Where, 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYL£. 
 
 213 
 
 then, X ask, is the Lord, or how can he be there ? Can he 
 be there and not there ? Can * this’ touto be his body and 
 not his body ? Such nonsence is absurd and unintelligible, 
 every man who holds it should renounce Christianity, or 
 become a Catholic—there is no compromising the matter, 
 let the mystery be altogether admitted, or altogether re¬ 
 jected, for God is not mocked with impunity. Cyril said, 
 instructing the Catechumens, * what seems to you bread is 
 not bread, but the body of the Lord; what seems to you 
 wine is not wine, but the blood of the Lord/ This is con¬ 
 sistent, the other notion is absurd. 
 
 “ But I suppose Cyril, and Chrysostom, and Ambrose, 
 and all the others who speak this language, did not believe 
 in Transubstantiation. What, then, I would ask, did they 
 believe in ? or, in the methodistical cant of the present day, 
 what did they believe on ? Did they believe that what ap¬ 
 pears to be bread was not bread, and was bread ? Did they 
 oelieve it was the body of Christ, and not the body of Christ ? 
 In good truth, it is afflicting to have to deal with absurdity, 
 or to argue with men who have gone astray in their own in¬ 
 ventions. 
 
 “ "Tis true that they all say with Chrysostom, that in the 
 sacrament 4 we see, we touch, we receive into our breasts, 
 Jesus Christ,’ but they also understand that they see him 
 veiled from the senses, as we see a person masked or covered 
 with clothes, and whilst we salute the person so masked or 
 covered, we may with great propriety say that we do net 
 salute the mask itself or the covering. So Catholics who 
 adore Christ in the Eucharist, adore him only, and not the 
 accidents which appear to, or affect, the organs of sense. 
 
214 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 DR. DOYLE’S PASTORAL U« £jJU CATION SOCIETIES. 
 
 “ Bnt the multiplied brood of the wicked shall not thrive, and bas¬ 
 tard slips shall not take deep root, nor any fast foundation, and if 
 they flourish in branches for a time, yet., standing not fast, they shall 
 be shaken with the wind, and through the force of winds they shall 
 be rooted out; for the branches not being perfect shall be broken, and 
 their fruit shall be unprofitable, and sour to eat, and fit for nothiug.” 
 
 Wisdom, iv. 3, 4, 5. 
 
 Seeing the efforts which proselyting and Bible Societies 
 were making to corrupt the poor, and to calumniate the 
 faith of the Catholic Church, on the 4th September, 1826, 
 Dr. Doyle addressed a pastoral letter to the Catholic clergy 
 and people of his diocese, ori the education of the poor. In 
 this letter he gave a clear but graphic sketch of the various 
 anti-Catholic Societies which had, for the preceding century, 
 disturbed the peace of Ireland; and he particularly de¬ 
 tailed the grounds on which the Catholics of Ireland had 
 opposed the Kildare-place society, established first for the 
 purpose of communicating education to the poor of Ireland, 
 without religious interference, but ultimately devoted to the 
 creation of bigotry and proselytism. 
 
 We give the following extracts from this work :— 
 
 11 For almost three centuries, in Ireland, our religion had 
 been delivered up to men who judged it unjustly; and its 
 ministers, like sheep before the shearer, were compelled to 
 be dumb. Treated ‘ as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, 
 and yet known ; as dying, and behold they live; as chas¬ 
 tised, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as 
 needy, yet enriching many ; as having nothing, and possess¬ 
 ing all things/ When for ages they had thus exhibited 
 themselves ‘ as the ministers of God, in much patience, in 
 tribulation, in necessities, in distresses/ they, and tWe people 
 with whom they suffered, were relieved. The persecution, 
 blunted by its own violence, and rendered ineffectual by its 
 own excess, ceased to assail our religion openly, whilst its 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOTLE. 
 
 215 
 
 spirit, like that evil one expelled by oar Redeemer, wander¬ 
 ing through dry and arid places, without finding rest, re¬ 
 turned frequently, seeking to re-enter its former abode, to 
 regain its lost possessions. 
 
 “ The spirit which now afflicts us, dearest brethren, is the 
 same which in past times hunted the instructors of our 
 youth, like monsters, from the midst of society, and sent 
 the priest into the wilderness to perish, laden, like the scape¬ 
 goat, with the sins of the people; a spirit which harassed 
 and tortured the surviving remnant of an almost extirpated 
 race, seeking to pervert them by tearing the son from the 
 arms of the father, and the orphan daughter from the em¬ 
 braces of her widowed mother. 
 
 “ The Primate Boulter, that finished type of a bad 
 government, wrote from Dublin, about a century ago, to the 
 Bishop of London, as follows :—* The great numbers of Pa¬ 
 pists in this kingdom, and the obstinacy with which they 
 adhere to their own religion, occasions our trying what may 
 be done with their children, to bring them over to our 
 Church.’ He proceeds to recommend the founding of charter 
 schools, and says that the nobility, gentry, and clergy were 
 about presenting an address to the then king, that he might 
 form them into a society—such as the society for the sup¬ 
 pression of vice, or the Kildare-place society—and having 
 in his own name, and that of the rest of his brethren, (this 
 Boulter was the head of the bishops of the established 
 Church in Ireland,) invoked the intercession of their bro¬ 
 ther of London with the king, concludes thus: 1 1 can as¬ 
 sure you, the Papists here are so numerous, that it highly 
 concerns us in point of interest (to points of interest the 
 Primate and his brethren were then, as now, sensitively alive) 
 —as well as out of concern for the salvation of those poor 
 creatures.’ What consummate hypocrisy in a man placed at 
 the head of a government, whose measures were subversive, 
 not only of all the laws of the gospel, but of every feeling of 
 humanity ! He continues: ‘ Who are our fellow-subjects, to 
 bring them and theirs over to the knowledge of the true 
 religion—(the religion of Boulter !)—and one of the most 
 likely methods we can think of is, if possible, instructing 
 and converting the young generation; for instead of con- 
 
216 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DCYLE. 
 
 verting those that are adult, (that is, those whose reason is 
 matured, and who think seriously of their salvation,) we are ‘ 
 daily losing many of our meaner people;’ (those meaner 
 people who, according to the apostle, ‘ God hath appointed 
 the heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those 
 who love him,’) 4 who go off to popery,' or return to the 
 fold from which they had strayed or been seduced. 
 
 “About twenty years ago a society for printing and dis¬ 
 tributing Bibles was formed in this country, which in a short 
 time became numerous, including within it a number of well- r 
 meaning persons; and not a few who put on an appearance 
 df piety and zeal, for the purpose of obtaining a livelihood 
 through the society, and sharing in the funds placed at its 
 disposal. This society, by degrees, not satisfied with con¬ 
 tributing to the religious improvement of Protestants, di¬ 
 rected its zeal to the enlightening of Catholics. They ; 
 introduced into their annual reports the most glaring ana [1 
 absurd tales of conversions, effected amongst us, chiefly in ;i 
 order to excite the people of England (who are not exeedingly ) 
 credulous) to contribute freely to their funds. The impose 
 ture was so successful, that in almost every succeeding new r 
 year societies sprung up, each and all of whom engaged to h 
 enlighten 4 the poor benighted Papists of Ireland,' (for so <) 
 they called us,) according to the measure of the gifts which i 
 the public might enable them to bestow. Some undertook ; 
 to distribute Bibles and Testaments in English and in Irish, 
 others to compose and disseminate tracts; many were em¬ 
 ployed in collecting information respecting our religious 
 usages, called by them superstitions ; several had funds 
 entrusted to them, whether to aid the operation of grace in 
 making converts, or in confirming those converts when made 
 —in the abandonment of all religion. The goals, the bride-' 
 wells, the cellars, the cabins, were all to be visited; and ! 
 books, and bank notes, and cloaks, and coats, and Bibles,, 
 were all employed to forward the great work of hypocrisy/ 
 and religious cant. The fruits of those exertions were such 
 as naturally should be expected; theft, and robbery, and: 
 lies, and sacrilege, and prophanatious of eveiy sort abounded. 
 The hypocrites employed by the society were enabled to 
 live ; many of them became rich ; not a few' of the simple, 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 217 
 
 well disposed Protestants, became dupes and fanatics; the 
 sensible part of the community sighed or laughed at what 
 was occurring; the thief in prison often hoped, and not al¬ 
 ways without cause, to escape the gallows by accepting>of a 
 Bible; and the prostitute when driven from society, recruited 
 her strength and was refitted for debauchery by feigning 
 conversion. These societies produced more crimes in Ire¬ 
 land than the Whiteboys or Orangemen; they at one period 
 | convulsed the entire country, and almost kindled a civil war: 
 to this day they divide the people; promote or prolong dis¬ 
 sensions ; alienate the master and mistress from their domes¬ 
 tics; and sow distrust and antipathy in the place of mutual 
 confidence and affection : to judge of them by their fruits 
 they appear to be the works of Satan, who transforms him¬ 
 self into an angel of light, that by an appearance of Godli¬ 
 ness he may deceive the unwary. But of all those societies 
 there were none so dangerous as those who veiled their at¬ 
 tempts at seducing our people from the faith, by combining 
 them with exertions to educate the poor. The people of 
 Ireland seem to have an innate thirst for knowledge: when 
 education was proscribed by law, and learning treated as a 
 crime, we defied the impotent attempts of the legislature, 
 and preserved it amongst us like some sacred fire sent from 
 heaven: but it was confined to a narrow sphere, and the 
 glimmerings of its light scarcely reached the multitude. We 
 all, however, looked towards it, and desired earnestly to be 
 warmed and enlightened by its rays. The societies knew 
 this; they engrafted education on proselytism, and hence 
 the protracted combats we have had to sustain. These so¬ 
 cieties have been liars as well as sowers of discord, from the 
 beginning: they disavow proselytism, and profess it often 
 in the very same report. That of Kildare-place, with which 
 our chief concern is at present, has embodied in its funda¬ 
 mental rules an express and deliberate contradiction. In 
 one of those rules it professes to be founded for the purpose 
 of imparting education to all denominations of Christians, 
 without interfering with the religion of any; and in another 
 rule it erects itself into a Bible society, and enforces the read¬ 
 ing of the Sacred Scriptures, without note or comment, by 
 children, in all schools to which it extends its aid. 
 
218 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 a The Kildare-place society was first formed some fifteen 
 or sixteen years ago; and by the liberality of its professions 
 when first founded, collected about it the sympathies and 
 support of the most enlightened men in the country : it 
 was favourably contrasted with the others, which were pro¬ 
 fessedly sectarian. The enlightened and patriotic of every 
 creed lent to it their aid, and bestowed on it their generous 
 contributions. Catholics, Church Protestants, and Dissent¬ 
 ers composed its managing committee, and had the demon 
 of fanaticism not found entrance to its enclosure, or been 
 admitted to its councils, it would gradually become fitted to 
 the nation, and have conferred ere now, and continue to 
 confer more benefits upon Ireland than any institution, not ex¬ 
 cepting our Irish Parliament, which from time immemorial 
 existed in this country : but alas, owing to the penal laws, 
 and the accursed divisions always fomented by their spirit 
 in Ireland, the fanatical party in Kildare-place engrossed the 
 management of its funds, and employed them in the works' 
 of * enlightening and converting the rising generation/ Af¬ 
 fecting ignorance of the Catholic Doctrine, they obtruded an 
 obnoxious principle into their schools, and under the pretext 
 of giving religious instruction, they abused the word of God, 
 rendering it a symbol of disunion, and a harbinger of dis¬ 
 cord, not of peace. 
 
 u When we explained our doctrine they would not under¬ 
 stand us; when we pointed out the evils of licentiousness 
 in religion they scoffed at us; when we upbraided them with 
 bad faith, and the breach of a public compact, they sent forth 
 misstatements to justify what was truly disgraceful. Whilst 
 contending with the society, and others of a similar descrip¬ 
 tion, we were assailed by the Bible Society, that great parent 
 of them all; by the Charter Schools, which were nearly eaten 
 up by their own viciousness; by the London Hibernian 
 Society, which, not satisfied with schools of seduction, em¬ 
 ployed bribed apostates, as missionaries amongst our peo-| 
 pie. The society for discountenancing vice, laboured by* 
 premiums, bestowed on Catholic children, to seduce them 
 from the faith of their fathers ; whilst the Lord Lieutenant, * 
 for the time being, entrusted a parliamentary fund to a Ma¬ 
 jor Woodward and some others, ‘ who worked it so as to 
 
LIFE Off DU. DOYLE. 219 
 
 throw the education into the hands of the clergy of the esta¬ 
 blished Church. 
 
 1 • ‘‘About the year 1819, whilst these things were in pro¬ 
 gress, many just men were moved with compassion for us, 
 and with indignation against those who insulted and afflicted 
 us. Lord Cloncurry, who is blessed with an innate love of 
 justice; Mr. O’Connell, who is ever foremost in unmask- 
 i ing hypocrisy, and proclaiming the wrongs of his fellow- 
 countrymen ; Mr. Curran, who inherits so much of the 
 talents, and more than the virtues of his father; these gen¬ 
 tlemen, with several others, exposed at a public meeting, the 
 defection of the Kildare-place society, from the principles 
 i which they professed. This exposure led to the abdication 
 of the presidency of it by the Duke of Leinster; and from 
 the day on which it was abandoned by the head of the Irish 
 nobility, the pride of Ireland, and the patron of every vir¬ 
 tuous institution, though it has fattened in obscurity, it had 
 been looked on as disgraced. The public feeling and opi¬ 
 nion had now come to our support, and the late William 
 Parnell, Esq. M. P. for the County of Wicklow, whose 
 whole life was an uninterrupted exercise of great talents, 
 employed in works of justice, benevolence, and public utility, 
 applied to Mr. Secretary Grant, to obtain through him the 
 support of Government to an unexceptionable plan of edu¬ 
 cation. 
 
 “ In 1824, when the present Lord Lieutenant had some¬ 
 what composed the disorders which prevailed at the com¬ 
 mencement of his administration, the Catholic Prelates, 
 hoping that his power to do good was commensurate with 
 his inclination, thought it a fit time to renew their represen¬ 
 tation with respect to the education of the poor. They - 
 accordingly prepared a memorial on the subject to his Ex¬ 
 cellency ; their desire of presenting it was communicated to 
 him; and his Excellency not finding it convenient at that 
 time to fix a day for receiving it, the memorial was thrown 
 into the form of a petition, signed by all the bishops who 
 were then in Dublin, and presented to the House of Com¬ 
 mons shortly after the opening of the session, by Mr. Grat¬ 
 tan, the hereditary and faithful advocate of all our just 
 claims. 
 
220 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 u This petition produced a debate in the House of Com- 1 
 mons, from which it appeared that parliament was desirous 
 of instituting an inquiry into the state of education in Ire¬ 
 land ; and notice of a motion for the appointment of a par¬ 
 liamentary commission for that purpose having been given 
 by the indefatigable Sir John Newport, the partizans of the 
 societies became alarmed: they anticipated nothing less 
 than the detection of impositions and abuses, even more 
 gross and inexcusable than had lately been developed by 
 a similar commission, in the departments of the revenue, 
 in the customs and excise. They assailed the minister, 
 and unhappily he yielded to their solicitations; he al¬ 
 lured and threatened opposition. The worthy Baronet 
 fearing, and justly, that a motion, however reasonable, 
 if opposed by the administration, would not succeed, agreed 
 to exchange his parliamentary commission, for a com¬ 
 mission to be appointed by the crown. Thus all our 
 hopes were blasted, and from that hour to this we looked 
 with doubt and apprehension to whatever we have wit¬ 
 nessed on the part of this commission, and to all that has 
 emanated from it. At length we have seen it virtually 
 dissolved, after much useless labour, and the chief mem¬ 
 ber of it advocating in parliament his own views, found¬ 
 ed on inquiry and experience, and yet thinking it right 
 to supersede them by his vote. 
 
 “ The question then for our deliberation resolves itself 
 simply into this : are we or are we not prepared to yield 
 up our inalienable rights, with regard to the education 
 of our children ? Is the parent to preserve or surrender 
 his right of selecting the tutor to whom he would en¬ 
 trust the education of his child ? Are we or are we 
 not to continue Catholics, and to preserve to our des¬ 
 cendants the faith with which we have been gifted by 
 the Lord ? Or are we to substitute the great principle 
 of the’ Bible Societies, which is a defection from, and an 
 obstinate opposition to, the church; to that reasonable 
 obedience to her authority which Christ commanded ; 
 which the apostles enforced; which has ever governed 
 the body of Christ; a rational obedience, which keeps 
 us all united in the bond of charity and peace; and 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 221 
 
 which, when discarded, has ever produced war, blood¬ 
 shed, and revolutions in states, and in the Christian 
 world, those swarms of sects and heresies, that impiety, 
 infidelity, and fanaticism which we daily witness and 
 deplore ? Are we or are we not disposed to erase the 
 Catholic people of Ireland from the records of the Ca¬ 
 tholic Church, and enrol them as members of a Bible So¬ 
 ciety ? Are we prepared to extinguish amongst us that light 
 | of gospel truth, which has illuminated Ireland for fifteen 
 hundred years, and consign our children to be tossed about 
 by every wind of doctrine ; to wrest the Scriptures to their 
 own perdition, until blinding and blinded, they and their 
 guides fall together into the pit ? Are we, or are we not, 
 prepared to repudiate the sanctity of our fathers; to stigma¬ 
 tise their toils and sufferings; to betray into the hands of 
 the Boulters and their brethren that rising generation, in 
 whom the spirits of our ancestry dwell ? Shall Ireland no 
 more be Catholic and orthodox ? Yea, brethren, it shall: 
 and rather than desert the faith once delivered to the saints, 
 let our right hand be withered, and our flesh given a prey 
 to the beasts of the earth, or the fowls of the air. But 
 whence, you will inquire, is this danger to be apprehended, 
 or how do these societies threaten the security or integrity 
 of our faith ? 
 
 M If the principle of the Bible Society be established in 
 schools, it will be propagated to the fireside; it will pro¬ 
 duce in the very bosom of our families sects and heresies 
 without name or number; it will render us at first a nation 
 of fanatics, and then lead us, like Germany, where it was 
 first broached, to the abyss of infidelity, yea, to blaspheme 
 the very name of Christ Such is its natural, such is its 
 necessary progress. Even in England at this day, where 
 the laws are more respected than in any other nation upon 
 earth, they are scarcely sufficient to keep the outward frame 
 of a Church together, because that Church admits, though 
 but partially, this principle; but were it in full operation, 
 and the Church severed from the State, no chaos would ex¬ 
 emplify the conflicting errors which would instantaneously 
 overspread that land. If then, our religion, unalloyed and 
 untainted, has sanctified numberless generations of men; if 
 
 
222 
 
 tIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 through life it be our support; if at our death it open heaven 
 to our view; if it cherish within us every virtue, and rebuke 
 us bitterly when we offend heaven; if it prescribe and regu¬ 
 late the duties which we owe to God and men; if it affoid 
 us pardon when we repent, and enrich us with grace when 
 justified ; if it keep us all who partake of the same bread 
 combined as one body, and make us, however numerous o* 
 dispersed, say the same thing, so that no schisms can exist 
 among us—then let us estimate it by its intrinsic worth, 
 by its salutary fruits, and preserve it to ourselves and to our 
 children at whatsoever price. To do so, it is necessary that 
 we should separate ourselves from all societies which would 
 impair or assail this religion; content with the blessings of 
 our own faith, we envy not those who profess any other. 
 Let these abound in their own sense, whilst we abound in 
 ours, and the man who violates this principle of natural 
 right, is a tyrant, a bigot, a fool, or a knave. 
 
 “ If any person inquire of you why you do not read the 
 Scriptures, tell him that you do, or can do so if you please. 
 If he ask why you do not read them without note or com¬ 
 ment, and prefer your own judgment of them to the judg¬ 
 ment of the Church, let your only answer be, * Because I am 
 a Catholic; it is a tenet of the religion which I profess, that 
 I must abide in all matters of doctrine by the decision of 
 the Church. I prefer this religion to every other, and I hope 
 you do not intend or desire to deprive me of the liberty of 
 thinking for myself. If your zeal prompt you to desire that 
 a change be wrought in my opinions, produce your argu¬ 
 ments, but abstain from false pretences, from calumnies and 
 misrepresentations, from bribes and threats: employ foi* 
 your purpose such means as were used by the apostles; 
 and first of all produce the commission by which you are 
 authorised to teach. But if you only seek for information, 
 consult our Catholic divines or books; from them you may 
 derive it amply, whilst disputations with me might lead to 
 contention or strife .' n 
 
LIFE OF DR, DOYLE. 
 
 223 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 dr. doyle’s essay on the catholic claims. 
 
 " Return to judgment, for they have borne false witness against 
 her."—D an. xiii. 49. 
 
 In 1826, Dr. Doyle published his famous Essay on the 
 Catholic Claims, in the form of letters addressed to the 
 Right Honourable the Earl of Liverpool, amounting to 
 800 pages. 
 
 In this work the talented author advanced every argu¬ 
 ment in favour of justice to the Catholics of Ireland, and 
 refuted every objection urged in and out of parliament 
 against it. 
 
 As our space is necessarily limited, and as the question 
 thanks to heaven is finally settled, we shall content ourselves 
 with giving a few extracts from the work, of rather a general 
 . character:— 
 
 / w There is another ground upon which this charge is sus¬ 
 tained, and it is this :—that as we obey the Pope in spi¬ 
 ritual matters, we cannot pay to the government the duty 
 which, as subjects, we owe to it. We, Catholics, think 
 otherwise. Let our reasons for thinking so be dispassion¬ 
 ately considered. It is, in the first place, quite clear that 
 to pay obedience to some person who is not the sovereign, 
 does not of itself imply any division of allegiance, for we 
 are all obliged to obey Almighty God, to obey his law, 
 to obey the dictates of our own conscience, to obey our 
 parents, to obey our civil, military, or ecclesiastical supe¬ 
 riors ; this truth is not disputed. We may therefore assume 
 that it is consistent with our allegiance, or the duty we owe 
 the government, to pay obedience to whomsoever it may 
 be lawfully due. The difficulty then arises on the part of 
 the persons to whom the obedience is paid, or from the ex¬ 
 tent or qualities of it; but not from the nature of the obe¬ 
 dience itself. We are all bound to obey Christ as our 
 Redeemer and Mediator, as the head over all the church. 
 
9-24 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 This obedience does not interfere with our allegiance. Well 
 then : we, who esteem the Pope as his vicar on earth, ap¬ 
 pointed to execute his laws, are, on that account, bound to 
 obey him, according to the terms of the commission given 
 to him by Christ. We have this commission before us—it 
 is as well known to us as to the Pope—we know that his 
 power was given not to destroy, but to build up; and hence, 
 should he exceed its limits, or abuse it, we are not only 
 '•permitted, but obliged, to resist him, as well for our own 
 safety, as for his correction. Thus our obedience to him is 
 not blind, but reasonable, such as St. Paul desires it should 
 be ; and unless the obedience due by us to Christ, as head 
 of the church, can divide the allegiance which we ows to 
 our sovereign, that which we owe to the Pope cannot di¬ 
 vide it. The circumstance of the Pope being or not being 
 a subject of his Majesty, does not affect this principle in 
 the slightest degree; for whether he resided at Whitehall, 
 or on the Vatican-hill, his power and authority would be 
 confined to the same objects, and bounded by the same li¬ 
 mits. The paying obedience then to the Pope as to a 
 person commissioned to administer the laws of Christ, if 
 considered in itself, and unconnected with abuse of any 
 kind, has nothing in it which divides our allegiance, unless, 
 as has been already observed, our obedience to Christ him¬ 
 self should be supposed to divide it—a supposition not to 
 be admitted by a Christian. 
 
