UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO 3 1822 02361 3755 K(yvY'''-i 'A K ■.■:•■■■■■ ; . mm.: ^^-■^:.fi m'l ■^'■'■i^-%'--^'. »' :':'f'^.r. . ; ...y..,^ .<■- ■*/;t5;-.o.i;iir'j>^i;^.v-,,;-!l^i-.'i'v. -;.'■,,•;,. ■ . ■■ ;' •■^.:y■.■■'i<-'<'Vli^f UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO 3 1822 02361 3755 CARDINAL WISEMAN VOL. I. VV5 iA/3 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CARDINAL WISEMAN BY WILFRID WARD AUTHOR (II- •WII.LIAM GEORGE WARD AND THE OXFORD MOVEMKNT ' WILLIAM OEORGE WARD AND THE CATHOLIC REVIVAL' 'witnesses TO THE UNSEEN ' ETC. IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I. WITH rORTRAlT LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 39 JWTERXOSTER ROW, LONDON NF.W YORK AND BOMBAY 1897 All rights reserved PREFACE The Life of Cardinal Wiseman had been twice in preparation before the present work was written. Cardinal Manning collected materials for it in 1865, immediately after Wiseman's death. The Biography, however, was never actually begun until the late Father Morris, S.J., undertook it in 1893. After Father Morris's death, Cardinal Vaughan asked me to write the Life, placing at my disposal the correspondence and other documents collected by Cardinal Manning and Father Morris. Cardinal Vaughan has, however, left me quite free in regard to the views incidentally expressed in the Biography, and has given me equal freedom in selecting from the documents for the purpose of publication.' Father Morris's sketch of the first chapter has ' Many of the documents belong to Ushaw College, to which they were left by Monsignor Thompson, one of Cardinal Wiseman's literary legatees. I have to thank the President of Ushaw for his courtesy in allowing me to use them. vi CARDINAL WISEMAN been used in the present work, only for some of the facts it contains. The chapter itself has been re- written. His graphic account of the ' Errington case,' however, based as it is on his own personal recollections, has been given almost entire. These were the only portions of his book which he left behind him. Only a comparatively brief selection has been made from Cardinal Wiseman's large foreign corre- spondence — the letters selected being chiefly from Dollinger and from members of the French Epis- copate, on matters of international interest. In touching on the history of the movement for Italian unity, with which Wiseman's long residence in Rome brought him in close contact, I have relied mainly on Mazzini's ' Life and Works,' Chevalier O'Clery's two books, 'The Italian Revolution ' and ' The Making of Italy,' and on the documents collected by M. de St. Albin in his ' History of Pius IX.' The long and important political JMeuioranditni drawn up and presented by W'iseman himself to Lord Talmerston in the crisis of 1847, in the capacity of informal diplomatic envoy of Pius IX., is here published for the first time. Its presentation was immediately responded to by the mission of Lord INIinto to Rome. That part of Cardinal Wiseman's career which PREFACE vii concerns his work for the Catholic body In England, is too important not to be dealt with fully in his Life, But I trust that its close bearing on the history of the Oxford Movement,' and its historical importance as viewed in the light of the dramatic story of the English Catholics since the Reformation, will give even to this aspect of his career an interest for readers who are not his coreligionists. His influence on the course of the Oxford Move- ment, and his connexion with its leaders ; his association, during the twenty years of his resi- dence in Rome, with many whose names are familiar to Englishmen ; his connexion, as Curator of the Arabian MSS. in the Vatican Library, with the great Orientalists of the day, and his own early researches in that department ; his correspondence and inter- course with Newman, Manning, Lord Houghton, Dollinger, Lamcnnais and others, as well as his combat with the ' Times ' and the whole English nation in the almost unprecedented (though eva- nescent) agitation against the * Papal Aggression, have, of course, a more general interest. • The revival of English Catholic zeal by Wiseman began exactly two years after the Oxford Movement had been inaugurated. ' The reani- mation of the Church of Rome in England,' writes Dr. Liddon {J.ife of Pusey, ii. 4), ' was quickened in no small degree by the arrival [in 1835] of a divine whose accomplishments and ability would have secured him influence and prominence in any age of the Roman Church. This was Dr. Wiseman. vui CARDINAL WISEMAN The book has grown in bulk beyond what was originally intended. The publication of the Life of Cardinal Manning made it necessary to deal very fully with the Errington case, of which a materially inaccurate account is given in that work. For this purpose many documents had to be consulted and summarised. I have especially to thank Bishop Patterson, who acted as Cardinal Wiseman's agent in Rome in the first stage of the case, both for oral information on this subject and for important documents. My own personal knowledge of Cardinal Wiseman was only such as a boy could have of one who was very fond of talking to children. He frequently visited my father, however, at Northwood or at Old Hall, and the traditional stories of him, familiar to us from childhood, have been of material assistance in helping me to picture a personality, of which my own knowledge was necessarily of the slightest. 1 have, moreover, been liberally supplied, by the kindness of his surviving friends, with reminiscences written and oral. It remains for me to thank the friends who have helped me with their judgment in revising the proofs of my work. My thanks are especially due to Lord Acton, Father Bridgett and Dom Gasquet, for read- ing in proof the historical retrospect in Chapter VI. PREFACE ix The chapter cost me much rcadinf^ and laliour in the first instance ; but I have felt the special value, in revising it, of criticisms and suggestions from writers whose authority on the history of the period I have dealt with is so great. My acknowledgments are likewise due to Mr. Edwin de Lisle and Miss Williams, for translating German and Italian letters and papers, and to the Archbishop of Nicosia for revising the proofs of the long Italian Appendix (D), containing documents bearing on the Errington case, A generation has passed away since Cardinal Wiseman's death ; and although many readers are likely to remember the extraordinary demonstration in London, on occasion of his funeral, — which the * Times ' compared to the demonstration at the funeral of the Duke of Wellington,' — it is probable that few can recall the man himself in the days of his prime, or arc familiar with the story of his life. The present ' ' Nol since the State funeral of the late Duke of Wellington lias the same interest been evinced. . . .' we read in the Times of February 24, 1865. ' At least three-fourths of the shops along the line of route were closed, the streets were lined with spectators, and every window and balcony thronged. Altogether the feeling among the public seemed deeper than one of mere curiosity — a wish perhaps to forget old differences with the Cardinal and to render respect to his memory as an eminent Englishman and one of the most learned men of his time.' VOL. I. a X CARDINAL U'ISEMAX writer can only ho])c that he ma\' succeed in im- partinc;' to liis readers some at least of the c^rcat interest fto him largely unexpected) which he has derived from the study both of the Cardinal's j^er- sonality and of his career. Some of the c\'ents recorded, though long past, seem to supply the key to more recent developments of religious thought, which occupy the attention of many of us. And the Cardinal himself, highl}^ gifted though he was intel- lectually and morally, A\as also abundant!}- endowed with those specialh' hmnan qualities, which command the interest of students of life and character in e\ery age. Eastbourne: Novcnibcr, 1897. CONTENTS THE FIRST VOLUME CH.VriEK I. Boyhood, 1802-1818 .... II. P2ARLV Impressions of Rome, iSiS 1824 . III. Oriental Studies, 1823-1829 IV. Rector of the English College, 1828 1833 V. Rector of the English Collec;e {con tinned)^ 1S33-1835 .... W. The English 'Papists' .... \'II. Wiseman in England, 1S35-1836. VIII. Last Years in Rome, 1836-1840 IX. England and the Catholic Movement 1839 X. The Donatists and the Pusevites, 1839 XI. President of Oscott, 1840-1841 XII. Tract No. 90, 1841 XIII. The Romeward Movement, 1841-1843 . I 18 46 117 144 214 255 289 320 345 371 xii CARDINAL WISEMAN CHAl'TTR PAGE XI\'. The (}oing Out of "45 423 XV. The Neophytes, 1845 1847 . . . . 437 XVI. A New Pope and a New Hierarchy . 466 XVII. Cardinal Archhi.shop of Westminster, 1850 502 X\TII. The Papal Aggression 538 Appendices 571 Nicholas Wiseman. 1836 .... Frontispiece From a lua/er colour draii'in:^ by F. RochnrJ /« the /ossi'ssion ofCartiinal I 'aii,s:han. THE LIFE AND TIMES CARDINAL WISEMAN CHAPTER I BOYHOOD 1 802-1818 Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman claimed descent from Capel Wiseman, Protestant Bishop of Dromore, the third .son of Sir William Wiseman, Bart., and great-grandson of Sir John Wiseman, one of the Auditors of the Exchequer in the reign of Henry VIII. This family, now represented by Sir William Wiseman, of Caulfield, Essex, acknowledged the kinship at the time of Cardinal Wiseman's death — the then head of the family. Admiral Sir William Wiseman, attending the funeral service at the Catho- lic Cathedral at Sydney (where he chanced to be staying), as a mark of respect to a deceased kins- man. The pedigree has, however, never been exactly ascertained. James Wiseman, the grandfather of the Cardinal, was a merchant resident in Waterford, and a Catholic. VOL. L B 2 CARDINAL WISEMAN He appears to have migrated to Seville towards the end of the last century. His youngest son, James, the Cardinal's father, was a Spanish merchant in Seville. He was twice married, first to the daughter of a Spanish general, and next to Miss Xaviera Strange, a member of the family of Strange of Aylwardstown Castle, Co. Kilkenny. One of his daughters by the first wife married Mr. John Tucker ; and her only child, Xaviera, became the wife of Mr. William Burke of Knocknagur, and the mother of the present Sir Theobald Burke of Glinsk and of Thomas Henry Burke who was murdered in the Phoenix Park, in company with Lord Frederick Cavendish, in 1882. Nicholas Wiseman was the son of James Wiseman by his second wife, and was born in Seville on August 2, 1802.' Seville recognised her distinguished son at the time of his death, and a reso- lution was passed by the Municipal Council to call tlie street in which he was born Cnlle del Cardendl Wiseman. His mother laid him, as an infant, upon the altar of the Cathedral of Seville, and consecrated him to the service of the Church. His intimate friend Car- dinal Manning was wont to trace in some of his religious tastes and ideals the influence of the early associations of Catholic Spain. ' The first stratum of his mind,' he wrote, ' was deeply tinged by the soil in which he was born. There was about him to the end of life a certain grandeur of conception in all that ' Cardinal Wisenir-n had one brother, James (older than himself), and one sister, Frasquita, who became Countess Gabrielli of Fano in Italy. BO YHOOD 3 related to the works, the creations and the worshij) of the Church, which is evidently from Catholic ' pain. . . . He had been born in an atmosphere of Catholic splendour, and all his conceptions and visions of the sanctuary were as he had seen them in childhood, and as it ought to be, rather than as it is in the chill and utilitarianism of Modern England.' One little trait of character in his earliest child- hood may be mentioned. A relation of Cardinal Wiseman who visited Seville in the later forties met one who remembered * little Nicholas ' as a tiny boy, always profusely generous with his sweetmeats, which he used to distribute among his playfellows. An acquaintance of his early days at Seville was the celebrated Blanco White, so well known later on in English literary and Academic circles. Mr. White, who earned in after years a pension from the English Government for literary services, was in Wiseman's boyhood a priest.' His subsequent aban- donment of priest's orders, and ultimately of Chris- tianity, left a very painful impression on Wiseman, the more so from early recollections of the charm of his personality. That these recollections were well founded is evident to any reader of Blanco White's memoirs, and it is interesting to gather from them ' Cardinal Wiseman writing in 1830 to a friend thus alludes to Mr. iJlanco White : ' Our fathers were both English commercial settlers at Seville and our families very intimate. . . . Blanco was spiritual director to my nearest and dearest relatives. An old friend of mine, and of Blanco's father, who comes to Rome eveiy winter, never men- tions him without tears in his eyes. lie was, he says, without excep- tion, the most pious, the most amiable and the most clever young man he ever knew, when he took orders.' B 2 4 CARDINAL WISEMAN and from the ' Apologia ' the mutual influence and affection which existed twenty years later between him and another future Cardinal, John Henry New- man.' Though only three years old when he left Spain, Nicholas Wiseman used to recall in later life seeing the prize crews brought ashore at Cadiz after the battle of Trafalgar ; and he criticised Mr. Stan- field's great picture ' The Victory ' as inaccurate, because his sailor at the port-hole had no pigtail. Wiseman's memory proved quite accurate, and Mr. Stanfield painted in the pigtail. Mr. James Wiseman died in 1805, and a little later Nicholas Wiseman and his brother James were taken by their mother to her native country, sailing in the Melpojuene frigate to Portsmouth. They spent two years at a boarding school at Waterford, of which we only know that it was at this time that Nicholas first acquired the English language, having as a tiny boy talked Spanish. He passed to Ushaw College, near Durham, on March 23, 18 10. Ushaw numbered at that time about ninety students, and was presided over by Dr. Thomas Eyre, a member of the well-known old Catholic family of that name. Ushaw shares with St. Edmund's College, Old Hall, the distinction of descent from the English college founded by Car- dinal Allen in 1568 in the University of Douay. The college was broken up during the reign of terror, in 1793, and a remnant of its students and professors founded the two English Catholic colleges iust men- tioned, one in the North and the other in the South. ' See Apologia^ p. 47. BO YHOOD 5 The unbroken traditions which Ushaw has preserved make it in some sense the truest representative of the spirit of that great home of education, which trained, for more than two hundred years, gene- rations of Englishmen who refused to break with the Roman See, and — during the first century of its existence — of priests who came over to England with every prospect of suffering death for their allegiance. The natural result of a long course of proscription on strong English characters is traceable in that spirit. As all hope of the return of England to the Roman communion by a change of dynasty became gradually abandoned, English Catholics assumed definitively the character of men resigned to inevitable persecution. Those who suffered for the faith looked for their reward in the next life, but ceased to be sanguine of the triumph of their cause in this. It was for a life of proscription for conscience sake that Douay had to prepare her sons. Great piety and strength of character, coupled with reserve in speech, avoidance of the eye of a hos- tile public, and a spirit of endurance rather than of enterprise, have naturally been leading features of the character which the later Douay and its successors tended to foster. The marked spirit of Ushaw had an evident effect on Nicholas Wiseman. The habits of reserve, the deep piety and concentration of purpose, characteristic of the place, on the one hand, and on the other its ten- dency to keep in check flights of imagination or original speculation, appear at once to have strength- ened his character and to have curbed the early development of his peculiar genius. ' Not words but 6 CARDINAL WISEMAN deeds,' the Cardinal wrote in later life, as the suitable motto for Ushavv ; and while the immediately appa- rent result was that many of his special gifts found little or no scope or sympathy, and failed to develop, those who knew him best recognised in the training he received a valuable antidote to his intense impres- sionableness and craving for sympathy — due perhaps in part to his share of Celtic blood — which might other- wise have proved a source of weakness, and impaired his powers of concentration. As it was, he appears to have been regarded, by those who came across him casually, as a stupid boy, and to have made few friends. At the same time others who watched his career more closely were taking note (as he learnt a little later) of his powers of application, and his mas- culine grasp of the subjects to which he directed his attention. He appears, in the course of a school life which gave little evidence of his subsequent bril- liancy, to have developed a taste for reading and habits of self-reliance and independent study which never deserted him. And, indeed, for fostering such habits the genius loci was well suited. Douay and Ushaw, if they were truly represented by such martyrs as Campion and Arrowsmith, were also typified by the patient and thorough research of a Challoner and a Lingard. ' The education of St. Cuthbert's College, Dur- ham,' writes Cardinal Manning, ' made him the solid manly Englishman of whom Englishmen have learnt to be proud. He described hiixiself in a little unpub- lished poem ... as a " lone unmurmuring boy," who studied while others played, \v\\o could find no pastime BOYHOOD 7 so sweet as a book.' Cardinal Wiseman has left a fuller account of his characteristics as a boy in a letter written during his later years to a nephew to whom he was much attached. ' I was always considered,' he writes, ' stupid and dull by my companions {zvJien out of c/ass), and made hardly any friends, and never got any notice or favour from superiors. But I knew that I was reading a great deal more than others without saying a word about it, both in study time and out of it, and I made myself happy enough. I am sure I never said a witty or clever thing all the time I was at college, but I used to think a good deal. . . . The great lesson which I learnt during the desolate years of college life is . . . self-reliance, not vanity or pre- sumption, but the determination to work for [my] self.' 1 The chief exception to the lack of notice on the part of the College authorities was in the case of the well-known historian. Dr. Lingard, who was Vice- President of Ushaw, and governed it during the inter- rcgnum from Dr. Eyre's death in May 1810 until the installation of his successor (Dr. Gillow) in June 181 r. Cardinal Wiseman writes of him : An acquaintance begun with him under the disadvantage of ill -proportioned ages — when the one was a man and the other a child — led me to love and respect him ; early enough to leave many years after in which to test the first impressions of simpler emotions, and find them correctly directed and most soundly based. Mr. Lingard was Vice-President of the College which I entered at eight years of age, and I have retained upon my memory the vivid recollection of specific acts of thoughtful ' In his last year at Ushaw, Nicholas Wiseman's name appears at the lop of his class. 8 CARDINAL WISEMAN and delicate kindness, which showed a tender lieait, mindful of its duties, amidst the many harassing occupations just devolved on him, through the death of the President and his own literary engagements ; for he was reconducting his first great work through the press. But though he went from college soon after, and I later left the country and saw him not again for fifteen years, yet there grew up an understanding first, and by degrees a correspondence and an intimacy between us, which continued to the close of his life. Another of the Professors to whom Wiseman owed much was Dr. Newsham, afterwards for many years President of the College. He was a man whose remarkable gifts impressed the Oxford converts in later years ; and from the time when he was Wise- man's Professor in Syntax (in 1815), and again in Rhetoric,^ a friendship grew up between them which proved lifelong. The traditional picture of young Wiseman's ex- ternal appearance which remains at Ushaw is that of a somewhat gawky youth, with limbs ill knit together, betokening the absence of all aptitude for athletics, sauntering about with a book under his arm, oftener alone than in company. Few details of his school life are preserved. It is inter- esting to know that he once saw Bishop Milner, the author of 'The End of Controversy' — 'the English Athanasius,' as Cardinal Newman has styled him — a prelate whom many have concurred with Dollinger and Wiseman himself in regarding as a truly great man intellectually, as he unquestionably was a man of remarkable energy and ability. The occasion ' ' Syntax ' and ' Rhetoric ' correspond to the fourth and sixth forms of a public school. BO VHOOD 9 was that of a visit, in August 1812, of the four Eng- Hsh Vicars Apostolic and Bishop Moylan, of Cork, to Ushaw. It was at Ushaw that Wiseman finally- resolved to take Holy Orders ; and the cottage is still shown in the neighbourhood where, according to a college tradition, the future Cardinal, in the course of half an hour spent there to avoid a passing storm, made up his mind to become a priest. The first thought of devoting himself to the Biblical studies which issued in his well-known ' Hora^ Syriacae ' came in 1 8 16, during one of the long vacations of his school- days, spent in the company of his friend George Errington, afterwards Archbishop of Trebizond, and closely associated with Wiseman's later career. Nicholas Wiseman's devotion to his mother, which was so prominent in him through life, was marked in boyhood ; and for a time she came to live in Durham in order to be near her two sons at Ushaw. In the course of an afternoon spent in her house, the future hero of the ' Papal Aggression ' was hooted as a ' Papist ' in a contested election at Durham, being at the time a boy often or eleven.' ' ' Near to the place where the church now stands [in Durham] was the house of a Catholic mother, who had fixed her home in Durham that she might more carefully watch over her son, then a boy in St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw. It was more than fifty years ago, when the spirit of the English people had not yet been liberated from the possession of hatred to the Catholic faith and Church. The present generation can hardly remember what was the violence of those days. The next generation will hardly believe it when they read it in history. ' It chanced that this Catholic boy, it may be often or twelve years old, was detained from college, under his mother's roof. It was the moment of a parliamentary election. The house opposite to their home was the principal inn in Durham. It is now the convent of the lo CARDINAL WISEMAN Another recorded incident in his Ushaw Hfe should be mentioned. He and a schoolfellow — probably James Sharpies, afterwards a Bishop and coadjutor to Dr. Brown, of the Lancashire district- formed a society for the study of Roman antiquities. They procured a plan of Rome for this purpose, and investigated, among other things, the history of the English College at Rome, of which we must speak directly. They wrote at the same time a story of Roman life entitled ' Fabius.' That the joint-author of ' Fabius ' and the boy-student of Roman topo- graphy was to pass more than a third of his life in the Eternal City, and to interest tens of thousands in the fortunes of Fabius's daughter Fabiola,^ is a coincidence worth remarking. Sisters of Mercy. An election committee was there sitting, and an election mob was gathered about the door. The spirit of party was running high, and men's blood, as is usual, was heated, and there was uproar in the street. The boy was standing at the window to see the fray. The mob caught sight of him, and assailed him with hootings of contempt, and with names which, as they are now falling into for- getfulness, I will not repeat. The Catholic mother, terrified at the increasing uproar, and fearing for the safety of her son, drew him back into the room, and out of sight. ' Again there came a day, some fifty years afterwards, when that boy, grown to manhood, stood in the midst of a still greater tumult, which upheaved the whole of England, from its highest to its lowest, with storm and tempest against the Catholic and Roman Church. Once more he stood, but now surrounded by his brethren in the Epi- scopate, higher than all, fearless, and appealing in calm articulate voice to the common sense of the people of England, as the first Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster.' — Sermons on Ecclesiastical Subjects, by Henry Edward (Manning), Archbishop of Westminster. London : Burns & Oates, 1872, vol. ii, p. 259. ' Some particulars as to the enormous sale of Fabiola are given in a subsequent chapter. BO YHOOD r i In 1 8 14 he chanced to be in London, and wit- nessed the ceremonial display in honour of the visit of the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Russia. This was also the occasion on which Cardinal Consalvi came to London as the Pope's representative at the meeting of the allied Powers — a circumstance which Wiseman's subsequent connection with that great statesman led him especially to remember. Consalvi was at that time an object of interest to all the world, from the prominent part he had taken in the long- warfare between Pius VII. and Napoleon Bonaparte, the more so, perhaps, from the Emperor's known anger at his policy. His relations with the English Court were of the most cordial description, and his portrait still hangs in Windsor Castle. Cardinal Consalvi was much impressed by the kindness of his reception in England — an impression which led to an event of great importance to Wise- man's future career, as we shall shortly see. He and his secretary, Capaccini (afterwards Cardinal, and the intimate friend of Chevalier Bunsen), used to give a humorous account of their visit to London, and of their constant anxiety lest they might offend English Pro- testant susceptibilities. They appeared at their first public dinners in the black coat and white tie of an English clergyman. Capaccini's health was proposed on one occasion, and he gave in reply the health of the Pope, which was accordingly drunk, for the first time probably, in such an assembly, since the reign of Queen Mary. ' But in the triumphant good humour and high spirits of the present moment,' adds Capaccini in telling the story, ' anything can be done 12 CARDINAL WISEMAN without offence.' Consalvi afterwards made his ap- pearance on some state occasion, with due official sanction, in the red ferraJ7wlo worn by cardinals in the Vatican itself.' The unexpected cordiality of his English hosts gave Consalvi a special interest in our country, and it was at his suggestion that the Pope resolved, four years later, to open once again the English College in Rome, which had been closed since the depreda- tions of the French in 1798. Consalvi was named ' Cardinal Protector ' of the College, which was opened in 181 8 ; and young Wiseman was chosen as one of the candidates for the priesthood who were to form the midcus of the revived establishment. Five more went from Ushaw,''^ and a few from other colleges. The English College was the successor to an old house for the entertainment of English pilgrims in Rome, first founded by Ina, the Saxon king. This developed, about the year 1362, into a hospitium, placed under the care of one John Shepherd and his wife. The King of England became its patron, and named its rector. In the archives of the College is preserved a list of the pilgrims who visited Rome from year to year — many of them youths of noble family, students at the University of Bologna. After Henry VIII.'s rupture with the Holy See the number of pilgrims diminished, and ceased alto- gether under Elizabeth. A bishop and several other refugees for the Catholic faith lived there until 1578, ' Bunsen's Life, i. 248, and Last Four Popes, p. 72. - The names of the five are James Sharpies, William Cavanagh, Henry Gillow, George Heptonstall, and J. Fleetwick. BOYHOOD 13 when Gregory XIII. converted it into a College — one of those founded for the benefit of Englishmen who retained communion with the Apostolic See after the Reformation. It was, however, stipulated that should England once more become Catholic, the building should be restored to its original purpose. Many relics of the Catholic Church of England survive there — monuments to pre-Reformation Eng- lish prelates, and in later years to such champions, in times of persecution, as Father Parsons and Car- dinal Allen. For upwards of two hundred years the College sent forth priests for the English mission, and the roll of martyrdoms under Elizabeth and her successors is a long one. The spot is shown where St. Philip Neri, Newman's patron, and the original founder of the Oratory, stood daily as the English students wended their way to lecture at the university, and greeted them with the salutation, * All hail, Flowers of the Martyrs,' ' Salvete, flores martyrum.' Since the College had been pillaged during the horrors of the Revolution and French invasion of 1798, it had been uninhabited, save by the old Italian porter. The decision to restore it was taken early in 1 8 1 8 ; and Dr. Gradwell, the future Rector, was already installed in the College before young Wiseman and his companions arrived. The years from sixteen to twenty-two are for any- one critical years in the formation of tastes and character. With Nicholas Wiseman they were espe- cially so. The expansion of his nature after the somewhat repressive discipline of Ushaw appears 14 CARDINAL WISEMAN to have been complete. Intensely impressionable all through life by external objects, the very journey to Rome seems to have awakened his imagination and given elasticity to his mind. His own account of his taciturn, ' desolate' boyhood, studious, thoughtful, monotonous, contrasts quite strangely with the eager imaginativeness and love of adventure, visible in his account of his subsequent life, beginning with this change in its surroundings. The young Englishmen embarked at Liverpool on October 2, and arrived at Leghorn late in December, after an adventurous voyage, very unlike the comfortable and brief journey to Rome of our own day. ' A fortnight was spent,' writes the Cardinal in his retrospect,' ' in beating up from Savona to Genoa, and another week in running from Genoa to Livorno ; . . . a man fell overboard and was drowned off Cape St. Vincent ; . . . a dog went raving mad from want of fresh water, and luckily, after clearing the deck, jumped or slipped into the sea ; . . . the vessel was once at least on fire. . . . All the passen- gers were nearly lost in a sudden squall in Ramsey Bay, into which they had been driven b}- stress of weather, and where they of course landed.' The land journey from Leghorn was nearly as uncomfortable and as full of alarm. Brigands and robbers were a constant fear to the travellers. At Pontedero the vettnrino warned them to lock their doors at night, drawing his hand ' significant!}^ across his thyroid gland ; ' on the road near Bolsena trees ' In the Recollections of the last Four Popes and of Route in t/ieir Times (London, 1858). BOYHOOD 15 were being cut down with the avowed purpose of destroying the cover whence the brigands were con- stantly sallying ; and wayside posts were adorned by the bodies of bandits recently caught and hanged on the spot. Those ' who may now make the whole journey in four days,' writes the Cardinal, ' will indulgently understand how pleasing must have been to those early travellers' ears the usual indication by voice and outstretched whip embodied in the well-known exclamation of every vetturino, " Ecco Roma ! " ' Through the Flaminian Gate, by Monte Pincio — at that date only a green hill without its present sculp- tured terraces — down the Corso, with its palaces on either side, then turning to the right by the column of Antoninus, again to the left, and then a halt at the Custom House : the whole route is detailed by the Cardinal with the vividness of the first impressions of Rome. Then onward through many streets, the Pantheon at one moment and the Farnese a little later arresting attention, till the travellers alighted at last in the Via di Monserrato at the Collegio Inglese. The effect of the historical associations of the College on young Wiseman was immediate. Record- ing his sensations on first arrival, he writes : ' One felt at once at home ... it was English ground, a part of the fatherland, a restored inheritance.' The old church of Holy Trinity, adjoining the College, was still standing, though its roof was gone ; and the painting by Durante Alberti, representing the Holy Trinity and the English patron saints, St. Edmund i6 CARDINAL WISEMAN and St. Thomas of Canterbury, formed its altar-piece. The College chapel was ' illuminated from floor to roof with the saints of England.' ' It was something to see, that first day, the spot revisited by English youths, where many an English pilgrim, gentle or simple, had knelt leaning on his trusty staff cut in Need wood or the New Forest ; where many a noble student from Bologna or Padua had prayed as he had been lodged and fed in forma pauperis, when before returning home he came to visit the tomb of the Apostles. . . . Around lay scattered memorials of the past. One splendid monument, erected to Sir Thomas Dereham at the bottom of the church, was entirely walled up and so invisible.' There were traces, too, of the havoc wrought by the French invaders of '98. ' Shattered and defaced lay the richly efifigied tombs of an Archbishop of York and a Prior of Worcester, and of many other English worthies ; while sadder wreckage of the recent storm was piled on one side — the skull and bones of perhaps Cardinal Allen, Father Parsons and others, whose coffins had been dragged up from below and con- verted into munitions of war. And if there needed a living link between the young generation at the door and the old one that had passed into the crypt of that venerable church, there it was in the person of the more than octogenarian porter Vincenzo, who stood, all salutation, from the wagging appendage to his grey head to the large silver buckles on his shoes, mumbling toothless welcomes in an as yet almost unknown tongue, but full of humble joy and almost BOYHOOD 17 patriarchal affection, on seeing the haunts of his own youth repeopled.' With infinite relief the tired travellers, ' after months of being cribbed, cabined, and confined in a small vessel, and jammed in a still more tightly- packed vettura,' stretched their limbs as they ' wandered through the solemn building, and made it, after years of silence, re-echo to the sound of Eng-lish voices.' VOL. I. CARDINAL WISEMAN CHAPTER II EARLY IMPRESSIONS OF ROME 1818 — 1824 In order fully to understand the deep effect of Roman associations on youn^^r Wiseman, it is necessary to bear in mind the time of his arrival. There were many men younger than Vincenzo the porter, in whose memories the dramatic story of the past forty years made the present moment full of strange wonder and hopefulness. The story of the Papacy, since the wise and prosperous pontificate of Benedict XIV., had been one of almost unmixed disaster. Beginning with the disputes which resulted in the suppression of the Jesuits — the unbending upholders of Papal influence in every country — the systematic attempt to make Churches more national, and to free them from the control of the Roman Pontiff, had been nearly universal throughout Europe. Gallicanism and Jansenism in France, and Febronianism in Germany, gained constantly in influence. In Austria, although the loyalty of the people to the Holy See was greater, Joseph II. made even more determined efforts to loosen the bands which united the Church to the Papacy. The Pontiff who had to bear the brunt of the battle, and who EARLY IMPRESSIONS OF ROME 19 finally won the admiration of Europe, was Pius VI. ' Your pleasure is my misfortune,' was his remark to the Cardinals on their selecting him to fill the Papal chair. He travelled in person to Vienna, to en- deavour to arrest the policy of suppression of monas- teries, spoliation of Church property, removal of episcopal sees and benefices from Papal control. This journey, in 1786, was the first of the series of dramatic scenes, witnessed by the eyes of all Europe, which sketched the story of the decline, fall, persecution, and ultimate wonderful resurrection of the Papal power. The Pope gained nothing from the Emperor ; but the devotion displayed by the Austrian people witnessed to the existence of a reserve force on whose loyalty he might yet count. Then came the troubles in France, the Revolution, the Civil Constitution of the clergy, the wholesale dis- solution and destruction of churches and monasteries, the enthronement of the Goddess of Reason in Notre Dame. Infidelity had been spreading for years, and lessening the proportion of Christians ; and Christians themselves were on every side breaking with the Apostolic See. At last the soldiers of the Directory marched to Rome itself. The Pope de- clined to leave the city, and the French entered on February 10, 1798. Pius VI., after a night spent in prayer, met his enemies with courage and firmness. Refusing to abdicate, he was treated with the utmost indignity, and the very rings torn from his fingers. His subsequent successive imprisonments and his death in exile from the hardships to which he was 20 CARDINAL WISEMAN exposed, ended his career of prolonged misfortune and fortitude. It was not merely the temporalities of the Papacy which were at this moment apparently lost to it. While the Parisian clubbists were confidently as- serting that Pius VI. was the last of the Popes, the thinkers of the time regarded the Roman Church as utterly worn out, and as having no prospects for the future. ' The Church of Rome resembles only an old ruin,' wrote Herder, ' incapable of sheltering any new life.' ' Only among the common superstitious herd,' said Nicolai, 'the Roman faith may possibly manage to continue a precarious existence. Before science and culture it will never hold its own again.' ' The period of conquests,' wrote Goethe, ' seems to me to have for ever passed away from the Catholic Church.' ' To the imaginative mind of the Romans, with their Pope dead in exile, their city despoiled by the invader of its treasures, the dominant republican party avowed foes of Christianity itself, such days must indeed have seemed like the last days, in which no faith is to be left. Then came, with the distinctness and suddenness of a revival at what has appeared to be the point of death, the visible effects of the sympathy and indignation of the Catholic peoples at the Pope's misfortunes, and at the indignities to which he was exposed, and the admiration of the world at large for his courageous bearing, which helped to give heart and hope to the Catholics themselves. The Pope and Cardinals — the embodiment before the world of weakness and cor- ' Cf. Jannsen's L. Graf von Stolberg, vol. i. p. i. EARLY IMPRESSIONS OF ROME 21 ruption — were looked on with wonder and respect. * What a grand spectacle,' wrote Johannes von Miiller, 'is Pius VI. when, with a firmness which few believed him capable of, he sternly resolves to remain near the tombs of the Apostles and the Mother Church of Christendom and there abide his fate ! ' ' ' Strange to think,' said Azeglio,^ some years later, ' of that ignoble mixture of corruption and intrigue of which the Roman Court was composed, and yet to see such noble and strong natures emerge from its depths ! ' When Pius was borne by his captors through the very centre of the Revolution — France itself — the returning devotion which his misfortunes awakened caused him to exclaim, ' I have not found such faith in Israel.' The Pope died, but the power of the Papacy had begun a new lease of life. ' Even before the funeral rites had been performed over Pius VI.,' writes an English historian, ' a great reaction had commenced.' Within two years of his death the scoffing predictions of Goethe entered on a process of falsification which grew and grew as years advanced, as, one after another, eminent scholars and thinkers of Germany joined the Roman Catholic Church — many of them intimate friends of Goethe himself Leopold, Count von Stolberg, led the van in 1801 ; Frederick Schlegel joined him in 1805 ; and thirty years had not passed before from fifty to sixty men of the highest intellectual distinction had followed their example in Germany itself ' Cf. Alzog's Clmrch History, vol. iii. p. 651. - This passage in Azeglio's letters includes in its admiration Pius VII. and Cardinal Pacca. 22 • CARDINAL WISEMAN The early signs of what ultimately proved a great movement kept hope from dying among the Catholics of Rome. But the long warfare of Pius VII. with Napoleon, and the continued persecution of the Church, meant years of suspense. The crisis of the disease was past for the Catholic and Roman Church, but the fear that the conqueror of Europe might destroy by violence a life which though returning was still weak, remained. When young Wiseman reached Rome these fears were at an end. The Pontiff had been brought in triumph back to Rome. The nightmare of the Napoleonic invasion was for ever past. The sense of physical relief, after the intense strain of years of anxiety and misfortune, was everywhere apparent. Literature and art were reviving. Canova, who had been among those who carried Pius VII. on their shoulders as he re-entered his capital, still lived in the city. Overbeck, Cornelius, Brandis, the historian of Greek philosophy, and Platner, the artist, were there. Niebuhr and Bunsen were living in Rome and learning to respect the character and wonder at the great thoughts and powers of their Catholic neighbours, who became their friends.' The sense that Protestantism had proved itself a dissolvent force and was effete as a stable principle of religious faith, and that Catholicism had stood the brunt of the battle and had emerged full of life, was displayed in sorrow by Protestants themselves, in triumph by the Catholics. ' Their priests,' wrote the King of Prussia to Bunsen a few years later, ' See Bunsen's Life, vol. i. p. io8. EARLY IMPRESSIONS OF ROME 23 * seek to persuade the Catholics that \vc believe nothing, and our Rationalists have done all they could to confirm the impression." ' In Protestant Germany,' wrote Bunsen in 1824, 'no Church exists . . . faith no longer exists in collective masses . . many a one in despair has become a Romanist.' Over- beck, the distinguished representative of the Romantic school in art, and many of his friends had, as we know, become Catholics : and they fairly forced the respect of their eminent compatriots in Rome. Bunsen owns to the ' prejudice ' with which he first met them, but adds, ' immediate intercourse has corrected this pre- possession.' ^ He found in many of them ' a deep con- sciousness of the real and the great in every depart- ment,' and the German group of thinkers, scholars, and artists, both Protestants and Catholics, formed, he declares, ' a society such as can never before have been so good in Rome.' The Academy of the Catho- lic Religion, founded by Monsignor Zamboni and his friends, with the courage of men who would not despair of the republic, in the very year 1799, to adapt Catholic teaching to modern conditions and to meet the growth of infidelity, now received official confirma- tion. Old figures and faces which had disappeared during the storm came forth and united with the new generation, and blended their recollections of past defeat and almost despair with the hopefulness inspired by so much new blood and new talent. The octogenarians Fea and Cancellieri might be seen in the streets as well as Overbeck and Cornelius. Old men, Cardinal Wiseman tells us, would weep aloud ' See Bunsen's Life, vol. i. p. 109, 24 CARDINAL WISEMAN as they recounted the spoliation of the treasures which had been the glory of Rome ; men like Canova and Mai were arriving to give fresh glory to the museums and libraries, and to replace the robberies of the past. The Germans fused with the Italians to a considerable extent. Canova was astonished at the genius of Cornelius and Overbeck.' Cappacini, Consalvi, and Canova were on terms of friendship — in some cases of intimacy — with their Teutonic neighbours. The social and intellectual life in the city seemed to promise a great epoch for the seat of the Papacy. The re-establishment of the English College was but one of many revivals, and young Wiseman natur- ally and rapidly became influenced by the preva- lent spirit of hopefulness. The face of Europe was changed, but ' the unchangeable Church was still there,' writes Macaulay. ' The immutability,' says Alison, ' of the Roman Catholic Church amid all these disasters is not the least remarkable circum- stance in this age of wonders.' What cause for sur- prise if what to Protestant historians appeared a marvel amid marvels, seemed to the Catholic eyes of young Wiseman nothing short of a miracle } The resurrection of the Papal See, with all the grandeur of its external surroundings, after years of insult, suffering, and death to its ruler, gave to the assemblage of symbols of Papal rule, to the cycle of ceremonial pageant, and the records and monuments of Christian history, a peculiar significance in the eyes of the Catholic youth as tokens of a superhuman triumph. ' See Bunsen's Life, vol. i. p. io8. EARLY IMPRESSIONS OF ROME 25 The very first event of note after his arrival — the audience with Pius VII. — aroused at once within him the associations of the immediate past. He describes the eagerness of anticipation and the interest of its reaHsation. To the young Engh"shmen, he says, the first thought of Pius VII. had been after his forcible removal from Rome. They thought of him ' as a captive and persecuted Pontiff, and had almost learnt to disjoin the idea of the supreme rule of the Church from all the pomp and power of worldly state, and to associ- ate it with prisons and bonds as in the early ages.' The extraordinary and dramatic vicissitudes of his career surrounded that Pontiff with a haJo peculiar to himself His gentleness and sanctity had won the reverence of his very enemies throughout his pro- longed warfare with Napoleon, ' PI is portrait,' says Cardinal Wiseman, ' had been familiar to us, but it was that, not of the High Priest, clad in the vesture of holiness, but of an aged man, bending over the crucifix, in search of its consolations, and speaking those words which had been made sacred by his con- stant utterance, " May the holy and adorable will of God be ever done." Then had come the news of his wonderful triumphs. . . . [his final return to Rome] had occurred only three years before [our arrival]. . . One might have said that the triumphal arches and garlands of his joyful entry into Rome had scarcely faded, and that the echoes of the cries of welcome that greeted him still lingered among the seven hills. For the people spoke of them as things of yesterday.' On Christmas Eve, 1 8 1 8, the Rector of the English College and six of the students, among whom was 26 CARDINAL WISEMAN young Wiseman, were presented. The College diary has the following entry, made by the Rector : December 24. Took six of the students to the Pope. The other four could not be clothed. The Holy Father received them standing, shook hands with each, and welcomed them to Rome. He praised the English clergy for their good and peaceful conduct, and their fidelity to the Holy See. He ex- horted the youths to learning and piety, and said, ' I hope you will do honour both to Rome and to your own country.' Young Wiseman's own impressions on the occa- sion are thus described by him : It will easily be conceived that our hearts beat with more than usual speed ... as we ascended the great staircase of the Quirinal Palace on Christmas Eve. . . This is a different entrance from the one now [1858] generally used. After passing through the magnificent sala regia you proceed through a series of gal- leries adorned with fine old tapestry and other works of art, though furnished with the greatest simplicity. The last of these was the antechamber to the room occupied by the Pope. After a short delay we were summoned to enter this — a room so small that it scarcely allowed space for the usual genuflections at the door and in the middle of the apartment. But instead of receiving us as was customaiy — seated — the mild and amiable Pontiff had risen to welcome us and meet us as we approached. He did not allow it to be a mere presentation or visit of cere- mony . . . whatever we had read of the gentleness, condescen- sion, and sweetness of his speech, his manner, and his expression was fully justified, realised, and made personal. . . The friendly and almost national grasp of the hand — after due homage had been willingly paid — between the head of the Church, venerable by his very age, and a youth who had nothing" even to promise ; . . . the first exhortation on entering a course of ecclesiastical study ; these surely formed a double tie, not to be broken, but rather strengthened, by every subsequent experience.' The student-life which Wiseman led for the next ' Reiollcclio)is, •^c. EARLY TMPRESSTONS OF ROME 27 four years was one of great regularity and of strict discipline. The English College — although less ex- acting in its regulations than some of the Italian colleges — preserves a measure of continental severity. The students rose then, as now, at 5.30. Half an hour's meditation was followed by Mass and breakfast. Every day, except Thursday and Sunday, lectures were attended on philosophy, theology, canon law, Church history. Biblical exegesis, as the case might be : and the rest of the morning was devoted to study. The midday dinner was preceded by the daily ' examination of conscience.' After dinner came a visit to the Blessed Sacrament and, a little later, the siesta. A space in the afternoon was allotted to a walk through the city, either to some object of interest — a church or a museum — or to one of the Palazzos, or to Monte Pincio, where friends would meet the collegians and exchange greetings or converse. Nearly all the colleges — and among them the English — would take their walk in camcrata — that is to say, the students walking two abreast, in double file. Outside the city or on Monte Pincio this order was relaxed for the time, and students might disperse, reassembling for their return home. The bell towards sunset for the Ave Maria would summon the came- rata back to college, and the rest of the day was spent chiefly in study and prayer. On Thursday, the weekly holiday, expeditions were often made beyond the city walls to places of interest. The Easter vacation and the long summer holiday were spent at the country house belonging to the College at Monte Porzio, near Tusculum. Here 28 CARDINAL WISEMAN the discipline was somewhat less strict, but it was still a life of great regularity, and passed under community rule. The day both in Rome and at Monte Porzio was brought to a close with night prayers and the reading of the meditation for the following morning. Wiseman has left no contemporary notes or diaries enabling us to trace, year by year, the progress of his mind during the four years of his under- graduate career, which were passed in the routine just described. Nor do any of his own letters be- longing to this time survive. But scattered through his ' Recollections ' are interesting impressions left by his student-life, and by particular scenes which had a critical effect on him ; and in reading them we feel, before all things, a sense of fulness and variety in his life. While mastering the regular course of scholastic philosophy and theology suffi- ciently to take his degree with credit, his tastes were not primarily in this direction. The study of Roman antiquities. Christian and Pagan, was con- genial to him, as was also the study of Italian art — in which he ultimately became proficient — and of music : and he early devoted himself to the Syriac and Arabic languages. In all these pursuits the enthu- siasm and eminence of men living in Rome itself at this era of renaissance were a potent stimulus to work. The hours he set aside for reading were many more than the rule demanded ; and contemporary letters from his old schoolfellows take him to task for allowing himself no recreation. But the daily walk and the occasional expeditions to places of historic interest outside Rome helped also to store his mind EARLY IMPRESSIONS OF ROME 29 and to fire his imagination. ' The Hfe of the student in Rome,' he writes, with reference to this period, ' should be one of unblended enjoyment. . . . His very relaxations become at once subsidiary to his work and yet most delightfully recreative. His daily walks may be through the field of art . . . his wanderings along the stream of time ... a thousand memories, a thousand associations accompany him.' Some of the quaint and interesting figures of the distinguished students of art or antiquities, whom he would meet when visiting the public libraries or in the course of his walk on the Pincian hill, seem to have engraved themselves on his memory and imagination, and stirred him to emulation. Among this number, described with graphic touches of the pen, were Abbate Fea, Abbate Cancellieri and Monsignor Testa. It is interesting to observe that scholars, or linguists, or historians, or artists, or antiquarians in- terested him far more than thinkers or theologians.' Fea, best known to the world by his notes to Winkelmann, is described as a mine of learning, ' who could bring in illustration of any subject a heap of erudition from every imaginable source — from the classics or Fathers, from medals, bas-reliefs or un- heeded fragments . . . hidden amidst the rubbish of Museum magazines.' ' Day after day,' writes Wise- man, ' one might see him sitting for hours in the same place, in the library of the Minerva, at the librarian's desk, poring to the end of life over old books. . . . The Abbate Fea was verily not a comely ' De Rossi, Mai, Overbeck, Mezzofanti, Fea, Cancellieri, Testa, Zurla, 30 CARDINAL WISEMAN nor an elegant man, at least in his old age ; he had rather the appearance of a piece of antiquity, not the less valuable because yet coated with the dust of years, or a medal still rich in its own oxidisation. He was sharp and rough and decisive in tone as well as dogmatic in judgment. You went up to him rather timidly, at his usual post, to request him to decipher a medal at which one had been poking [perhaps] for hours ; he would scarcely deign to look at it, but would tell you at once whose it was, adding perhaps for your consolation, that it was of no value.' As a personal contrast to Fea, but equally re- markable for erudition, we have the Abbate Cancel- lieri, the writer of works on the quaintest and most fantastic subjects. There is said to be a German book on one of the smallest bones in the body of a carp, and Wiseman's description of the topics selected by Cancellieri recalls this work. He quotes a saying of Niebuhr, that Cancellieri's works * contained some things that were important, many things that were useful, and everything that is superfluous.' Wiseman records the appearance of the man and some of the titles of his w^orks : I remember him coming to pay his annual Christmas visit to the Rector of the College, an octogenarian at least, tall, thin, but erect, and still elastic ; clean and neat to faultlessness, with a courteous manner and the smiling countenance that can be seen only in one who looks back serenely on many years well spent. He used to say he began to write at eighteen, and had continued to eighty ; and certainly there never was a more mis- cellaneous author. The peculiar subjects of which he treats, and even the strange combinations in their very titles, are nothing compared with the unlooked-for matters that are jumbled and jostled together inside. Few would have thought EARLY IMPRESSIONS OE ROME 31 of writing a volume on the ' head physicians of the Popes,' or on the ' practice of kissing the Pope's foot antecedently to the embroidery of the cross on his shoe ' ... or on ' men of great memories who have lost their memories ' ; or, finally, ' on the country houses of Popes and the bite of the tarantula spider.' But the fact is that under these titles are to be found stray waifs and trouvailles of erudition which no one would think of looking for there. Hence his works must be read through to ascertain what they really contain. Another person who would from time to time converse with the EngHsh colleg^ians as they walked on a summer's afternoon on the Pincian Hill, was the Latin secretary to Pius VII., Monsignor Testa, whom Wiseman describes as ' an elegant clas- sical scholar,' and as also ' acquainted with modern languages which he made use of chiefly for the study of geology and other natural sciences. This led,' the Cardinal adds, ' to a particular friendship between him and the English College. He was to be found every afternoon taking his walk on Monte Pincio, generally in company with two or three friends, of whom the illustrious Mai was one. There one could join him, and learn the political or ecclesiastical chit- chat of the day. Sometimes a long-bearded Arme- nian or Syrian, or an American or Chinese missionary, would be in the group, and contribute interesting intelligence from the extremities of the earth.' One of the few ' events ' recorded of these early years took place in the long vacation of 1820. This was the abduction, by banditti, of the Camaldolese anchorites. This venerable band of recluses lived in the immediate neighbourhood of Monte Porzio, whither, as I have said, the English collegians mi- 32 CA EDTNA L IVrSEMA N grated for the summer months. Their dwelling and church, and the hermits themselves, were objects of deep interest to young Wiseman — -an interest added to by the character of some of the men who had left the world for this life of retirement and prayer. One was an ex-general in Napoleon's army ; another a celebrated musician ; another, the representative of one of the greatest Roman families. Some had passed as much as seventy years on the spot. Each lived then, as now, in his own little cottage, in perfect seclusion. A small sitting room [Wiseman writes], a sleeping cell, a chapel completely fitted up in case of illness, and a wood and lumber room, compose the cottage. This is approached by a garden which the occupant tills (but only for flowers), assisted by his own fountain abundantly supplied. While singing None in choir the day's only meal is deposited in a little locker within the door of the cell, for each one's solitary refection. On a few great festivals they dine together ; but not even the Pope at his frequent visits has meat placed before him. Everything is scrupulously clean. The houses, inside and out, the well- furnished library, the strangers' apartments (for hospitality is freely given), and still more the church, are faultless in this respect. And so are the venerable men who stand in choir, and whose noble voices sustain the Church's magnificent psalmody with unwavering slowness of intonation. They are clad in white from head to foot, their thick woollen drapery falling in large folds, and the shaven head but flowing beard, the calm features, the downcast eyes, the often venerable aspect, make everyone a picture as solemn as Zurbaran ever painted, but without the sternness which he sometimes imparts to his recluses.' Constantly seen but never conversed with, these anchorites were regarded by their English neigh- bours with a sense of intimacy and mystery. Often EARLY IMPRESSIONS OF ROME 33 then, as now, the Enghshmcn would enter the Camaldolesc church and Hsten there to the divine office — chanted by the recluses with almost unique slowness and solemnity.' Every morning the first sound which awoke the students was the bell from their campanile^ and the Angelus at noon and in the evening were unfailing reminders of their presence. One morning in September 1820, the bell failed to sound, and the English students soon learnt what had happened. The hermits had been dragged out of bed at night-time and bodily carried away by a troop of bandits. The whole story is told by Wiseman with a schoolboy's sense of adventure. The bandits soon found their hermit prisoners an incubus, and re- leased some of their number — prompted no doubt partly by the hope that their representations would obtain the large ransom demanded for the hostages retained. Soldiers were sent by the government in pursuit, a sharp engagement followed, and the hos- tages were released. It is not wonderful that Monte Porzio was for some time haunted by terror of brigands ; and Wiseman has amusing stories to tell of the fears of his fellow-students, and the false alarms which ensued. Another 'event' of the undergraduate period, narrated with a vivid sense of its associations and significance, is the burning of St. Paul's basilica. This catastrophe happened at the very time when ' The ' Deus in adjutorium ' at the beginning of Vespers — a single verse from one of the Psalms — occupies several minutes as recited by the Camaldolesi. It should Ije added, however, that the rest of Vespers is recited less slowly than this introduction. VOL. I. D 34 CARDINAL WISEMAN Pius VII., who had spent his early years as a monk within its walls, lay dying. The event was carefully concealed from him. Young Wiseman arrived at the basilica when all hope of saving the building was gone. He describes the * melancholy scene,' the tottering walls, the efforts of the fire brigade, the surrounding crowd of spectators. ' There among others,' he writes, ' was the enthusiastic Avvocato Fea almost frantic with grief. He was not merely an antiquarian in sculptures and inscriptions, he was deeply versed in ecclesiastical history, and loved dearly its monuments. St. Paul's was one of the most venerable and precious of these.' It had never been modernised, but remained ' genuine though bare, like St. Apollinaris in Classe at Ravenna.' A great arch, surmounted by a mosaic of the Theodosian period, separated the nave from the transept and apse be- yond. On the arch remained the figure of our Lord, and the inscription by the Empress Galla Placidia, telling how, aided by the great Pontiff Leo, she had finished the work of preceding emperors. It was ' the very title deed of the church ' ; and to preserving it where it had stood for 1400 years all attention was now directed. ' Save the triumphal arch ! ' was among the constant and bewildered cries of Fea ; and it was saved, and now stands in the rebuilt basilica. Thus the depth of the impression left on Wise- man by these years was due to his constant con- tact with Rome itself, its relics of the past, and its life in the present. Two influences are especially to be noted — which became intimately blended — that of EARLY IMPRESSIONS OF ROME 35 the historical associations of early Christian history made by the Catacombs, shrines, and museums ; and the effect of the frequent sight of the Pope himself. No one can reside in Rome without being affected by both these aspects of the life there ; but with Wiseman the impression they made was the deepest of his life. It was deepened by years of close inti- macy with every detail of both aspects : an intimacy represented in later years by the most popular of his books, ' Fabiola,' and by the ' Recollections of the Last Four Popes.' In both of these cases the saying ' things seen are mightier than things heard ' had its application. On a mind more imaginative and sensitive to historical associations than philosophical or speculative, the extraordinary multiplicity of the records of early Christianity had a deep effect. And the suggestion in modern Rome, and in the reigning Pontiff him- self, of that very victory by meekness and firmness, prayer and endurance of wrong, which had led the Christians to the throne of the Caesars, stamped upon Wiseman's mind the unity of type between the two. There was nothing then, as there would have been in the days of a Borgia, or even of a Julius II., either to qualify the enthusiasm which the Papacy naturally arouses in a Catholic, or to give it a character in which the distinctive strength of Christianity might have a secondary place. With Pius in the nineteenth century, as with Cornelius in the third, to rule the Church in peace, or to be exiled and persecuted — either was a destiny cheerfully accepted as by one who remembers that ' here we have no abiding city.' D 2 36 CARDINAL WISEMAN If the material relics of the early Church were seen day by day — the tombs of Apostles and martyrs, the Catacombs, the shrines — the Apostolic spirit too was, it seemed to the young Englishman, still there, living and breathing. The soul of the Church of the martyrs was in Rome as well as its body. Of the earlier triumph of Christian meekness, the Catacombs and many of the churches which the English College camerata visits with great regularity were, indeed, constant reminders. Such a church as that of St. Martina, the young Roman martyr-virgin of the second century, which stands close to the ruins of the Forum, and which year after year the students visit on her feast, praying at the grave, and listening to the traditional music — notably the hymn ' Martinae celebri ' — which repetition engraves on the mind, would give a vividness to the triumph of weak over strong, of death over vigorous life. To describe such impressions is only to say what has become almost meaningless to us from repetition, but to see and hear has a lasting effect. Wiseman has shown in 'Fabiola' how living such stories of the past became to him. The picture of St. Agnes, whose Catacomb he so often visited, whose office he knew by heart, of SS. Sebastian and Pancratius, for whom his imagin- ation completed what history has left unrecorded, are equally real. The descriptions in ' Fabiola,' and ex- planations of the designs and inscriptions in the Catacombs, are numerous and minute. And there are those still among us who testify that he hardly had need to consult a book or a monument while writing his work. EARLY IMPRESSIONS OF ROME yj The decisive symbol of the Christian triumpli which most struck his imagination (as we see from his ' recollections ' of this part of his life) he has de- scribed in ' Fabiola' — namely, the erection of basilicas, after the triumph of Christianity, over the entrances of the different Catacombs in which martyrs had been buried in days of persecution. The ' race that shunned the light of day ' {^gens lucifugd), having prayed for generations in those subterranean vaults, and undermined, by virtue and prayer, the power of the Pagan Rome which feasted and rioted above them, suddenly emerged in the hour of victory, and built the huge memorials of the triumph of per- secuted saints, which are still the scenes of the life and prayer of the city, while the temples are destroyed and the Coliseum and Capitol are in ruins. The following vivid passage from Wiseman's ' Re- collections,' suggested by a walk through corridors leading to the Vatican Library in his early student life, gives this phase of feeling and thought. The corridors had been filled by Pius VII. on the one side with heathen and classical monuments, on the other with Christian. You walk along an avenue, one side adorned by the stately and mature or even decaying memorials of heathen dominion ; the other by the young and growing and vigorous monuments of early Christian culture. There they stand face to face as if in hostile array about to begin a battle long since fought and won. On the right may be read laudatory epitaphs of men whose families were conspicuous in republican Rome, long in- scriptions descriptive of the victories or commemorative of the titles of Nerva or Trajan ; then dedications to deities, an- nouncements of their feasts or fairs in their honour ; and an endless variety of edicts, descriptions of property, sacred and 38 CARDINAL WISEMAN domestic and sepulchral monuments. The great business of a mighty empire, militarj'^, administrative, religious and social, stands catalogued on that wall, and the outward form itself ex- hibits stability and high civilisation. These various records are inscribed with all the elegance of an accomplished stonemason's chisel . . . with occasional ornaments or reliefs that bespeak the sculptor, on blocks or slabs of valuable marbles, with an elegance of phrase that moves the scholar's envy. Opposite to these imperial monuments are arranged a mul- titude of irregular broken fragments of marble, picked up appa- rently here and there, on which are scratched or crookedly carved, in a rude latinity and inaccurate orthography, short and simple notes, not of living achievements, but of deaths and burials. There are no sounding titles or boastful pretensions. This is to a 'sweet wife,' that to a 'most innocent' child, a third to a 'well-deserving' friend. If the other side records victories, this speaks only of losses. . . . Here are the two antagonist races, speaking in their monu- ments like the front lines of two embattled armies, about to close in earnest and decisive battle ; the strong one that lived upon and over the earth, and thrust its rival beneath it, then slept secure like Jupiter above the buried Titans ; and the weak and contemptible that burrowed below and dug its long deep mines, and enrolled its deaths in them, almost under the palaces whence issued decrees for its extermination, and the amphitheatres to which it was dragged up from its caverns to fight with wild beasts. At length the mines were sprung, and heathenism tottered, fell, and crashed like Dagon on its own pavements. And through the rents and fissures basilicas started up from their concealment below, cast in moulds of sand unseen in those depths ; altar and chancel, roof and pavement, baptisteries and pontifical chair, up they rose in brick or marble, wood or bronze, what they had been in friable sandstone below. A new empire, new laws, a new civilisation, new art, a new learning, a new morality, covered the space occupied by the monuments to which the inscriptions opposite belonged. Of Wiseman's sentiments towards the Papacy we shall have to speak more fully later on. Here it is EARLY IMPRESSIONS OF ROME 39 enough to record the deep impression left by the great Papal ceremonies. When we bear in mind the enthu- siasm with which Bunsen, with all his Protestant sym- pathies, speaks at this time of the effect on the ' imagi- nation ' of the ' indescribable solemnity and splendour of the public worship ' in Rome,' and Dean Stanley's testimony a little later, that the Papal ceremonial ' haunted him all the rest of the day,' ' and Macaulay's account of the procession at St. Peter's — ' the most impressive of earthly ceremonies,' as his biographer calls it — we shall scarcely be surprised at their effect on Nicholas Wiseman, ' I record impressions,' he writes — ' impressions never to be effaced. It may be that youth, by its warmth, softens the mould in which they are made, so that they sink deeper, and are produced at the same time more strongly and defi- nitely ; but certainly those earlier pictures remain in the memory as the standard types of what has been many times again seen.' A few examples may be noticed. One is the public blessing of the Pope, from the loggia of St. Peter's, given to ' the city and the world ' — tirbi et orbi. He describes the impatience of the vast crowd assembled in the /zV?^^ Father Maher, S.J. - I am indebted for this last fact to Father W. H. Kent, O.S.C. , who writes : ' I have looked out all these words in Payne Smith's Thesaurus, and find that Cardinal Wiseman's judgment is confirmed in almost every particular.' 58 CARDINAL WISEMAN immediate effect on young Wiseman's fortunes. He was appointed Professor of Oriental Languages in the Roman University by Leo XII. The purely critical part of the work, as distinguished from the polemical, won universal admiration. In those days, although Syriac studies had owed much to the industry of the brothers Assemani, and to such German writers as Eichhorn in the last century, they were still in their infancy ; and first-hand acquaintance with the Syriac MSS. was a rare thing. This may account for a degree of notoriety which so brief a work could hardly have won in some other departments. Among the Cardinal's papers are numerous letters from eminent scholars expressive of interest in the book. Tholuck wrote to the young author in terms of high appreciation ; Father Ackermann wrote from Vienna, Scholz from Bonn. The work was promptly translated into German, and aroused special attention among the German-speaking nations. Its author was in frequent communication during the years following its publication with students of philology and Orientalists. Count Miinster writes on May i6, 1830, begging him to aid in the philological part of his military history of the Mohammedan nations. ' Much depends on your kind co-operation,' he adds. Father Ackermann's letters show that a warm friendship had come from his admiration of Wiseman's ' prasclarum opus,' as he styles it. ' I wondered at your erudition, and I blushed at recognising the slcnderness of my own knowledge ; ORIENTAL STUDIES 59 we are greedily awaiting the second volume,' he writes. • The well-known Chevalier Bunsen, himself a lover of Oriental literature, who succeeded Niebuhr as Prussian Minister at Rome, sought Wiseman's ac- quaintance. Englishmen were not behindhand in their recognition of his work. He was elected a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, and, a little later, in the spring of 1831, an honorary member of the Royal Society of Literature. Epistolary com- munication was opened by him with many learned men — two of his most constant correspondents being Professor Scholz of Bonn, and the Anglican Bishop of Salisbury, Dr. Thomas Burgess. This correspond- ence led to a further and briefer piece of work by Wiseman on Biblical philology, which still holds the field as a masterpiece of judgment and criticism. This formed part of his treatise on the verse on the * three witnesses ' in the First Epistle of St. John. Here again, as with the ' Horae Syriacae,' it was the scholarly, and not the polemical portion which achieved so much success. It was his argument, on philological grounds, for the antiquity of the Itala and its African origin, which was, and is still, regarded as final by many scholars. ' On the ground of internal evidence,' writes Mr. Scrivener in 1883, ' Wiseman has made out a case which all who have followed him, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Davidson, Tregelles, accept as irresistible ; indeed, it is not easy to draw any other conclusion from his elaborate comparison of the words, the phrases, and ' Letters of February and July 182S. 6o CARDINAL WISEMAN grammatical construction of the Latin versions of Holy Scripture with the parallel instances by which they can be illustrated from African writers, and from them only.' ' Professor R. C. Jebb, in his ' Life of Bentley,' bears a similar testimony. 1 find the record in the early thirties of donations from Wiseman to the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain — among them a ' Cingalese MS. on the psalms, and a facsimile of the Divan of the Sabians made from the autograph of Father Ignatius a Jesu.' Dr. (after- wards Cardinal) Cullen was associated with Wiseman in some of his work for the Society, as a member of the translation committee, and among books which they arranged to translate was a history of Mecca and a history of the Circassian dynasty of Mamelukes. I have not discovered if these projects were carried into execution. Of Wiseman's literary rapprochejiicnts perhaps those with Bunsen and with Tholuck and with the Bishop of Salisbury were the most fruitful in results. To the Bishop of Salisbury he owed his first intro- duction to the notice of English critics and his election to various learned societies ; to Tholuck — as to Bunsen — important German introductions.^ Both men were in different ways considerable centres of literary society — Tholuck at Berlin, Bunsen at Rome. A few letters may be given as samples of this phase of Wiseman's life. Tholuck visits Rome (about ' A Plain Jul rod net ion, Sec, p. 43. - An interesting account of Augustus Tholuck will be found in Fusey^s Life (i. pp. 78 seq,). He was a great linguist and a theological professor at Berlin, as well as a specialist in Biblical exegesis. ORIENTAL STUDIES 6i 1829). Wiseman helps him in his researches at the Vatican, and introduces to him the missionary and Arabic student Padre Sebastiani. Tholuck writes to him thus : I am much obliged to you for your kindness in transcribing for me all the Syriac passages. In whatever manner I can be of service to you in Germany depend upon me that you will find me ever ready. I have spoken with Mr. Bunsen about your visiting him. He says he will be at home, if nothing un- foreseen occurs, on Wednesday till eleven o'clock, and will be happy to see you in the course of the morning. I have been particularly delighted at the conversation of Mr. Sebastiani ; he is indeed one of the ablest missionaries I ever saw, and seems to have a deep knowledge of Arabic and Persian. We did not talk in any language but Arabic. ... I leave Rome to-morrow at six. Ever yours most truly, A. Tholuck. Tell Mr. d'Allemand that I shall write to him from Germany. The following note from Bunsen (belonging to the winter of 1829) introduces to Wiseman the Arabic scholar Dr. Kluge : My dear Doctor Wyseman (^-/r), — Allow me to introduce to your kindness by these lines Dr. Kluge., an Oriental scholar, a native from Saxony, who returns just now from Alexandria, and intends to winter here, in order to profit as much as possible of the treasures in Arabian MSS. which so fortunately are placed under your special care. Doctor Kluge has been introduced by the Saxon Agent to Monsignor Mai, who has promised him every assistance. I hope soon to have the great pleasure of a conversation with you, and am, My dear Doctor Wyseman, Yours most sincerely, Bunsen. PaKizzo Caffarelli ; Dcbr. 13, 1829. 62 CARDINAL WISEMAN The transcription of facsimiles of important MSS. was one feature of Wiseman's work, and the following letter to the Bishop of Salisbury gives an idea of his labours in this department : My LORD,^The artist who is in the habit of drawing fac- similes for Monsignor Mai has been so long indisposed that the learned librarian, in whose friendship and kindness I feel an honour and a pleasure, requested nie to comply, as well as I could, with your Lordship's wish of having a copy of the cele- brated verse i John v. 7 as it stands in the Vatican Codex Ottobonensis, 289. I have now the honour of inclosing two copies, one in outline and the other coloured, as accurate as the faintness of the MS. and the inconvenient position of the verse, which runs deep into the inner margin, would allow me to trace them. I shall now take the liberty of making a few remarks, which may be of some use in explaining the facsimile. The MS. from which it is taken is a very small quarto, on vellum, 'ex Codd. Joannis Angeli Ducis ab Altaemps.' It bears the title 'Acta Apostolorum et Epistote B. Pauli et aliorum.' Each page contains two columns, the Latin on the left, or placed first, and the Greek on the right. The Latin is in square or Gothic characters, and the MS. may belong to the age in which Scholz has placed it. The MS. seems not to have been finished, for at the beginning of one or two of the Epistles the space for the first large letter, occupying the breadth of two lines, is left blank, as well as the top line, evidently showing that the Antiquarius intended to fill it up at leisure in a more ornamental style, as is the case in the other books. He has not even put a title to the book, the one I quoted above being the modern title. The text begins at once with ' Primum quidem sermonem.' After the Acts comes the Epistle of St. James, and the other lesser ones ; last, those of St. Paul. Our verse occurs fol. 105. ... I have already observed that the ink was faded. It is, in fact, become \)xo\vx\, flavescois, so as to appear much more ancient than the character indicates. In some places it is completely faded or scaled off, so that it was with the greatest difficulty that I could catch the traces of several letters. On this account I made two copies, and I think the one in outline may be considered the more correct. The ORIENTAL STUDIES 63 first word in the sixth line differs in them, for it is ahnost quite vanished, but here also the copy in pencil, which was done last, and with a better light, may be most safely followed. I have been thus minute because I know by experience that when descriptions and notices of this sort are sent to a distance, many little objects are wished to be known which appear of little importance to the person who has them under his eye. . . . Professor Scholz has been so kind as to forward to me the printed parts of his new critical edition of the N. T They consist of more than one hundred pages of prolegomena and the text to St. Luke. I should think the whole is now printed. I have compared it with Griesbach on one or two passages, as the conclusion of St. Mark, and think it very satis- factory. But, of course, he has not disclosed his intentions regarding the Three Witnesses. Monsignor Mai requests your Lordship to accept his best thanks for your Lordship's work and his offers of service I ha\'e the honour to remain, my Lord, Your Lordship's obedient humble servant, N. Wiseman. English College, Rome : Sept. 24, 1829. The Bishop's answer runs thus : Palace, Salisbury: Nov. 20, 1829. Rev. Sir, — I return you my best thanks for your very kind and obliging letter, and for the very acceptable facsimile of I John v. 7 which accompanied it. I have delayed my acknowledgment of your letter longer than I could have wished that I might send you the engraving of your facsimile, which is on the top of this page. ... I was unwilling to trust your copy to the post, but will take it to London the first time I go there, that the engraver may compare it with what he has executed from the traced copy. The ' Codex Ottobonensis ' will contribute effectually to vindicate the ' Complutensian ' text from Mr. Porson's charges of fabrication. I have, in a Charge which I delivered to the Clergy of this Diocese last summer, consider- ably strengthened the evidence in favour of our verse, of which I should most gladly beg your acceptance if the rest of the 64 CARDINAL WISEMAN Charge did not contain a large detail of the differences between our two Churches. Pray present my most respectful compliments and thanks to Monsignor Mai for his very obliging attention in forwarding my wishes respecting the facsimile of i John v. 7. With many thanks for your kind offer of future assistance in pursuit of my inquiry, I am, Reverend Sir, Your obliged and humble servant, T. Saru.m. It would give me great pleasure to hear of the publication of the second volume of your very interesting ' Horit SyriacEe.' Some of the years spent in the preparation of the ' Horae Syriacae ' were also years of importance in Wiseman's spiritual history. The imaginative delight in Rome as a living witness to the faith entirely left him, and at the same time he was attacked by mental disturbances and doubts of the truth of Christianity. There are contemporary indications, and still plainer accounts in the letters of his later life, of acute suffer- ing from these trials. The study of Biblical criticism, even in the early stage it had then reached, seems immediately to have occasioned them ; and the suffer- ing they caused him was aggravated into intense and almost alarming depression by the feebleness of his bodily health. This phase of his life must be given in his own words. ' Many and many an hour have I passed,' he writes to a nephew in 1 848, ' alone, in bitter tears, on the loggia of the English College, when everyone was reposing in the afternoon, and I was fighting with subtle thoughts and venomous sugges- tions of a fiendlike infidelity which I durst not confide to anyone, for there was no one that could have ORIENTAL STUDIES 65 sympathised with mc. This lasted for years ; but it made me study and think, to conquer the plague — for I can hardly call it danger — both for myself and for others. . . . But during the actual struggle the simple submission of faith is the only remedy. Thoughts against faith must be treated at the time like tempta- tions against any other virtue — put away ; though in cooler moments they may be safely analysed and unravelled.' In another letter, of 1 858, he speaks with painful feeling of these years as 'years of solitude, of desolation . . . years of shattered nerves, dread often of instant insanity, consumptive weakness, of sleep- less nights and weary days, and hours of tears which no one witnessed.' Of the effect of these years of ' desolation ' on his character he speaks as being ' simply invaluable.' It completed what Ushaw had begun, the training in patience, self-reliance, and concentration in spite of mental depression. It was amid these trials, he adds, ' that I wrote my " Hora^ Syriacje " and col- lected my notes for the lectures on the " Connection between Science and Revealed Religion" and the " Eucharist." Without this training I should not have thrown myself into the Puseyite controversy at a later period.' Any usefulness which discovered itself in later years he considers the ' result of self- discipline ' during his inner conflict. The struggle so absorbed his energies that his early life was passed almost wholly free from the special trials to which that period is liable. He speaks of his youth as in that respect ' almost temptationless.' His mental trials appear to have passed away VOL. I. F 66 CARDINAL WISEMAN about the year 1829, when he settled down to a state of resokite conviction. But the expansive delight in Rome, its associations and religious life, did not return for some years. In the same year in which the ' Hora; Syriacai' was completed — 1827 — Wiseman received an appoint- ment which, for the first time, took him out of the sphere of a student's life and brought him more prominently among his fellow-men. He chanced to be in company with the Rector of the College at an audience with Leo XII., and that Pontiff ex- pressed a wish that special services and a course of English sermons should be commenced in some church, for the benefit of the numerous English sojourners in Rome. The Rector consented, and suggested that Wiseman should undertake the func- tions of preacher. The church of Gesii e Maria, in the Corso, was chosen as the locale for the experiment, and the Pope took the liveliest interest in the arrange- ments, paying incidental expenses himself, and send- ing a detachment of the Papal choir to render the services especially attractive. The diary already cited has the following entry on December 9, 1827: 'Dr. Wiseman preached his first sermon at the Gesit e Maria on Repentance, The Pope sent twelve singers from his choir.' An- other sermon, on the Love of God, is recorded on February 10 of the following year. Wiseman looked back at these sermons as a provi- dential preparation for his later life of public activity. They cost him infinite labour at starting. ' It would b<3 impossible to describe the anxiety, pain, and ORIENTAL STUDIES 67 trouble,' he writes ' which this command [of the Pope] cost for many years after.' The sermons were for years learnt by heart ; but eventually this became unnecessary, and he ultimately acquired considerable facility in preaching. Leo could not see [he writes] what has been the influence of his commission in merely dragging from commerce with the dead to that of the living one who would gladly have confined his time to the former — from books to men, from reading to speaking. Nothing but [his command] would have done it. Yet supposing that the province of one's life was to be active and in contact with the world, and one's future destinies were to be in a country and in times when the most bashful may be driven to plead for his religion and his flock, surely a command overriding all inclination and forcing the will to undertake the best and only preparation for those tasks, may well be contemplated as a sacred impulse and a timely direction to a mind that wanted both. Had it not come then it never would have come. Other bents would soon have become stiffened and unpliant.