 “ The Pope has no power to interfere directly or indi¬ 
 rectly with the rights of our sovereign, whether from the 
 word of God, or from any decrees or canons of councils 
 which either are, or can be rendered obligatory upon us. 
 
 “We consider the constituted authority in every state, 
 whatever form it may assume, as derived from God, and 
 totally independent of the Pope, or of any other authority 
 whatsoever, except only such authority as the constitution 
 itself of any state, may recognise as the immediate basis 
 or source of its own power. We are warranted in this opinion 
 by the word of God himself, who, speaking in the Book of 
 Proverbs, (viii. 15, 16.) says : ‘ By me kings reign, and 
 the makers of laws decree just things : by me, princes rule, 
 and the powerful decree justice/ The prophet Daniel alsi* 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 225 
 
 fii. 37.) Bpeakmg of Nabuchodonosor, though a heathen, 
 declares; ‘ The God of heaven gave to thee a kingdom, and 
 strength, and empire, and glory.’ So St. Paul, in his letter 
 to the Romans, (xiii. i, 2.,) says : ' Let every soul be sub¬ 
 ject to the higher powers, for there is no power but from 
 Godand verse 4., speaking of the chief magistrate, lit 
 observes, that * it is not without cause he carries the sword, 
 for he is the minister of God, and avenger against him that 
 doeth evil.’ And St. Peter in like manner, in his first 
 epistle, (ii. 13.,) addressing the faithful, says : ‘Be subject 
 to every human creature for God’s sake; whether to the 
 king, as most excellent, or to the rulers, as sent by him.’ 
 These passages from the word of God, point out the source, 
 and prove the absolute independence of the civil power; 
 nor have they, to my knowledge, been ever called in ques¬ 
 tion. It is next to be ascertained, whether our Redeemer 
 has himself assumed, or exercised, or assigned to any other, 
 a right to interfere with the authorities of princes and go¬ 
 vernments, thus expressly.recognised as derived from the 
 Almighty himself. 
 
 “ It would appear to be in some degree injurious to our 
 Lord to inquire whether his kingdom was of this world; 
 because he has himself so expressly stated (John xviii. 36.) 
 that it was not, and that if it were, his subjects would strive 
 that he might not be delivered up to the Jews. He who 
 complained (Matt. viii. 20.) that the foxes had their holes, 
 and the birds of the air their nests, but that the Son of 
 Man had not a place whereon to lay his head ; he who dis¬ 
 claimed all right to divide a contested inheritance between 
 two brothers, on the grounds of his not being appointed a 
 judge between them ; he who obeyed the edict of Caesar; 
 he who fled the persecution of Herod ; he who paid tri¬ 
 bute, and commanded it to be paid; he who fled from those 
 who would proclaim him king; he who recognised in Pi¬ 
 late the divine origin of that power over himself, which 
 that judge impiously abused ; he undoubtedly did not come 
 to interfere with the rights of kings or states, but to bear 
 testimony to the truth, and to establish a kingdom not of 
 this world; a kingdom which would embrace the citizens 
 and sovereigns of all states, leaving their forms of goveru- 
 ment, as well as their rights and privileges, undisturbed. 
 
226 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 if The Lord, who thus depicts the power which he was 
 pleased to assume and exercise, when he commissioned 
 others to extend his kingdom, only authorized them (Luke 
 xxii. 19.) to imitate his own example—to preach the doc¬ 
 trine, and administer the sacraments, which he had revealed 
 or instituted, (Matt, xxviii. 19.)—to bind or loose the sinner, 
 (Matt, xviii. 18.;) or eject him from their society, (Matt, 
 xviii. 17.) And when he appointed Peter to be, after him¬ 
 self, the rock on which his church should stand; to hold 
 the keys of his kingdom; and to feed his entire flock ; he 
 was pleased also to inspire him to teach his brethren and 
 successors, that they should not domineer over the faithful, 
 but be made a pattern to the flocks from the heart. Show¬ 
 ing, as St. Bernard observes, (in his second book, ch. 6. 
 De Consid. ad Eug.,) that it was not an arbitrary sway, 
 but a parental solicitude, which Christ gave to his vicar, 
 clearly forbidding to him all worldly domination. Hence 
 it is that St. Augustine (Tract 115 in Joh.) exclaims: 
 ‘ Hear ye, all tire kingdoms of the earth, I hinder not your 
 rule, I interfere not with your government in this world, 
 my kingdom is not of this world ; what more do ye desire 1 
 Come to the kingdom which is not of this world—come to 
 it by believing, and cease to assail it by your cruelty/ 
 
 “ There is, my Lord, no trace that we can discover in 
 the words or conduct of our Lord, or in the commission 
 given by him to St. Peter or to the apostles, which would 
 warrant us in attributing to the Pope any authority what¬ 
 ever to interfere with our duties to the state ; nay, we find 
 the contrary clearly and solidly established. 
 
 t( Whatever is expressly defined, declared, and proposed, 
 to all the faithful, with and by the consent of the Pope and 
 bishops throughout the church, whether assembled in coun¬ 
 cil or otherwise, this to us is a decree or definition which 
 we cannot reject or impugn; nor can we interpret the Scrip¬ 
 tures in a way which would clash with such definition, more 
 than we could assign to them a meaning contrary to that 
 in which they have been understood unanimously by those 
 great lights of antiquity, who lived near the times of the 
 apostles; men who seem to have imbibed the spirit of those 
 apostles themselves/ in the elucidation of divine truth* and 
 
LIFE OF DU. DOYLB. 
 
 227 
 
 the practice of the most heroic virtue j but, except the sa¬ 
 lutary restraint thus imposed on our wayward judgment, we 
 know of no other. 
 
 “ The Catholic Church, my Lord, has never defined, de¬ 
 clared, and proposed to the faithful in any shape or form, 
 through those organs by whicli she speaks to her children, 
 that the Pope has or ought to have any power, direct or in¬ 
 direct, over the temporal rights of sovereigns or states ; it is 
 therefore an opinion which Catholic nations and individuals 
 have found it their duty, as X find it mine, to impugn and 
 to oppose. 
 
 M When we are taunted with the proceedings of a Gre¬ 
 gory, a Boniface, or a Paul, may we not be allowed to 
 contrast them with those of other Gregorys, of a Gelasius, 
 a Felix, or a John ? When Bellarmin, or Turrecremata, 
 are objected to us, why not allow us to prefer to them Am¬ 
 brose, Chrysostom, or Bossuet ? If we be told that our 
 church is responsible for the errors or vices of some Popes, 
 why not give us credit for the wisdom and virtue of others 
 whom we still more revere ? 
 
 “ If we declare, in all the forms which language can as¬ 
 sume, that the church has not defined any thing upon the 
 subject about which I treat—if in opposition, to the doc¬ 
 trine imputed to her, we adduce the concurrent testimony 
 of the Lord himself, of his apostles, and of the holy fathers— 
 if we even show that the conduct and doctrine of the most 
 eminent of the Popes themselves are opposed to it, with 
 what colour of justice can it still be imputed to us ? If 
 we do not stop here; if we point out the source from 
 which this hateful doctrine has originally flowed; if we 
 show its origin, its progress, its decline and fall, is it not, 
 my Lord, uncandid, ungenerous, and unjust, to overlook 
 our statements, to reject our proofs, to condemn us for that 
 conduct in others which we ourselves abhor ? If the Bull 
 Unam Sanetam, in which Boniface declares, that every 
 creature is subject to the Roman Pope, without at all spe¬ 
 cifying whether it be in spiritual or temporal matters—if 
 this Bull be objected to us, is it not reasonable to attend to 
 us, whilst we say, that no bull of any Pope can decide our 
 judgment, if it be not received and assented to by the pas- 
 
I 
 
 228 LIFE OF DU. DO YLlf. 
 
 tors of the Church; an assent which this Bull Unam Sane- 
 tam never has received ? Should we not be allowed to add, 
 that so far from being received by the Church, it was vio¬ 
 lently opposed, and by an opposition so successful, that it 
 was recalled by Clement the Fifth, between whom and the 
 author of that Bull, only one Pope, Benedict the Eleventh, 
 intervened?—(See Extravag. Meruit.) If the one which 
 was rejected by the world be of such mighty moment, is 
 not the other, which was admitted by all, entitled to some 
 respect. 
 
 “ The seeds of decay were growing up in the Roman 
 empire from the time when the seat of government was re¬ 
 moved to Constantinople. During the fifth and sixth cen¬ 
 turies almost every Roman province in the West was 
 successively devastated by the barbarians. The empire oc¬ 
 casionally seemed to regain its wonted vigour, when some 
 man of great mind and energy obtained the purple; but as 
 soon as he disappeared, it again became relaxed: it fell back 
 into a state of langour and listlessness, and showed all the 
 symptoms of a mighty body wasted by disease, and about 
 to be dissolved. Constantine had conferred great privileges 
 on all the bishops within his dominions; even in his time 
 they held courts, and in most cases decided without appeal. 
 This jurisdiction, in all great cities, was equal to, or co¬ 
 ordinate with that of the pro-consul, or the prefect of the 
 imperial court. They were employed to administer the 
 most important charges, and the most difficult and delicate 
 enterprises were frequently intrusted to their ability and ad¬ 
 dress. But of all the bishops in the empire, the bishop of 
 old Rome was pre-eminently distinguished; and Rome 
 herself, now stripped of nearly alt her wealth and glory, 
 looked upon her prelate as the last stay of her power, and 
 the only remnant of her once unrivalled greatness. This bi¬ 
 shop, by the immense possessions belonging to his see, was 
 enabled to feed the hungry children of this widowed mistress 
 of nations, and to clothe her naked population. The fame 
 of his virtues, the sanctity of his character, the force of his 
 eloquence, not unfrequently, as in the time of Leo, called 
 the Great, stayed the wrath of the barbarians, and defended 
 his beloved city against their assaults. When Rome more 
 

 L*IFE OF DIt. DOTLE. 
 
 220 
 
 than once was besieged, taken, sacked, and plundered; when 
 she who had been often surfeited with pleasures, was 
 in her turn drenched with tears, and made to feed on the 
 bread of affliction; when ruin and devastation threatened 
 j her, she had often no resource but in the wisdom, the vir- 
 j tues, and the influence of her bishops.—Guided by their 
 councils, she remained faithful to those emperors who had 
 deserted her, and who still expended the remnant of her re¬ 
 sources and energies in propping up, or supporting the de¬ 
 cayed edifice of their power. But Rome even in the midst 
 of her own ruins was great; her name had a mighty influ¬ 
 ence ; she was the type of the empire, as well as the rallying 
 point of all those who still acknowledged its existence in 
 the West. They were the Roman people who still pro¬ 
 claimed the emperor; they were still in name the masters 
 of the world.—Heraclius, early in the seventh century, 
 thought of restoring to them the seat of empire, and such 
 was the sense they retained of their own privileges and im¬ 
 portance, that nearly a century afterwards, they refused to 
 acknowledge as emperor, to admit the statutes, or receive 
 the letters of Philipicus, who had been elected in the 
 East. But, notwithstanding, they continued to decline, 
 whilst their connexion with Constantinople became year 
 after year, weaker and still more weak; they had no resource 
 but in themselves ; and the bishop, who was first amongst 
 them, by his wealth, his dignity, and his services, obtained 
 that place in their confidence, and in the management of 
 their affairs, which an exalted station and eminent merit 
 will always insure to the possessor of them. Towards the 
 close of the eighth century, when the barbarians had nearly 
 overwhelmed them—when the feeble emperors could no 
 longer yield them any assistance, the Franks, under Char- 
 lemange, were solicited to come to their aid. This great 
 man for five and twenty years waged a successful war 
 against the enemies of Rome ; he at length subdued them, 
 and having obtained possession of Italy by the sword, was, 
 as Anastasius the librarian, in his Life of Leo III., states, 
 saluted emperor by the Roman people, and crowned with 
 all possible solemnity by the Pope. The right of Charle- 
 mange to the crown, was the right of conquest; he had won 
 
230 
 
 LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 the empire by the sword in a just war; but it must have been 
 as grateful to him as it was flattering to the Romans, to have 
 the title given to him by a people who for centuries claimed, 
 and often exercised, the right of bestowing it. Distinguished 
 also as he was for piety and attachment to the holy see, he 
 must have been gratified at his coronation being graced, 
 and his new dignity as it were sanctified, by the presence and 
 blessing of the first of bishops, at the foot of the most vene¬ 
 rable altar in the world. 
 
 “To this event we may justly trace the origin of the tem¬ 
 poral power of the Pope. 
 
 “ By the historical outline, sketched in the preceding 
 sections, we have seen how the temporal power of the Popes 
 originated. I now address myself to the next topic in order, 
 and shall demonstrate that the Catholic Church never 
 taught the doctrine, that the Popes had any rights to interfere 
 with the rights of sovereigns, or with the duties of subjects; 
 —-nay that those portions of the Church which were inte¬ 
 rested, and called upon, always protested against such un¬ 
 warrantable pretensions. 
 
 “The Popes themselves, who assumed this power, and 
 claimed it as annexed to their office, never proposed such a 
 doctrine to the faithful, however pompously they might 
 boast of possessing it. Even when Europe was prostrate 
 at their feet; when kings, and princes, and bishops assem¬ 
 bled, and decreed whatever they prescribed, their own pru¬ 
 dence or an overruling Providence prevented them from 
 attempting to define such a doctrine, or propose it to the 
 Church as revealed by Christ. Conscious of the want of 
 authority, derived from Scripture, tradition, or the conduct 
 of their predecessors, during nine centuries from the foun¬ 
 dation of the Church, they sought in imaginary grants, in 
 the name of the Roman senate and people, in the distress of 
 some, in the piety or ignorance of others, some specious 
 pretext whereon to ground their claims; but the Church of 
 God, though dwelling in the midst of the nations and em¬ 
 pires which they ruled, though holding communion with 
 them in all that was essential to religion, though often 
 warning or correcting them, .though sometimes rebuking 
 them for their crimes or irregularities) never even thought of 
 
LI PE OP HR, DOYLE, £31 
 
 enrolling the doctrine of their power over things temporal 
 amongst the decrees of her faith. 
 
 “No mode of disclaiming the deposing power more ex¬ 
 press than this which was adopted by the Gallican Church, 
 can be devised, unless it be that which the Irish bishops, 
 priests, and laity, not only adopt and defend, but even swear 
 to in the following words : ‘ 1, A. B., do take Almighty 
 God, and his son Jesus Christ, my Redeemer, to witness— 
 
 ! and I do swear—that I do renounce, reject, and abjure the 
 I opinion that princes excommunicated by the Pope and coun¬ 
 cil, or by any authority of the see of Rome, or by any 
 authority whatsoever, may be deposed and murdered by 
 their subjects, or by any person whatsoever—and I do declare 
 that I do not believe that the Pope of Rome, or any other 
 foreign prince, prelate, state, or potentate, hath, or ought to 
 have, any temporal or civil jurisdiction, power, superiority, 
 or pre-eminence, directly or indirectly, within this realm/ 
 “ This is the form, my Lord, in which we, in unison with 
 the French Church, disclaim a power which would interfere 
 with our duty to the government. This is the doctrine 
 which we maintain in private conversation, in our instruc¬ 
 tions to our flocks, in our sermons from the pulpit, in our 
 examinations before the committees of parliament, in the 
 presence of the entire world. This is the doctrine found in 
 our books of theology; this the doctrine taught in our 
 schools, in our academies, and in our public colleges ; this iJ 
 the doctrine which the answers of the principal universities 
 throughout the Catholic Church in Europe declare to be 
 perfectly orthodox; this is the doctrine for the truth and 
 support of which we are prepared to expend our fortunes 
 and expose our lives; and yet this is the doctrine which we 
 are charged with rejecting—for if not, my Lord, how is our 
 allegiance divided ? How does the papal authority interfere 
 with our duties to the government ? Is there any faith, my 
 Lord, to be placed in man ? Is the concurrent testimony 
 of nations to be believed ? Are we worthy of credit on our 
 oath ? Are we Christians, and do we revere the truth and 
 sanctity of God ? Do we admit a distinction between good 
 and evil, and expect the rewards, or fear the punishments, of 
 a future life ? If these interrogatories are answered in the 
 
232 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 affirmative, then, my Lord Liverpool, it is unjust to charge 
 us with a divided allegiance, if allegiance mean 4 the duty 
 which subjects owe to the government/ 
 
 44 Having disposed of this part of the subject, it is equally 
 necessary for me to submit to your Lordship what those 
 things are, even in matters of faith, which we are obliged to 
 receive as 4 delivered, defined, and declared.’ I shall do so, 
 my Lord, not by any casuistry of my own, though I trust 
 your Lordship is satisfied that a desire to equivocate or 
 obscure the truth, by casuistry, could never find a place in 
 my mind; but yet, as I might not obtain equal credit from 
 those to whom I am even more unknown than to your 
 Lordship, I shall substitute, on this subject, for my own 
 assertion, an extract from the writings of the bishop of the? 
 Canaries, Melchior Cano, one of the most distinguished 
 divines who assisted at the Council of Trent, a chief light 
 of the Spanish Church, and a man not pleading in his own 
 justification, and that of his oppressed brethren, but ex¬ 
 plaining to the Catholic world the doctrine of the Catholic 
 Church. Cano asks, (lib. 5. c. 5. de loc. Theol. Ed. Col¬ 
 ton.) 4 Will there not be then (some person may say) any 
 mark whereby the decisions of councils on matters of faith 
 can be known ? There will clearly. The first, and that 
 indeed a manifest one is, if those who assert the contrary 
 be adjudged heretics, of which we have examples, cap. dam- 
 namu-s de Summa Trinitate in 6to. and Clemen, unic. de 
 Summa Trinitate , sec. 2. Another mark is, when the coun¬ 
 cil, in its decrees, uses the following form : If any one 
 will believe so or so, let him be anathema; of which form 
 there are many examples in the first synod of Toledo ; and 
 in that of Trent. A third is, if a sentence of excommuni¬ 
 cation be passed, ipso jure, against those who contradict the 
 decision; an example of this is found, de Her. cap. Cum 
 Christus. It is to be observed, however, (with respect to 
 this mark,) that in the Council of Trent, in the session held 
 the 11th of October, 1551, it was defined, respecting the 
 sacrament of the Eucharist, that, if any one was conscious 
 of mortal sin, he should have recourse to sacramental con¬ 
 fession before he approached to it; and immediately gfter 
 the synod adds: 4 and if any person will presume to preach 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 233 
 
 or teach, or obstinately assert, or defend in public disputa¬ 
 tion the contrary, let him by the very fact be excommuni¬ 
 cated/ But this precaution was used to guard against 
 danger, because the contrary opinion was pernicious, (or to 
 use a phrase lately applied to the converse of this proposi¬ 
 tion,) the opinion was monstrous; and, therefore, the excom¬ 
 munication was applied principally to the making the 
 doctrine public; for we ourselves, who assisted at the 
 council, are witnesses, and the context itself proves, that 
 the opinion of Catejan was not condemned as heretical; 
 for the second canon, and the last also, is thus worded : ‘ If 
 any one will say that faith alone is a sufficient preparation 
 to receive the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, let him 
 be anathema/ And immediately after, the form of expres¬ 
 sion being changed, are added these words : * and lest so 
 great a sacrament &c. &c.,' from which it is clear that the 
 opinion of Catejan was not anathematized ; but as it was 
 false and pernicious, it was reprobated aud forbidden, on 
 account of the danger attending its being taught, or main¬ 
 tained in publie. A fourth mark is, if any thing be said to 
 be expressly and distinctly believed by the faithful, or to be 
 received by them as a dogma of the Catholic faith; or if by 
 such, or similar words, any thing is said to be contrary to 
 the Gospel, or to the doctrine of the apostles, if it be pro¬ 
 pounded, I say, not as an opinion, but by a clear and fixed 
 decree; for although the opinion of Durandus be con¬ 
 demned (c. gaud emus de. divortiis ,) yet he, who, with refer¬ 
 ence to it, used these words, But this appears senseless and 
 hostile to the faith of Christ , did not wish to brand upon it 
 the mark of heresy; for the word * appears' weakens the 
 certainty of the sentence. Moreover, those things which, 
 in the decrees of councils or Popes, are introduced for the 
 sake of explanation, or to answer objections, or which are 
 noticed briefly, and only touched on, but which are not the 
 chief subject on which the controversy principally turned, 
 these do not concern the faith; that is, they are not decrees 
 of Catholic faith.—As an illustration, let us lay down an 
 example, which, having occurred in one case, may be ap¬ 
 plied to many others. What is said in cap Firmiter de 
 strnma Trinit ate of angels being incorporeal, is not a decree 
 
234 
 
 life OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 of faith; whereas since that decretal many theologians, 
 falsely indeed, but yet without incurring the mark of he¬ 
 resy, have asserted the contrary; and indeed, (in this 
 matter,) when the synod willed to explain the meaning of 
 the Catholic tenet, ‘I believe in God—Creator of all things, 
 visible and invisible/ it added, 1 corporeal or inoorporeal/ 
 which words, it is plain, were introduced for the purpose of 
 explaining, not of defining. And as the council supposed, 
 what in reality was true, angels to be invisible; so, in like 
 manner, they supposed them to be incorporeal. But this 
 question apart, my object is, (and in treating of it I imagine 
 I am doing a service to divines) to show that not all things 
 which are even absolutely and simply affirmed in councils 
 are decrees of faith; of which matter I could adduce, if it 
 were necessary, many examples, but I do not wish to delay 
 by explaining each of them. 
 
 "On the subject of oaths, I can present to your Lordship 
 nothing more authentic, and at the same time so brief, as 
 what relates to it in the Catechism of the Council of Trent. 
 This Catechism, as I once before had the honour of mention¬ 
 ing to your Lordship, is a most authentic exposition of our 
 faith, inasmuch as it embodies and explains not only the 
 doctrinal decisions of that council, but also the several 
 articles of the creed commonly called the Apostles 7 Creed— 
 the commandments of the Decalogue, the precepts of the 
 Church, the Mass, and the sacraments, as they are received 
 and understood by all Catholics. This Catechism has also 
 been approved of and published by the Pope, and assented 
 to by all the Bishops in communion with the See of Rome, 
 without a single dissentient; so that it may be considered 
 as an epitome of Catholic doctrine and belief. In the ex¬ 
 position of the Divine command, 4 Thou shalt not take the 
 name of the Lord thy God in vain/ this Catechism, (p.264, 
 ed. Rheims, an. 1720,) after expounding the obligation of 
 honouring the name of God, and the different modes in 
 which Christian men should do so, proceeds to explain what 
 an oath is, and the conditions necessary to render it lawful. 
 It says that, 4 An oath, or to swear, is to call on God to wit¬ 
 ness, Deum testari, in whatever form or manner of words the 
 same may be done; for, 4 God is my witness/ and 4 by God/ 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 235 
 
 are the same. The second mode of swearing is, when, to 
 make certain, or to give assurance, we swear by created 
 things, as by the holy gospels of God, by the cross, &c.: 
 nor indeed do these things of themselves give any authority 
 or strength to an oath, but God himself does so, the splen¬ 
 dour of whose Divine majesty appears in these things ; from 
 whence it follows, that those who swear by the gospel, sweat 
 by God himself, whose truth is contained in and declared 
 by the gospel, &c. The third mode of swearing is by exe¬ 
 cration, like that of St. Paul, (2. Cor. i. 23.) * I .call 
 God to witness upon my soulfor in this manner a person 
 is subject to the judgment of God as the avenger of a false¬ 
 hood. Nor do we, therefore, deny but some such modes of 
 expression as this might be so understood as not to have the 
 force of an oath, but, notwithstanding, it is useful to observe 
 in these cases also, what has been said of an oath, and to 
 regulate them exactly according to the same form and rule.” 
 After explaining the nature of an assertory, or purely affir- 
 I matory oath, such as that of St. Paul, (Gal. i. 20.) and of 
 a promissory oath, such as David, (3 Kings i. 17.) 
 swearing to Bethsabee, by the Lord his God, that Solomon, 
 her son, should be his heir, and succeed to his throne, the » 
 Catechism proceeds : ** Although for to £wear, it be suffi¬ 
 cient to call God to witness, yet that the oath be just and 
 holy, many more things are required, which, as St. Jerome 
 testifies, are enumerated by the Prophet Jeremias(iv. 2.) 
 where he says, 4 Thou shalt swear, saith the Lord, in truth, 
 in judgment, and in justicein which words he has briefly 
 and succinctly collected whatever the perfection of an oath 
 requires, to wit, truth, judgment, or justice, and necessity. 
 Truth, then, holds the first place in an oath, so that what 
 is asserted must be true, and he who swears must believe it 
 to be so, not rashly, or by conjecture, but with the utmost' 
 certainty. The other kind of oath, by which we promise 
 something, requires exactly in the same manner that it be 
 true; for he who promises any thing, ought to be so dis¬ 
 posed, that when the time comes, he do that thing, and fulfil 
 nis engagement; for an upright man will never undertake 
 to do what he considers contrary to the most holy com¬ 
 mandments and will of God. But whatever it will be law- 
 
236 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 ful to promise and swear, that, once promised, he will never 
 change it, unless such alteration of things happen, that if he 
 kept his faith, and stood to his promises, he would incur 
 the hatred and offence of God.” But that truth is necessary 
 to an oath, David also intimates in these words: ‘ Who 
 sweareth to his neighbour and doth not deceive him/ (Ps. 
 xiv. 4.) After treating of the necessity which is required 
 to justify swearing, and explaining what a rash oath is, the 
 text continues: There remains justice, which is chiefly re¬ 
 quired in promises; wherefore, if any one promise what is 
 unjust and dishonest, he sins by swearing, and by fulfil¬ 
 ling such promises, heaps crime on crime. There is an ex¬ 
 ample of this in the gospel, (Mark vi. 23.) the case of 
 King Herod, who, bound by a rash oath, gave to the dam¬ 
 sel who danced, the head of John the Baptist, as the reward 
 of her dancing. Such also was the oath of the Jews, who, 
 as it is related in the Acts of the Apostles, (xxiii. 12.) bound 
 themselves with a curse, saying that they would neither eat 
 nor drink until they had killed Paul/ The Catechism pro¬ 
 ceeds to prove, and to explain, the lawfulness of swearing, 
 with these conditions :—the end for which an oath should 
 be resorted to, the great sin of swearing rashly or falsely, 
 the threat recorded in Exodus, (xx. 7.,) against those who 
 take the name of God in vain ; and concludes by pointing 
 out to clergymen the several arguments they should employ 
 for the purpose of deterring the faithful from so great a crime 
 as taking the name of the Lord in vain, contrary to the com¬ 
 mand in the Decalogue. 
 
 “ This, my Lord, is a perfect summary of the Catholic 
 doctrine respecting oaths ; an abstract of which is found in 
 all our Catechisms. 
 
 “ So, my Lord, the prophecies of Pastorini, composed 
 of scattered and detached sentences of Doctor Walmsley’s 
 book, were compiled by the Orangemen; they were dis¬ 
 tributed by them, and by their agents, to excite, if not 
 insurrection, at least the strongest odium against the Ca¬ 
 tholics. They could be obtained in Dublin only by the 
 initiated; and in London were distributed exclusively to 
 the same class out of a depot in Sackville-street of that 
 city. Major Warburton, who supplied a copy of them to 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 237 
 
 fee committee of the House of Commons in 1824, admits 
 in his re-examination on 21st of June, 1825,4;that these 
 Prophecies, though found in abundance even amongst the 
 police, were not circulated by Catholics. To render the de* 
 vice more perfect, a passage, out of a preface to some book 
 written by a Catholic priest, was affixed to the ‘ Prophecies',* 
 and the whole contrived with such artful malice, as to im¬ 
 pose upon those best acquainted with the wiles of our ever- 
 wakeful enemies; they imposed for a time upon myself. 
 
 “ These reflections apply to matters of the most serious 
 moment. For example, I have read the paper delivered 
 by G. Bennett, esq., to the lords committee on the 24th 
 May, 1824, and purporting to be a copy of the oath and 
 engagements made and entered into by the Ribbonmen in 
 the King's County about that period. I have seen another 
 form somewhat less atrocious, which was circulated at the 
 same time in the County Wicklow, and I am satisfied that 
 both the one and the other were compiled by Orangemen. 
 
 “ The articles of the Church of England, which adopt 
 1 St. Athanasius's creed or these articles, are to be un¬ 
 derstood thus, according to the Declaration of Charles I., 
 prefixed to them, and adopted by the church : 1 No man, 
 hereafter, shall either print or preaoh,’ (had his Majesty 
 foreseen the present times he would have added, or give 
 evidence,) 1 to draw the article aside any way, but shall 
 submit to it in the plain and full meaning thereof; and 
 shall not put his own sense or comment to be the meaning 
 of the article, but shall take it in the literal and grammatical 
 sense.' The Declaration concludes with a threat of the 
 king’s displeasure, and the church's censure, against any 
 master, or member, of either of the universities, who will 
 contravene this rule of thinking and acting. The church 
 corresponded most faithfully with the views of her head ; 
 for in the synod held by the Irish portion of this church, in 
 Dublin, at their general convocation in 1634, it was enacted, 
 that ‘ Authors of schism and maintainers of conventicles,' 
 should undergo the censure of excommunication; the hea¬ 
 viest censure which any church can, or does inflict. The 
 fifth canon says : ‘ Whosoever shall separate themselves 
 from she communion of saints, as it is approved by the 
 
238 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYI.E. 
 
 apostles’ rules in the Church of Ireland, and combine them¬ 
 selves together in a new brotherhood,—or shall affirm and 
 maintain that there are within this realm other meetings, as¬ 
 semblies, or congregations, than such as by the laws of the 
 land are held and allowed, which may rightly challenge to 
 themselves the name of true and lawful churches, let him 
 be excommunicated, and not restored until he repent, and 
 publicly revoke his error.’ ” 
 
 “ The thirty-third, amongst the thirty-nine articles of re¬ 
 ligion, explains what is meant by excommunication in these 
 words: ‘That person which, by open denunciation of the 
 church, is rightly cut off from the unity of the church, and 
 excommunicated, ought to be taken off the whole multitude 
 of the faithful, as an Heathen and Publican, until he be 
 openly reconciled by penance, and received into the church i 
 by a judge that hath authority thereunto.’ ” , 
 
 “ He who addresses your Lordship is a Roman Catholic; 
 he is one in the inmost conviction of his soul: had he as- -I 
 sisted with the apostles at Thabor, and waking, saw the i 
 glory of the Lord; had he been stricken from heaven like | 
 Paul, on the way to Damascus, his faith might have been t 
 more vivid and enlarged, but his rational conviction of the : 
 truth of his religion could scarcely be more full and com¬ 
 posed. During the greater part of his life he has freely ex¬ 
 ercised his judgment; his opportunities of inquiry have 
 been many; his mind, if not strong, or acute, has been di¬ 
 ligently cultivated, and no theorem in mathematics, if due 
 allowance be made for abstract science, has been to him 
 more clearly proved; the distinction between vice and virtu# 
 is not to him better ascertained, than that the religion which 
 he professes is the same that was preached by the apostles, 
 and founded by Christ.—Yet, with this [conviction, and a 
 religious zeal proportionate to his knowledge, he would not 
 turn to the right hand or the left, to send, if it were in his 
 power, a Catholic to Parliament, on account of his religion. 
 Nay, were his vote, or .interest in the county where he re¬ 
 sides, to determine a contest between the present repre¬ 
 sentative and the dearest connexion he has in this world, 
 he would send that representative to parliament in prefer¬ 
 ence to any other man, whether Catholic or Protestant.” 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 239 
 
 |.k v . ,<v ,■ i , 
 
 CHAPTER XX, 
 
 dr. doylf/s letter to the missionary wolf. 
 
 > * 
 
 w Madness confirmed what error had begnn, 
 
 'Till fool and pervert lost his name in one.” 
 
 There is an anecdote related of a gentleman who visited 
 Voltaire, that may very well be applied to the subject of 
 , this chapter. 
 
 This gentleman, not personally known to the French 
 ; philosopher, was received by him at his chateau of Ferney 
 with politeness. Next morning the stranger was so delighted 
 with the entertainment he received, and the beauty of the 
 castle, that he frankly intimated his intention of passing a 
 month in such an enchanting retreat. Voltaire said to him, 
 with a smile: “ Upon my word, Sir, you are the exact re¬ 
 verse of Don Quixote : he, we are informed, took the inns 
 for the castles, while you, certainly, take this castle for an 
 inn.” The self-inviter felt the reproof and departed. 
 
 This may prepare the reader for the following letter of 
 self-invitation from the since publicly acknowledged insane 
 Mr. Wolf, and for the laconic reply of Dr. Doyle subjoined. 
 
 “ Dublin, 21 st September , 1826. 
 
 I 
 
 “ Most Rev. Father, —Having heard of your learning, 
 acuteness of mind, and zeal for your church, I wish to 
 have with you private communications for several weeks, 
 in your own house, and to enjoy your company. In case 
 that you grant to me this petition, I am ready to give up 
 my other engagements after the Liverpool meeting, and 
 spend with you several months in your house. I beg you 
 to write to me an answer immediately. I need not tell you 
 that I am a missionary for the conversion of the Jews, and 
 belong to the Protestant Church, or to the Church of Christ 
 at large, and hold communion with Christians of every de¬ 
 nomination. 
 
240 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 tl I have the honour to be, with due reverence and respect, 
 owing to your high character and situation, Most Rev. Fa¬ 
 ther, your humble and obedient servant, 
 
 "Joseph Wolf, 
 a Missionary for Palestine and Persia 
 
 " Please direct your answer to Robert Newenham, Esq., 
 at Messrs. La Touche’s, Dublin. 
 
 ** P. S.—This request is made for the sole purpose of con¬ 
 versing with you on the grand point of the truth of Chris¬ 
 tianity, whether it exist in the Protestant or Romish church. 
 Kissing your episcopal ring, I am Right Rev. Father, 
 yours, &c. 
 
 "Joseph Wolf." 
 
 u Dr. Doyle was favoured this morning with Mr. Wolf’s 
 note of yesterday, and having been made acquainted with 
 the causes on account of which the Cardinal Prefect had 
 Mr. Wolf removed from the College de Propaganda Fide, 
 Doctor Doyle could not accede to Mr. Wolf’s request of 
 residing in his (Doctor Doyle’s) house for some months, 
 
 “ Dr. Doyle when at home, as he expects to be in the 
 middle of next month, receives every person who may wish 
 to see him ; but he cannot receive Mr. Wolf as a person 
 in communion with the Catholic Church, still less as a 
 missionary. Should he have to receive Mr. Wolf, he hopes 
 to see him as one ‘ wearied in walking ways of difficulty/ 
 and anxious to find repose in the sobriety of true religion. 
 
 46 Dublin, 22 d September , 1826." 
 
/ 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 241 
 
 ■ in .c • •• • • • 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 DR. DOYLE’s LETTER ON EDUCATION. 
 
 * l know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how 
 thou canst not bear them that are evil, and thou hast tried them who 
 say they are apostles, and are not; and thou hast found them liars.’* 
 —Apoc. ch. ii. v. 2. 
 
 March 7th, 1827, Dr. Doyle wrote a letter to Mr. O’Con- 
 nell, exposing the lies of the Kildare-place reports, and 
 refuting the false charges urged in Parliament by some of 
 the legislating bigots. We give the following extract, leav¬ 
 ing out the detailed enumeration of the schools no longer 
 necessary. 
 
 “ Carlow, March 7, 1827. 
 
 “My Dear Sir, —When I had prepared the following 
 statement relative to the Kildare-place Society, the news¬ 
 papers of this morning reached me, bringing a report of 
 the proceedings in the House of Commons on Friday last. 
 They are precisely such as I anticipated. The Catholic 
 Association, Dr. Doyle, and the priests, have succeeded 
 to the plan of ‘ the rebellious and untameable Irishof 
 ‘ the not keeping faith with heretics, or regarding the sanc¬ 
 tity of an oathof ‘ the Veto and important complicated 
 arrangements;’ of *the disturbed state of Ireland, and 
 the unfitness of her ignorant population for freedomof 
 ‘the divided allegiance of Catholies and of the number¬ 
 less pretexts resorted to for ages past, to defeat the claims 
 of justice and perpetuate our thraldom. May I request of 
 you to read over tne fifth and sixth chapters of the Book of 
 Exodus, before you complain that our arguments are left 
 unanswered—that our prayers are slighted—that our suffer¬ 
 ings are unpitied—and that our efforts to extricate ourselves 
 only serve to rivet faster our chains. To add that I pity 
 and despise the men who substitute clamour for argument, 
 and who accuse those who cannot defend themselves, is un¬ 
 necessary ; you can estimate my feelings on the subject by 
 your own. But our cause is in the hand of God, and God 
 is just! 
 
242 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 “ The number of souls in the dioceses of Kildare and 
 Leighlin is 281,405, of whom 255,948 are Catholics, dnd 
 25,457 Protestants; the Catholics being to their brethren of 
 other religious denominations, in the ratio of somewhat more 
 . than ten to one. It is probable that the parish priests ge¬ 
 nerally have forwarded returns of the population, &c., to 
 the New Catholic Association, as they have furnished them 
 to me. The number of Catholic children attending schools 
 in those dioceses during the summer months, is between 
 thirty-six and thirty-seven thousand. 
 
 “ In the report published in 1826, by the committee of 
 the Kildare-place society, the following schools are set down 
 as in connexion with that society—-the figures annexed to the 
 name of the school represent the number of children sup¬ 
 posed to be in attendance on each. Those schools are all 
 situated within those portions of the counties of Kildare, 
 Carlow, and Queen’s county, which belong to the dioceses 
 of Kildare and Leighlin. When I first saw the report above- 
 mentioned, which was not until some time in December 
 last, (for though printed, the circulation of it was confined 
 almost exclusively to the friends of the society,) I was not 
 a little surprised at the extent of the fraud which had been 
 practised on the committee, and I resolved to expose the 
 errors, as far as those dioceses were concerned, into which 
 the public might be led by the statements set forth in the 
 name of men whose veracity few persons would be disposed 
 to impeach. 
 
 “ W r ith this view I directed the several parish priests, with¬ 
 in whose jurisdiction the schools above-mentioned were si¬ 
 tuated, ‘ to visit these schools either personally or by some 
 confidential person, and to ascertain whether they were or 
 were not m connexion with the Kildare-place society, and 
 if so, what was the average number of scholars in attend¬ 
 ance in each, for the foregoing three months, distinguishing 
 Catholics from Protestants/ For the purpose of ensuring 
 perfect accuracy in the returns, I added, 4 that the reports 
 made by them might be hereafter stated in Parliament!’—- 
 The answers to this inquiry, made by me, are now before 
 me—and I shall proceed to contrast them with the state¬ 
 ments extracted from the Kildare-place report. To com- 
 
943 
 
 LIFR OF DR. DOYLF,. 
 
 ment upon them would be ungenerous, my object is not to 
 mortify men, who are perhaps unconsciously aiding and 
 abetting the malevolent or misguided fanatics who now dis¬ 
 turb this country. No ; my chief object is to assist in dis¬ 
 pelling the delusion, which their reports, if uncontradicted, 
 might propagate or confirm. One reflection only let me be 
 allowed to add—that when last autumn I published my 
 opinion and advice to the Catholic clergy and people of these 
 dioceses, recommending to them the erection and improve¬ 
 ment of schools, to be conducted on a fair and liberal plan, 
 equally unexceptionable to Catholics and Protestants, I 
 did not desire that the Catholic children should be with¬ 
 drawn from the schools in connexion with the Kildare-place 
 society, unless where our own schools were already fitted 
 for their reception—and that through the zeal of the local 
 pastors, and of the parents of Catholic children, had, in 
 several cases, exceeded my wishes: yet the qualification 
 expressed in my Pastoral Instructions on this subject is the 
 real cause why a few Catholic children are still found to 
 linger in some few schools connected with those obnoxious 
 societies. But to proceed with the statement first men¬ 
 tioned. 
 
 “ What I have stated should, however, be sufficient to en¬ 
 able every candid man to estimate the extent of imposition 
 practised on the society, and propagated unconsciously by 
 the society itself in its official papers. The Public— 
 the Commissioners of Education Inquiry—the Government 
 .—the Parliament—have all been deceived, or imposed on. 
 Much art, much intrigue, much misrepresentation—much 
 of the suggestio fulsi , and the suppressio veri , have been 
 employed to effect a purpose only apparently good. And the 
 ' Catholics, were the age impartial, might commence at length 
 to retort upon the Kildare-place society—or rather its re¬ 
 tainers and agents, as well as upon many others, that foul 
 charge so often unjustly preferred against themselves, jus¬ 
 tifying the means by the end. 
 
 “ I have seen and heard, and experienced so much dis- 
 frigenuity, so much cavil, so much prejudice, so much ig¬ 
 norance of our religion, and so much antipathy to any thing 
 connected with it, however fair, candid, or just—I have 
 
244 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 witnessed so much hypocrisy and corruption, where honour, 
 candour and integrity ought to preside, that I expect no 
 good to result from any statement which could be made on 
 the present subject. The object I have principally, if not 
 alone, in view, is, to convince the discerning public, in 
 whom there is yet remaining some love of justice and truth, 
 that in all our efforts, either made or to be made, we are 
 Contending with fraud, and bigotry, and corruption; and 
 against a faction who consider all things just ana equitable, 
 whereby we may be depressed and their own monopoly se¬ 
 cured. 
 
 u I have the honor to be, my dear Sir, 
 
 “Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 “ >J< J. Doyle. 
 
 (Wo omit the number here.) 
 
 tt To Daniel O'Connelly Esq. r> 
 
 v P. S.—This number I have slated above, and T need 
 not add that they are educated at the expense of their par- ■ 
 ish, aided and directed by the clergy. We have, indeed, , 
 ceased to complain of being left unassisted—we might be i 
 almost satisfied were we left unmolested, but we have been i 
 rebuked and insulted, and tempted, and disappointed. Our : 
 children are, indeed, the step-children of the state. 
 
 “ Education with us is, perhaps, sufficiently extended; 
 iny great object is to improve it, and in this I am labour¬ 
 ing with a fair prospect of success. I am daily obliged to 
 witness crowds of the finest men in the most fertile coun¬ 
 try almost in the world, nearly perishing of hunger and 
 disease. I am unable either to minister to their wants, or 
 remove the oauses of them. I despair of their improve*- 
 ment, and am principally anxious, with the aid of Provi- 
 denoe, 'to prepare their children to emigrate to some coun¬ 
 try where persons and property are protected by equal jus¬ 
 tice and equal laws. How applicable to us all is the address 
 of the Roman to his oppressed countrymen: Debimus jam- 
 dudum migrasse Quirites. 
 
 “In these days of change and * conversion/ when our 
 political enemies have introduced a religious farce to amuse 
 those English people whom they have so long deceived, it 
 may not be improper to mix something serious with what i 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 245 
 
 is ludicrous. This is the number of persons in thirty-se¬ 
 ven, (from which only returns have reached me), out of 
 forty-five unions of parishes into which these dioceses are 
 divided, who have been converted within the last twelve 
 months from Protestantism to the Catholic faith—this num¬ 
 ber is two hundred and forty-eight, of whom several have 
 already departed to a better life, being unwilling to abjure 
 their errors until pressed on by the hand of death, whilst 
 the far greater number * remain till the present day/— 
 These conversions, however, are neither novel or surprising 
 to us; they exceed somewhat in number the ordinary aver¬ 
 age of other years; but that is, probably, owing to the re¬ 
 ligious incitement which prevails, and which the Almighty 
 employs as a means of ‘ aggregating to his church some of 
 those who have been pre-ordained to eternal life/ Amongst 
 those converts there are none found who went about to sell 
 their faith, ‘ the gift of God/ for money, or who said, like 
 Judas, \ how much will you give, and we will deliver him 
 up to you V Those converts have not been taken from the 
 sewers of public corruption, but they have abandoned in 
 many cases the hopes and support of life, and broken the 
 strongest ties of kindred and affection to find in the bosom 
 of the Catholic Church that peace and security to which, 
 from their birth, they had been strangers/' 
 
246 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. . ' , 
 
 * v 
 
 DR. DOYLE’S LETTER ON THE CATHOLIC BOOK-SOCIETY 
 
 ** They who instruct many to justice shall shine as stars for all eter¬ 
 nity.—Many shall passover, and knowledge 6ball be manifold."— 
 Dan. ch. xii. v. 3 and 4. 
 
 To the barbarous penal age, when it was a crime to write, 
 publish, or read a Catholic book, succeeded one of religious 
 fanaticism and proselytism, when the treasures of the state 
 were expended in printing and circulating the most blush¬ 
 less calumnies on the Catholic religion. To this was added 
 Bible Societies, Tract Societies, and Reformation Societies, 
 almost without end ; all professing to “ convert Papists," 
 but whose direct object was to misrepresent the doctrines 
 and to revile the practices of the Catholic religion. Every 
 man of sense and experience felt convinced that the cause 
 of. truth and self-defence required that some efforts should 
 be made by Catholics to refute the calumnies so unsparingly 
 cast upon their religion. Many isolated efforts were made 
 by individuals to print and publish cheap Catholic books; 
 but those generally failed with considerable loss to the ad¬ 
 venturers. Witnessing those things with pain, Mr. Bat- 
 tersby wrote several letters on the necessity of forming a Ca¬ 
 tholic Tract or Book-Society, from which cheap works could 
 be issued for circulation in England and Ireland, in refuta¬ 
 tion of error—in defence of truth, and in support of true 
 religion and morality. * 
 
 Mr. B. and several other Catholic laymen, with the zea¬ 
 lous, intelligent, and Rev. Messrs. Yore, Dowling, Spratt, 
 Deane, Canavan, White, &c. met in the Catholic pres¬ 
 bytery, Lower Exchange-street, in November, 1824. Rules, 
 regulations, and an address were adopted. 
 
 The Right Rev. Dr. Doyle was the first prelate out of 
 Dublin who warmly supported the undertaking. 
 
 Circumstances delayed the complete adoption of the plan 
 until February, 1827, when the Catholic prelates of Ire- 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 247 
 
 I 
 
 ; 
 
 ; 
 
 '! 
 
 | 
 
 I 
 
 laud, in the presbytery, Marlborough-*treet, gave life and 
 stability to an institution, which, notwithstanding every diffi¬ 
 culty thrown in the way, is likely to last longer and ac¬ 
 complish more for religion than any other ever founded in 
 Ireland ! On the 9th March following, the rules of this 
 society were ratified and promulgated. TTCie Primate, Most 
 Rev. Dr. Curtis, was elected president; Dr. Doyle with 
 the other three archbishops, vice-presidents; the other 
 bishops patrons, and twenty-one clergymen of the archdio¬ 
 cese of Dublin were appointed as a committee, to manage 
 its details. 
 