^ In the following year — in June 1828 — Dr. Grad- well, the Rector of the English College, was made a bishop and sent to England, and Wiseman, who was not yet twenty-six years old, succeeded him as Rector of the College.'- We note henceforth a great change in his life, for which circumstances had already been preparing him. The ' Horae Syriacse ' had by this time made him a marked man in the learned world, and visitors to Rome sought him out as a person of distinction. As the chief English preacher in Rome, he was turned to for advice and guidance, in the not unfrequent cases of the reconciliation of Englishmen ' /Recollections, &c. - He was at first named temporary rector or Pro-rector, but the appointment was permanently confirmed in the following December. F 2 68 CARDINAL WISEMAN to Catholicism ; and his new appointment gave him the prominence attaching to the official representative of English Catholics in Rome. We find in a rough diary — so rough as to be unfit to quote from at length — indications of his daily life in the summer of 1828, and it shows the change in his habits. Hitherto a shy student, associating little with his neighbours, from the time of Dr. Gradwell's nomina- tion and the success of his book, not only had he to attend to the business of the College, but he appears to have mixed freely in society, and to have corresponded with the learned world in various countries. His already full and varied college life — a life of reading, of lecturing and preaching, of the musician and art critic — thus became united with a marked growth of external relations. * When shall I once more be quietly at my books ? ' he writes on July 12, after a month of unceasing alter- nations of business, society, and elaborate corre- spondence. We may give some samples of his daily occupa- tions which may be gleaned from the diary. On June 24 Dr. Gradwell is consecrated ; Cardinal Zurla, who had succeeded the great Consalvi as Cardinal Protector of the College, officiates. Wise- man conducts the music (the alternate verses of the Te Deuin, he notes, were in four parts, without organ). Company present, Monsignori Nicolai, Testa, Baines, Gasparini (the intimate friend of Leo XH.), Cappacini (Consalvi's ex-secretary). Lord Arundell of Wardour, Mr. Colyar (whose name is familiar to those who have read Macaulay's account of his visit to Rome ORIENTAL STUDIES 69 in 1838), Abbati Testa, Santucci, and Fornari (after- wards a Cardinal). Dinner follows, then a walk, and vespers at St. John Lateran's. Wiseman's musical soul revels in the psalms, especially the Credidi and Bcatiis vir. Next day the morning is spent in accompanying Dr. Gradwell on visits of ceremony to various Cardinals, and in fixing an audience at the Vatican. He dines at Duke Torlonia's, meets there Lord and Lady Arundell, Madame Men- doza, two Russians, Herr Thorwaldsen the great sculptor, and others. Then to Villa Borghese, and in the evening to a party at Princess Massimo's. A long talk with Lady Westmorland and a short one with Cardinal Gregori are chronicled. June 28 is spent in writing his inaugural discourse as Rector, and preparing the Mass music (Zingarelli, No. 2) for the next day. We have (a few days later) an indica- tion of what these musical rehearsals sometimes in- volved. He copies out the parts himself in the case of favourite pieces of music which have never been published, and the musical performers to be supplied with copies comprise, not only a choir, but two violins, a 'cello, and two clarinets, as well as an organist — all residents at the College. On July I a visit to Mgr. Testa, who is reading Pritchard on Egyptian Mythology, and to Sir W. Gell, are noted. Then comes an expedition to Kelsall's studio in the Piazza Barberini. Wiseman admires his statue of Discobolus ' taking aim with his discus — the moment which must operate most powerfully on his expression, for after that moment the chief object to be represented would be muscular 70 CARDINAL WISEMAN exertion.' Kelsall shows him also the abbozzo of a monument of ' an ambassadress of Holland.' * She will be represented recumbent just before expiring, with the crucifix on her breast, gazing up with her last effort towards her daughter, who comes in the form of an angel to call her. This is founded on fact : the Countess had for several years been disconso- late for the loss of this daughter, and I believe her grief had accelerated her end, when, a few moments before it, she revived and exclaimed, " I see my daughter coming for me," and instantly after expired. Thence we went to De Fabri's, to see his model for the monument to Tasso.' Later in the day he goes to a party at Countess Carpegna's, and records a conversation ' on ideology and memory, occasioned by the paralytic stroke which has afflicted Mgr. Mario, and which has destroyed his memory of substantives. Fornari mentioned the librarian at Milan, Mazzuchelli, who has so far lost his memory as to have to take a master for reading and writing.' Audiences with Cardinal Zurla and with the Pope are on the 5th and 9th of July ; at the latter an honorary degree in Divinity is obtained for Dr. Grif- fiths, afterwards Vicar Apostolic of the London dis- trict and then President of St. Edmund's College, Old Hall. A few days later, after Dr. Gradwell's departure, we have a letter from Ackermann of Vienna with news of a fresh Austrian review of the ' Hora; Syriacae.' The letter and Arabic extracts enclosed are sent by Wiseman to Professor d'Allemand at the Apollinare, and afterwards discussed with him. Dinner at Lady ORIENTAL STUDIES 7 1 Westmorland's at Palazzo Rospigliosi. Present, Lady Campbell, Marchesa de la Grua (with whom he con- verses on Spain), the Giuntatardis, Dr. Nott, an ex-tutor to Princess Charlotte, now engaged in col- lecting MSS. of Dante at the great Benedictine Library at Monte Casino. ' When I was leaving with the rest, Lady Westmorland called me back, made me sit by her . . . and went through all her griev- ances on the Blessingtons' account. Luckily Lord Dudley Stuart came in, and at the Ave Maria I made my escape : sic me servavit Apollo' The next few days are occupied entirely in teaching and in preparing the lectures on the Eucharist. There is a dinner party at Cardinal Zurla's on the 23rd : among the company Monsignori Testa and Gasparini. The former tells Wiseman of the Pope's intention to form an Oriental Society, of which Wiseman is to be a member. A long talk with Monsignor Mai is chronicled on the 30th. Both he and Monsignore Testa ' had a thousand questions to ask about O'Connell's proceedings,' which reminds us that Catholic emancipation was in prospect. O'Connell's coiip in standing for county Clare, in order to emphasise before the world the injustice of his exclusion for religion, is duly chronicled a few days earlier. The entry on August 2 begins as follows : — ' My birthday. I have now completed 26. Said Mass for myself, to obtain that the next and following years of my life may be spent more to the purpose for myself and others than my last and those which preceded it. Made good determinations — may they 72 CARDINAL WISEMAN not prove like those which have vanished before them.' The journal ends in the autumn. We find, in August, an expedition to Monte Porzio, frequent visits to Hbraries — as S. Agostino and the Minerva — learned conversations with Professor d'Allemand, correspondence with Ackermann and Volke, and a breakfast party at Cardinal Zurla's. An in- cidental reference to another Roman student, after- wards, like Wiseman, an English-speaking Cardinal, may be noted. On August 25 we read : ' Cullen came in to ask me to go to Frascati to see young Mr. Hillyer . . . who has just become a Catholic' On the same day reference is made to the deaths of two ex-students — deaths full of fervour and con- solation. When I consider [he writes] that the most virtuous are culled from among us, and such poor wretches as myself left to be the supports of God's holy religion, it makes me fear His judgments are upon us, and that He only leaves us because we are not fit to pass to His enjoyment. May the examples He has given us not be thrown away. How little does the world look when viewed from the death-bed of the just. An anecdote, told by a guest at one of Wise- man's dinner parties, gives a characteristic glimpse of Italian life. ' The agent of the Pallavicini family, Golt, father to the professor of that name at the Sapienza, went on business to Calabria. [While he was in one of the villages] he felt a stroke on his shoulder. He looked round, and saw a gun resting on his shoulder — it fired, and a man before him dropped. " Non e ORIENTAL STUDIES 73 niente," said the murderer, seeing his amazement ; " era un mal create." Golt took flight instantly for Rome.' Other items are further dinners at Duke Tor- Ionia's and Lord Arundell's ; a conversation with Monsignor Testa on a newly discovered Egyptian MS. of the time of Socrates ; an interview with the Patriarch of Jerusalem, with whose deacon (Hazar by name) Wiseman had been corresponding in Syriac ; an invitation to Monsignori Testa and Mai to stay at the country house of the English College at Monte Porzio. It was on occasion of the yearly visit to Monte Porzio — whither he repaired, as usual, in the course of August 1828 — that Wiseman had his chief opportunity for the close acquaintance with Italian country life and the native peasantry, of which he ever preserved so affectionate a remembrance. Porzio itself is a typical Italian village ; and the beauty of the surrounding country gives a romantic background for the action of the drama of village life. Like most villages in the Tusculan territory, as he reminds us/ it crowns a hill ; but ' so luxuri- ously clothed is it . . . that the village and its church seem not to sit on a rocky summit, but to be half sunk into the lap of the olive, the vine and the waving corn.' The country house of the English College is in the village; and 'while its entrance and front are upon the regular streets of the little town, the garden side stands upon the very verge of the hill- top ; and the view after plunging at once to the ' Recollectioiis. 74 CARDINAL WISEMAN depths of the valley, along which runs a shady wood, rises up a gentle acclivity vine and olive clad. Above, this is clasped by a belt of stately chestnuts, the bread-tree of the Italian peasant ; and thence springs a round craggy mound, looking stern and defiant, like what it was — the citadel of Tusculum. Upon its rocky front our students have planted a huge cross.' Here, as I have already said, were spent the three months of villeggiatura in the summer ; and Wiseman enjoyed the pleasures of Italian country life, superintending the College property, its vine- yards and cornfields, its farm and live stock. All the College servants and dependents were Italians, and the Italian peasant became his daily companion. It is to the undiscriminating attacks made in those years, by English Protestant visitors, on the religious customs of the Italian peasantry, that we owe Wise- man's graphic touches of description of these customs, which formed so characteristic a part of his own holiday life at Porzio.' An English tourist had •Stigmatised the mW-ac^o. festa as 'buffoonery,' and had intimated that the sight of it made him ' despise ' the villagers ' in his heart.' Wiseman could not let such remarks pass, constant witness as he had been of the beauty and dignity added to the lives of the peasants by their daily Mass and annual festa, and of the happiness gained and crime avoided by their simple and childlike enjoyment of its pageantry. He, in the course of an indignant reply, gave the ' The descriptive passages which follow are taken from Wiseman's Essays^ vol. iii. p. 507 scq. k ORIENTAL STUDIES 75 evidence of a resident who knew and loved the people, against that of a passing traveller. ' I recall impressions,' he says, ' which can never be plucked from my heart, and which the narrow-minded misre- presentations of travellers can only restore to fresh vividness and beauty.' And he proceeds to describe the scenes so often witnessed, and the sentiments they aroused in him. He pictures the crowd of vil- lagers going daily to Mass at daybreak to prepare for their work. ' Go any morning,' he writes, ' into the villages of Italy and see before the sun has risen the entire population crowded in the church, and kneeling during the same liturgy as forms the Sunday service, and hear them raise their clear and cheery voices in a choral litany ; then watch them, as they depart from calling down the blessing of heaven on their daily labour, dispersing in merry groups down the hill, to dress the vine, joining with the lark in their shrill ritorncllo ; the little ones tripping in joyous haste before the sober elders in their picturesque costumes, till they vanish through the side-scenes of mingled vines and olives to toil through the sultry day.' He passes to the yQ.?^x\y f est a, the celebration in honour of the patron saint of the village. And we can see the figure of Wiseman himself amid the scene he describes, scanning with eager interest all its features. ' Visit one of those beautiful villages on its special festival,' he writes. ' In the morning you are aroused from your slumber by the loud peal of the church bells, and the discharge of a hundred small mortars, to which the surrounding hills reply by their successive 76 CARDINAL WISE Af AN echoes, as if to accept, on behalf of their inhabitants, the joyful invitation which the summons conveys. With no fear that any interruption will come from the weather in that delicious climate, you wander forth, through a pure and fragrant air, and admire the preparation of days, on which all the resources of natural taste and practised ingenuity have been expended.' There are triumphal arches, festooned with ever- greens, inscriptions on the drapery, in excellent latinity, telling of the glories of the patron saint : there are sonnets in his honour by the village poet affixed to the doorposts of the church : there is the village band preparing to play, dressed in rich holiday uniform. Then, as the time for the High Mass ap- proaches, you see the peasants of the village and neighbourhood arriving ' in all the bravery of their elegant and rich costumes ; the constant stream which flows from every side into the open doors of the church — all . . . under the cloudless canopy of a summer sky, with a background of chestnut-woods, and an horizon of bold mountains just catching the rising sun.' The church itself is ' tapestried and lighted at their willing cost,' and has secured in honour of the day ' the most solemn music which the nearest towns can afford.' The procession includes ' the several confraternities arrayed in flowing robes, with their banners and crosses.' ' The evening litany ' is sung by the whole congregation, and the * organ is powerless amidst the choral shout of thousands.' It is their religion which binds the villagers together and forms an essential part of their local ORIENTAL STUDIES 77 life ; and the festa is the national expression of religion in an Italian. ' The municipal character of the Italian villages,' Wiseman adds, ' the right of local administration which they all possess, seems to localise the attachments of their inhabitants . . . and religion, in a Catholic country, is necessarily the channel through which such a disposition will best be manifested.' The notables of the place take the lead in all the ceremonies, and the poorer peasantry help with alacrity, and Wiseman testifies to the 'harmonious feeling of brotherhood which binds together the entire population on such occasions, and through their influence at all times.' For the understanding on- lookers, the effect is to raise them ' above the dull level of daily emotions, by finding themselves asso- ciated in voice and heart with the vine-dresser and the mountaineer.' Such, too, was its effect upon the great historian Joseph Gorres ; and Wiseman recalls his testimony to the true dignity and sense of the fitness of things which the Italian peasant shows on such occasions. ' The feeling of propriety,' writes the German historian, ' which restrains their natural vivacity within the bounds of decorum, renders intercourse with the most uncultivated classes agreeable. [They have not] the rustic manners and uncouthness of the corresponding class in other countries ; ... if we abstract positive scientific knowledge, which they cannot be supposed lo possess, and look only to the relations of society, little more would be necessary to transform them into noblemen than to change their outward garb.' Of this natural dignity Wiseman used to say that it 78 CARDINAL WISEMAN showed itself in childhood, and that he had seen Italian peasant girls of twelve or thirteen speak with gesture and manner suitable to Electra or Lady Macbeth. The more humorous side of Italian life did not escape Wiseman's observation. Italian gesticulation — that wonderful dumb language to which we have no parallel in England — formed a subject of constant and amused study, not only among the Tusculan peasantry, but in its more elaborate forms in the towns, notably in Naples. He thus describes the general appearance to an outsider of an animated conversation at a cafe in the street : Gesture succeeds gesture with wonderful rapidity ; the head and trunk shake and writhe sympathetically with the agitation of the limbs, and long before an angry feeling has been expressed, a stranger fancies that they are in a towering passion, and considers their motions as the senseless and un- meaning convulsions of two madmen. Now, all the time not a finger is moved, not a shoulder shrugged, not a lip compressed or curled, but by rule — that is, without its having a determinate invariable signification. . . . This fixed meaning is, he explains, in part merely conventional, and in part derived from the natural language of dumb show. Hunger is expressed by beating the ribs with the flat of the hands. This signifies that the sides meet, or are weak from want of something between them. But hunger is a child of poverty ; and hence the parent comes to be represented by the same sign. Some of the examples he gives of whole conver- sations carried on in dumb show are curious and worth citing : ORIENTAL STUDIES 79 Ask, for example, the character of a man with whom you have to deal, and suppose your adviser to prefer answering by signs. If he place his finger on his forehead, he tells you that he is a man of sense ; if he press his thumb against his temple, leaving the open hand to stretch forward from the side of his face, he indicates his affinity to the long-eared race. If, with his forefinger, he draw down the outer corner of his eye, he intimates that he is a cunning rogue, with whom you must be upon your guard — literally, that he squints, and you can never be sure which way he looks. To denote that he is an honest and upright man, he will stretch out his hand steadily, joining the tips of his thumb and forefinger, as if holding by them scales nicely balanced. If, on the other hand, he hook together the little fingers of both hands, and move these forward, swerving from side to side, and shaking the other fingers, he means to inform you that he is like the crab, which his hands mimic, tortuous in his ways. The thumb pressing on the first joint of the forefinger, as if cutting it off, means that he is ' only so large,' a man of narrow ideas and little mind. The expressions for good or bad are more difficult to characterise as they depend much upon the countenance. The negative shake of the finger, with a face expressive of aversion, will mean the latter ; the hand thrown upwards, and the head back, with a prolonged ' Ah,' the former. Here is another specimen of a conversation carried on entirely by gesture : You will ask if a man be rich or not, by an inquiring glance and nod towards him, at the same time that you strike your pocket, or rub the points of finger and thumb, as though count- ing out money. Your silent friend, by the proper nods, looks, and motions of the hands, tells you ' No,' or ' So, so,' or ' Exceed- ingly,' which last is expressed by a toss of the hand and head, and a half sort of whistle, or something between that and a hiss. Well, suppose the latter ; you ask by word or by look how he has become so. Your informant with his thumb rubs his forehead from side to side to signify that it was by the sweat of his brow, his industry and application. But perhaps he does not raise his hand so high, but takes hold of his cheek between his thumb and closed fingers, shaking the hand. 8o CARDINAL WISEMAN That informs you that he has made his fortune by bribery and peculation. He may come lower still, and, doubling up his hand, put his thumb, bent like a hook, under his chin, and you shall understand that he has taken advantage of others' neces- sities for his profit, having placed a hook in their jaws. . . . Should the answer have been unfavourable to the person's pecuniary condition, and you inquire the reason, as he was known once to have been rich, the reply may be no less varied. For instance, your informant, joining all the fingers of one or both hands together, as he wishes to be more or less emphatic, brings their tips near his mouth, and then, blowing on them a long deliberate puff, with swelled cheeks, withdraws and throws them open, as though they were blown asunder and scattered by the breath. This naturally indicates that the fortune of which you asked has been dissipated one hardly knows how, but by general inattention. Should he close up his fist, and, throwing back his head, point repeatedly with his extended thumb towards his mouth, he will assign drink as the sad cause. Should the same gesture be made with the united points of all the fingers and thumb, more solid extravagance, by eating, will be denoted. In fine, if, closing his left hand before his breast, as if holding something tight between its thumb and forefinger, he, with the same finger of the right equally shut, appear to draw that imaginary thing out with difficulty, the meaning is that gambling has been the ruinous practice ; for the action represents a trick which gamesters have in drawing out a card from their hand. The extreme definiteness of the dumb language has made it serviceable on occasions of historic interest. Wiseman records the tradition of its use in the awful massacre known as the Sicilian Vespers, the day and hour for the massacre of the French being fixed without the interchange of a syllable. Another instance which he gives conveys perhaps a still better idea of the wide range of the language of gesture : A curious example occurred [he writes] of the utility of ges- tures some years ago. When old Ferdinand, the darling of the ORIENTAL STUDIES 8i Neapolitans, returned to his capital after the foolish Revolution of 1822, he presented himself at a balcony, to the assembled multitude of repentant and delighted lazzaroni. Neapolitans never speak : they always shout ; and, in newspaper phrase, to obtain a hearing was, on this occasion, out of the question. The king, however, was a thorough Neapolitan, and under- stood the language of the fingers, if he did not that of flowers ; so he made his address, for we cannot call it a speech, in it. He reproved them for their past naughtiness, he threatened them with greater severity if they again misbehaved, and, after exhorting them to good conduct, ordered them to disperse and go home quietly. Every gesture was understood, without a word, amidst the most deafening sounds. Among the eminent men with whom Wiseman was naturally intimate during the years 1823 to 1829 were the Cardinal-Protectors of the English College who were its official patrons, and the honoured guests of the Rector on special occasions both in Rome and at Monte Porzio. The first of these was Cardinal Consalvi, and although he died two years before Wiseman's nomination as Vice-Rector in 1827, he left a vivid impression on the younger man. Consalvi's historic relations with Napoleon, the diplomatic skill with which he urged the Papal claims at the Congress of Vienna, and the special friendliness which subsisted between him and England, combined to mark him out as a fascinating study for the impressionable young Englishman. Napoleon by his decree of 18 14 had restored to the Papacy only a small portion of its territory. Consalvi succeeded in winning for it, from the Powers assembled at the Congress, the three Legations, the Marches of Ancona, and the Duchies of Benevento and Ponte Corvo. Wiseman reports a saying of Lord Castlereagh's, that Consalvi VOL. I. G 8:2 CARDINAL WISEMAN was the ablest diplomatist at the Congress. He appears to have been marked by the simplicity of aim and absence of all personal vanity which are often more effective than the conventional attributes of the diplomatist. Here is the verdict, recorded by Wiseman, of a shrewd judge of character, whose guest Consalvi had been for a fortnight during his exile in France. * True humility in an extraordinary and heroic degree is the characteristic of this Cardinal — therefore he must have been the first politician at the Congress of Vienna.' Consalvi made many friendships in England, when he visited that country in 1814; and he corre- sponded with George IV. His simple and priestly character seems to have come as a surprise upon those who had for so long been deeply prejudiced against the ' astuteness ' of the typical Italian cleric. It is interesting to learn, moreover, that he owed his earliest advancement to the patronage of an Englishman— the last of our ill-fated Stuarts, the Cardinal Duke of York, Bishop of Frascati. Young Consalvi's skill, as a boy, in a musical performance, attracted the attention of the English prince and Cardinal, and won for the young Italian his friend- ship and interest. Wiseman's account of Consalvi's appearance and habits is worth citing : His eye . . . seemed the outward symbol of his intelli- gence. Deeply seated under shaggy and overhanging brows, it had a sharp penetrating point of light, which looked you through, without suggesting a thought of keenness or of cun- ning. It was the brilliancy of a gem, not of a fire-spark. His countenance had a mildness in it which modified any sharpness ORIENTAL STUDIES 83 of expression apparent in his eagle eye. His voice also was soft, though perhaps rather husky and unmusical. . . . His habits were most simple. There was no luxury about him in house or person. His dress was not more than decent. His tastes were refined. If in early youth he attracted the notice of an eminent patron by his taste and skill in music, he became in his turn the friend and protector of another, to whom music was a profession. This was Cimarosa, the well- known composer of the Matrimoiiio sej^reto, and of much ex- cellent sacred music. Like Mozart, he composed a splendid Requiem, which he dedicated and gave to his friend the Car- dinal. He, in his turn, had it executed for the first time at the composer's obsequies performed by his orders. . . . In the transaction of business, the Cardinal Secretary of State was most assiduous. In addition to the burthen of his manifold duties, he had, according to Italian custom, to devote certain hours of the day to audiences, not bespoken before- hand, but granted to all ranks and all descriptions of persons. His memory and accuracy in the discharge of this often irk- some duty were wonderful. After he had admitted separately all those whose position or known business entitled them to this distinction, he sallied forth into his ante-room, filled with humbler suppliants. He passed from one to another, heard with patience what each had to say, took his memorial from his hand, and named a day for his answer. Female petitioners were admitted separately, often while he partook of his solitary and simple meal in the middle of the day ; when they were allowed more scope for prolixity of speech. To those who came for their replies, he was ever ready to give them ; and it is said, that seldom or never did he mistake a person, or his business, though he had only learnt them for the first time some weeks before. Consalvi, bound by such intimate ties to Pius VII., was known to be no friend of Cardinal della Genga, who succeeded Pius, in 1823, as Leo XII, Cardinal della Somaglia replaced Consalvi as Secretary of State to the new Pontiff, but a touching interview between Consalvi and Leo, a ie'w weeks only, as it 84 CARDINAL WISEMAN proved, before the former's death, ended in the com- plete healing of any breach there had been in the past, and in his appointment to the influential post of Prefect of Propaganda. The private diary of the English College records as one of the last recollections of Consalvi — he died in January 1824 — his satisfaction at hearing from one of the collegians (perhaps Wiseman himself) who had just returned from England, that the London papers had universally lamented the death of Pius VII. and spoken with admiration of his character. Consalvi was buried, not in the Pantheon — of which he was Cardinal Deacon — but in the grave of his brother the Marquis Andrea di Consalvi, in the Church of St. Marcellus, in accordance with a touching compact made between the brothers in their lifetime. Their life-long and almost romantic affection was commemorated in the inscription on their tomb : QUI • CUM ■ SINGULARI • AIMORE ' DUM • VIVEBANT ' SE • MUTUO ■ DILEXERUNT ' CORPORA • ETIAM * SUA * UNA • EADEMQUE • URNA • CONDI • VOLUERE • It was found at his death that he had accumulated a considerable fortune. But this had not led him to change his simple habits. ' He certainly spent but little on himself, and he was no lover of money,' writes Cardinal Wiseman. ' Whatever he had saved, he left chiefly for religious and charitable purposes. By his will he bequeathed his diplomatic presents, three very rich snuff-boxes, to complete the unfinished fronts of three churches, Ara-Coeli, the Consolazione, and San ORIENTAL STUDIES 85 Rocco. He left trifling legacies to friends, among others to the Duchess of Devonshire, and some of Lord Castlereagh's family, and to the [Countess] of Albany a graceful acknowledgment of his obligations to the Stuarts, of whom she was the last representa- tive. The bulk of his property he willed to Propa- ganda for the support of Foreign Missions, subject to annuities to his dependents.' Others, besides Consalvi, helped young Wiseman to picture to himself the drama of the Papal for- tunes in Napoleonic times. Monsignor Gamburini, afterwards Cardinal, for some time Vicar-General of Imola, of which Pius VII. was bishop before his eleva- tion to the Pontificate, used to describe to Wiseman a scene between Pius and Napoleon, as he had it more than once from the Pope's own lips. Pius VII. had, as all the world knows, consented in a moment of weakness to an impossible Co7icordat, subject to the approval of the Cardinals. He had no sooner done so than he repented it, and his advisers urged him to recall his consent. At an interview with the Emperor on the following day, Gamburini described how ' when he withdrew his consent, after having told the Emperor that his condition of the acquiescence of the Sacred College had not been verified. Napoleon in anger seized him by the breast of his cassock and rudely pushed him down back upon a chair, saying " Imbecile!"' Another curious anecdote, related by Wiseman, refers to the posting up of the excommunication of Napoleon in Rome, * at the usual places, in broad day, in spite of pickets of French troops 86 CARDINAL WISEMAN placed to prevent it.' The time of the Roman siesta was chosen, and ' the person who performed the feat was the late Cavalier Menacci,then a hackney- coach driver, and his son. They contrived to put up the edict during the afternoon heat of the day — though it was pulled down in a iow minutes. He was highly rewarded by Pius on his return, and laid the foundation of a noble family.' ' Consalvi was, as we have seen, succeeded by Car- dinal Zurla as Cardinal Protector of the English Col- lege. He was a Camaldolese monk and the intimate friend of the well-known theologian Cappellari, also a Camaldolese, and afterwards Pope Gregory XVI. Wiseman speaks of Zurla as follows : D. Placido Zurla [was] a man of great learning and pleasing manners, and adorned besides with high moral qualities. But he had taken no leading part in ecclesiastical affairs in Rome, nor had he borne the weight of its evil days. In 1816 he had published, at Venice, an interesting work on Marco Polo and other early Venetian travellers ; and he had brought to light, or at least greatly illustrated, a singular map of the world, pre- served in the library of St. Mark's, which, though long anterior to the age of Columbus, seemed to give a hint of a western continent He was the intimate friend of Father Cappellari : and all Rome was astonished when he was named Cardinal by Pius VII., in May 1823, not because his own merits were underrated, but because his elevation seemed to bar that of his fellow-monk. For it was supposed to be impossible that two religious should be raised to the purple from one very limited monastic body. So Zurla felt it ; and on receiving notice of his coming nomina- tion, he is said to have proceeded to the feet of Pius, and deprecated it, as an injustice to his friend — indeed, as certainly a mistake. However, it was not so. ' These facts and extracts are from a private letter to the late Dr, Russell, dated 1841. ORIENTAL STUDIES 87 Cappcllari himself was named Cardinal in March 1825. Zurla became Cardinal Vicar of Rome, and Cappellari was, as we shall see later on, raised to the Papacy in 183 1. Wiseman became the intimate friend of both the Camaldolese Cardinals : an inti- macy which lasted, in each case, to the end of life. 88 CARDINAL WISEMAN CHAPTER IV RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 1828-1833 Dr. Wiseman held the appointment of Rector of the English College for twelve years — from 1828 to 1840. Of these the first seven were devoted principally to the interests naturally belonging to his life in Rome and at Porzio, After his visit to England in 1835, and the foundation of the Dublin Reviezv in 1836, his thoughts became more and more directed to Eng- lish affairs. Under his presidency— according to the testimony of his contemporary in Rome, the late Archbishop Kirby — the English College gradually became a very considerable centre of intellectual life. Wiseman is described about this time, in 1830, as ' tall, slight, apparently long-necked, with features rather pointed and pale, and demeanour very grave.' * Naturally not a little pompous in manner, though I believe it is principally manner,' is the criticism passed a little later by an acute judge. But this must be qualified by the testimony of another witness,^ endorsed by all his intimates, that he was as ' natural and unaffected as a boy.' His great bonhomie and ' The late Cardinal Newman and the late Mr. Kyan are the two witnesses here referred to. RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 89 kindliness, too, suggested the true explanation of his somewhat dignified manner — that it was a shy man's instrument of self-defence. 'Courteous and scholarly ' is the impression left on the late Lord Houghton by the Rector's conversation with the world outside the College. He had in no small measure la grafide curiosite, which found ample scope in the Christian and Pagan antiquities, as well as the artistic treasures, of Rome, The students of the Col- lege had their share of advantage from the acquire- ments of their Rector. Once a week he took them to the Catacombs, or a museum, or some other place of interest. Both in these expeditions, and often after dinner in the College refectory, they had an opportunity of meeting his distinguished friends and joining in their discussions. The extent of informa- tion which he displayed in conversation at these times seems to have made a great impression on his pupils. In addition to his antiquarian knowledge, and his faculty as an expert on Oriental MSS., he was a master of many languages, ancient and modern. ' He can speak with readiness and point,' wrote Cardinal Newman, some years afterwards, ' in half a dozen languages, without being detected for a foreigner in any of them, and at ten minutes' notice can address a congregation from a French pulpit or the select audience of an Italian academy.' His reading had given him a real acquaintance with the literatures of France, Germany, and Italy. He was, as we have seen, a musical critic as well as an art critic, and a practical musician into the bargain. He pos- sessed minute knowledge on points of ceremonial 90 CARDINAL WISEMAN and liturgy ; he was a collector of old china and knew something of the history of stained glass. If to older men such variety of acquirement carried the inevitable suggestion of superficiality, to those who followed his researches as a specialist, in these early years of his career, his laborious work in one depart- ment prevented this suggestion from being a reproach. He appeared to those younger men, who naturally looked up to him as their model, almost to realise what has been defined as the ideal of a well-informed man — to know something of everything and every- thing of something. The tradition survives of his facility in learning languages, a facility surpassed in Rome only by that of Mezzofanti himself, who took up his residence there in 1831. Old pupils have recalled the picture of a group of eminent ecclesiastics in one of the large halls of the Vatican, when Wiseman would detach himself from the canicrata of the English College and converse, before an admiring audience, with the great linguist in Arabic, passing perhaps a little later on to Persian. His own account of Mezzo- fanti is interesting. ' Dr. Wiseman thought,' writes one of his pupils, ' that Mezzofanti's knowledge of each language was limited to as many words as were adapted to purposes of conversation and ordinary composition. Indeed, it seemed impossible, consider- ing the incredibly short space in which he acquired a language, and the vast number he cculd speak, and write, that he could have time to obtain a more ex- tensive knowledge. But there were doubtless some languages in which he was more deeply versed. I RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 91 remember we had a visit from a Dutch litterateur, a namesake, I think, of the poet Cats. He dined with us, and Dr. Wiseman told us afterwards that he had informed him that he had sent Mezzofanti a Dutch sonnet in the composition of which he had purposely employed the most difficult words and phrases. Mezzofanti had, to his infinite amazement, returned him not only a translation perfectly accurate of the sonnet he had sent, but another Dutch sonnet com- posed by himself Dr. Wiseman himself appears to have had, along with a true humility and modesty, an occasional tendency to speak with complacency of his powers and acquirements. He would describe to the students his tours de foree ; — how he committed to memory eighty long quotations from the Fathers for a public 'disputation'; how he learnt by heart in a few hours his weekly sermon, which took an hour in delivery. He would write to an old pupil, in genial reference to past intercourse, of their ' not uninstruc- tive ' conversation, or declare that the discussions on art and antiquities between him and his learned friends would form materials for an interesting book. But while such sayings might be ascribed by strangers to vanity, those who knew him really well are emphatic in their testimony to the existence in him of a real modesty and humility. Remarks of this kind appear to have represented little more than a boyish pleasure in his own success. His pupils record them with apparently no suspicion of their being attributable to vain-glory, and recall also the unconsciousness of his great gifts which he often betrayed. The late Lord Houghton (then Mr. Monckton Milnes), who 92 CARDINAL WISEMAN knew him intimately, speaks ' of ' the becoming diffi- dence shown by a man who even then Hved among much to encourage vanity and self-confidence.' And we learn from the same authority that Wiseman was talked of as early as 1832 as a likely recipient of a cardinal's hat." It should be observed — as Lord Houghton also notes — that Wiseman's knowledge of many languages, and habit of speaking and writing in each, inevitably damaged both the force and the correctness of his English. His style was at times florid and overcharged with imagery. This defect was little noticed in Rome, but it became the theme of hostile criticism in later years when he had taken up his residence in England. With English visitors to Rome, Dr. Wiseman was especially popular. ' His life and education,' Lord Houghton writes, ' had been somewhat cosmopolitan .... but he showed no inclination to merge his British nationality in his sacerdotal or scholastic character. His conversation ran mainly on subjects of English literature, and his greatest pleasure was to converse with his intellectual fellow-countrymen. He encour- aged these tastes and habits among his pupils, so far as is consistent with the practices of a Catholic semi- nary. The books which were read aloud . . . during the noontide repast were usually our British classics, and I remember on more than one occasion listening to a novel of Walter Scott's.' ' In his monograph on Cardinal Wiseman, whose acquaintance he first made in 1830, being introduced to him by Cardinal Weld. 2 See Houghton'' s Life, vol. i. p. 127. RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 93 As a 'conversationalist he appears to have been unequal ; unusually well informed on many subjects, often in consequence impressing his hearers very much ; but not otherwise especially brilliant. The impression left by casually meeting him was some- times not equal to his reputation. George Ticknor thus chronicles the recollection left by his first intro- duction to Wiseman, at the Trevelyans' in Rome. ' Dr. Wiseman, the head of the English College here, and an eloquent preacher, to meet me. He seemed a genuine priest, very good looking and able- bodied, and with much apparent practice in the world. He talks well, but not so well as I expected. . . .' Amongst Englishmen who made Wiseman's acquaintance as visitors to Rome during his rector- ship, besides Mr. Monckton Milnes, were such men as Archbishop Trench, Julius Hare, Sir Thomas Acland, Charles Marriott, Mi. Gladstone, Lord Mac- aulay, John Henry Newman, Hurrell Froude, Henry Edward Manning. Some of these visits belong to the subsequent period of the Rectorship and will be referred to more particularly later on. Others led to friendships which were continued on occasion of his visits to England and brought him into intercourse with cultivated English society outside the Catholic pale, a very unusual position at that time for a ' Romish ' ecclesiastic. Visits to the country houses of Archbishop Trench, Monckton Milnes, Lord Spencer, and others are referred to in his letters, Wiseman's foreign correspondence, brought about by the interest excited by the ' Hora; Syriacae,' gave him a gradually increasing belief in the prospect of 94 CARDINAL WISEMAN a Catholic reaction in Europe which was to undo some of the results of the infidel and anti-papal movements of the last century. The spirit of Febro- nius was giving place in Germany to Ultramontanism in such men as Joseph Gorres, and — in those days — Dollinger. Overbeck and his friends, likewise, living as they did in Rome, helped to impress this fact upon the English Rector. In 1831 the share — prospective and actual — of France in this move- ment was brought yet more immediately before him. Lamennais, Lacordaire, and Montalembert came to Rome in the December of that year, and soon became intimate with Wiseman. The special circumstances which led to their visit shall be spoken of directly. But over and above the views of Catholic policy which they came to submit to the Pontiff, they were filled with the spirit of the religious revival for which Chateau- briand had given the signal in France by the publica- tion of his Atala. De Maistre had imparted to this movement a distinctly Ultramontane character in his great work Du Pape\ and the sentiment gained ground that the cause of religion was yet to triumph under St. Peter's standard. The one ancient institution which had remained firm amid the disasters of the Revolu- tion, and the Napoleonic invasions, was to prove the foundation* and principle of union for the new civilisa- tion. Some of the most promising talent of young France was already enlisted in the cause, and the seeds were sown of an important movement. This Catholic revival, to so many an anachronism, has exercised the minds of such different men as Mr. Morley and Cardinal Newman, Heine and Frederick RECTOR OF THE E^TGLTSH COLLEGE 95 Schlegel, Macaulay and Matthew Arnold. That it was truly significant, subsequent events showed in- contestably. How far its significance was what san- guine Catholics then thought it, is another matter, of which something shall be said later on. But at that time every year added to its power and to the hopes of its promoters. In France itself, it advanced almost without check until the early days of the Second Empire, when Newman averred that that country had never been so Catholic since the days of Louis Quatorze.' At the time of his visit to Rome, Lamennais, then the most conspicuous figure in the Catholic world, had begun in the Avejiir newspaper his daring attempt to join democracy with Ultramon- tanism. Renouncing his early Royalism — the creed of De Maistre — he was advocating an alliance pure and simple with the new order. His practical programme included the renunciation by the clergy of all stipend from the Civil authorities and separation of Church and State. A ' free Church in a free State,' ' freedom of the press,' ' freedom of association,' were the war cries raised by him and his friends, among the chief of whom were Montalembert and Lacordaire. These proposals, as well as his whole scheme for the union between democracy and Ultramontanism, met with strong opposition from the French clergy, Royalist and largely Galilean in its traditions ; and with char- acteristic energy and impetuosity Lamennais was appealing to Rome for support. Gregory XVI. was fully alive to the danger of sanctioning a programme ' Vide Newman's Historical Sketches, vol. iii. p. 143. 96 CARDINAL WISEMAN which was incautious and extreme, at a moment too when Rome itself was in the utmost danger from the principles of the Revolution. He delayed grant- ing an audience to Lamennais and his friends, and their sojourn in Rome was a prolonged one. In the course of it they were constant visitors at the English College. Mr. Monckton Milnes, who was in Rome at the time, speaks as follows of their visit : ' These two re- markable men [Lamennais and Montalembert] were accompanied by the Abbe Lacordaire, the future successor of Bossuet and Massillon, and by M. Rio, now well known throughout Europe as the graceful and pious historian of Christian Art. . . . To these missionaries of a wider and braver Catholicism Dr. Wiseman proffered a generous hospitality, which was thankfully received. The minute frame and phthisical constitution of Lamennais did not permit him to take any important part in general society ; but the charm and earnestness of Montalembert, so French in his emotions, so English in his thoughts, competed with the simple audacious spontaneity of his Breton colleague, Rio — a Christian in politics and an artist in religion — to make the conversation of the decorous seminary as bright and coloured as that of the gayest Paris drawing-room.' M. Rio, perhaps the least known of this remarkable group, was not the least interesting. ' The most striking Frenchman I ever knew,' is Mr. Gladstone's testimony. ' He had all Montalembert's charm/ he adds, ' without his faults. A devotee of the Papal power, a Carlist of Carlists — but before Carlism had degenerated into Boulangism.' ' No RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE gy common Frenchman,' we read in Bunsen's memoirs, ' I hope his being a man of distinguished talents and heroic courage and sincere devotedness to his opinions will gild over to everybody the counter- part of the description — his being an ultra-Royalist, an ultra-Catholic, ready to shed the last drop of his blood in defence of the drapeau blanc a-nd the sovereignty of the Pope. He speaks English, Italian, and Ger- man, and is possessed of stores of general information, taking great interest in the fine arts. ... It was a treat to hear him relate the history of his own cam- paign at the age of sixteen, when he helped to organise an insurrection against the authorities con- stituted by Napoleon.' Lamennais' want of aptitude for general conver- sation did not prevent Dr. Wiseman from having an occasional tcte-d-tite with him, and he has left the following interesting record of the impression made by their intercourse : He was in look and appearance almost contemptible ; small, weakly, without pride of countenance or mastery of eye, without any external grace ; his tongue seemed to be the organ by which unaided he gave marvellous utterance to thoughts, clear, deep and strong. Several times have I held long conversations with him at various intervals, and he was always the same. With his head hung down, his hands clasped before him, or gently moving in one another, he poured forth in answer to a question a stream of thoughts flowing spontaneous and un- rippled as a brook through a summer meadow. He at once seized the whole subject, divided it into its heads as symmetri- cally as Flechier or Massillon ; then took them one by one, enunciated each, and drew his conclusions. All this went on in a monotonous but soft tone and was so unbroken, so unhesitating, and yet so polished and elegant, that if you had closed your VOL. I. H 98 CARDINAL WISEMAN eyes you might have easily fancied you were listeninj^ to tlie reading of a finished and elaborately corrected volume. Then everything was illustrated by happy imagery, so apt, so graphic, and so complete. I remember his once describing the future prospects of the Church. He had referred to prophecies in Scripture and fulfilments in history, and had concluded that not even at the period of Constantine had the perfect accomplish- ments of predictions and types been made, and that therefore a more glorious phase awaited the Church than any she had yet experienced, and this, he thought, could not be far off. ' And how,' I asked, ' do you think or see that this great and wonderful change in her condition will be brought about ?' ' I cannot see,' he replied. ' I feel myself like a man placed at the end of a long gallery, at the other extremity of which are brilliant lights, shedding their rays on objects there. I see paintings and sculpture, furniture and persons, clear and distinct ; but of what is between me and them I see nothing. Everything is dark, and I cannot describe what occupies the space. I can read the consequence but not the working of the problem.' On another occasion his answer was more explicit. He had been discoursing eloquently on England and what had been done there in our religious struggles. He had described the ways in which prejudice had to be overcome and public opinion won over. He was asked : ' But what or where are the instruments with which such difficult and great things have to be wrought ?' ' They do not exist as yet,' he answered. ' You must begin, then, by making [the men] the implements with which your work has to be performed. It is what we are doing in France.' Such conversations could not but raise in Wise- man's mind the question — in later years the absorb- ing question of his life — what was to be England's share in this great international movement .-' Was the idea of the return to the one great Christian family, bound together by loyalty to the Apostolic See, chimerical .-* ' Abjurations,' as they were called, RECTOR OF THE ENGTJSH COLLEGE 99 of Protestantism, on the part of English visitors to Rome, were not infrequent, and were in some cases of importance and influence. The idea gradu- ally dawned upon him as a dream, which after- wards became a vivid hope, that Catholic devotion might be in England, as elsewhere, the principle of the much-needed restoration of religious zeal, after the apathy and infidelity of the eighteenth centur}'. He might be a fellow-worker with I^amennais, Montalembert, De Maistre ; with Schlegel, Gorres, and Mohler. An influence which encouraged this hope was that of the well-known Father Ignatius Spencer, the brother of the late Lord Spencer, who came to the English College in 1830, and was or- dained there. This holy man, whose life is among the remarkable stories of religious devotion in this century, passed his early years after the manner of a fashionable young man of the time. Having gone through his career at Cambridge, and his early years of London society, with an average share of the faults of youth, he received — strange to say — his first strong religious impression from the opera of Don Giovanni, which he witnessed at Paris in 1820. 'The last scene,' he writes, ' represents Don Giovanni seized in the midst of his licentious career by a troop of devils and hurried down to hell. As I saw this scene I was terrified at my own state. I knew that God, who knew what was within me, must look on me as one in the same class with such as Don Giovanni ; . . . this holy warning I was to find in an opera-house in Paris.' He took orders in the Anglican Church a little later, and, after years of vacillation as to the H 2 loo CARDINAL WISEMAN form of theology which he should adopt, he became a convert to the Catholic and Roman Church while staying at Garendon with the late Mr. Ambrose de Lisle in January 1829. His subsequent life was one of the highest asceticism. He ultimately renounced all his worldly possessions, and devoted his whole time to preaching the Gospel to the poor. He died within a year of Cardinal Wiseman's own death, in 1864, after nearly twenty years spent amid the rigour and austerities of the Passionist order. The ' conversion of England,' a thought which re- called the early days of James I., was talked of and prayed for by Father Spencer. Wiseman at no time shared fully his friend's almost Utopian hopes : yet the subsequent rise of Tractarianism and its results seemed to rebuke the more sceptical spirits who had laughed at Father's Spencer's supposed beacon-light as simply an ignis fatiuis. Of the interest aroused by Mr. Spencer's devotion and enthusiasm, as well as of the impression they made from the very first on Wiseman himself, we have indications in contemporary letters. I find [Wiseman writes to Dr. Husenbeth on July 10, 1830] Mr. Spencer has been beforehand with ine in writing to you, and has thus deprived me of one of the topics which would have been most interesting to you. You will more fully know him from a few lines written by himself than by any account I could give you of him. For I never met anyone whose mind and heart so unreservedly exhibit themselves in every action and word as in his case. He is candour and openness itself. . . . I have no doubt but that Divine Providence has brought him to the truth, not only for his own sake, but for the salvation of others, so that in his conversion ' many shall rejoice.' RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE loi Six months later a postscript to another letter to Dr. Husenbcth, added by a friend of Wiseman,' takes up the same subject : Mr. Spencer preached his first sermon in the College Chapel on the Purification. Indeed, he was actually preaching when the cannon announced the election of Pope Gregory. His ser- mon was plain and familiar, full of good sense and piety, and was delivered with a feeling effect. I think he is destined to do wonders in England. He is pi'eparing to receive subdeacon's orders in Lent. I said mass for him, with sensations I cannot describe, at the tomb of the Apostles in the subterranean church at St. Peter's on the 30th January, the ' conversion of St. Paul.' It was the day he went to Garendon Park, directed by a grace that decided his resolution. He went to Holy Communion on the occasion. Mr. Spencer's simple missionary zeal made him almost suspicious of the more intellectual career on which the Rector of the College had entered. He told Wiseman bluntly ' that he should apply his mind to something more practical than Syrian MSS. or treatises on geology, and that he would rather see him take up with what suited a priest on the English mission as it then was.' Father Spencer's sentiments had their effect. We find Wise- man in 1 83 1 sending two sermons to be printed in England, which he hopes may further the ' great cause,' and expressing his wish to do ' some little good from this inactive retreat — inactive, at least, as far as concerns the public cause.' He sends Dr. Husenbeth an account of his intercourse with an English visitor, which ended in reception into the Catholic Church. In the same year was established ' Dr. Weedall, who was staying at the Collegio Inglese at the time. I02 CARDINAL WISEMAN the ' Catholic Magazine,' and Wiseman announces his intention of devoting his studies more directly to the service of the Catholic Revival, and contribut- ing to the pages of the Review. These indications coincide with the period of Father Spencer's residence in the College. Another force, acting in the same direction, was the effect of Dr. Wiseman's weekly sermons to L^nglish audiences, of which I have already spoken. There survive among his papers several letters from persons whose lives became, for the first time, serious and religious in consequence of these sermons. There were others whose views of Catholicism were changed by them, or by conversations with him to which they gave rise, and who were ultimately received by him into the Church. Mr. Gladstone, in the recoUec. tions of Wiseman which he kindly communicated to me, has said emphatically that W^iseman was not a proselytiser ; and we know, from his own published views, what he means by this statement — namely, that Wiseman made no attempts to destroy the con- scientious convictions of those whom he met.' But when the influence of Rome and the effect of his own sermons led men to think that they should find in the Catholic Church the fulfilment of their own highest aspirations, he was full of sympathy. Of the nature of the interest aroused among Wiseman's friends by the reception of English converts, we may cite Lord Houghton's account : Although [he writes] the Protestant visitors of the College ' Wiseman's precise position in this question is given in his own words later on (see p. 39S). RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 103 were perfectly secure from any intrusive proselytism, and the only influence brought to bear was fair controversy, when chal- lenged, and amiable inducements to see all that was best and most striking in the practice and symbolic action of the Roman Church, there was no concealment of the special interest at- tached to the circumstances and conduct of recent British converts. A Cornish baronet (Sir Harry Trelawney), far ad- vanced in life, had not only professed himself a Roman Catholic, but, at his urgent desire, had been ordained a priest. The deepest anxiety was expressed as to his first performance of his mystical office, and it was hinted that a more than natural power of retentive memory had been vouchsafed him on the occasion. The son of Earl Spencer, who afterwards became notorious as Father Ignatius, was at that time a resident in the College, and his first sermon in the Church set apart for the service of English Catholics excited an intense interest among the students. . . . In all such matters Dr. Wiseman's interest was always affec- tionate and judicious, and never produced any sense of extrava- gance in the outsiders. Wiseman is described as never aggressive or dis- putatious in dealing with those who sought informa- tion concerning the Roman Church. In those days ot deep-seated misconception among Englishmen, he judged that a broader and fairer attitude of mind would be best brought about by breadth and fair- ness on the side of Catholics themselves. Friendly intercourse and conversation on neutral topics were often the best hope of removing the initial prejudice which remained even in those who were beginning to study the religion of Rome with some degree of sympathy. The Roman Ecclesiastic in flesh and blood, when once known, was the best answer to much of the downright bigotry — no weaker word can be used— then so common among English- men. At the same time, where direct discussion was I04 CARDINAL WISEMAN courted and deemed necessary, he did not shrink from it. Two letters, of which the first was written in 1 83 1, the other a httle later, addressed to an En<^lish- man of scholarship and ability, Mr. Durtnall, a friend of Lord Brougham's, whose acquaintance Wiseman had made in Rome in 1830, indicate the nature of his intercourse with persons in this position. It may be added that Mr. Durtnall became a Catholic many years later. English College, Rome, December 12, 1831. My dear Sir, — Yesterday my friend Mr. Mackey com- municated to me that you had been so good as to express a desire to have a line from me ; I am only sorry that such a mode of conversing together should be rendered necessary by your not visiting again the Eternal City, and allowing me the pleasure of oral communication with you. I have been a great invalid since last we met ; I have been laid up, some time in bed, a longer space at the sea, and since in my own room. My complaint was a dangerous one, but in spite of the classical denunciations of Ovid, Cernis ut a tenero sanguis pulmone remissus Ad Stygias certo limite ducit aquas, I have, thank God, lately been gradually recovering. Dr. Errington has also been much in the same situation as myself, and, like myself, is still under medical imprisonment. Mr. Spencer has had the influenza, but is now quite recovered. So much for the usual egoistical portion of a letter. I cannot help persuading myself that you will pay another visit to Rome, whose charms no one will feel as well as yourself. Since you were here last much new classical ground has been explored, the Forum has been quite laid open, and several important excava- tions made. Last spring I paid a visit to the ruins of Tar- quinium and Vulsii, and was more than repaid by what 1 saw. It is difficult to form an idea of the state of Italy before the Romans, or even before Greece introduced the arts ' agresti Latio ' without seeing these late discoveries. . . , RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 105 Your friend, or, at least, acquaintance. Dr. Thompson met with a serious injury the night before last. He was assailed late in the evening in a solitary spot by three men, who de- manded his money and stabbed and cut him in several places. He is not in any danger, though confined to his room. My physicians are as yet very adverse to my writing, and I dare not prolong this letter further, as I have others to write, and I did not wish to delay a post complying with your kind desire of hearing from me. I only have time, therefore, once more to repeat my earnest hope that you will once more resolve to enjoy the enthusiastic delights of our classical city. . . . Dr. Errington and Mr. Spencer unite in kindest remembrances to you, and Mrs. Durtnall, and with sincere esteem, I remain. My dear Sir, Yours very sincerely, N. Wiseman. The second letter seems to have been written on the eve of a visit from his friend. Whether or no he came to Rome at this time does not appear : Rome, May 6, 1834. You have been now for a long time making your approaches towards the Eternal City with all the caution a cunctator could desire ; I trust you will not after all turn its flank, and merely pass it on your way to Naples. No, my dear Sir, I hope to see you here with all your impedimenta, your folios and quartos, your Greeks and your Germans, all in perfect array. And we will do fair battle between us, and you must yield, and be a captive. You understand me, I am sure, and may think me too light in treating of such weighty matters. A letter, how- ever, especially a hurried one, as this necessarily is, cannot be a fitting means of communication, on such topics, when the understanding has yielded and only the will resists. But come to Rome, and read or meditate religion upon the Apostle's tomb, or at the catacomb, or in the cloister, and I trust irresolution will perish and faith be strengthened. Cardinal Weld, 1 regret to say, is far from well ; he has suffered from cold severely, and still remains infirm. He looks very much altered, and in very low spirits. 1 beg my respectful compliments to Mrs. Durtnall. io6 CARD IN AT. WISEMAN Have you seen how your friend Lord IJrougham has been demoHshing a bishop or two and half a dozen peers on the University question ? What will become of the English Church ? God speed it ! The early years of Wiseman's Rectorship had their poHtical interest. Italy had been reconstituted at the Congress of Vienna, broadly speaking, on the principle of re-establishing the pre-existing state of things, though with certain modifications. The King of Sardinia was restored to his kingdom as it had existed in 1792 — but with the addition of the ancient republic of Genoa. Ferdinand IV. of Naples was restored to his dominions as they were in 1792, under the new title of King of the Two Sicilies. The Papal States were reconstituted with nearly the same boundaries as of old. But Austria added to her original Italian possessions the republic of Venice ; Dalmatia, Ragusa, and Cattaro formed an Austrian kingdom, while I stria was united to the Austrian kingdom of Illyria. Moreover Austria retained the right of garrison in the Papal States of P'errara and Comacchio. The policy of Metternich extended the Austrian pre-eminence throughout Italy, and jealousy of a foreign dictator had a large share in arousing the national sentiment of the Italians and fashioning the movement in favour of Italian unity. In this movement the Papacy played an important part. Pius VI. had at one time attempted to organise a federal union of Italian States ; and although the revolutionary character of the movement of the thirties was opposed by Gregory, the subsequent action of Pius IX. in 1846 was a reminder that the RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 107 national aspiration as such was not unacceptable to the Papacy. The agitation passed through several stages, marked by very important differences of ideal and method. Its earliest promoters — or more truly the promoters of the republican movement which preceded it — were the secret society of the Carbonari. An instance of the curious and apparently opposite phases in the history of an organisation, the Carbonari were originally instruments of Royalist propaganda against the iron rule of the Napoleonic generals. The re-establishment of the Neapolitan king, but with the addition of a parliamentary con- stitution, was the first aim of the Carbonari early in the present century. The name of the society was adopted apparently to cover a secret phraseology. A carbonaro meant a charcoal-burner. Their meet- ings were held at a vendita, or place for selling coal. ' Clearing the forest of wolves ' in their language meant the expulsion of tyrants. Eventually they became the opponents of the restored monarchy and the warm advocates of the revolution. Their or- ganisation grew, and a system of absolute obedience to the authorities of the alta vendita — parallel to the obedience exacted by the greatest organisation of their clerical opponents, the Jesuits — was enforced. The most authentic record of the practical action of the society is given by Mazzini, whose description of his own initiation is to be found in the first volume of his ' Life.' He had to take an oath of unlimited obedience, and to express his readiness to ' act,' and, if necessary, to ' sacrifice himself, for the good of the order.' The uneasiness he experienced at the vague- io8 CARDINAL WISEMAN ncss and seriousness of his pledge was emphasised by a scene he witnessed a Httle later, in which two members were told off ' to start on the morrow for Bologna, in order to stab a Carbonaro there for having spoken against the chiefs.' ' The order no sooner discovered rebels than it crushed them,' he was informed. Such was the determined character of the organis- ation which first stirred up among the Italians the national feeling against Austrian predominance, and made that feeling an effective lever in promoting the cause of the revolution. The first success of its endeavours was the revolution in Naples in 1820, succeeded by the revo- lution in Sardinia in the following year. Both were put down by Austrian power. The protest from Lord Castlereagh against the action of the Austrians was the first manifestation of the consistent sympathy of England with the popular movement in Italy. For ten years afterwards the efforts of the Carbonari met with no apparent success. But they were at work in France, and had their share in the Revolution of July 1830, which placed Louis Philippe on the throne. Leo XII. had died in February 1829 — and the brief pontificate of Pius VIII. succeeded. Pius VIII. followed the traditional policy of the Papacy, and endeavoured to obviate further disturbances by the recognition of accomplished facts. In an official letter he directed the French clergy to show all loyalty to the new regime. The course of revolution, however, made itself felt beyond French territory. RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 109 In August the Revolution broke out in Brussels, and Holland and Belgium were separated. Later in the year came the Revolution in Poland ; and the Papal States, which had remained fairly tranquil since the Restoration of 181 5, began to show signs of a restlessness which never again entirely disappeared until their final alienation from the Papacy by Victor Emmanuel. A few years later it became evident how these disturbances must end — that they were of the nature of a disease, which must at least come to its crisis before it could pass away. The civil sove- reignty of the Popes could not remain long as it was. Capaccini, Cardinal Consalvi's brilliant secretary, recognised this early in the day, and spoke to his friend the Chevalier Bunsen of the prospect of the loss of the Roman States to the Popes, using words which subsequent events render memorable. ' We all foresee,' he said, ' what it must result in. But mark ! W/ieu tJie old Lion sJiall be restricted to his narrozv cage, lie zvill yet shake its bars so as to make Europe tremble! ' In 1830-31, however, hope remained that the movement, which was unquestionably due rather to revolutionary agitation than to widespread popular discontent, would subside. Pius VIII. had to renew the edicts of his prede- cessor against the secret society of the Carbonari. A lodge of these conspirators was discovered in Rome itself, and twenty-six of its members were arrested and imprisoned. The anxiety of the situation proved fatal to the Pope's already shattered frame. His ' Cf. Bunsen's Life, i. 251. no CARDINAL WISEMAN friend and ally, the King of Naples, died in the autumn, and Tins VIII. followed him on December i. lie was succeeded, as wc have seen, by a friend of Wiseman, Cardinal Cappellari, well known as a theologian, a Camaldolese monk (since 1805 ^'"^ Abbot) of ascetic life, ' You must now revise your own proofs. I fear I shall not have much time to correct them,' was the new Pope's kindly greeting to the English Rector when they first met after his accession. His election had not at first seemed probable ; indeed Cardinal Giustiniani — half an Englishman, and ex-nuncio at the Spanish Court — had received the requisite number of votes. He was, however, vetoed by the Court of Spain. Cappellari was elected on February 2, 1831, and took the name of Gregory XVI. On the very day of his consecration came rumours of the first actual insurrection in the States, and the demand for the substitution of a republic for the Papal rule, Wiseman writes of it as follows : On the Feast of the Purification, February 2, 1 831, an end was put to the conclave by the election of Cappellari to the Supreme Pontificate, by the name of Gregory. The ceremony of his coronation, which took place on the 6th, was enhanced by his consecration as bishop at the high altar of St. Petei-'s. This function served clearly to exhibit the concurrence in his person of two different orders of ecclesiastical power.' ' On a previous occasion, when Clement XIV. was named Pope, he received episcopal consecration separately from his coronation. Gregory uniled the two functions ; but, following a still older precedent, de- parted from ordinary forms. In the Roman Pontifical, the rite pre- scribed for episcopal consecration is interwoven with the Mass, during which the new Bishop occupies a very subordinate place till the end, RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE in From the moment of his acceptance of the Papal dignity, he was Supreme Head of the Church : could decree, rule, name or depose bishops, and exercise every duty of pontifical juris- diction. But he could not ordain, nor consecrate, till he had himself received the imposition of hands from other bishops, inferior to himself, and holding under and from him their sees and jurisdiction. The morning was bright and full of joy ; the evening came, gloomy and charged with sinister prognostics. It was in the very square of the Vatican, while receiving the first Papal blessing, that the rumour reached us of insurrection in the pro- vinces. It was one of those vague reports, the origin and path of which no one can trace. For it was only on the 4th that Bologna had risen. A cannonade had been heard in the direc- tion of Modena, which was taken for a signal of premature i^evolution. It was that of the Grand Duke's attack on the house of Giro Menotti, who had been treated with all the kind- ness of a . . . friend by that monarch, while he was the very centre of a general conspiracy. His treachery was discovered, and his intentions were frustrated by the vigilance and intrepi- dity of the Duke. Soon the insurrection spread, and, having [first] occupied the legations, sent its forces towards the capital, where a movement was attempted, but with no real success. I remember perfectly the night of February 12. It was the carnival time, of the good old days, when later restrictions had not been thought of. On the afternoon of that day, just as the sports were going to begin, an edict peremptorily sus- pended them ; troops patrolled the Corso, and other public places ; and citizens were warned to remain at home, as evil- disposed persons machinated mischief. Three days before a plot had been formed for the surprise and seizure of the Fort of St. Angelo ; but it had been foiled by the watchfulness of Government. In the evening of the 12th some sharp reports of fire-arms reached our ears, and told us of an attempt, at when he is enthroned, and pronounces his first episcopal benediction. Here the entire rite preceded the Mass, which was sung in the usual form by the new Pope. Like every other Bishop, he recited, kneeling before the altar, and in the presence of his clergy, the profession of faith. 112 CARDINAL WISEMAN least, to excite a violent revolution. It was, in trutli, an attack made by an armed party on the guard of the Post-office, with the intention of seizing its arms and ammunition. But the soldiers were on the alert ; they returned the fire, wounded several, and captured many of their assailants, and all was quiet. One ball went through the gate of the Piombino Palace, and, 1 believe, killed the innocuous porter within. As for ourselves, not knowing what might happen, or in what direction the blind fury of a successful rebellion might direct itself ; ignorant also of the extent and resources of the aggressors, we took every precaution against any nocturnal surprise. Our doors were solid, our windows well barred, our walls impregnable. After careful survey of the premises, only one weak point was discovered, not proof against the extem- poraneous engineering of tumultuary assailants ; and I doubt if Todleben himself could have suggested a more scientific or more effectual way than we employed of securing it, by works easily thrown up, against nocturnal aggression. Watch and ward were also kept up, till morning dawned on our untried defences and nodding sentinels. Whatever may have been the feelings of the provinces, certainly Rome gave no proof of sympathy with revolution, but rather manifested enthusiastic devotion to her new Sovereign. Upon the Civic Guard being enlarged, to enable the regular troops to move northward, multitudes presented themselves for enrolment ; and, among these, persons of the highest class .... Prmce Altieri received the command of this body. The loyalty of the poorer classes became almost alarming. They surrounded the royal carriage in such masses that it was scarcely possible to move through them ; and they expressed their attachment and readiness to fight, with a clamour and warmth that would have rendered any attempt to remove them a dangerous experiment. The Pope displayed the utmost calmness, fortitude, and prudence. The blow was, no doubt, to him cruel and disap- pointing. It served better than any symbolical ceremony to remind him, on his coronation day, how earthly glory passeth quickly away. These events proved, indeed, to be the beginning RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 113 of a formidable revolution.' The insurrection spread through Romagna. The republicans established a provisional government at Bologna. The revolution extended to the Papal States, breaking out in Umbria and the Marches. Louis Napoleon joined the rebels in Umbria, and took part in the attack on Civita Castellana. In Naples the Carbonari could effect nothing, and Rieti, under the spirited leadership of Monsignor Ferretti, repulsed the republican general Sercognani ; but the Giunta constituted at Bologna received the adhesion of Modena, Parma and Ro- magna, and part of Umbria and the Marches. Before the end of February, however, the Austrians had dispersed the republicans at Parma, and in March they occupied Bologna. Cardinal Oppizzoni, the Archbishop, resumed the government in the name of the Pope. The republican general Zucchi was defeated by the Austrians at Rimini, and fell back on Ancona, which capitulated and surrendered to the Austrian commander and Cardinal Benvenuti. At the same time Sercognani surrendered in Umbria to Archbishop Mastai of Spoleto, governor of the pro- vince (the future Pius IX.), and the revolution was at an end. Shortly afterwards Wiseman had an opportunity, in the course of a tour undertaken for the benefit of his health, of judging of the state of feeling in some of the scenes of the recent disturbances ; and he ' It should be added that some have thought that the Grand Duke was really privy to Menotti's conspiracy. Which account is the true one cannot be known. ' The secret,' writes Farini, ' is buried in two graves.' VOL. I. I 114 CARDINAL WISEMAN appears to have been on the whole reassured. An interesting letter on the subject survives, written to Dr. Husenbeth, afterwards known as the biographer of Bishop Milner. The immediate occasion of the letter was the presentation by Wiseman of Dr. Husen- beth's edition of the Roman Breviary to the Pope, on the editor's behalf The letter runs as follows : My dear Sir, — You will doubtless feel anxious to receive some news of your Breviaries, and the reception given them by his Holiness. It is now some time since I had the pleasure of presenting them with your letter, and you may be assured that I omitted saying nothing upon the occasion which could tend to raise his Holiness's estimate of the present and the donor. The reception was, indeed, highly flattering, and I dare say you will receive a kind letter in answer to yours, if the troubles of the times do not interfere with the functions of the papal secre- taries. My delay in giving you an earlier account of an event so interesting to you has arisen from my having departed shortly after for a little tour through some parts of Italy which I had partly never seen, partly viewed only in a cursory manner. If you will cast your eyes upon a map of Italy, you may trace my course by drawing a line from Rome to Civitk Vecchia, Corneto, Bolsena, Orvieto, Cittk della Pieve, Perugia, Spoleto, Terni, Rieti, and once more dear Rome. Since this tour I have been much occupied, and hence a still further delay. My little pro- gress has been highly interesting to me, not only by infusing into me a new supply of health, but also by affording me the opportunity of examining personally the state of feeling in Umbria regarding the late commotions. As far as Orvieto I was in loyal territory ; the people were enthusiastic in their attachment to the Holy See, and manifested the utmost resolu- tion to resist every effort made to seduce or overawe them. The citizens were on guard everywhere ; Orvieto, almost im- pregnable from its position, and proud of having defended thirty- two popes within its walls, not only kept down all attempt to create a revolution within itself, but chased from its neighbour- hood the bands who came to intimidate its gallant citizens. It is a city every way worth seeing, for its magnificence, tuirivalled RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 115 /;/ Italy or even Europe for its treasures in architecture, sculp- ture, and painting. When I arrived in the provinces which had lieen disturbed, I was delighted to find that the Revolution had been everywhere the work of a few daring spirits, assisted by the weakness of the governors, who nowhere made any deter- mined resistance. The feelings of the people were everywhere decidedly loyal and inimical to revolt. This, I am sorry to say, is not the case with the Legations, at least in the towns ; for the peasantry are to a man faithful. Rieti made a gallant defence, with very little means, against an assault of three hours, with artillery and small-arms, and by this saved Rome. This was owing to the determined and vigorous conduct of the Bishop, Monsignor Ferretti, with whom I lived while there. Had I room to detail to you the particulars of this repulse, you would how- ever, agree with us here in attributing it to the wonderful inter- position of the God of armies. I intend sending the full account, as collected from numerous eye-witnesses, men of learning, virtue, and talent, to Dr. Walsh, whom I am sure it will interest. We are all, thank God, very tranquil here. Sir H. Taylor is in Rome in quality of a sort of incognito ambassador. As yet we have had no protocols, although frequent conferences are held among the ambassadors. Dr. Weedall is returned from Naples, where he saw the miracle of the liquefaction of St. Januarius's blood, quite to his satisfaction and conviction. Pope Gregory was convinced of the dangers of the revokitionary spirit, and incurred the charge of reactionary sentiments from the sanguine believers in the creed of hberalism. He invoked the aid of Austria a second time in 1832, when a fresh outbreak was threatened, and restored tranquilHty to the states. And he declared his sentiments to the Catholic world in the Encyclical of August 15, 1832, in which he pro- tested against the ' false and dangerous spirit of innovation,' and avowed his intention of preserving and maintaining the ancient Apostolic traditions, The devotion of the rest of his pontificate to correct- ii6 CARDINAL WISEMAN ing abuses and the encouragement of municipal and educational reforms did not atone in the eyes of the liberals for what they looked on as an attempt to put back the clock. Recent developments of libe- ralism have made the judgment of our own day more balanced. 