 In June, 1827, at the request of the Society, Dr. Doyle, 
 wrote the following admirable address on the origin, nature, 
 and advantages of this institution. 
 
 u The plan of the Catholic Book-Society is so simple that 
 all can understand it; it is so wise that no person can fail 
 to see how well it is fitted for the attainment of the end 
 proposed. The Society itself is one of those institutions 
 which do not claim support from the benevolence or piety 
 of the faithful, but it is an institution called into existence 
 by the wants, or rather the urgent necessities of the Irish 
 people: a Society which upon its first appearance has rather 
 to gratify the desires than to excite the zeal of eveiy good 
 Catholic. Religious instructions is the most easy and most 
 effectual means whereby men can be rendered wise and 
 good ; it makes them acquainted with the Almighty God ; 
 it informs them of his power, his wisdom, his providence, 
 goodness, and mercy : it instructs them in the duties which 
 they owe to Him, and renders sweet and easy the perform¬ 
 ance of those duties ; it teaches them that important know¬ 
 ledge of themselves, of their own good and bad qualities, 
 without which they are incapable of escaping the dangers 
 and temptations of this world ; and by placing before them 
 in a proper light, the obligations annexed to their respective 
 situations in life, it also enables them to become good 
 citizens, faithful friends, dutiful children, wise parents, and 
 above all good Christians. And what institution, it may 
 confidently be asked, has ever appeared in Ireland so well 
 calculated to diffuse universally—to introduce into the 
 bosom of every family—to place in the hands of all—to kn- 
 
248 
 
 LIFE OF DU. DOYLE. 
 
 part to the poor and to the rich this great blessing of reli¬ 
 gious instruction, as that institution which the Catholic 
 Society has now commenced. 
 
 " The rich family, and the family in easy circumstances, 
 are able to provide themselves with useful books, but the 
 very titles of these books are not always known to them, 
 or if known, they may not be easily procured : perhaps the 
 disposition to purchase them may not always exist at a cer¬ 
 tain time or moment, it may pass away and be lost amidst 
 the distractions of the world. But the Catholic Book So¬ 
 ciety employs the combined wisdom of several pious and 
 learned men in the selection of books; it conveys them 
 into the houses, and places them before the eyes, and in tho 
 hands of persons who would seldom think on them, and 
 compels, as it were, those who, * like the sluggard, will and 
 will not/ to read and reflect upon what their interests require 
 that they should know. But the tradesman, the peasant, 
 the poor labourer, who with difficulty earns his bread by 
 the sweat of his brow—he it is who requires instruction and 
 consolation. Religion alone can render his burthen light, 
 and his yoke sweet; to him the Catholic Book Society be¬ 
 comes the agent of religion, it enters his humble dwelling, 
 it employs his leisure in the work of his own happiness, or* 
 whilst he rests his weary limbs from fatigue, it expounds to 
 him, through the lips of his own beloved child, those saving 
 truths, those consoling reflections, which a just and merciful 
 Redeemer has been pleased often to conceal from the pru¬ 
 dent and the wise, and to reveal to the little ones, that is, 
 to the simple and the poor. To him, heretofore, books of 
 religious instruction were, in many instances, like delicious 
 fruits enclosed within a garden which he was not allowed 
 to enter : the object of the Catholic Book Society is to open 
 the enclosure, and to introduce the poor man and his family 
 to feast with the rich man on the common gifts of God—on 
 the fruits, not of the earth, but of heaven. 
 
 "Again, the state of Ireland, for ages past, has been such, 
 that schools either could not be opened by Catholics, or 
 when permitted to be opened, could not always be supplied 
 with proper spelling and reading books, on account of the 
 extreme poverty to which the Catholics, in many districts, 
 
LIFE OF DU. DOYLE. 
 
 249 
 
 ' were reduced. This great evil is gradually ceasing, and 
 good systems of education are, like the sun at its rising, 
 beginning to appear, and to shed their light upon this fine 
 Country, so long kept in bondage and darkness. To aid the 
 progress of this light, to assist the efforts of the weak, to 
 cherish the zeal of the virtuous and the good, but above 
 all, to hail with joy and gratitude the returning genius and 
 re-animated learning of Ireland, the Catholic Book Society 
 undertakes to become the patron of schools—it undertakes to 
 select, to print, to publish, and circulate such books as 
 contain the rudiments, or first lessons of all useful know¬ 
 ledge. By this alone the Society becomes the benefactor 
 of every poor man; the guardian of every orphan; the 
 friend and assistant of every instructor of youth, and the 
 helper of that foud hope of general improvement, which is 
 so warmly cherished by every Irishman who loves his 
 country. 
 
 u The Catholic Book Society also proposes to itself another 
 duty—a duty still more sacred and important than those now 
 fioticed. Its principal object is, to co-operate with its own 
 guardians, who are also the guardians of the faith in Ire¬ 
 land, in their efforts to preserve the true religion from the 
 deadly effects of heresy and error. On this object of the 
 Society it is unnecessary to dwell; the streets, the high¬ 
 ways, bear testimony to the afflicting trials which now in 
 Ireland beset and encompass on every side the sacred de¬ 
 posit of the faith. Calumnies the most unfounded, misre¬ 
 presentations the most gross and incredible, are every where 
 circulated against Catholics, and against whatever they es¬ 
 teem most sacred and venerable. To read the Acts of the 
 Apostles, the apologies of the primitive Christians, the let¬ 
 ters of those holy bishops who preserved the faith, instruct¬ 
 ing and consoling the true believers in the earliest ages of 
 the church, and to compare what happened in their times 
 with what is now occurring in our own, it would appear 
 that, with the exception of those cruelties which the tem¬ 
 per of the present age would not endure, the church of 
 Ireland is not inferior in suffering, in patience, in fortitude, 
 or in charity, even to the church of apostolic times. To 
 assist then the Catholic churoh and the people of Ireland, 
 
250 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 under the present severe and prolonged trial, nothing can 
 be more useful than the perusal of religious books. Such 
 books tend to elevate the soul to God ; they assist to keep 
 before her eyes the example of Christ and of his saints ; to 
 enkindle in the heart heavenly desires and affections; they 
 contribute to enlighten the mind with the knowledge of Di¬ 
 vine truth; and whilst they assist to allay anger, to sub¬ 
 due pride, and to extinguish all feelings of hatred and 
 revenge, they enable the most illiterate to give to every one 
 that asketh an account of the hope that is in them, and 
 thus arm the church on every side with those peaceful wea¬ 
 pons which alone she uses in her just defence. We know 
 the truth of what has been promised to this church by the 
 prophet of God ; to wit—‘ That every arm which may be 
 raised against her will not prosper, and that against every 
 tongue that contendeth with her she shall obtain her cause 
 but Catholics are obliged, notwithstanding this promise, to 
 be sober and to watch, and to resist the adversary by be¬ 
 ing strong in faith. The Catholic Book Society undertakes to 
 assist the Catholic people in these their holy efforts, by 
 supplying to them books wherein the doctrines revealed by 
 Christ are explained, and wherein the errors and heresies, 
 opposed to those doctrines, are exposed and refuted. By 
 doing so the Society allies itself with all that is holy, with 
 all that is just, with all that is pure, with all that is at¬ 
 tached to unity and peace: it allies itself with the guar¬ 
 dians of the faith ; with the religion of Ireland ; with the 
 wants, the wishes, the zeal, and the love of the people. It 
 offers itself as a point of union to all who are well disposed, 
 as a national agent to regulate and give effect to the general 
 evil, so that as the sun collects the scattered -waters into 
 clouds, and sends them down to moisten and fertilize the 
 earth, so the Catholic Book Society will unite the divided ef¬ 
 forts of the people, and diffuse their happy influence through¬ 
 out the entire country. And what are the means which the 
 Society wishes to employ for the attainment of those neces¬ 
 sary and salutary ends ? It employs the joint co-operation 
 of all classes; the active energies of the few; the good will 
 and the most slender contributions of the many. The guar¬ 
 dians of the Society are pledged to promote the circulation of 
 
LIFE OF DU. DOYLE. 
 
 251 
 
 / 
 
 religious books to the most remote parishes, it may be- 
 added, and to the most obscure cabin in Ireland. What 
 I those venerable characters are pledged to they will undoubt¬ 
 edly effect; but their object and design, however, are to 
 open a passage, and smooth the way for the operations of 
 the Society, but not to circumscribe those benefits which it 
 may by general co-operation be enabled to confer. To the 
 standing committee of management in Dublin the attention 
 of the public should be directed. Every parish clergyman, 
 nay, every society or confraternity concerned in the education 
 of youth, are at liberty and would do well to place themselves 
 in communication with the secretary or agent of the So¬ 
 ciety. By that means they could forward their contri¬ 
 butions without difficulty; they could have their orders 
 for books executed without delay; they could obtain 
 in the easiest manner, the most useful information respecti 
 ing the selection of books, the formation of parish libraries as 
 I well as the improvement and management of schools, andf 
 the supplying of them with lessons and books of elemen¬ 
 tary instruction. 
 
 “ In fact it is upon the exertions of the parochial clergy 
 of beneficent individuals, and of local, religious, and cha¬ 
 ritable societies that the extensive usefulness of the Catho¬ 
 lic Book Society must mainly depend. Without their active 
 support the circulation of books by the Society must, for 
 some time, be limited to the proportions and quantities spe¬ 
 cified in the rules; but if, in addition to the payments to 
 be made quarterly, in return for the books transmitted from 
 the office of the Society, there be subscriptions or collec¬ 
 tions made in each parish by the individuals or bodies 
 above-mentioned, then the committee will be enabled ta 
 enlarge the sphere of its operations, to multiply and in¬ 
 crease exceedingly the number of its publications, and ta 
 direct its especial attention to the wants of the schools*—• 
 Until this will have been effected, every prelate, every pas-* 
 tor, every confraternity or association for the instruction of 
 youth, as well as every benevolent individual of the Catho¬ 
 lic community, should consider themselves charged with the 
 interests of the Society, as if its success principally depend¬ 
 ed on their individual exertions. Hitherto how many, anX- 
 
252 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE, 
 
 ious to promote the objects of the Catholic Book Society, 
 were yet at a loss how to effect their desires ? At present the 
 mode of doing so is pointed out; a commencement is made, 
 and all that is required is co-operation, and a co-operation 
 neither expensive or laborious. 
 
 “ There is one advantage more to result from the Society 
 —an advantage the most striking and important—an advan¬ 
 tage which connects itself, (not like others) with the reli¬ 
 gious, literary, or national feelings of the Irish people, but 
 one which connects itself with self-interest of every indivi¬ 
 dual. It is the extraordinary reduction in the price of 
 books, to be effected by the Society. The amount of re¬ 
 duction might appear incredible, but the public are hereby 
 assured that it will in some instances be thirty-five per 
 cent., and in others not less than fifty per cent" 
 
253 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII, 
 
 dii. doyle’s letter on the second reformation. 
 
 “ By their fruits you shall know them.”—M att. vii. 16. 
 
 In the beginning of 1827, the religious intolerants, who 
 had exerted their best powers to oppose justice to the 
 Catholics of Ireland, formed a society in Dublin, under the 
 pretext of forwarding a second Reformation. 
 
 Lord Farnham and his religious help-mate were the prin¬ 
 cipal scavengers employed on this occasion to do all the 
 dirty work : they accordingly made their houses in Cavan 
 head quarters, and bacon and stirabout, potatoes and cab¬ 
 bage, brogues and buttermilk were freely dispensed as the 
 wages of religious prostitution! Having collected a number 
 of vagabonds, prostitutes, rogues and rapparees together, 
 with the most blushless impudence, the apostles of this 
 ** holy work” announced, that in a short time they would 
 convert from popery” to nothing all Ireland. They were 
 laughed at and exposed by every man of sense in the coun¬ 
 try. Mr. Ensor addressed several letters to the public on 
 this religious farce. Mr. Battersby wrote a most caustic 
 letter to Dr. Magee on the occasion, entitled, The Third Re¬ 
 formation in Ireland,” in which he prophesied that the second 
 Reformation would lead to a third—the just application of 
 Church property. Right Rev. Dr. M £ Hale also wrote two 
 letters to Lord Farnham, but that which most commanded 
 the public attention, was a letter from Dr. Doyle to Lord 
 Farnham, under the initials J. K. L. from which we give 
 the following extract:— 
 
 u My Lord, —A speech, reported to have been lately 
 delivered by your Lordship on the occasion of your es¬ 
 tablishing ‘ a Cavan Association for promoting the Refor¬ 
 mation,’ has just reached me. 
 
 “ The claims of the Irish Catholics must be conceded if 
 they continue in their present strength of numbers. The 
 truth of this proposition is undeniable. It arises from 
 causes over which evr^ Parliament, though said to be omr 
 
254 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 nipotent, has but little control. Grattan once said, it was 
 as easy to stop the movement of the sun as to impede the 
 progress of that other sun—reason and justice—which had 
 arisen to liberalize the Protestant, and liberate the Catholic. 
 The cause of the Irish Catholics has now progressed so far 
 —it is carried onwards by such a force, external and inter¬ 
 nal, foreign and domestic, that, to arrest it, would be as 
 much beyond the power of any body of men, as it would 
 be beyond the power of your Lordship to stem the Cataract, 
 of Niagara. 
 
 u But to our purpose. The Church Establishment will 
 fall if the claims of the Catholics be conceded.' 
 
 “ I think the Church Establishment must fall sooner or 
 later; its merits in Ireland are too well known—-it has been 
 brought to the light, and its works being such as do not 
 bear the light, it will, it must suffer loss as soon as an im¬ 
 partial judgment can be passed upon it. Clamour, bigotry, 
 enthusiasm, and a spirit of selfishness, constitute its present 
 chief support. It derives no aid from reason, justice, or 
 public utility. Its old connexion with the Crown, and that 
 wise aversion to experimental innovation which characterises 
 every wise government, unite to defend it; but, if the pas¬ 
 sions of the people were calmed, some man with the spirit 
 and power of Burke, who arranged that chaos f the Civil 
 List/ and purified, without injuring them, the revenues and 
 prerogatives of the Crown itself—some such man would 
 arise and free the nation from the reproach of the Irish Tem¬ 
 poral Establishment; he would relieve religion from an, 
 incubus, and the land of the country, with its proprietors 
 and cultivators, from an intolerable pressure. The conces- ‘ 
 sion of the Catholic claims would hasten this desirable 
 result, not by any revolutionary movement, as your Lordship 
 seems to apprehend, but by removing an immense barrier, 
 which the agitation of those claims now opposes to the pro-, 
 gress of reason and justice, and by uniting all classes of 
 Irishmen in labouring to renovate their country, and to 
 restore her, divided and almost lifeless as she is, to a state 
 of health and vigour. 
 
 “ But, my Lord, when your crusade awakes, a;\d it has 
 already awakened, the polemic energies of the Catholic 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 2 55 
 
 Church in Ireland—when her ministers undertake to expose 
 the nakedness of Protestantism, to discuss her titles, to 
 analyze her history, and what they call her errors and her 
 crimes—when these men paint in that language which reli¬ 
 gious zeal alone inspires, the great apostacy (as they consi¬ 
 der it) of the sixteenth century, and warn men from that 
 gulph of infidelity into which the swarms of Protestant 
 sects are precipitating themselves, does your Lordship sup¬ 
 pose that such appeals, proceeding from the priesthood of 
 the people, will be fruitless ? If I can judge from an ex¬ 
 periment which, from my own knowledge, has been already 
 tried upon a small scale, and within a narrow circle, I 
 would suppose that the Catholic Church will become 
 doubly secure in Ireland, and that some thousands of the few 
 Protestants which your Church now numbers will pass 
 over to her rival. Many Catholics, be assured, my Lord, 
 anticipate, and not without cause, that a number of those 
 trees which, as they say, are now twice dead, will be 
 ! enlivened and take root again, that many wandering stars, 
 which now travel unrestrained by any law, will be fixed 
 again in their orbit—that great numbers of men who are 
 now tossed about by every wind of doctrine, will come to 
 bend in the temples and adore before the altars which their 
 ; fathers deserted. Your Lordships may be prepared to find 
 ; that the Catholics are ready for the conflict; and though they 
 will have to contend against fearful odds—the wealth, the 
 power, the influence of this world—yet will they gird their 
 loins for the combat, and will inflict upon the legal creed 
 many a deadly blow. 
 
 “ We have seen that side of the picture—now let us look 
 at this. 
 
 “ Your Lordship fears a separation if the Catholic claims 
 be conceded. Has your Lordship no fear if they be with¬ 
 held ? In reasoning on this hypothesis, I do not take into 
 calculation the increased irritation, heart-burnings, hatred 
 and disaffection which your new crusade will produce, and 
 produce, as it were, in the twinkling of an eye. No: I 
 argue only on the data already before us of the existing state 
 of things. The peace of Europe is, confessedly, in jeopardy. 
 Austria, though silent, holds the balance in her hands: even 
 
256 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 she could be forced into action, if France, Russia, and the 
 United States cordially coalesced. We all know the temper 
 of this last mentioned power, and how eagerly she desires 
 the dismemberment of our Western Empire. Every person 
 of knowledge feels how much she would be prompted to 
 attempt it before the States of South America are enabled 
 to become her rivals, and ally themselves with us to curb 
 her power. We also know of their views on Ireland, and 
 how many of our exiled countrymen burn beyond the At¬ 
 lantic with a spirit of revenge. Let us turn to Russia. 
 What stands between her and the occupation of Constanti¬ 
 nople but England ? Austria alone could not oppose her. 
 Moreover, Austria could be secured and indemnified, as it 
 were, for the acquisition of power by her neighbour. 
 Russia is impelled by her geographical position, and the 
 genius of Peter and Catherine, to desire our humiliation. 
 France is said to be our natural enemy. We have raised 
 up a barrier to her ambition in the Netherlands; but a bar¬ 
 rier which a campaign of three months would pull down. 
 We have given to her Spain—a country with resources but 
 little known, and placed her, by our Irish policy, at the 
 head of all the Catholic—call it, if you will—bigotry which 
 is found in Europe. Should this France feel herself pre¬ 
 pared for war, she can proclaim it through Spain at any hour 
 she pleases. And will not the state of Ireland, my Lord, 
 urge her, and urge the other states which I have mentioned 
 to calculate whether the power and even name of the Brit¬ 
 ish Empire may not now be taken away ? May not France 
 and Russia and the United States deliberate on the separa¬ 
 tion of those islands—the dismemberment of our Empire 
 —and the eternal humiliation of the Haughty Mistress 
 of the Sea ? Alas ! my Lord, we seem to confide too 
 much in our own power, to estimate other nations too 
 lowly; to look too superciliously on our own people—the 
 nerves of our body politic. We are still intoxicated with 
 the recollection of our late victories; we forget our debt— 
 our currency—our manufactures—our discontented people." 
 
 It is needless to observe, that the Second Reformation 
 was soon numbered among tfie “ things that were," and its 
 supporters covered with the contempt which their humbug 
 had so justly obtained for them. 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 257 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 dr. doyle’s answer to dr. magee’s second charge. 
 
 Now bigot zeal, the demon of mankind^ 
 
 Disunion’s offspring, to the truth is blind. 
 
 In March, 1827, Dr. Magee having once more attempt¬ 
 ed to charge his Protestant auditors to oppose Popery, and 
 to support the indefinite thing called Protestantism, our 
 respected prelate wrote in reply one of his best essays. This 
 is a powerful piece of theological reasoning and evidence 
 on various points of Catholic doctrine. 
 
 The truly Catholic Earl of Shrewsbury, in his “ Reasons 
 for not taking the Test ,” p. 23. “ recommends it to every 
 dispassionate reader; for argument and eloquence it stands 
 unrivalled. 
 
 The extracts, which we regret must be curtailed, from 
 our limited space, will afford much interest. 
 
 “ Men Brethren —A charge, breathing discord and dis- 
 sention has been lately addressed to you, by the most dig¬ 
 nified ecclesiastic of the Established Church in your pro¬ 
 vince. This prelate has assured you that you are competent 
 to judge all things. I think differently; but I am satisfied 
 that you are competent to decide upon the merits of his 
 charge. I had hoped that this most reverend prelate, em¬ 
 barrassed as he was by the occurrences in which he has been 
 involved since his elevation to the See of Dublin, would 
 nave said with the Psalmist, in the bitterness of his soul, 
 “ It is good for me (0 Lord) that thou hast humbled me, 
 that I may learn the ways of thy justice,” and that in 
 silence and retirement he would have laboured to efface 
 from his literary character and public life those stains which 
 a forgetfulness of his own infirmity, and an unwarrantable 
 disrespect for other men, had imprinted on them. 
 
 * To analyze the entire charge of the Most Rev. Archbi¬ 
 shop would be a tedious and a useless labour—irrelevant to 
 my purpose, and uninteresting to those whom I address. 
 
258 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 I shall therefore select, with as much accuracy as I can, 
 out of the mass of woids in wliich they are involved, those 
 positions of his Grace which impugn^ the religion or social 
 principles of Catholics, and apply to them such observa¬ 
 tions as will occur to me, and as they seem to merit. 
 
 “ And first, what is the church of the living God whose 
 authority is assailed ? It is, (1 Tim. iii. 15.) the pillar and 
 ground of the truth, against which the gates of hell will 
 not prevail, (Matt. xvi. 18;) and which if any one do 
 not hear and follow, he is, by the sentence of Christ him¬ 
 self, to be held as a Heathen and a Publican. To deny 
 the supreme authority of this church in what concerns the 
 religion of Christ is, according to St. Augustin, (Lib de 
 Util: credend. cap. 17.) ‘truly the fruit of impiety or of 
 the most headstrong arroganceso that this holy and learned 
 doctor does not hesitate to say, (Lib. contra. Ep. Fundam: 
 ch. 5,) ‘ that he would not believe the gospel if the authority 
 of the church did not compel him thereto/ 
 
 “ So St. Jerome, disputing with the followers of Lucifer, 
 (de Carliari tom. 4, par. 2, p. 306.) says ; ‘ I might dry up 
 all the rivulets of your propositions by the sun alone of the 
 church ; but whereas we have already argued at length, 
 and the tediousness of our disputations has wearied our 
 hearers, I shall express to you the strong and clear con¬ 
 viction of my mind, to wit, men should remain in that 
 church which, founded by the Apostles, continues to the 
 present day; of this Church, writing to Pope Damasus, 
 he speaks again, saying,:—I ‘ am united to your holi¬ 
 ness, that is, to the chair of Peter; on that rock I know the 
 Church was built, whoseover does not gather with you scat¬ 
 ters, that is, whosoever is not of Christ is of Antichrist/— 
 Thus it was, that this learned Father thought of Church 
 Authority and of the successor of Peter, whom he consi¬ 
 dered as the keystone of the building, outside of which, all 
 was profane. 
 
 “ This authority was not only considered supreme but of 
 such necessity, that the poor and illiterate, to whom, above 
 all others, Christ came to preach, and who in all times were 
 destined to form the bulk of the heirs of his kingdom, could 
 not by any other visible means have their faith secured, or 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 259 
 
 * 
 
 even come to the knowledge of true religion. This is so 
 obvious a truth, as not to require proof; for no person who 
 surveys in his mind, the past, or even the present state of the 
 world, will venture gravely to assert that every man called 
 to the religion of Christ, or one in every ten thousand of 
 them, could acquire a knowledge of religion, or ascertain the 
 right sense of Divine Revelation, otherwise than through 
 the ministry and authority of the Church. 
 