117 CHAPTER V RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE {continued) 1833-1835 Wiseman's life appears to have been comparatively quiet and studious in 1833 and 1834. But the former year began with an event which ultimately had great influence on his career. This was the visit of J. H. Newman and Hurrell Froude to Rome, in March. Froude has described a conversation with Wiseman on the occasion. It is really melancholy [Froude writes to a friend in April] to think how little one has got for one's time and money. The only thing I can put my hand on as an acquisition is having formed an acquaintance with a man of some influence at Rome, Monsignor Wiseman, the head of the English College, who has enlightened Newman and me on the subject of our rela- tions to the Church of Rome. We got introduced to him to find out whether they would take us in on any terms to which we could twist our consciences, and we found, to our dismay, that not one step could be gained without swallowing the Council of Trent as a whole. We made our approaches to the subject as delicately as we could. Our first notion was that terms of communion were within certain limits under the con- trol of the Pope, or that in case he could not dispense solely, yet at any rate the acts of one council might be rescinded by another — indeed, that in Charles I.'s time it had been intended to negotiate a reconciliation on the terms on which things stood before the Council of Trent. But we found, to our horror, that ii8 CARDINAL WISEMAN the doctrine of the infallibility of the Church made the Acts of each successive Council obligatory for ever,' that what had been once decided could never be meddled with again — in fact, that they were committed finally and irrevocably, and could not advance one step to meet us, even though the Church of England should again become what it was in Laud's time, or indeed what it may have been up to the atrocious council, for Monsignor Wiseman admitted that many things {e.g. the doctrine of the Mass) which were final then had been indeter- minate before. . . . We mean to make as much as we can out of our acquaintance with Monsignor Wiseman, who is really too nice a person to talk nonsense about. He desired me to apply to him if on any future occasion I had to consult the Vatican library. . . . The interview left Wiseman with two vivid impres- sions — sparks which the course of the Oxford move- ment fanned later into a flame. He was struck by the truly Catholic temper of mind of the two men, and by their utter sincerity. Both these impressions were contrary to the views current among his co-religionists alike in Rome and in England, who thought that Catholic sympathies in the Anglican Church were, for the most part, purely superficial and aesthetic. Where they were deeper, adherence to the Church of England — then beyond question predominantly Pro- testant in its religious tone — was supposed to be incompatible with sincerity. Wiseman judged diffe- rently from this brief visit, and, with characteristic hopefulness, made up his mind that if these men represented the rising generation at Oxford, the centre of English intellectual life, great changes were in store for the country. The existence of such ' Vide Bossuet's correspondence with Leibnitz, Letter XXL Opera, vol. i. p. 596, &c. RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 119 opinions in Oxford itself was not, indeed, a justifica- tion of Father Spencer's chimerical hopes. But it promised no longer the accession of units only in a people of millions, A movement which was in its degree corporate was apparently beginning among leading minds within the Anglican Church. Such a movement must have peculiar elements of power, resulting from its claim to be national as well as Catholic. It appealed to English Churchmen as the work of their friends, while the hereditary supporters of the Roman See necessarily appeared in a measure to assail them as foes. From this year dates the rise of a new hopefulness in Wiseman. * From the day of Newman and Froude's visit to me,' he wrote in 1847, 'never for an instant did I waver in my con- viction that a new era had commenced in England ... to this grand object I devoted myself . . . the favourite studies of former years were abandoned for the pursuit of this aim alone.' The change, however, in his pursuits, did not become definite for some years, and we have evi- cience — as we shall shortly see — that at first he con- templated the unprotestantising of the National Church and of the English mind rather than any large acces- sions to the Roman obedience as the immediately practical prospect. The period succeeding Newman's visit was marked rather by a resumption of his philo- logical studies than by any active share in English affairs. A few extracts from letters addressed to an old pupil to whom he was much attached ' will give some idea of Wiseman's life and interests at this time. ' The late Rev. Dr. Tandy. !2o CARDINAL WISEMAN Old friends of coni;cnial interests enthusiasts like Father Ignatius Spencer, or men of culture and ability- like the late Dr. Logan — had left the English College ; and Wiseman for a short time appears to have found none to take their place. In September, 1833, he writes from the country house of the College at Monte Porzio, where he was rusticating during the hot sea- son in company with the students of the College, and enjoying the society of his pet dog Minna : Since we came out we have hardly had a day without rain. I have been once out on horseback, to show the new ones the antiquities of Albano. To-day a party is gone to Tivoh ; but it has been raining in torrents all day, though the morning was very fine. With the exception of this expedition, I have not been farther than the Clementines. In fact, I feel little induce- ment to do so, for, independent of the weather, a lonely ramble is but sorry relaxation for one who when alone is necessarily driven to think. Minna is on these occasions my only companion, and though her pranks and caresses are very amusing and engaging, yet she is but a dumb companion. Not that there exists the slightest coldness between me and the rest, for nothing can exceed the good humour and content which reigns through the house ; but I never can feel that cordiality of inter- course to which I have been accustomed towards those whose pursuits and thoughts are so different from mine . Two months later he writes some of the current gossip of Roman and College interest. His own life appears at this time to have been far more secluded than either in 183 1-2 or later in 1835 ; and his temporary retirement from the office of preacher helped to send him back to his student's work for a while. The incidental glimpses at Italian life are not without interest : Now for a little news. We have had a splendid dirge for RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 121 the King of Spain at the Spanish Church. The decoration was beautiful, and Mozart's Requiem was splendidly performed. Its only fault was that the time was throughout taken too quick. Two striking instances of the uncertainty of life have lately taken place within the circle of our acquaintances. First, the excellent Archpriest of Monte Porzio, whom we left at the end of October in tlourishing health, in less than a month was carried off by a fever caught in attending a sick person. The second case is more tragic. The new abbot of Grotta Ferrata, a young man elected with great opposition, robust and cheerful, was sleeping a few nights after we left the country, when a gun charged with small shot was fired at his window, and smashed it. This was only a feint to make him get up ; but fortunately he only covered himself the more, for presently after a volley of bullets, of which nine were found, was poured into his room. After some time he rose, and gave the alarm, and early in the morning came off to Rome. I saw him a few days after, look- ing bewildered, pale, and haggard. Every evening, at the same hour as the attack happened, he was seized with fits, one of which shortly closed his life. Fornarini, it is supposed, will be the new Archpriest, as the village has petitioned for him. Abbate Bruti has disappeared on a sudden from the world, and is in his novitiate at Subiaco.' In the College we have been going on very well ; the two Messrs. Davies have arrived, and a valuable acquisition they are. Both are excellent musicians, the elder having studied counterpoint under Baini, the other a finished organist, and possessing a strong soprano voice up to A, and sometimes C. The elder is a beautiful artist in Raphael's early manner . . . the younger a Cambridge man, perfectly versed in Greek and Latin literature, particularly in the curious departments, as the old grammarians and musi- cians. He is also a good Hebraist, and a most amusing companion. I wish you were here ; I am sure you would be delighted. ... I am living a hermit's life this winter, going out nowhere, and making no new acquaintances. Though Rome was never so full as this year, since I came, I never knew so few people. Yesterday evening Cardinal Weld gave a large soiree in honour of Lord Anglesea. . . . My chest ' The great Benedictine Monastery. 122 CARDINAL WISEMAN has been troubling' mc so much I cannot preach this year ; this duty will be discharged by Dr. Baggs and Rev. Mr. Miley, from Dublin, who has a high character as a preacher. I do not think I told you in my last that during villcg^iatiira I com- menced Persian, and have continued it with spirit as far as other things would allow me, and I read it and speak it more easily than Arabic. I have been writing over again, and am gradually delivering, my course of lectures upon the advantages of science to the Evidences, bringing them down to the present time, and shall probably print them ; but how can I manage the correction for the press without you ? I believe I did not tell you that one day during ■vi/Ieggiatura, as Paolo was coming into the gate, he was arrested and sent off to Viterbo to take his trial for a murder said to have been committed by him ten years ago there. I suppose Nicolai had screened him from the mishap so long as he lived. His brother says he is at liberty at his paese, and will soon be allowed to come to Rome ; others diversely report as to how he should be condemned to twenty years' galleys. In the meantime we have had a man from the Abbate ; but I am now going to take a decisive step in favour of a fixed vignaruolo^ the more so as it seems Paolo was given to liquor, and always went armed ; and disguised policemen used, every now and then, to pay the vineyard a visit as his friends, but I suppose to watch him, that he gave them not the slip. In the same letter we have an indication of his interest in the Foreign Missions. ' I have,' he writes, ' such interesting letters from missionaries in Syria, bringing down their history to August, full of edifying anecdote and highly important accounts of conversions, not only among schismatics, but among Mahommedans and Biblicals too.' Next year (1834) he chronicles the final disap- pearance of the religious coldness referred to in a former chapter. The contemporary record is note- worthy, as this change was the inauguration of what he regarded as a ' new state of mind ' which in the RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 123 event never entirely passed away. He writes as follows on March 15, 1834 : I have felt myself for some months gradually passing into a new state of mind and heart which I can hardly describe, but which I trust is the last stage of mental progress, in which I hope I may yet much improve, but out of which I trust I may never pass. I could hardly express the calm mild frame of mind in which I have lived ; company and society I have almost entirely shunned, or have moved through it as a stranger ; hardly a disturbing thought, hardly a grating sensation has crossed my being, of which a great feeling of love seems to have been the principle. Whither, I am inclined to ask myself, does all this tend? Whence does it proceed? I think I could make an interesting history of my mind's religious pro- gress, if I may use a word shockingly perverted by modern fanatics, from the hard dry struggles I used to have when first I commenced to study on my own account, to the settling down into a state of stern conviction, and so after some years to the nobler and more soothing evidences furnished by the grand harmonies and beautiful features of religion, whether considered in contact with lower objects or viewed in her own ciystal mirror. I find it curious too and interesting to trace the work- ings of those varied feelings upon my relations to the outward world. I remember how for years I lost all relish for the glorious ceremonies of the Church. I heeded not its venerable monuments and sacred records scattered over the city ; or I studied them all with the dry eye of an antiquarian, looking in them for proofs, not for sensations, being ever actively alive to the collection of evidences and demonstrations of religious truth. But now that the time of my probation, as I hope it was, is past, I feel as though the freshness of childhood's thoughts had once more returned to me, my heart expands with renewed delight and delicious feelings every tmie I see the holy objects and practices around me, and I might almost say that I am leading a life of spiritual epicureanism, opening all my senses to a rich draught of religious sensations. It was at this time of revived vigour that Wiseman conceived the idea of migrating to England, with a 124 CARDINAL WISEMAN view to more active work for religion among his fellow-countrymen. He proposed to found a Catholic University and to edit a Catholic Review. He trusted that both these steps would enable him and his friends to take their part in the religious movements of the time with weight and effect. Dr. Baines, the Vicar-Apostolic of the Western district, had entered into his projects on the first head ; and contemporary letters show that Wiseman regarded the plan as prac- tically a settled thing. A Papal charter was promised for the University, and, although the proposal of appointing Wiseman coadjutor-bishop to Dr. Baines was suspended, his journey to England to organise the new institution was actually decided on. Though rejoicing at the wider scope which ap- peared to be opening out for his energies, his feelings at the prospect seem to have been mixed, when he found himself in September rusticating at his beloved Monte Porzio. Here we are at Monte Porzio, I in my old corner, with Minna beside me. The evening litany has just been sung, and the grasshoppers begun their endless chirrup. I have gazed with undiminished delight upon the splendid landscape below my little terrace, the mingled greens of olive and com and vines — the three things whereby men are multiplied — the chest- nut forests, the tangled sides of Catone, the lordly piles of St. Silvestro . . . and Rufifinella, and the bright mirror of sea beyond all, and I am endeavouring to impress every image as deeply as possible, that I may have brighter recollections of what I may perhaps not see again. I can hardly bear the thought ; indeed, to say we are looking on anything for the last time is like a death-bed speech, and a final parting is but a sort of death. Later on, however, he writes, speaking of the RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 125 University scheme as quite undecided, though a re- connoitring visit to England in the summer of 1835 was fixed upon. Before arrangements had been made for this visit, Wiseman, in compliance with the request of many friends in Rome, collected the results of the philological and scientific studies of many years, some of which had already been arranged as lectures for the members of the English College, and threw them into a form suitable to a more mature audience. The result was the well-known lectures ' On the Connexion between Science and Revealed Religion.' These lectures were delivered in Cardinal Weld's rooms in the Palazzo Odescalchi in the Lent of 1835. Nothing since the appearance of the ' Horse Syriacfe' in 1828 had so great an effect on his reputa- tion as the delivery of these discourses ; indeed, their immediate effect in Rome itself would seem to have been greater. They dealt with exactly what learned men are most disposed to attend to — the most recent theories and discussions in various sciences, notably in comparative philology ; and their bearing on Chris- tian evidences, though less interesting to some of his auditors, was an additional attraction to others. Many of these theories are now superseded ; and while in some cases Wiseman's insight anticipated dis- coveries of a later time, the lectures as a whole, unlike his biblical researches, are now out of date. But their interest at the moment and the respect they created, for his thorough and systematic study from original sources of the literature of the subjects dealt with, were very marked. 126 CARDINAL WISEMAN He himself noted at the outset of the lectures that the)' were directed towards meeting a particular stage in scientific research, and were therefore necessarily not final ; and consequently they do not profess to be positive evidences of Christianity. Adopting the conception developed by Newman later on of a cumulative argument being the normal form of the proof of Christianity, he wrote : ' Christian evidence external and internal consists of numerous and various considerations dovetailed and riveted so strongly together that a partial attack on one point is borne by the rest ; so that we incur greater diffi- culty by supposing the whole system of Christianity false in consequence of a particular objection, than we do by confessing our inability to answer, and adher- ing nevertheless to the cause which it impugns.' ' But it was obvious that while such a thought is of vital importance, still the multiplication of particular ob- jections in the name of current science, then as now would gradually give the appearance of demolishing so many of the evidences, that the appeal to a cunmhis of proofs might seem to be a circular argu- ment. Detailed answers were, therefore, up to a certain point indispensable. Even at the present time the lectures amply repay perusal ; and Lord Acton records the fact that the late Professor Owen told Wiseman, about the year i860, that they could easily be so far supplemented as to bring them up to date at that time. They ' See Lectures ott the Connexion hettveen Science and Revealed Religion, vol. i. p. 7. RECTOR OF THE ENCL/SH COLLEGE 127 abound in curious information. The ethnographical portions in particular show careful and even elabo- rate research ; and results which will be fully appre- ciated only by specialists are often indicated by illustrations which make their drift intelligible to the general reader. Confining our attention to points which are clearly of value at the present time, we may note that Wiseman avoids the weakness of so many evidential writers — including scholastics — of attach- ing too much importance to isolated evidences of facts connected with the Christian history. His lectures do not profess to prove Christianity. But their general drift is to show that whereas scientific conjecture has again and again been supposed to disprove Christian doctrine, further investigation has again and again shown the attempted disproof to be invalid. In some cases the very instances he gives still hold the field. In nearly all, he advances cogent reasons for suspicion of the hasty inferences which scientific theorists are apt to make in the first blush of a new discovery. He deprecates as simply unreasonable the ' scare ' which is constantly raised and spread, by the rise of scientific hypotheses which seem at first sight at variance with Christian tradi- tion — from Copernicanism to Darv^'inism. Like Pascal, Wiseman places the deepest proof of the Christian doctrines in experiences inaccessible to those who have not made trial of the effect of the doctrines by accepting them ; ' in our finding the necessity for our happiness of the truths they uphold ; in our there discovering the key to the secrets of our 128 CARDINAL WISEMAN nature, the solution of all mental problems, the recon- ciliation of all contradictions in our anomalous nature, the answer to all the solemn questions of our restless consciousness.' ' The position taken up is that a man who rests in faith and confidence on this testi- mony of his higher nature will again and again find the supposed scientific refutations of Christianity, which damage the cause of religion in the eyes of those who have not this patient faith, to have been based on insufficient investigation. Faith is so far ultimately justified by science itself. For example, he sketches the dismay caused among believers by the gradual disappearance, under critical tests, of the old theory that Hebrew was the original language of the human race ; and the triumphant conclusions which were drawn against the derivation of mankind from one stock, as pre- supposed by the Scriptures. Such conclusions struck at the whole Christian scheme. Whatever modifica- tions scholastic subtlety may introduce into the doctrine of original sin, the fact that the human race has inherited evil consequences from the act of its first progenitors cannot be got rid of without shaking primary doctrines of Christianity — the atonement, and the whole conception of a fallen human nature. Thus the unity of the origin of man has always been a sacred belief. And the idea that the original language was Hebrew had become so closely asso- ciated with this belief, that its destruction appeared for the moment fatal to Christianity. Time, how- ' Connexion between Science and Revealed Religion, vol. ii. p. 285. RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 129 ever, brought its revenges. In the course of a more systematic study of Hnguistic affinities, similarities were discovered between languages apparently most disparate ; and it eventually dawned upbn inquirers that the belief in a common ancestry was by no means to be identified with belief that the ancestor was Hebrew. Wiseman brings into popular form some broad features of the new affinities, which sug- gested themselves, thus : ' While I pronounce the fol- lowing words, pader, mader, stinu, dokJiter, trader, mand, vidhava or j'uvan, you might easily suppose that I was repeating words from some European language ; yet every one of these terms is either Sanskrit or Persian.' He traces the later develop- ments of the study of the newly found affinities, and indicates the various lines whereby, once again, the original unity of all language has come to be accepted as a satisfactory hypothesis by such men as Hum- boldt, Klaproth, Frederick Schlegel, Herder, Abel Remusat, Niebuhr, and Balbi. In point of fact the most irreligious results of science have come from abandoning the true inductive method. ' On a commence,' says Abel Remusat, ' par batir des systemes au lieu de se borner a I'observation des faits.' One thoroughly popular instance given of the explosion of an anti-Christian hypothesis had refe- rence to the well-known habit of Jesuits and mis- sionaries of teaching the Indians Christianity by utilising the Christian elements in the native creeds and developing them in a Christian sense. Wiseman writes as follows : VOL. I. K I30 CARDINAL WISEMAN I will give you an example of the facility with which men, who took pride in being called unbelievers, swallowed any assertion which seemed hostile to Christianity. In the last century, an Indian work, extremely Christian in its doctrines, was pubhshed by Ste. Croix, under the title of the ' Ezour Vedam.' Voltaire pounced upon it, as a proof that the doctrines of Christianity were borrowed from the heathens, and pronounced it a work of immense antiquity, composed by a Brahman of Seringham. Now, hear the history of this marvellous work. When Sir Alex. Johnston was Chief Justice in Ceylon, and received a commission to draw up a code of laws for the natives, he was anxious to consult the best Indian works, and, among the rest, to ascertain the genuineness of the ' Ezour Vedam.' He, therefore, made diligent search in the southern provinces, and inquired at the most celebrated pagodas, par- ticularly that of Seringham, but all in vain. He could learn no tidings of the Brahman, nor of the work which he was said to have composed. Upon his arrival at Pondicherry, he obtained permission from the governor, Count Dupuis, to examine the manuscripts in the Jesuits' library, which had not been disturbed since they left India. Among them he dis- covered the ' Ezour Vedam,' in Sanskrit and French. It was diligently examined by Mr. Ellis, principal of the College of Madras, and his inquiry led to the satisfactory discovery that the original Sanskrit was composed in 162 1, entirely for the purpose of promoting Christianity, by the learned and pious missionary, Robert de Nobilibus, nephew of Cardinal Bel- larmin, and near relative to Pope Marcellus II. Among the curious pieces of information in the lectures, we have the discovery in the last century by the missionary, Father Ignatius a Jesu, of the semi-Christian sect of the Sabians, settled chiefly near Bassora. Their sacred book — or Divan — shows a surviving traditional belief which gives a new definiteness to portions of St. John's gospel. For instance, they hold that St. John the Baptist was RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 131 * the Light,' that he was superior to Christ ; and St. John, as though in answer, says distinctly in his gospel that the Baptist was not the Light, but only its witness, and records St. John the Baptist's saying concerning Christ, ' he that shall come after me shall be preferred before me.' It is interesting to note Bacon's saying concerning the Jesuits, recorded in the subsequent lecture. ' Of late years the Jesuits have greatly enlivened and strengthened the state of learning.' Broadly speaking, then, the lectures are an attempt to illustrate, in various departments, the following statement made by Wiseman in the first of the series : ' the very sciences whence objections have been drawn against religion have themselves in their progress entirely removed them.' And while the moment chosen for Wiseman's endeavour was one at which the special pleading of an infidel cen- tury gave the Christian apologist a very effective opportunity, the general thesis advocated has received abundant illustration of late years in the fall of the Tubingen school, in such works of reconstruction as Ramsay's ' The Church in the Roman Empire,' and in many another instance. And it is of great importance to observe that Wiseman's argument does not commit Christianity to the special defences of the hour as final. The truest justification of the Christian reve- lation consisting in its power of explaining and satisfying human nature, the criticisms and apolo- getics of the age show only that a faith which rests on deeper motives will not be without external con- K 2 132 CARDINAL WISEMAN firmation so far as tlic ncccssan'h' progressive character of all scientific knowledge permits. Wiseman writes to Dr. Tandy, while the lectures are going on, as follows : I am now pretty well occupied. Besides my daily lectures at the Sapienza and my weekly sermon — for I have the preach- ing all to myself — I am delivering on Tuesdays and Fridays long lectures at Cardmal Weld's upon the increase of evidence to Christianity resulting from the progress of the sciences. I have delivered two on the comparative study of languages, to very crowded audiences, in which were many literary men of great reputation, and have had the good fortune to engage their attention and interest beyond expectation. I shall pro- bably publish them in the course of the summer. Mr. Monckton Milnes, who was present at the lectures, represents in his account the interest they created even among men devoid of theological tastes. The subject was comparatively new (he writes), and the knowledge imparted in a great degree necessarily derived from oi-iginal sources . . . the abundant illustrations which Scripture may derive from ethnology and philology and archfeology were then confined to the learned, and had not been made the staple of endless lectures, essays, and dictionaries. Thus these dis- courses were most interesting to all who heard them ; and though the wide range they took created some distrust in the perfect accuracy of the author, yet his acknowledged eminence in one branch of Oriental philology fairly suggested the in- ference that he would not run the risk of careless assertions or inadequate knowledge. The Chevalier Bunsen was a constant attendant at the lectures, and contributed in their course sug- gestions from his own reading on the subjects dealt with. He wrote as follows to the lecturer : RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 133 Capitol, March 25, 1835. Dear Sir, — Your admirable lectures have continued to occupy my mind and that of Dr. Abeken, the king's chaplain. Their object is of the highest interest for science and religion, and their method seems to me highly calculated to lead to most important results. Pray attribute to these sentiments the observations I take the liberty of submitting to you about the Mongol and Tartar nations ; they have been extracted from Ritter's classical work, which I send you also with these lines. Perhaps you may find in them some nevv facts or some subject of further discussion. I am, dear Sir, Yours most sincerely, BUNSEN. Pray have you a comparative grammar of the Kymric and the Gaelic in Scotland and Ireland? I have only a Welsh grammar, which has given me interesting results. Among other persons who expressed admiration for the lectures, either at the time of their deHvery or after their appearance, were DolHnger, Scholz, Dr. Leipsius, Count Miinster, Cardinal Mai, and the eminent mathematician, Mrs. Somerville. Dr. Somervillc writes to a friend,' referring to a pro- posed visit to Rome for purposes of health : ' I am also a great admirer of living objects of interest. It has occurred to me that it may be in your power to give us letters of introduction to the person we so much admire, Dr. Wiseman.' ' Mrs. Somerville,' says the same friend in writing to Wiseman, ' ex- pressed herself highly delighted with your lectures.' ' Among my audience,' writes Dr. Wiseman him- self in his preface to the lectures which were published in the course of the year, ' I counted men whose ' The late Dr. Cox, President of St. Edmund's College. 134 CARDINAL WISEMAN reputation in their respective departments of literature and science might have made me shrink from my complicated task ; yet I found them assiduous in their attendance and encouraging in their judgment. They joined in a wish repeatedly expressed by my hearers that these lectures should be communicated to the public' The lectures were in some sense Wiseman's fare- well to his student life, although he did not know it at the time. His reputation so far as the world of letters was concerned was probably at its height in that spring, when he was not yet thirty-three years old : and he used afterwards to speak of this part of his career as the happiest, both in itself and in the friendships to which it led. ' During that brief and long-passed era of life,' he writes in 1858, 'congenial pursuits created links of which few now remain.' Apart from Italian artists and scholars, he names other friends and correspondents of this time whose memory he was wont to prize — ' such scholars in France as the patriarch of Oriental literature, Silvestre de Sacy ; the rival of Grotefend and precursor of Raw- linson, Saint-Martin ; the inaugurator (almost) of Tartar and Mongolian learning, Abel Remusat ; not to mention Balbi, Ozanam, Halma, and many others.' Among Germans he recalls Mohler, Klee, Scholz, Frederick Schlegel, Windischmann, and the two Gorreses. His intercourse with some of these men was inter- rupted, and his researches laid aside, owing to the events of 1835. His attention had for some time been drifting, as we have seen, to the religious reac- RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 135 tion which seemed destined in so many countries to take a Catholic form. To understand how real and practical, and conse- quently how inspiring, the Catholic movement seemed at that time, we must bear in mind what has been pointed out in an earlier chapter — that Protestantism had been for years regarded by many as doomed. Society had been convulsed by the Revolution and the succeeding wars. The need of religion was felt and admitted everywhere; and religion, even to many who never joined the Catholic Church, meant Catholicism. A. W. Schlegel was one of these. While many of his eminent friends — among them his own brother Frederick — were changing Protes- tantism for Catholicism, he expressed his own senti- ments in 181 1 thus: 'The Protestant system does not satisfy me any longer. ... I am convinced that the time is not far off when all Christians will reunite in the old faith. The work of the Reformation is accomplished ; the pride of human reason which was evident in the first Reformers, and still more in their successors, has guided us so ill, especially during the last century, that it has come into antagonism with itself and has destroyed itself It is, perhaps, ordained that those who have influence on the opinions of their contemporaries shall publicly renounce it, and thus assist in preparing a union with the one Church of former days.' ^ Several circumstances had combined to concen- trate Wiseman's thoughts on this prospect in 1835. ' From a letter to M. de Montmorency. Cf. Lady Blennerhasset's i\Iada/ne de Siacl, vol. iii. p. 345. 136 CARDINAL WISEMAN The first was the inorc systematic perusal during the previous year of that literature of the religious revival to which such friends as Ozanam in France, and Dollinger in Germany, called his attention. A re- action in thought was evident, which seemed to promise the more because it was not confined to those who were or who soon became Catholics. A truer appre- ciation of the genius of Christianity was apparent in philosophy, literature and art, as well as in its more sacred sphere. Hopes were aroused of that modifi- cation of public opinion which must precede any large number of accessions to the Church. Wiseman writes as follows to a friend in December 1833, with his usual exuberance of metaphor : — ' I have of late felt a keen interest in the great movement of modern literature and philosophy, which seems to me pawing the ground and struggling to be free from the pagan trammels which the Reformation cast over it, and trying once more to fly into the purer, Christian ether of Dante or Chaucer, there to catch and bring back upon this chilly world a few sparks of chivalrous enthusiasm and religious devotion. Alas ! I fear its pinions are too weak ; but really the exertions of such men as Schlegel, Novalis, Gorres . . . Manzoni, Lamennais, Lamartine, and even the less pure efforts of Victor Hugo or Janin do show a longing after the revival of Christian principle as the soul and centre of thought, and taste and feeling.' A little later he points out how the new sympathy with the Church, and fairness to its representatives, extends to the more important field of history, and notes the very remarkable change indicated by the progress from RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 137 Roscoe's ' Life of Leo X.' through Voigt, Hurtcr, and Hoche to Kanke. Ah"eady in 1835 this movement of thought was beginning to bear fruit in the practical advance of the CathoHc cause. In France especially, where religion had been most rudely assailed, the reaction, although not yet extensive, was unmistakable. And the sojourn of Lamennais and Lacordaire in Rome had given Wiseman a lively interest in the proceedings of the little band of brilliant Frenchmen who were its leaders. His hopes were in great measure justified later on by Montalembert's oratorical achievements in the French Assembly, the formation of the Parti Catholique, the triumphant return of so many priests in the Parliament of 1848, and the renewed respect for religion which made it once more a real force in France. With Montalembert, Rio, Ozanam, and others of their friends he kept up an occasional correspondence ; and he visited them from time to time on his way through Paris to England. Lamen- nais' struggles \vith the ecclesiastical authorities in 1833-4 had been followed by him with a great deal of .sympathy for the men who seemed to be putting fresh life into the French Church. Lamennais' fall, how- ever, showed, almost abruptly, how far more powerful was the revival of which he had been the mouthpiece, than the mere personal ascendency of the man him- self Not one of his followers went with him, and the Ultramontane movement continued rapidly to advance. The year 1835 saw the beginning of Lacordaire's conferences at Notre Dame, 'from which,' writes 138 CARDINAL WISEMAN Monsignor de la Bouillcrie, 'dates the commencement of an immense religious movement among the youth of our time.' These conferences were going on while Wiseman was delivering his lectures in Cardinal Weld's rooms at Rome, On his way to England he stayed in Paris, and all the religious world there was full of the work they were doing. During the same Lent of 1835 he exchanged letters with Dollinger, and we learn that Munich, as well as Paris, was to be one of Wiseman's halting- places on his way to England. The German profes- sor's letters show his interest in the progress of the cause of religion, and both men were agreed as to the importance of co-operation between the Catholics of England and of Germany. Dollinger was living in daily intercourse with such great and devoted men as Joseph Gorres and Mohler (author of the 'Symbolik ') ; and the interest of all in the religious future of England was lively. Wiseman, on his side, had been for some years following with full appreciation the intellectual work done by German Catholics. ' I have just received from Germany,' he writes to a friend in October 1833, 'a treasure of Catholic literature ... it is quite delightful to see the high tone which the Catholic party has been gradually taking and is likely to pursue. In learn- ing and abilities they seem to be putting themselves at the head of every part of literature.' He wrote to Dollinger with enthusiastic admira- tion of the first volume of his Church History, and in 1835 he brought about a correspondence between Dr. Lingard, the Catholic historian, and the Munich RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 139 professor. The second volume of Dollingcr's work reached Wiseman in April 1835, sent to him by its author, who wrote as follows : The first volume of my Ecclesiastical History having met from you with such a fa\ourable reception, I feel emboldened to send you the second too, and I shall continue to send you the succeeding volumes. By Lady Harriet Jones, who actually stays here with her husband, I know that you'll soon return to England and become a member of the College of Dr. Baines at Prior Park. I hope you recollect the promise you made me in your letter, of passing through Munich, and spending at least some days with us ; you will find there not only Gorres, but also Mohler, who has of late consented to lecture henceforth on Divinity at our University. What you say respecting a closer connexion between the Catholic clergy of England and Germany has my fullest approbation, and it seems to me ' a consum- mation devoutly to be wished.' Another letter from Dollinger, written during Wiseman's sojourn in England, begins by referring to a proposal that young Mr. Vavasour — a son of Sir Edward Vavasour — should spend some time with Dollinger at Munich for the sake of intellectual im- provement. The letter is worth giving in full as characteristic of the man, though its references to the Catholic movement are only incidental : — Munich, November 17, 1S35. My de.\r Friend, — Certainly the young man you mention in your letter will be very welcome, and I shall always be ready to assist him and guide him, as if he were my next relation. It happens just that my own family is in the situation to receiv'e him, and to aftbrd him lodging and whatever he may want. I have spoken with my parents, and my mother consents to board him for the sum of 42/., or 500 florins of German money, per year. He will have two rooms well furnished, close to my own rooms, breakfast, dinner, and supper ; the expenses for light. I40 CARDINAL WISEMAN fuel, washini;, ;ind such things arc included in the sum just mentioned. If he dines with me and my family he will have a good occasion to speak German ; but in case he should prefer to dine elsewhere, he will be perfectly free on this account, and the aforesaid sum will be lessened proportionately. For several years we had a young man, a relation of my mother, in our house, who having now finished his study and accordingly left Munich, there is a sort of vacancy in our household, which the son of Sir Vavasour is welcome to fill up. If the father should wish it, I promise to write him regularly, and to give him an accurate account of whatever regards his son. As I have myself a numerous library, and have free access to our two great public libraries, the young man will be abundantly provided with the books he may want. As to his studies, 1 can guide or superintend them in the departments of history, clas- sical and general literature ; in general, I can only say that he will be taken care of, as if he were a member of the family, provided he is not impatient of a mild and rational control. You know it to be a long-cherished and favourite project of mine to undertake a voyage to England, and I have fixed upon the autumn of the coming year lor the realisation of this plan ; so if young Mr. Vavasour should then like to make a visit to his family, we would go and return together. I have already received a letter from Dr. Lingard, which has given me the greatest pleasure, and I shall answer it as soon as the momentary press of business (occasioned by my having undertaken to give a new course of dogmatic theology) will permit me. It is to be regretted that Dr. Lingard does not understand German, and is consequently incapable to profit of the historical works lately written in that language. Are there no persons of literary pursuits among your . . . clergy, who are capable and inclined to study our theological literature of the last years ? There seems now to be a sort of literary apathy and inactivity on the side of English Catholics, and yet you are continually attacked, and, if I mistake not, your nume- rous adversaries take too much advantage of your silence. Your Milners, Butlers, and others are gone, without having left successors, and meanwhile the attacks of heresy are becoming daily more various and virulent. But I am judging of things I cannot but know very imperfectly, and therefore I resign my- RECTOR OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 141 self to your belter knowledge. Upon your arrival here you will, I trust, rectify my ideas, for I must tell you, you are ex- pected to give us a full and circumstantial account of the state of the Catholic religion in your country, a subject which is of paramount interest for every one of us (meaning me and the rest of your friends here). They are all well— Gorres, Phillips, Mohler, Windischmann-and impatient to see you again. I believe I gave you commission for two works — Plowden on Panzani's memoirs, and the Memoirs of Missionary Priests.' If you have not yet purchased them, pray don't trouble yourself about them, since meanwhile our royal library has got them. But Hawarden's ' Truth and Charity ' will be very gratifying. Will you have the goodness to bring along with yourself some crayons of the finest quality ? Here in Munich I have not yet met with good ones. Pardon me for causing you the drudgery of reading the bad English of this letter, and let me know the time of your arrival here. I remain, Rev. dear Sir, With affectionate friendship and respect, Yours, I. DOLLINGER. Wiseman received letters in the course of 1S35 from Stein metz of Bruges, Scholz, and Windisch- mann the elder of Bonn. In all these cases the rise of a new activity of Catholic thought and of a new devotion to the Papacy is a frequent theme. It is necessary to bear in mind these facts in order to understand the ideas with which Wiseman began his campaign in England in the autumn of 1835. He was filled with the conception of a general revival of religion due to Catholic zeal ; and in the countries with which he was most closely related ' Challoner's well-known work of thai name. 142 CARDINAL WISEMAN there was a singular coincidence in the rise and advance of movements not directly associated with each other. Roughly speaking, in Germany, in France, and in England itself, the movements began to be definite forces about 1835 ; were in full course about 1840; and remained unabated until the early fifties. Lacordaire began his conferences in 1835, when Newman's movement was fairly started. Bol- linger was in that very year rallying round him men like Mohler and Gorres, whose names will live for ever among the thinkers or writers of the period ; and the great outburst of Catholic feeling in Ger- many occasioned by the imprisonment of the Arch- bishop of Cologne, of which I shall speak later on, took place in 1839, the year in which Newman first began to realise that the Catholic movement, if thorough and logical, must ultimately mean reunion with the Papal See. Lacordaire was then nearly at the height of his influence, and the next two years witnessed the formation, under Montalembert's pre- sidency, of the Parti Catholique. Italy, too, as we have seen, had already taken its share in the move- ment, and Tuscany, Erastian and Jansenistic in the last century, was in 1835 as Ultramontane as Rome itself Wiseman then, when he arrived in England in 1835, was filled with facts to which the bulk of Englishmen were almost strangers. The world-wide empire of the Roman See was brought before his imaginative mind as he travelled by Vienna, Munich, Paris, and Bruges, saw the Catholic champions whose writings had so moved him, and received letters in RECTOR or THE ENGLISH COLLEGE 143 the course of his journey from missionaries in Syria and China. He hailed straii^ht from Rome, and Rome had not lost the sense of the moral triumph which had won the admiration of the civilised world in 181 5. The ambassador of an imperial power, the repre- sentative of a sacred cause, respected by the eminent scholars of the time, who had clustered round him in Rome during the Lent of 1835, he arrived with a feeling of strength and assured position. And his spirit of hopeful enterprise stood in marked contrast to the ideas of Englishmen, Catholic and Protestant alike, as to the status and work of the Catholics in England — the remnant of the long-proscribed English Papists. 144 CARDINAL WISEMAN CHAPTER VI THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS'' The romantic story of the English Catholics — their loyalty to their religion, and their early struggles ; the alternations in their fortunes, as martyr and persecutor, Jacobite and Whig ; their untiring zeal and indomit- able hopefulness for so many generations ; their utter prostration during 140 years of relentless proscrip- tion and exclusion from all share in English public life ; and the final emergence of a sorry remnant, ' all that was left of them,' in 1829 — these things must be recalled to mind before the state of English feeling at the time of Wiseman's arrival can be understood. If ' The authorities I have mainly relied on for this chapter are the Douay Diaries with appended documents and correspondence of English Catholics (David Nutt) ; Cardinal Allen's Answer to the Libel of Eng- lish Justice ; Simpson's Life of Campion (Williams & Norgate, 1867) ; The Disposition and Garnishment of the Soicle (Antwerp, 1596) ; Micro-cost?iogi-aphie, by John Earle, M.A., 1628 (reprinted 1869, Constable & Co.); Bishop Smith's Monita to the English priests (edifion of 1695) ; Letters of Henrietta Maria (Bentley) ; The Histories of England, by Green, Ranke, Macaulay, and Lingard ; A Retrospect of the Religions Life of England, by John James Tayler (Chapman, 1845); Professor Beesly's Queen Eli zabeth{^l2iCX\\\\\A\\); Father Bridgett's Queen Elizabeth and the Catholic Hierarchy (Burns & Oates) ; Father Morris's Catholic England in Modem Times (Burns & Oates) ; Amherst's History of Catholic Emancipation (Kegan Paul) ; Husenbeth's Life of Milner (James Duffy) ; Throckmorton's Letters ; Beringion's State and THE ENGLISH ' PAPISTS' 145 they were in 1835 an insignificant ' sect,' they were the representatives of a body which had had a principal share, by action or reaction, in determining English public opinion, in days when devotion to a definite creed might incur deep resentment or win enthusiasm, but was not despised as petty sec- tarianism. Their history is essential to the under- standing of one of the most important features of modern civilisation— the development of the spirit of religious toleration. The most trusted English historians assign to Catholic heroism and endurance under Elizabeth an important place in winning that respect for individual conviction which the Catholic Mary Tudor had seemed so flagrantly to violate ; and the story of their ultimate emancipation marks a critical stage in the movement towards religious freedom. The deeper sources and wider effects of this movement will be considered later on. For the present, let us try to realise the broad features of the chequered career of the English ' Papist ' in his rela- tion to the history of the English mind ; — his own traditions of the past fortunes and misfortunes of Behaviour of English Catholics from I he Refonnation to the Year 1780 (London, R. Faulder, New Bond Street, 1780) ; the MSS. at Ever- ingham Park ; Dom Gasquet's Henry VIII. and the English Monas- teries (John Hodges) ; Dodd's Church History (Tierney's edition) ; the despatches of Panzani, Conn, and Rosetti ; Brady's Catholic Hier- archy in England and Scotland (Rome, 1877) » Lecky's History oj England in the Eighteenth Century ; the Works of Sydney Smith (Longman) ; Charles Butler's Historical Memoirs of English Catholics (1819) ; Milner's Supplementary Memoirs; and a collection of pam- phlets published in the reigns of Charles IL and James II. I have also quoted from Le Quien's Nullitc des Ordinations Anglicanes (Paris, 1725) a passage from Staplelon. VOL. I. L 146 CARDINAL WISEMAN his ancestors, his habits and hopes in the course of his history. If many of the facts are famiHar, they must nevertheless be recapitulated from a special point of view as giving the sources of various phases of thought and sentiment which Wiseman encountered in 1835. The word Papist was used as early as the reign of Henry VIII. The Papists were then the very few who stood out against the Royal Supremacy. The bulk of the nation, sick of strife, mindful of the horrors of the wars of the Roses, conscious of Henry's absolute power, accepted the new legisla- tion with little show of discontent. Men like More and Fisher came to the conclusion that the cause of Catholicism was at stake, and suf- fered death rather than take the new oath. Others, like More's daughter, Margaret Roper, accepted the Royal Supremacy, with a conscience clause to save their allegiance to the Papacy. But, by the mass of the people, the provisional acceptance of the Royal Supremacy does not seem to have been at first regarded as a decisive test. ' This matter of the Pope's supremacy and the Prince's,' writes Stapleton in 1567, 'was at first, even to very learned men, a strange matter, but is now, to meanly learned, a well-known and beaten matter.' ' Bishop Tunstall, who under Elizabeth refused to take the oath of supremacy, in Henry's time had expressly main- tained that no separation from the Catholic Church was involved in it.^ There had before now been ' Stapleton's Counterblast to Mr. Horn^s Blast, pp. 37-8. * ' Ye presuppose,' he writes, ' . . . that in takinjj upon him the THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 147 differences between the civil power and Rome, and they had before now been set right. ' The expecta- tion was general,' writes Dom Gasquet, ' that the " quarrel " between the King and the Pope would be made up again.' By the time of Henry's death, however, the course of events — the suppression of the monasteries and the growing influence of Protestant opinions — had proved an ominous commentary on the import of the new system : and the religious changes of Edward's reign convinced many that, in the circumstances of the time, the Royal Supremacy involved a permanent breach with Rome, and led readily, and even neces- sarily, to the dominion of Protestantism. While the new King professed the reformed faith, Protestant ideas were disseminated by a crowd of foreign refugees. The religious confusion of the reign was extra- ordinary. ' Ecclesiastical order was almost at an end,' writes Mr. Green. ' Priests flung aside the sur- plice as superstitious. Patrons of livings presented their huntsmen or gamekeepers to the benefices in their gift, and kept the stipend. All teaching of divinity ceased at the Universities.' Some priests said the Latin Mass still, some the English Com- munion Service, some half of each. Some conse- crated the host, others told the people that it was a wafer which they would bless. ' And this mingle- tille of Supreme Head of the Church of England he intendeth to separate his Church of England from the unity of the whole body of Christendom . . . wherein surely . . . you ... do err,' &c., quoted in Father Bridgett's Queen Elizabeth and the Catholic Hieraichy^ P- 55- L 2 148 CARDINAL WISEMAN mangle,' says a contemporary writer, ' did every man make at his pleasure, as he thought it would be most grateful to the people.' That this state of things was unacceptable to the people at large is tolerably certain. It tended strongly, in the eyes of Englishmen, to identify the cause of the Catholic theology with that of the Papal supre- macy, and to increase the number of those who were known as ' Papists.' Protests against individual Papal ' encroachments ' had long been common enough in the National Church ; but the danger of finally break- ing with the Papacy was a very different thing — as constitutional agitation differs from rebellion. Gardiner, who had acquiesced in the Royal Supre- macy in the previous reign, now recognised the justice of the view of More and Erasmus, that the unity of the Church was really at stake. He saw, in Mr. Green's words, ' how inevitably severance from Rome drew with it a connexion with the Protestant Churches and a repudiation of Catholic belief He declared for the Pope, and he probably represented the English mind of the time.' The ' Papist ' became the acknow- ledged representative of the cause of Catholic Chris- tendom. ' The return to communion with the Catholic Church and the recognition of the Pope as its head,' writes Professor Beesly,^ ' gave satisfaction to three- fourths, perhaps five-sixths, of the nation, and to a still larger proportion of its most influential class — ' Cf. Green's History of the English People, edition of 1896, vol. iv. p. 87. - Beesly's Queen Elizabeth, p. 7. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 149 the great landed-proprietors.' The devout CathoHcs who had earnestly prayed for the conversion of England, amid the utter confusion wrought by the attempts of the Protestants to force a new religion on the people, could not but regard the early death of Edward, and the events which followed, as an answer to their prayers. ' The whole system which had been pursued during Edward's reign fell with a sudden crash ' on Mary's accession. A Catholic reaction was visible throughout the country, and within a year of the Queen's succession to the throne was enacted a scene long remembered by Catholic zealots as a token of what might come again. Reginald Pole, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and Papal Legate, reached England, and as he rode from Dover to London his train was swelled to 1,800 horsemen. He entered London by the river, his cross gleaming at the prow of the barge which con- veyed him from Gravesend to Westminster, and was welcomed by both Houses of Parliament, \vho received on their knees the Papal absolution from the guilt of schism and heresy. The Catholic world rejoiced. St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, wrote to Pole congratulating him on the return of P^ngland to Catholicism. Had Mary, on the one hand, or the Pope, on the other, adopted a more conciliatory policy, it is possible that the Catholic reaction might have borne more per- manent fruits. ' Mary's accession,' writes Professor Beesly, ' was the great and unique opportunity for the old Church.' If she had contented herself 'with restoring the old worship, depriving the few Pro- I50 CARDINAL WISEMAN testant clergy of their benefices and punishing only- outrageous attacks on the State religion, Elizabeth would not have had the power — it may be doubted whether she would have had the inclination — to undo her sister's work.' The Pope, however, misjudging, as some thought, the depth of the anti-Catholic feel- ing at work, refused to support Pole in some of the compromises which with his closer knowledge he saw to be necessary ; ' and the martyrdoms at Smithfield, endured by the Protestants in many cases with heroic fortitude, disgusted Englishmen anew. ' You have lost the hearts of 20,000 that were rank Papists, within these twelve months,' a Protestant wrote to Bonner. Cranmer's execution, enhanced in its effect by his terror at the prospect, and his fruitless attempt to escape by recantation, affected the popular mind most of all. A war of this kind declared against heresy, in which not even repentance could save the victim from the stake, caused a deep dread of Roman fanaticism and Roman power, the effects of which have not entirely passed away to this hour. Laymen and women were sent in batches to the flames, and a depth of resentment was aroused which is, in part, the explanation, although not the justification, of many a flagrant wrong endured by Catholics in later times. In this state of things the general relief at Eliza- beth's accession invested her with a peculiar power which made itself felt. Driven by stress of circum- stances on the Protestant party for support, she attempted the religious settlement which is familiar ' Green, vol. iv. pp. 101-2. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 151 to us all. The Council of Trent had not yet made its unalterable definition of the issues, and some modus Vivendi did not seem beyond all hope. She made no startling change in the external framework of the Church : Bishops and Deans, Presbyters and Deacons remained. Formularies Protestant, indeed, but not ultra-Protestant,' calculated, as she hoped, to secure at least the external conformity of all moderate persons who were yearning for religious peace, formed the basis of the new settlement of religion.'- The Act of Uniformity was at once passed (in 1559), substituting for the Mass the second Prayer Book of Edward VI., with certain modifica- tions — for example, the omission of the denunciation in the Litany of the ' detestable enormities of the Bishop of Rome.' The majority of the Catholics, sick of bloodshed, attended the new services (though their bishops, with one exception, refused to take the oath of supremacy, and were superseded by others). But within the first two years of the reign many of them withdrew, and in 1562 the Pope formally forbade participation in the ' heretical ' worship.^ It was not until after this, and after the refusal of Eliza- ' I use the word ' Protestant ' as Laud used it, as implying a pro- test against parts of the teaching of the Catholic Church in communion with Rome, but not necessarily excluding a belief in the ' Holy Catholic Church ' in some wider sense. - The heterodoxy of the Anglican liturgy was considered by Staple- ton to consist in the intention of its omissions. This made the Prayer Book Protestant as well as the Articles. In his answer to Jewel he compares it on this score to the Arian creeds, which are unorthodox because of the designed omission of the phrase 'consubstantial.' (See Le Quien, ii. 126.) ^ Green, vol. iv. p. 214. 152 CARDINAL WISEMAN bcth to send representatives to the Council of Trent, tliat the far more Protestant Thirty-nine Articles were adopted by Convocation, in 1 563, To a very large extent the conformity of the Catholics had no doubt been avowedly for the sake of peace ; Mass being said and heard privately in the priests' houses before the celebration of the Communion service. Large numbers, too, conformed after the Pope's pro- hibition (in deference to the fines imposed for recu- sancy), and yet preserved their Catholic beliefs.' They even in some cases ' took wine with the parson ' once a year, as Squire Brockholes of Claughton styled his own occasional participation in the Anglican communion. Dr. (afterwards Cardinal) Allen has left an im- portant account of his own work in bringing before English Catholics the full import of the changes, and convincing them that it was unlawful to attend the new services. He writes as follows to Dr. Vendeville in 1580: — This change was wonderfully furthered by the familiar con- versations which I had some years ago [1562 to 1565] when I ' From the very interesting contemporary records in the Douay Diaries it is plain that it was only gradually that the priests succeeded in making it clear to all English Catholics that attendance at the new worship was ahsolutely unlawfid. On the other hand, these records go to show that the conformity was purely external, and that Mass was heard privately when it was possible. In the very first years Elizabeth's attempts at compromise seem to have led to hesitation among many of those who ultimately withdrew from the national Churches. But after the decrees of Trent had become generally known, and Dr. Allen had urged the consequences of external acquiescence in schism, those English Catholics who were really religious appear to have accepted the unwelcome conclusion that they must undergo the full penalties uf the law rather than conform. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 153 was staying at the houses of many of the gentry and nobihty in England. In these I demonstrated by irrefragable notes and tokens the authority of the Church and the Apostolic See, and I proved by popular but invincible arguments that the truth was to be found nowhere else save with us Catholics ; which notes, rules, or motives for distinguishing with certainty the Catholic faith from heresy I afterwards enlarged and pub- lished at Douay. Hence it was brought about in a very short time that a vast number of our countrymen not only came to hold right views about religion, but abstained altogether from the communion, churches, sermons, books, and all spiritual communication with heretics ; a most difficult thing to obtain in that country, because of the iniquitous laws, and the punish- ment of imprisonment, as well as other penalties, which it entails, and also because those who were in other respects Catholics had already, through fear, given way to such an extent in this matter that not only laymen, who believed the faith in their hearts and heard Mass at home when they could, frequented the schismatical churches and ceremonies (some even communicating in them), but many priests said Mass secretly and celebrated the heretical offices and supper in public. . . . And this arose from the false persuasion that it was enough to hold the faith interiorly while obeying the Sovereign in externals, especially in singing psalms and parts of Scripture in the vulgar tongue, a thing which seemed to them indifferent, and, in per- sons otherwise virtuous, worthy of toleration, on account of the terrible rigour of the laws. Wherefore at the beginning many people blamed those on our side for over-much severity, because we said that this practice was by no means permissible to Catholics. Afterwards, however, by persevering diligence, we so completely overcame this difficulty that no one is any longer regarded as a genuine Catholic, capable of absolution, who does not altogether refrain from every appearance of evil in regard to communication with heretics. And whereas in the judgment of many worldly-wise men this strict enforcement of ecclesi- astical discipline seemed likely to lessen greatly the numbers of Catholics, the Lord God has shown by the experience of a few years the contrary to be true.' ' That the task of inducing Catholics not to conform was still difticult in the last years of Elizabeth we gather from such a passage as 154 CARDINAL WISEMAN It was the withdrawal of the zealous ' Papists ' from the National Churches which first gave the separate organisation of a corporate body to the ancestors of the Catholics whom Wiseman found in England. Dr. Allen wrote, in the later years of Elizabeth, that two-thirds of the people were still ' inclined to the Catholic religion in their hearts.' ' Cardinal Bentivoglio, whose estimate is endorsed by Macaulay, held that four-fifths would become Catho- lics under a Catholic dynasty. This computation would explain the peculiarity of the position of the Catholic party, and the hopes they entertained, which, considering the comparatively small number of the recusants, might else have seemed preposterous. Dr. Allen, their most active leader, founded Douay College in 1568, with the avowed object of keeping up the supply of English priests against the happy day of the restoration of the old religion. Himself an Oxford man, and with nine Fellows of Oxford Colleges to help him, he transplanted to Douay the the following, which accompanies a list of dispensations allowed by Cardinal Allen for English Catholics, in view of the difficulty of their position : ' Yet on the other side you and all my brethren must have great regard that you teach not nor defend that it is lawful to com- municate with the Protestants in their prayers or service or conventicles where they meet to minister their untrue sacraments ; for this is con- trary to the practice of the Church and the holy doctors in all ages, who never communicated or allowed any Catholic person to pray together with Arians, Donatists, or what other soever.' [Letter from Cardinal Allen to 'the priests of England,' dated Rome, December 12, 1592-] ' See Allen's Answei- to the Libel of English Justice, p. 171. Of the number of actual recusants it is very hard to speak. Lord Herries, who has given much attention to the subject, thinks Macaulay's esti- mate, that they were one-thirtieth, much too low. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 155 intellectual and Catholic traditions of the Oxford of mediaeval days. The zealous Catholics claimed, in withdrawing from the Churches, to be acting simply as loyal spiritual subjects of the Ancient Catholic Church in England. The bishops of the Church (save one) had resisted the changes, and the Queen had deposed them. The Act of Uniformity was passed in the teeth of the remonstrances of Con- vocation.' The Catholics denied the right of the Queen either to depose the bishops or to force the Act of Uniformity on the Church. These measures were not even the acts of a schismatic Church. They were the acts of the Queen and Parliament. The spokesmen for the English Catholics maintained their allegiance to the deposed bishops, and disowned the authority of the persons (Puritans for the most part) intruded by the Queen into their sees. They were welcomed by the rest of the Catholic world as the remnant of the old Church of England ; - and they set up colleges and religious houses in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Flanders, and Belgium, The sense that in their unflinching opposition to the new system they were defending from profanation much that a Catholic deems holy, was gradually deepened by the fanatical Protestantism of some of the bishops of the established Church, especially in relation to the Mass. The moderation of such types of Angli- ' Beesly, p. 15. - Both in the Doiiay Diaries and in the instructions to the English priests issued in 1643 the English Roman Catholic body is called ' Ecclesia Antjlicana.' 156 CARDINAL WISEMAN canism as Hooker or Isaac Walton, or later on Ken and l^ishop Wilson, had little in common with the tone of these exponents of the Reformation. The language used by such bishops as Jewell, Bullingham, \Va\c, Grindal, Sandys, and Pilkington is often suggestive of the Puritan fanaticism which be- came so prominent outside the Established Church in the following century. And their actions were in harmony with their words. In most of the churches the altar was destroyed and replaced by a table or a board on trestles, ' The churchwardens shall see that the altar stones be broken, defaced, and be- stowed to some common use,' we read as one of the injunctions of Archbishop Grindal in 1571 ; and the systematic profaning of sacred vessels and vestments ^ betrayed a hatred of all that was connected with the great central act of the old worship, which roused the deepest religious instincts of Catholics, and bred among them a horror of the National Church. While, then, in the first years of the reign, the Catholics explained their attendance at the esta- blished worship on the plea that there was nothing in that worship positively contrary to Catholic faith, their attitude when the movement developed was that of men outraged in their m.ost sacred convictions.'^ ' For some particulars on this subject see Mr. Round's essay on the Elizabethan Religion, Nineteenth Century, February 1897 ; and ' English Church Furniture, &c. as exhibited in a list of goods destroyed in certain Lincolnshire Churches, a.d. 1566,' edited by E. I'cacock. '^ This is especially evident in their language concerning the Anglican sacraments. Language is frequently used parallel to Allen's description of the Protestant cup as the 'chalice of devils.' In the work referred to in the text on the Garnishment of the Soiile even stronger expressions are used. Vide infra, p. 1 58. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 157 The separation and antagonism between the com- munions became deeply marked ; and those who remained Catholics at heart, but still conformed out- wardly under pressure of the penal laws, were regarded both by the Catholics and by the Pro- testants as acting against their consciences. This important class of the community — on whose gradual assimilation to the National Church the change of the national religion largely depended — were known as ' schismatics,' or • demi-Catholics,' or ' Catholic- like Protestants,' or more popularly as ' Church Papists.' ' Numerous under Elizabeth, they were still a class to be reckoned with in the latter days of Charles I., as we see from the ' Admonitions ' in 1643 of the Catholic Vicar Apostolic, Dr. Smith, to the priests of the Catholic Church in England.^ Som.e of the Church Papists, Dr. Smith notes, kept a priest secretly, with a view to being reconciled to the Church on their death-bed. To win these men to recusancy was of great moment in the days of Elizabeth, for it was clear enough that otherwise their children or grandchildren would grow up Protestants. In an exhortation to the ' Church Papists,' written by an English Catholic, and printed in i596,-nve read the ' The author of the Disposition and Garnishtnent of the Souk ( 1 596) names three classes of readers in England, Catholics, Protestants, and Church Papists. The last-named were also called (he tells us) by the other nahies mentioned in the text. - ' Monita qusedam utilia pro sacerdotibus seminaristis missionariis Anglire una cum methodo agendi cum hereticis schismaticis et Catho- licis Angliae, auctore Ricardo Smitheo, Ep. Chalcedonensi, Anglias et Scotia; ordinario,' 1643 (ediiio nova, 1695), P- S^- ' T/ie Disposition and Garnishment of the Soii/e, Introduction. (Antwerp, 1596). 158 CARDINAL WISEMAN following words in reference to their partaking of the Anglican Communion — words which show the sense of desecration with which Catholics regarded the intrusion of the new sacrament, accompanied as it was by blasphemy and insult of the Mass : The communion, O poisoned cup, better it were for you to eat so much ral's-bane than that polluted bread, and to drink so much dragon's gall or viper's blood than that sacrilegious wine. No doubt but that after that bread entereth in Satan . . . This you know and in your hearts confess, and therefore your sin is questionless the greater . . . Abandon for Christ Jesus' sake their external conversation in religion, whose company inter- nally you detest. For in very deed most of the Protestants hate you ; the Catholics mislike you ; the devils laugh at you, and God doth vomit you out of His mouth. Woe be to that man that goeth with two hearts, that walketh two ways, that intendeth ... to be Christ's disciple and a favourite of the world. That the' Church Papist ' was not much respected by members of the Established Church — quite apart from ultra-Protestants — we see from the following account of him,' generally ascribed to John Earle, afterwards Bishop of Salisbury : A Church-Papist is one that parts his Religion betwixt his conscience and his purse, and comes to Church not to serve God, but the King. The face of the Law makes him weare the maske of the Gospel, which he uses not as a meanes to save his soule, but charges. He loves Popery well, but is loath to lose by it, and though he be something scai-'d with the Buls of Rome, yet they are farre off, and he is strucke with more terrour at the Apparitor. Once a moneth he presents himselfe at the Church, to keepe oif the Church-warden, and brings in his body to save his bayle. Hee kneels with the Congregation, but prayes by himselfe, and askes God forgivenesse for coming ' This account was written some years after the death of Elizabeth. It is referred to about i6l8. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 159 thither. If he be forc'd to stay out a Sermon, he puts his hat over his eyes, and frowns out the houre, and when hee comes home, thinkes to make amends for this fault by abusing the Preacher. His maine poHcy is to shift off the Communion, for which he is never unfurnish't of a quarrell, and will bee sure to be out of Charity at Easter ; and indeed lies not, for hee ha's a quarrell to the Sacrament. He would make a bad Martyr, and good traveller, for his conscience is so large, he could never wander out of it, and in Constantinople would bee circumcis'd with a reservation.' How Elizabeth, greatly against her own inclina- tion, was ultimately led to declare war to the knife against the adherents of the Papacy, is too familiar to stand in danger of being forgotten. No middle way was possible. In England, as in France and Germany, Protestant and Catholic feeling was thoroughly aroused. Mary of Scots and Philip of Spain, both in communication with the Pope, were a danger to the throne, which a revival of Catholic zeal throughout the country might easily make fatal. Ireland was deeply Catholic, and owed a traditional allegiance to the Pope as temporal sovereign. And at the same time there was enough of what was regarded as intrigue on the part of the Pope, Mary, Philip, and the English and Irish Catho- lics to cause real alarm. The Papacy, the rallying- point of Catholic enthusiasm, was the chief object of the Queen's fear ; and to a loyal people her fear became a national fear. Public opinion, in the south especially, was by degrees most thoroughly roused ' Micro-cosniograpJtie, by John Earle, M.A., Fellow of Merton College, Oxford {1628) ; reprinted 1869. London, 5 Queen's Square, Bloomsbury. (Messrs. A. Constable & Co. have now bought up all Professor Arber's reprints.) i6o CARDINAL WISEMAN against the Court of Rome. The fanatical abuse of the Pope, which persecuted Protestant refugees from abroad had made familiar to English ears, while it had its effect in binding English Catholics more closely to the Holy See, was utilised by statesmen to stir up the national mind against the Papal policy. Writing in 1565, Allen says, ' When Protestants first began to taunt the Pope in every play, book, and bal- lad, Catholics who before, living in faithful simplicit}', meddled not much with the Pope's matters, nor often heard of his name, began to conceive of this busy rail- ing that there was some great ground of matter on that point.' ' The Queen and her advisers welcomed all that deepened opposition to the Court of Rome, and ultra-Protestant views of the Popedom were encouraged to deepen the effect of the political action of the Papacy. Patriotism and obedience to the Papal policy came to be ranged on opposite sides, owing to a series of events or reports following one upon another, whose gradual accumulation made them in such circumstances irresistible. It was the Pope who had first enforced Allen's views that the Catholics should not attend the Established worship, thus giving the signal for religious war ; it was the Pope who, through his secret envoy. Dr. Morton, stirred upj in 1569, the northern rebellion of the Catholic Earls, which was joined by many who had outwardly made peace with the new religion. It was the Pope who was believed to have corresponded with Mary Queen of Scots, and encouraged her plans for upsetting Eliza- ' Defence of Purgatory, p. 235. THE ENGLISH ' PAPISTS' i6i beth's government and restoring the Catholic rehgion. It was the Pope who, after the failure of Northumber- land's rising, launched the Bull of excommunication against Elizabeth, and insulted English pride by deposing her and absolving her subjects from their allegiance. It was the Pope who claimed a suze- rainty over Ireland (to be reminded of which again offended the pride of the nation), and who stirred up the Irish to rebel against the English Queen in the name of a power higher than herself It was the Pope who was for ever urging Philip of Spain to espouse the cause of the English Catholics, and put an end to Elizabethan rule and persecution by an invasion of England. The unseen but dreaded foe in Rome aroused a panic, and bred a general sus- piciousness of Papists, which was ver}- unjust in the case of the large majority. The popular imagination at last became so heated as to take fire on very little evidence. The priests who came over from Rome and Doua}' for purely religious purposes were regarded as Papal spies. ' The few clerics who landed from Douay,' writes Mr. Green, ' were multiplied into an army of Papal emissaries despatched to sow treason and revolt throughout the land. Parliament, which the working of the Test Act had made a Protes- tant body save for the presence of a few Catholic peers, was summoned to meet the new danger, and declared the landing of these priests and the harbour- ing of them to be treason.' ' Afterwards the Jesuits ' Later on, by the Statute of 1585, anyone sheltering or aiding Jesuits or missionaries was also to be ' adjudged a felon without benefit of clergy, and suffer death. ' VOL. L M 1 62 CARDINAL WISEMAN from Rome aroused similar suspicions. ' The little group of missionaries was magnified by popular fancy into a host of disguised Jesuits, and the invasion of this imaginar}' host was met by the seizure and tor- ture of as many priests as the Government could lay hands on, the imprisonment of recusants, and the securing of the prominent Catholics throughout the country.' Cuthbert Maine was the first priest to suffer, being hanged, drawn, and quartered at Launceston in 1577. Then followed in the succeeding years a wholesale massacre of priests, or of those who har- boured priests, the details of which are sickening to read. Women were in some instances the victims. Margaret Clitheroe of York, who was tried for har- bouring priests and refused to plead, was laid with her back on a sharp stone and gradually crushed to death by a door laid upon her and heaped up with stones. The constancy shown in the prayers of the victims to the very end — prayers which were often for the Queen herself — won many waverers and even many Protestants to the Catholic cause, and undid for the moment much of the effect of the Marian persecutions. That the later Elizabethan legislation under which the Catholics suffered was the outcome of a panic caused by a real political danger is undoubtedly true. But when the authorities attempted to justify their action by declaring that their victims were executed for treason and not for religion, they were adding, it was felt, insult to injury. ' Attempts to excuse such legislation,' writes Mr. Beesly, ' as THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 163 prompted by political reasons, can only move the disgust of every honest-minded man.' ' A law is passed,' writes Sydney Smith, ' making it high treason for a priest to exercise his functions in England, and so when he is caught and burnt {sic) this is not religious persecution, but an offence against the State. We are, I hope, all too busy to need any answer to such childish, uncandid reasoning as this.' ' ' Many Catholics perished in England,' writes Mr. Lecky, 'to whom it is the merest sophistry to deny the title of martyrs for their faith.' - This is the verdict of the more dispassionate re- search of our own day ; but it was not so at the time of the martyrdoms, and the Catholics had the deepest sense of wrong. However treasonable had been the designs of a few, the English Catholics as a body had kept entirely clear of political intrigue.'