 “ These Sectaries all exclaim ‘ will you hear me rather 
 than God, human errors rather than the Sacred Scriptures V 
 These appeals, however, are like the cries of a felon, who 
 caught in the act of stealing, would have the ministers of 
 justice to believe that he had a just claim to the property 
 which he had stolen, and presumes even to call on the right 
 owner to produce his title deeds before his right would be 
 recognised. 
 
 “ These Sectaries always affect to forget that the law of 
 the Gospel is a real law given by God to man, as a rule of 
 conduct; that when he gave the law he also instituted mi¬ 
 nisters to teach it and judges to administer it; vesting them 
 with power to enforce the authority confided to them by 
 means of censures, and engaging to assist them in their 
 teaching and judging, all days, even to the end of the 
 world ; that the judge is (to use a phrase of the civil law) 
 lex loqucns , 4 the law speaking,’ and the law itself Prat or 
 non loquens, 1 the judge not speaking/ The Sectaries af¬ 
 fect. to forget all this, and whilst each of them distorts or 
 mangles the law to suit his own caprice, or favour his own 
 pride or passion, he contemns the judge, and exclaims, 
 * to the law and to the testimony,—to the law and to the 
 testimony/ 
 
 “ Again, it is said, the Scripture itself can decide con¬ 
 troversies. This is another error, more gross, if possible 
 than the foregoing—for if Scripture could decide contro¬ 
 versy a dumb letter could speak, and a folio Bible give 
 judgment;—the leaves of books could cite witnesses, 
 hear evidence, acquit innocence, and condemn guilt. If 
 this absurdity were to be endured, then each and every 
 Sect which has plundered the Catholic Church of the 
 Scriptures, might compare notes, and agree upon some 
 
260 
 
 LIFE UF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 one error to be professed by them all; or, as truth is one and 
 indivisible, they would all discover it; and we would 
 again return to the Apostolic times, when all the believers 
 had but one heart, one mind, one faith, as they had but one 
 Lord and one Baptism. 
 
 “ Again, they say, that the Holy Ghost, if properly in¬ 
 voked, decides for each person upon all doubts. This opi¬ 
 nion is not only absurd but exceedingly impious, for it sup¬ 
 poses that the Holy Ghost abides outside that Church which 
 he was sent to enlighten, direct, enrich, and govern, and 
 that he diffuses his light and grace to men who blas¬ 
 pheme or venerate, as their judgment dictates, the same 
 truth. That He, who is charity itself, dwells with heresy, 
 which is impiety; that He, who is the uniting love of the 
 Father and the Son, teaches the most discordant opinions ; 
 that He, who is the God of peace and unity, warrants by 
 his inspiration, strife and discord ; that he taught Calvin to 
 condemn what he instructed Luther to dogmatize, and in¬ 
 spired Luther to curse what he had taught Calvin and 
 Zuinglius to preach; that he instructed Cranrper to adopt 
 half a dozen different formularies of faith, and Latimer to 
 disregard both truth and duty. The unction of the Spirit 
 teaches interiorly, it is true, the children of the Church, 
 not to decide on controversy, (which the pastors whom he 
 has placed to rule her are commissioned to do) but he teaches 
 them those heavenly truths which he conceals often from the 
 prudent and the wise, and reveals to the simple and the 
 poor—that sublime knowledge of the Saints, known only to 
 the perfect, whilst it increases the desire of heaven, is itself 
 a foretaste of that bliss to be enjoyed by those who will 
 see God face to face, and know him even as we are known 
 to him. 
 
 <l These Sectaries, like a discomfited army, having been 
 driven from one position to another—from Reason to the 
 Scripture—from the Scriptures to the Scriptures, interpreted 
 by the judgment of each individual—rfrom the Scriptures so 
 interpreted to the same interpreted by the interior unction or 
 taste of the Spirit; driven, in fact, from absurdity to absurdity, 
 with the mark of schism, like that of Cain, imprinted on their 
 forehead, without possessing one Church or one altar through- 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 261 
 
 out the universe, connected in any way with those which were 
 Catholic and Apostolic; they, in the delirium of their revolt, 
 sought to break down the Church herself into an immense 
 mass of confused and jarring elements—preferring a place in 
 this chaos, to a recognition of their errors, and to the obtaining 
 by a dutiful submission, a place in that house of peace and 
 unity, from which in a moment of passion, they had de¬ 
 parted. They said that the Church of God, the Kingdom 
 of the Redeemer, the body of Christ, consisted of every 
 sect and every heresy which invoked the name of the Lord. 
 When they first broached this monstrous opinion, it was said 
 to them, is the Church then so composed, the kingdom of 
 Christ, of whom David said, (Ps. 73.) 1 and his house is 
 in peace V Are those contending sectaries the * men of 
 good will' to whom the angels announced at Bethlehem, 
 (Luke ii. 14.) that Christ came to give peace ? Are they 
 who contend one with the other even to excommunication, 
 that strong body, which drawing its strength from its union, 
 is called by Christ himself a rock ? Are these sectaries that 
 one fold under one pastor, spoken of by ourLord, {Johnx. 16.) 
 where all hear the same voice, where all feed on the same 
 pasture, where altar is not erected against altar, but where 
 all are one body who partake of the same bread ? Is it pos¬ 
 sible that he who came to gather together in one the children 
 of God who were dispersed, {Jolmx\ ii. 11.) should assem¬ 
 ble them only to contend with one another ? Is it for an 
 assemblage of discordant sects that Christ prayed, saying, 
 {John xvii.) 1 Holy Father keep them in thy name whom thou 
 hast given to me, that they may be one as you and I are 
 one V Was it for such assemblage he invoked the Spirit of 
 peace, saying to his Apostles, {John xx. 21, 22.) 1 Peace be 
 to you : as my Father sent me, so I send you, and having 
 said this, he breathed on them, saying, receive ye the Holy 
 Ghost/ , 
 
 u It was inquired of the Sectaries, whether contending 
 sects were contemplated by St. Paul, when he so graphi¬ 
 cally described the unity of the church in the following 
 passage, (1 Cor. xii. 12.) 1 As the body is one and hath 
 many members, but all the members of the body, though 
 they be many, yet are one body: so also Christ; for in one 
 
262 ' LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 spirit we are all baptized into one?’ Is this unity, this in¬ 
 divisible conjunction of the members with each other and 
 with the head verified in the tumultuary and contradictory 
 congregations of sects and heresies ? Can they be the per¬ 
 sons addressed by the Apostle, (Eph. iv. 2.) saying, ‘be 
 careful to preserve the unity of spirit in the bond of peace V 
 for (1 Cor. xii. 21.) ‘the eye cannot say to the hand, I 
 want not your labour, nor again, the hand to the feet you 
 are not necessary for me/ as if he said, whosoever thinks 
 that he needs not the assistance of his brethren in the church, 
 but can himself by his own powers, act and think indepen¬ 
 dent of them, he cannot be a member of Christ’s body, nor 
 receive life from the spirit of Christ—whereas he breaks 
 the bond of peace which links together all the members or 
 brethren. ‘ One body and one spirit/ he says again, writing 
 to the Ephesians, ‘ as you are called in one hope/ and to • 
 the Hebrews, (x. 24.) let us consider one another to pro¬ 
 voke unto charity and good works, not forsaking our as¬ 
 sembly as some are accustomed. One God, he exclaims, 
 one faith, one' baptism; (1 Cor. xii. 15.) ‘ and God had 
 tempered the body, that there might be no schism iu the 
 body, but the members mutually careful one for the other/ 
 because, as he says to the Hebrews, (x. 39.) ‘ we are not 
 the sons of withdrawing (or of separating ourselves) unto 
 perdition/ 
 
 “ These Sectaries were told, that by congregating Schis¬ 
 matics and Heretics within the Church of God, they were 
 subverting the faith and morality of the Christian religion. 
 The crime of schism was exhibited to them as it had been 
 painted by St. Paul, {Phil. iii. 2.) ‘beware of dogs, beware 
 of evil workers, beware of the concision/ the cutting up— 
 the separation of the body, which is the work of the evil 
 doers—of the dogs who devour the body of Christ, which 
 is the Church—of those as Jude observes, (ix.) ‘ who sepa¬ 
 rate themselves, sensual men, having not the spirit/ The 
 Sectaries were told, that to admit such persons within the 
 Church, was to repeal the decree of God, which excluded 
 Schisms and heresies, as works of the flesh, from his king¬ 
 dom. 
 
 “ The authority of the early fathers on this subject was 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 ‘263 
 
 exhibited to them; of Augustin, (Ep. 109 ad Felie :) who 
 says, < God commanded to us union; to himself he reserved 
 separation.’ ‘ Do they/ the Schismatics, St. Cyprian, (de 
 Unit. Eccles :) * Do they imagine that Christ is witn them 
 when they are gathered together outside the church / from 
 such persons though they were killed in the confession of 
 his (Christ's) name, that stain is not washed away, even 
 by their blood, whereas the great and unpardonable sin of 
 discord, will not be expiated, even by the sufferings of 
 death. He cannot be a martyr, who is not in the Church. 
 
 * The sacrilege of schism/ says Augustin, (Lib. 1 , contra Ep. 
 Farm. Cap. 3.) ‘ which surpasses all crimes, &c/ and again 
 (contra Donat:) (Lib. 1 , ch. 8.) ‘those whom they (the Dona- 
 tists) baptize, they heal of the wound cf idolatry or infidelity, 
 but they strike them with the deeper wound of schism.’— 
 They have not the charity of God, who do not love die unity 
 of the Church, (Lib. Cap. 3.16.) 
 
 “ Vain subterfuge, replied the Catholic, by which you 
 seek to escape the guilt of schism, and the condemnation 
 of it by the Lord and his apostles. It is not of this error 
 or that blasphemy, of this schism or that other revolt, that 
 we have been treating, we have directed your attention to 
 the guilt of breaking unity, a crime, as Augustin observes, 
 which no necessity can justify. We charged you with sepa¬ 
 rating the members of the body of Christ, of setting up 
 altar against altar, of violating charity, which is the bond 
 of perfection. We charged you with separating yourselves, 
 with disobeying the Church which God commanded you to 
 hear, with despising the ministry, and through them des¬ 
 pising Christ and the Father who sent him. You speak of 
 the divinity of our Lord—of essential and not essential 
 truths; we speak of unity and peace; these you have vio¬ 
 lated, whilst every page of the scriptures to which you ap¬ 
 peal commands them,, and commauds them as the primary, 
 the essential virtues to be observed by every child of God.’' 
 
264 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYI.lt. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 ✓ . 
 
 DR. D0YLE V 3 LETTERS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS IN 1828—29. 
 
 ** But in his duty prompt at every call 
 He watched, he wept, he pray’d, and felt for all.” 
 
 To give at length, all the letters of Dr. Doyle in 1828 
 and 1829, would occupy almost as much space as we have 
 allotted to our entire work. 
 
 We proceed to give extracts from his letter to the Duke 
 of Wellington on the Catholic claims: 
 
 “ My Lord Duke, —It ought not to be a matter of sur¬ 
 prise to any one, that the writer of this Letter should ad¬ 
 dress your Grace. Your late speech on the Catholic ques¬ 
 tion has led some to think, and confirmed others in the 
 opinion, that you are anxious to settle that question finally. 
 I have been at different times engaged in the consideration 
 or discussion of the Catholic claims ; I have bestowed on 
 them all the attention and study of which I am capable ; 
 and should I now be so fortunate as to render the slightest 
 assistance to your Grace by the further application of that 
 study and attention, I should both gratify my own wishes, 
 and contribute something to the public good. 
 
 “ You cannot say to the sea of our troubles, e Be still,*— 
 ncr to the tempest which rages in Ireland,‘ Do not blow.’ 
 We are a nation grown up to manhood, and the only force 
 which can subdue us, without ruin to the State, is the force 
 of equity. But, though strong, and daily waxing stronger 
 by exertion, we desire most earnestly to conclude our strug¬ 
 gles. Our cause is just: those great principles which have 
 informed Europe, art operating in our favour—we are sup¬ 
 ported by the voice of wisdom herself, and by the sympa¬ 
 thies of the entire world ; we are not doubtful of the issue 
 cf the contest in which we are engaged; for if young, we 
 are vigorous ; if poor, we are frugal; though dispersed, we 
 are united ; there is no luxury, nor corruption, nor wasting 
 
LIFE OF DU. DOYLE. 
 
 265 
 
 principles, within us ; and, such is our devotion to the 
 cause in which we are engaged, that, let it require a sacri¬ 
 fice of 10 per cent, or 20, upon our time, our labour, or our 
 income, we are prepared from the peer to the peasant, to 
 offer it up on the altar of 'our common wrongs. 
 
 “ It may appear to your Grace, as it does to many others, 
 that the Catholic Church in Ireland ought to be paralysed 
 by inducing the pope to co-operate in placing the appoint¬ 
 ment of her bishops in the hands of the king, whilst the 
 arrangement entered into for that purpose would be desig¬ 
 nated, ‘ a security against papal power or encroachment/—■ 
 But this would be a proceeding inconsistent with good faith, 
 equity, or any of those principles whereby freemen should be 
 governed, or their hearts united in affection to the throne, 
 leaving out of view the anomaly of a Protestant govern¬ 
 ment calling in the aid of the Pope to assist them in pull¬ 
 ing down the liberties, whether civil or religious, of their 
 own subjects. I would say to those who cherish such 
 views: 1 Be generous to the Irish—spare the constitution— 
 do not indulge your jealousy of us to the enslavement of our 
 priesthood—the king does not require the patronage of 
 nur Church—he cannot understand our interests, nor be a 
 Protestant and be anxious to promote them. Leave us a 
 free people—let us exert all our energies, and if you confide 
 in our oaths, which have never been violated, or in our ho¬ 
 nour, which has never been tarnished, you will not have 
 hereafter to repent of your own generosity, or to complain 
 of our ingratitude. You may, by imposing bonds upon us, 
 remove the alarm felt by some timid churchmen, but you 
 will give a death-blow to freedom in Ireland, and inflict 
 upon our common Christianity the deepest wound. The 
 Catholics of Ireland excite apprehension ! They do, and 
 justly, for they are numerous, powerful, and discontented; 
 but let them be admitted fully and freely to all the bless¬ 
 ings of the constitution, and if their hearts be of flesh; if 
 they have children, and love them; if they have property 
 and value it; if they have law and privilege, and prize 
 them-; if they have a country, and almost adore it,—they 
 will be among the best, the most loyal, the most devoted 
 subjects in the realm." 
 
266 
 
 LIFE OF l)lt. DOYLE* 
 
 Dr. Doyle having given a new edition of u Turberville’s 
 Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine,” he published a 
 preface to it, and considerably improved the work. 
 
 This having awakened the drooping spirit of Dr. Elring- 
 ton, Law Bishop of Leighlin and Ferns, that gentleman 
 published a letter, to which Dr. Doyle soon gave a reply 
 from which we make a few extracts :— 
 
 “ There has been just now placed in my. hands a Charge, 
 by Thomas Elrington, D. D. M. R. I. A., Lord Bishop of 
 Leighlin and Ferns, addressed by him in the year 1827, 
 to the Protestant clergy of the above dioceses, and lately 
 published by Millikin and Son, Dublin. 
 
 “ The object of this charge is to instruct the Protestant 
 clergy as to the mode in which they should labour to 
 propagate the ‘ New Reformation,’ in Ireland; and, as the 
 good bishop thinks, or affects to think, that to be a work 
 worthy of his pastoral solicitude, I should not notice his 
 Charge, had he not incidentally adverted, not only to 
 J. K. L. (which he says is quiet notoriously my signature) 
 but also to a small work. ‘ The Abridgment of the 
 Christian Doctrine / lately revised and edited by me. ' 
 
 "It is a uniform custom with most of us, Catholics, 
 when we censure or refute our adversaries, to select their 
 strongest positions and arguments ; to place them in the 
 most favourable light, and then to measure our strength 
 with them. Those who argue against us, generally prefer 
 an opposite course; they pass over in dignified silence, or 
 with the most prudent caution, our facts, our arguments, 
 and our conclusions, whilst they catch up and parade abroad 
 some mutilated sentence, some disjointed reflection, or some 
 quotation introduced by us—often for a purpose the very 
 reverse of that for which it is stated by them to have been 
 employed. Thus they frequently endeavour to defame 
 some man whom they cannot confute, or to disparage the 
 character of some work to which they find it impossible 
 to reply. If these artifices be unsuccessful, they resort 
 to the common places of defamation—or call upon the 
 government or legislature to defend and protect them.— 
 Thus, Dr. Elrington, on various occasions, for, to use his 
 Lordship’s own language, ‘it is quite notorious that he is 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 267 
 
 the author of those pamphlets, which are marked with his 
 initials/ has thought proper to cavil with some detached 
 sentence of J. K. L., but has never condescended to reply to 
 Rny entire one of his productions. Thus, he misrepresents 
 either the text or the application of some text found in the 
 * Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine/ but prudently 
 abstains from all attempts to confute the doctrine, or the 
 arguments of that inestimable little work—a work of which 
 some thousand copies have, since its revision by me, been 
 distributed in these dioceses—a work, which is now in 
 process of being stereotyped, and of which I earnestly wish 
 there was a copy in the hands of every person in Ireland, 
 who could read and understand it. 
 
 “ Having myself corrected the translation of the very 
 learned Doetor Turberville, the author of The Abridg¬ 
 ment ; (who in his life-time was not upbraided with any 
 crime,) I might suffer the attack of Dr. Elrington to waste 
 itself upon his ashes, and not assimilate myself to J. K. L. 
 who has so often charged some of his Majesty's bishops in 
 Ireland with ignorance of their profession; but I cannot 
 forbear if not to vindicate the dead, yet to iustruct the 
 living on this point of theology, which the Lord Bishop of 
 Leighlin and Ferns has mooted. Be it known, then, to all 
 whom it may concern, that he who appeared to Joshua, says 
 of himself (v. 14.) ‘ that he is a Prince of the Army of the 
 Lord/ and consequently not the Lord God himself. Be it 
 further known, that the name Lord or Jehovah, which Joshua 
 gives to the Angel, is given throughout the Pentateuch to 
 him who appeared so frequently to Moses, and that he also 
 was an Angel, though an Angel in whom God may have 
 been present, in a manner not known to us, but certainly 
 not by any hypostatic union. St. Augustin describes this 
 supposed presence of God saying,—* Angelus loquebcitur , 
 sed Deus erat in illo.’ St. Paul seems to have placed the 
 fact of his being an Angel beyond doubt, {Gal. iii. 19;) 
 and St. Luke, {Ads vii. 30,) still more expressly, where St. 
 Stephen speaking, says—‘ And when forty years were ex¬ 
 pired, there appeared to him (Moses) in the desert of Sina, 
 an Angel in a flame of fire in a bush/ He who appeared 
 to Joshua is not called an ‘Angel/ but ‘A Prince of the 
 
* <368 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 Army of the Lord/ because we do not find, that previous 
 to the Babylonian captivity, those ministering spirits were 
 distinguished by special names, so that when they were to 
 be designated, some appellation, such as that used by the 
 writer of the books of Joshua, was resorted to for the 
 purpose of marking the object of their mission. 
 
 “ Dr. Elrington supposes, that he who appeared to Joshua, 
 was the same Almighty who appeared to Moses, because 
 he said to both these words: ‘ Loose thy shoes from off thy 
 feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy/ Now* 
 there is some probability, that he who appeared to both, 
 was the same ‘ Prince of the Army of the Lord/ but St. 
 Stephen says expressly, that he was an Angel, or in other 
 words, that he was not the Almighty, whilst Doctor Elring^* 
 ton with equal confidence assures us that he was. Who 
 will judge, when St. Paul, ( 2 Cor. xiii. 3.) says—‘ Do ye 
 seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me/ Would not a 
 person appear very absurd, who would infer from these 
 words, that St. Paul was Christ, or that Christ was hypos- 
 tatically united to St. Paul ? He would no doubt appear 
 / so, nor should the author of the Abridgment appear less * 
 absurd, had he supposed with Dr. Elrington, that the . 
 Angel who appeared to Joshua, was any thing but an Angel 4 
 in whom the Deity might or might not be present. 
 
 “ Dr. Elrington proceeds to expend his knowledge, say¬ 
 ing: (p. 23) ‘But the answer of which I have quoted a part, 
 affords further proof of the necessity of being supplied 
 with the means of examining passages of the. Scripture 
 referred to as proofs of Romish doctrines/ Romish Doo- 
 trines ! !—How nearly allied politeness and theological 
 research are!—Well, but the Lord Bishop of Leighlin and 
 Ferns continues—‘ It (the answer) proceeds to say, that 
 the worshipping Angels, (be it observed that in the text of 
 the Abridgment the word worship or worshipping is not used) 
 is secondly proved by Revelations, (xxii. 8.) where St. John 
 did it, though the Angel once before willed him not to do it 
 in regard to his Apostolical dignity (xix. 10.)—‘ And I fell 
 down, (saith he,), to adore before the feet of the Angel who 
 showed me these things.’ 
 
 “ Now if we refer to the chapter here quoted* we shall 
 
 r 
 
LITE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 269 
 
 find that instead of authorizing the adoration of Angels 
 directly forbids it, and forbids it in the very same words * 
 which are quoted in the answer from (xix. 10.) as a prohi¬ 
 bition.—The very next words to those with which the writer 
 of the Abridgment of Christian Doctrine chose to termi-> 
 nate his quotation are See thou do it not. 
 
 “ And we find in reading both the passages referred to that 
 the prohibition did not arise from any regard to St. John’s 
 Apostolical character, which is not even mentioned; and the 
 Angel concludes with the remarkable words—adore God, 
 which are plainly prohibitory of adoring any other beiug.—- 
 And on referring to the original, we shall find that it does 
 not afford any means of evasion, for the word is npo;>ieuvrigov j 
 so that it is not merely a prohibition of the worship they rest 
 so much upon, as the only one limited to God, Latria. 
 
 “We have here, if any where, a full exposure of our 
 bad faith, and a convincing proof of our idolatry or super¬ 
 stition; or if not, we have an admirable specimen of 
 those arts and sophistry to which our adversaries do not 
 blush to descend even from the high places. We have here 
 worship substituted for honour —we have this worship 
 which is notoriously of three kinds, Latria , Hyperdulia , 
 and Dulia , two of which are essentially different—repre¬ 
 sented as of only one kind; we have texts which are dis¬ 
 tinct, made to appear united—we have a prohibition im¬ 
 posed on us, as it were, from Almighty God, without 
 any warrant from Scripture; and we have a Greek word 
 subjected to an exclusive meaning which it does not bear. 
 But to simplify this commixture of misconception and ar¬ 
 gumentation, what is it which the Author of the Abridg¬ 
 ment undertakes to prove ? It is this as before stated— 
 
 < That, it is lawful to honour the Angels and Saints with 
 Dulia ; that is, an inferior honour proportioned to their ex¬ 
 cellency, which they have from God; it is God we honour 
 in them/—(Abridgment page 50.) In this proposition 
 there is no mention of adoration , no mention of worship, 
 except as it is implied in the word Dulia , which signifies a 
 relative and inferior religious honour or worship. Then as 
 to the proof taken ftom the Apocalypse of St. John, this 
 proof adduces the example of that Apostle, who, it is writ- 
 
 t 
 
270 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 ten, ‘ fell down to adore before the feet of the Angel who 
 showed him (me) those things :—and is objected to on these 
 two distinct grounds :—First, that the entire verse from 
 which the foregoing words are extracted, is not given, espe¬ 
 cially that part of it where the Angel speaking to John, 
 says adore God. Second, that the word adore in the original 
 signifies that supreme worship or Latria, due to God alone, 
 and therefore, that what St. John commenced to dj* was in 
 itself unlawful—and it is further inferred, but without any 
 assigned reason, that all worship of whatsoever kind, is for¬ 
 bidden to be offered to Angels or Saints. 
 