* The priests came to England in nearly all cases (they declared) simply to administer to the spiritual needs of the Catholics, and to confirm converts or reconcile apostates. The Catholic religion and the recognition of Papal supremacy were, they contended, the old order of things in England. Catholics were the defenders, and not the aggressors. Even had they taken the Pope's view that Henry and Elizabeth were rebels against the wider empire of Christendom they might still have claimed that they were the defenders of the established order, and that loyalty ' Sydney Smith's Works, edition of 1850, p. 586. - History of England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. i. p. 272. ' See Mr. Simpson's admirable analysis of the question (Life of Campion, pp. 99 sec]. ) iM 2 i64 CARDINAL WISEMAN to Christendom had the first call on their allegiance. But, in fact, in the vast majority of cases they re- mained loyal to their own nation and sovereign. They were accused of treason, although martyr after martyr prayed for the Queen on the scaffold, and swore with his dying breath to his innocence of all political intrigue. Martyr after martyr acknowledged Elizabeth to be as much his lawful Queen as Mary Tudor, thus denying all practical effect to the Pope's deposition.' But this was deemed insufficient. They were required to commit themselves to an abstract proposition positively denying the Pope's right of deposing princes ; — a statement reversing the hitherto accepted belief of Western Christendom, and obviously requiring for a Catholic conscience explanations which it needed time to frame exactly. Yet time was not given, and the refusal was taken as evidence of treasonable intentions. The trial of Campion is a good instance. ' Apart from his religious belief,' writes Mr. Beesly, ' nothing treasonable was proved against him in deed or word. He acknowledged Elizabeth for his rightful sovereign . . . but declined to give any opinion about the Pope's right to depose princes. This was enough for the judge and jury, and he was found guilty. At the place of execution he was again offered his pardon if he would deny the Papal right of deposition, or ' Rome had given permission for allegiance to Elizabeth on the part of Catholics in spite of the Bull 'rebus sic stantibus.' See for the particulars of this, Simpson's Life of Campion, pp. loo seq. Per- haps, so far as Rome was concerned, these words allowed of a future attempt to oust Elizabeth. But there is no reason to duubt the shnple loyalty of these dying prcjtests. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 165 even hear a Protestant sermon. He wished the Queen a long and quiet reign and all prosperity, but more he would not say.' ' He was forthwith hanged, drawn, and quartered, the nails having been torn from his fingers at an earlier stage.^ This state of things inevitably continued so long as Catholic priests obeyed their consciences. If they believed that Catholicism was true, they could not do otherwise than receive back those who wished to return to the old faith ; and yet to reconcile a man to the Catholic Church was treason punishable by death.'' If priests believed in the efficacy of the sacraments and of the Mass, they could not deprive their countrymen of their spiritual ministrations ; yet for them to remain in England was (after the Act of 1585) high treason. Large numbers of them disapproved of the Pope's policy again and again, — of the Queen's excommunication, of the Irish plot, of the Armada. Some probably entertained the sentiments expressed a little later in the following extract from the ' Declaration ' of the secular clergy, in answer to Father Parsons: — ' If either his Holy- ness should come in person or send a Damianus or Augustin ... we would He at his or their feet and defend with them the Catholic Faith by sacred scripture and authority of the Church, though it cost us our lives. But if the Pope should come in person ' Beesly, p. 143. - Hallam's denunciation of this trial, as reported, is well known ; and his doubts as to the complete accuracy of the extant accounts have been disposed of by Mr. Simpson. ^ By the Act of 1581 any act of persuasion to the Romish religion was high treason. t66 cardinal WISEMAN with an army, wherever we are, under pretence of estabHshing the Cathoh'c Religion by force, we would offer ourselves against him, and spend the best blood in our bodies in that quarrel ' ' Yet these sentiments of an influential section were ignored by public opinion and the legislature. English Catho- lics were all classed together, and because they would not renounce that allegiance to the Pope as head of the Church which their fathers had maintained, they were fined, imprisoned, and killed, and their priests were butchered. And at the very time when the anti-Papal party was claiming the approach of the Armada as a proof of the justice of its suspicions, came the most conclusive refutation of the charges against the Catholics. They were being executed on the ground that they were con- spirators in virtue of their allegiance to the Pope, and must be treated without distinction as members of a secret society of traitors ; yet it was the patri- otic action of Catholics, in opposition to the Pope, which saved England at the crisis of the history of the reign. ' The loyalty of the Catholics,' says Mr. Green, ' decided the fate of Philip's scheme.' The sense of injustice endured for conscience' sake, the frequent presence among them of priests who were prepared any day to suffer martyrdom for the cause, and the sight of their constancy, aroused in the Catholics of that time an enthusiasm and a zeal ' This particular ' Declaration of Secular Priests,' from which the above extract is taken, was found by me among the collection of old MSS. preserved at Everingham, to which Lord Herries has kindly given me access. I do not know whether it has ever been published. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 167 which have been compared with those of the early- Christians. Zeal in the sacred enterprise, of still resisting the Protestant aggression, of defending the faith, of preserving the traditions of old England — our Lady's Dowry — grew into the deepest of all pas- sions. The presence of the priest was longed for. When he came to a Catholic house, some secret sign was given whereby the faithful should know of his arrival — a shawl or sheet would sometimes be laid out in a field. They heard Mass in secrecy, and with the intensity of devotion which such circum- stances aroused.' It was a crisis at which Catholics ' The following is an interesting contemporary account of the state of the Catholics: 'My brother,' writes Cardinal Allen in 1583, 'was obliged to spend a whole month in London, wailing for an opportunity to cross the seas. While there he visited the prisons and nearly all the confessors, except those in the Tower, whom he did not venture to go near. In one of the prisons, called the Marshalsea, there are, besides the other Catholics, twenty-four priests who live there together most sweetly in the Lord. Both in this and the other prisons many Masses are said every day, with the leave or connivance of the jailers, who are either bribed or favourable to religion ; people from without are admitted from time to time for conference, confession, or communion ; and, more than this, the priests are allowed to go out every day to different parts of the city and attend to the spiritual needs of the Catholics, on condition that they return to prison for the night. In this way the salvation of many persons is furthered quite as much as if the priests were at liberty.' And again, ' My brother Gabriel, whom your Reverence knows, arrived here the day before yesterday from England, after escaping great dangers. When I listen to him as he tells of the straits, hiding-places, and despoilings of Catholics, and then of their consolations, deliverances, and devotion, it excites in me very various emotions. Nevertheless joy in the Lord, because of the victory won by Christ's confessors in all these things, predominates over earthly sorrow at the grievousness of their sufferings. Certainly it was a pleasure to hear him say that, during the whole three years he has been away from me, never a day passed but he had the opportunity of hearing Mass ; that three or four Masses were often said on the same 1 68 CARDINAL WISEMAN must cither be deserters to the cause or heroes, and the amount of heroic devotion shown is known to any reader of the contemporary records collected by Challoner. Allen, in his ' Answer to the Libel of English Justice/ gives the following picture of the state of things : If our fellows in the Catholic faith throughout Christendom could conceive that in heart which these confessors do in deed feel, and we often with our eyes behold, they would with infinite tears bewail our case, and with daily devout prayers procure God's mercy towards us, as we trust they do : if they might see all the prisons, dungeons, fetters, stocks, racks, that are through the realm occupied and filled with Catholics ; if they might behold the manner of their arraignment even among the vilest sort of malefactors ; how many have been by famine, ordure, and pestiferous airs pined away ; how many by most cruel death openly despatched ; how many have suffered proscription and condemnation to perpetual prison ; how many have been spoiled and otherwise grievously punished by forfeiting to the Queen I GO marks for every time they hear Mass ; how many gentlemen and others, persons of wealth, are wholly undone by losing thirteen score pounds by the year for not coming unto the heretical service ; how many have lost all their lands and goods during life for flying out of the country for their conscience sake ; how many of the most substantial, profitablest, and persons of greatest hospitality in divers provinces are chased out of their day at our sister's house ; and that every year on the anniversary of her husband's death twelve Masses were said there. Still, searchers are often sent to houses of this kind, the owners of which are most sus- pected of attachment to the Catholic faith ; but they look rather to plunder chalices than to seize persons, and can generally be got rid of with money. All that part of the country where we were born is Catholic, though the common people sometimes go to the churches of the heretics through fear of the iniquitous laws.' (Letters from Cardinal Allen to Padre Agazzari, S.J-, Rector of the English College at Rome, March, 1583.) THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 169 own houses by spials, promoters, and catchpoles ; how many wander in places where they are not known, driven into woods, yea, surely into waters, to save themselves from the heretics' cruelty [In the margin is written, 'John Westby, of Molbreck, esquire, was glad to stand for a whole winter's day almost in a pit of water up to the ears, and often forced to duck under the water lest he should be espied of the persecutors '] ; how many godly and honest married couples most dear one to another by the imprisonment, banishment, flight of either party are pitifully sundered ; how many families thereby dissolved ; into what poverty, misery, and mishap their children are driven ; what numbers thereby run o\er sea into most desperate wars and fortunes, or by better luck and fortune go to the seminaries or other service to pass their time during their parents' calamity. Of the devotion to the Mass shown by the ' Papists ' amid their trials, we may cite the following account : It fills me with amazement [writes Father Parsons from England in 1580] when I behold and reflect upon the devotion which Catholics in England show by their gestures and behaviour at Mass ; for they are overpowered by such a sense of awe and re\erence that . . . when the Lord's Body is elevated they weep so abundantl)' as to draw tears, even involuntarily, from my dry and parched eyes.' To the faith and piety of the Catholics in the years immediately following, the author of the ' Garnishment of the Soule ' bears witness in 1 596, in quaint phrase : In the depth of winter [he writes in the dedication of his work], when the light lacketh, heat faileth, rivers are congealed, a hoar frost covereth the face of the earth, then the vital springs vent forth of their hidden veins more abundance of water, a warmer liquor, more fervent streams, a better digested sub- stance. In like sort, my dear friends ... it fareth with you while the light of true faith and religion is banished out of England, the heat of Charity exiled, the floods of alms and hospitalitie ' See Doiiay Diary, p. 171. I70 CARDINAL WISEMAN which in former ages ran amain are frozen with imputative justice and sohfidian error ; while all the churches are hoary white, without Image, taper, altar, priest, sacrifice, piety, or devotion, your faith shineth more bright, your hope appeareth more firm, your charitie casteth a greater flame. The sense of wrong and of injustice, then, was chastened and sanctified by the exalted piety, which could not but prevail in a society adhesion to which meant a willing acceptance of the constant danger of martyrdom. The Catholics continued to look for better times, and the ' conversion of England ' was still a vi\id, if no longer a sanguine, hope among them at the death of Elizabeth. The picture of Car- dinal Pole receiving the submission of the Houses of Parliament was not yet erased from the Catholic mind. The priests still hoped one day to replace the altars in the English churches, and to regain their own. ' Thou Lord of Hosts,' we read in the prayer written by John of Heigham, and used at Douay about this time ; ' defend Thyself in this Holy Host against Thy enemies. . . . Re-establish the Holy Mass in our island, mauger the malice of Thine enemies ; and grant that after forty years wherein Thou hast been grieved with this wicked generation, at last this noble sacrifice may be publicly celebrated by us to Thy everlasting and perpetual praise.' Protestantism had no doubt gained ground rapidly. For the first twenty years of Elizabeth's reign the pulpits had been deserted ; during the last twenty Calvinism or Lutheran ism had been for the most pai-t preached, as the old priests died and were THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' lyr replaced b}- Protestants. Still, men do not forget the traditions of their youth, and much respect for things Catholic remained. Macaulay has truly said that the dramas exhibited to the public are, at any period, a good indication of the ideas generally popular. Whatever might be the private sympathies of a playwright, he could not venture to represent views unpalatable to his audience. In the dramatists of this time we find respect for, and sympathy with, very much that is Catholic. It has often been remarked that Shakspeare represents a monk or friar as an object of veneration. Celibacy is a matter of re- spect, and even reverence, among the playwrights who were his contemporaries. We have references in the dramas of this time to the doctrine of purgatory and the sacrament of extreme unction ; and we see signs not merely of the survival of older Catholic feeling, but of the respect won later on by the heroic Jesuit martyrs, in one of Massinger's plays. Roman priests are, indeed, generally treated with honour. The scene at the close of the Knight of ]\Ialta is a strong instance in point. In short, the deep irrita- tion aroused by Papal action had not yet destro}'cd Catholic sentiments, nor the respect for the keystone of the Catholic system — the Roman priesthood. John Selden tells us that even later in the century priests were more respected than the ministers of the Established Church.' This surviving sentiment — the ' perfume of Rome,' as a contemporary writer called it — was the basis both of the endeavours of Jacobean and Caroline divines ' Table Talk, p. 194. (Edition of 1819. ) 172 CARDINAL WISEMAN in some degic to catholicise the National C"hurch, and of the hope among Catholics themselves that a strong Catholic monarch might secure for them a tolera- tion which would gradually lead to a return to the Roman obedience. Tout peut se rctnblir was still the sentiment of the Catholics. The Court of Rome, as we have seen, was the great difficulty, and this chiefly in consequence of a line of political action which many Catholics thought ill-judged. A con- ciliatory Pope and a Catholic King might yet come to terms and win the country. How these hopes were dashed to the ground soon after the accession of James I. is well known. The son of Mar)' Queen of Scots, for whom Catholics had suffered so much, was expected to be favourable to their cause. But the fears of foreign invasion and Puritan influences threw James on the Protestant side. The penal laws were re-enacted, and the depth of Catholic disappointment was supposed to have found vent in the Gunpowder Plot. This, though the work of a few only,' helped to add to the con- ception of ' Papist ' which was impressing itself upon a rising generation with no earlier memories of monastic sanctity, and of days when Catholicism had no political connotation. Then the Pope re- fused to sanction a Catholic oath of allegiance fof wliich the English Archpricst, Dr. Blackwell, quite approved), which denied the ' deposing power.' This was the signal for man}' ' Papists ' to conform to the Established Church ; and henceforth the strength of ' I do not forget that Father Gerard has given us grave reasons for doubting the existence of the plot. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 173 the Catholic party was on a lower level. Their vitality was, however, still considerable, and towards the end of the rciLjn they enjoyed a good deal of practical toleration. The proposed marriage of the future Charles I. to the Infanta of Spain,' and his subsequent betrothal to the Catholic Henrietta Maria, naturally con- tributed to this more favourable attitude ; and after his accession there were many conversions to Catholic- ism. Mass was said publicly ; Papal envoys were received at Court — Panzani, Conn, and Rosetti — to confer on the possibilities of ameliorating the posi- tion of Catholics, and even, it was said, on reunion with Rome. The occupant of the Papal chair (Urban Vni.)— too late — sent conciliatory messages to the King, and declared that he claimed nothing but a spiritual authority over Catholics. Charles avowed his regret for the incidents of the Reformation,- but remained faithful to the National Church. It is significant, however, that one of his favourite works was an extraordinarily close anticipation of the famous ' Tract 90,' a treatise by a Franciscan named Davenport, and known as Franciscus a Sancta Clara, reconciling the Thirty-nine Articles with the decrees of Trent. One of the grievances of Parliament against the King lay in the known wishes of some Anglican prelates for reunion with Rome, and the ' James I. enjoined in 1624 the practical discontinuance of the penal laws and the release of Catholic prisoners. See his letters of December 26, 1624, to the Lord Keeper and the Archbishop of York. See Dodd, vol. v. Appendix, p. cccxlvii. -' See Letters of Henrietta Maria, p. 33. ' God forgive the first authors of the disunion,' are Charles's reported words. 174 CARDINAL WISEMAN prayers for the conversion of England. Bishop Montague was avowedly for reunion ; Laud himself was believed to hope for its gradual attainment ; Bishop Goodman became a ' Papist.' We read in a declaration of Parliament in 1641, 'that the design of changing religion in this and in your other kingdoms hath been potently carried on by those in greatest authority about you, for divers years to- gether ; the Queen's agent at Rome, and the Pope's agent or nuncio here, are not only evidences of this design, but have been great actors in it.' And again : ' a late design, called " the Queen's pious intention," for which English Papists fasted and prayed weekly, was for the alteration of religion.' ' A Spanish recluse, Luisa del Ascensione, was said to have prophesied that if Charles I. did not return to Catholicism he would lose his throne — a statement which could not fail to arouse deep feeling on either side.- The Queen's almoner, the Bishop of Angouleme, speaks in an oration, published in 1647, in terms which represent vividly the change effected in the position of the ' Papists ' in Charles's reign. ' The Queen,' he says, speaking of the earlier events of the reign, ' hath given a confidence to poor English Catholics to come forth from their retirements where they remained shut up in obscurity, and to appear in the light, with their faces erected, to profess and exer- ' Letters of Henrietta Maria, p. 72. - That this prophecy was current in 1639 seems placed beyond doubt by the despatches of Rosetti in that year. It need hardly be said that, in the eyes of those Catholics who had firmly believed in it, subsequent events must have had a peculiar significance. JNIcntion of the prophecy is found in Rosetti s Despatches, tome iv. folio 2S6. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 175 else their religion with all assurance, to aspire after and actually obtain offices and charges in the Court and State, after they had been for the space of an age without liberty of breathing, or rather sighing in secret.' Archbishop Laud ' remonstrated with Charles on the growing numbers of the ' Papists.' Charles himself, recognising their influence at the approach of civil war, undertook to remove all the penal laws if the Queen would persuade the Catholics to rally to his standard.2 They did so almost to a man, inspired by new hopes, and by a loyalty which gives a special character and pathos to their history for the subse- quent hundred years. After the King's execution, Charles II. found his truest friends among Catholics. His letters were often sent undercover to the Abbess of Ghent (an English Benedictine conv'ent now trans- planted to Oulton in Staffordshire). When Charles summoned his loyal subjects to meet him on August 21, 165 1, in the meadows near Worcester, among those who came with their troops of horse were Sir Walter Blount, Mr. Ralph Sheldon, Mr. Hornyold of Blackmore, Mr. Thomas Acton. Among those who sheltered him after the battle of Worcester were Mr. Whitgreave, Father Huddleston, and the Pendrells. ' It is important to remember, as showing the scope of Laud's reforms, that when he placed the Communion tables where the altars had stood in pre- Reformation times, Convocation was careful to point out that ' this situation of the holy table doth not imply that it is or ought to be esteemed a true and proper altar whereon Christ is again really sacrificed ' (see 7th clause of the Convocation of 1640). - See his letter to Henrietta IVIaria, dated February 1644 (Zt'//t7-j- of Henrietta Maria, Bentley, p. 291). 176 CARDINAL WISEMAN Both a sense of gratitude and his own Cathohc sympathies led Charles II. to wish to requite the Catholics with kindness and toleration after the Restoration. But by this time a great advance had been made in the anti-Catholic sentiment of the country. The Irish Rebellion of 1641 had sent over to England Protestant refugees with fresh stories of the Papist massacres from which they had escaped. The stories were exaggerated, but the basis of truth in them made them irrefutable arguments in the hands of zealots. The Puritans used them effectually in enforcing their views of ' Popery ' on Englishmen for many years. What was calumnious was freely circu- lated, and was believed on the strength of what was true. The Papists themselves, banished and pro- scribed, or when still in England carefully avoiding in- tercourse with their fellows, were not in a position to give the lie to falsehoods, or to prevent, by the mere presence of human embodiments of the type, the growth of a conception of the ' Papist,' which was inconsistent with the ordinary laws of human nature. The 'Papist,' like the ' Infidel,' became an imaginary accretion of abstract qualities, in themselves largely imaginary, without the touch of nature which would have reminded his fellow-countrymen of their common parentage. The generation which had preserved the Catholic sentiments of its youth had moreover long passed away, and the intense zeal of the Puritans appeared to vindicate the sacredness of the holy war, the justice of which entirely depended on the abomin- able nature of Popish superstition. The detestation of THE EXGLISH 'PAPISTS' lyy the religious aspect of ' Popery,' which in Eh'zabeth's time had been the sentiment of a violent party, and not of the nation as a whole, had now spread more and more widely. The national feeling against the ' Papist ' became generally blended with fanatical hatred of the ' Popish ' religion. The luckless English Papist thus incurred in his own person the odium attaching to each separate phase of the conflict of loo years. The Papist had instigated the northern rebellion of 1569, therefore he was a rebel ; the Babington Plot added the element of secret conspirator ; the Papal Bull absolving him from allegiance to Elizabeth made him not only a conspirator, but a conspirator owing allegiance to a foreign power ; the threatened invasions of the Duke of Florence and the King of Spain added treason on behalf of the political enemies of Eng- land. The Armada stamped both conspiracy and treason in letters of fire for all history. The tortures of Smithfield had been kept alive in the memory of all by the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and again by the Gunpowder Plot and the Irish Rebellion ; and massacres were represented as a necessary result of Catholic dominion. To plotter and conspirator was added the character of assassin on a frightful scale, who, if ever he was in power again, would spare no Protestant. And if these elements in the picture were generally accepted, it was easy to regard the subtle distinctions of Campion for dear conscience' sake, in explaining the loyalty he owed to Pope and Queen, as ' deceitful equivocations,' and to pervert the Jesuit casuistry into the doctrine VOL. I. N 178 CARDINAL WISEMAN that Catliolics held tliat they need not keep faith with heretics, and that the Pope could absolve them from any oath, however sacred. The Jesuit especially was an equivocator, a traitor, a plotter. The theory, once broached, was easily supported. The Jesuit knew it was death for a priest to be caught. He was therefore constantly disguised. If he was taken, he was found dressed as a butcher, or a peddler, or a labourer ; or if he was in his sacred vestments, he was found in a hiding-hole. If he was tracked, he was discovered to have been Mr. Smith at Bath, Mr. Morgan at Bristol, Mr. Bristow at Clifton. What better proof could be imagined for the suspicious public mind than so many aliases, hiding- places, and disguises that he was intent on no good, but was going about secretly to arrange for another Gunpowder Plot .'* Some day all P^ngland would awake and find the King and Parliament destroyed, and Popish soldiers from France and Spain all over the country, and England the slave of a foreign power which would restore the Popish religion. When, in addition to all this, we remember that literature had given permanent dignit}' to parts of the popular scare — in Spenser's ' Duessa,' in Bunyan's ' Giant Pope,' in the picture drawn by Milton in his ' Lycidas ' — that it was the common talk of town and village that Popery was idolatry, the Church of Rome the Scarlet Woman, the Pope the Man of Sin and Antichrist, we can appreciate to some degree the sources of the public opinion with which Charles II. had to deal, and understand the intensity of the animus which resisted so strenuously all concessions THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 179 to C'atholics. And that animus was greatly increased by the events which followed the secret treaty of Dover. The existence of the treaty was suspected, and the war with Holland added to the fears of the nation. 'There was a suspicion,' writes Mr. Green, ' that the whole armed force of the nation was in Catholic hands. The Duke of York . . . was in command of the navy. Catholics had been placed as officers in the force which was being raised for the war in Holland.' The Test Act, passed in 1673, required that anyone taking office under the Crown, civil or military, or a seat in Parliament, should take the Sacrament according to the Church of England and abjure belief in Transubstantiation. Catholics were thus excluded more rigorously than before from all share in public life. Parliament constantly pressed for the Exclusion Bill, to prevent the succession of the Catholic James ; and the general anti-Catholic feeling was shown both in the invention of and in the credence given to the supposed Popish Plot in 1678, which cost the blood of twenty-four innocent victims. This was but one of a series of imagined plots with which the popular scare against ' Popery ' was fed during this reign, the first being the accusa- tion in 1666 that the Fire of London was due to the Papists, and a part of their endeavours to subvert the Protestant dynasty and restore Popery. The.se charges were accompanied by a systematic propaga- tion of inventions concerning the beliefs of the ' Papists,' some of which were still current in parts of England in the memory of many of us. One regular means for the circulation of these accounts was a i8o CARDINAL WISEMAN publication called the ' Weekly Pacquct of Advice from Rome ; or, the History of Popery.' The ' alteration of the religion,' or the ' conversion of England,' became, in this state of things, a mere phrase, and even a dangerous phrase. P'or with a population now opposed to every item of Catholic belief, it could only appear to mean a forcible restora- tion of the old religion, to be effected perhaps — as the end justified the means — by a fresh Gunpowder Plot or a repetition of the eve of St. Bartholomew. The text of the inscription on the monument com- memorating the Fire of London bore permanent witness to this popular dread. The fire was ascribed to ' the treachery and malice of the Popish faction,' and to their ' horrid plots for extirpating the Protest- ant religion and old English liberty, and introducing Popery and slavery.' This inscription was still stand- ing within four years of Wiseman's arrival in Eng- land. Charles II. did all he could. He attempted to pass an Emancipation Act. He persistently opposed the Exclusion Bill. A very definite scheme of re- union with Rome was drafted soon after the Resto- ration.' But to the end of his reign the anti-Papal feeling steadily grew in intensity. The Catholics had already dwindled in numbers rapidly since Charles I.'s reign. Of 500 gentlemen who lost their lives in the civil wars, it is estimated that nearly 200 were Catholics, and many a family of position was left without a male representative. The Test Acts and the intense bigotry of the time ' See Ranke's History, vol. iii. p. 398. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' i8i led many to conform or to fly the country. In the lower classes, too, the period of Puritan ascendency had done its work. ' If matters go on like this,' the Florentine Minister wrote in December, 1677, ' there will soon be no Catholics, either English or foreign, in the country.' ' ' Hatred of [the Roman Catholic religion],' writes Macaulay, 'had become one of the ruling passions of the community, and was as strong in the ignorant and profane as in those who were Protestants from conviction.' In the House of Lords in the following year a noble lord declared, amid thunders of applause, that he ' would not have so much as a Popish man or a Popish woman to remain amongst us ; not so much as a Popish dog nor a Popish bitch ; not so much as a Popish cat to mew or purr about our King.' ^ Yet the storm might have abated, and toleration might have come in due time, had the remnant been prudent and retiring. It was at this singularly unpropitious time, how- ever, that James II. made his endeavour to restore power and freedom to the Catholics. It was at once apparent that the relaxation of penal laws could have no effect in overcoming the popular hatred of the Papists. Dryden's contemporary description of the ' milk-white hind ' recalls their situation : Panting and pensive now she ranged alone. And wandered in the kingdoms once her own. The common hunt, tho' from their rage restrained By royal power, her company disdained. Grinned as they passed, and with a glaring eye Gave gloomy signs of secret enmity. ' See Additional MS. 25358 (British Museum), fol. 83. * Berington, p. 62. 1 82 CARDINAL WISEMAN ' Save me from my friends,' was a proverb of bitter significance to the Catholics, as James, against the wishes of CathoHcs themselves, and against the direct counsel of the Holy See, set at nought the Test Acts and promoted Catholic after Catholic to positions of authority and influence in State and University. The King's action raised the No-Popery feeling to frenzy, and the Revolution was inevitable. Pamphlets against Popery of the most extravagant description were circulated. An old reputed pro- phecy of Archbishop Ussher's was revived — that the Papists were to win the day and massacre the Pro- testants throughout Europe. The words ' Papist ' and ' massacre,' wherever they occurred, were printed in capitals. Jesuits were said to be found in the country in large numbers, disguised sometimes as Puritan ministers.' The public mind was wrought up to a pitch at which any story of Popish atrocity was accepted by the mob as true. A little incident related by Macaulay shows how easy it was to kindle the flame. At a meeting of gentry and freeholders at York, to consider an address to King James, at the time of William of Orange's approach, a cry was raised that ' the Papists were up and were slaying the Protestants.' It told with instant effect. The word was passed through the three Ridings, and Yorkshire went for William of Orange. The Catholics were henceforth utterly crushed. Up to this time there had been something of chivalry, of poetry, of enterprise, in their career. Throughout ' These particulars are taken from a curious collection of pamphlets in the author's possession of the dates 1686-89. THE ENGLISH ^PAPISTS' 183 Elizabeth's reign there had been the hope among the more sanguine that her death might witness a restoration of Catholicism similar to that accomplished by Mary and Pole ; and the early years of James I. did not absolutely expel this dream from their imaginations. The presence of Charles's Catholic Queen, the arrival in London of the Papal envoys, the growth of Catholicism, the talk of reunion, and the efforts towards reviving Catholic devotion in the Established Church in the early days of Charles, had distinctly renewed these hopes. And then had come the chivalrous devotion inspired by the royalist cause in the civil wars, when the hope of the Catholics was identical with that of an important section of the English nation. If such hopes were damped by mis- fortunes to the cause and the execution of Charles I., it was still a cause far from defeated ; and the Catholic Cavalier had an object to work for in the restora- tion of the King. It came, and he soon realised how little it could mean of immediate gain to him amid the deepening popular prejudice. Still, Coleman's papers, taken at the time of the Titus Oates Plot, showed, as we know, that the hopes still surviving were considerable. There was Catholic sympathy in high places, notably in the King himself and in the future King. James's impossible policy, however, the success of the Revolution, and the tremendous hostility of legislature and populace alike against all that savoured of Popery, finally reduced the Catholics to utter despair and insignificance. Hopes after hopes of pious Papists failed While mighty WiUiam's thundering arm prevailed. 1 84 CARDINAL WISEMAN Laws were passed within a few years of William's accession which seemed to promise the utter extir- pation of English Catholicism. The experience of Elizabeth's reign had shown that the infliction of actual death roused a life-giving enthusiasm among Catholics themselves, and sympathy in the witnesses of their sufferings. The penal system now intro- duced was the preference for gagging a man, binding him hand and foot, bandaging his eyes, and imprison- ing him for life, rather than killing him outright. It was made criminal in a Papist to possess arms, or to own a horse worth more than 5/. To say Mass or to keep a school subjected the Papist to perpetual imprisonment. The informer who should lead to the apprehension of a priest for saying Mass received 100/. Papists were incapable of inheriting any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, and could be called upon to give them up in favour of their next-of-kin. Nor could a Papist purchase land after April 10, 1700. Anyone informing against a Papist who educated his children beyond the seas — as at Douay or St. Omer — received the whole penalty of 100/. which had been inflicted by James I. for the ofience. The Acts of Elizabeth making it death for a priest to be in England remained, it should be added, unrepealed ; but as the Act of William offered a reward, convic- tions were naturally made under that Act rather than under its predecessor. It was in this state that a remnant of the Catholic families lingered on for ninety years, subject to intoler- able persecution for the bare exercise of their religion, and for 140 years excluded from the national life. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 185 With the exception of the abortive and momentary attempt to restore the Stewart dynasty in 171 5 (for few Engh"sh Catholics were concerned in the rising of 1745), they took no share in any movement of national importance. The Tories and High Church- men henceforth fought shy of their old allies. When in 1722 it was proposed to raise 100,000/.' by fines on the Papists to meet the expenses caused by the rebellion, the Catholics looked to the Tories for support; but, as one living at that time- asserts, ' the Tories and High Churchmen . . . got out of the way as much as possible, as if they were ashamed to stand up for us.' The ' Papists ' had become a pro- scribed religious sect without political importance. Speaking of the reign of George I., Burke says of them : ' Such was their situation that the}- not only shrunk from the frowns of a stern magistrate, but were obliged to fly from their very species ; a kind of universal subserviency that made -the servants behind their chairs the arbiters of their lives and fortunes.' '^ No doubt the worst of the penal laws were not ' ' Yesterday Mr. Ferrars reported to the Commons the following resolution : " That towards raising the supply and towards reimburs- ing to the Publick the great expenses caused by the late Rebellion and disorders the sum of 100,000/. be raised and levy'd upon the real and personal estates of all Papists and Popish recusants or Educated in the Popish religion, or whose parents are papists, or who shall profess the Popish religion ... in lieu of all forfeitures already incurred for or upon account of their recusancy, and in lieu of all the rents and profits of two-thirds of the registered estates for one year." London, November 27, 1722.' P^-eringham MSS. - Mr. Cuthbert Constable in a letter of December 3, 1 722, to Sir Marmaduke Constable, in the Everingham collection of MSS. * Quoted by Mr. Charles Butler in the Catholic Spectator of 1824, P- 315- 1 86 CARDINAL WISEMAN generally enforced, though the informer was at any moment to be feared, and lOo/. was a tcmpthig bait for him. But freedom from molestation could only be secured by absolute retirement and secrecy in the performance of all religious duties. Under these conditions the relations of Papists with their Protestant country neighbours were in some cases not unkindly, and they were left in peace.' Mr. Lecky, who has made the history of the last century so specially his own, thus describes the actual effect of the penal laws on the English Catholics : ' The position of Catholics, and especially of Catholic landowners, was always one of extreme precariousness. . . . They were at the mercy of their Protestant relatives, who might easily deprive them of their land ; at the mercy of common informers ; at the mercy of any two justices, who might at any moment tender to them the oath of supremacy. They were virtually outlaws in their own country, doomed to a life of secrecy and retirement, and sometimes obliged to purchase by regular contributions an exemption from prosecu- tion.' 2 The prosecutions were not generally due to any wish on the part of the Government to enforce the severest of the laws, but, in Mr. Lecky 's words, ' to private motives of revenge or avarice.' The laws, however, excluding them from the bar, from the army, and from ' every place of trust or profit under Government,' were strictly enforced.-* ' See Morris's Catholic Eit^^land in Modern Times, p. 5. - Lecky, Histo>y of England in the Eighteenth Century, iii. 507. ^ Beringlon's State and Behaviour, <^e. , p. 121. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 187 It was especially during this period that they acquired the characteristics which were in great measure retained within the memory of persons still living. They mixed little with their neighbours, and intermarried with each other. Entirely debarred from public life and from University education, and from general association with the society of their equals in English life, those who remained faithful to their re- ligion necessarily followed more and more the merely agricultural and sporting pursuits of the country squire. The whole body came in some degree to share the characteristics and interests ascribed a little earlier by Macaulay to the more bucolic section. The squires seldom ventured to take a part in the affairs of their county. One instance is recorded ' of a Catholic who, on coming into his property, broke through the cus- tomary retirement so far as to attend the Assizes. The grand jury announced at the end that they had made all due search for Papists, and the startled squire left the room and could never be induced to repeat his experiment. Some idea of the trials to which a Catholic priest's life was liable at this time may be gained from a letter of 17 14 from Dr. Giffard, one of the four Vicars-Apostolic appointed by James II.'s desire. Dr. Giffard survived until George II.'s reign, dying in 1734 at the age of 92. Since May 4 [he writes to a friend in Rome], I have had no quiet. I have been forced to change lodgings fourteen times, and but once have I lain in my own lodgings. Beside the severe proclamation which came out on May 4, three ' By Amherst in his History of Catholic Emancipation. 1 88 CARDINAL WISEMAN private persons have been, and still are, the occasion of my troubles. The first, some fallen Catholic, who, in hope of the great reward of loo/., informed and procured warrants for me, Mr. Joseph Leveson, and some others. The second is Mottram, who, being expelled the University of Cambridge for his immoralities, got into Spain, there was entertained by the good Fathers at Seville, and in a very short time made a con- vert and a priest ; but no sooner in England than he became as loose and immoral as ever, and now, to gain money for his wicked courses, is turned priest-catcher, and has got warrants for me and others. The third is one Barker, turned out of Douay for his ill-behaviour, received at Rome, made priest, and sent hither ; but always of so scandalous a life that no per- suasions or endeavours could reclaim him. Nay, with much expense we sent him to our good community in France, where he was presently so infamous, especially for being frequently drunk, that they turned him out, and now, being returned, he follows Mottram's tread. A few days ago he took up Mr, Brears, and has been in search of me and others, so that I am forced to lie hid as well as I can. I may truly say what was said by St. Athanasius, 'Nullibi mihi tutus ad latendum locus,' whence I am obliged often to change my habitation. I have endeavoured to procure a little lodging in the house of some public minister, where I could be secure from the attempts of these wretches, but I could not effect it. My poor brother,^ though much indisposed, was forced, by the threats of an im- mediate search by Mottram, to retire into the country, which so increased his fever that in seven days he died — an inexpressible loss to me, to the whole clergy, and to many more. My service to Monsignori Bianchini and Marcolini. They saw my little habitation, poor and mean, and yet I should think myself happy if I could be permitted to lodge there. However, ' gloriamur in tribulationibus ;' I may say, with the apostle, 'in carceribus abundantius.' In one I lay on the floor a consider- able time ; in Newgate almost two years ; afterwards in Hert- ford gaol ; and now daily expect a fourth prison to end my life in. I have always envied the glory of martyrs ; happy if God in His mercy will let me have that of a confessor. Mottram ' The Rev. Andrew Gififard. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 189 took up Mr. Saltniarsh, but, by a j^ood providence, he got from him. The continual fears and alarms we are under is some- thing worse than Newgate. It is also some mortification for an old man, now seventy-two, to be so often hurried from place to place. God grant me eternal rest ! ' The account by Mrs. Marlow Sidney, who was received into the Catholic Church in the last century, of the first Mass at which she was present, gives a vivid picture of the secrecy and dread of discovery which accompanied attendance at Catholic religious rites even so late as 1770. The very word ' Mass,' she explains, was avoided in conversation, though she understood that what she was to witness was to be that forbidden service. She was taken by her conductor, a Catholic priest, to a public-house in the neighbourhood of his residence in London, on a Sunday morning. She noticed several rough Irish workmen loitering near the house. On entering the inn they mounted staircase after staircase, until they reached a garret at the very top, the door of which was locked. Dr. Challoncr and another priest joined them shortly afterwards, and the door was unlocked and carefully relocked when they had entered. The garret looked like an ordinary room, but in a chest of drawers were found vestments, crucifix, candles, altar-stone, and all that was necessary for saying Mass. Shortly afterwards a knock at the door an- nounced fresh arrivals, and a password admitted the Irish workmen and one or two others, the door being relocked on each fresh comer. When all was finished, ' See Brady, p. 151, who quotes the letter from the Catholic Mis- cellany, vii. 170. 190 CARDINAL WISEMAN every vestige of a relij^ious service was carefully hidden again, and the garret left looking like an ordinary room before it was locked up. It was a scene worthy of the days of Elizabeth, or of the pages of Sir Walter Scott. The lowest ebb of English Catholic life was reached about the time to which this account refers, 1770. Steadily since the passing of the Test Act under Charles II. — at which time Catholics were still a real political power — and far more rapidly since the enactment of William's penal laws, their numbers had diminished. Those numbers had, to a large extent, .consisted of the dependents of the great Catholic families who were religious centres for numerous tenants and servants. As family after family conformed rather than refuse the Test, the Catholics of the district conformed too. Numbers of yeomen and labourers in the North who had kept the faith up to '45 seceded in the proscription follow- ing the campaign of Charles Edward. Many old Catholic families became extinct.' The secret friends of the Papists — the ' schismatics ' or ' Church-Papists ' — had probably ceased to exist before the end of the seventeenth century. And while early in the eighteenth century the more recent memories of the Jacobean and Elizabethan martyrdoms kept alive much of the heroism and esprit de corps which had from Campion's days onwards won the admiration of their very enemies, the bloodless repression ef- • Father Morris enumerates some of the great families lost to the Catholic cause by conformity or extinction at pp. 1 8 and 19 of his work. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 191 fcctcd by William's laws began to stifle these also. The infidelity so prevalent in the last century in- fected a section of Catholics, and the one motive for refusing to conform to the Established Church was for them destroyed or weakened. The devotion, too, to the cause of the Stewarts showed life and vigour for the last time in 1715, and finally expired after 1745. ' Men of family,' writes Mr. Berington in 1780, ' grew dail}' less zealous in religion ; their wonted loyalty abated ; and they insensibly reformed first their politics, and soon after conformed to the Esta- blished Church. . . . The splendour of the party by such means vanished.' A remnant of the more devout still nursed the memories which Challoner and Dodd had collected and placed on permanent record early in the century, or pursued similar researches on their own account. I find in the collection of old MSS. at Everingham a letter from Mr. E}'ston of Hendred, written about the middle of the last century, in which he explains that, being no sportsman, he devotes his time to researches into the history of the Catholic martyrs.' Sermons preached in England in the last century are also, in the same collection, in which the com- parison of the English Catholics to the Christians under Nero and Diocletian is frequently made. To those who thus kept the past alive in their memory the cruelties of the Elizabethan persecutions and the persistent denial by English Protestants of the truth ' ' The movement among Catholics to look into the past,' Dom Gasquet remarks in a letter, ' is evidenced l)y such publications as Stevens's additions to Dugdale, and F. Parkinson's Aiig/o-J/inoreiicaJ 192 CARDINAL WISEMAN of unquestionable liistorical records, coupled with the prevalence of the wildest Puritan ' calumnies as to Catholic belief, must have combined to give a deep sense of being utterly in the right and yet powerless to secure justice from public opinion. While this sentiment never led to the bitter re- sentment which, when combined with race feeling, it developed in Ireland, it gave rise to a wholesale mistrust (on the part of those who still remained zealous Catholics) of the candour, sincerity, and sense of justice of Protestant England where ' Popery ' was in question, which must be borne in mind in considering later events. And to popular bigotry there was added a measure of social ostracism. Cases were not infrequent of open insults to a Catholic who appeared in society. One Catholic lady of good family went to a Drawing Room, and the Lord Chamberlain treated her with such rudeness that Queen Charlotte was moved to repair the insult by a kind word. In a mixed dinner party the presence of a Catholic guest was often apologised for by the host." The bare announce- ment of the presence of a Jesuit was in many places enough for the collection of a No- Popery mob.'* We have accounts about the middle of the century in the ' Gentleman's Magazine ' and elsewhere of the seizure of priests, and of the conviction of the people that ' In the collection of pamphlets already referred to is a list of the slanders current against Catholics. 2 See Amherst, vol. i. p 82. ' See a very graphic account of one such scene in the little volume called A Hnndred Years Since (Burns & Oates). THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 193 arms, horses, and soldiers were concealed, ready to massacre the Protestants of the neighbourhood. Such ideas died slowly. Thirty years later Sydney Smith ob.scrved that ' blue and red baboons ' were better treated than Catholics.' ' When a country squire hears of an ape,' he writes, ' his first impulse is to give it nuts and apples ' ; if he hears, on the other hand, of a Catholic, ' his immediate impulse is to commit it to the county jail, to shave its head, to alter its customary food, and to have it brutally whipped. This is no exaggeration,' he adds, 'but an accurate picture of national feelings, as they endanger and degrade us.' In considering, as we have done, the period from the Reformation to the latter years of the last cen- tury, we cannot help being struck by the fact that it presents some characteristics of a time of war. Meet the same man in time of peace and of war -in his club in Pall Mall, and on the battlefield in the Soudan — and his whole attitude towards his fellow- creatures appears to be different. Human life neces- sarily grows insignificant in the midst of the passions aroused by the struggle. There must be a kind of hatred of the foeman before the arm can be nerved to bayonet him. Most of us have heard this from those whose experience justifies them in speaking. Many of the characteristics of civilisation disappear for the time from human nature. The humane philo- sophy maintained on the very eve of the campaign ceases to be operative when action begins. So, too, many traits of the civilisation of More and Erasmus ' This particular comparison is applied by Sydney Smith to the treatment of Dissenters as well. VOL. I. O 194 CARDINAL WISEMAN seemed to pass from the English nation, as a nation, during the long struggle. Humanity and toleration were understood in a remarkable degree at the beginning of the sixteenth century in East and West. The Mogul Akbar wel- comed professors of all creeds and no creeds in his hall of free dispute. More's Utopian constitution gave freedom to all save disbelievers in immortality, and this on the express ground that we cannot be- lieve what we choose. No witches had been burnt for more than a hundred years in England, and the laws against heresy had hardly been put in force within living memory. The panic of the Reformation made an end of this state of things. Massacre on either side, of greater or less atrocity, began under Henry — his victims being both Catholics and Pro- testants —and continued under the direct sanction of law for the rest of the century. The existing law enabled Mary to persecute, and Elizabeth framed statutes where existing ones were insufficient for her purpose. The statute dc hcsrctico comlmrendo was enforced by Elizabeth against Anabaptists, and Papists were put to death in virtue of the special enactments already described. Witches were burnt freely by the Puritans as well as by Anglicans : in Scotland this practice lasted until nearly the end of the seventeenth century. When the Executive be- came more chary, the mob took the law into their own hands. Its passionate prejudices either led the autho- rities to act unjustly, as in the case of Titus Oates, or issued in popular outbreaks, as in the Irish Rebellion. The last manifestation of its somewhat THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 195 diminished fury was seen in the Gordon Riots of 1780, when for five days a No-Popery mob burned and destroyed Catholic property, and finally almost took possession of London. They were at last suppressed by the military on Wednesday night, June 7. ' Two hundred persons,' writes Lord Stanhope, ' were shot dead in the streets, and two hundred and fifty were lying wounded in the hospitals, of whom seventy or eighty within a short time expired.' The depression of the humane feelings — which I have ventured to compare to what takes place in the midst of a military campaign — appears even to have affected the thinkers of the period. There is surely something of the feeling of the hatred of an enemy in time of war in Milton's exception of ' Papists ' from his scheme of toleration, on the ground that they were idolaters. And a similar exception is made by Cromwell in his legislation, though not for the same reasons, and by the Committee of 1654. Baxter in his ' Holy Commonwealth,' classes Popery with Mahometanism and infidelity, as the ' way to damnation,' and denounces all ' liberty to preach them up and to practise them.' When the state of war between Catholic and Protestant had ceased to be a reality even to the imagination of the populace — that is to say, when the effects of the rebellion of '45 had passed away — then began for the first time a return to the ordinary amenities of civilised life.^ The sympathy with and ' Speaking of the later years of George II. and the early part of George III.'s reign, Mr. Butler says : ' No person who was not alive in those times can imagine the depression and humiliation under which o 2 196 CARDINAL WISEMAN understanding of an opponent's point of view, the sense of justice and of the right of each to keep his convictions sacred and inviolable, came into repute again. Long as the period of war had been, it had really been up to this time almost unceasing. The intervals had not been sufficient for the sentiments proper to the field of battle wholly to subside. At length, when the last representative of a Catholic dynasty was defeated in 1745, and when the consequent pillage and destruction of life had in time become a more or less dim memory, there was a real pause. The smoke and dust cleared away; the din subsided; the Catholics owned them- selves not only beaten, but almost annihilated. Soon the remnant began openly to profess their obedience and loyalty to the House of Hanover. They pleaded — though scarcely above their breath, for fear of fresh oppression — that hardly any of them had been con- cerned in the late rebellion, though in the fierce heat of the fray they had been struck down as hereditary foes. And the fairer spirits among Englishmen knew that their pleading was just. And they had much more to plead as to earlier times which slowly found a hearing. But this lull, after a warfare of 200 years, revealed the general body of Catholics then laboured.' It must be remembered that neither Mr. Butler nor Mr. Berington was likely to exaggerate. They pursued, as a ruje, the policy of the Catholic Committee — of making the best of the position of Catholics, and implying that the view taken of them by an enlightened generation was inconsistent with the penal laws still in the Statute Book. Both writers are explicit as to the greater kindliness of public opinion after the first years of George III. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' igj a state of things for which the combatants were httlc prepared. We know that men in the heat of battle scarcely notice a mortal wound until it stops their power of fighting, still less do they see what is going on apart from the intense struggle, which occupies every nerve and sense ; and so, in some degree, unobserved by the fighting men, both Catholic and Protestant, events had been marching on since the sixteenth century. While soldiers and politicians and mobs had been struggling, divines had been at work with their pens in the libraries of Douay and Oxford. Parsons and Bacon, Laud and Fisher, and many others had fought their battle strenuously. The deeper thinkers had rebuked onesidedness, and some had pressed the principle of private judgment to latitudinarianism and to the verge of scepticism. The ethical value of honest doubt had emerged, and its recognition had been hastened by the very intem- perateness and exaggeration of some of the dogma- tists. Thus, when the lull came, and the extreme combatants on both sides could calmly survey the results of the battle, neither party had reason to be satisfied with itself. Which had won ? The Protestants were trium- phant in England, but had Protestantism gained the victory .-' The Catholics were supreme in France, but had Catholicism won the hearts of the people ? These questions can be answered with a very abso- lute negative now ; and even in 1770 signs were not wanting of the inevitable answer. Persecution, uncharitableness, onesided contro- versy, if they had done temporary injury to their 198 CARDINAL WISEMAN victims, had permanently injured those who made use of such weapons, in the esteem of pubHc opinion, and the victory was with neither party. The victory lay, in the judgment of the school of thought which was now coming into prominence, ethically with the champions for liberty of conscience— the martyrs ; intellectually with the opponents of dogma. Catholic and Protestant alike. The right — the sacred right — of Campion to believe and of the Unitarian to doubt or disbelieve was the sentiment which was destined to come uppermost in the characteristic thought of the time. The denial of the right to freedom or even hesitation in intellectual judgment, displayed in action by the persecutors, in debate by the dogmatists, issued by reaction in an enthusiasm for doubt : and the century of scepticism and latitudinarianism — of Shaftesbury, Hume, Gibbon, in England, and the followers of Voltaire, D'Holbach, and Helvetius in France — was the result. Thus it appeared that while the two parties had been fighting each for the victory of its own distinctive tenets, the ground on which the battle was fought was being undermined, to the destruction of both. The questioning process, which had first stopped at dogmatic Protestantism, and had rested there, so far as the party warfare was concerned, had passed on in thinking minds to an attack on the whole dogmatic principle : and this attack, which began in philo- sophic inquiry, was reinforced by a revulsion from the fanaticism of dogmatists. Religion was be- coming disgusting to an increasing number by its alliance with sectarian uncharitableness. The truth THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 199 of all Christianity was more and more openly im- pugned. Latitudinarianism increased greatly among Christians themselves. Cudworth, Whichcote, Wil- liams, and More had found successors — some of them more extreme — in Hoadley, Calamy, Pierce ; and the growth of a more or less sceptical philosophy seemed to portend a wider rejection of revelation than in point of fact ensued.' Thus it came to pass that while the lull in the latter part of the eighteenth century disclosed a tendency to toleration from motives of returning humanity, a similar tendency showed itself both from the sense of past controversial injustice, and on the ground of the utter unimportance of dogmatic belief. Even a hatred of Christianity was made the basis of tole- ration for Catholics, on the plea that it was Christian intolerance which had led to the worst barbarities in the history of persecution. The move- ment for the ' toleration ' of Catholics, then, which began to manifest itself in the Relief Act of 1778, was really the confluence of many different streams of thought, and continued to draw to itself yet further streams up to the eve of the Act of final emancipation in 1829. Along with the genuine and high-minded toleration of such men as Burke, there were also the touch of scepticism visible in the concurrence, a little later, of Fox,'- the hatred of religion — an echo of ' In the chapter on ' Christian Rationalism after the Revohition ' (pp. 365 sq.) Mr. Tayler gives an interesting account of this develop- ment. - 'The only foundation for toleration,' Fox said, 'is a degree of scepticism, and without it there can lie none.' (Rogers, Recollections, P- 49-) 200 CARDINAL WISEMAN French Voltairianism — discernible in some of the promoters of the Act of 1778, the political motive of conciliating the Irish which the American War sug- gested to leading statesmen ; and, later on. the genuine and consistent enthusiasm for liberty, com- bined with good-natured contempt for theological zeal, displayed in the ' Edinburgh Review ' of Sydney Smith and Macaulay. The first official expression of the tolerant atti- tude towards Catholics was, as I have said, the Relief Bill of 1778. The motive of political expediency was perhaps the most decisive, for the American War made Irish disloyalty a real danger. The ordinary sentiments of humanity were urged by Sir George Savile, who introduced the Bill. The Libe- ralism of the times was pleaded by its seconder. Lord Beauchamp laid stress on the magnitude of the Catholic population in Ireland. But the two notes struck in the debates on the measure which were sig- nificant of the deepest forces at work, are to be found in the speeches of the Bishop of Peterborough and of Mr. Turner. The Bishop protests in the name of liberty of conscience. ' There ought,' he urges, ' to be neither penalty nor restraint in the intercourse between God and a man's own conscience. I cannot but disapprove of all laws which are calculated to oppress people for their religious persuasion.' In Mr. Turner's speech we have the disgust at oppressive sacerdotal dogmatism, which was so closely allied with eighteenth-century scepticism. ' Religion,' he said, ' had always been an engine in the hands of power to enslave mankind ; he wished to see all his fellow-subjects free. Catholics and Dissenters alike.' THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 201 The measure of relief granted was small. It was still forbidden to send a Catholic boy to Douay or St. Omer, and the informer for this offence still could claim his 100/. A Catholic schoolmaster resident in England could no longer be imprisoned for life, but he could for a year. Catholic chapels were still illegal. But a trustworthy witness ' remarks that, ' though the legal benefits Catholics derived from the Act were limited ... it shook the general prejudice against them to its centre. ... It restored to them a thousand indescribable charities in the ordinary intercourse of social life which they had seldom experienced.' And what the passing of the Act began, the furious out- burst of Protestant feeling in the Gordon Riots two years later completed. When many scores of lives had been lost through the fanatical fury of the No- Popery mob, the average citizen was roused to indig- nation and to genuine sympathy with his peaceable and unoffending Catholic neighbour.- ' Mr. Charles Butler. ■^ The following lines of Crabbe, written towards the end of the eighteenth century, are a manifestation of returning kindliness towards the Papist : — See next our several sects, — but first behold The Church of Rome, who here is poor and old. Use not triumphant rail'ry, or, at least, Let not thy mother be a whore or beast. Great was her pride indeed in ancient times, Yet shall we think of nothing but her crimes ? Exalted high above all earthly things. She placed her foot upon the neck of kings. But some have deeply since avenged the crown. And thrown her glory and her honours down : Nor neck nor ear can she of kings command, Nor place a foot upon her own fair land. 202 CARDINAL WISEMAN And thus, after ninety years of abject hopeless- ness, a faint ray of hope revived in the small remnant of English Papists. The further removal of disabili- ties was a fresh object to work for. But the old zeal and esprit de corps were gone. In their eagerness for relief they were prepared to concede almost any- thing. It is impossible to examine here this phase of English Catholicism — represented by the Catholic Coimnittee which agitated for the Relief Act of 1791. The small committee of Catholics whose petition to George III. had led to the Bill of 1778, were in one sense the heroic leaders of a forlorn hope. They made a desperate effort to rescue Catholics from the intolerable strain which was leading many to conform to the Established Church, If the attitude taken up in the petition seems to us now one of abject deference to their Protestant fellow-countrymen, no other atti- tude could then win a hearing. The action of their successors— the Catholic Committee oi 1787-91 — was the further development of a like course. Eagerness to convince an intensely prejudiced public that Catholics could be as loyal and as sensible as their fellows, that the}' were not Jacobites, nor minions of the Pope, nor Jesuitical equivocators, nor slaves to superstition, be- came their one absorbing desire. It appeared to be the only course which offered hope of the further removal of the penal laws. The spirit of a secular century reinforced this tendency of the Committee. In their endeavours to convince the public that good Catholics were not necessarily servants of the Pope, the ringleaders THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 203 appeared to have convinced themselves that they could practically dispense with him altogether. Mem- bers of the Catholic Committee and their successors of the Cisalpine Club readily fell in with the programme which was in the ascendant in Austria, France, and Germany, of a National Church free from papal interfer- ence. They urged the priests to elect their own bishops without reference to the ' Bishop of Rome.' Ultra- montranes they called the ' papistic party.' The majority of leading lay Catholics became imbued with this spirit. Bible societies were founded to show Protestants that Catholics who were not ' papistic ' had points of contact with the national religion. It became the fashion to depreciate the monastic life' and devotion to Our Lady. The interference of Vicars Apostolic was resented, and they were described as ' emissaries of a foreign power,' namely, ' the Bishop of Rome.' The oath accepted by the Committee on behalf of Catholics, as a condition of securing the Relief Act of 1 79 1, showed this tendency to carry to excess the disavowal of beliefs repugnant to the popular English mind. Not content with denying the deposing power, they stigmatised it as heretical — thus branding as material heretics the whole band of mediaeval Popes. Not content with a clear statement of the Catholic teaching as to the sacredness of an oath and the duty of keeping faith with heretics, they declared ' Some of the Cisalpines carried their opposition to the monastic orders so far as to be very unfriendly to the French emigries nuns, for whose expulsion from England Sir J. Mildmay introduced a Bill in 1800. See Amherst, i. 226. 204 CARDINAL WISEMAN that no oath could be dispensed by any authority. Not satisfied with a clear limitation of the Tapal authority to matters spiritual, they marked their dissent from their ' jjapistic ' co-religionists by styling themselves ' Protesting Catholic Dissenters.' ' No doubt there were among the Committee and its friends men devoted to their religion ; and it seems probable that they thought that nothing short of the oath could secure the Act of 1791. Still, the fact that Bishop Milner's strenuous representations to Pitt at the last moment won the Relief Act without the objection- able oath, goes to show that the Gallican temper of the Committee carried them beyond the necessities of the case. And such writings as the letters of their spokesman. Sir John Throckmorton, to the Eng- lish clergy, in 1790, will convince many that Milner's vigorous action was but just in time to prevent an attempt parallel to the constitutional movement in the Church of France ; or, at least, the growth of a time-serving spirit which would have brought about what the Committee originally aimed at averting — the conforming of many to the Estab- lished Church. How the strenuous zeal and ability of John ' For a full account of the proceedings of the Catholic Committee see Charles Jiwiler^?, Historical Memoirs (1819), Milner's Siipplcmetitciry Memoirs, Husenbeth's Life of Miltier, pp. 21 sq., and Amherst, i. pp. 149, St], The Catholic Committee of 1787 was preceded by a smaller committee elected in 1783. Cf. also Sir John Throckmorton's 'Letter addressed to the Catholic Clergy of England,' 2nd edition. London: Booker, Bond Street, 1792; and his 'Second Letter.' Among other things Sir J. Throckmorton maintains that a Catholic might lawfully have acknowledged the royal supremacy under Elizabeth (First Letter, p. 92). THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 205 Milner did, in fact, prevent an inglorious capitulation after the struggle of centuries, and saved ' English Papists ' from accepting an oath of allegiance which would have been disloyal to that Power which their forefathers had died to uphold, has often been told. Like Wellington at Waterloo, he made a resolute defence until the arrival of powerful allies — of Wise- man from Rome, of Newman from Oxford. The Bill of 1 79 1 was passed without the obnoxious oath ; the penal laws were repealed and chapels and religious houses legalised. It is not to our purpose to describe in close detail the story of Catholic relief The arrival of the emigre clergy from France added greatly to the sentiment of humanity towards Catholics. England welcomed them with generous hospitality, and found itself unawares indulging in tender sentiments towards ' Popish ' priests, and this soon passed to respect for their high character. Another generation worked out the syllogism, ' Abbe Carron is a good man, Abbe Carron is a Romish priest : therefore some Romish priests are good men.' Great statesmen, in dread of the fanaticism of the French Revolution, were urging that if the Catholic Church could not withstand it, Protestantism certainly could not ; and that, with all its errors. Popery was far better than infidelity. Such statements, new in English public speeches, had a further effect on the popular mind. Milner did not live to see the Emancipation Act of 1829 ; but he fought for thirty years to prevent his co-religionists from accepting conditions which would have prevented any effective revival of Catholicism. 2o6 CARDINAL WISEMAN He stood out, among other things, against the veto on episcopal appointments, which the Government wished to claim in Ireland as the condition of granting emancipation.' A man of great determination and logical acumen, he was little accustomed to deal with the diplomacy or the kind of influence which men of rank and power could bring to bear. One of the most memorable attempts to induce him to yield was that of the Duke of Buckingham, who asked him to his country house at Stowe, where Milner sustained a formidable attack from men of political eminence, and from other representatives of the great world, Milner felt that he might yield to a second day's siege ; he therefore rose at five, effected his escape by a window, saddled his horse, and, as he rode towards the park gates, intoned the psalm ' In exitu Israel de Egypto.' As early as 1 808 the ' Edinburgh Review ' declared that the cause of emancipation was completely esta- blished in reason, and yet appeared practically hope- less. * The various publications ... in favour of religious liberty,' it said, ' have now nearly silenced the arguments of their opponents, and, teaching sense to some and inspiring shame in others, have left those only in the field who can neither learn nor blush.' And yet it was not for more than twenty years that the logic of the nation translated itself into action. The cause immediately leading to the Bill of 1829 was the new influence of the Irish ' In the first instance, Milner was prepared to consent to a limited Wi"!?, andso were the Irish bishops. See Amherst, i, p. 310 Jr/., and Husenbeth, p. 154. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 207 Catholics under O'Connell's leadership, and the fear of civil war, in which a Franco-Irish alliance was not an impossibility. But it was washed in by a tide which was far more permanently significant than its immediate occasion. It was a part of that Liberal movement, which, after the necessary interval of Tory reaction from the French Revolution, for a time carried all before it. With more or less consistency^ its advocates were carrying out the ideals of 1789. The Reform agitation of 1832 showed the nature and the depth of the movement. A cause which stirs deep enthusiasm generally has a righteous ideal, however unjust it may be to facts. The thought of the sleek nobleman who lived on his dependents, and yet did nothing for them, sharpened the guil- lotine of 1793. The easy-going ecclesiastic, whose offence was somewhat similar, had aroused like feelings in England. All the real religion and zeal had passed from the typical English Churchman to Dissenters and Evangelicals. Practical men were disgusted with the corruptions of the Church of England during the past fifty years. Theorists were pointing out that the principles which condemned a privileged caste of nobility should equally condemn a privileged caste of clergy. Apostolic work and ortho- doxy appeared to be wholly incompatible ; and yet orthodoxy owned the 20,000/. and 30,000/. a year of the Episcopal Sees, and the rich prebendal stalls and canonries. The deep and often dangerous feeling which claims to distribute the nation's wealth in proportion to useful work done was outraged. To advocate equality in the position of the different creeds 2o8- CARDINAL WISEMAN was the tendency of public sentiment. The ' Edin- burgh Review ' urged the claims of the Jews. James Mill inveighed against an Established Church. Sydney Smith pleaded eloquently the cause of the Catholics. O'Connell's action hurried on emancipa- tion before the movement had reached its height ; but its true causes were to be found in that enthusiasm for liberty in religion which was inspiring such different men as Macaulay, Cobbett, Sydney Smith, Bentham, and James Mill in England, and Lamennais, Monta- lembert, and Lacordaire in France. In 1829 the Catholics were emancipated ; in 1833 the acutest observers of the time considered that the Church of England was on its death-bed. The concrete form taken by the liberal-minded Englishman's advocacy of emancipation was most de- finitely expressed, perhaps, by Sydney Smith ; and his words enable us to understand both the new friendliness towards Catholics and the sense of their abject insignificance and impotence in England, with which Wiseman had to deal. The two senti- ments were partly correlative. A crowd of dis- guised and intriguing Jesuits, plotting to hand over the country to the Pope, would be a sufficient reason for severe measures. A remnant of harmless English country gentlemen was not. Sydney Smith, then, treats Catholicism as practi- cally effete and harmless, and writes with genuine indignation of the injustice of the penal laws, of their violation of the rights of conscience, and of the bigoted and one-sided view of history which their defenders advanced. The Bishop of Lincoln had made a No- THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 10^ Popery charge in which he deplored the proposal of Catholic Emancipation. Sydney Smith thus comments on it. ' The Bishop seems to expect,' he writes, ' that a handful of Catholics in the bosom of a Protestant Legislature are to overpower the ancient jealousies, the fixed opinions, the inveterate habits of twelve millions of people ; that the King is to apostatise, the clergy to be silent, and the parliament to be taken by surprise ; that the nation are to go to bed overnight, and see the Pope walking arm-in-arm with Lord Castlereagh next morning.' ' Whatever force Rome once had, has now gone, he considers. A bull of deposition would be a supreme joke to Catholics themselves. He recalls the fact that Dr. Doyle, in Ireland, had expressly said that the Pope's influence in that country was almost nil, whether for peace or for rebellion. The Pope is no longer a power ; * there is no Court of Rome,' Sydney Smith writes, ' and no Pope. There is a waxwork Pope, and a waxwork Court of Rome. But Popes of flesh and blood have long since disappeared, and in the same way those giants of the City exist no more ; but their truculent images are at Guildhall. We doubt if there is in the treasury of the Pope change for a guinea ; we are sure there is not in his armoury one gun which will go off.' "^ Sydney Smith expresses respect for the character of many a Catholic whom he knows, but the idea of a revival of Catholicism as a real power is a grotesque absurdity. ' As for the enormous wax candles and superstitious mummeries, and painted ' Works, edition of 1 850, p. 215. "■ P- 483- VOL. I. P 2IO CARDINAL WISEMAN jackets of the Catholic priests, I fear them not. Tell me . . . that Lord Howick and Mr. Grattan will do each of them a mean and dishonourable action ; that anyone who has heard Lord Redesdale speak once will knowingly and willingly hear him again ; that Lord Eldon has assented to the fact of two and two making four without shedding tears or expressing the smallest doubt or scruple — tell me any other thing absurd or incredible, but, for love of common- sense, let me hear no more of the danger to be apprehended from a general diffusion of Popery. It is too absurd to be concerned over ; every man feels it is nonsense when he hears it stated, and so does every man while he is stating it.' A good deal of Smith's rollicking fun is levelled at the invocation of the ' wisdom of our ancestors ' as a prima facie reason for respecting the penal laws. This comprehensive motive for respect may bolster up the greatest absurdities. He conceives our ancestors as having in their caprice excluded from parliament all persons with red hair, and declares that in such a case Englishmen would find all manner of occult wisdom in the law they had bequeathed to us. Red hair would be found to be an invariable concomitant of atheism, or superstition, or oppression. ' Lord Eldon would appeal to the Deity and his own virtues, and to the hair of his children.' The supposed wisdom of Catholic exclusion utterly breaks down when once the motives actuating our forefathers are looked at with open eyes and not blindly believed in. Whatever reason once existed is now gone, and there had never been sufficient reason. The ordinary No-Popery watch- THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 211 words collapse, on close scrutiny, like a house of cards. ' The follies of one century are scarcely credible to that which succeeds it,' he writes ; ' what will be said of all the intolerable trash which is issued forth at public meetincrs of No-Popery? If the world lasts till 1927 .... this childish nonsense will have got out of the drawing-room .... and passed through the butler's pantry into the kitchen.' There can be little doubt that Sydney Smith's ridicule of the idea of any real danger from Popery helped to gain a hearing for his really valuable ex- positions of Catholic wrongs in past history. If the danger was a scare, and if the past revealed as much persecution on the Protestant as on the Catholic side, the penal laws were positively brutal. And he did not hesitate to draw this conclusion in plain language. He spoke of therri in one place as a code of laws which reflects ' indelible disgrace upon the English character ' ; elsewhere he characterised them as ' in- famous and damnable ' ; and elsewhere he quoted Burke's words with reference to their operation in Ireland : ' It is truly a barbarous system, where all the parts are an outrage on the laws of humanity and the rights of nature ; it is a system of elaborate contrivance as well fitted up for the oppression, imprisonment, and degradation of a people, and the debasement of human nature itself, as ever proceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man.' He gave a full list of the Catholics who were killed for their religion under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, and referred with approval to Milner's defence of the Catholic attitude throughout. He examined into the p 2 212 CARDINAL WISEMAN sources of the No-Popery feeling, not one of which he admits to have any real validity. He noted the added injustice of the social stigma which, for in- stance, makes ' any Protestant tide waiter or cheese- monger treat an Irish Catholic gentleman with contempt.' Finally, he makes the unqualified claim for liberty of conscience which is the keynote to the religious principles of the present century. The Catholic, he indignantly writes, ' is treated like a spiritual felon because ... he is led by the noblest of all guides — his own . . .conscience.' And the attitude of a truly enlightened man he describes as follovvs — every word being italicised : — ' Tlie true spirit is to search after God and for another life with lowliness of Jieart ; to fling dozvn no man's altar, to punisJi no maris prayer ; to heap no penalties and no pains on those solemn supplications, which in divers tongues, and in varied forms, and in temples of a thousand shapes, but with one deep sense of human dependence, men pour forth to God.' ' It is in this statement that we have the note of enthusiasm which genuinely kindled the age, and which gave a more serious influence to the skits of Sydney Smith than they would otherwise have had. To the Papist his view of the case assigned respectability and insignificance. It gave dignity to the conscien- tious Catholic squire, and said to him in effect, ' If you think your own way right, let no man harm you for saying so and keeping to it' For the Papist was included in the crowds to whom freedom was allowed ; but at the same time he was good-naturedly reminded ' p. 584. THE ENGLISH 'PAPISTS' 213 that his day was past, that he could never be a power again, that the remnant of his co-religionists in England were of no account in quality or in quantity, and that the great law of liberty could only mean, so far as Jie was concerned, liberty to rest undisturbed on his more or less lingering death-bed. 214 CARDINAL WISEMAN CHAPTER VII WISEMAN IN ENGLAND 1835 1836 Wiseman reached England in September 1835, full, as we have seen, of activity, and of a determination to be in England a fellow- worker in the great religious movement which Lacordaire and Montalembert were urging forward in France. In spite of a few brief holiday visits to his country in previous years, he seems not fully to have realised the position of his co-religionists in England. He arrived free, as I have already said, from the special associations of the down- trodden ' sect ' of English ' Papists.' He had neither the irritation nor the sense of inferiority which they gave. ' We had left our country young,' he writes, ' and were hardly conscious of the wrongs which galled our elders . . . Whatever may be considered the disadvantages of a foreign education, it possessed, especially at that period, the great advantage that it reared the mind and nursed the affections beyond the reach of religious contests and their irritation. One hardly knew the bitter things that were said against what was dearest to us.' ' After spending some days with Bishop Bramston, the Vicar Apostolic of the London district, in Golden ' Recollections, 226 CARDINAL WISEMAN Catholic. Many signs were visible among English- men of a readiness to do justice to Catholicism which, if not very widely extended, was yet a departure from the groove of two hundred years. Sydney Smith had been, as we have seen, for thirty years inveighing against Protestant prejudice. Macaulay was already adopting a tone of respect and even of enthusiastic admiration for the moral type of the Catholic at his best, and for the Church as an organisation — a tone which was most unmistakably evident three years later in his essay on Ranke's • History of the Popes.' Both of them were earnestly pleading the cause of fairness and toleration ; and Cobbett's extravagant tirades against the traditional conceptions of 'Good Queen Bess' and ' Bloody Mary' had their effect on public opinion in spite of exag- geration. The enlightened thinker of the thirties boasted of his candour and fairness to all parties, and it appeared to be the moment for obtaining attention and seeking redress. The spirit of toleration, already visible in the speeches of Burke, Fox, and Canning, had now become characteristic of a party which claimed to be the heirs to the direction of English thought and life in the future. Then, too, in some quarters the past history of the English Catholics was exciting a new glow of real en- thusiasm — often purely imaginative and aesthetic, sometimes of a deeper character. Sir Walter Scott had been for years throwing the glamour of chivalry, romance, and of the loyalty which is true till death, around the Catholic name. The ' Papist ' had always been looked on as a person of ancient lineage ; but WISEMAN IN ENGLAND 227 so had the Jew. Now he came to be associated with the inspiring themes of Mary Queen of Scots, and of the heroism of the Cavah'ers. Such associations began at least to divide the honours with Guy Fawkes and St. Bartholomew. The Oxford Movement was carrying this senti- ment — which had already impressed and made Catholics of a Kenelm Digby and an Ambrose Phillipps ^ at Cambridge — much further and far more seriously, into the domain of ecclesiastical history ; but how far the views of its promoters would prove to be either deeply or widely operative was at this time uncertain. The Established Church, on the other hand, as I have already noted, had been for years at the lowest ebb to which it has ever sunk. ' It was folding its robes,' Mr. Mozley says, speaking of 1833, ' to die with what dignity it could.' Attacked simultaneously by rottenness from within and a combination of foes from without, its speedy decease seemed inevitable. This was, at all events, the estimate of contemporaries. ' Un- believing Bishops and a slothful clergy,' says a writer in the ' Edinburgh Review,' ^ ' had succeeded in driving from the Church the zeal of Methodism which Wesley had organised within her pale. . , . Jobbery and cor- ruption, long supreme in the State, had triumphed over the Church ; the money-changers not only entered the temple, but drove out the worshippers ; ecclesi- astical revenues were monopolised by wealthy plural- ' Afterwards Mr. Ambrose de Lisle of Garendon Park. - In an article on Chinch Parties, quoted in the memoir of Sydney Smith, i. 25. Q 2 228 CARDINAL WISEMAN ists ; the name of curate lost its legal meaning and, instead of denoting the incumbent of a living, came to signify the deputy of an absentee.' ' The Church as it now stands,' wrote Arnold in 1832, ' no human power can save.' ' ' It will be a difficult but a great and glorious feat,' wrote Whately to Lord Grey, ' ... to preserve the Establishment from utter over- throw.' ^ Catholicism and Dissent had already been growing from the sheer incapacity of the National Church (so the Tractarians contended) to satisfy the religious aspirations which were becoming so marked and so general. While, then, the Liberalism of the times was saying to everyone ' You may have a fair field and no favour,' the Church of England in its then state was satisfying nobody : indeed, it had satisfied few who had thought about such matters for nearly 100 years. The wonderful revival of zeal within its pale which we have witnessed in our own time, was not yet visible. People who wished to be deeply religious had for years looked elsewhere. John Wesley had pleaded for Methodism in the last century, and had weakened the Established Church by withdrawing from it a religious life which it could not assimilate. The Evangelical movement, later on, of Charles Simeon, had been largely an influence for Dissent, although Simeon himself remained in the Established Church. Some of the most religious spirits of the time were adopting the system of Edward Irving. Newman's movement at Oxford — avowedly provoked by the ' Arnold's Life, i. 326. -' Whately'ii Life, i. 156. WISEMAN IN ENGLAND 2zg growth of Popery and Dissent and by the religious shortcomings of the Church of England — had yet to show whether it could engraft itself on the then existing English Church. Many looked on the Liberalism of the day — of Lord Brougham and his friends — as part of a secularist movement which must lead to infidelity. The school of Mill and Bentham were throwing the halo of moral earnestness round a system which denied the moral government of the universe and the life beyond the grave. It was eminently a time for a religious Englishman to plead for religion in the form in which he believed that it would satisfy the cravings of his generation, and would be the most effective antidote to advancing infidelity. And a crowd of eminent men had been, in fact, during the last three years, speaking, each for his own nostniui. ' Every party,' writes Mr. Thomas Mozley, ' every interest, political or religious, in this country was pushing its claims to universal acceptance with the single exception of the Church of England. . . . There was all over England the idea of a great enterprise in which one man was to save his country ... a thousand projectors were screaming from a thousand platforms ; ... all Eng- land was dinned with philanthropy and revolution, spirituality and reform.' ' It was a crisis when everyone was looking for some noble and inspiring faith ; and it seemed to be pre-eminently the moment to say a word for the ancient religion. Lacordaire was speak- ing in France and Mohler in Germany. Would it not be well to tell Englishmen how the ancient faith ' Mozley's Reniiniscenccs, . 230 CARDINAL WISEMAN was bcinfT accepted as the solution of the needs of the time by some of the most eminent thinkers of the latter country ; of its growth of power in the former ; of its new life in Italy and in Rome itself? Englishmen were looking for something — they did not know what. Wiseman meant to ask them if perchance it was the religion of their fore- fathers. We have already seen that Wiseman considered some of Father Spencer's language concerning the ' conversion of England ' to Catholicism exaggerated. But he evidently felt that it was a moment for influ- encing public opinion by the exhibition of those prin- ciples which he held to be the only permanent bulwark of Christianity. He did not look for speedy results. The destruction of Catholic ideals had been a very gradual process in England, and so must their restoration be. To make Englishmen respect and reverence a St. Francis of Assisi, a St. Francis of Sales, a St. Teresa, both in their distinctive characters and in that common Catholic type which they re- present, must be a slow process ; but he believed it to be a possible work — and subsequent events have shown that so far he was not mistaken. He believed, too, that the prevalence of such sentiments would lead many to their natural home, the Catholic and Roman Church, and that this tendency would increase with time. He maintained with hope what Newman and the Tractarians admitted with more mingled feelings. ' There is at this moment,' wrote Newman to Dr. Jelf, * a great progress of the religious mind ' in England ' to something deeper and truer WISEMAN IN ENGLAND 231 than satisfied the last century. . . The poets and philosophers of the age have borne witness to it many years. Those great names in our literature, Sir Walter Scott, Mr. Wordsworth, Mr. Coleridge, though in different ways . . . bear witness to it. . . . The age is moving towards something, and • . . . the one religious communion among us which has of late years been practically in possession of that something is the Church of Rome.' Such were the circumstances in which Wiseman took his opportunity of addressing the English public at large. The Sardinian Chapel in Lincoln's Inn Fields — one of those embassy chapels which recalled the days when all others were illegal — was at that time served by the Abbate Baldacconi. The Italian clement in the congregation made it necessary that the priests of the mission should be familiar with that language ; and Dr. Baldacconi took advantage of Wiseman's presence in England, inviting him to take charge of the Church during his own absence on a visit to Italy. Wiseman consented, and went to reside there in November 1835, after return- ing from his round of visits. He stayed near Lincoln's Inn Fields at the house of his friend, the late Mr. Bagshawe, whose son, the present Judge Bag- shawe, supplies me with some recollections of the occasion. Dr. Wiseman appears to have impressed those who saw him with a strong sense of his untiring energy. His cousin, Charles McCarthy — who was passing into a somewhat sentimental stage — ' ' Most unhappily,' Newman adds. 232 CARniNAf. WISEMAN wrote to Lord 1 Icniyhton a litLlc earlier: '1 find Wiseman's exalted spirits and the great interest which he takes in the active affairs of Hfe jar very much with my present disposition ' ; and Judge Bagshawe's account is somewhat similar. ' He was,' says the Judge, ' untiring in his energy, but also a very genial companion, and told many amusing stories of his journey from Rome.' In Paris he had had a glimpse of the old Jansenists' manner in the con- fessional, so unlike the Roman confessor, who at his best is sympathetic, at his worst easy-going. ' President d'un college a Rome } Et voyageant partout, loin de vos eleves .-' ' the priest had ex- claimed ; ' mon fils, je tremble pour vous.' Another form of Catholic rigour which amused him was that of Mr. Bagshawe's Irish cook, whose delight at Wiseman's name and fame in Protestant England passed to horror when his doctors forbade him to keep the abstinence, and she was asked to cook a chop for him on a Friday. She not only refused, but gave warning, indignant at being expected to deny the first principles of Christianity. Wiseman's appearance at this time is described as follows by the Rev. Mr. Kyan : I found Dr. Wiseman much changed both in appearance and manner since I had seen him at St. Edmund's on occasion of a visit he paid to the College four years earlier. He was portly, but active and not in the least unwieldy, fresh-coloured and smooth in face, . . . and very like the lithograph portrait taken from the bust on the medal which was struck in his honour. I remained with him some little time and had an opportunity of witnessing his hilarity and genial manner, as he moved about the room chatting and going through business at the same time. I observed he had a habit of moving his WISEMAN IN ENGLAND 233 right hand up and ddwn his chest, and thai he seemed in- capable of remaining long quiet. Wiseman preached in Italian every Sunday, and did so, says a contemporary writer, * with an ease and fluency which made strangers who heard him take him for an ItaHan.' In Advent he tried the experiment of some lectures, addressed to Catholics and Protestants alike. There were two lectures in the week, one of them being delivered on Sunday evening after compline. ' He had come to England,' writes the late Mr. David Lewis, at that time an undergraduate at Oxford, ' with a very considerable reputation for learning and ability ; and this took many to the Sardinian Chapel. The lectures more than sustained his reputation, and pro- duced an immense sensation. I date from their delivery the beginning of a serious revival of Catholi- cism in England.' Wiseman was fully alive to the effect they were producing. His success appears to have excited his impressionable nature, and then to have produced a reaction, ' I used to shed tears,' he told Cardinal Vaughan, ' in the sacristy of the Sardinian Chapel, fearing that whatever good the lectures were doing to others, they were filling me with vain-glory.' He was besieged at all hours of the day (says Judge Bagshawe) by those who had heard the lectures and wished to consult the lecturer. To an old Roman fellow-student Wiseman himself wrote of their effect as follows : December 1835. I have two lectures every week. The effect has been a thousand times beyond my expectations. The chapel is crowded 2;4 CARDINAL WISEMAN to suffocation, every seat is occupied half an hour before the compline, and if it were three times as large it would be full. I have never preached less than an hour and a half, generally an hour and three-quarters, yet no one has found it long, nor has attention once flagged. Last week I treated of Church authority, and this of the Real Presence ; next week, the Supremacy and Indulgences, &c. The common people say they can follow every word and that I 'make them quite sensible' ; the priests come in shoals, and they and all the congregation tell me that the whole system and the form of treatment throughout is quite new to them all. Indeed, they wish that I should stay till Lent and give a fuller course, but this is out of the question. Nay, entre nous — for I write to you as a friend — they say I ought not to go back at all. But I am thus vaiiily full with you, because it will convince you of what I have often said, that the method I have followed in school was as applicable to a congregation, if simplified and reduced to a popular form, and in this I always thought I could succeed. Everyone agrees that a most successful experiment has been made, and that proof has been given of the interest which may be thrown round the Catholic doctrines by a little exertion. The fame of the lecturer spread, and Bishop Bramston urged him to repeat the experiment at Moorfields Church in the following Lent. He finally consented to do so, and the second venture was even more successful. ' Society in this country,' writes one who was present at the lectures and made Wise- man's acquaintance at this time,^ 'was impressed, and listened almost against its will, and listened not displeased. Here was a young Roman priest, fresh from the centre of Catholicism, who showed himself master, not only of the intricacies of polemical discussion, but of the amenities of civilised life, Protestants were equally astonished and gratified to find that acuteness and urbanity were not incom- ' The late Mr. George White. WISEMAN IN ENGLAND 235 patiblc even in controversial argument. The spacious church of Moorfields was thronged on every evening of Dr. Wiseman's appearance ; . . . many persons of position and education were converted, and all de- parted with abated prejudice, and with very different notions about Catholicism from those with which they had, been prepossessed by their education.' ' No con- troversial lectures delivered within our memory,' sa}'-s another contemporary writer, ' ever excited public interest to such a degree.' ' ' I had the consolation,' writes Wiseman himself, ' of witnessing the patient and edifying attention of a crowded audience, many of whom stood for over two hours without any symptom of impatience.' Among the most constant listeners was Lord Brougham. - Turning to the lectures themselves — which we have in their published form — much of their effect would seem to be due to Wiseman's sensitiveness to the various shades of English opinion. Milner had, in point of learning and logical power, dealt with many of the same questions in a manner which could not readily be surpassed : but the persuasiveness in Wiseman's preaching was quite new — and the more remarkable because the lectures are simple, and designed partly for the uneducated. He seems never to forget that he is speaking among a people still to a large extent hostile, and contemptuous of the view he advocates ; that mere controversy will be likely only to irritate ; that Catholicism is still for many ' Edinlntrgh Catholic Magazine, No. II. p. 84. - My authority for this statement is the late Dr. Weathers, of Amycla, who well remembered the lectures. 236 CARDINAL WISEMAN Englishmen beneath serious intellectual notice ; that the narrowness of Romanism is a byword with a certain class ; that not a few listeners will look for a bigoted attack on Protestantism which would invite retort rather than serious attention. He therefore disclaimed at the outset all taste or desire for controversy — he expressed, indeed, a great dislike to the very word controversy.' He told his hearers, as a matter of recent history, of the distinguished students and thinkers of Germany and France who had lately given their adherence to the faith of the Catholic and Roman Church, as the truest and most satisfying expression of that religious revival which was everywhere visible. He spoke of Professor Phillips of Munich, of Beautain, of De Coux, of Count Stolberg, the historian, of Frederick Schlegel, the author of the ' Philosophy of History,' of Adam Miiller, Molitor, and Veith. These men joined the Church, he pointed out, for most various reasons, as the result of research in entirely different depart- ments. In the same lecture he indicated the method to be adopted in his addresses. ' It is not,' he said, ' in the way of controversy, it is not as attacking others, or even as wishing to gain a victory or have a triumph, that I intend to address you.' He draws the picture of a number of men with indefinite aspirations after ' ' I must own,' he writes, ' that I have a great dislike— ahiiost, I will say, an antipathy — to the name ; for it supposes that we consider ourselves as in a state of warfare with others ; that we adopt that principle which I reprobated ... of establishing the truth of our doctrines by overthrowing others.' [Lectures, p. 20. Edition of 1836. Booker, 61 New 3ond Street.) WISEMAN IN ENGIAND 237 something higher, and he invites them at least to hear him with patience, while he raises the question whether the ancient Church, which alone claims to be universal, may not, after all, present, in its different aspects, the satisfaction of their various aspirations, and the solution of the various problems of which the air was full. May it not be the Unknown God whom so many, under different forms, unwittingly worship ? He presents the Church as essentially comprehensive, and in the best sense liberal — as co-extensive with human life and aspiration. May not many Englishmen find, as did the eminent Ger- man and French thinkers, that their various trains of thought, in so far as they are true, have their legiti- mate place, and find their legitimate conclusion in the wide and varied life of the Catholic Church, so long misrepresented in England as to be utterly unknown .'' He claims that this variety of the modes of thought which find their true place in Catholicism, has ever been the distinguishing characteristic of Christianity, which was preached in different ages and various circumstances, and yet could always be so explained as to appeal to the special audience which its inspired teachers were addressing. He wrote as follows on this subject : It was evidently with this feehng that the Apostles acted, and thus by them was Christianity preached. It was con- sidered by them as a system intended to meet the wants of all mankind, so that its true evidence resided in the mind of every individual, as well as in the general feelings and cravings of the entire human race. Tney felt that, whatever characteristic of truth their hearers may have adopted, . . . any would equally lead to the verification of Christianity. Thus, consequently. 238 CARDINAL WISEMAN when they preached to the Jews — who possessed the volume of the old law, and in it types, prophecies, and other foreshadowings of the dispensation that was to come — the task was simply to assume what these already believed, and show them its counterpart and fulfilment in the truths of Christianity, and in the character of our Saviour, and thus they generally won their way to conviction through principles already held. When Philip met the eunuch of the queen of Ethiopia on the high- way, he found him reading a certain passage in the prophet Isaiah : and, from that passage alone, he convinced him of the truth of Christianity, and admitted him to baptism. He was searching for something that v.ould correspond to the description there given. . . . But when St. Paul goes among the Gentiles, and stands before the learned Athenians, he does not appeal to prophecies, wherein they believed not, and which they knew not ; for he does not consider it necessary that they must, in a manner, first become Jews, before they be brought to Chris- tianity. He has recourse to a totally different character of evidence ; he preaches to them — men of a philosophical and studious mind — a sublimer morality than they had been accus- tomed to hear ... he quotes to them the words of their own poets, to prove how necessary a purer belief in God, such as he preached, was to the human soul ; he intimates that already among them was discernible a dissatisfaction with their present religion, and a certain longing after a better faith, from their having erected an altar ' to the Unknown God.' He lays hold of those threads which he found already prepared in the minds of his hearers, he attaches to them the evidences of Christianity, and thus ensures the introduction of its doctrines within their breasts. When we come down to a later period, we find the same practice in the Church — for in the first century, and in the second and in the third, we see totally different classes of motives whereupon religion was preached and received by men. We find, for instance, that in the first century it was the courage of the martyrs, the seeing how flesh and blood could endure tortures and death in support of a religion, which brought the greater portion of converts to the truth. In the following centuries a new system of evidence was introduced. The study of philosophy which, under the patronage of the Antonines WISEMAN IN ENGLAND 23 in the West, and through the impulse of the great Platonist schools in the East, was become very prevalent, led to the examination of Christianity in connexion with the philosophical systems of ancient Greece. . . . And this was considered by the Justins, the Clements, the Origens, and other philosophical minds, a sufficient evidence of its truth. For, as we should not require other proof that a key was made for a certain lock than finding that it at once insinuates itself through all its complicated wards, and fits in them, and moves among them without grating or resistance, and easily turns the bolts which they kept drawn, so did the true religion then, and so does it now, require no better demonstration of its being truly made for the mind and soul of man, and of its having come from the same all-wise Artist's hands as created them, than the simple discovery of how admirably it winds into all their recesses, and fits into all their intricate mazes, turning at will the bars, and opening the entrance, of all the secret mysteries of self- knowledge. Now, coming down to our own times, the same variety of motives is perceptible in the writings of those who have, within these late years, joined the Catholic faith. I do not allude so much to what has occurred in this country, because however great may have been the spread of the Catholic religion since the commencement of this century amongst us, however frequent the conversions which we hear of, and see — all this is, in one respect, as nothing to what goes forward elsewhere. For while with us the work of conversion, with several brilliant excep- tions, has been chiefly confined to persons of a less literary class, on the Continent — and I speak particularly of Germany — there is hardly a year, and there has not been for some time back, in which some individuals have not embraced the Catholic religion who were previously distinguished in their own country, as men of first-rate abilities and deep learning ; often holding important situations, and, particularly, employed as professors in Protestant universities. Now, many of these have published the motives which brought them to the Catholic religion. Those who peruse their accounts will find them often written in a profound reflective manner, and their arguments conducted with a terseness and closeness which, in this country, could be hardly popular. But, what I wish principally to note, their 240 CARDINAL WISEMAN motives are as varied as the different pursuits in which each of the writers was engaged. You will find one, who has made history the study of his life, and who has taught that branch of learning in one of the most celebrated universities, announce to you that he has become a Catholic simply by applying the sound principles of his science to the facts recorded in the annals of Europe.' You may hear another draw his arguments from motives connected with the philosophy of the human mind — from his discovering that only in the Catholic religion can he find a system of it adapted to the wants of man ; and another, whose enthusiasm has first been kindled by observing that the principle of all that is beautiful in art and in nature is nowhere to be found except in the Catholic religion.'^ You will read a political economist who tells you that, having made a deep study of that science, he was forced to admit that only in Catholic morality could he discover the principles whereon it could be honestly conducted, and so was led to the practical adoption of the Catholic creed.-' Another, by watching that very event which some have considered a proof of the de- moralising power of the Catholic religion, by attentive study of the dreadful tragedies of the French Revolution, became a Catholic, and has since produced learned works treating of social rights.'' But whatever the variety of the roads, he continue.s, they reach one gate. It is the acceptance of the Hving Authority of a Teaching Church as the divinely appointed guardian of rehgious truth which makes a man a CathoHc. About half the lectures were devoted to the exposition of Authority. He contended that private judgment was in fact hardly ever the basis of any one's belief Men unconsciously accepted the authority of their parents, of English tradition, of early education — the profession that they judged for ' Professor Phillips of Munich. "^ Stolberg, F. Schlegel, Veith, Molitor, Beautain, &c. =• De Coux. ' Adam M tiller. WISEMAN IN ENGIAND 241 themselves came from a faulty analysis of their own minds. On the other hand, apart from the admitted diversity as to the means whereby Church Authority comes to be acknowledged, once it is reached it is the real basis of the acceptance of specific doctrines in every Catholic throughout the world. It has the prima facte claim that it is a really existing foundation of religious belief, which private judgment — whether in the ultra-Protestant or in the Anglican form — is not. And Wiseman proceeded in subsequent lectures to show how this fact, which often disguises itself among hereditary Christians, is brought into patent relief when the rival principles of Authority and private judgment are used for the instruction of the converted heathen. The principle of Authority he maintained to have practically succeeded ; that of private judgment to have failed. The remainder of the lectures start from the vantage ground of the principle of Church Authority. They were devoted to the explanation of doctrines which had since the days of Charles II. been almost universally misrepresented in England — penance, purgatory, indulgences, the invocation of saints, the reverence to images and relics, the doctrine of tran- substantiation. One of the most notable results of the lectures was an essay which they drew from Newman, which appeared in the pages of the ' British Critic ' in December 1836. The keynote of the essay is struck in the follow- ing passage : — ' We hear with great equanimity the VOL. I. R 242 CARDINAL WISEMAN rumours of the impression which Dr. Wiseman's lectures have made upon the mixed multitude of London. Romanism has great truths in it, which we of this day have almost forgotten, and its preachers will recall numbers of Churchmen and Dissenters to an acknowledgment of them.' Newman contemplates Wiseman's discourses throughout as a triumph over English Churchmen of Protestant principles, and he rejoices. ' Reverses in argument,' he writes, ' may humble and sober them.' That the result will be the conversion to Rome of some, especially Dissenters, he admits, and rejoices again. Romanism ' will spread,' he writes, ' among Dissenters and irregulars.' And to such men it will at least give fixed convictions, and a share in sacramental graces. For the majority of English Churchmen the effect of Wiseman's victory over Protestantism must be, he surmises, to wake up the Catholic principles dormant in the Established Church-to help forward the Catholic Movement within her pale, rather than to lead to secessions. While Newman, at this time secure of his ground, and unwavering in his opposition to Rome, adopted this tone, it gave great offence to his friends in Oxford. The strictures on portions of the lectures, which came later in the article, did not destroy the effect of his tribute to the victory of the Roman Catholic lecturer over what were admitted to be at that time the religious principles of the large majority of members of the Church of England. S. F. Wood, uncle of the present Lord Halifax, communicated to Newman the disgust of the editor of the ' British WISEMAN IN ENGLAND 243 Critic' He wrote on December 20, 1836, as follows : Bourne is immensely disgusted with your Wiseman article, and declares that if another of the same kind is sent, he will throw up the editorship. They say you make Wiseman a peg to hang your attacks on Protestantism on. Now this is more probably a way of expressing anger than a real expression of opinion ; still anyhow it is an indication of his state of feeling, and of what things may be tending to. The ' British Critic ' did penance for its offence by a violent attack on Wiseman in the following year,' in the shape of a review of Dr. Turton's acrimonious criticism of Wiseman's ' Lectures on the Eucharist.' '•^ ' July 1837. 2 Dr. Turton, Dean of Peterborough and Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, published in 1837 a work entitled The Roinan Catholic Doctrine of the Eucharist considered. The controversy itself belongs so entirely to a bygone phase of theological argument without present consequences that its reproduction would be out of place. But the verdict of Dr. Turton on Wiseman's characteristics— a verdict endorsed by the British Critic— vt\3.y be given. 'Plausibility,' he writes, ' is the characteristic of the learned author's labours. On their surface there is smoothness — a gloss — which can scarcely fail to beguile the individual who is content with a hasty perusal. . . . Without the slightest wish to depreciate the lectures or their author, I cannot help here stating that I have never met another production so abounding in petty criticism on small portions of the text apart from their conte.xt, in hermeneutical devices of every kind. . . . The author is subtle but not sagacious ; he is dexterous but not circumspect ; he is learned after the manner of a controversialist, not after that of a student. It would have afforded me great pleasure if I could have pointed out a single instance of fair manly investigation in the course of his lectures, and I sincerely regret that he has not enabled me to pay him the com- pliment.' A letter of Wiseman's to Dr. Husenbeth, referring primarily to that writer's criticisms on the lectures on the Church, is worth citing in this connexion :1 ' I feel sincerely obliged to you for your strictures on my lectures. They were addressed to an audience on the whole highly respectable, R 2 244 CARDINAL WISEMAN But the effect of Newman's words remained both as a testimony to the power of the lectures and as a reminder of the quicksand on which, in his judgment, the bulk of Anglican Churchmen were then standing.' Meanwhile, the English Catholics were startled at finding their faith treated suddenly with a respect to which they had so long been strangers. And the change was soon seen to be a permanent one. The English press took up the lectures, and they were reviewed and answered at length. ' The effect of these discussions might have been merely temporary,' says Mr. White, ' had not the publication of them attracted the special notice of the Protestant press.' Men of position or distinction were received into the Roman Church, and among them the celebrated architect Augustus Welby Pugin. Wiseman's move- ments began to be chronicled in the daily papers. and to all appearance able to understand them, and therefore I did not feel it necessary to take so simple a manner as I otherwise should have done. But at the same time I had a large proportion of poor, who yet stood out the longest of the discourses, apparently without much fatigue. A German translation is announced as in the press at Augsburg, another was in hand, but I suppose will not proceed. I have read Turton's attack on my Eucharist. It is an intemperate and ill- judged work. Many of my friends think it necessary that I should answer it ; and in deference to their judgment, I must depart from my determination of avoiding controversy, and write a reply. This is an easy task, as far as the strength of his assaults is concerned, but not so when considered in reference to their length. He takes three or four pages to comment on one of mine ; and if I keep the same proportion there will be no end of my answer. This I could afford neither time nor money for. The English Catholics have not yet a reading public of their own sufficient to remunerate an author.' ' Mr. Colet made a stringent attack on Wiseman's citations from the Fathers as being misleading ; but it does not appear to have had much effect. It would carry me too far from the scope of this book to enter into the questions he raises. WISEMAN IN ENGLAND 245 Mr. Coates forthwith asked him (in May 1836) to write for the ' Penny Cyclopaedia ' an article on the Catholic Church. Such things seem matters of course in our own day, but to the English ' Papists ' of 1836 they were bewildering. Some of the old-fashioned priests shook their heads, and were suspicious of results so novel and ideas so enterprising. But others took courage, and were grateful to their new spokesman. A subscription list was opened by the London Catholics to present Wiseman with a testimonial, which took the form of a costly gold medal, on which was engraved, from a bust by Mr. Scipio Clint, a likeness of Dr. Wiseman, and on the obverse a design emblematic of some of the lectures, with the inscription — Nicholao Wiseman, avita religione forti suavique eloquio vindicata, Catholici Londinenses, MDCCCXXXVI. An opportunity offered itself in the course of the lectures for strengthening the impression produced. Mr. John Poynder published an attack on the Church of Rome — one of those assaults which confer the greatest benefit on what is assailed. It was entitled ' Popery in x^lliance with Heathenism,' and its author's main indictment was that ' Papists ' w'ere idolaters, and that Catholic ceremonial was a repro- duction of the ancient pagan rites of classical times. Wiseman replied in a series of letters to the author. He secured the sympathy of many of his readers by pointing out at starting that Mr. Poynder's appeal was before all things calculated to reawake slumber- ing religious passions. ' With holy zeal,' he wrote , ' you snatch up a torch which has long been smoulder- 246 CARDINAL WISEMAN ing, qualified and directed to put in a blaze the bigotry and fanaticism of one party, and with it the bitter indignation and outraged feelings of another, such as may, like the apocalyptic brand, scorch up , . . the holy and beautiful fountains of social and friendly intercourse, at which men of all opinions have for a long time drunk together.' Wiseman next passes to the actual misstatements of fact in Mr. Poynder's book. Mr. Poynder had given for the information of Englishmen an account of various practices obtaining among Italian Catholics ; and Wiseman showed, with all the authority of one whose life had been passed in Italy, that they were the merest delusions of the passing traveller, with eyes on the look-out for popish supersti- tion. A representation of SS. Peter and Paul was transformed by Mr. Poynder into an aveng- ing angel driving away Attila the Hun ; confession was asserted to have in the eyes of the benighted Papists a prospective efficacy for sins about to be committed ; holy water was supposed by them to wash out murder ; the peasant's salutation of a cross or holy picture was transformed by Mr, Poynder into a prostration. These and many other inventions Wiseman notes and corrects. Having thus severely criticised both the animus of the book, and the accuracy of the information which is made the basis of an attack on numbers of the author's fellow-countrymen, Dr. Wiseman takes up the residuum of truth in the work, and shows that its true significance is simply misrepresented. Here his remarks are interesting beyond the occasion. WISEMAN IN ENGLAND 247 He points out that the rehgious sentiment, Hke other sentiments, is one which naturally manifests itself similarly in different persons or different nations with- out any direct relationship between' them ; that just as to laugh, to embrace, to prostrate, are natural ways of expressing particular feelings, so certain cere- monies of heathen religion may be natural enough and suitable enough for Christians as well as pagans. The Church of England itself is just as guilty in this respect as the Church of Rome. The surplice, the use of baptism, the marriage ring, all have their counterparts in the heathen worship. But further, the whole of this jealous criticism of foreign matter in Christian worship ignores the breadth of God's Providence and the breadth of the true Church. The Church is not the sole depository of religious truth. It does not by inspiration gain all that it teaches straight from Heaven : it collects the scattered truths which Providence has preserved in the human race, and purifies them. Were non-Christian kinship or even ancestry fatal to the claims of the Catholic forms of worship, the whole of Christianity would fall — for it has assimilated from the beginning tradi- tions and doctrines as well as rites from all sides : Has it never occurred to you [Wiseman writes to Mr. Poynder] how this argument of yours may be turned against doctrines as well as rites ? And indeed your reasoning is of this sort ; and not only against Catholic doctrines, but against the entire Christian faith. Nay, are you not aware that this very line of argument has been pursued by the enemies of Chris- tianity ? Is not the doctrine of the Trinity clearly to be traced in the celebrated letter of Plato to Dionysius given by Eusebius, and in the works of Plotinus and others of his school, and in the Oupnekhatandthe Vedas ; and in the philosophical writings 248 CARDINAL WISEMAN of Lao Tscu ? And has not Dupuis, in his Origine dc tous les Cultcs, deduced therefrom that this dogma could not have been revealed in Christianity, since it was so well known before, and so widely diffused ; but' that it was borrowed, by St. John and the other apostTes, from the heathenish philosophy? Are not the very terms of the doctrine, the Word as well as the Father and Spirit, and their procession one from another, found by him and others in this Eastern school ? Has not Volney drawn a parallel between Christ and the Indian Chrishna, in name and character ? And are not the parallels between the two much stronger than any you have brought between our ceremonies and those of ancient Rome or India? Has not the idea of a divine Incarnation, and of salvation through the inter- ference of God in the flesh, been found again and again in the Indian mythology and in that of other Eastern religions. Could we not easily collect in the same quarters many resemblances to the doctrines of justification, of predestination, of grace, and of atonement ? And yet, who that has an understanding to judge, is driven for a moment from the holdings of faith by such comparisons as these ? Doubtless in this country the experiment has not been made as it has abroad. The Ruines of Volney and the abridgment of Dupuis' Origineh.aiW& done much towards sapping religion among the weak in France, and a popular work such as you have put forth might be easily got up in English, attacking" Christian truths precisely in the same manner. This line of argument is developed by Wiseman v/ith abundance of illustration, and the letters, in Mr. Gladstone's words, 'created a profound impression on the public mind, and struck me as masterpieces of clear and unanswerable argument' ' The spirit of enterprise aroused among English Catholics by Wiseman's success in London found further expression in the foundation of the ' Dublin ' I may add that I owe my knowledge of this controversy and its effect to Mr. Gladstone, who is one of the few living persons who re- member the theological discussions of that date. I subsequently found the letters among Cardinal Wiseman's republished Essays. WISEMAN IN ENGLAND 249 Review,' and a little later in the formation of the Catholic Institute, designed to 'vindicate' Catho- licism from ' calumnious defamation,' and to protect ' its poorer and more defenceless adherents from oppression for conscience's sake.' ' Not long after the delivery of the lectures of December 1835, Wise- man was approached by Daniel O'Connell and Mr. Quin and asked to join in the foundation of a Catholic Review. Wiseman consented, making, however, the condition— a necessary one, considering O'Connell's position at that time — ' that no extreme political views should be introduced into the Review.' ' I considered myself,' he adds, in speaking of it, * as associated [with the other two editors] to re- present the theological and religious elements in the journal.' Wiseman has given as the chief motive which induced him to join in the enterprise, his keen interest in the Oxford Movement and the importance of dealing with it fully in the Review. But, moreover, he wished to continue on a wider scale the work which his lectures had begun — to depict both for English Catholics themselves and for an inquiring age the ' genius of Christianity ' in its Catholic form. We have seen already some of the reasons which led to a want of enthusiasm among his co-religionists. Their existing organ, the ' Catholic Magazine,' reflected in a measure their tendency to be ashamed of the distinctive devotions of their religion, to hold aloof from hearty loyalty to the Papacy. Just as the world was beginning to respect ' Sec Catholic Ordo for 1839, \). 95. 250 CARDINAL WISEMAN the Papacy and to see the beauty of the old reh'gious ideals, the English ' Papists ' were losing hold of the loyal devotion to Rome, and the pride in their ancient creed, for which their ancestors had given up every- thing. An article had appeared in the Magazine speaking in very offensive terms of the Litany of Loreto as unsuited to the age. Wiseman wrote to a friend on the subject as follows : The writer knew but little of the taste of the age, but more- over must have a soul devoid of poetry, and be ignorant that there is such a thing as poesy in prayer. I read the other day the larnbes of Augusta Barbier, a young poet now rising in France to the first eminence. These poems, as their name indicates, are satires in a bold, slashing, almost coarse strain, and the author is an enthusiastic Liberal. I will extract a few lines from one passage, regretting that the whole would be too long. Only note the words underlined, compare them with the Litany, then remember that they were written and published in wicked, infidel Paris in 1833, that so you may compare the taste of the age and time there and among some Catholics in England. ' Puis il me pronongait le beau nom de Marie, Nom que j'aime d'enfance avec idolatrie, Le plus doux qui, tombe des montagnes du ciel, Sur une levre humaine ait repandu son miel, Nom celeste cree du sourire des anges. Pour en parer un jour la fleur de leurs phalanges ; Marie, O nom divin, itoile dii pccheur. Rose du paradis, baume plein de fraicheur, Qui parfume le monde, et qui revele aux ames La femme la plus belle entre toutes les femmes.' That English ' Papists ' did not appreciate the poetry and beauty of devotions which such men as Barbier could amplify and illustrate with enthusiasm, came partly no doubt from want of culture and from constant proximity to a powerful nation which WISEMAN IN ENGLAND 251 despised their religious ideals. But it also arose, Wiseman thought, from a lack of true devotion. He therefore urged them, not only to greater self-respect, but to deeper spirituality. In a remarkable passage on the injury done to religion by the age of con- troversy which necessarily succeeded the Reformation, he wrote thus : Our prayers bear a certain reasoning argumentative air that smacks of a sadly controversial age. If we may venture to say so, we memorialise the Almighty instead of praying to Him. . . . Everything is admirably arranged, every extenua- ting circumstance earnestly pleaded ; motives of mercy powerfully adduced ; but there lacks the tear, the sob, and the language of the contrite — that is, the crushed heart ; the confusedly mingled throbs of terror and hope, of sorrow and love. To rouse his friends, then, to enthusiasm for their own religion, and for the Papacy, was an ad- ditional reason — and one to which he referred more than once in his letters of the years 1834-35 — for taking part in the foundation of a Review, the tone of which should be very different from that of the ' Catholic Magazine.' And another was to exhibit to the more candid representatives of English thought the variety and elasticity of Catholicism (as he viewed it), and the power of its organisation. And in this connex- ion he determined to give the Review that inter- national character which represented the strength and claim of the Church Universal. Among contributors enlisted at an early stage were Steinmetz, De Coux, Dr. Klausen, and Dr. Pagenwordt. A Church em- bodying and purifying what is best in the age, and 252 CARDINAL WISEMAN in the various countries of her residence, co-extensive with human life and aspiration — this was, as we have ah'eady seen, his favourite ideal. And accordingly he stipulated that the Review should be consecrated to the needs of the hour— should, as he writes, ' belong to the present day: that is, should treat of living ques- tions . . . should grapple with real antagonists.' So far as it dealt with controversy from history, or with Christian antiquities, these subjects were treated in their bearing on the work of the Church of the nine- teenth century, as enabling readers to understand, in virtue of her powers of adaptation to past ages, the possibilities of the Church of to-day. * It seemed,' he wrote, ' the favourable moment to strike a chord, and stir up a spirit yet slumbering, but ready to awake. The Catholic religion as she is in the fulness of her growth, with the grandeur of her ritual, the beauty of her devotions, the variety of her institutions, required to be made- known to many.' The liturgy of the Church, the story of its heroes, the great vicis- situdes of its history, were all a heritage from the past which had its application to the present. The first number of the Review appeared in May 1836. It fulfilled its promised scope. Wiseman's own contributions gave to it its tone. Chapters of Church history were made vivid and suggestive for our own times in such papers as that on Boniface VIII. and St. Elizabeth of Hungary. The papers on ' Minor Rites and Offices of the Church ' were full of in- formation on the liturgy, its sources and develop- ment, and its application to the daily Christian life. The overgrowths of the faith among Catholic WISEMAN IN ENGLAND 253 peoples, in Italy and elsewhere, were described from personal experience in such papers as that on 'Religion in Italy'; and the effect of Catholi- cism in developing art and science was shown forth, tacitly and with little pointing of the moral, in papers on Italian academies and on Christian art. The com- bination of subjects presented together a picture of Catholics as a society, consisting of many grades and conditions, rich and poor, men of science and letters as well as men of leisure, historians and antiquarians and lovers of art, their life tinged everywhere by their religion, and yet full of human interest and zest. Wiseman scarcely professed that the picture included the length and breadth of facts — the evils which existed side by side with Catholic life as well as the good. Incidental evil had for generations been painted in the extravagant colours of caricature, and it was time to depict the beauty of the true ideal. The picture was, he considered, true to fact as far as it went, and by those who lived in hopeful faith it might be ever more and more realised. Wiseman prolonged his visit to England until the appearance of the second number of the new Review, and then returned to Rome. Mr. Kyan, who accom- panied him, and became a student at the English College, gives particulars of the journey : About the middle of August 1836 [he writes], having an introduction to Dr. Wiseman and the sanction of my Bishop, I waited on the former at the Chapel House, Lincoln's Inn Fields, to ask leave to accompany him to Rome. ... I asked him when he would leave London. He said he expected to be free almost daily, but he was detained preparing his Moorfields Lectures for publication. Finally he suggested to me to meet 254 CARDINAL WISEMAN him in Paris (wliich happened to suit mc), and he wrote for me the address of the Hotel do Lille, to which he usually went. , . . It was not until the 9th Sept. that Dr. Wiseman reached Paris in company with the Rev. A. B. and Mr. C. D, so that, being joined by an English student from St. Sulpice, our party amounted to five. Places were secured in the diligence which was to leave Paris for Chalon-sur-Saone on Thursday, nth Sept. at 4 p.m. We spent the interval in visiting the churches, picture galleries, &c. On Thursday the nth Sept. we [started]. At Chalon we took the steamer to Lyons and while descending the Saone found ourselves, as Dr. Wiseman expressed it, in the region of the Vine and Olive. ... It was at this time that Dr. Wiseman learned the particulars relative to the scheme for Protestantising the Rhenish Provinces which had for some time been carried on by the Prussian Government unknown to the Holy See — which form the subject of an article in the first volume of the ' Dublin Review.' Wiseman was at his post at the EngHsh College once more for the commencement of the term in October. But he never again entirely settled down into his old habits. His heart was, henceforth, in great measure in England. In the 'Dublin Review,' as well as in his private correspondence, he to a large extent guided the policy of his English friends. 255 CHAPTER VIII LAST YEARS IN ROME 1 836-40 The writer whose recollections have been cited in the last chapter, the Rev. Mr. Kyan, began his student life in Rome in October 1836. He proceeds to give his impressions of the Rector at this time — which he regards as a turning-point in Wiseman's career, the end of the life of the student, the beginning of that of the man of affairs : When I first knew him he was, I think, at the crisis of his career, at the close of his student life, and about to commence the important part he took in the religious movement and the ecclesiastical politics of his day. He may — I think, he must — have applied much to study (at an earlier time), but I never saw anything like continuous application on his part while I was at the English College. What he wrote was thrown off rapidly and at a single effort. Indeed, what with his daily lectures at the University, his weekly sermons, his duties as agent to the bishops of England, his multifarious correspond- ence, his visitors and his visits, he was too busy to be able to read much. He was never idle for a moment. Even recreation he made subservient to a useful purpose. On each Thursday (the weekly holiday) it was his habit to take us all to one of the Catacombs, or churches, or antiquities, or picture galleries, or the museums, or the studios of artists, and on such occasions we were often accompanied by some German scholar or Other friend of his interested in Christian art. . . . Sometimes 256 CARDINAL WISEMAN he would spend a few days out of Rome in order, I think, to find a little leisure for writing. On one occasion in 1837, shortly before the visit of the two English bishops, he took three or four of us with him to Fiumicino, at the mouth of the Tiber, for two or three days. As soon as we arrived we went to the pier, such as it was, where wc found not more than two or three persons walking, muffled up to the ears and looking very miserable. ' This is their notion of the sea,' he said, ' and most of them have never seen as much, and those who come here keep close within doors : so they might as well be in Rome.' He himself took great delight in the sea. We had a pleasant time of it, meeting at meals and spending the rest of the day as we liked. While we were amusing ourselves he was working at his articles for the Review, but always contrived to walk out with us for a couple of hours daily, and we all bathed in the sea at some spot on the sands where we were not likely to be disturbed. He was very fond of what he called an ' outing.' Sometimes he would take the whole of us in carriages to some place outside R.ome, such as the spot known as the ruins of Veii, taking with us provisions for a picnic. On such occasions he was the most joyous of the party, and he liked to see others happy. In proof of Dr. Wiseman's versatility I may mention that he often acted as our organist. Indeed, he had a critical apprecia- tion of music as well of the other fine arts. It was he, too, who painted the scenes for the first play which we acted, in 1837. I may take this opportunity of stating what I now feel myself at liberty to mention, viz. the fact that he himself wrote a piece for us, the scene of which was America. The manuscript was handed to those of the students who officiated as managers, with instructions to take a fair copy and then to return the original to him, and on no account to divulge even to the other students the fact that he had written it. And, while stimulating others by his companion- ship and geniality, the Rector appears, as I have said, to have been equally ready to take direct interest in the work of each of his pupils, or to take counsel with them on his own work in all simplicity. LAST YEARS IN ROME 257 I think he was hardly aware [continues Mr. Kyan] that what enabled him to achieve so much was genius. He thought others could do what he had done, and was anxious that they should follow in his footsteps. I heard from one who was certainly not likely to be swayed by partiality that he was ever kind and ready in affording help to others in their studies. He seemed unconscious of his intellectual superiority, and would seek co-operation from minds immeasurably inferior to his own, as if on the same level with himself. I do not think he ever forgot anyone who had been under him. I know many instances in which he befriended them in after life. If they had thwarted him or even shown hostility, he was ever ready with a helping hand all the same. Strangers often failed to appreciate Wiseman '.s simplicity of aim. I once heard him say [Mr. Kyan continues], ' I am totally misunderstood, and my motives and conduct are misrepresented. Everywhere I encounter a wall of reserve. I have my faults, I often do wrong, and if anyone would speak to me like a friend, I should be thankful to have my errors pointed out and be glad to correct them.' Indeed, strange as it may seem now, during his whole life he was subject to misapprehension, and that sym- pathy which he so much valued was withheld from him by many even among the pious and good. He did not get credit for the high aims which inspired him, but was supposed, as it seemed to me, to be actuated by personal motives, such as vanity and ambition. Such a view of him was quite false, though perhaps he was not, and could not be, indifferent to fame : and a certain kind of ambition such as he somewhere (I think, in his sermon on the Conversion of St. Paul) characterises as the incentive to virtuous and noble deeds, was doubtless not alien to his nature. Of Wiseman's intercourse with the members of the College, we have the following recollections : He seldom reproved in words, though it was easy to see whether he was pleased or otherwise, for he was as natural as a child, and when annoyed had a habit of holding his lower lip VOL. I. S 258 CARDINAL WISEMAN Ijetween his forefinger and thumb and pouting, which many who smiled at it then will now remember. The harshest thing I ever heard him say was to a student who had been engaged with others in a wrestling match and had got some hurts in the face which required sticking-plaster. He said to the sufferer, as he was on his way to our infirmary, ' If you will play like bears, you must expect the fate of bears.' In general, nothing could exceed his tenderness and sympathy for the sick. One of the students, who was in a consumption when I arrived, died shortly afterwards — I think, before the end of April 1838 — at two or three o'clock in the morning. Four or five of us were present and Dr. Wiseman stood at the head of the bed address- ing words of consolation and repeating short ejaculatory prayers from time to time in the ear of the sufferer while consciousness seemed to remain. At last the breathing ceased, he felt his pulse, then laid his hand on the heart and said, ' He is gone.' He then placed the crucifix on his breast and we all knelt down for a few minutes in silent prayer. He then arose and kissed the forehead of our departed companion, and we did the same in token of farewell. We then returned to our rooms, and I heard him say with a deep sigh, as we left, ' I shall, have to write to his mother." Wiseman's views on various subjects are given as follows : Dr. Wiseman's conversation was lively and interesting. Among the modern English poets Tennyson was his favourite ; among the orators Lord John Russell. He spoke with ad- miration of Jeremy Taylor. He spoke highly also of Words- worth : not so of Byron, who seemed to him when in Rome to have viewed without earnestness the works of art he describes in ' Childe Harold.' Among the Italian poets Dante ' ' I used to hear him relate,' Mr. Kyan adds, ' how the student whose death I have described, and who was a youth of very handsome face and most engaging manners, travelled alone from Ireland through France and Italy without knowing a word of French, and how he met on his way the Due de Broglie, who found out all about him and where he was going (their only medium of communication being Latin), and took him with him to his home in Paris, showing him all possible kind- ness. ' LAST YEARS IN ROME 259 was the only one I heard him speak of with admiration. Among the Spanish he praised Calderon. Perugino appeared to be his favourite painter. He said Rafael's latest manner was inferior to his earlier, and he did not seem to think much of the ' Trans- figuration,' which he thought had very little of the master's own hand. He said some Scotchman professed to have discovered a criterion in the strokes of the pencil examined under the microscope which enabled him to distinguish works of art by any master, and that when the ' Transfiguration ' was submitted to this test, it turned out that only the head of our Saviour was painted by Rafael himself. In speaking of the French preachers he said that one might perhaps attain to eloquence by a study and imitation of their writings, but in his opinion the English models were the best. He thought a sermon often failed from being too comprehensive, and that it was better to expand and illustrate a single idea than to handle a subject embracing a variety of details. His theory and practice of controversy was the exposition of Catholic principles and doctrine in the least possible aggressive, polemi- cal spirit. He spoke highly of Rosenmiiller's ' Scholia 'and said he had bought his copy with sixty scudi which he got as a prize. Speaking of his ' Horas Syriacae,' he said a second volume was in manuscript, containing twice as much matter as the first. This work was well received by Biblical scholars in Germany, who seemed to have regarded him for a time as one of them- selves, and hence perhaps arose a suspicion or apprehension in some that he entertained rationalistic views or tendencies. I think he said he would not recommend everyone to go through the course of reading he had done in the pursuit of his Biblical studies. It is a coincidence which may be noted^ that the marked change in Wiseman's hfe in the thirties was in some sense at once a change in temperament, in appearance, in habits, and in his spiritual career. We have already given in his own words the strong impression that his renewed zest for the reh'gious Hfe in Rome in 1833 meant a permanent change, and we have seen that his alteration in appearance 26o CARDINAL WISEMAN and in habits impressed the writer whose remini- scences have just been cited. The pale thin student had passed in the year 1836 into the ruddy-faced and somewhat corpulent man of action. A deeper change seems to have come in the following year — 1837. He had hitherto been adverse to the somewhat repressive ideal of the Jesuit asceticism. On occa- sion, however, of the annual retreat in November 1837, he invited a Jesuit to give the 'spiritual exercises,' or retreat, at the English College. The retreat made a remarkable and permanent impression on the students and on Wiseman himself. The writer already quoted speaks of it as follows : In November 1837, one of the Jesuit fathers was asked to give a retreat in the Enghsh College. Previously to that time my impression had been that the relations between Dr. Wise- man and the Society were not very cordial. The effect of this retreat was remarkable on us all, from Dr. Wiseman down to the least of us — for I may venture to mention this much, since he said so himself. The intercourse of the students among themselves became frank and cordial beyond what it had been before, while their relations with their Rector were more intimate. He came out indeed in a new light, viz. as a spiritual counsellor. Many of the students chose him for their director. It was at this time he set himself the task of writing down his meditation of each day, so as to accumulate a series for the whole year. His manner from that time forward was, as far as I know, singularly gentle, kind and tolerant. Years afterwards he alluded, not without emotion, in a con- versation I had with him, to the period of this retreat : ' I like to think of that time,' he said ; 'we spoke to each other from our hearts, and we were knit together in a bond of brotherhood.' I have found among Cardinal Wiseman's papers a copy of the resolutions made at the end of this retreat. We may especially note the statement that LAST YEARS IN ROME 261 this retreat was accompanied by less sentiment than previous ones, but a deeper sense of his own short- comings and a firmer resolution of change of Hfe. I give the document in full : Resolutions made at the Exercises of November 1837.' I, in the presence of the Divine and Eternal Majesty of God and of His celestial court, primarily of Most Holy Mary, my sweet mother, of the Saints Ignatius and Luigi Gonzaga, patrons and protectors of these my Exercises, and of the Saints, my advocates. Saint John, the Apostle, and St. Nicholas, and also of my Guardian Angel ; holding before myself the image of Jesus crucified, my only hope, having by the help of God's grace meditated and pondered, as far as my weakness (bodily and spiritual) will permit, my aim, which is to serve and love God only, and in serving Him to save myself; having contemplated the example of my Divine Re- deemer, this day, November 24, 1837, I propose to myself and firmly resolve to maintain, with God's help, the following rules and resolutions. And first Towards God, my only good and final end ; I resolve to love Him and to serve Him with all my heart and all my soul, and from this moment I dedicate myself afresh in everything and through everything to be His servant, to promote where I can His glory and His honour in words and works, most especially in my ministry. I renew the resolution already made and by His mercy kept till now determinately, to avoid studying" or writing anything but what may lead to the good of souls, directly or indirectly, and always to hold this object in view in my work. I resolve, moreover, to do everything for His love's sake, for His greater glory and in union with the actions of Jesus Christ and in conformity with His holy will. And if for any ' Tlie original is in Italian. 262 CARDINAL WISEMAN cause, of illness or other reason, I should forget in the morning to offer and dedicate the actions of the day to these holy ends, I intend the present resolution to serve for that occasion. And if my weakness or the enemy of the soul should sugj^est other motives to me or confound my mind by presenting them to me, I resolve now to thrust them away, to abhor them and to protest against them. I will seek to renew this intention from time to time, in the day, turning my heart and my spirit towards God. To come now to some more special practice, I resolve to attend carefully at meditation every morning, and in order more securely to do this, I will rise, as I have mostly done, so much before the pre- scribed hour as will sufifice to enable me to say the Office, so as not to be tempted to recite it in the time of the meditation. Having discovered by experience that the difficulty which I find in meditating results from the arid character of the meditations often provided, I will take a method conformable to that followed in the Exercises, as being that which I have found better adapted to give food for the soul. I will say the Holy Mass every day with all devotion ; I will visit the Most Holy Sacrament twice in the chapel in the house, and, when I can, also in some church during my walk. Twice a day I will make an exact examination of my con- science, general and particular. I will not add any other vocal prayers to those which I have been used to recite daily, from the fear (resulting from experi- ence) that in time I may come to neglect them, but I will rather study to say these with greater fervour and more regularity. Once a month I will read these my resolutions, kneeling before the crucifix, and I will recall to a severe examination my observation of them during the preceding month and will sign them again, adding the date, noting how I have observed them, and specifying in particular whatever are the most im- portant omissions, and any beginning of negligence. Finally, I protest before God that I wish to fly, not only every mortal sin more earnestly than I would fly from hell, but also every venial sin, holding always for my rule the life of Christ, my good Lord, and for motive and spur the love which He bore to me on the cross. LAST YEARS IN ROME 263 Towards others. And first towards the Saints : I will do everything I can to know their spirit, to imitate them and to feel great devotion towards them. But the Mother of God I will reverence and love with singular affection even more than I have in the past. Under her guardianship and protection 1 place these my resolu- tions, and I conceive her as taking part in them, not only as a witness but much more as one who is able to obtain for me from her Divine Son the graces necessary for the keeping" of them. Towards my ecclesiastical superiors I will bear myself with profound respect and the highest deference, obeying them with perfect docility for the love of God. Towards the students I will be as much as I can, at the same time their brother and their father, loving them all tenderly and equally, seeking to guide them in the way of virtue by gentleness and loving treatment rather than by severity. Also I will always consider myself, as I am, inferior to all, in virtue and piety, and I will industriously seek occasions of serving them in every way, always excepting the authority of my office. And I will do my best to be the first in the observ- ance of every ordinary duty, to go before them in the practice of every virtue. Towards the servants I will be charitable and kind in giving my orders, or rather in asking for their services, and I will take all possible care of them, as well for their spiritual as for their bodily welfare. Towards people in the world 1 will be courteous and dis- creet, avoiding all useless friendships which might draw me away from my duties. And as I have found by experience that in talking with my neighbours I easily allow myself to be led into uncharitable conversation, I will check myself determinately, and at the moment when my mind suggests to me any words against the reputation of another, I will say something" to his advantage. And if, through my weakness, 1 perceive myself to have failed in this, I resolve to apply the Holy Mass the next morning for the benefit of the person against whom I have thus offended. Towards the poor I will do all I can to aid them ; and par- 264 CARDINAL WISEMAN ticulaily 1 will seek out occasions of serving them and assisting them personally, either in the hospitals or in other ways. Towards myself. To humiliate pride always, particularly when it arises under the form of good and tempts me with the pretext of doing something for the cause of God. And therefore 1 will often remember what I should have been if it had not been for the infinite mercy of God. To crush vain-glory, particularly when it comes in the prac- tice of good works and in the exercise of my ministry ; and to try not only to endure but also to love humiliations and to rejoice in them. Besides this, my principal aim shall be to watch over the senses and to mortify the flesh. As to the first, I will maintain a severe guard over my eyes so that they should not be dominated by lively impressions, and at the same time I will restrain my imagination that it may not conduct my senses to useless curiosity, though it should be innocent. As to the second, every day, if I have not met with any mortification, I will impose one upon myself, either depriving myself of some comfort or afflicting my flesh. Besides, 1 resolve to abstain from any food between meals, with the exception of circumstances when I am compelled by politeness to take it, and also to abstain from going into cafes or other similar places. With regard to my future condition, I place myself entirely under the wise counsels of God, full of mercy. I will not desire nor seek honours, but I will desire to live for Him alone in that state which He has destined for me, and my one aim shall be to do His Most Holy will and to advance His glory. In conclusion I give thanks to the Lord, that at the end ot this holy Retreat I do not feel a sensible fervour which on other occasions has betrayed me, but rather a profound con- viction of my weakness and my nothingness, and a firmer and more lively desire to advance step by step in the conquest of my passions and inclinations and to give myself entirely to Him. ' Deus, Deus mens, nihil sum, sed tuus sum.' N. Wiseman. LAST YEARS IN ROME 265 These resolutions were re-read and Confirmed at intervals — nominally every month, but actually about every three months during the subsequent year — and occasional omissions of daily examination as well as insufficient attention to the practice of mor- tification are noted. ' I have, however,' he adds in June 1838, ' found out a way of serving the poor in the hospitals, as I promised, for which God be praised.' In the year 1840 they were superseded by the new resolutions made on occasion of his consecration to the Episcopate. I find also among the papers belonging to 1837 and 1838 an undated MS. written, as Wiseman explains, according to the precept of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. It contains an account, in some respects very striking, but written with no attempt at literary form, of meditations made at this time. Most of it is given in an appendix to the present chapter. From the retreat of 1837 up to the end of his Roman life, Wiseman appears to have devoted him- self closely to the spiritual training of the students. As we have seen he wrote meditations for every day in the year ; and some of them had special reference to the life of a missionary priest in England, while others dealt with the ordinary duties of a Christian life. Dr. Errington was at this time his vice- Presi- dent, and they worked together to improve the system of studies, and to give the students a high conception of their vocation. Their efforts in this direction were extended also to the colleges in England. Both men were conscious how much was needed to bring them 266 CARDINAL WISEMAN to a level intellectually either with the English public schools and Universities, or with foreign homes of education. Wiseman, moreover, held that the English clergy sorely needed reforming. Thespirit of nation- alism and independence of authority were common. There were indeed few positive scandals, but apathy was widespread. To fashion a zealous and cultivated priesthood was the first step in that general refor- mation of the English Catholic body on which his heart had been set since his English campaign of 1835. The following letters from Wiseman to Dr. Newshamof Ushaw will be read with interest in this connexion : Monte Porzio, October 18, 183*?. My dear Friend, — I was away from home on a visit to my sister when your welcome letter reached Rome, and the calls on me from the ' Dublin Review,' as well as the claims of business, have caused a delay in my reply. . . . There is nothing' I have so much at heart as co-operating in every way with you and others in advancing the cause of religion in England, and especially by stirring up the spirit of the clergy. ... I think it cannot be long before England is my residence. I assure you it will break my heart to separate myself from the students here, for I do not think it possible for greater friend- ship to exist between superiors and students than unites us together, and I shall deeply lament Rome, but I am ready to make any sacrifice for the great work that has to be under- taken. When I see my way more clearly I will write to you more fully. What I am most anxious to accomplish is to establish a small community of missioners, who, living at a common home, should go bini [two and two] from place to place giving lectures, retreats, &c., in different dioceses, so as to be out several months at a time, and then repose, so that those at home would be engaged in conducting at certain intervals retreats for laymen or clergy in the house. It would do to begin with six or eight, but they must be truly filled with the spirit of devotion and piety, as well as learned and fluent, not to say eloquent. This idea of mine is well known to most of LAST YEARS IN ROME 267 the young men here, and I would engage out of my small number to find two or three (2 Northerns) who would devote themselves to the work. It only requires someone to lead and show the way, and I am sure others would rise up or come for- ward. I have so far begun the training as to have written a body of meditations (which we now use here), so arranged as to form discourses for retreats and missions, and we are .... having a small number of copies privately printed for the use oi those who would give themselves up to the work. Uniformity of method would thus be secured, and much labour of preparation saved. It is the Jesuits' plan in their retreats, and they are now engaged in privately printing a development of St. Ignatius's meditations or exercises, which is to serve as the model for all retreats. The success of the retreat will thus depend less upon the individual abilities of the director. The account you gave me of the state of the clergy is truly deplorable, but, I am sure, not exaggerated. I saw much more than I was prepared for, and than I intimated to you, and before leaving London gave Dr. Griffiths particulars which I had noticed .... The emendation must be radical, and the foundation of future good must be laid at College. A letter from Dr. Errington gives me a most consoling account of Ushaw, and he tells me he is bringing with him a copy of your new plan of studies, which we are to look over together. He will be here early in November. I was going to forward to you the prospectus of studies at the college of Jouilly, conducted by the Abbes de Salinis and Scorbiac, aided by Gerbet and others of the Universite Catholique, but a friend has it at present, and as soon as I can recover it you shall have it. I wish you could pay a visit to Oscott. I am sure that, besides the good which would be done by friendly intercourse thus opened, you might be encouraged by the good spirit of improvement you will there find, and would be of use to them by your suggestions. Pugin and Logan alone, besides their new German master, would be worth conferring with, and compensate the journey. You will be glad to hear that we have another English saint on the calendar, though not a very modern one. On the 7th Septem- ber the Pope published a brief approving and confirming the immemorial cult paid in Savoy to St. Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was a native of that country. He filled the 268 CARDINAL WISEMAN see after tlie middle of the thirteenth century ; I shouiil think his office should be apphed for, but I have several times made similar suggestions to no purpose. I wanted Bede to be declared Doctor of the Church and brought into veneration over the whole Church. ... I close this letter in Rome, whither I have come to repay a visit made me in the country by Dr. Mill, Principal of King's College, Calcutta, now on his way to England. Say everything most kind to my good friends at Ushaw, and believe me as ever. My dear Mr. Newsham, Your sincere friend, N. Wiseman. Rome : March 19, 1840. George [Errington] and myself find, from the observation of the latest comers from Ushaw, that what is principally to be aimed at is accustoming them from the early part of their course to think and judge, of which they seem to have little idea. They do not seem to know how to make things out for themselves, or to make one bear upon another ; whatever they learn they seem to put up in their heads, and not to have it at hand when wanted for some other purpose. This is, I think, a faculty which may be acquired by early cultivation, and makes up much for want of great memory or great abilities. It gives that sagacity in research, and that power of combination in ap- plication, which enables very moderate talents to effect what great powers without it seldom do. And where these exist, it gives them a tenfold value and efficacy. We shall talk over the matter so as to see if a tangible expression can be given to our ideas, and any scheme formed by which they could be made practical. I think there is more of this faculty (of working for one's self) given in foi^eign and perhaps in Protestant education than among us. I don't know whether I have made myself intelligible, but a little conversation vi'ould, I think, enable me to be so. I had a letter from Dr. Lingard the other day, in which he tells me he is losing his sight. Would it not be proper to offer him an asylum at Ushaw, should such a calamity further threaten him ? He deserves anything from the clergy, and his presence at Ushaw would not only give additional credit to the LAST YEARS IN ROME 269 house, but be of immense use by the advice he could give, the encouragement, example, &c., it would aftbrd. He could there always find someone to read to him and write for him. . . . Think of this, and if you approve, be the first to speak and propose. The fortunes of the Cathoh'c Church went through a crisis, especially in Germany, during the years 1837-39. The most critical struggles of the Church with the State during the present century have been on the question of religious education. It hardly needs to be said that on this must depend the existence of a new generation of Catholics ; and so the struggle has ever been felt to be one of life and death. Lacordaire and Montalembert had been fighting since 1830 to secure a religious education for Christian France ; and now the same struggle was going on — though in a more limited sphere — in Germany. Clement Augustus de Droste, Arch- bishop of Cologne, found that his predecessor had made concessions to the State, on the education of the children of mixed marriages, which were incon- sistent with the brief of Pius VIII. on the subject. He therefore refused to confirm or sanction his pre- decessor's action. The Prussian Government accused him of undermining the laws, and rousing the passions of the people; and finally, on November 20, 1837, he was imprisoned. Gregory XVI. issued an indignant allocution, protesting before the civilised Avorld against the action of the Government. Shortly afterwards proceedings were taken against the Archbishop of Gnesen and Posen, who had issued a pastoral, in February 1838, adhering to the lines laid down by the Pope. He, too, was imprisoned in April 1839. 270 CARIIIXAI. WISEMAN Such a violation of the principles of religious liberty aroused an indignant zeal among German Catholics, which ultimately had very far-reaching effects. 