 “ To the first objection, it is answered, that part of the 
 sacred text which is applicable to the question, is quoted 
 entire —and that the remaining part which relates to it, is re¬ 
 ferred to—that the whole passage would encumber the page, 
 where all proofs adduced are condensed as much as pos¬ 
 sible. In the foregoing part of the chapter, the duty of 
 adoring God, is fully explained and inculcated—nor was it 
 necessary to return to it, where the question related solely 
 to the propriety of honouring the chosen and glorified friends 
 of God. The entire verse is as follows :—“ And I fell down 
 before his ( the Angel's ) feet, to adore him; and he 
 saith to me, see, thou do it not; I am thy fellow-servant, 
 and of thy brethren, who have the testimony of Jesus; 
 adore God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of pro¬ 
 phecy.” This is the verse or passage, referred to by the wri¬ 
 ter of the ‘ Abridgment/ to prove that St. John was, on 
 account of his Apostolical dignity, desired by his fellow- 
 servant not to adore him in any manner, but to adore God, 
 whose attributes he had seen displayed; just as when 
 Tobias, the father and son— ( Tob. xii.J—had fallen pros¬ 
 trate before the Angel, he disclaims all merit in what he had 
 done for them—and desires them to bless God, and thank 
 him alone. This interpretation is just and reasonable, and 
 is that given by St. Gregory the Great, as stated in the 
 note affixed to this passage in the Doway Testament. Dr. 
 Elrington, says, * there is no reference in the text to the 
 Apostolical dignity of John.' His Lordship, might be 
 asked, ‘what exalted him (John) to the rank of a fellow- 
 servant with the Angel of God V The prophet Malachy, 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 271 
 
 says,: the Priest in the Old Law was * the Angel of the 
 Lord of Hostsand if his Priesthood invested him with 
 this high distinction, the Apostolical character and dignity 
 in John should not have been less honoured. Nothing 
 could be more reasonable than that John should bow down 
 and venerate the Angel of God, who unfolded to him all the 
 mysteries of Heaven, and of the Church of Christ—and 
 hence he tells us himself that he did so more than once.— 
 Nor again is there any thing more accordant with the 
 sanctity of the Divine messenger, than to decline the ho¬ 
 nour offered to him by his fellow-servant, and remind him 
 that to the only, the immortal and invisible God, the King 
 of Ages, were all honour and glory due.” 
 
 In May, 1829, Dr. Doyle wrote a Pastoral Letter on 
 i the Freeholders’ Qualification Oath. We give the following 
 extracts:— 
 
 u To the Faithful in Christ Jesus, within the Dioceses of 
 Kildare and Leighlin. 
 
 "Dearly Beloved Brethren, —We do not think it 
 necessary on this occasion to excite anew within you a great 
 fear and horror of perjury, by repeating what we have so 
 frequently explained for you in our public instructions.— 
 Let it suffice here to remind you that wilful perjury is a 
 great and grievous sin—great and grievous because it offends 
 against the Majesty of God, against all the interests of 
 society, and against the salvation of the soul of the per¬ 
 jurer; for which soul Christ died. He who commits 
 perjury calls upon Almighty God to witness a lie, and thus 
 dishonours the name and sanctity of tfie Lord. The perjurer 
 also offends against all the interests of society: for law is 
 maintained, persoys and property secured, justice enforced 
 and crime punished, by bearing testimony to the truth, 
 and he who commits perjury, or swears falsely defeats, 
 as far as in him lies, all those just and salutary purposes.— 
 But the man who professes to declare the truth, and con¬ 
 cludes his promise to do so by touching the Holy Gospels 
 with his hand—by pressing them to his lips, whilst he 
 j 'utters with his tongue, ‘ So help me God, and these bis Holy 
 Gospels—the man who does these things and speaks these 
 
272 
 
 I 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 words, and yet conceals the truth, or tells a he, that man 
 pronounces his own sentence, and damns by anticipation his' 
 own soul. He prays as it were to heaven, that if what he' 
 swears be not true, then that God may never help him, and 
 that the Holy Gospels which are the record of the faith and 
 religion of Christ, and are there put and used to signify 
 that faith and religion by which alone salvation can be at¬ 
 tained :—the man who prays that these Gospels may not 
 help him if what he swears be not true, and yet conceals 
 the truth or tells a lie, virtually renounces the Christian faith, 
 and places himself amongst those wicked ones whom the 
 Lord Jesus will destroy by the uprightness of his coming.— 
 The perjurer thus pronounces sentence against himself, and 
 anticipates by his prayers the condemnation of his own soul. 
 To save a brother from bondage, to deliver a father from 
 death, to preserve a mother from shame, nay, to avert the 
 ruin of the whole world, it is not lawful to tell a lie; but to 
 lie on oath—to state a falsehood, and call God to witness i 
 is a crime too hideous for the mind to conceive, or for lan¬ 
 guage to express. Amongst the freeholders of Ireland many, , 
 alas ! too many, have either through ignorance (which may < 
 the Lord compassionate) ox wilfully (and then the sin is such i 
 that for its remission a man can scarcely pray)—but many 
 freeholders heretofore, either through ignorance or wilfully, , 
 did commit the horrid crime of perjury. ‘The rich/ as the 
 apostle James expresses it, ‘ The rich, oppressed them by 
 might; they drew them before the judgment seats; they 
 blasphemed the good name that is invoked upon them/ 
 by tempting them, and suborning them to commit perjury; 
 but these freeholders, however tempted and suborned, yet 
 if they swore falsely, they committed sin, and are reproved 
 by the law of God as transgressors. 
 
 “ Take warning then beloved brethren from evils which have 
 occurred—which are notorious—which have been turned 
 against the perpetrators of them, and which the justice of hea¬ 
 ven, perhaps, employed to punish even the innocent with the 
 guilty; for the whole class of freeholders amongst whom 
 these perjuries were committed, have been stripped of their 
 privileges. Only a few days more, and their vices, and their 
 virtues, and their names^will be forgotten fpr ever. ,, 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 273 
 
 Dr. Doyle wrote a letter on Mr. O’Conneirs election for 
 the county of Clare, in which he congratulated him on his 
 triumph over the enemies of Ireland. 
 
 The powerful talents of our revered prelate contributed 
 in a great degree to effect that Emancipation in 1829, 
 which the Duke of Wellington, and the Hon. Sir It. Peel, 
 before most obstinate enemies, brought forward. 
 
 If the measure of relief was accompanied with an 
 abridgment of popular liberty, a sacrifice of the rights of 
 the religious orders, and an attack upon the dignity of our 
 bishops, it was not Dr. Doyle’s fault. He had written 
 much and well upon the necessity of extending instead of 
 diminishing the elective franchise—being a member of the 
 Augustin order—he was naturally opposed to any compro¬ 
 mise of the rights and dignity of that religious state in 
 general to which almost every Saint belonged, and which 
 every true Catholic must revere—and from the first moment 
 he was a bishop, he stood firmly up for the dignity of the 
 Episcopal body. 
 
 “ It was thought, (says Dr. Kinsella,) that the people 
 might be freed at the expense of the hierarchy—that the 
 chains which bound them might be relaxed, provided the 
 church would consent to become captive—that the laity 
 might be freed, if the clergy were fettered. .Against such an 
 arrangement he raised his voice—he felt that ‘ our kingdom 
 is not of this world,’ and he wished to preserve the ancient 
 discipline which left us dependent for support on God, and 
 on the people, and on them alone. We are attached to the 
 throne by the strongest ties of duty and principle—we are 
 bound to support authority and to maintain peace as the 
 most powerful bond of feeling—of interest—of religion, 
 and he did not think any other chain of connexion necessary, 
 even though the links were of gold. And was not a Catho¬ 
 lic bishop entitled to express an opinion on such a subject. 
 Was he not the fittest person to remonstrate against such an 
 arrangement, believing as he did, as many others did—and 
 certainly as I do—that such a project would be deeply 
 injurious to our religious discipline, and would defeat its 
 avowed object by lessening the confidence of the people in 
 us—by exchanging active and powerful (because disinte¬ 
 rested) friends, for careless and useless hirelings.” ^ 
 
274 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 DR. DOYLe’s PREFACES—LETTERS ON A NATIONAL INSTI¬ 
 TUTE— ON DRUNKENNESS, &C. 
 
 “ He tried each art, reprov’d each dull delay, 
 
 Allur’d to brighter worlds, and led the way.” 
 
 Wishing to extend the circulation of the practical Ser- t 1 
 mons of the pious and respected Gahan, Dr. Doyle wrote I 
 a preface to a new edition of them in 2 vols. in which he 
 pays an eloquent compliment to the author, and recommends 
 the work to every Catholic. 
 
 No man, perhaps, ever devoted his time and talents so 
 ardently and perseveringly to the removal of national abuses 
 as Dr. Doyle. There was no work of charity, of patriot¬ 
 ism, or of humanity, that did not command his attention 
 and sympathy. Against the horrid crime of drunkenness, 
 and its concomitant evils, he, however, in a more parti¬ 
 cular manner, directed all his powers. On this subject he 
 published two valuable letters. 
 
 “ To better his country was his only wish.” 
 
 To see established an Agricultural Model School, and a 
 National Literary Institute in Ireland, were among the che¬ 
 rished objects of Dr. Doyle’s mind. 
 
 With this view he wrote in 1827 a letter to James M. 
 Barry, Esq.; and in 1829 he gave the details of his plana 
 in a letter, on the subject, to Mr. O’Connell, from which 
 we give the following extracts :— 
 
 “ My Dear Sir—A year and some months have elapsed 
 since I had the honour of addressing a letter to you on the 
 subject of education. The immediate object of that letter 
 was to procure, through you, the establishment of a Model i 
 School, in which masters might be trained, and a good sys- j 
 tern of public instruction exemplified. The alacrity and j 
 zeal with which you went even before my wishes, in endea- | 
 vouring to establish what you fully concurred with me in J 
 thinking an institution most useful to this country, assure me 1 
 
 
LIFE OK DR. DOYLE. 
 
 275 
 
 now that no exertions on your part will be wauting to carry 
 forward, and finally to accomplish what as yet has scarcely 
 been begun. Indeed the many testimonies of approbation, 
 and even assurances of support, which I myself received 
 from men of exalted rank, of different religious persua¬ 
 sions, and of still more different political views, could not 
 fail to convince me, that in Ireland few things would be re¬ 
 garded more favourably than a well directed effort to esta¬ 
 blish firmly, and diffuse widely, a scientific education.— 
 There are few undertakings of any magnitude in which men 
 engage, which are not doomed to encounter delays and 
 meet with difficulties, and if the institution, for the esta¬ 
 blishment of which those interested have already experienced 
 and still calculate on your support, be liable to meet with 
 only such impediments as have till now occurred, its suc¬ 
 cess will realize their most sanguine hopes. And yet if it 
 can be accomplished a greater good will, in my opinion, be 
 prepared for Ireland than is likely to result from any other 
 of the numerous projects undertaken of late years for her 
 advantage. A bold peasantry, ’tis true, is a nation’s 
 strength and pride; but an educated people will be free 
 and bold, and opulent. The country possessed by such a 
 people will have within her a fund of virtue, of invention, 
 of energy and power, which never can be exhausted. Hence 
 we find that all those great men who created empires, or¬ 
 ganised governments, framed useful laws, and, as it were, 
 foupded on a firm basis public morality, and divine wor¬ 
 ship, considered the establishment of literary institutions as 
 the glory of their age, and the most lasting advantage con¬ 
 ferred by them upon their people. Free cities and repub¬ 
 lics identified with their very constitutions the encourage¬ 
 ment of the arts, and of those sciences on which the arts 
 themselves depend. And why not ? for how can liberty be 
 secure, conquests or discoveries made, commerce extend 
 herself and flourish, or how can religion be enlightened, 
 pure, or undefiled, unless science diffuse her lights, and 
 compel men to exchange their animal propensities for he t 
 holy pleasures ? But passing to the Continent, you find 
 all the science of England surrounded by the arts, and mi¬ 
 nistering not only to the above purposes, but also to the 
 
276 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 pleasures of taste. The Netherlands and north-west of 
 France, the only portion of that happy country which I 
 saw, appear like a well cultivated garden, teeming with 
 every luxury which the earth in a genial climate can pro¬ 
 duce. The towns and cities swarming with inhabitants— 
 their buildings improving, or being extended—comfort or 
 abundance every where apparent, and the poor, either col¬ 
 lected in charitable institutions, or exhibiting even in their 
 relative poverty no signs of squalid misery, of shameless 
 nakedness, or extreme distress. In all their cities, and 
 they are many, a magistracy and police are found not ap¬ 
 parently to terrify or punish, but to preserve order and 
 protect the good. Places of public recreation or amuse¬ 
 ment encompass or embellish every city, and schools of 
 public instruction, galleries of paintings, museums, literary 
 institutions are intermixed with the seats of justice, the 
 temples of divine worship, or the asylums of the sick, the 
 indigent, the orphan, or of the invalid resting from the toil 
 of defending his country. How often, whilst my heart 
 swelled with feelings not to be described, did I turn to 
 Ireland, and ruminate upon her misfortunes I How often 
 did I wish that the Almighty had placed her in some posi¬ 
 tion where she could enjoy those blessings, which his pro¬ 
 vidence seems to have destined for all the nations of the 
 earth! How much, and how bitterly did I lament her suf¬ 
 ferings—how earnestly did I pray, that he who holds in 
 his hands the destinies of nations and hearts of men would 
 bring them to a close. It is, however, vain to indulge such 
 reflections, or to be impelled by them either to desert one’s 
 country or seek for her improvement by impracticable means. 
 It is better, dear Sir, to exert, as you are doing, all the 
 energies of mind, and all the labours which the body can 
 sustain, in seeking to lay, at least, some foundation for her 
 future happiness. 
 
 “ We may, indeed, plant what only a future generation 
 can gather—but then the earth would lie lightly on our re¬ 
 mains, could we secure for those who will tread it some 
 portion of that happiness which other nations enjoy. Nor 
 are we permitted to relax in our efforts for our country’s 
 good, even when those whom nature or compact appointed 
 
277 
 
 tlFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 to protect her interests, either desert her altogether, or vir¬ 
 tually abdicate those duties towards her, which in justice 
 and sound policy they are bound to fulfil. If then all of 
 us who dwell in Ireland, and whose fame, and fortune, and 
 interests, and affections are indissolubly connected with the 
 country of our birth—are truly anxious to contribute some¬ 
 thing towards laying the foundation of her future welfare, 
 we should not overlook the means we have of doing so, by 
 opening to all her children the living fountains of know¬ 
 ledge, and rendering those fountains accessible to all. The 
 Heathen said, in the pride of his heart:—‘ Htec sat est 
 or are jovem, det vitam, det opes, eguam mi annimum ipse 
 parabo / ‘ Let the gods give length of days and wealth, and 
 I will myself amass the riches of the mindbut let us 
 say:— 4 If Providence confer on Ireland peace, and indusi 
 try, and equal laws, we will secure to her, by the diffusion 
 of science, whatever is necessary to render her—to use the 
 words so often quoted by yourself— 
 
 * Great, glorious, and free. 
 
 The first flower of the earth. 
 
 And first gem of the sea.’ 
 
 w But let not the group confound us—let us take a sin¬ 
 gle captive and view him in this prison of the soul, incapa¬ 
 ble almost of counting by notches the days of his captivity. 
 Let us view him seated amidst the ruins of one of his an¬ 
 cient cities, on the site of some decayed temple, amazed at 
 the lofty grandeur of its mouldering arches, but ignorant, 
 perhaps, that the very soil existed a century before. But 
 let him only be made acquainted with the history of his 
 country—let her heroes, her saints, and her sages pass in 
 review before his enraptured imagination—let the chiding 
 spirit of one of her orators point out to him the mighty 
 wreck of his country, and the gloomy melancholy will con¬ 
 fer more real pleasure than the sceptre of a monarch could 
 bestow: but the effects will not stop here; he will be 
 aroused from his lethargy—he will vindicate his own rights 
 and those of his country, or enrich her with the produce of 
 his labour or his art.” 
 
 Q 
 
 
 
278 
 
 LIFE OF UR. DOYI.E, 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 DR. doyle’s LETTER IN 1330.’ 
 
 " Native legislation is the right of a nation.” 
 
 Although he was among those who deemed the ques¬ 
 tion prematurely discussed, and discussed by some for their 
 own purposes, yet, in 1830, when a universal cry was raised 
 in Ireland, for the restoration of native legislation, Dr. 
 Doyle did not forget what he owed to his native land. 
 
 The men who headed by the Duke of Leinster, got up a 
 hole and corner meeting, and a declaration against freedom 
 for Ireland, thought foolishly that he might be brought to 
 their way of thinking. 
 
 They applied for his sanction to their proceeding, but he 
 answered them in the terms they deserved, as Gamaliel did 
 those who persecuted the apostles: Let them alone— if the 
 people be wrong—their work will fall of itself—if they be 
 right they will succeed in their efforts for freedom and justice. 
 
 The people remembered this salutary reply with gratitude 
 and forwarded the expressions of their thanks to their vene¬ 
 rated prelate. 
 
 In answer to one of these (letters 24th Nov. 1830,) he 
 said : “ I could prove that a federal union of these Islands, 
 under one crown, would be more lasting than that which 
 now exists, and that the agriculture, commerce, and conse¬ 
 quently the strength of both countries would be greatly in¬ 
 creased by the Repeal of the Union, and by the Reforms 
 in England and Ireland, which should necessarily attend 
 or follow such repeal." 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 279 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 DR. doyle’s LETTERS IN 1831—32. 
 
 “Far other aims his heart had learned to prize, 
 
 Alore skill’d to raise the wretched than to rise.*' 
 
 In 1831 Dr. Doyle wrote his letter to Mr. Spring Rice, 
 on the establishment of a legal provision for the Irish poor, 1 
 and on the nature and destination of church property. 
 
 “ On one subject more, (says Dr. Kinsella,) he published 
 his opinions, strongly and perseveringly; he advocated the 
 claims of the poor to a permanent support, or to the means 
 of obtaining it ; and can it be said that such a subject was 
 unconnected with the duties of his office ? To whom are 
 the poor to look, if not to the ministers of religion, for sup¬ 
 port and protection ? Before a bishop receives the imposi¬ 
 tion of hands, he solemnly and publicly promises to be a 
 protector to the widow and orphan—a guardian to the poor 
 and helpless. What wonder then if your holy bishop, who 
 knew so well the condition of the poor, for they were the 
 most beloved part of his flock; who was compelled to wit- 
 ! ness every day such a mass of misery; who saw the spirit 
 of outrage and insubordination to which hopeless want and 
 bitter suffering were driving the people ; what wonder'if he 
 boldly and powerfully advocated their claims, and proved 
 to demonstration, that every motive of justice, of interest, 
 and of policy, were combined in requiring some legal pro¬ 
 vision to be made for them ? 
 
 “ But he ventured, in his ardent zeal for the impoverished 
 people of this country, to go one step farther; and this it 
 was that brought a tempest on his head. He suggested 
 that there were certain public funds, a part of which was 
 originally destined for the support of the poor, and lie 
 claimed for the poor that these funds should be appropri¬ 
 ated to their original object. This was the sin that self-in¬ 
 ti terested persons never forgave; it was by touching this sore 
 
280 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 point that he raised up a host of enemies, who never ceased 
 to malign his motives and to misrepresent his actions." 
 
 Whatever may be the opinion of Irishmen upon the po¬ 
 licy of Poor Laws in Ireland, every man must admit, that 
 the work now under consideration, contains a more power¬ 
 ful defence of the rights of the really necessitous poor than 
 any other ever before published. 
 
 This work had the effect of drawing from Mr. O’Connell, 
 who previously denounced Poor Laws, a declaration that 
 he had been converted to the principles of Dr. Doyle. Mr. 
 O’Connell, however, shortly afterwards changed his opi¬ 
 nion ; and in announcing that change controverted some of 
 the prelate’s arguments, urged in defence of his opinions. 
 
 Dr. Doyle replied in very forcible terms, and was sup¬ 
 ported by the powerful talents of Mr. Cobbett. 
 
 Mr. O’Connell having made a speech in his own de¬ 
 fence, Dr. Doyle published a rejoinder to Mr. O’Connell, ‘ 
 on the 14th January, 1832, from which we give the follow¬ 
 ing extracts:— 
 
 “ Dear Sir, —I have at present no hope of effecting ano¬ 
 ther change in your opinions on this important subject; and 
 if I allude to those which have taken place in your mind, 
 it is not by way of taunt or reproach, but to remind you, 
 and the public also, that your judgment on this matter has 
 not only vacillated—and whatever vacillates is weak—but 
 that it has at different times, whilst the subject remained 
 unchanged, determined itself not in different, but in oppo- $ 
 site ways. These changes, moreover, according to your 
 own avowal, have not been the effect of heat, or passion, 
 or of feeling of any sort; neither have they resulted from a 
 want of meditation—they have been the fruit of long watch¬ 
 ings and laborious reflection. I infer from this, and I say 
 it with all due respect, that whether upon this subject you 
 be right or wrong, you are not an authority to be followed; 1 
 for authority, to be such, should be exempted from change. 
 But if I despair of your re-conversion to an earnest and 
 eager approval of Poor Laws, (for all this was imported in 
 a public letter in which you lately honoured me,) and if I 
 do not deem you an authority on this subject, why, it may-) 
 be asked, do I now address you ? I do so fdr the two 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 231 
 
 following reasons :—First, to prevent as far as I can, that 
 portion of the public with whom your opinions are para¬ 
 mount from being led into error by you; and secondly, to 
 set free from deformation that mode of relieving the Irish 
 poor, of which I myself, with many honest and able men, 
 nave been the consistent and unwearied advocates. 
 
 “ You say, that ‘in what I judge another, I condemn 
 myself,’ for whilst I censure your opposition to what I deem 
 the rights of the poor, I would, in my letter to Mr. Spring 
 Rice, ‘ withhold all recognition of their right to relief.’ 
 
 * Again I am forced to complain of your want of candour. 
 The very letter on which you were commenting made it ma¬ 
 nifest that I was not in contradiction with myself. In that 
 letter to you I proposed to place the inalienable right to 
 support of the poor, as a sacred deposit in the hands of a 
 j parochial committee, to consist of clergymen, the official 
 guardians of those poor, and of rate-payers, the guardians 
 of the property of the parish. Is it then, because the right 
 | of the widow and orphan is vested in trustees for their be¬ 
 nefit, that it is to be considered as taken away from them ? 
 Is it because they, who are weak and helpless, are withheld 
 from enforcing before the tribunals the right which I have 
 proved to belong to them, only that the same right may more 
 ! prudently and effectually be carried into effect by their 
 guardians, and they, the weak and helpless, are represented 
 j as despoiled of that right ? St. Paul says, that ‘ the heir, 
 
 1 whilst he is a child, differs in nothing from a bondsman, 
 though he be the lord or owner of the entire inheritance,’ 
 which, with your experience in courts of equity, must con¬ 
 vince you that the existence, and beneficial existence of ‘ a 
 right,’ or ‘ownership,’ is perfectly consistent with a co¬ 
 ordinate trust. 
 
 J 7 v... . J-. 1 i » 1 
 
 . 
 
 “ I have the honour to be, dear Sir, 
 
 “l£our most obedieut humbie servant, 
 
 > . W 
 
 James Doyle. 
 
 <c To Daniel O'Connell, Esq." k 
 
 Q 2 
 
282 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 On the 2d December, 1831, Dr. Doyle wrote his letter 
 to the Black and White Feet, in which he severely con¬ 
 demned their wicked proceedings. 
 
 Before we proceed to his public efforts in 1832, we must 
 mention that he wrote a letter in “ Reply to Mr. Senior, 
 on the Poor Laws ,” on the manner in which that gentle¬ 
 man mistated, or misrepresented his evidence and opinions. 
 
 In this year he published another Circular on Education. 
 
 An able Dialogue between a Judge and a Bishop, pub¬ 
 lished in 1831, was attributed to Dr. Doyle ; but as we 
 cannot be certain that he was the author, we pass it by. 
 
 Dr. Doyle, about this time, wrote some letters to Lord 
 Cloncurry, on the observance of holy days. 
 
 The following is a letter from the bishop, recommending 
 the circulation of the book called “ The Parents’ Guide.” 
 
 u Cerlow, March 1 6th, 1831. 
 
 <c Very Rev. Dear Sir, — I received, with great plea. 1 
 sure, the small book, entitled “ The Parents’ Guide”! 
 which you had the kindness to send me. In compiling it' 
 you have laboured most usefully for both parents and chil¬ 
 dren ; I should feel happy to promote the circulation of it; 
 satisfied that it would greatly tend to establish in families a 
 spirit of genuine and sincere Christian piety. 
 
 (The bishop here suggested some improvements which 
 have been attended to.) 
 
 I regret the expense you incurred by sending to me this 
 little work, through the Post-office; for as a package by 
 the day-coach, it would have arrived safe, and at a trifling 
 expense. 
 
 “ I have the honour to be, 
 
 “ Very Rev. and dear Sir, 
 
 “ Your faithful humble servant in Christ, 
 
 James Doyle. 
 
 <{ Very Rev. John Spratt” 
 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 283 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 DR. DOYLE’s EVIDENCE AND WORKS ON TITHES. 
 
 w May their hatred to Tithes be as lasting as their love to justice.” 
 
 Having exerted his best talents to extinguish for ever the 
 monstrous evil of tithes in Ireland, Dr. Doyle was once 
 more summoned to give evidence before a Parliament com¬ 
 mittee on the subject. 
 
 In February, 1832, he arrived in London for this pur¬ 
 pose, and it is admitted that he displayed more knowledge, 
 talent, and firmness in his evidence than any man ever ex¬ 
 amined under similar circumstances. Here he repeated, in 
 terms which struck Whigs and Tories with astonishment, 
 the above celebrated declaration which he had previously ut¬ 
 tered to the people of Ireland. 
 
 Shortly after this Mr. Secretary Stanley, having misre- 
 
 E resented a portion of his evidence, Dr. Doyle replied to 
 im in a letter, in which he refutes that gentleman’s argu¬ 
 ments. 
 
 On the 26th August, 1832, Dr. Doyle addressed a letter 
 to the Marquess of Anglesea, on anti-tithe meetings, aud 
 upon the unconstitutional modes adopted of suppressing 
 them, from which we give a few extracts :— 
 
 “ What your Excellency had said, it is true only in a li¬ 
 mited sense, and it is therefore, by no means indisputable ; 
 indeed many volumes have been written, to prove or to dis¬ 
 prove, what your Excellency assumes to be beyond dispute, 
 and the doctrine * that it is not compatible with law to evade 
 the performance of the obligations it imposes, and frustrate 
 the means it provides for their enforcement/ is true and in¬ 
 disputable only as to just laws, but not with regard to every 
 law, for some laws may be so unjust, and so injurious to 
 the public good, ‘ that to evade them’ is a duty, and * to 
 frustrate the means provided to enforce them’ is an exercise 
 of a social or moral virtue. Witness/he law which made 
 the disobedience and apostacyof the child the means whaie? 
 
 % 
 
284 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 by to disinherit the father—the law of discovery, whereby 
 the man who betrayed the confidence of his friends, possess¬ 
 ed himself thereby of that friend’s estate—the law which, 
 disabled a father to be the guardian of, or to educate his 
 own child, or which robbed him of his horse on the high¬ 
 way, if, when interrogated, he confessed his faith. Would 
 it not, my lord, be a duty to evade such laws, and an act of 
 virtue 1 to frustrate the means provided for their enforce¬ 
 ment V But then your Excellency rejects and condemns such 
 laws, however, they did exist, and I have in my possession 
 the proclamation of one of your Excellency’s predecessors 
 in office, who urges the enforcement of them, because he 
 thought 1 that obedience to the existing laws, in the most com¬ 
 prehensive sense, was the duty of every subject of the king/ 
 How liable, my lord, are men in power to be deceived by 
 an appearance of good, and how cautiously should men 
 tread on ashes which only cover flame! But your Excel¬ 
 lency has in view the law of tithe; it is of this you predi¬ 
 cate that it should be obeyed in its most comprehensive 
 sense. * 
 
 “ Will not, however, your Excellency allow each of the 
 king’s subjects to abound in his own sense? Will you not 
 pardon me, and the millions who think with me, if we con¬ 
 sider the law which extorts tithes from us to uphold a church 
 which has been, and still is, the source or instrument of all 
 our sufferings, as not less penal, less odious, less unjust, 
 less opposed to the public good than the most cruel and un¬ 
 natural of the laws to which I have just alluded. 
 
 “ Is it to justify laws, which we thus estimate, that your 
 Excellency vouchsafes to instruct us ? Is it to confound 
 them with just and useful laws that advocates have ha¬ 
 rangued, and judges stained their ermine ? Nay, was it 
 not for this the navy of Great Britain was unmoored, and 
 her trident lifted up ? Is it not for this the victors in a 
 hundred battles are harassed and disgusted ? or is it for this 
 we are made a byeword to the surrounding nations, and our 
 discord trumpetted through every clime ?—Is it for this our 
 councils are distracted, our senate is changed into a house 
 of strife, our improvement in commerce, agriculture, and 
 civilization retarded, and we ourselves exposed to sedition, 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 285 
 
 and, perhaps, eventually to civil war ? But, above all, is 
 it to compel obedience ‘ in the most comprehensive sense 
 of the proposition’ to a law which we thus detest, that your 
 Excellency, so rich in kindness, so attached to Ireland, so 
 fond of justice, would display the terrors of your power, 
 and almost threaten to bathe your sword with blood V r 
 We must now relate some facts which have for their ob¬ 
 ject the defence of Dr. Doyle, against some attacks made 
 upon him, for speaking in terms rather favourable of the 
 kind dispositions of the Marquis of Anglesey, at this 
 period. 
 
 Dr. Doyle not being in good health on leaving Ireland 
 ; to give his evidence, in February 1832, on his return, gra- 
 i dually declined, and was ordered to retire to the country.— 
 
 ! He resided for some time in Williamstown, near Dublin, 
 for the benefit of the waters. On one occasion, it is related 
 to the present writer, by a relation of his, as the Marquis 
 of Anglesey was making a visit to Lord Cloncurry at the 
 Rock, he espied Dr. Doyle reading his Breviary. The 
 Marquis, wishing to speak with him, passed and repassed 
 three different times before the Bishop raised his head from 
 his book. When he did, the Marquis expressed his desire 
 to speak with him on the all absorbing question of tithes. 
 Dr. Doyle readily complied with his request, and entered 
 into a lengthened detail*of the grievances and oppression of 
 the tithe system, and of the most effectual means of abol¬ 
 ishing it for ever. The Marquis pledged himself to forward 
 in every way the prelate’s wishes, and to add all the weight 
 l of his office in a remonstrance to the English cabinet, on 
 the subject. It is a curious fact, that this remonstrance of 
 the Marquis was not publicly known until the 26th April, 
 1834, when Mr. Hume, in the discussion on the Repeal 
 question, by some mysterious operation, procured a copy 
 of it, and read it to the House of Commons, to the aston¬ 
 ishment of Whigs and Tories. It was under the conviction 
 that the Marquis had done what he promised, that Dr. 
 Doyle differed from Mr. O’Connell, in speaking favourably 
 of his intentions. 
 
286 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 DR. DOYLE r S PREFA.CE TO THE LIVES OF SAINTS. 
 
 “ To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given. 
 
 But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven." 
 
 / ' V • • 
 
 When a new edition of that Encyclopedia of religious 
 knowledge “ The Lives of Saints” was about to be pub¬ 
 lished in Dublin, in 1833 , Dr. Doyle wrote a strong recom¬ 
 mendation of it, in the shape of a preface, from which 
 we extract the following :— 
 
 ' “ The Lives of the Saints is republished. This work— 
 
 this inestimable work is at length given to the public. Hi¬ 
 therto the circulation of it was confined to those who could 
 afford to purchase i,t in twelve volumes, and at a propor¬ 
 tionate price. It is now stereotyped, printed in good 
 character, on fine paper, and published in two volumes, 
 and published at a price not only below its value, but be¬ 
 low the hopes of the publisher: it is, therefore, now, and 
 ,for the first time, that ‘ The Lives of the Saints’ are, pro- 
 .perly speaking, given to the public. 
 
 I “ And what is the nature and character of this work which 
 is thus placed within the reach of almost every family in 
 Ireland? We presume to say, that ‘The Lives of the 
 Saints’ is an historical supplement to the Old and New 
 Testaments ; an illustration of all that God has revealed* 
 and of all the sanctity which his divine grace has produced 
 among the childreu of men. It is a history, not so much 
 of men, as of all ages and nations ; of their manners, cus¬ 
 toms, laws, usages, and creeds. It is a succinct but most 
 accurate and satisfactory account of all that the church of 
 : God has done or suffered in this world from the creation to 
 almost our own days—an account not extracted from au¬ 
 thentic records only, but one which exhibits at every page 
 the living examples, the speaking proofs of whatever it sets 
 forth or asserts. As drawings taken by an artist, and af¬ 
 terwards carved on plates of steel or copper, present to us 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 287 
 
 views of a country, or of the productions of the earth and 
 sea, so * The Lives of the Saints’ exhibit to the reader 
 I images the most perfect of whatever the human race, in 
 times past, has yielded to God in return for his countless 
 mercies. 
 
 “ But ‘ The Lives of the Saints’ are not confined to his¬ 
 tory, though they embrace whatever is most valuable in 
 history, whether sacred, ecclesiastical, or profane. No ! 
 this work extends farther; it presents to the reader a mass 
 of general information, digested and arranged with an ability 
 and a candour never surpassed. Here no art, no science, 
 is left unnoticed. Chronology, criticism, eloquence, paint¬ 
 ing, sculpture, architecture—in a word, whatever has oc¬ 
 cupied or distinguished man in times of barbarism or of 
 civilization ; in peace or in war; in the countries which 
 surround us, or in those which are far remote; in these 
 latter ages, or in times over which centuries upon centuries 
 have revolved; all, all of these are treated of, not flip¬ 
 pantly nor ostentatiously, but with a sobriety and solidity 
 peculiar to the writer of this work. 
 
 “ But there is one quality which may be said to charac¬ 
 terise ‘ The Lives of the Saints.’ It is this—that here the 
 doctrines of the Catholic church are presented to us passing 
 through the ordeal of time unchanged and unchangeable, 
 whilst her discipline is seen to vary From age to age, like 
 as a city fixed and immoveable, but whose walls, ramparts, 
 and outworks undergo, from one period to another, the ne¬ 
 cessary changes, alterations, or repairs. Here are pointed 
 out the persecutions which the saints endured—persecutions 
 which patience overcame, which the power of God sub¬ 
 dued. Here are traced the causes of dissension in the 
 church—the schisms and heresies which arose—the errors 
 which the pride and passions of bad men gave birth to—the 
 obstinacy'of the wicked—the seduction of the innocent— 
 the labours and sufferings of the just—the conflicts which 
 took place between light and darkness—between truth and 
 error—the triumph, at one time of the city of God; at ano¬ 
 ther, the temporary exaltation of the empire of Satan. In 
 this work we see the great and powerful leaders of God’s 
 people—the pastors and doctors of the church, displaying 
 
288 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 lights given them from heaven, and exercising a courage all 
 divine, whilst crowds of the elect are presented to us in 
 every age retiring from the world—hiding their lives, with 
 Christ in God, and deserving, by their innocence and sanc¬ 
 tity, to be received into heaven, until Christ, who was their 
 life, will again appear, when they also will appear along 
 with him in glory. Here we behold the apostles and their 
 successors in the several ages calling out to the nations who 
 sat in darkness and in the shadow of death—‘Arise thou 
 who sleepest, and Christ will enlighten thee’—men of God 
 and gifted with his power, who by preaching peace, en¬ 
 during wrongs, and pardoning injuries, subdued the power 
 of tyrants, stopped the mouths of lions, upturned pagan¬ 
 ism, demolished idols, planted every where the standard 
 of the cross, and left to us the whole world illuminated by 
 the rays of Divine truth. Here is seen the meek martyr who 
 possessed his soul in patience, who having suffered the loss 
 of goods, the loss of kindred, the loss of fame, bowed down his 
 head beneath the axe, and sealed, by the plentiful effusion 
 of his blood, the testimony which he bore to virtue and to 
 truth. Here the youthful virgin, robed in innocence and 
 sanctity, clothed with the visible protection of God, is seen 
 at one time to yield up her frame, unfit as yet for .torments, to 
 the power of the executioner, whilst her spirit ascending, 
 like the smoke of incense, passed from earth to heaven.— 
 At another time we behold her conducted, as it were, into 
 the wilderness by the Spirit, where, having left the house 
 of her father, the allurements of the world, and the endear¬ 
 ments of life, she dedicates her whole being to the service 
 of God, and to the contemplation of those invisible goods 
 which he has reserved for those who love him.” 
 
 “ Who therefore is a Catholic, and would not possess such 
 a treasure ? How great is the benefit derived to the public 
 from the low price and convenient form in which this work 
 is given to them ? Accept, therefore, gentle reader, ‘ The 
 Lives of the Saintswhich for their own worth's sake, and 
 for your good, we have endeavoured to recommend. And 
 with it, permit us also to recommend to your pious prayers 
 the spiritual wants of him who has thus addressed you. 
 
 James Doyle.” 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 289 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 “ The private path—the secret acts of men— 
 
 If noble, far the noblest of their lives. 
 
 We are told of holy Esdras, that “ he searched the law of 
 God, that he might first fulfil it, and then teach it to others.” 
 The knowledge of holy things may astonish mankind, and, 
 perhaps, excite pride in the man who possesses it, but un¬ 
 less this knowledge govern his actions and regulate his 
 heart, it will only be to his greater condemnation. He will 
 be like the man who holds a lamp to lead others in the 
 right way, but will not follow the light himself. Christ 
 does not say: “ Be ye wise as I am;” but “ learn of me to 
 be meek and humble of heart ; v and “ be ye holy, as I, 
 the Lord your God, am holy.” In like manner, St. Paul 
 does not say : “ Know all things that I know ;” but u fol¬ 
 low me as I follow Christ.” This is that true wisdom of 
 which Solomon speaks, when he says : “ Think of the Lord - 
 in goodness, and seek him in simplicity of heart: for He 
 is found by them that tempt him not; and he shows him¬ 
 self to them who have faith in Him. For perverse thoughts 
 separate from God; and his power, when it is tried, re- 
 
 f noveth the unwise: for wisdom will not enter into a roa- 
 icious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins. For the 
 holy spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful, and 
 will draw himself from thoughts that are without under¬ 
 standing, and he shall not abide when iniquity cometh in. 
 For the spirit of wisdom is benevolent, and will not acquit 
 the evil speaker from his lips ; for God is witness of his 
 reins, and He is a true searcher of his heart, and a hearer 
 of his tongue.”— Wisd. i. 1—6. 
 
 Thus it was that when St. Paul sketched the duties of 
 a bishop, to Timothy and to Titus, he did not merely com¬ 
 mand them to preach, to teach, to ordain, to silence error, 
 and to advocate truth, but to “ take heed to themselves—■ 
 to sanctify the word by prayer—to be sober, prudent, chaste, 
 to hate money—to fly from all appearance of evil—to pur- 
 
290 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 sue justice, godliness, faith, charity, patience, mildness— 
 to fight the good fight—to hold on eternal life whereunto 
 they are called—and to keep the commandments without 
 spot, blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ/' 
 (1 Tim. xiv.) “ For," as the same apostle says, (1 Tit. vii.) 
 “ a bishop must be without crime, as the steward of God : 
 not proud, not subject to anger, not given to wine, no 
 striker, not greedy of filthy lucre : but given to hospitality, 
 gentle, sober, just, holy, continent. Embracing that faithful 
 word which is according to doctrine, that he may be able to 
 exhort in sound doctrine, and to convince the gainsayers." 
 
 Dr. Doyle was convinced that “ piety is the will of all 
 other sciencesthat without it knowledge only puffeth up ; 
 and that our own “ sanctification is the will of God." 
 
 Of our illustrious bishop, Dr. Kinsella says :— 
 
 “ The extensive and powerful intellect which he possessed 
 has not been exceeded by any; his writings have made it 
 known to every quarter of the globe; his sermons proclaimed 
 it to g.11 who heard it, even his familiar conversation gave 
 ample proof of it. But we must keep in view the words of the 
 apostle : 6 Do not err, my dearest brethren. ( James i. 17.) 
 Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, des¬ 
 cending from the Father of lights, with whom there is no 
 change, nor shadow of alteration/ For such extraordi¬ 
 nary talents no praise is due to man—they are not a matter 
 of imitation; for few indeed possess them—we may admire 
 them, but the glory is due to God alone. But cultivation 
 and application of them is a subject of praise and imita- 
 tation. To cultivate them carefully, and to apply them to 
 their proper object was the study of your bishop. Early 
 devoted to the clerical state, he sedulously improved his na¬ 
 tural powers—he did not wrap up his talent in a napkin— 
 he applied himself, as a duty, closely and sedulously to 
 acquire knowledge. What knowledge ? The knowledge 
 of his profession, and that alone—no idle, though curious 
 research ; no useless though brilliant acquirements. Some 
 there are who do not cultivate the talent which God gives 
 them. Others may improve that talent, but employ the 
 gifts of God in opposing his divine will, and thus by a 
 strange perversion employ for the worst purpose what was 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 291 
 
 given for the best. I know well what were the studies of 
 your holy prelate; it was not the idle nor the curious which 
 occupied his mind; the hours, the days, and months he 
 spent in pursuit of the more solid acquirements. He kept 
 solely in view the manner of promoting the glory of God, 
 and laid up those treasures of knowledge which he after¬ 
 wards employed for your sanctification. lie has left you a 
 useful lesson, to have the glory and honour of God alone 
 in view, and to labour solely for that object. 
 
 44 While thus devoted to the special duties of his state, he 
 never forgot that he was by profession a preacher of the gos¬ 
 pel ; hence his abundant charity extended itself to Carlow 
 and its neighbourhood ; and the intervals of teaching the¬ 
 ology in the college were filled up by the preaching of the 
 word of God, and by the administration of the sacraments. 
 The principal object of his life was in doing good, and la¬ 
 bouring in the vineyard ; and whether in the pulpit or else¬ 
 where, his sole and only object was to make men virtuous. 
 I kuow I am surrounded by hundreds who knew him well, 
 and who are well acquainted with his merits. 
 
 44 Neither does any one take this honour to himself unless 
 he be called by God as Aaron was,—and, as the apostle 
 says, even Christ did not take the office of high priest until 
 called by his Father. So your bishop never aspired to the 
 honour he attained. When called by his superiors he re¬ 
 ceived the gift 4 with fear and trembling/ and devoted 
 himself to that object for which he was ordained. You, 
 my brethren, knew him; but there are strangers here who 
 did not. His first, act was to disengage himself from all 
 sublunary objects—he recollected that the Holy Ghost, 
 when calling Paul and Barnabas, ordered them to be sepa¬ 
 rated ; and this spirit of separation from worldly affairs Dr. 
 Doyle possessed in an eminent degree. He fulfilled to the 
 letter the words of Christ, wherein he says, 4 Leave father 
 and mother, brother and sister, to follow me/ Also 4 no 
 one, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secu¬ 
 lar business/ 
 
 44 He held but little communication with all those relatives 
 whom in social life he so much esteemed, and esteemed 
 because they were so worthy of esteem—whom he loved 
 
292 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 because they were worthy of his affection. Like St. Paul, 
 ' he knew no man according to the flesh.’ 
 
 " He lived for his flock and for none else. For fifteen 
 years he filled your church as bishop—during that period 
 you best knew his merits. Since the creation of Adam 
 there never was a man more disinterested—more entirely 
 devoted to the service of his people. His objects were only 
 to glorify God, and to labour for the salvation of souls.— 
 Some there were who repaid his labours with ingratitude ; 
 yet he forgave them and smiled at their folly. Yes, after 
 fifteen years that he laboured, he might appeal like another 
 Samuel: 1 Judge me before the Lord, have I taken any 
 man’s goods V You yourselves know that, like another 
 Paul, he could say : ‘ I sought not to gain any thing by 
 you, but to gain your souls for God :’—witness his exten¬ 
 sive charities—his exertions and generosity in raising this 
 noble edifice. He might well ask, have I taken any man’s 
 property ? and say justly that he had laboured without 
 seeking any worldly reward, for he lived and died poor! 
 
 "The spirit of zeal and labour which animated his bosom 
 is too well known to require any comment. 1 Feed the 
 flock of God which is among you, taking care of it not by 
 constraint, but willingly according to God; not for filthy 
 lucre’s sake, but voluntarily; neither as lording it over the 
 clergy, but being made a pattern of the flock from the 
 heart.’ (1 Peter v.) Such was the maxim—such the fun¬ 
 damental principle upon which your bishop acted. While 
 I had the happiness to live as a priest undev his jurisdiction 
 and fostering care for ten years, never did he ask a priest to 
 discharge a duty of which he had not first given the exam¬ 
 ple—never did he impose a burthen on another which he 
 had not borne himself. 
 
 "You know as well as I do, how incessantly he laboured 
 -—continually engaged in preaching, in visiting his diocese, 
 in hearing confessions, in works of religion and mercy—he 
 seemed lost to all earthly objects. Even when his body 
 was worn out by a lingering disease, how often have you 
 seen him in the confessional soothing the conscience of the 
 afflicted sinner! Well might he exclaim: * I will seek 
 out that which was dost, ana that which a was driven away 
 
LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE. 
 
 293 
 
 I will bring back again, and I will bind up that which was 
 broken, and I will strengthen that which was weak, and 
 that which was fat and strong I will preserve, and I will 
 feed them in judgment 7 (Ezek. xxxiv.) He cared not for 
 the weakness of his constitution—he looked only to the 
 salvation of souls. 
 