'The dormant awoke ; the lax took up arms,' is Dollinger's account of the matter, ' and throughout this portion of the Continent the Catholic religion took a new start.' ' Joseph Gorres wrote his ' Athanasius,' which speedily went through five editions ; Dollinger him- self wrote a book on the crisis, which went through a like number of editions. The Pope put forth a second allocution, reaffirming the protest contained in the first. Frederick William IV., who succeeded to the Prussian throne in the following year, bent to the storm and inaugurated a conciliatory policy to- wards Catholics. A Catholic revival was, however, by this time in full course, the effects of which are manifest up to the present day. The ' Dublin Review,' so largely dependent for inspiration and for contributions on the Church of Germany, took, as I have said, an active share in the controversy, and the German Church shared with the English much of Wiseman's attention in these years. He wrote in December 1836 an article on 'The Persecution of Catholics in Prussia,' and obtained from Professor de Coux an article on the Archbishop of Cologne. Dollinger writes to him on the situation in May, 1839 : The most excellent Roman official statement has made the best impression here, and notwithstanding the entangled state of ecclesiastical affairs in Germany, we have since the outbreak of the Cologne controversy won much ground — more than can as yet be truly estimated. If only we had better bishops in South ' See W. G, Ward and th^ CathoHc Revival, p. 126, LAST YEARS IN ROME 271 Germany outside Bavaria ... It seems to me that the inner rottenness and intellectual decay of Protestantism, with all its external air of superiority, must be our great hope for the future Cheer up, and encourage the Abbe de Luca not to give up his ' Ecclesiastical Histoiy of Ireland.' It is altogether too lamenta- ble that we Catholics, especially in the province of History, abandon the most important materials to the distorting hands of Protestants. The same letter shows again the interest of Bol- linger and other German Catholics in Wiseman's researches and writings : That you are enjoying good health and are zealously work- ing away in the service of the Church I apprehend to my joy from those who from time to time come from Rome. If it is at all possible, do send me what you have published concerning the Eucharist ; I have written about it to a London bookseller, as I was ordering other books at the same time, and he has, I know not why, sent the others but not yours. Your lectures (translated) on the Catholic Church have been universally ap- proved amongst us, and a translation by the same hand of your Lectures on the Connexion, &c., is already being made. You were good enough to send me the contents of two Church his- torical books by Palma and [another]. Has no continuation appeared ? You will have received my work on Mohammedanism. Your sincere friend, I. DOLLINGER. These years brought English visitors to Rome, whose admiration for and interest in the Church and the Papacy, from different points of view, helped, without doubt, to encourage Wiseman in the hope that the days of the blind bigotry of one hundred and fifty years were numbered. These visitors included Mr. James, a son-in-law of Mr. Wilberforce (in 1837), and Mr. Bowden, the biographer of Gregory VII., both arriving with introductions to Wiseman from New- man. Charles Marriott and Henry Edward Manning 272 CARDINAL WISEMAN arrived iti 1H38. Lord Macaulay and Mr. Gladstone came in the same year. Manning, who first saw Wise- man in a Roman hospital serving the sick, paid him a visit at the English College, in company with Gladstone, on the feast of St. Thomas of Canterbury. They heard Mass at the College Chapel, their places being found in the missal by Mr. (afterwards Bishop) Grant. Macaulay 's visit presents features of special inte- rest. He was introduced to Wiseman on November 26, 1838, by Mr. Colyar, an English Catholic resident in Rome. He has left in his diary an account of the occasion. He visited the English College and the Vatican on the same day, and his comment is : ' The day would furnish matter for a volume.' Of his visit to the College he writes as follows : We went to the English College and walked about the cloisters ; interesting cloisters to an Englishman. There lie several of our native dignitaries who died at Rome before the Reformation. There lie, too, the bones of many Jacobites, honest martyrs to a worthless cause. We looked into the re- fectory, much like the halls of the small colleges at Cambridge in my time — that of Peterhouse, for example . . . We found the principal. Dr. Wiseman, a young ecclesiastic full of health and vigour — much such a ruddy, strapping divine as I remember Whewell eighteen years ago — in purple vestments standing in the cloister. With him was Lord Clifford, in the uniform of a Deputy Lieutenant of Devonshire, great from paying his court to Pope Gregory. He was extremely civil, and talked with gratitude of General Macaulay's kindness to him in Italy. Wiseman chimed in. Indeed, I hear my uncle's praises where- ever I go. Lord Clifford is not at all like my notion of a great Catholic peer of old family. I always imagine such a one proud and stately, with the air of a man of rank, but not of fashion, such a personage as Mrs. Inchbald's Catholic Lord in the ' Simple Story,' or as Sir Walter's Lord Glenallan without the LAST YEARS IN ROME 273 remorse. But Lord Clifford is all quicksilver. He talked about the Pope's reception of him and Lord Shrewsbury. His Holiness is in high health and spirits, and is a little more merry than strict formalists approve. Lord Shrewsbury says that he seems one moment to be a boy eager for play, and the next to be another Leo arresting the march of Attila. The poor King of Prussia, it seems, is Attila. We went into Dr. Wiseman's apartments, which are snugly furnished in the English style, and altogether are very like the rooms of a senior Fellow of Trinity. After visiting the library, where I had a sight of the identical copy of Fox's ' Book of Martyrs ' in which Parsons made notes for his answer, I took leave of my countrymen with great good-will. Macaulay's untiring energy led him to see Rome most thoroughly, and to study the local history with an industry which resembled Wiseman's own. The depth of the impression made on him, not by classical Rome— for that was only to be expected — but by Papal Rome, is noteworthy, and imparts additional interest to his famous essay on Ranke's ' History of the Popes.' His contemporary notes show that the essay was not a mere piece of literary art, or of effective rhetoric, but represented a deep feeling created in a mind of rare historical imagina- tiveness — though with a strong anti-Catholic bias — by the sight of the Papacy in action. I hardly know [he writes to Lord Lansdowne in December] whether I am more interested by the old Rome or by the new Rome — by the monuments of the extraordinary empire which has perished, or by the institutions of the still more extraordinary empire which, after all the shocks which it has sustained, is still full of life and of perverted energy. If there were not a single ruin, fine building, picture, or statue in Rome, I should think myself repaid for my journey by having seen the headquarters of Catholicism, and learned something of the nature and effect of the strange Brahminical government established in the VOL. L T 274 CARDINAL WISEMAN Ecclesiastical State, liave \uu read Von Ranke's ' History of the Papacy since the Reformation' ? I have owed much of my pleasure here to what I learned from him.' The ceremonial at St. Peter's affected him deeply. After a glowing description of the Papal procession, he adds : ' I was deeply moved by reflecting on the immense antiquity of the Papal dignity, which can certainly boast of a far longer, clear, known, and un- interrupted succession than any dignity in the world, linking together, as it does, the two great ages of human civilisation. Our modern feudal kings are mere upstarts compared with the successors, in regular order, not, to be sure, of Peter, but of Sylvester and Leo the Great.' ' There was one person among the bystanders,' adds Macaulay's biographer, 'through whose brain thoughts of this nature were doubtless coursing even more rapidly than through Macaulay's own.' This was Mr. Gladstone. Mr. Gladstone had been intimate with Wiseman's friend, M. Rio, whose visits at an earlier date to the English College, in company with Montalembert and Lamennais, have already been referred to. Rio had been residing in England for some years, for the purpose of writing a work on our country ; and Gladstone had introduced him to much of the best intellectual society in London. When Gladstone visited Rome in 1838, he brought with him a letter of introduction from Rio to Wise- man. The letter has a curious interest of its own, and may be here given in full. Llanarlh Court, August 5th, 1838. My dear Dr. Wiseman, — I should be very sorry indeed if this letter did not find you in Rome ; it is to be delivered to you LAST YEARS IN ROME 275 by a man whose name cannot be unknown to you, and whose acquaintance, even for a few days, will, I am sure, give you much gratification. Although he has made himself conspicuous among our opponents, I firmly believe that you will be agree- ably surprised when you come into close contact with him : it is young Mr. Gladstone, the Under-Secretary of State during the short ministry of Sir Robert Peel. No man has been more useful to me during my last stay in London, where I have been collecting materials for the work which I intend soon to publish upon England ; and in return for the kindness evinced by him in introducing me to so many interesting people among his friends, I venture to introduce him to you, in order that you may put him in the way of seeing our religion in its best light ; for he is thoroughly anxious to do it full justice. I cannot make his views better known to you than by quoting some of the most remarkable lines in a letter which I received from him a few days ago. ' I am most earnestly anxious,' says he,' to become acquainted with the practice of the Roman Catholic Church, with its moral and spiritual results upon its members. It is of the utmost im- portance to the adjustment and development of my own con- victions regarding the doctrine of the visibility of the Church, and the necessity of that doctrine to counterbalance the ten- dency to indefinite subdivision and ultimate infidelity which springs from the notion of a limitless private judgment.' His stay in Italy will be but short, as he will soon be called back by his parliamentary duties ; he therefore wishes, if possi- ble, to meet a man in each of the principal towns who may be to him what you will be in Rome— what we call in French tin resume. After a few days' intercourse with Mr. Gladstone, you will easily find out that there is not a mind more sincere in its search after truth, or more comprehensive in its views of rehgion in general. I do sympathise with him on so many points that I almost forget at times the great point on which we differ. Is there any chance of seeing you in London next winter? I shall probably spend four or five months there for the sake of my book. Believe me most truly yours, Rio, 276 CARDINAL WISEMAN While Wiseman was thus prepared for the qualities of heart and mind which he was to find in his new acquaintance, Gladstone, on his side, was predisposed to find in Wiseman a man of capacity and strength. From Rio he had learnt to expect wide information, and, as he tells me, he had gathered from conversation with Bunsen and his chaplain, the well-known Herr Abeken, that it was not only among Carlists and Catholics that Wiseman's abilities had inspired respect. Indeed, the effect on Prussian Protestants of their intercourse with larger-minded Catholics was evidenced in their attitude towards Catholic beliefs which have often been treated, not only as superstitions, but as frauds. Thus Mr. Glad- stone recalls a conversation with Abeken in which he professed himself quite ready to believe in the stigmata, and speculated as to the natural causes to which they could be traced — a position as unusual then as it is common now. Concerning Wiseman himself the Prussians expressed themselves to Mr. Gladstone most cordially. Speaking of \.h.Q personnel of the Papal Court, they were inclined to rate Car- dinal Lambruschini as the ablest of its prelates, ' but,' Abeken added, ' I doubt if there is an abler man among them than your own countryman Wiseman.' Gladstone's first meeting with Dr. Wiseman was at the English College, and he, like Macaulay, was most interested by its relics of pre-Reforma- tion Catholicism. Wiseman returned the visit at Gladstone's rooms in the Piazza di Spagna. Mr. Gladstone was impressed, as Monckton Milnes had been, by the absence in Wiseman's demeanour of the LAST YEARS IN ROME 277 characteristics of the ' proselytiser ' ' Wiseman ap- peared to take broad and comprehensive views on the subjects debated. Mr. Gladstone, full of the prospects of the Oxford Movement, maintained in the course of conversation, that the movement would tend, for the time at least, to keep people from the Roman Church, by satisfying within the Anglican pale growing Catholic aspirations. Wiseman, rejoic- ing equally at the movement, was quite prepared to endorse this view. Mr. Gladstone appears to have been struck by Wiseman's sympathy with the spread of Catholic ideas, irrespective of immediate gains to the Catholic body and the Apostolic See. In point of fact Wiseman's confidence that the Church of England could not be the ultimate goal of the Tractarian movement was absolute. And yet, if the movement was to secure any large band of adherents it must necessarily, in the first instance, take form on Newman's via media. He welcomed it as restoring to the Church of England great Catholic principles which must, with men of active minds, eventually lead to a sense of the duty of that Catholic unity which is their correlative. But the visits of Gladstone and Macaulay brought before him also the abatement of old prejudices out- side the circle of Tractarian divines. It was not un- natural that Wiseman should take the deep interest in Papal Rome and in things Catholic evinced by such men as signs of the times. They were neither of them Oxford ecclesiastics ; and one of them was ' This account of Mr. Gladstone's impressions is derived from a conversation he kindly allowed me to have with him on the subject. 278 CARDINAL WISRMAX eminently a man of the world rather than a theo- logian. They were, in their respective departments, perhaps the most brilliant representatives of the rising generation. Gladstone's sentiments Wiseman learnt from M. Rio ; Macaulay's were given to the world in the following year in the essay on Ranke's ' History of the Popes.' They may well have seemed to Wiseman significant of the spirit of wider sympathy with Catholic Christendom for which he was looking among Englishmen — an English echo, in some sort, of the sentiments which seemed to him so striking a phenomenon in von Ranke himself, or even in Victor Hugo, and Lamartine. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VIII The following are extracts from the manuscript ac- count of Wiseman's meditations, referred to at p. 265 : It pleased the Divine goodness to give me the richest and happiest meditation I have ever enjoyed in this exercise, permitting me, through His infinite goodness, and without any merit of mine, to keep my mind fixed without any wandering (unless it were once or twice for a single moment), for the entire hour, so as to go through nearly every point fully, and beyond my deserts satisfactorily. And particularly, the different points of contemplation came before my mind or imagination so vividly, that, though only mentally contemplated, they seemed to pass before me in a vision. And that I may again be able to profit of the light so granted me, 1 will briefly note down (as St. Ignatius recommends) the chief heads. . . . In these meditations 1 have found the great advantage of adhering literally to the instructions of St. Ignatius : ist. To put myself in the Divine presence, standing a pace or two from the place of meditation. 2nd, Representing to the mind our Blessed Saviour in His humility before us, and so, reverently LAST YEARS IN ROME 279 approaching Him as though about to meditate prostrate at His feet. 3rd, Having found a position suitable not to change : kneehng I have found best in an easy but immovable position with closed eyes. I think it is owing to attention to these points, and to following literally the order of meditation pre- scribed, without following my own vain views or flights, that I owe the great comfort I have had in these and other medita- tions. . . . The meditation on the prodigal . . . was so disturbed and interrupted (God knows in what manner), that I must consider it as not made at all. But out of this trouble the Divine Good- ness has been pleased to bring my consolation and peace. Hebd. 2. De Regno Chrisii. Our good God was pleased to restore me His consolations, enabling me to contemplate the whole time, with trifling breaks, the subject as follows : In the preparation I imagined our Lord standing before me in most mild aspect, holding His cross in the right hand, and having His left on the pillar, and I fell with reverence on my knees before Him. In the first prelude I beheld Him preaching in a synagogue at Caphernaum on His blessed Eucharist, when a man with withered hand came before Him, and at His command it was stretched out whole. Then He touched the eyes of a blind man, and they saw. Then going forth, a vast multitude gathered round Him, and He healed many, and caressed the children, and as He moved along all followed Him. Then in Prelude 2 I prayed, that as I had been blind and lame, and He hath cured me, a leper, and He hath cleansed me, so I might claim the privilege of following Him like them whithersoever He might go. Then proceeding to the contemplation, I imagined I saw a large and noble hall with rich coloured windows, at the upper end whereof was a throne of many steps, on which sat a king, whom I represented to myself as St. Lewis, and round him on the steps were his great officers and ministers of state, and not far off the Holy Blanche, his mother, and below was a crowd ot knights in armour and nobles in rich robes, and beyond them a vast multitude of common people that filled the hall. Then 28o CARDINAL WISEMAN rising up, he spoke in the words of the contemplation, cliietly about the sepulchre of Christ. And when he told them that he would be like the lowest of them in arms and dress, he stript off his robe and cast it on the ground, discovering on himself a common soldier's armour, with the cross, and so he cast off his diadem, and drawing his sword, exclaimed : ' Which of you will follow me ? ' Presently all cried with one voice : ' All, all.' And the knights all drew their swords and offered to go. Then one knight stepping forward, and kneeling on the steps of the throne, addressed him saying, ' Sire, it is not fair that thou should'st thus surrender throne and state, and luxury and honour, and we have all the advantages. I for one will not consent, and if thou wilt fight as a poor soldier, I will be one too, and so I place down here my coronet, and offer thee all that I possess to be spent in thy cause, for I wish to be like my king and lord in all things.' And then all exclaimed aloud that they would do the same, and knelt in homage ; the King then joyfully exclaiming, ' Then follow me on to victory, to victory,' descended from the throne, and marching down the hall, fol- lowed by the whole multitude that sent forth shouts of joy, went out, and the doors were closed. And I seemed left alone, and sat down in thought upon the steps of the throne, pondering on this strange sight, when I saw before me the Lord Jesus standing attired as He is painted after His Resurrection, in a cope that yet allowed the wound of His sacred side to be seen as well as those of His blessed hands and feet, holding (as I think) the banner of the Resurrection, and I cast myself down before Him, but He ascended the steps, and sat upon the same throne, and on either side were angels, one holding a crown of thorns, and another four nails, and others other instruments of our Lord's Passion. And lower down on one side was His Blessed Mother, in a bright azure veil and robe, with her attendants, of whom I took little notice. I alone was kneeling below, opposite the throne. Then our dear Lord, rising, addressed me meekly and said : ' I too am about to engage in war, but I do not speak to multitudes. I address each singly. The enemies whom I am about to engage are thy enemies ; see them there.' [And as He pointed to the wall on my right 1 looked there, and beheld as a picture on the wall, over which passed figures representing the principal LAST YEARS IN ROME 281 vices : thus Intemperance seemed like Silenus, Envy and Hatred like Cain, Pride like a haughty man that looked like Lucifer, and so the rest.] ' These we must fight tog^ether ; your lance will pierce and slay them, only if it is thrust along with Mine. But see how you must be. I have already stripped Myself to be like you ; will you copy and follow Me?' He showed me like- wise, as without the walls of the building. Heresy and Schism and Infidelity, like horrid hydras, and deceitful seducers, as enemies that must be likewise conquered. On this most gracious invitation methought I at once arose, and stood before Him, and without speaking took from the angel the nails which he bare, and without hesitation thrust them easily through my hands and feet, without any sensible smart, and then taking the crown of thorns from the other angel, placed it boldly upon my head, and so with outstretched arms stood before Him, to express my readiness to follow Him, saying to Him in my heart ' Proi, sequor.' I entreated Him to show me how to walk thus wounded, and having a heavy cross on my shoulders ; whereupon He most meekly descended with His cross and crown, and, as if sinking under its weight, crept almost on His knees down the hall, and I followed Him as closely and as similarly as I could ; and the angels accompanied us on both sides. Then, returning up again, I found in place of the throne an altar, whereon was a crucifix and a book with only the letters A and Q, one on each page, [Here my imagination became for some moments confused, but soon recovered a clear apprehension of the contemplation.] For a throne was set on the gospel side, facing towards where His Blessed Mother stood, and thereon our dear Lord sat down, while I cast myself down below, and most ardently and affectionately addressed Him, making an offering of my whole self to Him, to be guided and possessed by Him in all things and for ever. ' But more,' I exclaimed, ' to overcome those enemies there is still more re- quired,' for [looking again at them] ' Intemperance must have abstinence ' [and I seemed to seize on a morsel of bread and a glass of water], ' and lust mortification ' [and I laid hold of instruments of penance], ' and so the rest ' [I believe enumerating more] ; ' and these I will from henceforward cultivate.' Then I was greatly comforted, for it seemed to me that my good and blessed Lady walking up to the altar on the other side, opposite to 282 CARDINAL WISEMAN her Son, and placing her hand on the altar and the book, thus distinctly spoke : ' I will be surety for him, he is one of my children, and though, till now, he has given me much pain, and has been undutiful, he will, I trust, from henceforth be more faithful to his promises.' Then I threw myself at her feet, and kissed them with affectionate gratitude, and so again renewed my oblation at the feet of her Son. Then I returned to my first position before I began the contemplation, imagining myself at the feet of my Lord, as I first represented Him to myself in my preparation, and then made my colloquy, filled with deep emotion and gratitude for" the consolation and encouragement which my meditation had given me, without, nay, contrary to my deserts. For, although the whole of what I have set down was entirely in my own mind and imagination, yet the whole course of it flowed so naturally and spontaneously, that it seemed like a succession of scenes prepared for me, and their impression on my mind as yet, in looking back upon it, is like the recollection of a picture, or series of pictures, all most distinct and vivid. Neither in one part did I foresee or intend what followed, though afterwards it appeared as though it had been necessary for what came later. Co)ite)nplation of the Incarnation of our Lord. In this meditation I followed exactly (perhaps for the first time) the method prescribed by S. Ignatius, of considering first entirely all the persons, then their words, and lastly their actions. And I found the plan far more easy, practical, and fruitful than any other. For preparation I imagined myself before our Blessed Saviour just born, and made the prescribed preludes. First point, T/ic Persons. — I looked through the world : in Rome I saw a philosopher in a poor chamber, meditating on the condition of man, and wondering why he who was virtuous was poor, and his riotous and debauched neighbour so rich, and concluding that Fortune and Fate ruled the world. I saw that neighbour feasting and enjoying himself with his worthless companions. In the next house was a general going to war full of haughty thoughts, and martial in his bearing, followed by ambitious and avaricious dependents. In the Forum was an LAST YEARS IN ROME 285 orator misleading the people, and all the city was crowded with persons intent on their worldly pursuits, and the temples were filled with idolatrous worshippers. Abroad in Greece were learned men disputing and teaching proud and self-sufificient knowledge ; and I saw far off a scene of Parthian warfare vividly painted to my imagination. Then coming to Palestine, I contemplated the country filled with prevarications, hypocrisy, and vain expectations. But turning to Nazareth, I looked upon the cottage in which dwelt the Blessed Virgin, unconscious of her great destiny and virtue, meditating in silence on the expected redemption, and fixing her thoughts on the words, ' Behold a Virgin shall conceive,' &c., wondering who that happy being would be, and praying that she might be so happy as to behold her, and, if possible, become her handmaid. But above I see the three Persons of the Adorable Trinity looking down in compassion on the scenes below, and revolving in the Eternal mind how these dreadful evils shall be remedied. Second point, The Words. — Silence is broken by the Eternal words, ' Ecce venio.' This is the result of the Divine Thought, and Gabriel is summoned to receive the Divine commission of embassy to Nazareth, and the important message to Mary. How amazed are the angels at the communication ! How loudly sound forth their Hosannas at this new miracle of Almighty goodness ! Let us listen to Gabriel's salutation and the Blessed Virgin's answers. What lessons we gather from all ! In Heaven we learn that the only feeling which the sight of the world . . . with wickedness, impiety, and infidelity ought to excite is one of pity in the first place. -How much more loathsome and horrible must the errors and vices of earth have appeared to the Blessed Trinity than they can to us ! And yet they excited in It no feelings save of tenderest compassion. And secondly, to what did it lead save to active and effectual means to remedy the evil completely ? And so should I not sit down and lament the depravity of the world, but set to work and devote myself to the task of remedying it. From Gabriel's words I learn great reverence for the Mother of God, and how worthily to salute her. From Mary herself I learn, first, great humility, and that preparation in retirement is the best means to bring down the Divine blessing. .\nd then that, when (jod does call us to what is far beyond our strength, 284 CARDINAL WISEMAN humility must not make us shrink from it. ist, ' Quomodo fietistud?' 2nd, 'Ecce ancilla Domini, fiat mihi,' &c. Third pomt, The Actions. — In Heaven the wonderful opera- tions of the Godhead. ' Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te.' ' Virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi.' The Word united to the Humanity, &c. On earth the Incarnation, &c. Colloquy : Gratitude, Love, Imitation. On the Nativity^ by application of senses. This was the first trial of this important method, which proved most delightful and profitable, so that the contemplation had to be prolonged a quarter of an hour. Preludes as in the preceding : — Sight.- — Dwelt in calm contemplation of the scene of the Nativity, looking first on one person and then on the other, and entering as far as possible into their feelings. Hea?'i?ig. — Listened in spirit to the silent prayer and address of the Infant to His heavenly Father ; then to the conversation of Mary and Joseph regarding their Child ; and then to the exhortations which He seemed to make me by His wailing, His smiles, &c. Smell. — Seemed to relish the sweet odour of the place, the lilies of its pui-ity, the roses of its beauty, the balm of its con- solation, and the delicious savour of heavenly spirits filling the place. Considered the contrary fetid corruption of sin, and contrasted my soul with that stable. Prayed that Christ might be within me as a savour of Life, that I might run after Him, ' currimus in odorem unguentorum tuorum.' Reminded Him that even sinners (like Magdalen) can add sweetness to the virtues that, issuing from His sacred Humanity, heals all that breathe its heavenly atmosphere : by anointing His feet with the spikenard of repentance, &c. Taste. — Tried to feel the ineffable sweetness of His holy name, i?t ore mel . . . and that of His Blessed Mother. Touch. — The Blessed Infant seemed smilingly to direct my hand within His to touch His bed of straw, and feel how coarse it was, and how hard beneath Him. Then led me to touch the rough linen in which He was swathed, stretching His little Hand as in playful reproach to feel what I wore, and I seemed to understand, and answered affectionately His appeal, and pro- mised to care less for comfort and luxury and ease. Then re- LAST YEARS IN ROME 285 cciving Him into my arms, I gave way to affectionate embraces of my dear Infant Saviour, and in loving colloquy, according to my poor ability, expressed to Him my feelings of love, and my desire to suffer like and with Him. Oti our Saviour's Agony i?i t/ic Garden. Almighty God was so good as to give me back here the fulness of His consolation, and to enable me to make this meditation with great fruit. I imagined our Lord standing before me, holding His cup of sorrow in His hand ; I begged that 1 might fully enter into the consideration of His sufferings, and sympathise with them, and see how His sacred Divinity withdrew its power and support, and left Him, as it were, the Son of Man. (This rather in third prelude.) For coinpositio loci., I imagined a cavern in the garden, and our Lord prostrate in His bloody sweat. First point. Persons. — How our dear Saviour's appearance seems now to say to me, ' Ego sum vermis et non homo,' no longer standing erect, but crawling flat upon the ground, no more honoured and venerable, but despicable and trodden under foot ; not cheerful and generous as at the Last Supper, but writhing in the slime of imputed sin into which I am fallen ! Oh, what causes this oppression? I thought I saw before Him a huge mountain composed of things and persons representing all that is most horrible in nature and history, and emblematic of every sort of iniquity, and that this was laid quite upon Him, crushing Him under its load ; till by degrees it was in a manner absorbed by Him, and incorporated in Him, so as to burst His heart ; and this was only composed of sins till then committed, for another more frightful came in sight [of future sins], and then He prayed, ' Pater, si possibile est, transeat a me calix iste.' But, not finding this form of meditation fruitful, as fixing the mind on external views, and keeping it from the contempla- tion of my dear Lord's interior agony, I turned away from it, and fixed my thought upon Him alone, kneeling before a chalice that overflowed with everything bitter and loathsome. It is mingled with threefold ingredients : ist. The Sins of men ; 2nd, The sufferings of the night and next day [which I imagined Him viewing as if in a third person, and shrinking with com- 286 CARDINAL WISEMAN passion and clieatl from the ])ain intlictcd ], and 3rd, The abandonment of His Father; seeing nothing but objects of desolation around Him. Hehftsup His eyes, and a dark gloom and thick cloud interferes. ' Where, oh where is Thy approving smiling countenance, my own dear P\ather, which never till now has failed to meet my cast-up glance ? Oh, look down on Me, in this My hour of true distress and tribulation. And if possible remove this cup.' But oh, dear Jesus, in this hour Thou hast no Father : He heareth Thee not. lilessedbe Thou for that saving clause, si possibilc est, for without it that cloud must have burst and heavenly joys have been restored to Thee — and I, where should I have been, if unredeemed .? But Thine own words sealed heaven against Thee, for the possibility de- manded involved Thy death for me ! Behold Him now, rising and going forth. His apostles may still be heard, and He goes to seek their prayers. Point 2. The words. — His words to the apostles,how meek, how gentle, almost timid ! And when not responded to, how patiently He walks back, once more to try the force of prayer ! His words in prayer, how earnest, how simple, how persevering ! What lessons for us in all this ! And how does the apostles' sluggishness and dulness speak to us as a warning, and reproach ! But lo ! a comforter ; His agony has reached its height. He has sunk upon the ground ; when a distant speck of light breaks the gloom, and, borne upon one solitary ray of heaven's brightness, an angel comes ! Where, oh ! blessed spirit, are thy fellows ? Where those who came in multitude to sing around the cradle of the Lord? Where those who came to minister to Him in the Wilderness ? (You behold a few hours have made Him more faint and weary than forty days' fast did then.) Where the twelve legions whom His Father is ready to depute at any time for His guard ? ' Oh, they are looking in amazement and dread at the scene before us, and I am come alone to bear some comfort' And what is this? Is it to tell my Lord that the chalice is not so bitter as it seems ? or to assure Him that we for whom He will drink it will love Him as we ought ? ' Oh no, it is to remind Him only of His love for man, and the necessity of His accomplishing your redemption. In that love, in His for you, not yours for Him, is the only encouragement and consolation I can offer.' LAST YEARS IN ROME 287 O blessed happy spirit I What is thy name in Heaven, that I may one day thank thee, should I be so happy as to gain it, for thus being my mediator with the Heart of Jesus, and bearing my part in now consoling Him. Well mightest thou be called Nathaniel, the comforter of God. How lovingly and com- passionately, and with a certain tender reverence, do I see thee, raising" up thy prostrate Lord, and wiping with sorrowful countenance the bloody sweat from His brow, and commingling thy tears the while with His ! And thus bearing Him up on thine arm, as a mother might a fainting child, thou puttest the cup of sorrow to His blessed lips, and He quaffs the bitter potion with a willing Heart. Third Point, Actions. — Now is that Heart itself once more, throbbing generously, and full of high and noble purposes : as Jesus, walking forth again, bids His sleeping disciples to take their rest, and then invites them to His coming espousals, with ' Surgite, eajiiusJ What acts were here ! First, an act of resignatio7i to the Will of God, the most perfect that ever had been made ; an act of submission, of humility, and of self-oblation never before witnessed on earth. Secondly, an act of charity the most pure and sublime ever performed. When we love our neighbours, or when we wish to excite charity for them in our hearts, we are obliged to abstract our view from their faults (especially if grievous offences against ourselves) and look at them merely as men and fellow-crea- tures, &c. Jesus made His act of love with the full and most minute apprehension of their wickedness and worthlessness, and that in His own regard. Secondly, oui love is one of mere declaration, words alone ; His invoh'ed acceptance of dreadful sufferings. Thirdly, ours is vague and general. His individual and personal, comprising every individual man distinctly. Fourthly, ours divides our small measure of affection amongst all : His is complete for each as if for him alone He gave His life. In colloquy, behold my Saviour, offering me a share in His cup ; oh gladly, dear Lord, will I drink of the same chalice with Thee. Thy sacred lips have put honey on its edge which will sweeten wormwood itself. Calicein salutaris accipiavt ! Sorrows, anxieties, doubts, desolation, darkness, anguish of 288 CARDINAL WISEMAN spirit, welcome all in company with my Lord, with Jesus my Saviour. And when the hour of my agony shall come, oh hold Thou the cup to my lips, and let me endure all for Thee, and with Thee. In conclusion, reciting the ' Oiir Father^ applied it to our Lord's prayer, to which it seems particularly to apply, thus : Pater noster qui, &c. Pater mi. Sanctificetur, &c. Si possibilc est, i.e. Adveniat Regnum, &c. first secure God's glory and man's salvation— and thus — Et ne nos inducas, &c. Transeat a me calix iste. Sed libera nos a malo. Fiat voluntas tua, &c. Vcniiii/aincn tion mea volun- tas sed tua fiat. Panem nostrum quotidianum, Calicein qiiein dcdit niihi &c. Pater, no7t hi bam ill inn ? CHAPTER IX ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT i«39 From 1839 to the end of his Hfe, Wiseman's primary concern was with his own country. His visit to England in the summer of that year — of which I shall speak directly — resulted in a permanent residence, which began in the year following. Events had taken shape both in England and on the Continent since the lectures of 1835, and the nature of the forces with which he had to deal had become more clearly apparent. The visit to Rome of Macaulay and Gladstone, and his correspondence with Dollinger, were suggestive of some of these forces — English Liberalism, English Tractarianism, and the Continental revival of Catholicism to which he had appealed to give the small band of English ' Papists ' the sense of fellowship in a great enterprise. Each of these forces had to be considered and utilised in the endeavour to gain for Catholic zeal and Catholic principles their due influence in England. And, moreover, O'Connell and the Irish who had won Emancipation, and the emancipated English Catholics themselves, had to be taken into account. All of these elements were, or might easily be, friends to the Catholic movement ; but they were different, and VOL. L U 290 CARDINAL WISEMAN sometimes even conflicting, forces, and it was necessary to harmonise them. For this work Wiseman's antecedents singularly adapted liim. An intimate friend both of the Roman authorities and of the leaders of the Catholic revival of the Continent ; a countryman and friend of O'Connell ; the friend of Lord Brougham and other contributors to the ' Edinburgh Review ' ; the one English Catholic who personally knew and sympathised with Newman and Froude ; and at the same time bound by ties of friendship to representatives of Douay and Ushavv, to Dr. Lingard and Dr. Newsham, he seemed specially fitted for the work of combining the various elements which were to work that great change in English sentiment of which we are the witnesses. For they were elements which might, as I have said, as easily collide as coalesce. The party of the ' Edinburgh Review ' were the sworn foes of Newman and Pusey.' English and Irish Catholics had many a misunder- standing. The old Catholics of England — even such considerable men as Lingard the historian— had a deep-set suspicion of the High Church movement. Again, the remains of English Cisalpinism had very little affinity with the Catholic movement abroad, which was essentially Ultramontane. The Oxford party were never tired of inveighing against Daniel O'Connell, and he returned their attack with interest.^ ' Mr. Rogers's essays on the ' Developments of Puseyism ' were till published in the Edinburgh Review. - Indications of the attitude of the Tractarians towards O'Connell, towards Lord Brougham and the Liberals, and in respect of the alliance of the English Catholic body with Dissenters and with O'Connell, will be found in Newman's Apologia, pp. 123, 125, 134, 191. ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT 291 Yet none of these elements could be dispensed with if there was to be any hope of success. It was to the party of the ' Edinburgh Review ' that Wiseman looked to gain for Catholics the general good will of the English people, and the removal of the prejudices which had so long debarred them from a hearing. And these men — the immediate instruments whereby Catholic Emancipation had been won — could scarcely be depended on without the moral force of numbers represented by O'Connell and the Irish. On the other hand, to reverse the deep-seated prejudice of the bulk of Englishmen against Catholic ideals — celibacy, the sacramental system, the monastic life. Church authority, and the like — the Liberalism of Macaulay and Sydney Smith was of no avail. The Liberals were ready to tolerate them, it is true, but this was only to change dislike for contempt in the English mind — to substitute one prejudice for another. The more positive aid of the rising Oxford School was indispensable, if any considerable section of Englishmen were to be won to reverence what had so long been deemed beneath serious argument. And finally, the old Catholics of England, who had borne the burden and heat of the long and weary day of persecution, were, from deficiencies in their education and their want of elasticity, least capable of assimilating any ideas which went beyond the well- worn groove of generations ; yet they could least of all be ignored. The difficulty of the situation was greatly'due to a problem of which the full significance is only now becoming apparent — namely, the true relations u 3 292 CARDINAL WISEMAN between modern Liberalism and religion. Catholics in France, Germany, England, Poland, and Ireland had been invoking the name of Liberty. Montalembert and Lacordaire were at this very time appealing to the prin- ciples of liberty, to secure for Catholic children educa- tion in their own religion. In Prussia two bishops had been imprisoned, and their only appeal was to the claim of conscience to be freely followed. In Poland, as in Ireland, there had been no other appeal when the State hampered the Catholics with civil disabilities. Liberal principles had won Catholic Emancipation, and the emancipated were grateful. It was only by claiming freedom for all creeds that they could hope themselves to win influence, and they naturally enough espoused the Liberal cause. Oxford on the other hand was Tory ; the danger to the Established Church came from the Liberals ; the Oxford Movement had for its object to vindicate the ancient privileges of the English Church. The Liberals were suppressing her sees and treating her as simply the creature of the State. Her freedom must be vindicated by the maintenance of Tory principles. And so the very cause that made O'Connell and his friends Liberals, made Newman and Pusey anti-Liberals. So far the question appeared mainly a practical one — a matter of policy. But it was soon seen to lead back to deeper questions. It represented a significant and dramatic issue. Was religion to trust for its future to restoring the old order ; or was it frankly to accept and make the best of the new ^ Conservatism in alliance with the Church of England was the lineal descendant of Charlemagne in alliance ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT 293 with the Papacy. The alliance of the Holy Roman Empire with the Holy Roman Church had developed into fin alliance between Church and State throughout Christendom. The State, in placing those who re- jected its religion at disadvantage, was, before the sixteenth century, defending, not its own private opinions, but the great teaching Authority recognised in Christendom. It was preserving the corporate faith of the nations. It had a double support— the Universal Church and the actual recognition of that Church by corporate Christendom. And the Church of England, if it had lost one of those supports, still appealed to some extent to the other. It no longer represented the creed of the Universal Church, or a faith accepted by Christendom. But it still professed to represent the general faith of the corporate body with which it was concerned— namely, of Englishmen. Toryism assumed this to be a fact as well as a pro- fession ; it assumed that the old order still existed, though it was modified ; and Newman was taking advantage of the assumption in his endeavour to bring back the spirit of the early ages into the old framework which still survived ; — to repair and re- vivify the institutions of the past. But O'Connell and Montalembert (who derived his ideas from O'Connell himself) believed that the old order of Christendom was damaged past repair, and that the future was with the Liberals, who recognised this, and not with the Conservatives, who held still to the past system. The old corporate faith had received its death-blow at the Reformation. In England this was especially apparent. The State lost its strongest 294 CARDINAL WISEMAN claim to enforce its religion on the people when that religion ceased to be the creed of Christendom. And the Established Church did not really represent the convictions even of the English people at large. Its exclusiveness, then, was a tyranny. Religion could not be benefited by attempting to restore a state of things which had no longer any basis in justice, and had all the weakness of an expression which did not correspond to the reality. It would really gain by a general recognition of the changed condition of Christendom. And that change was represented by Liberal principles and Liberal policy. To grant special privileges to members of an established Church from which the best religious life of the country was alien- ated, was to set a premium on worldliness — some said, on hypocrisy. Let each man be free to follow his conscience, and — for God would 'fulfil Himself in many ways ' — let the spark of religion be rekindled, as in the days of early Christianity, by the zeal and heroism which only earnest conviction can breed. To trust the future of religion only to those whom a State religion might bribe to outward conformity, was to poison the wells. And this held, even if the State religion were in itself good and true. Most literally did these op- ponents of established religion apply each one of the well-known lines : " The old order changes, giving place to new, And God fulfils Himself in many ways. Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. But the difference did not end here. Newman rhairitained that the English Catholics, in accepting Liberal principles were accepting principles, in them- ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT 295 selves destructive of faith. If they claimed freedom on the ground on which Socinians and Jews claimed freedom, they were accepting the principle ' One form of religion is as good as another.' This was equivalent to saying ' Nothing can be known in matters of religious faith.' It was in essence what is now called Agnosticism ; although at that time Theism was not yet included in the list of un- knowable dogmas. So Newman contended in his campaign against Hampden in 1836 ; so he contended in 1838 in his essay against Latitudinarianism in Tract 85 ; so he contended in his letters to the ' Times ' of 1840, signed ' Catholicus.' Liberalism, he said, passes into Deism ; Deism into Atheism. This was undeni- able. O'Connell and Montalembert did not deny it. But what did it prove ? That the State must become on Liberal principles officially indifferentist. This did not mean that Montalembert and O'Connell were them- selves indifferentist, or that they advocated State in- differentism as an ideal. The ideal was that English- men and Frenchmen should all be united in belief, and that the State should take for granted the belief of the country. But if the State could not justly enforce or assume as dogmatically true what English- men or Frenchmen as a body do not admit, then amid the actually existing religious divisions an official in- differentism seemed the only solution. They main- tained that a State indifferentism was the most just attitude in a society of very varied opinions. They appealed to indifferentism, not as the ideal theory, but as to a just policy. Still it was truly urged that Liberalism was a 2g6 CARDINAL WISEMAN danger in its theological aspect. The influence of the Liberal party did not merely make the State neutral. It helped forward scepticism and indifferentism among the people themselves. The Tamworth reading-room was a symptom of one kind ; the growing influence of Benthamism of another. The English Catholics could not but admit the dangers of religious Liberal- ism. How, then, if they rejected Newman's Conser- vatism, did they oppose those dangers ? The answer opens up another of the lines of divergent thought which were worked out in the years 1839-1845. While Newman opposed religious Liberalism in the name of Conservatism and dogma, the English and French Catholics of whom we are speaking pointed out that the only principle applicable to all phases of society — to days of Catacombs as well as to the epoch of established religion — was the principle of Authority. Let us see how this divergence came about. Newman rested, as we have seen, on the tradi- tional privileges of the English Church. When the basis of the tradition was inquired into it was found to rest on the Divine Authority of the Catholic Church. But here at once came a dilemma. The dogmatic principle could not be pressed by him in virtue of the existing representatives of that Authority in the Eng- lish Church. The Anglican bishops, he was too con- scious, sanctioned both Protestantism and Latitudi- narianism. He might advocate the idea of a Catholic authority in the Established Church, to which all should defer ; but he felt that it was as yet at least only an idea. If he rested entirely on it as though it ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT 297 were a fact he must eventually fall. It vv^as a theory : what he hoped might one day again be realised ; but not now a living reality. Unable, then, to lay stress on ' Authority,' he and his followers were driven to oppose the Liberalism of the age in the name of what was most uncongenial to it — minute dogmatic/J?r;«?^/^ and ritual. Formulae, tests, ceremonies — things which by themselves were least in accord with the spirit of the time, with its nobler as well as its baser elements, were placed of necessity, and not of choice, in the forefront. The solutions of problems raised by the Greek mind of the sixth and seventh centuries — Monophysites, Nestorians, Eutychians — were presented as a panacea for the evils of the nine- teenth. Ceremonial which represented the exuberance of mediaeval religious imagination, was dwelt on as though it were a chief bulwark of Christianity. The contrast between the attitudes of Rome and of Oxford is emphasised in their extreme champions. The Jesuits — the personification of the principle of Authority— have always made little of ritual: the extreme Puseyites came to be called * ritualists.' The answer to Liberalism made by the leaders 01 the Catholic Movement in France, and the answer of Wiseman, was different from that of the Tractarians. They attempted, not to place before the age what was diametrically opposed to its special genius, but to win it by ideas which were in a measure congenial to it. Sensitive to the inevitable charge of retrograde sectarianism if they revived controversies which had their origin in a widely different stage of the history of the thought of Christendom, Montalembert and 298 CARDINAL WISEMAN Lacordairc made their primary appeal, not to the minutiae of ritual or even of dogma, but to the Christian Church as an organisation, as an authority enforcingthe primary sanctions of religion and Christianity — God and immortality, our Lord's Divinity, and future re- tribution—which were the great practical supports of national virtue and order in civil society. Lacordaire's ' Conferences,' which produced so great a transforma- tion in French public opinion, are mainly based on this theme. And, by consequence, they were attended and admired by many libre-pcnscurs, who appreciated their practical utility. Even Lamennais, whenhc had gone far in his career of separation from his old dog- matic creed, expressed his sense of their practical worth. Montalembcrt appealed to the great ethical work of the Church in history, rather than to dogma. The nobility of the monastic life, the control of an- archical passion which the virtues and charities of the medieval saint might bring back to French society, were ideas which his ' Monks of the West ' and his ' Life of St. Elizabeth ' impressed upon his contemporaries. Ozanam and his friends embodied in the Society of St. Vincent of Paul the spirit of modern philanthropy supernaturalised and made religious. These men all appealed in different ways to the value of the dis- cipline and organisation of the one great spiritual society which claimed to be a single polity, in the work of regenerating French civilisation. It was not that dogma was denied or questioned ; but the insistence on authority and on the unbroken tradition embodied in the Church, carried with it this special advantage, that minor dogmatic formulae ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT 299 could remain in their natural place in history, in their true perspective, as explicit answers to questions raised under circumstances now passed. They were not urged in a context which made them appear in a false light or out of proportion, or to meet emergencies to which they were not specially adapted. The age could be addressed in the name of what was of vital importance to the present, and was felt to be so —of unity of organisation, of corporate sanc- tity, of a living spiritual Authority, rather than in the name of what was felt to be concerned with dan- gers which were gone by, and the critical nature of which it needed a good deal of historical imagination and knowledge of past phases of human thought to realise. A living Church could now, as formerly, place in relief what was most important for the par- ticular crisis. Dogmatic formula;, put forward as the sole antidote to Liberalism, savoured of reaction and unreality to those whose Whole soul was in the problems of the nineteenth century. Authority, on the other hand, even though its acceptance might include in its full analysis the retention of formulae which had been intemperately attacked by those who viewed them simply in the context, not of their past origin, but solely of contemporary thought, was in itself too important a principle to be treated with contempt. This general view was gradually worked out when in later years Liberal Catholics were called on to defend themselves, and the problem had been complicated by fresh events. Lamennais first indi- cated its outlines. Foisset, his biographer M. Boissard, Lacordaire, and Montalembcrt have all left their ac- 300 CARDINAL WISEMAN count of the matter, and have developed some of the Liberal Catholic principles fully. Taken as a whole, their writings presuppose the view here indicated. Wiseman never fully worked out the problem, but the lines of his practical action presupposed the same principles ; and incidentally, in applying them, he was enabled to exert his policy of conciliation. He accepted Newman's opposition to Liberalism as the true ideal, and exhorted the Catholics against unnecessary fellowship with dissent ; but he would not abandon the Liberal programme of O'Connell or Montalembert in a very unideal society. Where he could, he set aside minute questions and passed to great principles. In arguing with the Tractarians he waived, for argument's sake, all inquiry into the validity of Anglican orders, passing to the more fundamental contention that Anglicanism is ' in the fullest sense' schismatical.' He spoke compara- tively little of dogmatic heresies. But he spoke much of schism and of the principle of Authority which was violated by heresy and schism alike. To reject this was to destroy the unity of organisation and faith which made the Catholic Church so great a ' This was by Dr. Lingard's advice, and in spite of Wiseman's public avowal thai he did not believe them to be valid. In a letter of February 25, 1840, Lingard writes : — ' You ask what I think of arguing the validity of their orders. I doubt its policy. It is a very irritating subject," and one on which I should not hope to persuade if it be con- fined to the validity of the form. . . . ' Of course, the position of affairs in our own time — when the belief in Anglican orders has been widely used as the chief remaining argument for separation from the Apostolic See — is quite different. And the main argument urged in recent dis- cussions of the subject has not been that of which Dr. Lingard speaks — the certain invalidity of the form^^;- se, but its invalidity when we con- sider the manner in which it was framed and the intention of its framers. ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT 301 power. And the Papacy was, as a visible fact, the only living embodiment of that Authority. It was not inconsistent with his argument that, as Wiseman pointed out, the Papacy had not been explicitly or universally recognised in the early Church as claiming all the prerogatives which belonged to it later on. The sacramentiim unitatis was, as he and Newman alike contended, the root principle ; and it was the development of the Church which brought into full relief the necessity of the Papal prerogatives for the preservation of unity, as it created the circumstances in which it became necessary to define and exert its authority. From what has been said it will be seen that the appeal to liberty was made for the very purpose of establishing the efficacy of the principle of Authority, Liberty was necessary for the exercise of the authority on which the spiritual society — the Church— depended for its influence and organisation. The Pope must be free to command, the faithful to obey. How, later on, the two principles came into collision among Catholics and fresh issues arose we shall shortly see. But up to, at all events, 1848, the problem had worked itself out no further. The thesis which Wise- man so eloquently expounded two years before his death — that the Church should ever reflect what is best in the spirit of each age — underlies the partial alliance of Catholicism with Liberalism. In the new civilisa- tion the authority which checks the free thought of Liberalism was not to come through the channel of old State-institutions now worn out ; but was to be directly exercised by the Papacy over the Christian 302 CARDINAL WISEMAN peoples. The Church — Pope and people alike — appealed to the nobler elements of modern Liberalism for freedom to follow conscience. The Papacy must be free to legislate on things spiritual ; the people to follow its legislation ; the whole Church to exercise on the world the moral influence attaching to faith and conviction. Just as Christian thought became tinged with Platonism in days when the minds of contemporary philosophers were imbued with tran- scendentalism, and as it fused with the logomachies of Aristotelianism, which St. Bernard had denounced at an earlier time, when they became the necessary means of influencing contemporary thought, so it would prove equal to a new occasion and avail itself of ideas and use language which a new age could understand. Wiseman refused, then, to break with O'Connell, or to renounce that appeal to liberty which had won Catholic Emancipation. He never, indeed, formulated that appeal as definitely as Lacor- daire or Montalembert, nor did he stand out for O'Connell's more extreme political programme, but he sympathised deeply with their general policy. Absolute liberty of speech — including logically the public advocacy of revolutionary principles — was assuredly not an ideal ; but no more is the disputa- tious method of the scholastic doctors the true ideal of intellectual perfection. The Church — and Wise- man spoke for the Church — might accept one as she had accepted the other, with certain necessary reservations, as the best policy for a great practical society in an existing crisis. He, in common with nearly all English Catholics of that time, claimed a ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT 303 hearing for Catholics in the name of the appeal to liberty of conscience which obtained the Act of 1829, and which has later on been urged by the champions of religious education. The general programme was expressed with force and eloquence by the Liberator, Daniel O'Connell, at a memorable meeting of the Catholic Institute at the Freemasons' Tavern ; and although the meeting took place a year after the point this narrative has reached (on May 26, 1840), it must be here spoken of as defin- ing the policy of the English and Irish Catholics at this time. It expressed, probably in more sanguine terms than he would Imve used had he been addressing a mixed audience, his confident hope that if absolute freedom of moral influence were allowed the Church, on Liberal principles of abstract equality^ she would, through Catholic esprit de corps and in virtue of her truth and Divine commission, ultimately triumph. It deprecated a privileged State-religion ; but eagerly maintained that such opposition was compatible with enthusiastic loyalty, and that none were more loyal than the Catholics who had suffered so much from the old exclusiveness. O'Connell, who was received by a meeting of some 4,000 — in the words of a contemporary — with an ' enthusiasm ' of which ' it is impossible to convey the faintest idea,' with ' one universal burst of acclamation . . . from every part of the room,' spoke as follows in the course of his remarks : The principle of civil and religious liberty is ours. Claiming perfect freedom of conscience for oui'selves, we recognise it in others, as we are convinced, from the experience of all times and countries, that you may by persecution make a man a 304 CARDINAL WISEMAN hypocrite, but cannot make him a true behever- that you may degrade your religion, but cannot promote it by brute force. We, therefore, have this principle impressed on our minds : that religion is an affair between (lod and man, and that it is impious for any man to come by force or fraud between his fellow-creature and his God. We want no preference for our religion. Let it be tried by its own merits, and if it be not the true creed, let it sink and perish, as so many others have perished, by the side of the one immutable and imperishable creed. Believe not the calumniators. We are for civil and religious liberty. We are for every man, of every clime, colour, and creed, having liberty of conscience. We have aided in the struggle for the emancipation of the negro, and we are now ready to support any attempt to make him everywhere free. I stand here boldly forward as the advocate of Catholicism. Those who assail her tenets remind me of an infant's hand attempting to grasp a globe. I stand forward as the advocate of the faith of my fathers, and of the fathers of those who calumniate and assail you. With a thorough conviction of the truth of all and every part of the Catholic faith, I would not, for all the world could give, abandon one particle of it. Catholic truth has put itself forward with the manliness that ought to belong to the truth of God. She is no longer shrinking or timid. She is no longer terrified or abashed, but she stands forward in the plenitude of her strength and in her own pecu- liar loveliness. We are accused of disloyalty to the sovereign. Oh, if there be a people attached to a sovereign on the face of the globe, there is none that is so attached as we are, and as we ought to be. Oh, may her throne be surrounded with glory, power, strength, happiness, and dignity. May her family circle increase year after year. May the lisping of her children make the mother's heart happy. May she enjoy every blessing that the world can afford ; and, when it shall please Him who rules the destinies of all the nations of the world to take her to Him- self, may she receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. No portion of her subjects are more firm in their allegiance to her throne. Sincere in our respect for good laws ; loyal and submissive in relieving ourselves from bad ones ; ready to join every band that struggles for freedom, and to strike off the fetters from the slaves who are in bondage, we cherish that stream of ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT 305 pure, primitive, genuine, and unadulterated truth, which, flowing from the first coming of the Redeemer, is fated to last till He comes upon earth again. The appeal to Liberal principles was the ground instinctively taken up by all the voluntary religions in England. It was also in great part the basis of Lamennais' scheme in the ' Avenir,' and of his Agence — the machinery whereby he collected instances of religious persecution, and published them to the world ; and almost unconsciously it became the programme of the Ultramontanism of the present century, as soon as De Maistre's dream of a new Charlemagne had been abandoned. The old idea of the Church as one spiritual society had become frightfully impaired, and the descendants of its various members had fossilised into National Churches under secular rulers. The National Churches separated in various degrees from the Holy See — Febronianism in Germany, Gallicanism in France, Jansenism in Austria, Tuscany, Belgium ; Protestantism in England — had all done their work with more or less com- pleteness. National Churches with lay rulers, and half their nominal members destitute of faith in Christianity, promised little for the religion of the future. The violent death of the old order at the end of the eighteenth century, and the exultation of Frenchmen, Germans, Englishmen, and Italians at the supposed final disappearance of the Apostolic See, has often formed the theme of vivid description. How the Papacy reappeared after the storm, we have already seen. By one tremendous effort she shook herself almost entirely free of the State tyranny VOL. I. X 3o6 CARDINAL WISEMAN involved in the old national systems, and called the Catholics of all nations to rally round her. The stifling incumbrance of Erastianism, no longer State protection but State persecution, was in a great measure got rid of. She relied, as the martyrs of old, far less on established institutions, and more on the zeal and vigour of the members who remained loyal to her. Lamennais, with the intense candour of a Frenchman, resented the position taken up at the Restoration — which assumed that Catholicism was the national religion, in a country which was really more than half infidel. Let it be owned frankly (he argued) to be what it was, a free Church, no longer dominant, but claiming to energise freely in a free State. This was the Catholic interpretation of Cavour's cry in later years, ' Eglise libre en etat libre,' As we have seen, Lamennais wished at once to renounce all stipend from the State, and to claim in return freedom to associate, freedom to educate, freedom to exert all moral influence. That his pro- posal to get rid of the caterpillar before the butterfly could live its separate life, was condemned, and that his theory of a universal liberty of speech which would give, if logically pressed, license for the propagation of anarchy and immorality, was also condemned, are true enough. But his genius had seized on the posi- tion of a Church energising amid an unchristian people, and the essence of his scheme, without its exaggera- tions, bids fair to realisation in the future. And Wiseman endeavoured in England to realise it. The programme was simple. A systematic ex- posure of injustice done to Catholics, resented on the ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT 307 ground of its violation of even-handed justice and the principles of Hberty— this was one item. It was the main object of the Catholic Institute, and a frequent theme in the ' Dublin Review.' This was precisely similar to the work of Lamennais' Agence. But the other aspect of the modern fusion of Liberalism and Ultramontanism was yet more prominent at first with Wiseman himself Loyalty to the Holy See and a deeply spiritual life were essential to the moral influence which was to work through the machinery of free institutions. He had to win to loyalty to the See of Peter those of the English Catholics who were still tinged with Gallicanism, and he endeavoured to arouse a sense of brotherhood among the promoters of the Catholic movement in England and abroad. A harder, and yet to him a more congenial, task was to win over the Anglicans who were advocating many Catholic principles in Eng- land. We have seen that he had no chimerical ideas of a rapid return of England to Catholicism. The state of popular feeling put such a thought out of the question. But he joined willingly in the prayers of Father Spencer for the * conversion of England,' without looking as yet for more than a growth of the beliefs associated with the ' old religion ' among the more religious, and of the influence of Catholics among the more worldly. ' The return of so many famous men to the Catholic Church,' he wrote in 1857, 'had not then begun, nor was it expected. I considered exclusively (in what I then wrote) a body of persons who were trying to prepare the nation for a still distant (and perhaps impossible) unity.' 3o8 CARDINAL WISEMAN We sec this attitude in his work for England during 1839. In his correspondence with Father Spencer in March, he insists on the necessity of international prayer for the restoration of religion to an irreligious generation, and especially on fostering a spirit of prayer and devotedness among English Catholics themselves. He wished to unite all nations and all classes in simple prayer. It is interesting to see that, like Leo XIII., while the world gave him credit for astuteness and diplomacy, he was relying on such popular devotions as the Rosary. As to the devotion to the Blessed Virgin [he wrote to Father Spencer], I proposed the forming of Confraternities of the Rosary, and, while Saturday should be the general day for the devotion, I would have different congregations fix on different days, so that each day the powerful inter- cession of the Blessed Virgin might be invoked upon us and upon our labours, and reparation be made to her for the outrages committed against her. I offered Mr. Oxley and Mr. Procter to write a little treatise on the Rosary, if they would disseminate it. One of my reasons for preferring the Rosary, both for myself and English Catholics, is what or- dinarily forms an objection to it. Pride, when we come to pray, is our most dangerous enemy, and I think no better security can be given against it than to pray as the poor and ignorant do. Do we, then, wish that God should judge us by the standard of the wise who know their duty, or by that of the poor little ones ? If by the latter, why spurn the prayers instituted for them, and say, 'We will not use them, but the prayers better suited to the learned ' ? The ' Our Father ' was appointed and drawn up for men who said, ' Lord, teach us how to pray.' It is a prayer for the ignorant, as is the Rosary. The other prayer which he desired to spread was the devotion known as the Qiiarant' Ore — prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, specially exposed during ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT 309 forty hours for this purpose. His idea was to pray at these sacred times and places for the restoration of the Church's influence, not only in England, but else- where too, in days when the spread of infidelity was so general. On this subject he writes to Father Spencer : I am going, in a day or two, to concert with Pallotti the best means of propagating this devotion, both in communities and among the people. I perfectly approve of enlarging your original plan so as to embrace all that are in error. I am in favour of giving expansion to charities in any way, and Catholi- cising our feelings as much as our faith. We are too insular in England in religion as in social ideas. This was one of my reasons for wishing to have the ancvre unconnected with domestic purposes, which would, however, be benefited by the greater energy which the spirit of charity would receive, by being extended. I am endeavouring to excite in the students as much as I can the missionary spirit ; all the meditations are directed to this. By the missionary spirit I do not mean merely a parochial, but an apostolic spirit, where each one, besides his own especial flock, takes an interest in, and exerts himself for the benefit of the entire country, according to the gifts he has received. Of Wiseman's visit to England in this year we gain a very definite idea from a letter written during its course, to his mother, who was staying with his sister, the Countess Gabrielli, at Fano. He writes as follows to Mrs. Wiseman from Oscott, beginning his letter on October 2, 1839 : My dearest Mother,— This is the second long letter I have begun to you and I trust it will meet a better fate than the other of being torn up. I hardly know where to commence, but will take what I know to be the most interesting to you, myself and present condition. In fact, I intend all this letter to be about myself, such a letter as I would not write to anyone else, and feel ashamed of writing even to you. 1 will begin by saying 3IO CARDINAL WISEMAN that I am in the midst of a retreat here, the second I have given, and by far the most delightful, as I could not desire more satisfactory results. I have in it from forty to fifty, from the bishop down to some little boys not much more than children, all equally attentive, equally interested and moved. I have had a slight cold, and that is all. I am otherwise strong and well. I need not tell you how kind all my friends, not only in London, but all over the country, have been tome. Mrs. Weld was no sooner recovered than she came up to town, and of course I was a pretty frequent inmate of her house ... as well as of her carriage, which was quite at my disposal. . . Wherever I have gone I have had the pleasure of meeting converts who came to me to acknowledge their obligations to my performances, such as they are, and I assure you nothing could possibly delight me more than this. Derby, October ii. You will see by this new date that I have got well through my retreat at Oscott, and have proceeded to my next engage- ment. Nothing could be more delightful than the results of my retreat. I found I won the hearts of all the boys, and I never met with more beautiful dispositions anywhere than among them . . . they were about a hundred, and down to the least they all expressed the same sentiments. I left Oscott and came hither by railroad to the opening of the new splendid church. It is without exception the most magnificent thing the Catholics have yet done in modern times in this country, and is quite worthy of ancient days. The church is all of stone with three aisles, a glorious tower and a very rich sanctuary ornamented with beautiful stained windows and rich broad hangings, all given, as well as very splendid vestments, by Lord Shrewsbury. There were about eighty boys in attendance, two bishops, and a great show of vestments from Alton and Oscott. On the whole it would not have done dishonour to Rome. I preached, and the sermon is just gone to the printer's hands. Yesterday evening I commenced a short course of lectures on a new plan ; the church was crowded and I never felt so easy before under the operation. I trust in God that the under- taking will prosper, and in fact appearances begin already to give promise of a satisfactory result. I am now quite strong ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT 311 and fit for work, though when I have finished my engagements, which will be before the end of the month, I shall not be sorry. By that time I shall have preached about ninety times in six weeks, averaging an hour each time, which I think you will say is pretty good. I have travelled, chiefly by railroad, 1,600 miles since I came to England, and have the satisfaction of being able to say that not five of them have been travelled for the sake of amusement or temporal interests of any sort, but entirely to promote as much as was in my power the interests of God and His holy religion. You will have received a York paper containing an account of our doings at Huddersfield. It was like an Italian more than an English day. The Guild or Confraternity, with their tippets and badges, walking two and two, with their crucifixes canopied over like the Roman ones, the banners, lamps, crucifixes, or rather processional crosses, borne before the clergy, and acolytes with surplices, and the priests with copes, the whole preceded by a band of music, recalled my thoughts to Monte Porzio, with the Arciprete and Frezzolini's remarks intercalated in his prayers — 'Adesso casca ! ' ' Vedete quella bestia ! ' &c., on all such occasions. The people behaved admirably, the streets were crowded, notwithstanding every attraction in other directions had been held out, as mis- sionary meetings, teetotallers' feast, &c., and it was a work day ; they seemed to enjoy the sight and no expression escaped them collectively or individually which indicated unpleasant feelings. . . Mr. K. himself was the curiosity of the day, wearing a Roman three-cornered hat, buckles, &c. In fact he dresses like a Roman Abbate, and cares for no one. In the West Riding of Yorkshire they can do what they please, BTgotry is at an end, and processions may walk the streets with no more fear of molestation than in Rome, and the priests all wear the Roman collar and an ecclesiastical costume. The day before the Huddersfield procession we had the opening of a new church at Stalybridge built by Mr. R. Brown, a Roman, whom you of course remember, son to the book- seller. Dr. Briggs and about forty priests attended, and I preached, and afterwards we had, of course, a dinner and speechifying, where, as usual, I had my share. . . . On the Sunday morning (last) when I closed the retreat, an elderly gentleman came in with his eldest son, having a younger one 312 CARDINAL WISEMAN at the college. It was Mr Beck, of Seville, almost the only survivor of the Irish merchants there. He was delighted to see me and inquired all about you, he remembering your arrival in Spain as if it had been yesterday. He desired me to remember him to you and to tell you about a pretty place which my father had in the country, an orange grove, &c., which my uncle, to secure from confiscation as English property made over to someone, who dishonestly took possession of it and sold it. Mrs. Beck has been dead three years ; he had not been in England for twenty-seven years — it was only his second visit in his life — yet he has a pretty touch of the brogue for a Spaniard, but he is a most pleasant gentlemanly old man. I found about six Sevilians at Oscott, two or three Balmenados, &c. At Old Hall there is one of the Barrons, an exceedingly fine young man from Cadiz, his mother being a Morfi, so that you will know all about him. His father sent him to a school here in England and, having learnt his inclination to be a priest, forbade him to be taught Latin. He has, however, persevered in his desire, and is now at St. Edmund's, quite a prize for cleverness and goodness. October 12. I have got over my second lecture, to a still more crowded audience, the leading Dissenting ministers of the place and crowds of Protestants, including the most respectable inhabi- tants. I did not feel at all fatigued by it. To-morrow, St. Edward's, I shall live in spirit, as perhaps feeling a spirit of gentle melancholy all the time. October 13. Yesterday, having a spare day, I went to Nottingham, a dis- tance of half an hour — that is, sixteen miles — and among other sights, was much interested by seeing for the first time a manufactory of lace, or rather net. It is woven by steam in immense pieces, the mechanism being, as you may suppose, very ingenious. The day after to-morrow I go to Ushaw, and then, after a few days' rest there, go to Manchester, whence I direct my steps to London, which I shall only leave for Rome. You must not therefore answer this letter to me in England, but if you write, direct to Paris ('aux soins de Messrs. Lafitte Blount & Co.,' or ' aux soins de M. Bonnetty, au bureau des Annales de ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT 313 Philosophic Chretienne, Rue St. Guillaume, Paris,' or ' Poste Restante, Marseilles'). I left Mr. Murray O'Keefife and Searle at Oscott, doing very well. Searle has given me a little present to bring you. ... I should like to find a letter from someone forme at Paris, so if you cannot write, make Mr. Thompson do it — but it must be immediately. I intend to go by Brussels to see Fornari, who has sent me very pressing invitations. After a very short stay in Paris I shall travel, if possible, by the mail direct to Marseilles, or at least to Lyons, and so by steam to Civith, Vecchia. This is the last letter, therefore, that I will write you from England, but my next to you will be from Brussels or Paris. However, from Ushaw I hope to write my long promised letter to Mr. Cooke, which will contain matters of some interest to him and his friends in the College, which perhaps too you will be interested in seeing, as they will show you what sort of a reception I have had in England and what my prospects here are, should it be the will of God I should return to settle in England. Even if Rome should refuse to consent to this, my visits must be very frequent. In fact, Dr. Griffiths actually wants me to be in London for next Lent to preach, in London, &c., but this would, indeed, be too soon, and I should hardly have had rest enough after this year's campaign. However, it seems to be quite a generally under- stood thing, both among clergy and laity, that I have to be in England again next year — if not for good, at least for a visit. All this, of course, does not depend upon myself, but if I had to run over to England, I would make quite a different arrange- ment and get back for villeggiatura^ as it is no use being in London after June. Lord Clififord sent me a pressing invitation to join him at Munich at the middle and afterwards at the end of October and. take a seat in his carriage to Rome. This would have been a delightful arrangement for me, but in- compatible with engagements already entered into, so I was obliged to decline it. They were anxious at Munich that I should pass that way to confer on matters and measures of great interest to the Catholics, not only of England, but also of France and Germany. At present this is impossible. Lord Shrewsbury sails for Rome on Tuesday morning. . . . Mr. Wilson, the priest at Nottingham, is fitting up rooms to receive me as an inmate. Poor Edward Vavasour, who you may have 314 CARDINAL WISEMAN heard has been aljsent a year, out of his mind, with small hopes of recovery. Charles M'Carthy is to be in Rome this winter. I understand his mother is greatly distressed about him, as he seldom writes to her, and when he does, says little or nothing about himself. I spent some very pleasant days at Alton and have had invitations over all the country, but of course have not been able to accept them. I must close, hoping that you will be able to get through this without hurting your eyes. Hoping soon to see you, I am ever. My dearest mother. Your affectionate son, N. Wiseman. It was at the opening of the new Church of St. Mary at Derby (referred to in this letter) that Wiseman preached a memorable sermon. It was a close anticipation of the main argument of New- man's ' Essay on Development' The argument of the Puseyites against Rome was that primitive teaching declared against her ; that while she charac- terised the reformers as * innovators ' {jiovatores)^ she herself was guilty of innovation. The reply had been suggested as long ago as the days of St. Vincent of Lerins. There is a natural growth in every institution (he had contended), and the later Church is to the earlier as the man to the child. Features, at first latent, become eventually visible, as the child with undeveloped muscle and beardless chin becomes the stalwart bearded man. Wiseman, taking as his text 'The kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed,' pointed out that even the Jewish dispensation, with all its rigidity, allowed of the development of ideas ; for instance, the conception of sin was for the first time fully realised in the Psalms of David. Still greater has ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMEET 315 been the power of development in the Christian Church : To have imagined Christianity devoid of a power similar to this [he said] would have been to place it in a lower sphere of energy, and of adaptation to man's wants, than its imperfect precursor. On the contrary, it was to be expected that within its bosom would lie the congregated seeds of many admirable institutions and active principles which required various periods of fostering care, till the moment arrived for making each vege- tate, grow up, and bear fruit according to its kind. For, as [in] the instances I proposed from the old law, there is no doubt but that germs or principles of those and any other develop- ments, which took place, existed already in the system ; and as the fundamental doctrine of all repentance — that sin is an enormous evil —was clearly demonstrated in the very punish- ments which earlier penitents suffered, as the promise of a Redeemer was the very cornerstone of all the Jewish policy ! yet these principles seemed to lie neglected till gradually brought forth by circumstances into a clearer light, and made leading ideas of the first importance ; so in the new law we might be led to expect a similar course, and not be surprised if we have to trace practices or feelings, which became at particular times the leading characteristics of religious thought, to doctrines or principles which originally lurked as one seed in the furrow, among others of greater magnitude. And many causes of error will be effectually cut off" by the right understanding of this principle. For nothing is more common, yet nothing is more mis- taken, than to confound the greater manifestation of things with their first origin, and to date a belief or practice from the period when circumstances gave to either a more decided prominence in public view in a new estimation in men's hearts. Of such misapprehension abundant instances will be found, if necessary. If, from the very day of the Holy Ghost's descent, the Church, like a grain of mustard seed, commenced its system of outward growth ; so did its increase no less begin in the order of in- terior development. Everything was gradual. At first the Jewish worship was attended, and many of its ceremonial rites observed, with scrupulous precision. The interior resources of the Christian system, for as majestic [a] worship, were not at 3i6 CARDINAL WISEMAN once called upon. The Hierarchy was not planted by our Saviour, nor by the apostles themselves, in a systematic form ; but the episcopal body, if I may so speak, evolved from itself, in due season, the priestly order ; and when the expediency of circumstances called for it, the third degree, till then reserved, was constituted in the nomination of the deacons. The very doctrines of Christianity were communicated with a similar pro- portion ; there was a milk of doctrine, to use a figure of Scrip- ture, and a more solid food, that formed a gradation of spiritual nourishment, suited to the powers of different converts. Time soon gave perfection to the happy beginning made. Wiseman proceeded to apply the principle of development to two characteristic phases of Catho- licism : the powers of the Papacy, and the cultus of Our Lady : A charge was given to Peter to feed the flock of Christ. In their dogmatical sense this and other commissions conferred upon him and his successors the supreme headship of the Church ; and this being matter of religious belief, it was firmly held from the beginning by all. But it was impossible not to see what immense developments such a doctrine might, under certain circumstances, receive. From the very earliest ages, the union of the sacerdotal with the kingly power had been familiar to men ; Christianity had, in addition, taught them to prefer the milder to the sterner rule. Society became so con- stituted as to love, on many occasions, a conscientious decision rather than an appeal to strength ; the weak desired a protector . . . and the most daring believed that injustice was a crime against God, as against man, and might incur spiritual, as well as worldly, chastisement. These, and other converging religious sentiments, produced a necessary development of the high ecclesiastical jurisdiction wherewith the Roman Pontiff is in- vested that made it reach the interests of civil states, in strict accordance with the wants of the age, the condition of society, and the wishes of man. The germ only existed in the begin- ning ; in the easy transition from the spiritual to the temporal in Christianity, it was developed to a system of vast grandeur and power as well as of immense public benefit, by the command of the times. ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT 317 A similar judgment will be passed by a reflecting mind upon the extraordinary expansion which peculiar practices of devotion have received at one time more than anothei\ Nothing, for instance, can be more certain than that, while in the first ages honour and reverence were paid to all the saints, a much greater portion was bestowed upon the Mother of God. Such prayers addressed to her by the ancient Fathers as have come down in their writings go far beyond anything we now use in intensity of supplication and confidence of patronage. Still it did not form as prominent a feature of devotion in those' ages as at a later period. There were causes that repressed the exuberance of such devotional feelings, such as the fear of giving any handle to the heathen for misunderstanding the faith of Christians. But no sooner did the Nestorian heresy wound together the honour of the Son and of the Mother than the entire Church rose to pay her new homage. And [it was the] growth of that seed which the angel cast, when he pro- nounced her blessed among women, which Jesus effectually prepared for fructifying when He recommended His disciple to her as her son. Its growth increased till a time came when new heresies impugned her honour, and when, moreover, holy men loved to look at religion through the medium of the affections as much as through dogmatical investigation, and gave full play to the finest feelings of the heart in studying its mysteries. For at the same time appeared in all its splendour an earnester and tenderer devotion to the passion of Christ and to the mysteries of His life, such as we find in the writings of St. Bernard and St. Bonaventure, a devotion which no one will censure as unbecoming ... It was a time, too, when the looks and thoughts of Christians were turned with wistful eyes towards the glorious land which gave Him birth, but which the infidel then held in thraldom. Such meditations naturally led to a feeling of tenderer devotion, both towards Jesus Himself and towards the indivisible companion of His infancy and passion. Here Wiseman touches on the philosophy of all dogma. Each age has its characteristic thought, and the Church's dogma represents her attitude face to face with that thought. When subtle Greeks dis- 3i8 CARDINAL WISEMAN jjutcd as to the substance and persons in the Godhead, the Church took up the dispute, and em])loyed their terminology in expressing her dogma. When the Aristotehan logic and metaphysic were in possession, she used it to express unequivocally the real presence in the Eucharist. Thus she necessarily carries in her archives documents whose meaning is determined by the thought of another day, and which when viewed only in the context of the present day, may appear un- practical and antiquated. The answer lies in viewing the Church as a whole in the history of its develop- ment. The earlier definitions remain true ; but they may sometimes become faint and recede into the back- ground so far as their intellectual bearing on the present age is concerned. The aspect of the Church which should be most prominent in a later age is determined by the thought of the later age, just as the phraseology of definitions has been determined by the thought belonging to the epoch in which they were made. The very evidences of religion suitable for one age are not equally suitable when thought has received further development. The Church of God had for many centuries advanced, as I have rapidly described it, adding eveiy age to the previous manifestations it had made of its inexhaustible store. . . . For this was indeed a beautiful quahty of the principle I have ex- plained — that though, as circumstances changed, the vivid impressions of one age grew faint under the influence of suc- ceeding agencies, yet enough was left of the spirit of each to be borne down to succeeding generations, as arecordof the various vicissitudes through which their religion had passed. In this way the very evidences of Christianity partook of the character of all else connected with it, being themselves capable of in- creasing development, in the new monuments that proved its ENGLAND AND THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT 319 wonderful preservation, through the trials and dangers of so many succeeding ages. Here is a view which at least takes into account the progress of things, and the fact that thought is alive and ever moving onwards. The reformers, on the contrary, regarded truth as stationary, and all adaptation to the advance of thought as corruption. Such a view is quite incommensurate with the facts of life. But at length there arose men who thought differently [Wiseman continued]. They imagined that, whatever Christi- anity had acquired in outward form, since its foundation, must be an interpolation of its creed ; that whatever development in outward or inward life it had exhibited, was an addition to what God had revealed. If they could not find in His written word the practices observed, to their full extent, and the very terms applied to them, as they admitted no power of development, they rejected all these its results, and generally with them the principles from which they had gradually evolved. They saw how religion had truly become in the words of the prophet a ' tree, great, and strong, so that the height thereof reached into Heaven, and the sight thereof was even to the ends of all the earth ; its leaves were most beautiful, and its fruit exceeding much, and in the branches thereof the fowls of the air had their abode.' — Dan. iv. 8-9. And they said, ' Cut down the tree and chop off the branches thereof ; shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruits ; let the birds fly away from its branches.' And then in the very words of the same prophet they went on to say : ' Nevertheless leave the stump of its root in the earth, and let it be tied up with a band of iron and of brass,' verse 12. Yes, such, it would seem, was the idea of these men who, in the sixteenth century, undertook to retorm the Church. Relentlessly they cut off the branches which ages of growth had produced upon this glorious tree, together with their precious bearing, whereby so many worthy souls had been nourished to perfection, and having pared it down to what they considered the first naked unadorned stem that sprung from the little grain, bound it so fast in cold and straitening rivets as effectually to restrain its again putting forth new branches, CARDINAL WISEMAN CHAPTER X THE DONATISTS AND THE PUSEYITES 1839 At the very time at which Wiseman was writing the letter which has been cited in the last chapter, and preaching" his sermon on ' Development,' Oxford was discussing with animation, and in some cases with a much deeper feeling, an article of his in the ' Dublin Review,' which formed a turning-point in the history of the Oxford Movement. The subject of the article was the ' Donatist Schism,' and it was one of a series devoted to successive phases of the movement. In the first number of the ' Dublin Review,' in May 1836, there was an article on the ' Hampden Controversy.' In the following year another followed on * The High Church Theory of Dogmatical Autho- rity,' treated with special reference to a sermon of Keble's and some essays in the ' British Critic' In 1838 there were the two important articles on the ' Tracts for the Times.' Froude's ' Remains ' formed the theme of an essay in May 1839. All these essays were careful and even elaborate pieces of work, written in a sympathetic and moderate tone, which won for them attention and consideration in Oxford. Their general line of argument, however, THE DONATISrS AND THE PUSEYITES 321 has now passed into the grammar of the controvers}- so far as its issues remain still unchanged ; while a good deal rests on first principles, which in the fervour of a return to patristic thought the Tracta- rians adopted, but have not been able to maintain in more recent times. To follow these papers in detail would be tedious and superfluous. In July 1839, however, Wiseman published an Essay which set the hitherto smouldering fire aflame, and made a great impression both in Oxford and throughout the theological world in England. Its theme was St. Augustine and the Dcnatists. Newman read the Essay a month after its appear- ance, and described it as ' the first real hit from Romanism which has happened to me. . . . I seriously think it,' he added, * a most uncomfortable article on every account.' ' It made a great impression ' at Oxford, he writes in the same letter. And to another friend he wrote, ' It made me for a while very uncom- fortable in my own mind.' The significance of the article, great enough then, is in some respects even greater now, and some account of it must here be given. Wiseman had hitherto been urging from the precedents of antiquity the untenableness of the Anglican claim to Apostolical succession. He had pointed out that the claim to valid orders, even if made good, had never been held to establish the claim to valid jurisdiction, so long as Anglicans were in schism. His argument, though admittedly powerful, was technical. And naturally enough in such a case, an intricate controversy had not in it that decisive VOL. I. Y 322 CARDINAL WISEMAN force which was required to shake fixed and habitual allegiance to the Anglican Church. Granting the most to him that could be granted, Puseyites urged the prima facie claim of the communion in which they had been born, in a controversy which, as being complicated, was necessarily to average minds to some extent doubtful in its issue. In the article on the Donatists he suddenly passed, as he himself expressed it, ' to a higher level.' He dealt no longer with technical points of doctrine, but with the idea of the Church — which Rome alone perpetuates — -as the one organised spiritual society, which claims to expound with authority the revelation of our Lord. He pointed out that the question of a Church in a state of schism was re- garded by the Fathers not as a question of antiquarian research, but as a great practical case of conscience for each individual. The facts on which the tech- nical controversy depended might become obscured ; but this did not leave individual persons or individual Churches free to say, ' I see no convincing proof on either side ; therefore I will do as I like.' Such a plea had been advanced in the fifth century ; and the very Fathers to whom Newman was appealing as his mainstay had emphatically disallowed it. Briefly, St. Augustine had shown that in a matter so vital to the continued existence of the Church as an organic society, a simple and incontrovertible guiding principle was needed for individual persons and Churches — a principle capable of being applied by the unlearned as well as by the learned. Cases were constantly arising, and would arise, of schism on the THE DO N ATI ST S AND THE PUSEYITES 323 part of a local or national Church. Each party — the schismatics and their opponents— would profess to represent the ancient Catholic faith, and would call itself Catholic. If the individual Church or the individual member of the Church were to be allowed to judge for itself or himself, all hope of Catholic unity would be gone. The local Church must, therefore, in the nature of the case, be amenable to the judgment of its peers. If the rest of the Catholic Church acknowledged the bishop of a local Church, and interchanged letters of communion with him, then he and those who were his spiritual subjects formed part of the Church Catholic. If the rest ol the Church refused to communicate with him, :ind judged his claim to be invalid, then he was thereby ruled to be in schism. This simple but pregnant rule was essential to the very existence of the Church Catholic ; and St. Augustine sums it up in the sentence which was destined to ring in Newman's ears for many a day : ' Quapropter securus judicat orbis terrarum, bonos non esse qui se dividunt ab orbe terrarum, in quacumque parte orbis terrarum.' Wiseman proceeds to show how, point by point, the Donatists — in reference to whom St. Augustine first formulated these memorable words — urged the same justification of their position as the Anglicans were urging, and how, if the then established Church in Ireland be included in the argument, the coincidence of positions was little short of marvellous. And on each point St. Augustine — or the other Fathers who dealt with the controversy — refused resolutely to treat the matter as one of difficult or subtle argn- 324 CARDINAL WISEMAN merit, but broke down minute difficulties by falling back on the broad fact of the unity of the Church throughout the world, and its obvious claim to be the final judge of a local Church. The Tractarians claimed that recognition by the rest of the Catholic world was not a necessity for membership of the Church Catholic. Exactly the same was the plea of Fortunius, the Donatist bishop, and St. Augustine thus answered it in conversation : ' At first Fortunius tried to assert that his communion was over the whole world. I asked him if he could give me letters of communion, which we call forniatcr, whithersoever I wished ; and I affirmed what was clear to all, that by this test the entire question could be brought to a close,' Such letters may in our own day be given by any bishop in communion with Rome, and secure for its bearer ' participation in all religious and ecclesiastical rites,' not only in Europe but ' in China, in India, in Syria.' The Archbishop of Canterbury could indeed give them to the Anglican or Protestant communities now so numerous, but to Churches claiming to be Catholic he can no more supply them than could Fortunius. The High Church party, again, claimed the title Catholic — so did the Donatists. They rejected the appellation Protestant — so did their prototypes reject the title of Donatist. The English Churchmen, tak- ing their stand on hereditary local possession, and the traditions of a local Church, accepted the title of Anglican Church ; so too on similar grounds the Donatists had no objection to being called the African Church. THE DONATISTS AND THE TUSEYITES 325 The Anglicans stigmatised as an unwarrantable intrusion, contrary to the principles of antiquity, the appointment of bishops in communion with Rome in a country where the local Church already had its own bishops. The Catholics in communion with Rome took precisely the same course in Africa, and were criticised on exactly the same ground. The Angli- cans accused the various local Dissenting groups of schism ; so too did the Donatists accuse the Maximi nianists of schism, and St. Augustine once more made his ' securus judicat ' resound as a reductio ad absurdiiiii of this position. If schism were in question, which were the worst offenders, those who broke away from the Church universal or those who only separated from a local Church .'' Once more, the Fathers, in their final analysis of the great guiding principle, gave as the real and simple test of communion with the Catholic Church through- out the world, communion with the See of Peter. Thus St. Ambroseaskstheschismatic Lucifer 'whether he agreed with the Catholic bishops- — that is, with the Roman Church ' ; St. Augustine gives as the mark of the true vine on which all Churches should beengrafted, the successive occupants of the ' Chair of Peter,' and John, Patriarch of Constantinople, writes to Pope Hormisdas of those who are ' separated from the com- munion of the Catholic Church — that is, who consent not in all tilings with the Apostolic See.' This last stage of the argument had its effect in completing the wonderfully close parallel between certain aspects of the Donatist and Anglican schisms. But it opened the door to historical discussion of a 326 CARDINAL WISEMAN less simple and obviously decisive character. The degree to which Rome was explicitly and universally recognised in the fifth century as necessarily the embodiment of the voice of the orbis terrarni/i, and to which communion with Rome and communion with the orbis terraruni were necessarily identical, was a question over and above St. Augustine's central argu- ment, which created so profound an impression when brought before the Oxford of the nineteenth century. That Rome had always, in the early centuries, been opposed to Arians, Semiarians, Monophysites, Dona- tists, was obvious as a matter of historical fact. The fact that Rome had invariably been with the Church and against the heretics in the early centuries had been admitted even by such a writer as Bishop Bull.' This was enough for Wiseman's central argument even if the necessity could be disputed. Again, the smallest element of plausibly disputable matter w^ould weaken the tremendous effect of the central argument. Con- sequently Wiseman, with a true instinct as to the strength of his position, assigns the first place and a separate place to the one principle that a local Church must be judged by the aggregate of Catholic Churches which may impart or refuse communion as they choose ; proceeding afterwards to the consideration that that aggregate is kept together in virtue of com- munion with the i\postoHc See. The simplicity and directness of St. Augustine's argument, its express purpose of superseding such intricate controversy as might plausibly divert a man from complying with the duty of submitting to ' Cf. Apologia, p. 162. THE DONATISTS AND THE PUSEYITES 327 the judgment of the Catholic world, gave it special urgency. ' It has given me a stomach-ache,' Newman wrote ; and from the day on which Newman read the article he never again looked at the Roman Church with the same eyes as before. But this aspect of St. Augustine's argument was strengthened in its force by the almost impatient sense of its conclusiveness which the saint himself betrays. He assumes the attitude, not of one arguing a difficult case, but of one asserting a claim which would be weakened by the bare supposition that it was seriously disputable. Of course, he continues, the Donatists maintain (as their spokesman Petilianus maintains) that they are the adherents to the ancient Catholic doctrine, that the rest of the Church is responsible for schism, and is the truly schismatical body. Such a contention is, St Augustine replies, simply beneath argument. ' How can we be separatists,' he asks, ' whose communion is diffused over the entire world ? But as, if you were to say to me that I am Petilianus, I should not know how to refute you, except by laugh- ing at you as in jest, or pitying you as insane, I see no other course now.' Wiseman thus sums up the principle laid down by St. Augustine and other Fathers as incontrovertible: '. By the Fathers the question \\as essentially con- sidered one of fact rather than of r^ght : that is to say, the very fact of one particular Church being out of the aggregation of other Churches, constituted these judges over the other, and left no room for questioning the justice of the condemnation.' The marked effect of this argument was due in the 328 CARDINAL WISEMAN first place, as I have already said, to its focussing the controversy, challenging a decision, and leaving no room for escape from the issue as one of practical duty. But there was another source of strength in it, which gives it special interest in our own time, and to which it owed the effect it had, not only on the Pusey- ites, but on a wider section of the thinking world. So long as the controversy remained one of minute theo- logical and historical points concerned with Apostolical succession, and valid ordinations, and technical epi- scopal functions, it naturally aroused among thinkers typical of the modern English mind — of whom Arnold was a representative — the sentiments of contempt which the ' Tract ' Movement aroused. With the country in the greatest need of practical men ; with political disorganisation and danger of a revolution ; with famine threatening in Ireland ; with number- less poor in our crowded cities to be thought of, and worked for, the concentration of intellect and energy on ' a dress, a ritual, a name, a ceremony ' (to use Arnold's phrases) created in such men indignant im- patience. The Oxford leaders had begun as anti- quarian historians, and this aspect of their work had fixed itself deeply in the minds of many Englishmen. The importance of the points at issue appeared infini- tesimal, and the movement seemed an unreal attempt to galvanise into a life which in the climate of that day was foredoomed, institutions and ideas proper to an entirely different state of civilisation. But Wiseman's article, a voice from the fifth century with a startling and close application to the nineteenth, arrested atten- THE DONATISTS AND THE PUSEYITES 329 tion in a moment, as claiming to deal with points not special to one time, but applicable to entirely different epochs ; and the more it was read the more this view of the case was confirmed. It hinged on the necessity of one great spiritual organisation — the civitas Dei, in St. Augustine's own phrase. It was no contention for minute points of ritual, or for the spiritual efficacy of detailed ceremonial, or for what Arnold was wont to call the ' magical' giftsof a privileged caste of priests. It dealt with the principle of union and organisation, and consequently of strength for good work, among the Christian body. However little the broad thinkers ac- cepted conclusions which were based on High Church premises, here they found food for thought. The Roman Catholic Church as a widely extended prac- tical institution, as a corporate body to safeguard morality, to preserve a definite ethical ideal, to succour the poor by its religious orders, to stem revolution by its embodiment of the principle of Authority, was a real force for practical good, to be dealt with, and well worth considering. Hence the article made an impression, as Newman intimates, in quarters where Puseyite controversy would not normally have aroused any interest.' And, over and above this ground of interest, to find in that voice speaking across the chasm of fourteen centuries the varied and minute points of coincidence between the position of the civitas Dei, over which the Roman See presided, and the same spiritual kingdom in our own time — the same arguments used on either side, and sentences and phrases which ' See Letters, vol. ii. 295. 330 CARDINAL WISEMAN applied word for word to the new state of things — this tended to remind the student of history that the CathoHc Church, in spite of vicissitude, claimed as a mark of its Divine origin that it was semper eadeni, ' always the same.' St. Augustine, living before the old Roman civilisation had passed ; dying with the Vandals at his gate ; lying in his grave during the centuries of the awful purgation of the civilised world by Hun, Vandal, and Tartar, had already spoken anew, but in language charged with the Aristote- lian and Arabian elements of mediaeval thought, to the ages of Albertus and St. Thomas. Later on, when the new Christendom was dead, he had inspired Erasmus, at the supreme crisis of the Reformation, with a sense of the wickedness of rebelling against the polity of God : and now he uttered once more, in our own century, his clear, practical warning to the new civilisation of England. The City of God has remained immutable in its nature amid all the tremendous changes which have passed over the world ; scarce a word of his counsel stands in need of change. Such a fact could not but make the Church stand out as sustaining her claim to embody something sacred belonging to all times ; to be above the general rule that an organisation is integrally bound up with the conditions of a given age, and ceases to be a living force when those conditions have passed away. Wiseman may claim to have been among the first effectually to remind Englishmen in our own day of that historical significance of the Catholic Church which so much impressed Macaulay, which affected permanently such a man as Comte, THE DONATTSTS AND THE PUSEYITES 331 and kindled the historical enthusiasm of a De Maistre, a Gorres, and a Frederick Schlegel. While Wiseman's article owes much of its per- manent value to this placing anew before the public mind the actuality of the Catholic polity, and severing it from unpractical antiquarianism, and even from merely theological controversy, the effect on Newman and his friends was necessarily more ' all- round.' Its bearing, indeed, on the idea of the Church as one society touched them at every turn : but it was the destruction, by the most absolute decision of the greatest of the Fathers themselves, of a via media that claimed to be true before all things to the Fathers, which was most urgent in its effect at Oxford. The words of St. Augustine applied even more closely to the position of the Monophysites than to that of the Donatists ; and Newman had already been alarmed at the analogy between the position of the Monophysites and of the Anglicans. ' I saw my face in a mirror, and I was a Monophysite,' he writes of his feelings three weeks earlier ; and now Wiseman's article seemed to confirm this view in detail. The friend who showed the article to Newman pointed to the words ' Securus judicat or bis terrarum.' He repeated these words again and again [writes Newman], and, when he was gone, they kept ringing in my ears. ' Securus judicat orbis terrarum' ; they were words which went beyond the occasion of the Donatists ; they applied to that of the Monophysites. They gave a cogency to the article which had escaped me at first. They decided ecclesiastical questions on a simpler rule than that of Antiquity ; nay, St. Augustine was one of the prime oracles of Anlitiuily ; here, then, Antiquity was 332 CARDINAL WISEMAN deciding against itself. What a light was hereby thrown upon every controversy in the Church : not that, for the moment, the multitude may not falter in their judgment ; not that, in the Arian hurricane, Sees more than can be numbered did not bend before its fury, and fall off from St. Athanasius ; not that the crowd of Oriental bishops did not need to be sustained during the contest by the voice and the eye of St. Leo ; but that the deliberate judgment, in which the whole Church at length rests and acquiesces, is an infallible prescription and a final sentence against such portions of it as protest and secede. Who can account for the impressions which are made on him ? For a mere sentence, the words of St. Augustine, struck me with a power which I never had felt from any words before. To take a familiar instance, they were like the 'Turn again, Whitting- ton,' of the chime : or, to take a more serious one, they were like the ' ToUe, lege ; tolle, lege,' of the child, which converted St. Augustine himself. ' Securus judicat orbis terrarum.' By these great words of the ancient Father, interpreting and sum- ming up the long and varied course of ecclesiastical history, the theory of the via media was absolutely pulverised. We know the immediate sequel. That very sum- mer Newman, for the first time, suggested to an intimate friend, Henry Wilberforce, in the course of a walk in the New Forest, that it might prove to be a duty to join the Church of Rome. His companion, ' on whom the remark came Hke a thunderstroke,' repHed that he hoped they might die first. The in- tensity of Newman's agitation subsided, but he never again maintained the via media. He was from that time forwards convinced that AngHcans were in a false position, even if in the existing state of Christendom this was irremediable, and his followers were not slow to see the change. ' Smith has shifted his ground,' is Reding's ominous remark on the change in ' Loss and Gain.' While Wiseman was preaching at Derby and in THE DONATISTS AND THE PUSEYITES 333 the North, Newman was making up his mind how to explain to the satisfaction of the partyof the Movement the less confident ground on which he henceforth supported their position. ' When I got back to Oxford in October 1839,' he writes, ' I found a general talk on the subject of the article in the " Dublin Review." If it had affected me, it was not wonderful that it had affected others also. ... I wrote to Mr. Bowden thus [in the following February] : " It [the article in the * Dublin'] made a great impression here; and I say, what, of course, I would only say to such as yourself, it made me, for a while, very uncomfortable in my own mind." ' His new position was worked out in the article on the ' Catholicity of the Anglican Church,' w^hich ap- peared in the ' British Critic ' of the following January. ' My main argument for Anglican claims,' he writes, ' lay, in the positive and special charges which I could bring against Rome. I had no positive Anglican theory. I was very nearly a pure Protestant.' How far Wiseman was aware at the time of the effect his words had produced, we have no means of knowing. But it very soon became evident that the attitude of the Tractarians towards Rome had under- gone a serious change. Wiseman's intimate friend Father Spencer went up to Oxford, two months later (January 1840), to propose that all should join in prayers for unity. Newman, with the strange mixture of opposite feelings which had possession of him at this time of struggle, felt, as he puts it, that he ' could have laughed for joy ' to see him. ' I think,' he adds. ' that I did laugh ' ; yet he was very rude to him. ' I 334 CARDINAL WISEMAN would not meet him at dinner,' he adds, ' and that . . . because I considered him " in loco apostatae " from the Anglican Church.' After Mr. Spencer had left Oxford, Newman wrote to him, remonstrating with the Roman Catholics of England for their alliance with the Liberal part)', including sceptics and unbelievers. ' You consent,' he said, ' to act hand in hand with ' them ' for our overthrow.' He characterised English Catholics as a ' political, not a religious party.' ' In order,' he added, ' to gain an end on which you have set your hearts — an open stage for yourselves in England — you ally yourselves with those who hold nothing against those who hold something. . . . Break off . . . with Mr. O'Connell and Ireland and the Liberal party in England, or come not to us with overtures for united prayer and religious sympathy.' Nevertheless, Newman did draw up prayers for reunion. ' Their desirableness,' he writes, ' was one of the first thoughts which came upon me after my shock of August 1839.' It was at this time, when the Oxford Movement was trembling at the very turning-point of a change which proved so critical, that Wiseman went back to Rome. The circumstances of the hour and the impression left by him on his fellow-countrymen made his recall to England a practical certainty. That Wiseman himself was fully conscious of the impression he had made is plain from the following letter to Mr. Bagshawe, whose guest he had been on several occasions in the course of his visit to England : THE DOXATISTS AND THE PUSEYITES 335 On the ScJieldc', Friday, November 16, 1839. My dear Bagshawe, — Here I am within three or four hours of Antwerp, after the most delightful \oyage imaginable, the ship remarkably steady, the sea like a lake, and the wind in our fa\our, so that we have had it all our own way. No one has been unwell, and the morning has broken upon us fine and sunny, though cold, so that the auguries of my journey are, so far, as propitious as could be desired. Now that I am separated by the sea from England, it is natural that I should look back at it, and what I have left there. My first thoughts on this side of the Channel must naturally be connected with my last on the other side, and those were thoughts which I could not trust myself to express as I felt them, of sincere obligations to you and all your family for your unwearied hospitality, which must, I fear, have often interfered with your own domestic arrangements and comforts. You were good enough to say you would pay to my account 10/. from the 'Dublin Review' (of the propriety of which step I have some doubt). If such be your kind intention, I beg you will place it in Mrs. Bagshawe's hands, to be laid out in getting something for all the children as a token from me It was my v/ish and intention to do something of this sort myself before leaving England, but want of time and diffidence pre\ented me. Be so good, therefore, as to supply my deficiency as above suggested. When I look back at what I have got through in England, it appears to me like a dream. I feel completely at a loss to dis- cover what can have gained me the influence I have been able to exercise upon others, or what I have done to make my presence desirable. For everything I have done has fallen wonderfully short of my desires, and everything I have acquired or effected has gone wonderfully beyond . . . my expectations. I can only attribute it to the usual course of Providence of selecting the poorest instruments for its ends. I hope I may soon hear from you at Rome. With everything kind and grateful to Mrs. Bagshawe, and my cordial blessing to all your little ones, I am, yours sincerely and affectionately, N. Wiseman. W^'scman's own wish and that of the Enefhsh 336 CARDINAL WISEMAN ecclesiastical authorities, that he should take up his residence in England, was shortly afterwards acceded to by the Pope. The number of Vicars Apostolic was increased in 1840 from four to eight. This involved the consecration of four new bishops ; and moreover one of the former Vicars Apostolic, being advanced in years, needed assistance in his episcopal functions. To supply this need Wiseman was sent to England. He was named coadjutor to the venerable Bishop Walsh, of the Central District, and President of Oscott College, near Birmingham, in May 1840, and on the 8th June, titular Bishop of Melipotamus. The title was chosen by him, as we learn from a Memorandum, in commemoration of the martyrdom of a Vicar Apostolic of Tonquin, who was bishop of the same see : ' not,' he adds, ' that he thought himself worthy of such a title, but that he might ever enjoy the patronage and example of so illustrious and good a pastor.' It is interesting to remember that Bishop Walsh was first consecrated as coadjutor bishop to Dr. Milner, thus forming a link between the two most remarkable of the English Catholic bishops of the first half of the nineteenth century. We have at this moment a glimpse of the occa- sional mental trials to which Wiseman was subject, and a touching account of his deliverance by prayer. The episode, while naturally appealing especially to Catholic readers, will not be without its interest to those who collect and classify the phenomena of the religious life. He had gone to make a Retreat, pre- vious to his consecration as bishop, in the Passionist Retreat of SS. John and Paul. Before making his THE DONATISTS A XI) THE PUSEYITES 337 confession he was seized with the religious terror and distress to which his imaginative and scrupulous nature was occasionally liable. The immediate relief which came in answer to prayer to the Blessed Virgin made so deep an impression on him that, while dis- claiming all belief that it was wrought by a miraculous vision, he wrote down a full account of what had passed. I subjoin this document in full : A Legacy of Gratitude, 1840. A. jM. D. G. Private Memorandum. For the greater honour and glory of God, and of the Blessed Virgin, for my own consolation, and if it should please God for the encouragement and comfort of others, I think it right to note down what happened on the night of Sunday, the 31st of May, 1840. I had conferred with the holy missionary Father Raimondo respecting myself and the sort of confession I ought to make, having retired into this religious house of SS. John and Paul, belonging to the edifying order of the Passionists, to prepare myself for receiving the episcopal consecration of which I feel inyself so unworthy. My intention in entering the house had been to make a general confession of my whole life, in order to set at rest the anxieties which from time to time trouble me so fiercely. I thought it, however, my duty to submit to the prudent consideration of this experienced and holy priest an account of my former general confessions, &c., that he might judge how far it was expedient to make one now. After explain- ing all to him with all candour and sincerity, he came to the determined conclusion that I must not think of it, and I there- fore proposed to him, and he acceded to it, that I should next (this) morning make a confession since my last, two and a half years ago. But after leaving him and going into the garden I became frightfully agitated, my mind conjuring up a thousand difficulties, perplexities, doubts and dangers, which it is not necessary to rehearse, but which drove me into a state of anguish and dismay. I called on God to help me, offering myself to do whatever He might wish to put my mind at rest, feeling VOL. L Z 338 CARDINAL UVSEA/AN that such a state as I was in at that moment would be enough, if it continued, to drive me out of my senses. Being somewhat reheved, I sought company and in it found still further alleviation. Still, my mind continued troubled and uneasy, until night, when I had retired to my chamber, when the uneasiness became greater still, and at length, fatigued and oppressed, I went to bed. With the signal for the religious to rise, being about four, I awoke, and feeling chill, I drew upon my bed the cotton counterpane which I had drawn down before going to rest. But presently my frightful anxieties returned : I was overwhelmed with anguish and tribulation, which seemed to drive me to despair. I looked forward to what I had to do in the morning with terror, as impossible to be well done, and it seemed to me as if all I had done till now had been ill per- formed. My body was bathed in perspiration ; a burning fever seemed upon me, so as to compel me to throw off the coverlet once more. I turned from side to side, and clasped and wrung my hands, calling on God to help me, till at length, unable any longer to bear the struggle, I made an earnest appeal to the Blessed Mother of God, saying with great earnestness, ' I have never called on you in vain: hear me now. Put an end to this trial. Pour your oil tip07t these troubled waters and reduce tJiein to a calm.'' I know not whether immediately upon say- ing these words I fell into a slumber or not, but certain I am that, with the clearness of a very vivid dream, I seemed to myself surrounded by waves boiling up, and to see at a distance the heavens open and the Blessed Virgin in great glory, pouring from a vessel upon the surface of the sea, which then became calm, and the calm diffused itself, till it reached and surrounded me, and I seemed in a mild pleasant bath and part of the waters appeared covered over and changed into gardens. That this may have passed in a slumber I dare say ; for though I retained a most vivid impression of it, it had not the distinctness of a vision, nor could I for a moment believe myself worthy of such a favour. But certainly I was quite awake again the moment after, in a state of delicious calm, something like the state of soft wakefulness which I have experienced after an opiate, every doubt and perplexity had vanished, my mind was happy and at rest. I thanked God and His Blessed Mother for what I could not but consider a marked and instantaneous inter- THE DONATISTS AND THE PUSEYITES 339 position in my behalf, and falling into a gentle slumber awoke quite refreshed and ready for my work. There are some other points connected with this event, which it is not necessary to record, as being secondary and not so clear. I awoke for a mo- ment once or twice ; my doubts seemed trying to revive, but were instantaneously banished by the recollection of what I had seen. When I saw Father Raimondo, his mind was quite made up about me. He told me he had oftered Mass forme and that God had given His assurance, that I was to be quite easy. This being the third, or perhaps the fourth, time in which I have been instantly heard on having earnest recourse to Mary, I have surely every reason to trust in her patronage, and hope for everything from her intercession. ' Sit nomen Domini bene- dictum ex hoc nunc et usque in s;^culum.' N. Wiseman. SS. John and Paul's, June I, 1840. Cardinal Fransoni performed the episcopal con- secration on June 8, in the chapel of the English College. Wiseman's mother was (as he himself re- cords) present at the ceremony. On the following day he exercised his episcopal office for the first time, ordaining two priests for the English mission and several deacons and subdeacons, and administering confirmation to a recent English convert whom he had received shortly before — the wife of a Belgian Charge d'Affaires. Of his aspirations and hopes in connexion with his return to England we have already had some in- dication. But the parting with Rome, the scene of his early dreams, whose associations were interwoven with all the romantic impressions of opening manhood, was hard to bear. ' On the ist of August,' he writes in the diary which he kept during these months, ' I left Rome — after twenty-two years (about) passed happily 340 CARDINAL WISE ^f AN in that city and in that College' He commemo- rates his grief at leaving ' family, friends, companions, and many sacred places, but especiall)- the College, the Alma Mater of piety and learning, the nurse and pre- server of the liberal arts, from which I have drawn any good in my possession. May God deign to lay up in His bosom the grief with which I said farewell to these and so many other holy joys, never to be torn from my mind and heart. " The Lord gave ; the Lord hath taken away : blessed be the name of the Lord. " ' Writing in 1857, he recalls the last sight of Rome, and the sacred feelings w^hich accompanied it and were ever ready to come back in their old vividness up to the end of his life. ' It was a sorrowful evening,' he writes, ' . . . when, after a residence in Rome prolonged through twenty two years, till affection clung to every old stone there, like the moss which grew with it, this slender but strong tie was cut, and most of future happiness had to be invested in the mournful re- collections of the past. Cum subit illius tristissima noctis imtigo, Qua; mihi supremum terapus in urbe fuit, Cum repeto noctem qua tot mihi cara reliqui, Labitur ex oculis nunc quoque gutta meis.' He reached London on Sept. 5, after a long journey, by Venice, Germany, and Belgium. His mind seems to have been full of the thoughts with which a mission from Rome to England had been for so large a part of 300 years associated. It was a journey which, for ■ Ovid, Irist. I. iii. 1.^4. THE DONATISTS AND THE PUSEYITES 341 many years after Cardinal Alien had shaken the dust from his feet on English soil, and had spent his last days in the Eternal City, many an hLnglishman had made with prospect of death for his faith. Edmund Campion had left the Collegio Inglese on a similar errand in 1580, and had sealed by his martyrdom a wonderful career of Apostolic labour. The thought — so vivid to Wiseman, as we have seen, in his wanderings through the Catacombs and basilicas — of the spread of religion through suffering and persecution, appears in his notes. On his arrival he writes : ' I saluted the land dear to me by holy love. Behold the vineyard of the Lord. . . . Welcome labours . . . and persecu- tion, reproach and scorn . . . O Lord, grant me to understand what is the worth of souls, and how worthless is all I have if it is given for even one soul. Bless, O Lord, my entry into this land of my desires.' I subjoin, as an indication of his plans and prac- tical resolutions at this time, a Memorandum drawn up on the eve of episcopal consecration, at the termina- tion of his retreat at SS. John and Paul's : A. M. D. G. June 3, 1840. In fioniine Jesu. Amen. Being come to the close of my Retreat, in this holy solitude of SS. John and Paul, where I write, I think it proper to note down a few heads for my future guidance as the result of my reading and reflection, although, from bad health, I am not able to do it in the manner I would wish. I pass over 1. The ordinary obligations of eveiy Christian, adhering to my former resolutions of 1837, as far as compatible with my change of circumstances. 2. My future method, of life, as that must depend upon where I live and how my time will have to be spent : all which 342 CARDINAL WISEMAN I cannot foresee at present. I will reserve this, therefore, for a future occasion, when I shall be settled in England. Omitting, therefore, these matters, however important, placing myself now in the presence of God and of His Blessed Mother and of all the Heavenly Court, especially my guardian angel and holy patrons, I declare my intention, with God's grace, to the best of my powers, to observe and aim at what follows. I. Points of Duty. (a) Towards God and His CJiiircJi. 1. To promote the glory of the One, and the extension and exaltation of the other, by every means within my power, by word, by deed, and by prayer. 2. To promote the frequenting of the Sacraments and the celebration of daily Mass by the clergy. 3. To promote devotion and piety, particularly towards the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin. 4. To encourage the preaching of the Word of God in a feeling and energetic manner. 5. To promote study among the clergy, and the serious employment of time. 6. To improve the studies, particularly the ecclesiastical ones, in the College. 7. To have Retreats for the Clergy. (b) Towards t/ic Bishop. To act strictly as his coadjutor and therefore 1. Ever in act and word show him all honour. 2. To give him as far as possible the credit of any good done. 3. Never to shelter myself behind him or throw responsibility from myself on him. 4. To take as much labour on myself as possible. II. Points of Zeal. I. To have missions as soon as possible, and a body of clergy available for that purpose. 2 By this means to get the truth preached where there are [at present] no Catholic congregations. THE DONATISTS AXD THE PUSEYJTES 343 3. To have a house of Retreats for Laity. 4. To get the Quaranf Ore established as soon as possible, that the Adorable Sacrament may be day and night worshipped. 5. To have the guild or confraternity established and joined to Rome, and subservient to the encouragement of the Rosary. 6. To institute Conferences under proper regulations in every Deanship. See below. III. Points of Prudence. (a) Fundamental maxims. 1. To attempt no changes that can affect the clergy, till their confidence has been completely won. 2. This is to be done by sincere kindness in word and deed, such as results from humility — that is, from feeling, as I have every reason to do, that I am the last and most unworthy of them all. 3. To prepare, by Retreats and Conferences, their minds for reform and improvements. (b) Measures. 1. To gain exact information, and from every parish. 2. To have, if possible, visitation in due form. 3. To have Diocesan Synods in full form, so as to make the clergy parties to improvements. In these to get a fixed system of practice respecting converts ; a uniformity of prayers and observances ; regulations about church functions, &c. 4. To have regular Rural Deanships, by means of which information can be collected, &c. 5. To form a council that can meet for ordinary business, if possible, once a week. 6. To have a vicariate or office, where everything is registered, with a secretary, who must apply himself to Canon Law. 7. To turn over the temporal administration to a Board f mixed), who will lay statements, &c., befoie the bishop, say, once a month. 8. To despatch business as it comes, and, for better expedi- tion, have printed formulas for dispensations, &c. 9. To introduce some clerical dress as soon and as prudently as possible. 344 CARDINAL WISEMAN lo. To have a large map of llie District made, with all chapels, (S:c., roads, cross-roads, (S:c., clearly marked, with the deanship, &c., clearly traced, and have it hung where it will always meet my eyes, both as a stimulus to labour, and as an object of study, that I may fully know it. It may be entitled ' Episcopalis Solicitudinis Theatrum.' God's grace enable me to carry these things into execution for His greater honour and glory, the good of souls, and my own poor soul's eternal salvation. Amen. N. Wiseman 345 CHAPTER XI PRESIDENT OF OSCOTT 1840-41 Bishop Wiseman arrived at Oscott on Wednesday, September 16, 1840. The boys met their new President at the lodge gates, and dragged his carriage up to the College. One of them. Dr. Knight, the late Bishop of Shrewsbury, recalls looking up at his kind])- face and shaggy eyebrows, and wondering what was in store for the College. He was received at the College with the symbolical ritual congenial to his tastes and his Roman education. The professors of the College, headed by his old friend Father Ignatius Spencer, met him, according to medieval Catholic custom, at the door, vested in cassock and surplice, and walked with him in full procession to the chapel, intoning the antiphon always used in honour of a bishop of the Church : ' Ecce sacerdos magnus, qui in diebus suis placuit Deo.' A formal address of welcome followed, and a reply from the new President, before the party passed to the usual greetings of the nine- teenth century. Wiseman was at this time at the height of his Continental reputation. ' The universal knowledge of the illustrious Anglo-Roman,' said a writer in the ' Univers,' just before his consecration, 346 CARDINAL WISEMAN ' has fixed on him the eyes of Europe. . . . [He is now] going to take his place among the new Augustines whom a new Gregory sends forth to achieve a second time the conquest of luigland.' From the very first he had his own views as to his work in Oscott. The pecuHarly critical juncture in the Oxford Movement, and its new attitude towards Rome, were his first care. Father Spencer's advances to the party had been followed by intercourse with them on the part of other English Catholics. Puginand Mr. Lisle Phillipps had become acquainted with such followers of Newman as Frederick Oakeley, W. G. Ward and J. R. Bloxam ; ' and it was clear from their accounts that, if the leader had shown doubt, some ol the disciples had shown more. Tract No. 90 was pub- lished in February 1841, a few months after Wiseman's arrival, and the events which succeeded its appearance more than confirmed their report. Thus, within a short time of Wiseman's installation as President, a programme was drawn up for his Oscott career, full of those large designs which were in keeping with his nature. Oscott was to be the centre which was to draw the Catholic Movement in the Established Church towards the Apostolic See. It was to be the scene of Xho. pourparlers between the ambassadors on either side. And to Englishmen who were moved by the Catholic influences of the time it would be a ' beacon light,' and the reflection of ' dear Rome.' The majority of the Oscott professors were absorbed in College routine, and from the first were quite out of sympathy with what they considered the ' Then Fellow of Magdalen, afterwards Mcar of Upper Beeding. PRESIDENT OF O SCOTT 347 adventurousness of Wiseman's designs. To talk of the conversion of an influential party among the Anglicans as a practical hope, or as the basis of present action, was to them quite unreal ; and their opposition caused Wiseman's sensitive nature much suffering. But Father Ignatius Spencer was there, eagerly seconding Wiseman's designs, and Pugin, a frequent visitor at Oscott, threw in a supply of enthusiasm, terribly earnest with all its quaintness. These two men gave to Wiseman's sanguine dreams the support of piety and genius which none could gainsay. And in perhaps a lesser degree he had the sympathy of Dr. Logan, his Vice-President, an old Cambridge man and a convert. George Errington came to Oscott a little later ; but he was more interested in the work of reforming the English Catholic body than in W^iseman's wider designs ; and the accession to the Oscott staff of converts from the Tractarian party itself did not take place for some years. Of the unwavering hope which is the keynote to Wiseman's Oscott career, and which was never extinguished by the discouragement of his colleagues, he thus speaks in a Memorandum written in 1847, to which I have referred in a former chapter : There was one thought (besides trust in Him \\'hose unworthy servant I was, and in her whose patronage has never failed me) which cheered and supported me, from the first dawn of hope which visited me in Italy, from the day of Newman and P'roude's visit to me. Never, never for an instant, did I waver in my full conviction that a new era had commenced in England. . . . To the pi'omotion of this grand object of England's hopes 1 had devoted myself. Puny and worthless as might be my efforts, 348 CARDINAL WISEMAN they had been oftered to this one end ; the favourite studies of my former years were abandoned for the pursuit of this aim alone. Among the providential agencies that seemed justly timed, and even necessary for it, appeared to me the erection of this noble College, in the very heart of England. Often in my darkest days and hours, feeling as if alone in my hopes, have I walked in front of it, and casting my eyes towards it, exclaimed to myself, ' No, it was not to educate a few boys that this was erected, but to be the rallying-point of the yet silent but vast movement towards the Catholic Church, which has commenced and must prosper.' I felt as assured of this as if the word of prophecy had spoken it. Of the circumstances and surroundings which enabled Wiseman in some measure to realise his dream, I must speak shortly in detail. Let me, however, first give some account of the man as he appeared in the days of his presidcnc}' to those who lived in the College. Lord Acton writes of him as follows : I was at Oscott from 1843 to the end of 1848, and went through the whole school from end to end. We would all have said that our impressions of Dr. Wiseman were pleasant. We were proud of him ; we were not afraid of him ; he was approachable and gracious, and no great friend of discipline, and I heard him boast that he never assigned punish- ment. We were conscious that he was a conspicuous, even a celebrated, man, and that he had the best of the Oxford contro- versy. The converts used to appear amongst us, and he seemed to exhibit their scalps. None of my immediate friends survive ; but I am sure that Lord Dormer, Archbishop Stonor, Bishop Bagshawe, Father Eyre, Bishop Knight, would go so far with me. The teaching or governing body was heterogeneous. There was the Roman element, represented chiefly by Errington ; a group of early converts (independent of Tract XC) : Spencer, Logan, Heneage ; a number of local Midland clergy : Morgan, Brown, Bagnall, Green ; some actual Tractarians : Renouf, Bernard Smith, and PRESIDENT OF O SCOTT 349 especially J. B. Morris ; and there were a few Irishmen, or presumptive Irishmen, such as the historian Flanagan. I don't think that the President amalgamated all these, or inflamed them with his spirit, or gave them any very definite direction. He was thinking of other things, and looking far afield, and these other things were what characterised him. We used to see him with Lord Shrewsbury, with O'Connell, with Father Mathew, with a Mesopotamian patriarch, with Newman, with Pugin, and we had a feeling that Oscott, next to Pekin, was a centre of the world. I think that this was stimu- lating and encouraging, and certainly made for his authority. Mr. Bernard Smith, here alluded to by Lord Acton (the B. S. of Newman's ' Apologia ';,' who lived at Oscott from 1842 to 1847, kindly supplies me with the following notes of his own recollections : As Fellow of Magdalen I had known Routh and many of the most distinguished Oxford men of the time, including Newman, Pusey and Keble. But excepting" Newman (whose gifts were so different) I had never come across anyone who gave me nearly so much the impression of Si great man as Dr. Wiseman — a man with great gifts, great designs and a truly large heart. He was, however, emphatically a great Bishop rather than a great President. His distinction gave prestige to Oscott, and drew many eminent men to the place ; but the minuticE of college discipline and routine did not interest him. He left such things to others. I remember his being astonished when I told him certain particulars as to the method followed by one of the professors (Mr. Logan) in a matter on which most Presidents would have been well informed ; and another time, on my speaking to him of the proposed dismissal of one of the servants, owing to what appeared to me an entire misunderstanding, he said, decidedly, ' I cannot interfere. I leave such things entirely to the housekeeper.' It was his habit to trust in such matters the representative of the particu- lar department. But as a Bishop, constantly visiting various parts of the diocese, giving retreats to the clergy, urging them ' Now Canon Smith of Great Marlow. The notes in the text were taken down by me in conversation with Canon Smith. 3SO CARDINAL WISEMAN to greater zeal and raising their tone, he was indeed an acqui- sition to the Church in England ; and still more as a centre of the Catholic Movement. His direct personal influence was very wide. Not only was he in frequent communication with leaders of the Oxford Movement, but he was in touch with the world in a way in which no other English Catholic of the time was. He was much away from the College visiting at great houses, Protestant and Catholic. His presence at Oscott, as well as that of Mr. Spencer and Mr. Heneage — an ex-diplomatist, who received Holy Orders — brought there from time to time distin- guished men of the world. We had visits from such men as Mr. Gladstone, Lord Lyttelton, the Due de Bordeaux, Daniel O'Connell, Lord Spencer, Monckton Milnes (afterwards Lord Houghton), and many others.^ The presence of company was needed to bring Dr. Wise- man's gifts out ; but once roused he was most stimulating and interesting in his conversation. He was not often interesting as a solitary companion — though a most kind and wise spiritual director. But at the dinner table in the professors' dining-room his conversation was very brilliant. He had innumerable anec- dotes of his Roman life, many of which have since been printed in his ' Recollections of the Last Four Popes.' He talked much of art, of the liturgy — on both of which subjects his knowledge was minute — and also of current political topics and of the Oxford Movement. He had also many anecdotes of his travels, and one had a constant sense of his being a great cosmopolitan. On his return to Oscott in the year 1844, after his tour in Spain, which he had not visited since his childhood, I remember his saying as he sat down to dinner, ' I now know that Italy is the most beautiful country in Europe.' He had a fund of genial humour, and I remember how it came out when O'Connell visited Oscott. The Celtic element in him showed itself strongly on that occasion, as O'Connell and he walked about the College arm-in-arm, telling good stories to each other and laughing heartily. His schemes and ideas were very grand, and he ne\er counted the cost. He disliked going into money matters. I have never seen him even pay for a fly from the station. His ' I have here added from other sources two names besides those specified by Mr. Smith, PRESIDENT OF O SCOTT 351 secretary or the College procurator discharged this necessary duty : it seemed out of keeping with his rather grandiose habits that he should do so himself. On one occasion he walked through St. Chad's with Hardman all the morning, Hardman suggesting additions or alterations, and Wiseman acquiescing and adding further plans. Before they parted Hardman pro- posed to send an estimate, and Wiseman showed the greatest astonishment. ' I thought you meant to do it at your own expense,' he said. Once he had made friends with Pugin, he gave him carte blanche to a great extent. He alwa)s seemed to think that the necessary money ought to come somehow. The result was considerable pecuniary embarrassment for the College, and for this among other reasons he was criticised by the professors. He was spiritual director to many of the boys and divines. In this capacity he was most kind and tender- hearted and never teasing. With the boys he was also a great favourite in recreation time. Directly he appeared in the playground they crowded round him, and he stood with his hands in his pockets telling them anecdotes, and looking on at the games, in which he took a keen interest. The slight element of pompousness in his manner quite disappeared when he was with boys, and he almost seemed like one of them in his enjoyment of their society. To his kindly and genial relations with young people we may here insert another testimony from an able, though adverse critic. ' He was a lover of children,' wrote the late Mr. Oxenham, ' and is said never to have appeared to greater advantage than in their company. One who knew him very welf, and very much disliked him, used, nevertheless, to relate that when he was saying his prayers, or telling or listening to a good story, his countenance, ordinarily unattractive, wore a new expression. Some people laugh only with their eyes, others, which is worse, only with their mouths. The Cardinal's enjoyment showed itself all over his face.' 352 CARDINAL WISEMAN His spiritual retreats to the boys [continues Mr. Smith] were very beautiful, and made a great impression. He was very striking, too, at a death-bed. On one occasion a College bailiff fell down suddenly in a dying state while talking to a professor. Dr. Wiseman was summoned, and his collected calmness and- earnest piety, as he helped the man to make his confession and to pray, is a thing never to be forgotten by those who witnessed it. He was ever generous and kind to persons in distress. His tenderness of heart sometimes misled him, as on one occasion when he found a tramp apparently starving, and had him brought into the College and put to bed. The man did not repay him with due gratitude. Pie was intensely sensitive and shy. On one occasion I had opposed him in some matter and he sent for me. His em- barrassment was so great when I appeared that he sat silent for some three or four minutes before he could bring himself to enter on the subject. He had a great gift of attracting people to him, and there were many tears shed when he left the College. Many would not stay there after his departure. He was occasionally imperious in exacting obedience from his priests, but was ever a true friend in trouble. In helping those who consulted him on difficulties as to the faith, he seldom relied much on his own arguments, but generally recommended a Retreat, or advised them to consult some holy man. While at Oscott he rose at six, came regularly to meditation at 6.30, and spent all his morning in his room writing letters, pastorals, or articles. He lectured to the Divines at stated intervals, and his lectures, which were delivei'ed with great fluency, were very popular. In Oscott, as previously in Rome, there was no doubt an impression of such many-sidedness as to puzzle those to whom his Celtic temperament was not entirely congenial. We see this impression in Lord Acton's account of him. ' What struck me most,' he writes, ' was his extraordinary facility. On almost every occasion he could speak . , . Wiseman was an accomplished Ritualist . . . The chapel in his time was splendidly managed. And he PRESIDENT OF O SCOTT 353 secured a very great library — Marini's or Garampi's, I forget which — and sent for a monk of Monte Cassino, who pasted Httle coloured patches on the books and perhaps arranged them, but never lent them out.' In the midst of the library work came O'Conncll's death, and Wiseman was at once licart and soul in the liturgy of the Requiem for his friend, much to the impatience of the scholastic monk, who exclaimed with grim humour, ' Quare non amplius sinunt ilium manere in purgatorio vanum hominem ? ' ' Wiseman invited Gioberti ' to Oscott,' continues Lord Acton, ' and when that went off, introduced Rosminians — chiefly, I think, Frenchmen. The point is that he was an all-round person, and we did not clearly see his drift.' ' It was with no intention of leading a secluded or scholastic life,' writes Lord Houghton, ' that Dr Wiseman came to England. He mixed freely in the interests and topics of the time. . . . Dr. Wiseman extended his society beyond his co-religionists, and would in time have come to be regarded as any other distinguished man of letters. A decorous precedence was willingly given to him in Protestant houses, and he was becoming gradually esteemed as an author.' Circumstances, however, soon concentrated Wiseman's life-work on matters ecclesiastical. When Wiseman arrived at Oscott he found going on there already what was styled by its author a great Catholic Movement — the architectural revival of ' The Abbate Gioberli played a very important part in the movement for Itahan unity. Something is said on this subject in a later chapter. Antonio Rosmini, the founder of the Order of Charity, was also at one time actively concerned in the movement. See Chap. XVI. VOL. I, A A 354 CARDINAL WISEMAN Augustus' Wclby Pugin. And certainly, for single- hearted and devoted enthusiasm there was no one more remarkable among the prominent figures of the time. The close connexion between Pugin and Wiseman in the succeeding years makes it necessary to say a few words as to the career of this great architect. Wc have already seen that the plainest structures had hitherto been used as chapels for the ' Papists,' to insure their safety from destruction by the mob. But the time had now come when it was thought safe to depart from this rule, and Pugin, of whose reception into the Church I have already spoken, had been at work for three years building churches, chiefly in the Midland district of England, of which Dr. Walsh was Vicar Apostolic. He had substituted also the old Gothic vestments, with cer- tain slight modifications, for the French pattern which our countrymen inherited from Douay. His whole soul dwelt in the middle ages. His enterprise was fairly launched in 1839, a year before Wiseman reached Oscott. It was in that year that he finally fixed his ideal of the form of Catholic ceremonial, for uhose restoration he was to work. The ancient Plain Song was to be used to the exclusion of all operatic music or orchestral accompaniments. The priests were to dress in the modified Gothic vestments. The new churches were to be modelled on the best medieval parish churches and cathedrals in England. In the early days of his Oscott career he had not advocated the Gregorian chant to the exclusion of other music ; but the severer taste of his friend Ambrose Phillipps PRESIDENT OF O SCOTT 355 prevailed with him. It was of little use building Catholic churches, Pugin was wont to say, if they were to be used as fiddling rooms. A word as to the manner and appearance of this extraordinary man, who gave to the Oscott of Wise- man so much of its distinctive character. One who often saw him describes him as generally ciressed in a dark cloak with light-coloured trousers, his hair long and straight, his eye full of fire and vivacity. * My dear sir,' was his favourite apostrophe at the be- ginning or end of his discourses. ' An abrupt and rapid mode of speech, an appearance of great excita- bility, but not of irritability,' is the testimony of the same witness. There was constant wrath against architectural heretics ; but wrath of full volume rather than irritation. A violence of expression characterised his conversation in all that related to architecture, which might appear like conscious burlesque, but it was given forth with entire serious- ness. ' Pugin was infinitely amusing,' writes J. B. Mozley, after two dinner-parties in his company at Oxford, in 1840, 'in his peculiar v\ay — architecture of course, church ceremonies, liturgies, antiquities of all kinds, being the subjects. He is the most unwearied talker for a spirited one that I ever heard. From six o'clock to eleven on Saturday he was on the move, never stopping, and when he left off he was quite the same as when he began . . . everything moves his wrath, especially in architecture. Such an one " ought to be hanged " for building such a steeple. He is never satisfied with half terms, but sends people to their final destination the instant they become offen- 356 CARDINAL WISEMAN sive. I said the Dean of York ought to be suspended. " In what way, sir ? " as quick as h'ghtning.' Pugin told Mr. Mozley that Gothic architecture should be revived wherever Christianity extended. Operatic music in a church was desecration. When the church at Derby was to be opened, he insisted on Gregorian with organ accompaniment ; but ' what was his disgust, the night before, when he saw a man with a fiddle-case making his way to the organ loft. He could hardly forbear,' he said, ' knocking him down with his own fiddle.' He at once left the place and refused to attend the opening. Pugin claimed to be no bigot. He gave himself every chance of doing justice to Italian architecture and music, and paid a visit to Rome itself in the early forties. The electric shocks which his Roman experiences caused him were a source of amusement to his friends. The Renaissance statues were one grievance. ' I at- tempted to say my prayers in the Gesu,' he said to Dr. Northcote, ' I looked up, hoping to see some- thing which would stimulate my devotion. But I saw only legs sprawling over me. I expected them to begin to kick me next, and rushed out.' He visited ' Sant' Andrea delle Fratte,' the scene of the miraculous conversion of Abbe Ratisbonne, the Jew. Abbe Ratisbonne entered the church a Jew, and came out a Christian, having seen there, he stated, a vision of our Lady. ' The story,' Pugin said, after seeing the church, ' is demonstrably false. The man could not have said a pra}'er in such a hideous church. Our Lady could not have chosen such a church for a vision. The man could have had no piety in him to PRESIDENT OF O SCOTT 357 have stayed in such a church at all.' The friend to whom his remarks were addressed replied : 'As I heard the story, Ratisbonne was not at the moment praying, but thinking of the uncouthncss of the architecture of the place.' Pugin's whole face changed : ' Is that so ? Then he was a man of God. He knew what true Christianity was, though he was a Jew. I honour him. Our Lady would have come to him aiiyivJicre. The story is demonstrably true.' Pugin preached and practised a veritable gospel of work, and in Mr. J. R. Bloxam's words ' did in a few years the work of a lifetime.' ' Fishing, my dear sir ! ' he said, in pain and disgust, when he found one of the Oxford converts angling in a stream near Oscott ; ' life is not meant for that sort of thing. At six o'clock this morning I was at the top of St. Chad's steeple.' Such was the man who ultimately infused into numbers both of Catholics and of Anglicans his own enthusiasm for the externals of the medieval Church. His influence was not confined to England. In Catholic Germany, owing partly to his friendship with the two Reichensbcrgers, he was instrumental in bringing about a great revival of architectural and artistic studies. The effects of this revival are still visible, and in many of the Theological Seminaries there is a special chair of architecture and art. But, among English Catholics especially, his efforts met at first with opposition. The partly successful attempt, in 1839, to obtain a censure from Propaganda on Pugin's vestments as innovations only confirmed him in the feeling that he was fighting for a sacred cause which was unappreciated. 358 CARD [NAT. WISEMAN The censure was, however, removed, and Pugin's hopes in some degree revived. In March 1840, he was at work gathering fresh inspiration from a tour through some of the old parish churches of Eng- land. He visited Stamford, Newark, Grantham, Crowland, the Norfolk coast, Norwich, Milford, Bury St. Edmunds, Laversham, and Ipswich. He visited J. R. Bloxam at Oxford in October, and was carried away by the Catholic enthusiasm he found there. He wrote to his friends prophesying ' glorious results ' from the movement. It was a little later in the same year that Pugin's first collision with Dr. Wiseman occurred, which soon gave place to hearty co-operation alike in their work for Catholic ceremonies and architecture and in their communications with the Oxford School. Wiseman's arrival at Oscott was naturally looked on with anxiety and' suspicion by Pugin. A man who had lived in basilicas for twenty-two years could scarcely be free from Paganism. Young and vigorous, he would soon supplant Dr. Walsh, and the whole Midland district would be perverted. In December Pugin learned that his rood screen, at St. Chad's Catholic Cathedral in Birmingham, was threatened by the new Bishop. Pugin was deeply indignant. ' Wiseman has shown his real sentiments,^ he said to a friend ; and he at once wrote that if the screen were touched he would not remain architect of the church another day. Wiseman and Pugin, however, soon came to an understanding, which was remarkable enough consid- ering that Wiseman's architectural tastes were formed in Rome. He recognised Pugin's genius, and with PRESIDENT OF OSCOTT 3S9 characteristic largeness encouraged his work, although it was not in harmony with his own personal prefer- ences. But to the end there were occasional differ- ences between the two men, notably in their attitude towards rood screens. A story very characteristic of Pugin's intense feeling on this subject is told. Pugin was showing to an Anglican friend the rood screen which he had erected at St Barnabas's, Nottingham. ' Within,' he said, ' is the Holy of Holies. The people remain outside. Never is the sanctuary entered by any save those in sacred orders.' At this moment a priest appeared within the sanctuary in company with two ladies. Pugin in acute excitement said to the sacristan, ' Turn those people out at once. How dare they enter ? ' ' Sir,' said the sacristan, ' it is Bishop Wiseman.' Pugin, powerless to do anything, sank down on a neighbouring bench, and burst into tears.' Pugin and Wiseman remained, indeed, through- out, like the representatives of allied armies of different nations — working together for the common cause, but with strong differences of habit and tradition. They first united effectively in carrying out the liturgical and ceremonial arrangements at Oscott. We shall shortly trace in detail the succession of events in which the new President had of necessity to play the part of controversialist and diplomatist, in dealing with the development of the Oxford Movement ; but it was a much more unmixed plea- sure to him to aim at bringing to perfection the devotional rites in Oscott Chapel. The poetry and ' See IV. G. Ward and the Catholic Revival, p. 386. 