 “ Often have I implored of him to spare himself, when he 
 would answer—what am I made a bishop for ? Why did 
 I take the office if not to lay down my life for my flock ? 
 Was I not sent ‘ to preach to the poor, to seek the sheep 
 that was lost? Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.' 
 Had he loved himself better, and you less, he would be 
 alive to-day—but no—his exertions overpowered him.— 
 Though expansive his mind, he did not confine himself to 
 general exertions and public instruction. He looked around 
 him, and offered consolation to each afflicted individual; he 
 carefully inquired into every case of sin and misery, and 
 applied the proper remedies. He was a father who went 
 ito look for the prodigal child—a shepherd who sought even 
 one sheep. He strictly adhered to the words, ‘ Be thou 
 vigilarrt, labour in all things, do the work of an evangelist 
 •—fulfil thy ministry/ He was a stern and an upright man 
 —‘ for there are many disobedient who must be reproved/ 
 He acted as a bishop should in those respects. He could 
 be mild and gentle; indeed it was his natural disposition— 
 but he could be the opposite when his duty required it. He 
 was required by God ‘to rebuke, exhort, and reprove' 
 those rebellious children of the world when they err.. But 
 if his zeal compelled him to reprove strongly, his charity 
 led him to treat with kindness the penitent, and always 
 the poor. It was against the powerful, and not the poor, 
 he manifested severity—the humble and the penitent were 
 always his friends and favourites—he wished only to see 
 and make them happy—it was the haughty he wished to 
 humble. There are many points on which I might speak, 
 but have only selected these as an illustration of his morals 
 and worth. I might well say with St. Paul: ‘ He has 
 fought the good fight—he has finished his course—he has 
 kept the .faith; for the rest, there is laid up for him a 
 crown of justice/ " R o 
 
294 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 I CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 ; , SICKNESS AND DEATH OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 n None but the actions of the great and just 
 Can shine when mingled with the common dust; 
 
 Then we, in life, shoald pay respect to fame. 
 
 And leave behind us an unspotted name.** 
 
 From 1831 his health had gradually declined, but in 
 1833 he more particularly became a victim to deadly con¬ 
 sumption. At the earnest entreaties of his brother prelates 
 and of his physicians he proceeded as far as Lemington, and 
 some other parts of England, but could not be induced, on 
 account of the responsibility of his office, to go to the Con¬ 
 tinent. 
 
 After some temporary improvement in his health he re¬ 
 turned to his diocese, occasionally sojourning in Waterford, 
 Kilkenny, &c. Having felt, however, that his dissolution 
 was fast approaching, he wrote, at the beginning of 1834, 
 a letter to our Most Holy Father, Pope Gregory XVI. for 
 liberty to convene his clergy, in order to name a coadjutor, 
 if not a successor. 
 
 The Pope's answer was received in April, 1834, giving 
 Dr. Doyle full permission to convene his clergy for the 
 aforesaid purpose. 
 
 DR. DOYLE's LETTER TO EACH OF HIS PARISH PRIESTS. 
 
 “ Rev. Sir, —His Holiness, the Pope, by virtue of a 
 rescript, directed to me, bearing date the 9th of March last 
 past, having graciously permitted me to convene a meeting 
 of the parochial clergy of those dioceses, to be held in the 
 manner and form prescribed by the Decree of the Congre¬ 
 gation of the 17th October, 1829, at such time and place 
 as I might appoint, conformably to the same decree, for 
 the purpose that the said clergy would commend, by their 
 suffrages, three ecclesiastical persons to his Holiness, of 
 whom he might be pleased to appoint one my coadjutor, 
 with a right of succession in these sees. Now, these pre¬ 
 sents are sent to apprize you of the above, and to require 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 295 
 
 your attendance at a meeting of the aforesaid clergy, to be 
 held in our Cathedral Church, in Carlow, for the purpose 
 above-mentioned, at the hour of 10 o’clock in the forenoon, 
 on Monday, the 21st April, instant. 
 
 Dated at Carlow, this 3d day of April, 1834. 
 
 “ James Doyle.” 
 
 The clergy of the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin as¬ 
 sembled in April, 1834, when they named three of the 
 leading clergymen of the diocese as candidates to act as co¬ 
 adjutor-bishop, or as successor, as the case might require. 
 The names of the Rev. Dr. Nolan, Rev. Dr. Flannagan, 
 and Rev. Mr. Lalor were forwarded to the Pope. Dr. No¬ 
 lan, Professor of Carlow College, having the highest num¬ 
 ber of votes, was appointed by the Pope as successor. 
 
 Dr. Doyle having now found less responsibility than he 
 had before, retired more immediately from the world, to 
 contemplate on that heavenly kingdom to which he was soon 
 fc> be called. In a few days he was asked if he would re¬ 
 ceive Extreme Unction, but knowing that his hour was not 
 so he said he would delay it for a few days longer, 
 that he might receive it when in his last conflict he would 
 require more immediately all the aid of his holy religion. 
 Having rallied thus for a few weeks, with an ardent faith, 
 firm hope, and inflamed charity, he prepared himself for the 
 last sacraments—the holy Eucharist and Extreme Unction, 
 which he received in the presence of his loving and af¬ 
 flicted clergy. Having suffered much pain for a few days, 
 previous to his death, he expired in the forty-eighth year of 
 his age, and fifteenth of his episcopacy, on Sunday, fifteenth 
 June, 1834, at 10 o’clock in the morning, to the regret of 
 every lover of religion and Ireland. “ Never in my life, 
 (says Dr. Kinsella,) was I so edified as by the death of 
 that prelate—the firmness of his faith—the ardour of his 
 hope—the fire of his charity, gave the fullest manifestation 
 of his being about to take possession of a better life. Like 
 St. Paul, he was burning with anxiety to be ‘ dissolved and 
 to be with Christ,’ but he was contented still to linger in 
 pain, that he might be more like his dying Saviour. He 
 died and he went to receive ‘ an hnperishable crown’ from 
 the Master whom he had so long and so faithfully served ” 
 
296 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 FUNERAL OBSEQUIES OF THE RIGHT REV. DR. DOYLE. 
 
 “ Friends, weep not in sorrow of spirit. 
 
 But joy that my time here is o’er; 
 
 I go the good part to inherit, 
 
 Where sorrow and sin are no more.’* 
 
 As soon as the melancholy news of the death of this re¬ 
 vered man was known, the holy sacrifice of the Mass was 
 offered for his repose, through the dioceses of Kildare, 
 Dublin, Ferns, Ossory, &c. 
 
 As a mark of the deep grief which pervaded the minds 
 of his flock, the shops of Carlow were closed until the fol¬ 
 lowing Friday. The bells of the convent, cathedral, and 
 college tolled during the week, and Protestants vied with 
 Catholics to show their sorrow on the occasion. 
 
 The bishop's mortal remains were laid out with becoming 
 respect, in Braganza House, and on Monday, permission 
 being given for general admittance, thousands surrounded 
 the corpse, offering their tears and prayers in behalf of his 
 departed spirit. On Tuesday, 17th June, the body was 
 taken from its former residence to the Cathedral of Carlow. 
 His afflicted flock, to testify their reverence for their late 
 bishop’s character, claimed permission to draw his hearse 
 and coffin the entire way, about a mile, while priests 
 and people chaunted the Miserere and De Profundis .— 
 The Professors and Students of Carlow College met the re¬ 
 mains at the outer door of the cathedral. The venerable 
 Dr. Fitzgerald, president, in surplus, and solemn mourn¬ 
 ing cope, wept bitterly during the recital of the office. 
 
 During Tuesday and Wednesday nights the students 
 kept vigils over the corpse of him who had been their pro¬ 
 fessor, their bishop, and their affectionate father! 
 
 On Thursday, 19th, at eleven o’clock, the solemn office 
 and High Mass for the repose of Dr. Doyle’s soul, com¬ 
 menced—five bishops, the president, and vice-president of 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 297 
 
 the college, with 150 priests, not merely from Kildare, but 
 from all the neighbouring dioceses attended. 
 
 The remains lay in the choir in coffins of lead and deal 
 covered with plain brass mounting. Dr. Doyle's crozier 
 and mitre were placed on the lid, and the wax-lights, with, 
 deep mourning round the cathedral, gave a most moving 
 effect to the ceremonies. 
 
 The Right Rev. Dr. Kinsella, the bosom friend of the 
 deceased, was high priest, assisted by the Rev. Messrs. No¬ 
 lan, Byrne, Taylor, and M‘Carthy, of the college. 
 
 The Most Rev. Dr. Murray presided in the choir, with 
 i his chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Cooper. The Most Rev. Dr. 
 Slattery sat next, with his chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Morris, 
 P. P. Borrisoleigh. The Right Rev. Dr. Murphy of Cork, 
 with his chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Clancey, sat next. 
 
 On the left sat the Right Rev. Dr. Keating, with the Rev. 
 Mr. lifter, P. P. Graigue, chaplain. 
 
 Th^^Jregorian Chaunt was sung by the Rev. Messrs. 
 Dwyer, Tierney, Brennan, Nolan, Muldowney and Keating. 
 
 The antiphonarians were the Rev. Dr. Cahil, professor, 
 and Rev. Mr. Brennan, P. P. Kildare. 
 
 The lessons were read by the Rev. Dr. Kenny, Clon- 
 gowes College, Rev. Dr. Prendergast, Rev. Dr. Flannigan, 
 and the five attending prelates. The cathedral was crowded 
 *o excess. 
 
 About three o'clock the hearse left the church. It was 
 drawn by six horses, and the people felt grieved that they 
 were not permitted to carry the coffins, notwithstanding 
 l their great weight. A grand and truly imposing procession 
 was now formed. The children of the nunnery, and every 
 other charitable school in and near Carlow, attended, dressed 
 in a manner becoming the occasion. These were followed 
 by the members of the Philanthropic, Christian Doctrine 
 and Charitable Societies, all with scarfs and hat-bands.— 
 After those succeeded the young gentlemen educated in 
 Carlow College, with the collegians and professors. Then 
 all the respectable inhabitants of the town came in deep 
 mourning, and next the farmers, tradespeople, and shop¬ 
 keepers. The pall-bearers were W. Blakeney, Esq., 
 M. P. and Messrs. Vigors, (as representative of his brother 
 
298 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 the M, P.) Archbold, Tench, Haughton, Cassidy, T. No¬ 
 lan, M. D. and Mayor Fitzgerald. 
 
 The chief mourners were the relatives of the deceased— 
 Rev. Martin Doyle, P. P. Graigenamana; Rev. G. Doyle,, 
 P. P. Tintern; Rev. J. Walsh, and Messrs. Howlett, Coo¬ 
 ney, Rossiter, Roche, Devereux, &c. The Rev. Dr. No- ■ 
 lan, bishop elect, with almost every priest in the diocese; 
 followed. About 20,000 persons attended the funeral. 
 
 The procession passed through the leading streets off 
 Carlow, and then returned to the cathedral, in the isle of f 
 which the body was interred. 
 
 Notwithstanding the blushless assertion of a vile, slander- * 
 ing, and apostate press, that “ not one tear was shed over t 
 his corpse, and that none but a few poor old women at- • 
 tended his remains I” deep and universal was the grief i 
 manifested on the occasion, and although tears are not al¬ 
 ways necessary to show real sorrow, yet the remaiwL of this i 
 truly excellent and exemplary prelate were consigd^to the 
 earth amid the tears and lamentations of thousands, who j 
 were for so many years enlightened by his precepts, and 
 taught by his example. 
 
 On Thursday, 17th July, 1834, the “ months’ memory” 
 was held of the revered prelate, when several bishops, 
 some hundred clergymen, and thousands of the laity at¬ 
 tended. 
 
 On this occasion an oration was delivered by the Right 
 Rev. Dr. Kinsella, from which we have given suitable ex¬ 
 tracts. 
 
 On the same day a most respectable meeting was held in 
 Carlow College, to take into consideration the best means of 
 bearing an imperishable testimony to the piety and talents 
 of Dr. Doyle, when it was unanimously 
 
 i( Resolved,—That a subscription be entered into, to 
 erect a testimonial to the memory of the late Right. Rev. 
 Dr. Doyle, and that we hope the amount of subscriptions 
 will enable us to make it a monument of public utility, as 
 most congenial to the feelings of our departed friend J’ 
 
 This monument, we have reason to think, will be an 
 Agricultural School, so much desired by the revered prelate « 
 —souseful to the poor, and so beneficial to all Ireland. 
 

 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 299 
 
 We fondly anticipate that all classes, and men of all 
 reeds, will unite in such a noble work. 
 
 If Dr. Doyle did not live to see the Tithe system inlre- 
 and abolished, he lived to see the ministers of the crown 
 .dmitting that it should, and to find his own Carlow re¬ 
 viving that nothing less than its entire abolition would sa- 
 isfy the country—no matter what some men said about 
 our-fifths or two-fifths. Nay, it is a curious fact, that al- 
 hough Dr. Doyle did not read the papers for nearly three 
 veeks together, yet when he found that Mr. Stanley was out 
 )f office, and that the tithes were to be adjusted, he con- 
 N inued to read, or have them read, until he could hear no 
 nore. 
 
 Emancipation (says Mr. Teeling, in his eloquent eulo- 
 pum on this revered man) was accomplished before J.K.L. 
 •etired to an illustrious obscurity from the well-fought field 
 vhich bore so many trophies of his prowess. But his 
 piscopal duties did not absorb all the attention of his ac- 
 ive intellect. Ireland still had need of him—he saw the 
 nisery of her people resulting from the blood-polluted ex¬ 
 actions of that “ Juggernaut Establishment” to which he 
 first applied the expressive epithet, and from the heartless 
 neglect and tyrranny of a rack-renting oligarchy. He 
 would not rest while wretchedness was around him—while 
 injustice was still rampant and supreme ; while humanity 
 was spumed and mocked at, and spit upon, without re¬ 
 dress or punishment. He sounded the knell of the Tithe 
 system : he called forth the millions to resist (constitution¬ 
 ally and legally) when hope long deferred made longer 
 sufferance folly. The mighty confederacy was formed.—• 
 Through the length and breadth of the land—the whole 
 force of Britain could not extort the hated impost from a 
 population marshalled—not in opposition to its mere pecu¬ 
 niary oppressiveness, but in defence of a well understood 
 and most sacred principle F ; 
 
 Wishing the publication of Dr. Doyle’s posthumous 
 works, and leaving others to detail more minutely his pri¬ 
 vate actions, we shall make a few remarks upon his public 
 works. 
 
300 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE, 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 REMARKS ON THE WRITINGS OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 u Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull: 
 
 Strong, without rage—without o’erflowing full.” 
 
 It should be recollected, that Dr. Doyle having been 
 forced to exercise his talents in a period of great political 
 and religious agitation, his writings, in general, form more 
 subjects for history than settled essays of a formal character. 
 
 The man who has to contend with ephemeral productions, 
 creatures of faction, and weather-cocks of the moment, can¬ 
 not be expected to write with that order, precision, and for¬ 
 mality which abstract science or philosophic principles re¬ 
 quire. Hence, although there is an originality of thought, 
 a profundity of judgment, and a clearness of style in all 
 Dr. Doyle’s writings, there is necessarily an absence of that 
 arrangement which other circumstances would demand. 
 
 For this reason more, perhaps, than any other, the pre¬ 
 mature death of this illustrious man is to be regretted. His 
 universal knowledge, splendid genius, philosophic mind, 
 and logical powers, rendered him peculiarly qualified to 
 take a most prominent part on the literary theatre of his 
 country. 
 
 His legal knowledge, deep research, and intimate ac¬ 
 quaintance with all things belonging to his country and its 
 people, would have enabled him to form laws and regula¬ 
 tions for their improvement, beyond, perhaps, that of any 
 other individual, 
 
 He sighed for peace, and desired the return of that jus¬ 
 tice to his native laud which would allow her sons to culti¬ 
 vate their noble talents, and render her once more the seat 
 of freedom, and the Isle of Saints! Hence we have rea¬ 
 son to know that a few years before his demise, Dr. Doyle 
 had formed arrangements to leave works after him which 
 would not partake of an ephemeral character, but would 
 be standard productions, interesting to all ages and nations. 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 301 
 
 Three of those works were prepared before his lamented de¬ 
 parture from this world, which we trust will be soon sub¬ 
 mitted to the public, and received in the manner they 
 deserve. 
 
 The style of Dr. Doyle was not verbose, frothy, nor 
 pedantic. It had all the strength of that of Mr. Cobbett, 
 but far more dignified and sublime. He had Mr. O’Cou- 
 nell’s fire and eloquence, without any of those low and de¬ 
 grading epithets which occasionally disgrace his oratory. 
 Pithy and sententious, like Junius—pointed and classical, 
 like Burke—to the wit of O’Leary, and the learning of 
 Milner, he added the force and power of Bossuet! 
 
 “ His first public writings were, (says Dr. Kinsella) in de¬ 
 fence of the faith which he professed. The church, of which 
 he was an ornament, was assailed by the most gross and 
 unfounded calumnies—he wrote to undeceive the credulous 
 —to silence the calumniator—to clear away the base and 
 foul charges brought against the religion he professed. As 
 a bishop, could he do less ? 
 
 “ But there was a temporal object in the view of those 
 who misrepresented us—they were anxious to deprive us of 
 our fair share of constitutional rights, under the pretence of 
 religion—they represented our doctrine and practice to be 
 such as rendered us unworthy and unfit to enjoy the full 
 benefits of civil freedom, and thus were we suffering perse¬ 
 cution for our religious tenets. Was it so unreasonable in 
 an eminent Catholic prelate to undeceive those who had the 
 power to exclude us, or to admit us within the pale of the 
 constitution ? He laboured to do so—he flung off, with 
 bitter scorn, the foul calumnies unjustly heaped upon us— 
 his language in doing so was strong, for he felt deeply; but 
 those who criticise such language would do well to consider 
 how hard it is to bear unmerited reproach, particularly 
 when injury is added to insult. 
 
 “Dr. Doyle had to bear the shafts of calumny because he 
 was too sincere and too firm. Had he been a time-server, 
 he would have had fewer enemies—had he flattered the 
 powerful, he might have had more of their friendship—-had 
 he deserted what was just to pursue what was expedient, 
 he would have had less to annoy him—had he abandoned 
 
 s 
 
302 
 
 LIFE OF DR. DOYLE. 
 
 principle, he might have enjoyed an inglorious peace. But 
 he acted a more noble part; with talents that few could 
 equal—with a fortitude that none could excel—with a de¬ 
 gree of perseverance that a just cause alone could uphold 
 —he defended the doctrine which he taught; he preserved 
 from the contagion of secular intermeddling the church 
 which he loved; he was to his last moment die undaunted 
 and unflinching advocate of the poor man's rights. He has 
 left for our imitation a glorious illustration of a noble maxim, 
 
 * Be just and fear not.' ” 
 
 Without using a term unworthy a scholar or a Christian* 
 his phillipics against Dr. Magee, Lord Famham, and the 
 other enemies of his religion and country are, perhaps, the 
 most severe that were ever penned by man. With indomi¬ 
 table energy he assailed the citadels of bigotry, and un- t 
 masked the unholy hypocrites who, under the name of 
 religion, outraged every principle of morality and honour. 
 With a mind of light and a pen of fire he exposed the so¬ 
 phistries of error, and refuted the calumnies which inter¬ 
 ested bigots cast upon his divine* religion. Never the ag¬ 
 gressor—when truth was outraged and justice was assailed, 
 he came forth in ail the dignity of his character, with a 
 shield of faith which nothing could conquer, with a strength 
 of language which no fallacy could resist, with a power 
 of argument which no sophistry could answer; and with 
 evidence, precedents, and facts which brought conviction 
 to every mind. 
 
 With resources unbounded and diversified—with a taste 
 elegant and cultivated—with a judgment solid, acute, and 
 penetrating—with a memory clear and lasting, he combined 
 a versatility of genius, an originality of conception, and 
 a depth of thought rarely equalled, and, perhaps, never 
 excelled! 
 
 To him we may well apply the words of Ecclesiasticus, 
 chap, xxxix. “ Many shall praise his wisdom, and it 
 shall never be forgotten. Die memory of him shall not 
 depart away, and his name shall be in request from ge¬ 
 neration to generation. Nations shall declare his -wisdom, 
 and the church shall show forth his praise.” 
 
LIFE OF DR. DOYLE 
 
 303 
 
 tWe are grateful to Mr. J.M.C. Brady for the following. which he 
 kindly supplied in a few hours.] 
 
 EULOGY ON THE RIGHT REV. DR. DOYLE. 
 
 “ Let us now praise men of renown, and our fathers in their gene- 
 ration.”— Ecclesiasticus xliv. 1. 
 
 That sigh—'tis a sad one—it mournfully speaks 
 Of the sun that hath set in a sorrowful noon: 
 
 But tho’ be hath left us, the bright crimson streaks 
 Of his glorious career will not leave us so soon. 
 
 He hath left a lone region of wailing and woe. 
 
 Where the chain of the bigot hangs bloodily still j 
 
 •But, oh ! he hath left but a terror-stricken foe — 
 
 He hath planted our standard of faith on the hill 
 
 Which o’erlooks the proud Sion, the city of God* 
 Where infidels dwell not, nor bigots had trod. 
 
 Weep, Erin, weep!—there are tears to be shed 
 For a uame long inwoven with virtue and thine: 
 
 ' But his be the Halo that beams o’er the head 
 Of the sacred and sainted in purity’s shrine. 
 
 The warm one in spirit—the strong one in faith— 
 
 The bold one in combat—the meek one where’er 
 
 Either sorrow, or sickness, or heart-freezing death. 
 
 Had set their sad impress, his purse and his prayer— 
 
 His presence, and all that his name could bestow. 
 Served to soothe their misfortune, and soften their woe. 
 
 And his was a pen of pure glory and light; 
 
 And his was a page as unsullied and pure 
 
 As ever pourtray’d in philosophy’s flight. 
 
 The rights of religion—the wrongs of the poor: 
 
 And his was the heart that could inwardly feel 
 All the pangs which the victim of poverty felt; 
 
 And his was the spirit that humbly would kneel 
 
 At the shrine of his God till in pity ’twould melt: 
 
 But weep not—’twere wrong such a godlike career 
 Should not mount ’bove the world of woe we have here. 
 
 FINIS, 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 , Page 
 
 Preface.... 3 
 
 Dedication....... • 5 
 
 Preliminary Remarks. 7 
 
 Dr. Doyle’s Birth, Education, &c ... 10 
 
 Return to Ireland—Professorship.... • 15 
 
 Consecrated Bishop.... 24 
 
 Public Works against the Veto.. 36 
 
 Letters on Domestic Nomination. 41 
 
 Reply to Dr. Magee's Charge.. 44 
 
 Pastoral to Ribbonmen... 60 
 
 Vindication of Catholic Principles... 70 
 
 Authentication and Defence of Miracles. 89 
 
 Defence of the Catholic Clergy. 98 
 
 Letter on the Union of Churches.104 
 
 Letters in 1824, on several subjects. 114 
 
 Twelve Letters on the State of Ireland.122 
 
 Evidence before Parliamentary Committees, in 1825.. 161 
 
 Return to Ireland in 1825.... 174 
 
 Letter prohibiting Oral Discussion. 191 
 
 Defence of Transubstantiation. 198 
 
 Pastoral on Education Societies.214 
 
 Essay on the Catholic Claims. 223 
 
 Letter to the Missionary Wolf..229 
 
 -on Education.... 241 
 
 -on the Catholic Book-Society.246 
 
 - on the Second Reformation. 253 
 
 Answer to Dr. Magee’s second Charge............ 257 
 
 letters on various subjects, in 1828 and 1829. 264 
 
 Prefaces, Letters on a National Institute, Drunkenness 274 
 
 Various Letters in 1830, particularly on Repeal.278 
 
 Letters in 1831 and 1832... 279 
 
 Evidence and Works on Tithes, in 1832.... 283 
 
 Preface to The Lives of Saints.. 286 
 
 Private Life. 289 
 
 Sickness and Death. 294 l 
 
 Funeral Obsequies... 296 
 
 Remarks on his Writings... 300 
 
 Eulogy on Dr. Doyle.... .♦. fcOS 
 
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