36o CARDINAL WISEMAN symbolism of the Catholic liturgy were, according to the testimony of all his friends, the subject of his greatest interest and enthusiasm. He had learned to love the liturg)' in its wonderful presentation at the Sixtine Chapel ; and he endeavoured, as far as might be, in this as in other things, to bring Rome to England. He was fully alive to the transitory nature of the theological controversy of the hour — to its refer- ence to a passing state of opinion. He foresaw that a few years later the crucial controversy would not be about the Thirty-nine Articles, but about all belief in the supernatural world. ' Fifty years hence,' he said one day to the Divines in the middle of a theological lecture, ' the professors of this place will be endeavour- ing to prove, not transubstantiation, but the existence of God.' 1 Controversy was in its nature ephemeral — as well as distasteful to his genial and kindly nature. But the Church liturgy was a part of that life of the Church which was more near the source of its strength than any phase of dialectics. The deep feelings and beliefs of the early Christians, the poetry of their faith and its intense reality, had embodied themselves in the liturgy which was handed down. Here we have the living imaginative pictures which had inspired Christians before the medieval dialectics were known to them ; which should inspire with the same spirit the Christians of our own time, and which would outlive our own disputes as they have outlived those of Abelard and those of Luther. The meditations they aroused were the permanent and ' I cite this from Bishop Wilkinson's recollections. PRESIDENT OF O SCOTT 361 unchanging heritage of the Church, never to pass away ; while each intellectual phase was in its nature only transient. Nothing seemed more unreal to Wiseman than the language sometimes used as to the ' theatrical ' nature of the Catholic liturgy or as to its ' pomp ' ; — as though it were only suitable to inferior minds. No doubt mere gorgeous vestments and splendid processions might be so spoken of; but when these are coupled with the vivid representation of the primary facts of Christian faith — the Passion, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Last Judg- ment — such criticisms become meaningless. By the sceptic all external rites might be classed together as a ' show ' ; but not by those who believed in what they symbolised. The ceremonies themselves were arranged to bring before the mind mighty forces which had governed the world — the story of our Lord's life and death, the deeds of the heroes of Church history, the Judgment which every Christian expects to undergo after death. The very sceptic ought to recognise the importance of their effect on believers — and perhaps the impression left by the Roman ceremonial on such a man as Macaulay may have been partly due to this recognition ; but in those who believed that a vast supernatural world had really worked upon the minds of men through these instru- ments, such depreciatory language was absurd. ' The symbolical ceremonies of the Church recall to me the Apocalypse of St. John,' Wiseman once said. Forms were the necessary means of bringing home spiritual truths to the natural man ; 362 CARDINAL WISEMAN The spiritual in Nature's market place, The silent alphabet of heaven in man Made vocal — banners blazoning a Power That is not seen and rules from far away — A silken cord let down from Paradise When fine philosophies would fail to draw The crowd from wallowing in the mire of earth.' While, then, Pugin was perfecting the architec- tural arrangements of Oscott chapel with his inimit- able genius, Wiseman gave the greatest care to all details of the liturgj^ Ceremonial and music were both carried to the greatest perfection, and made a deep impression on those who visited the place. Old Oscott men recall Wiseman's interest in each detail of their preparation, the selection of the music, the arrangement of the symbolical portions of the ceremony. One favourite specimen of the symbolical liturgy was the transformation in the middle of the service on Holy Saturday, representing the change from the entombment of our Lord to His Resur- rection. For three days, according to the rubric, no bell or organ has been heard — the silence be- tokening mourning for the dying and dead Christ. The office on the third day represents the night of the Resurrection, beginning in sadness. At the Mass the Resurrection itself is symbolised. The priest casts aside his purple vestments and appears in white. Flowers are placed on the altar. Bells are rung, and the organ is played at the Gloria in Excelsis. At Oscott the most critical part of the transformation was effected instantaneously. As the Gloria in Ex- celsis was intoned, the purple hangings were stripped ' Tennyson, in Akbar^s Dream, p. 34. rRESFDEXT OF O SCOTT 363 from the windows and the dark church became sud- denly light, the images and pictures, hitherto draped in purple, were unveiled, while the organ pealed its loudest and every bell in the house was rung, and the story of the Resurrection was told, amid all the ac- companiments of a great festival — the language of the Gospels being repeatedly interrupted with the • Alleluia.' The few who remember that time speak of Wise- man's delight in the functions themselves, the ex- pression on his face significant of the zest with which he took in each note of the music, and the poetry of the ceremony and of the words. It was the Church in action. These ancient liturgical rites were the exhibition of great facts in Christian history just as they had appeared to the Fathers and Doctors of early ages, and our inheritance from them, not only of their words, but of their sacred dreams. Wiseman had been accustomed to them as among his chief delights in early life, and he always turned back to them in joy and relief His way of looking at the liturgy will be most vividly represented in his own words, in a lecture delivered shortly before he came to Oscott. The lecture refers primarily to the ceremonies of Holy Week, in which the dramatic element is strongest, but it also covers a wider field. He writes as follows : The prevailing character of poetry throughout these ser- vices is the dramatic in its noblest sense. Before, however, exemplifying my observations, I have something to premise. I may be thought incautious in the selection of the term I have just used, as though it gave some countenance to the silly remark so often made upon the Catholic worship, as scenic, showy, or 364 CARDINAL WISEMAN theatrical. Even if what I am going to say brought me in contact with such commonplace sneers, I should not shrink from it, because I do not think the poverty of words, which is felt in all languages, should be the basis of an argument. Nor, if pomp and magnificence, which formerly belonged to every- thing royal and noble, have in modern times been confined in our country to theatres, and have thence received a reproachful name, will anyone conclude that the Church, which has pre- served them, ought to abandon them in consequence. Nay, I should think anyone betrayed great want of sense who tra- duced as theatrical that which existed before theatres. The pomp of the Levitical worship was certainly great and im- posing, and would bear that ignominious name as well as ours. Yet God commanded it ; and it is but a poor speech that can find no better name to give it. But when I speak of the dramatic form of our ceremonies, I make no reference whatever to outward display ; and I choose that epithet for the reason already given, that the poverty of language affords me no other for my meaning. The object and power of dramatic poetry consist in its being not merely descriptive but representative ; and that, not only when reduced to action, but even when only consisting of words. Its character is to bear away the imagination and soul to the view of what others witnessed, and excite in us, through their words, such impressions as they might have naturally felt on the occasion. The inspired poets of the old law — the prophets, I mean — are full of this lofty and powerful poetry. Nothing can be more truly dramatic, as Louth has observed, than the opening of the sixty- third chapter of Isaiah, ' where the Messiah and a chorus are represented as holding a splendid colloquy together. The latter first asks : ' Who is this that cometh from Edom with garments dyed in Bozra ? ' The other replies : ' I am the proclaimer of justice, mighty in salvation.' The chorus again demands : ' Why then is thy raiment red, and thy garments as of one who hath trodden the wine-press ? ' And he again answers : ' I have trodden the wine-press alone.' This is dramatic in the noblest sense of the word, as are many other passages in the same sub- lime prophet. The Psalms ai'e often constructed in the same manner, as I may have occasion to observe later ; but the ' De Sacra Poesi, p. 318 (Oxford, 1810). PRESIDENT OF O SCOTT 365 Canticle of Solomon and the Hook of Job are examples of a dramatic composition of a much higher order, where scene succeeds to scene, and a growing beauty or majesty of dialogue ... is exhibited which will defy all rivalry from the fairest specimens of uninspired poetry. The service of the Church is throughout eminently poetical. Not a portion of its office is without some hymn, often of singular beauty ; and it would be easy to point out a tendency to poetical construction even in many of its prayers, litanies and antiphons. But the dramatic power, such as I have described it, runs through the service in a most marked manner, and must be kept in view for its right understanding. Thus, for example, the entire service for the dead, office, exequies, and Mass, refers to the moment of death, and bears the imagination to the awful crisis of separation between body and soul. No matter that the anniversary of one deceased be commemorated a century or more after his death, and its object be to obtain release from a place of temporary chastisement, where at least his eternal lot of happiness is secured ; the prayers of the Church represent him as in peril, struggling against foes, upon the edge of the dismal pit of endless woe. In the pathetic Offertory of the Mass, our Saviour is entreated to ' save him from the lion's mouth, lest hell should swallow him up, and he fall into darkness.' In the Gradual, He is implored to absolve the dead from sin, 'that they may escape the judgment of His vengeance' ; and through the office the versicle is repeated : ' From the gates of hell snatch their souls, O Lord.' In like manner, words of the most solemn expression are put into the mouths of the departed ; which represent them as still engaged in doubtful contest. All this is exceedingly awful and beautiful, when considered in the light I have suggested, as transporting us to that scene where the real reckoning between justice and mercy takes place, and working up our feelings of fervour and earnestness to that intense energy which a prayer at that decisive moment would inspire. In like manner, and with the same beautiful spirit, the Church prepares us during Advent for the commemoration of our dear Redeemer's birth, as though it were really yet to take place. We are not dryly exhorted to profit by that blessed event, and its solemnisation ; but we are daily made to sigh 366 CARDINAL WISEMAN with the Fathers of old, ' Send down the dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One ; let the earth be opened, and bud forth the Redeemer.' The Collects on three of the four Sundays of that season begin with the words ' Lord, raise up Thy power and come' ; as though we feared our iniqui- ties would prevent His being born. . . . Through the Catholic service of that season the same sentiment is kept alive, becom- ing more and more defined as the festival approaches ; and [on the festival itself] the same ideal return to the very moment and circumstances of our Divine Redeemer's birth is expressed. The shepherds are desired, in poetical language, to declare what they have seen ; and all the glories of the day are represented to the soul as if actually occurring. In all this it is impossible not to recognise the highest poetical expression of the feelings most suitable to the event commemorated, by carrying them back, with dramatic power, to the scene itself. This principle, which will be found to animate the Church service of every other season, rules most remarkably that of Holy Week, and gives it soul and life. It is not intended to be merely commemorative or historical ; it is strictly speak- ing representative. The Church puts herself into mourning, as though her Spouse were now undergoing His cruel fate ; she weeps over Jerusalem, as if the measure of her iniquity were not yet filled up, and the punishment which has overtaken her might yet be averted. Our blessed Saviour is made, in the beautiful Iinpropcria on Good Friday, to address the Jews as though still His people, and expostulate with them on their ungrateful return for His benefits : not, of course, speaking to the unfortunate remnant of that people scattered over the world, but to the entire nation, as though actually engaged in their barbarity towards Him. Whoever looks not at these functions in this sense, and reads not the offices, sung or recited during them, with this feeling, will certainly neither relish nor under- stand them. Why, he will ask, are the Lamentations of Jeremiah sung in such pathetic melody, bewailing the destruction and captivity of the Jewish people, while we should rather be lamenting our own sins which crucified the Son of Man ? Because the Church rather hopes to win her way by these very sentiments to our hearts— by movingly exciting analogous feelings respecting, PRESIDENT OF O SCOTT 367 the old people of God through that mixture of indignation and compassion which the witnessing of their crime would most powerfully have excited. Wherefore throughout the antiphons and versicles, and other minuter parts of the service, are the words so selected that they could appear spoken by none but our Saviour Himself during His Passion ? Because it is wished to represent that very scene in such a manner that our affec- tions should be excited rather as they would have been had He addressed us, or His people in our presence, in that solemn and feeling hour, than as they are likely to be by our own cold meditations. But the rich poetry of this idea will be still more notably marked and felt if we analyse any of the services. Palm Sun- day is intended to commemorate the triumphant entry of our Lord into Jerusalem, and the first preparatory steps of His Passion. This might have been announced by a lesson or exhortation, informing the faithful of the object and character of the festival. Instead of this cold, formal method, a chorus, precisely as in the best Greek tragedy, is charged with this duty. It opens the service in true dramatic style, by singing, with noble simplicity, ' Hosanna to the Son of David : blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. O King of Israel, Hosanna in the highest.' After this burst, the priest, or offici- ating bishop, introduces the service by a short but expressive prayer, begging a blessing on the commemoration of Christ's Passion, which is going to commence. The subdeacon then reads a lesson from Exodus, in which, with an appropriate, and consequently beautiful, analogy to the festival, God, after Israel had rested beneath the palm trees of Elim, promises complete redemption, with the evidence thereof, from the Egjptian bondage.' Such an introduction is at once harmonious, noble, and most apt. It contains the type, whose fulfilment is about to engage our attention. The chorus again comes in, and prepares the way for what will follow, by recounting the con- spiracy of the Jewish priests for Christ's destruction, and the prophecy of Caiphas, that one should die for the people lest all should perish. Then at length, the deacon fully unfolds the nature of the day's celebration, by chaunting the gospel that recounts the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and the song of ' Exodus XV. 368 CARDINAL WISEMAN joy with which it was accompanied. The celebrant (in the Sixtine Chapel, the Pope himself) then proceeds to bless the prepared palms — that is, to invoke the benediction of Heaven on all who devoutly bear and keep them in remembrance of this openin}4 event of our redemption. . . . When the palms have been distributed, the scene of Christ's triumph is actually represented by a procession in which they are borne. Here again the true dramatic feeling of the scene is kept up by the chorus, which, beginning with the account of our Saviour's sending two disciples to Bethania, to procure the humble ass on which he was to ride, describes that procession in a series of strophes which increase in beauty till they reach a sentiment perfectly lyrical, and exclaim : ' In faith be we united with the angels and those children crying out to the triumpher over death, " Hosanna in the highest." ' . . . But there is another part of the office performed on Sunday and repeated on Friday, which goes much beyond all this in dramatic power and sublimity of representative effect. I allude, as many of you will readily understand, to the chaunting of the Passion, according to St. Matthew and St. John, in the service of these two days. This is performed by three inter- locutors, in the habit of deacons, who distribute among them- selves the parts as follows. The narrative is given by one in a strong manly tenor voice ; the words of our Saviour are chaunted in a deep solemn bass, and whatever is spoken by any other person is given by the third in a high contralto. This at once produces a dramatic effect : each part has its particular cadence, of old, simple, but rich chaunt, suited to the character represented, and worthy of ancient tragedy. That of the narrator is clear, distinct, and slightly modulated ; that in which ordinary interlocutors speak, sprightly and almost bordering upon colloquial familiarity : but that in which our Saviour's words are uttered is slow, grave, and most solemn, beginning low and ascending by full tones, then gently varied in rich though simple modulations, till it ends by a graceful and expres- sive cadence, modified with still greater effect in interrogatory phrases. This rhythm is nearly the same in all Catholic churches, but in the Pope's chapel has the advantage of being sung by three of the choir instead of by ordinary clergymen, PRESIDENT OF O SCOTT 369 and consequently by voices most accurately intoned and most scientifically trained. But the peculiar beauty, or rather the magnificence, of this dramatic recitation in the Sixtine Chapel, consists in the chorus. For, whenever the Jewish crowd are made to speak, in the his- tory of the Passion, or, indeed, whenever any number of indivi- duals interfere, the choir bursts in with its simple but massive harmony, and expresses the sentiment with a truth and energy which thrills through the frame and overpowers the feelings. These choruses were composed in 1585, by Thomas Lewis de Victoria, native of Avila, and contemporary with the immortal Palestrina, who did not attempt to correct or alter them : pro- bably, as his worthy successor, Baini, has observed to me, because he found them so perfect and suited to their intention. There are twenty-one in the Gospel of Sunday, and only fourteen in that of Friday. The phrases, too, of which they consist, in the first, are longer and more capable of varied expression than in the latter, and the composer has taken full advantage of this circum- stance. When the Jews cry out : ' Crucify him,' or' Barabbas,' the music, like the words, is concentrated with frightful energy, and consists of just as many notes as syllables ; yet, in the three notes of the last word, a passage of key is effected, as simple as it is striking. In this, and in most of the choruses, the effect is rendered far more powerful by the abrupt termination which cuts the concluding note into a quaver (a note not known in the music of the Papal Choir), though in written measure it is a large or double breve. The entire harmony, though almost all composed of semibreves, is given in a quick but marked, and, so to speak, a stamping way, well suiting the tumultuous outcries of a furious mob. These are all traditional modifications of the written score, preserved alive from year to year among the musicians, since the original composer's time. In the third chorus of St. Matthew's Passion, where the two false witnesses speak, it is in a duet, between a soprano and contralto, and the words are made to follow one another in a stumbling way, as though one always took up his story from the other, and the music is in a syncopated style ; one part either jarring with or clearly imitating the other's movements ; so that it most aptly represents the judgment that ' their testimony was not agreeing.' In the sixteenth, nothing could exceed the soft and moving VOL. L B B 370 CARDINAL WISEMAN tone in which the words, ' Hail, Kinjf of the Jews' are uttered. With all the expression belonging to their character, they powerfully draw the soul to utter in earnest what was intended in blasphemy. But towards the end these choruses increase in length, in richness, and variety. The seventeenth and eighteenth are masterpieces ; they are bolder in their transi- tions and most happy in their resolutions, and their final cadences swelling, majestic and full. In the Gospel of St. John, however, there are one or two phrases, which, if not so rich, are even more exquisite in their modulation. I would instance the tenth : ' If you let him go, you are no friend of Caesar's,' which is delightfully modulated. But far the most beautiful and pathetic in all the collection is the last chorus, ' Let us not divide it, but cast lots.' The parts succeed one another in a falling cadence, growing softer and softer, and almost dying away, till the entire chorus swells in a mildened but majestic burst. . . . The entire arrangement is upon a principle of deep dramatic design, well worthy of them, and calculated to produce a more solemn and devout impression on the soul than any recital or exposition of their momentous contents possibly could. The measured stately rhythm of the triple chaunt, in addition to the aid it receives from these choruses, has, besides, a poetical feeling superadded by the manner of its performance. For, without any appearance of artifice, the strong voice in which the historical recitation is delivered will be observed to soften gradually as the catastrophe approaches— reduced almost to a whisper as the last words upon the cross are related — and die away as the last breath of our Saviour's life is yielded ; when all — I would almost say, spontaneously — fall upon their knees, and a deep silence of some moments is observed and necessarily felt. n^ CHAPTER XII TRACT NO. 90 1841 PUGIN was, as has been already said, the first link between English Catholics and the Oxford School. His visits to Oxford were in the critical year 1840 — the year after Newman had abandoned the anti- Roman basis of the via media as untenable, and begun to look towards Rome. it is well known that the effect of this change on his part made some of his most energetic followers, who were already Roman in their sympathies, still more outspoken in that direction. Oakeley, Faber, W. G. Ward, Dal- gairns and Bloxam — Pugin's most intimate friend — were among these. After Pugin's first two visits to Oxford, in February and in October 1840, his corre- spondence with them became frequent. Corporate reunion with Rome was more and more explicitly spoken of by them as a practicable prospect, though its nature and extent were somewhat undefined. The pressing of individual conversions was deprecated, even by the most advanced of the party, as likely to prevent the realisation of any such hope. The corporate movement contemplated soon became limited, how- ever, to a large accession of Tractarians to Rome* B B 2 372 CARDINAL WISEMAN The events of 1841 nci^atived the idea of any action on the part of the National Church ; and Newman, Ward and Oakeley very soon came to sec that what was spoken of as ' reunion ' with Rome must amount to nothing less than submission to Rome. Tract 90 was, as we know, urged on by Newman's advanced followers. The only condition on which they could remain Anglicans was that it should be shown that their adherence to the Thirty-nine Articles was not inconsistent with their Roman sympathies, and committed them only to a protest against Roman .practical abuses. While Newman was writing the Tract, in January and February 1841, Pugin was receiving letters which greatly encouraged the hopes of Oscott and were duly communicated to Bishop Wiseman. The programme, which Pugin was urging on Wiseman as most promising, was the gradual winning of the English mind to sympathy with Catholic ideals — the monastic system, Catholic devo- tion to saints and shrines and the like — and keeping the Roman question out of sight. This was what the ' British Critic ' was, he said, gradually accom- plishing. Such a method, however, though undoubtedly the only one to make the tone of the country more Catholic and give ultimate hope of getting rid of its directly Protestant sympathies, was avowedly to decline any step which was immediately practical. Tract 90, which appeared on February 27, was a very different matter. With all its ambiguity, it did grapple with an immediately practical question. It not only aimed at making the tone of feeling, the TRACT NO. 90 J73 colour of devotion, the ethical ideal, more Catholic. It put the question. Can an English clergyman who sub- scribes the Thirty-nine Articles hold essentially, and apart from incidental corruptions, the creed of Rome ? And it suggested an affirmative answer. It put and answered in the negative the question. Were the Articles necessarily opposed to the decrees of the Council of Trent ? The answer was cloaked to some extent by Newman's subtle style, but its drift was plain. Oscott, as might be expected, rejoiced. At last it seemed that the Tractarians ' meant business.' Of the sensation caused by the Tract throughout the country it is needless to speak. Events moved rapidly. The protest against the Tract by four in- fluential Tutors — of whom the future Archbishop Tait was one — came in a week ; the censure of the Tract by the Hebdomadal Board of Oxford a week later ; and, most significant of all, the great engine for Catholicising the Anglican Church suddenly sus- pended operations : the Tracts were discontinued. The Bishop of Oxford had counselled it, and it was done. The temper of the Established Church was roused and showed itself unmistakably ; and the cen- sures of the Bishops on the Tracts, some months after- wards, were only the formal definition of an attitude already fully apparent. The English Church — so it was decided by her official representatives — was no home for these Catholic sentiments and practices. Wiseman had judged rightly that the Catholic positions of Newman, and even of Pusey and Keble, were far too firmly held to be shaken by any such display of hostility. From this fact he drew a con- 374 CARDINAL WISEMAN elusion which has proved only partially true. If the Church of England rejected such views (he argued) their obvious home was the Catholic and Roman Church. Intellectual difficulties and misapprehensions which in the ordinary course it might take years to clear up, must give way before the pressure of alternatives. The logic of facts must reinforce the logic of specu- lation. Newman wrote his explanatory letter to Dr. Jclf before March was ended. It did not materially alter the situation. It pointed out that the Tract did not justify the authoritative teaching of the Church of Rome, but only showed that the Articles were not directed against the Tridentine decrees, and raised the question, Could not these decrees taken by them- selves be reconciled with the Articles ? He reiterated his condemnation of the teaching of the Roman au- thorities in such matters as the worship of the Saints and of our Lady, and the doctrines of Purgatory, and Indulgences : but he intimated that such teaching might be abrogated, and was not finally ruled by any authoritative formularies. Wiseman hereupon took the field. He addressed a letter to Newman himself, ' not,' he explained, ' as presuming upon the passing acquaintance I made with you some years ago in Rome,' but from his ' earnest anxiety to convince ' one who had given so much proof of candour and sincerity. In such a case a direct personal appeal seemed more fitting than mere public controversy. The upshot of Wiseman's letter was that the attempt to establish real discrepancy between the de- TRACT NO. 90 375 crees of Trent and any authoritative teaching in the Roman Church was based on misapprehension. It rested either on attributing an authoritative character to what were merely local abuses, or more often to a misapprehension of what was taught in any official or quasi-official manner. Newman had spoken of the Roman schools as sanctioning superstitions which were at variance with Trent. Here Wiseman could speak with special authority. ' Bear with me,' he wrote, ' if I speak too prominently in my own name, because I have some right to come forward as witness in this matter. I have resided for two-and- twenty years in Rome, intimately connected with its theological education. For five years I attended the Roman schools in the Roman College, where all the clergy of the city were obliged to be educated. I went through the entire theological course and publicly main- tained it in a Thesis. Since then I have been always engaged in teaching theology in our national College, and for some years have held the office of professor in the Roman University. I ought, therefore, to be toler- ably well acquainted with the doctrines of the Roman schools.' He proceeds to give an analysis of the theological course, and shows that the questions con- cerning our Lady, the Saints, Indulgences, and the rest, of whose prominence many had complained, occupy only minute portions' of treatises which them- selves are a comparatively small portion of the course. He points out that the critical parts of practical Catholic devotion — those concerned with penance, regulation of life, illness, and death— the Exercises of St. Ignatius, for example, or the prayers 376 CARDINAL WISEMAN for sick and dying, keep with some accuracy the due sense of proportion between doctrine and senti- ment, making trust in our Lord and meditation on His example all in all. He in no way minimises the prominence of devotion to our Lady and the Saints, but he points out that its intensity as a matter of feel- ing does not in point of fact, even with the uneducated, lead to such inaccuracy in belief as Newman supposes. There is deep feeling for the Virgin in sorrow, and for the Virgin in joy : but why condemn tJiis as blasphe- mous ? Is not this the sin of Heli,' he writes, ' who, witnessing the deep feeling of Anna's prayer, pro- nounced her drunk } And has not many a poor Italian been equally unjustly judged when upon similar evi- dence he is pronounced an idolater ? ' He ends with an appeal of which Newman — already conscious that his position was changing, already uncertain whither he was drifting — could not but feel the force. You will remember that your late amiable friend, Mr. Froude, in one of his unhappy moments of hasty censure, pronounced us, not Catholics, but ' wretched Tridentines.' This expression was quoted, with apparent approbation, by his editors, in their preface.^ It seems hard that now we should be deprived of even this ' wretched ' title, and sunk by you a step lower in the scale of degradation. Still more it seems unaccountable that yoii should now court that title, and assert (as your Tract does) that while we have abandoned the doctrines of Trent, you, and those who take the Articles in your sense, interpret them in accordance with those doctrines. I say this in a spirit, not of reproach, but rather of charitable warning. That which you once considered a heavy imputation, you seem now to consider comparatively a light blame : for you would now be glad to see us in stricter conformity (according to your views) with the ' To Froude's Remains. TRACT NO. 90 377 decrees of that Council. You. then blamed us for adhesion to them ; you now blame us for departure from them. Why not suspect your judgments, if you find that they vary? If there was ever a time when you did not see many of our doctrines as you now view them ; when you utterly rejected all comprecation with, as much as prayers to, saints ; all honour, without reserve, to images and relics ; when you did not practise prayers for the departed, nor turned from the congregation in your service ; when you did not consider bodily mortification necessary, or the Breviary so beautiful ; when, in fine, you were more remote from us in practice and feeling than your writings now show you to be, why not suspect that a further approximation may yet remain ; that further discoveries of truth, in what to-day seems erroneous, may be reserved for to-morrow, and that you may be laying up for yourself the pain and regret of having beforehand branded with opprobrious and afflicting names that which you will discover to be good and holy ? It was characteristic of the uncertainty of Newman's mind, even at this stage, that he declined to answer Wiseman, and left the task to Mr. Palmer, of Wor- cester, a controversialist who was seldom embarrassed by seeing two sides to a question. Wiseman ulti- mately replied to Mr. Palmer, whose pamphlet was not likely to do more than revive the old-fashioned party case against Rome, and the controversy was of no great interest.' But the private intercourse which followed the Tract was of more significance, and the state of affairs called for all the resources of Wiseman's tact. The deep-seated prejudice of the old English Catholics, which made them unwilling to entertain the notion that the Tractarians could be sincere so long as they did not join the Roman Church, was one great diffi- ' Mr. Palmer - began his pamphlet by denying that Wiseman could claim true episcopal orders. 378 CARDINAL WISEMAN culty to be contended with. Mr. Rathbonc, a priest residing at Covves, wrote a pamphlet entitled * Are the Puseyites sincere ? ' Lingard wrote to caution Wiseman against trusting to them, and invoked the lessons of history, the false hopes indulged in by English Catholics in the days of Laud and of the non-jurors. ' Scarcely shall we find in his- tory,' wrote Dr. Griffiths, the Vicar Apostolic of the London district, ' a body of schismatics returning with sincerity to the obedience of faith.' There was perhaps, too, among some of the old Catholics a feeling similar to the race feeling we witness in Ireland at present. Men whose grandfathers had been imprisoned for their faith, and who inherited the sense of the proscription of 300 years, whose ancestors had borne with fortitude mixed with more human feeling to see the bishoprics, benefices, and noble Universities, which they held to be their own by right, in the hands of an Established Church which had long even regarded itself as Protestant, could not readily bring themselves to look in Oxford either for Catholic sentiments or for ideal disinterested- ness. There was an obvious difficulty — especially for men whose minds were simple and practical, and unused to subtle speculation or to the complexities of historical research — in supposing that a Catholic view of a Church which for so many generations had been styled Protestant by its own adherents, could be sin- cere. Consequently the tenderness and kindness of Wiseman and Pugin, Mr. Phillipps and Father Spencer, were strongly blamed by many English Catholics. Moreover, it was urged that Dr. Wiseman was TRACT NO. 90 379 evidently wrong in regarding the movement as tending towards Rome. Mr. Rathbone announced that he had studied the Tracts and discovered the treachery of their authors. ' The embrace of Mr. Newman,' he wrote, ' is the kiss that will betray us.' Mr. Rathbone professed to tear off the mask and to show that Newman's real object was ' to mar the triumphs of Catholicism,' to prevent the conversion of ' great and good men who, tired of the Church of England as it is, had almost fully determined to join the ancient religion of our forefathers.' Mr. Rathbone claimed the concurrence of his own Bishop in his adverse views of the Puseyites, and intimated the strongest doubt that the Holy See could ever regard them as persons ' to be encouraged by us as cham- pions of truth, who are bringing back our country to Catholic unity.' The situation remains an interesting one to look back upon, as illustrating on either side the inevitable tendency of the rank and file of a party. While Wiseman and Newman were saying, ' Catholic prin- ciples are true ; follow them boldly, sympathise with those who hold them ; true principles must lead to true conclusions,' the bulk of Anglicans and of English Catholics looked fearfully to the immediate effect of such a policy on their own party. The Oxford Heads and the four tutors said in effect to Newman, ' You are creating Roman sympathies ; therefore you must be wrong ' ; the old English Catholics said, ' The Tract system keeps men in the Anglican communion who would otherwise submit to the Apostolic See ; therefore it must be pernicious.' 38o CARDINAL WISEMAN Neither side could sympathise with that confidence in the power of truth which for years made Newman say, ' In spite of the Roman sympathies to which they lead, I maintain Cathoh'c principles, confident that in the long run they will be the salvation of Anglicanism,' and which made Wiseman say, ' Catholic principles must eventually lead to the Catholic Church. There- fore the Tracts must in the long run tell in our favour.' Up to the time of Newman's first doubt, in 1839, he and Wiseman were in precisely the same position — each confident of his own standpoint, each confident of the truth of many principles of Catholic belief ; each uncertain as to the form in which the equation would be solved, yet each certain that his own answer was the true one. The unknown quantity — the x of the equation — was the logical working out of the principles of the Movement. To Newman the Anglicanism of Laud, to Wiseman the Church in communion with the Apostolic See, was — so to say — the answer, written at the end of the book. Newman was assuring timorous Anglicans that the working out of the equation Diust show that the Church of England was normally Catholic ; Wise- man was insisting to the old Catholics that its solu- tion could only exhibit the necessity of joining the one Church. The two men were ready to help each other in solving the equation, and in making sure that it was accurately stated. Once this was secured, they were prepared to stake all on the result. To many Anglicans and English Catholics the experi- ment appeared too bold. TRACT NO. 90 .^81 No doubt the shock which Newman had ex- perienced in 1839 made some difference in the situation, but, as we know from the ' Apologia,' the change was only half acknowledged even to himself, and to others it was as yet unseen. While, however, Wiseman's action was hampered bythemistrust of his fellow-Bishops and co-religionists, who regarded his encouragement of the movement as strengthening the hands of dangerous enemies of the Church, the Roman authorities had been communi- cated with, and in Rome there was no complication of hereditary feeling to suggest a harsh judgment. The Pope was all kindness and encouragement. The sentiments of English Catholics, however, could not help in some degree reacting on Wiseman and his friends themselves ; and occasionally they urged on the Oxford men the necessity for joining the Roman Church in a tone which hurt them, as appearing to question their sincerity. Wiseman's attitude, however, as a whole, was deeply sympathetic towards the spirit and intentions of the Tractarians. He did his best to stop ill- judged attacks by the old Catholics, and maintained plainly that in holiness of life and uprightness of purpose Catholics themselves had much to learn from their separated brethren. He acquiesced in the view that while Newmati was satisfied with remaining in the English Church in the hope of ultimately bringing many to unity, he might do so without being urged to cut short his time of waiting. On the other hand, he naturally would not either admit as a matter of abstract argument the tcnableness of the Anglican position, 382 CARDINAL WISEMAN or acquiesce in Newman's request that he should not forthwith receive individuals who were dissatisfied with Anglicanism, into the Catholic Church. Neither could he break wath O'Connell or renounce the appeal to liberty of conscience, although he felt the force of Newman's censure of the active alliance of Catholics with men whose objects were directly irreligious. In all these matters he tried to play the part of a mediator, endeavouring at once to do justice to the sincerity of all parties, O'Connell, the English Catholics, and the Newmanites ; to defend the truth as it is maintained in the abstract by the Church, and yet to make those practical exceptions in the application of abstract principles which justice demanded. This state of things must be borne in mind in reading the following extracts from contemporary letters, which for the most part tell their own story — on the whole, of hopefulness for good results sooner or later, in spite of the difficulties of the situation. The first letter is from Wiseman to Mr. Phillipps, three weeks after the appearance of Tract 90 : St. Mary's College, March 26, 1841. My dear Sir, — I have received both your letters with sincere pleasure, and they have been the source of deep gratitude to God in me. They fully confirm and even go beyond the view I have latterly taken of the prospect before us. I have been anxiously desiring an opportunity to be in communication with some of the Oxford Divines. But I have felt that I should only be embarrassing them by any intercourse, as, should it become known, it would be immediately thrown in their faces. I had prepared a letter for the ' Tablet,' and had I received your second letter a day sooner it would have appeared in to-morrow's. I thought I would wait, however, to see ' quid ventura pariet dies,' and perhaps shall not have lost by it. The object was to TRACT NO. 90 383 temper the minds of Catliolics to the feelings with which I think they ought to view the actual state of the controversy. Of course I have not entered into its details, beyond what the public knows. I trust it will do good to both parties. I have seen Pugin (yesterday), and he has some very cheering intelligence. . . I have not as yet got Newman's letter to Jelf ; when I have it (probably to-morrow), I will see if I can be of service by writing on it. God knows that I would give my life, if it would hasten the reunion of this country, or of a part of it, with the Apostolic See and the Church Catholic. . . . I received the other day a most cheering letter from the Pope, signed by himself, in which he sends his blessing to the district, the clergy, and especially the College. It is a most cheering and encouraging document. . . . Wishing every blessing upon yourself and family, I am ever, My dear Sir, Yours sincerely in Christ, N. Wiseman. Another letter, five days later, gives a fuller account of Wiseman's attitude. Newman's appeal had now become simply ' Let Anglicans and Romans alike reform tJienisclves. If both sides become deeply Christian, God must bring about reunion.' He took exception to the political alliance between Catholics and Dissenters, and he called for greater dignity in all that surrounded ecclesiastical worship, and still more for progress, in both camps, of the ascetic life of the ages of faith. He deprecated some of the secular bazaars and concerts which Catholic priests often en- couraged to pay the expenses of building a church. But much more he urged the revival and spread of the monastic ideal. Wiseman in all this sympathised from his heart, as we see in the following letter : St. Mary's College, April i, 1841. My dear Sir, — I read your letter to Dr. Walsh yesterday evening on his arrival here, omitting the part about the O.xford 384 CARDINAL WISEMAN clergyman's offering up sacrifice, &c. I hope that will not have the effect of inspiring them with false hopes of recognition from us. Dr. Walsh feels strongly what I have for some time felt, that, this Catholic Movement having occurred in his District, it is to him that the Church will look to forward it and second it in every way, and that we should both be guilty of a serious neglect of duty were we to omit anything in our power to smooth the way towards a reconciliation. In fact it would be the happiest event in our lives to be any way instrumental in bringing it about. On this account, you are perfectly at liberty to make any use you please of anything I have written or may write. I hope to send you in the course of to-day a copy of my letter to Newman ; I will forward one to himself. There is much upon the subject which I did not wish to present to his observation through the public press ; the English public could not be a judge on many points connected with the controversy. Two days ago, I received in a case of books from Rome several copies of a little popular work, of which I enclose you one. You will see if it might be forwarded to Mr. N. to show how mistaken he is in the idea that the popular religion of foreign Catholics consists in the B. V., Purgatory and Indulgences. Here Christ crucified is really preached, prayer, good works, every virtue, zeal for the conversion of others, mortification, the Sacraments : the B. Virgin is made subservient, secondary, and to be invoked to second our efforts. No trust in indulgences, no hope in purgatory is inculcated. This, as a popular Roman tract, might do good. I have, as I observed, many copies of it. There is one point which has always struck me as important to us, though it would not easily strike them. It is that otir reformation is in their hands. We must be looked upon with pity (I mean in England), and the terrible grinding oppression of three hundred years taken into consideration. Our ecclesias- tical education has been necessarily very imperfect, from the necessity of placing our clergy as soon as possible into active operation from dearth of priests. Still more the succession of men contemplative, ascetic, and devoted to God, who abound in Catholic countries (as in Rome), has been lost amongst us. In fine, we are at this moment like the Jews returned to Jeru- salem, or like the first family after the flood : we have to reconstruct everything, beginning with such materials as we TRACT NO. 90 385 have at hand : we must first work with bricks from the slime of the waters that had overwhelmed us, or with the fragments of the past that compose our ruins ; we shall gradually improve both our material and our work. Secular distractions neces- sarily interfere with us in our actual position, struggling on as we are to effect what is far beyond our means, and probably unable as yet, through imperfection, to reach the higher stages of reliance on Divine Providence and perfect resignation. Expedients are resorted to which we all regret, but can hardly stop. A priest who has a heavy debt, incurred perhaps after giving up all he has, in building a chapel or school, finds himself deeply distressed, and gets up (detestable words) an opening or festival, and has gratuitous assistance offered him from singers, &c. What has he to do ? If the bishop forbids . . . he is applied to to make up the deficiency — which is out of his power. Here is temptation on one side, and embarrassment on the other, which often prevents what we could wish from being done. The remedy lies deeper than the surface ot things, and must be applied ; but it is a work of time, and of much patience ; and it is hard to judge us by what belongs to our past, and not by what belongs to our present, and with God's blessing to our future, state. Yoii know how much has been done. . . . I have made these remarks to account for our low state in many things, and to show our endeavours to rise from it. One thing would at once effect it. Let us have an influx of new blood ; let us have but even a small number of such men as write in the Tracts, so imbued with the spirit of the early Church, so desirous to revive the image of the ancient Fathers — men who have learnt to teach from St. Augustine, to preach from St. Chrysostom, and to feel from St. Bernard : let even a few such men, with the high clerical feeling which I believe them to possess, enter fully into the spirit of the Catholic religion, and we shall be speedily reformed, and England quickly converted. I am ready to acknowledge that, in all things, except the happiness of possessing the truth, and being in communion with God's true Church, and enjoying the advantage and blessings that flow thence, we are their inferiors. It is not to you that I say this for the first time. I have long said it to those about me — that if the Oxford Divines entered the Church, we must be VOL. L C C 386 CARDINAL WISEMAN ready to fall into the shade, and take up our position in the l)ackground. I will gladly say to any of them ' Me oportet minui.' I will willingly yield to them place and honour, if God's good service require it. I will be a co-operator under the greater zeal and learning and abilities of a new leader. Depend upon it, they do not know their own strength. It is true that, weak as we are, they cannot prevail against us, because a stronger One than they is with us, and supports us. But let them be with us, and their might, in His, will be irre- sistible. Abuses would soon give way before our united efforts, and many things which now appear such to them would perhaps be explained. I have allowed myself to be carried away in writing to you on a subject which day and night has been before me for five years — so that, nearly two years ago, I felt it my duty to apply to the Pope to offer to resign my situations in Rome and return to England, mainly to be on the spot, to lend my feeble assist- ance to what I saw opening before us. I have much to say on the new spirit which is arisen in this house. God's blessing has been manifested on it in many ways ; our progress towards true Catholic piety and feeling has been far beyond my most sanguine hopes. This afternoon I open a Retreat — strictly on St. Ignatius's plan ; this will not prevent my receiving letters, as I give but cannot enjoy the Retreat. Ask good Dr. Gentili to pray for us during it. Wishing you every blessing for your- self and family, I am ever, My dear Sir, yours sincerely in Christ, N. Wiseman. This letter was sent by Mr. Phillipps to Pugin, with instructions to show it to the Oxford men. A letter from Pugin, who had gone up to Oxford a fortnight later to reconnoitre, gives a glowing account of the state of feeling among the advanced party. On Good Friday Wiseman writes : We have had several young men come here to make their Easter, or join the Retreat, or enjoy our functions, which has TRACT NO. 90 387 given me much comfort. Mr. C. Hemans, son of the poet, a charming young man, with all her feeling and inspiration, came here on Thursday, a Protestant, and leaves us this evening a Catholic. He is not the only straggler towards Rome that has come in my way ; I have several most singular and interesting correspondences, with persons I have never seen, but who are most anxious to become Catholics. 1 believe Mr. Newman is right : a fire has been kindled — not by thcvi., but by God, who can use the chaff and straw of His barn floor for this purpose (by which St. Augustine understands those separated from the Church,) as well as burning brands from His altar — and this fire no man can extinguish. But its spread may be much checked, not by Protestants, but by Catholics, some of whom seem un- knowingly bent upon doing it. This consideration leads me to an important matter. I feel that the state of things in England ought to be made known to the Holy Father. . . . On these grounds I have thought of writing a full account of all that is going forward, to one of the discreetest members of the S. College, Card. Mai, with a request that he will show what I write to none but the Pope. I would not mention names beyond those publicly known, as Newman's, but would even suppress his name, when referring to what he has privately written. But I will not send otT anything till I hear from you, and have your permission thus secretly to apply what I know from you for the public good in this way . . . Let me know that the Vicegerent of Christ approves of my course and understands my motives, and I shall not care for all the world, nor allow differences of opinion to check my exertions. A very clear account of Wiseman's view of the situation is given in the following letter to Dr. Russell, of Maynooth. The concluding paragraph refers to the acrimonious and controversial language of an Irish priest with reference to the Puseyite party : I can assure you that what appears on the surface is nothing to what is working in the deep ; and the Catholic Movement is not merely, as some imagine, m the outward forms and phrases adopted by the Tractarians, but is in their hearts and desire. They are every day becoming more and more disgusted with c c 2 388 CARDINAL WISEMAN Anglicanism, its barrenness, its shallowness, and its ' stammer- ing' teaching. Their advance is so steady, regular, and unanimous, that one of two things must follow : either they will bring or push on their Church with them, or they will leave her behind. The first is their great object ; the second may be their gain. If their Church repel them and attempt to damp their efforts, they will abandon her, for their hearts have allowed Catholicism to take too deep a root in them for it to be plucked up by the ' telum imbelle sine ictu' of Anglo-episcopal authority. In the meantime many of them are as yet terribly in the dark as to their individual duty, in their present state of feeling ; and it seems to me that, if consulted by any one as to what he should do, I should of course tell him to go forth from his father's house and kindred and come into the land which God's grace shows him, by at once yielding to his convictions and securing his own salvation. But when (as in every case that I as yet know of them) they have not been so far enlightened by faith and grace as to feel that it is a risk to their own salvation to remain united to the Anglican Church, though they consider it a duty of that Church to bring itself into communion with the Catholic Church, all we can do is to push them forward in their view so as to make them diffuse it in every direction, and to invite them towards us rather than to repulse them, as some seem inclined to do. I should like to see them become Catholics at once, and one by one ; but, if they will not do that, I should be sorry to check them in their present course ... I have received a letter from a friend gone to Oxford, where he is most intimate with the heads of the party. I will extract a few ^Gnitnces, for yourself and Dr. Murray only, unless you think the Archbishop would be glad to see what I write, from whom I have no secrets — btd no further. ' I have the most cheering and satisfactory intelligence to communicate relative to the progress of Catholic affairs in this place, and I feel satisfied that events have advanced the cause far beyond what our most sanguine hopes could have led us to expect. I feel now quite satisfied that Mr. Newman is acting with the greatest sincerity, that his whole efforts are directed towards a reunion, not a distant, theoretical union, but a practical one, and that as soon as it can be openly agitated without causing too great alarm . . .' TRACT NO. 93 389 Now, my dear friend, let me entreat you to join me in my determination to devote my life and all the little energy and power that God has given me to forward this Divine work. Get prayers on every side for it ; inspire as strong an interest as possible in the hearts of the young clergy of Ireland for the reunion of this country to the Catholic Church. Above all things, do your utmost to quell violent political feeling. . . . What a mortification before God will it be to any of us if we be found in the end to have been thwarting His work by our violence, our political antipathies, or even our negligence ! I hope Dr. Miley will not continue his present tone of writing. I have written to him. How struck I was last week in reciting the first sentences of the fifth lesson in Matins Fcria V. in Cwna Domini ! How applicable they may prove before long to many I The next development of importance was the opening of a direct correspondence between Dr. Russell, of Maynooth, and Newman himself — a cor- respondence which ultimately issued in a close and life-long friendship. Dr. Russell writes to Wiseman as follows on the subject, enclosing a letter from Newman : St. Patrick's, Maynooth : April 20, 1841. ' My dear Lord, — The enclosed letter, if it- surprise, will, I am sure, gratify your Lordship. I can hardly account to myself for the impulse by which I was induced to write to Mr. Newman. It was on Holy Thursday. I was just after celebrating the public service of the day ; the thought came upon me that perhaps I might do some good by writing in a friendly spirit on that portion of his Tract which regarded the mystery of the day — Transubstantiation. I yielded to. the impulse ; and showed him how far on this point he had misconceived us ; how Bishop Taylor, whom he quotes, mis-stated Bellarmine ; and, above all, how literally the very strongest phrases employed in the retractation of Berengarius, which he also brings forward, are copied from the Fathers, especially St. John Chrysostom. I referred him to Veron and to Bossuet to see how far, provided 390 CARDINAL WISE, ^f AN the 'really, truly, substantially,' be secured, we may go in speak- ing of 'sacramental' and ' spiritual' presence as opposed to 'carnal' and 'natural'; and I further took the liberty of requesting permission, if he had not Vcron, to send him a copy. . . . You have the result enclosed ; and it is a complete con- firmation of all your Lordship's information. There is a frankness and cordiality in the tone of the letter which augurs happily ; and the difficulties in the way of perfect union in doc- trine and practice are smoothed down to an extent for which my most sanguine hopes had not prepared me. If the time were come (and may the ' days be shortened ' ), a single confer- ence might arrange the differences now existing, if, indeed, even these shall not ere long be removed. Oh, how I thank God that you are now among us, to hold out a kindly and Christian hand to those weak and struggling but, I am confident, single-hearted brethren, and to shame, or to awe into silence, the angry and unfeeling spirit which would repel their advances or mock at their struggles. Dr. Miley's last letter is in a much better spirit, and the letter of the ' young member of the Uni- versity of Oxford ' copied from the ' Univers ' into the ' Freeman ' (which I sent your Lordship) and the ' Tablet ' will, I trust, do much good. The great difficulty is the political one ; and it is of extreme delicacy. It is one which especially cannot be openly or publicly touched. I have never had patience with the unnecessary parade of community of feeling with Dissenters, which, besides its inexpediency, is, as frequently expressed, very little removed from unorthodoxy, and I have often blushed to see my brethren make themselves the mere servants, and even the puppets, of a mob, some of whom, while they used, had ceased, or are ceasing, to respect them. But unhappily, there is too much plausible ground in the condition of this wretched country, and I am sure that any public allusion to the matter would only create division among us, without furthering the holy purpose to which you have consecrated your life. I will hope that a better spirit may gradually come upon us, and I trust to that grace which has overcome greater obstacles, to remove this also. O'Connell is wedded, or at least committed, to his views ; and it will be a matter of much delicacy to treat TRACT NO. 90 391 with him. But, by whatever means it is to be brought about, I firmly beheve that this blessed measure is, without ourselves, being accomplished. We are all praying for its accomplish- ment, and during the coming ' month of May ' it will be a subject of public devotion in our community. Wiseman's reply ran as follows : I return you, with many thanks and congratulations, your very interesting letter from Mr. Newman. I see no insurmoun- table difficulties in Oxford against the return of Unity. The passions of men and the gross prejudices of the mass of the people are our real adversaries. The latter they are more likely to remove than we ; the portion of the former which belongs to our own body we must study to remove. 28th. This note, owing to my engagements, has lain by till to-day. I have thus the good news to communicate that the real Oxford men have resolved to attack O'Connell no more, and are quite altering their views of Ireland. An extract from Dr. Murray's letter to me, forwarded to them, has done wonders. ... I enclose a copy of the last edition of my pamphlet, to show you the correction you were good enough to suggest, as certainly misunderstanding might have ensued. My answer to Palmer is in the press. Wiseman's sanguine temperament was now fired with hopes which those who knew Newman well would not have encouraged. His next plan was to communicate further with the Holy See through his old friend Cardinal Mai, and obtain instructions with a view to a possibly immediate reconciliation of Newman and his friends to Rome. He writes to Mr. Phillipps as follows : St. Mary's College : St. Stanislaus, May 1841. My dear Sir, — Your last letter has indeed filled me with consolation, and sincere joy. I shall not fail in a second letter to communicate its contents to the Holy Father through 392 CARDINAL WISEMAN Cardinal Mai. But I foresee that it will be almost necessary for me during the vacation to run to Rome. Indeed, I think it probable I shall be desired to do so — as any communication on the subject in question is too delicate to be made otherwise than orally. Moreover, there are many other matters on which it would be advisable to have a more intimate communication with the Holy See, and as for myself I feel the serious responsibility of becoming (as I at the same time earnestly desire to become) the organ of intercourse between it and our Oxford friends, without clear and distinct instructions, such as I feel cannot be satisfactorily given except on full explanations, and by word of mouth. Again, 1 should like something to emanate from the Pope towards encouraging our views — recommending mildness, prayer, calling on the Bishops for reform, &c., and particularly checking all alliance with Dissenters. All this I could probably get done by going on the spot, but not otherwise. I have entered on this matter to ask you what you think of such a plan — no one, of course, must hear of it. I would go to Paris, and so on to Rome — the Bishop only knowing my plan. He is now in London, so that if you can come over I could see you alone. I must mention that, though I have not said anything to him about your last letter, I have found it necessary to con- sult one most prudent person under confessional secrecy, because I find some advice necessary for my own guidance. . . . I am ever, dear Sir, yours affectionately in Christ, N. Wiseman. Wiseman's sanguineness evidently made itself apparent in a letter which he shortly afterwards addressed to Newman, and the result, described in the following, is very characteristic of both men : St. Mary's College. My dear Mr. Phillipps, — . . . With yours I received a most distressing letter from Newman, which has thrown me on my back and painfully dispirited me ; so that I have kept back a long letter which I had written to Cardinal Mai, for fear I may be myself deceived and maybe misguiding the Holy See. I had written him a letter in consequence of one in the ' Tablet ' last >veek from Oxford, harsh against O' Council, as I had some TRACT NO. 90 393 interesting pai-ticulars concerning O'Connell's conduct at the preliminary meeting of the Institute. On this point Newman's letter was satisfactory. He then goes on (though I never alluded to the subject in my letter) to express his regret that I should have attempted to vindicate the invocations of the B. V. used in the Church — and augurs it as a bad omen that we do not gi\e them up. Now really, if his expectation was that the Church, or that we, should give up our tender and confident devotion towards the Holy Mother of God, or that the least of her pastors would join (on his private judgment) with Mr. Palmer in condemning expressions sanctioned and approved by her Pontiffs, how high indeed must his demands of condescen- sion be before we can hope for reunion ! However, I will bring you the letter, as well as another, with me. . . . With kind regards to all, I am ever yours sincerely in Christ, N. Wiseman. The three following letters give a further account of the situation during the months following the appearance of Tract 90. Wiseman had apparently half contemplated paying a visit to Mr. Bloxam, on occasion of an official journey to Oxford. Consider- ing the state of feeling in the University, it is not wonderful that Bloxam did not encourage the idea. Scarbro' : O. L. of Carmel. My dear Mr. Phillipps, — My own impression . . . still is that the first break-up of Protestantism will be the secession of a large body of young men who will not have patience to wait for the more prudent measures of their leaders. I believe there are many ready for this step, but none dares to take it first, and I think the enemy of man will fight hard for preventing the first. ... I own that I sometimes am inclined to feel like a man trying to reach the shore, and beaten back by a wave every time he fancies he has secured his footing or caught hold of something that will help him. But I endeavour to bear all this with resignation, and to wait God's good time. Mr, Bloxam's letter saves me from a considerable embarrassment. I can have nothing to lose by not meeting anyone there, but I 394 CARDINAL WISEMAN should have Ijeen sorry to have had to decide for myself between placing others in any awkward position by my offering to see them and my neglect of any courtesy on the other hand by my keeping aloof. Mr. B.'s letter at once puts the matter at rest. I will simply stay at Oxford as long as my ecclesias- tical duty requires, and start probably the very same day. However, I shall look forward to the pleasure of seeing Mr. Bloxam at St. Maria's with you in the course of next month, and if you could get Mr. Warde \sic\ or Sibthorpe, or any other of the party to accompany him or meet you there, I should be still more delighted. For I think Mr. B. Smith's observa- tion very true, that his friends at Oxford all speak and think of Catholic practices and institutions as things past or possible, not as things actually existing and acting. I think that a visit to our College will do much to increase the desire to see the country Catholic. . . . I do not think it possible to do anything with Palmer or the others till I return from Belgium, which will be soon, as I start next week, and I think it is better to go fully into the question and others connected with it. I feel quite confident that g-ood will come out of the controversy. . . . With best regards to all your little household. Yours sincerely in Christ, N. Wiseman. I think and feel that we are going on successfully towards a great and holy refortnation of ourselves. I never expected to begin till we had a Retreat for our clergy. I assure you the results have been such as to fill me with hope and encourage- ment. I am sorry Spencer could not see the conclusion, but it was worthy of the beginning. Everywhere I find an ardent desire in our clergy to do better, and put on a new spirit. St. Mary's College : Sat. after Trinity, 1841. My dear Sir, — I enclose a letter and add a few lines. Mr. Wackerbarth has been here and greatly struck, especially by Corpus Christi. Very little will, I think, fix him amongst us, and give us the primitice of the Oxford Movement. He is par- ticularly anxious to visit Mount St. Bernard, and if you could give him hospitality for a day or two, I think you would do an immense deal of good — that is, if you are at Grace Dieu. He TRACT NO. 90 395 is in that state that he must go forward — he cannot stantj still, but must become a CathoHc at once. I am just starting for Aston to bring away St. Chad's rehcs. I am ever, yours sincerely in Christ, N. Wiseman. On the Fea.st of the Visitation he writes to the same correspondent : St. Mary's College : Visitation of O. L., 1 841. I learn from Mr. Newsham, of Oxford, that undergraduates are constantly coming to him privately, and he says he knows of about forty who are ready to go abroad to study for the Church. If this should prove correct, who would venture to repel them, or tell them to stay where they are ? I should tremble for myself were I to think of it. . . . Must they remain without sacraments, without active communion with the Church Catho- lic, on the ground that through their remaining in schism, a future generation may be brought to unity? 1, of course, do not speak of such as Mr. Newman and Bloxam, who feel con- vinced that they are safe in their present position ; but only of such as have had their conviction shaken, and are impelled by conscience to further incjuiry. Our duty seems to enjoin two things : first, with the latter class we must be open and candid, and ready to receive them and encourage them to come, when, where and how grace calls them, be they one or be they one thousand ; secondly, with respect to the former, we must be most careful not to encourage them in the idea that they are justified in remaining in a state of schism, for any consideration, although we may not feel it our duty to urge the'm forward faster than their own convictions carry them. These, if sincere, will justify them before God, but we must be on our guard against actively encouraging them. We may be running a great risk. I think Mr. Newman is a timid man,' and one who looks forward to ' A few days later he adds : — 'I have just read again Mr. Newman's note to Mr. B. It seems to intimate that a Reunion is little more than :^ possible thing, which may be effected, if the feeling for it grozu up among Anglicans, but which ive cannot forward ; further, that for the prospect of such a reunion after our times, we must cease making converts : we must rest on our oars ; we must sleep at our posts. Can we render an account to God if, on such grounds, for such prospective 396 CARDINAL WISEMAN reunion as a mere contingency — such is the tone of his note. Now, Providence, as you remark, will instruct us by facts — and none could be stronger than a certain number coming over to us at once. It would certainly be an irresistible one : so I have written to Rome, and am now daily expecting an answer. But communication with the Archbishop of Paris could be of no use, as he could not hold it otherwise than as the agent of the Holy See. Only the centre of unity can impart communion. If Rome should suggest the propriety of my undertaking a jour- ney thither, I would not hesitate for a moment on the subject, and depend upon it, there is nothing in my power that I would not attempt to bring about the union of this country with the Holy See. . . . I should be sorry were Mr. Bloxam and Mr. Sibthorpe to come over here while I am away, which I shall be at the end of July. If they could come sooner or later, I should myself have the satisfaction of showing them everything. If Mr, Bloxam so much admires Rodriguez, what would he say to Saint Ignatius's Exercises — which, however, must be gone, and not read, through ? I anticipate much good from next week. I hope Dr. Gentili may be able to attend, as some might wish him for a confessor. . . . With best regards to Mrs. Phillipps, I am ever. Yours sincerely in Christ, N. Wiseman. St. Mary's College : St. Pet. Meant. 1841. My dear Friend, — ... I have had a letter from Mr. Bloxam, telling me that Mr. Sibthorpe will be with us to-morrow week, just in time for the ordination of F. Signini on Thursday morning. Will you come ? I have had a most pleasing letter from Mr. Ward, intended as a corrective to one of Mr. Newman's discouraging letters (supposed by Ward to have been written, but not as yet received). It was confidential, so please not to mention it, any more than what follows. You will remember my mentioning to you that many undergraduates good, we so act ? . . . Those who, like Mr. Newman, consider it safe to remain in communion with the Anglican Church may propose such a course ; we who do not believe it, and who have charge of souls as well as of Churches, dare not do it.' TRACT NO. 90 397 were in movement at Oxford, and had communicated with Mr. Newsham, through a young man, son of a dignitary in the Church. This young man (Mr. Grant) was with us the other day ; he found us quite be/iindhand in our ideas and expecta- tions ; said we did not come up by any means to their state of ap- proximation towards us, in our conceptions. The undergraduates are far beyond their superiors, and will not be checked. They are bent on union with us, and Mr. Grant himself is soon going to Bruges to be received into the Church. He will come back to see us, and bring with him Mr. Lockhart, grandson of Sir W. Scott,' who is as advanced as himself. I asked him to come for the ordination. He was delighted with the College, and promised to be ' a good scout ' among the undergraduates. You will be glad to hear that Mr. Oakeley and his companion fell in with Mr. Richmond and Mr. Moore in Belgium, and travelled and lived with them for three days ; they took him to see the Seminaries, (Sec. At first he was reserved, but at last opened his mind most freely, and told all their views and intentions. F. Dominic - gets on wonderfully with his English, and will soon be at work. With kind regards to Mrs. P. and Dr. G., I am, ever, yours sincerely in Christ, N. Wiseman. ' This is a mistake. The late Father Lockhart was a cousin of the Mr. Lockhart who married Sir Walter's daughter. - The Passionist father who afterwards received Newman into the Catholic Church. 398 CARDINAL WISEMAN CHAPTER XIII THE HOMEWARD MOVEMENT 1841-1843 In the midst of the disturbances created by Tract 90 the Melbourne Ministry fell. Sir Robert Peel's vote of no confidence was passed in July, and the ensuing elections resulted in a substantial Conservative majority. The circumstances of the hour prompted Wiseman to publish a pamphlet which was equi- valent to an appeal to the incoming ministry, to the Established Church, and to English Catholics, to consider the question of Reunion with Rome. The Melbourne Ministry had proved quite unequal to the task of expressing cr carrying out the enthusiasms of the time. Not only was the Church of England going through a crisis destined to leave a permanent mark on its history, but schemes of varied reform were in the air. Father Mathew was stirring all Ireland with his apostolate of temperance. Dr. Chalmers was leading and arousing by his eloquence a movement which transformed the ancient Kirk of Scotland. The Free Trade agitation was being hatched, and schemes for removing Jewish disabilities, for improving the gaol system, for regulating the labour of children, were evidences of the reforming THE ROME WARD MOVEMENT 399 energy of the time. Great changes were demanded by the nation, and the Ministry appeared wholly unequal to carrying them out. It was for its suc- cessor to ascertain accurately, and carry into execution, the strong but often vague aspirations of the people. The Oxford Movement had embodied both in its strength and hitherto in its vagueness one of these aspirations. The writers of the Tracts were agreed in their Catholic zeal ; but haze and uncertainty characterised their views of the exact end to be attained. And Tract 90, coupled with the events which had led up to it, prompted Wiseman to indi- cate the definite direction he so much desired for a movement which was at present so far from uniform. What was the great change in the Church of England to which the movement pointed ? he asked. All were agreed that it meant the unprotestantising of its external form ; that it meant undoing the work of I 50 years. Why not say at once — Wiseman asked — that to be complete it must cancel the whole work of the Reformation ? Circumstances made this plain suggestion less extravagant than it might at first appear. We have already seen that the Established Church had seemed, only a few years earlier, to be on the verge of dissolu- tion. Its new life, which was unmistakable, was due almost entirely to one cause —the Tract Movement of 1833. The spokesmen of the Tractarians had now shown distinct signs of looking on reunion with Rome as under certain circumstances a practical duty. Granted one assumption — that the revived Church of England reflected in a large measure the sentiments 400 CARDINAL WISEMAN of the men to whom her new Hfe was due- and Wiseman's hopes were reasonable. The eloquence and zeal of the spokesmen had made Wiseman forget the mass of inertia which could have no voice to arrest his attention, the volume of traditionary Protestant prejudice, which, while insufficient to be a source of life, as it had once been, to the Established Church, was abundantly sufficient to be an effective obstacle to any Romeward movement. Indeed, once the word ' Rome ' rang clear and distinct in the ears of bishops and deans who had seemed to be types of the old inertia, a life was discovered in them which had been hitherto unsuspected. Hatred of the Scarlet Woman had a more tenacious vitality than the constructive elements in the Church of England. Positive con- viction had no doubt become vague and inoperative ; but the negative conviction, ' Rome is wrong — and monstrously wrong,' remained in full force. However, in 1841, this was not yet apparent to Wiseman, and in a sanguine spirit he indited in the summer of that year his ' Letter on Catholic Unity,' addressed to the then Earl of Shrewsbury, some account of which must here be given. After a sketch of the various forms of disunion which wasted the strength of the country — between class and class, between Saxon and Celt, between the various religious sects— Wiseman contrasts the exist- ing state of things with the unity of Catholic times. Dissent dates from the Reformation, and the jealousies between class and class are born of the destruction of the ancient order. He takes the bull by the horns, and, with an evident sense that the proposal is a THE ROMEWARD MOVEMENT 401 startling one, advocates, as a first step towards re- ligious unity, the reunion of the Established Church ' with the Holy See, and the Churches of its obedi- ence.' ' Is this a visionary idea ? ' he writes ; ' is it merely the expression of a strong desire? I know that many will so judge it ; and perhaps were I to consult my own quiet, I would not venture to express it. But I will, in simplicity of heart, cling to hope- fulness, cheered, as I feel it, by so many promising appearances.' He describes to Lord Shrewsbury, who has been out of England, and has heard little of the movement, the character of the Tractarian religion, its Catholic doctrines and practices ; and he thus characterises the revolt of its leaders against the existing Anglican system : There is an impatient sickness of the whole ; it is the weari- ness of a man who carries a burden : it is not of any individual stick of his faggot that he complains— it is the bundle which tires and worries him. The dependence of the Church on the State, its Egyptian taskmaster and oppressor (as they deem it), the want of a proper influence of the clergy in the appointment of their bishops, and of power in the bishops to rule with effect ; the weakness of the Church in enforcing spiritual censures ; the destruction of all conciliary authority in the Hierarchy ; the Protestant spirit of the Articles in the aggregate, and their in- supportable uncatholicism in specific points ; the loss of ordi- nances, sacraments, and liturgical rites ; the extinction of the monastic and ascetic feeling and observances ; the decay of ' awe, mystery, tenderness, reverence, devotedness, and other feelings which may be specially called Catholic ' ; the miserable feeling of solitariness and separation above described : these are but a portion of the grievances whereof we meet complaints at every turn, the removal of which would involve so thorough a ' change in the essential condition of the Anglican Church, as these •writers must feel would bring her within the sphere of attraction VOL. I. D D 402 CARDINAL WISEMAN of all-absorbing unity, and could not long withhold her from the embrace of its centre. And the Catholic Movement was already passing from the merely academic circles of Oxford to the country parishes : There are many evidences (which it would be hardly proper to detail) that Catholic feelings have penetrated deeper into society than at first one would suspect. Whole parishes have received the leaven, and it is fermenting ; and places where it might least be expected seem to have received it in more secret and mysterious ways. Wiseman notes further, as a reason for far greater hopefulness than in the days of Laud or of Wake, not only the singular unvvorldliness of the leaders of the movement, but the fact that ' in former times, men's minds were on the road from rather than to Catholic truth . . . the tide of the Reformation was rolling in, not ebbing quietly back and restoring to the Church its usurped territories.' And now we have Wiseman's direct argument. Taking Mr. Newman and Mr. Ward as spokesmen, he points out that they distinctly contemplate reunion as a duty, if the Church of Rome should reform her abuses. But — he argues — the supposition of abuses authoritatively sanctioned by Rome is due to in- accurate information or misapprehension ; therefore, as soon as this becomes apparent, the programme of reunion will be no merely sentimental aspiration, but a sternly practical necessity. That Mr. Ward's writings should supply ground for this argument was to be expected ; but Mr. Newman's words were, both from his position and THE ROME WARD MOVEMENT 403 from his habitual moderation, far more significant. He had written as follows : If she [Rome] does reform, . . . then it will be our Church's duty at once to join in communion with the Continental Churches, whatever politicians at home may say to it, and whatever steps the civil power may take in consequence.' As to the condition, that Rome should reform, Wiseman thus writes : This repeated wish that Rome may be different from what she is, may be satisfied in various ways, and though expressed in one sense, may find an answer in another. For instance, blots may be removed from an object by being wiped away from the medium through which it was viewed, and which transferred its own defects to the object ; and in like manner, Rome may soon appear and be very different to sincere eyes that look at her now through distorted representations, or de- scriptions highly coloured in some parts, or even through slighter misunderstandings. Again, a part of a picture may seem dark and unpleasant, not because its colours are so, but because sufficient light is not cast upon it ; and so many things appear cheerless and painful to others, not because truly so, but because they want proper light to be cast upon them, by reason- able explanation. Or the defect may arise from the very posi- tion of the spectator. A pious and intelligent person observed to me the other day, that our devotions to the saints might be compared to their representations on our beautiful old church windows : when seen from without, they present but dark sur- faces and ill-shaped outlines ; when from within the church, they seem to glow with the rich and varied light of heaven, in pure and majestic forms. Thus I am by no means terrified or dejected when I find this condition for unity strongly and re- peatedly expressed ; because I know how much of it depends upon the manner of looking at things, more than on the things themselves. And your Lordship and myself have known sufficient instances of persons whose prejudices had been most violent against Rome, but were overcome in Rome, and by Rome itself ' British Critic, Jan. 1840, p. 88 D D 2 404 CARDINAL WISEMAN Nevertheless, while ascribing so much prejudice to mere misunderstanding, Wiseman was emphatic as to the duty of those in communion with the Apostolic See to bemoan and reform local abuses and corruptions. Humiliation on all sides is (he main- tained) the path to reunion. But the Church itself, however defective its local exhibitions, has the Divine promise and is exempt from censure : My feeling is : let condemnation be by each one on himself, and let our looks abroad be in charity and affection. Let us English Catholics mourn over our own backwardness in much that is of duty, our own coldness in much that is of zeal. Let us English clergy lament our deficiencies in much of that eccle- siastical tone and spirit which abroad gives regularity to the sacerdotal ministry and influences the commonest actions and habits of the priest. And let our friends on the other side feel as they think just on the evils of their own state, lay and clerical : we will not interfere with them ; but let them refrain themselves, and let them allow us to abstain, from the presump- tuous task of judging and censuring the Apostolic Church. He quotes with approval Mohler's sentiment, that the very existence of Protestantism is a testimony to the corruptions of the Church in past ages : Voilk le terrain sur lequel les deux eglises se rencontreront un jour, et se donneront la main. Dans le sentiment de notre faute commune, nous devons nous eerier et les uns et les autres : ' Nous avons tous manque, I'Eglise seule ne peut faillir ; nous avons tous peche, I'Eglise seule est pure de toute souillure.' Coming to the attitude in which his own co- religionists should approach the question, Wise- man emphatically preaches gentleness, fairness, and charity : Violence, however cloaked as zeal, will not have on it the blessings promised to meekness and charity. Harshness of language, sarcasm, and bitterness, will not either convince the THE ROME WARD MOVEMENT 40$ understanding or win the affections. On the other hand, trust- fulness in the sincerity of others, and in the goodness of their motives, hopefulness in the result of our endeavours, however frequently foiled, patience under repeated disappointments, un- wearied kindness and charity, in spite of rebuffs, zeal that abates not in warmth, though it meet with but thorough cold- ness ; in fine, the spirit of Christ and of his Church will not fail, sooner or later, to triumph over obstacles that seemed insur- mountable, and obtain results that appeared most hopeless. One way in which this spirit should lead to the smoothing of difficulties he suggests by recalling Bossuet's proposal to the Pope in connexion with the proposed reconciliation of the followers of the Augsburg Confession to the Holy See : The learned Bishop observes that Providence had allowed so much Catholic truth to be preserved in that Confession, that full advantage should be taken of the circumstance ; that no retractations should be demanded, but an explanation of the flonfession in accordance with Catholic doctrines. Now, for such a method as this, the way is in part prepared, by the demonstration that such interpretation may be given of the most difficult Articles as will strip them of all contradiction to the decrees of the Tridentine Synod. The same method may be pursued on other points ; and much pain may be spared to individuals, and much difficulty to the Church. The hopefulness in which Wiseman indulged is betrayed in his treatment of the difficulties of the project, the most serious of which he holds to be ' sincere scruples about particular practices, unwilling- ness to surrender certain forms, the complicated questions of hierarchical arrangements, orders, and clerical discipline.' His anticipations for the future are expressed near the end of the letter in a manner which shows equally how high his hopes had risen : 4o6 CARDINAL WISEMAN That the return of this country (through its Established Church) to the Cathohc unity would put an end to religious dissent and interior feud, I feel no doubt. By two ways the population of the country would be worked upon for its moral improvement : the rural districts througli parochial influence, the denser population of towns, or manufacturing districts, through monastic institutions. Experience has now shown that the country population are ready to receive without mur- muring, indeed with pleasure, the Catholic views propounded from Oxford. . . . Add the richness and majesty of the Catholic ritual, the variety of its sublime services, the touching offices of peculiar seasons, the numberless institutions for charitable objects and its hourly sanctifications of domestic life, and Dissent would break in pieces beneath the silent action of universal attraction, and its fragments gather round its all- powerful principle. Then send forth men of mortified looks and placid demeanour, girt with the cord of a St. Francis, or bearing on their breasts the seal of Christ's Passion, as on their countenances the marks of its mortification (like the followers of Venerable Paul of the Cross), whose garb allows no compar- ison of superior fineness or affected poverty with that of the poorest that surround them, but whose attire is at once majestic and coarse, and with bare heads and feet, holding the emblem of redemption, let them preach judgment, and death, and future punishment, and penance, and justice, and chastity. And they will be heard by thousands with awe and reverence ; and we shall see wonders of reformation, pure faith revived with better lives, and the head converted by the converted heart. That Dr. Wiseman's letter had any influence in political quarters, there is no evidence. But it un- doubtedly helped to make the question of reunion a practical one to the Oxford School itself And this effect was promoted by the persecution of the Trac- tarians on the part of the Oxford authorities. Preferment was refused to a Puseyite ; even fellowships were withheld from those who were con- sidered, in the language of the day, to be ' tainted ' ; THE ROME WARD MOVEMENT 407 and the bishops, so long silent, issued in the course of the year, one after another, Charges condemnatory of the ' Tracts for the Times.' Rejected by their own com- munion, it was natural that the Oxford party should look more and more to their friends in the Roman Catholic Church. Leading members of the party cor- responded with Pugin and Wiseman on the union of their party with Rome, while their assimilation with the national Church of England seemed more and more improbable. Newman himself was in correspondence, not onl}', as we have seen, with Dr. Russell of May- nooth, but with other Catholics, such as the late Dr. Whitty and Mr. Phillipps ; and with whatever incidental variation in detail, the conviction that the outcome of the weary years of research and argument was, in his own mind, that Rome was in the right, became more and more evident. That corruptions were allowed by Roman authorities he still held : but the claim of the Roman communion to be the Church of the Apostles became more and more clearly established. Still he considered his present position tenable. ' That your communion was unassailable,' he wrote, ' would not prove that mine was indefensible.' But his suspicion was that ' the truth lay with the extreme party ' of Ward and Oakelcy, who looked on submission to Rome as the ultimate goal. In that summer of 1841, an impetus had been given to the hopes of an immediate junction by a letter of Newman's, in which he appeared to regard the movement of himself and a number of the party to the Roman communion as a practical and not distant probability. This proposal was to abandon 4o8 CARDINAL WISEMAN the theory of reunion on a basis of mutual concession, and to admit the duty of submission to Rome. Newman had disowned this interpretation of his words, but it had first become general property ; and the step forward, even though based on misapprehension, was not retraced in consequence of his explanation. Then, in the autumn of 1841, came the active disavowal of Tractarian doctrines in the Charges of the Anglican bishops. The position of the little knot of Tractarians with two great forces on either side — a National Church which would not have them, and the Catholic and Roman Church from which they still held back — was beyond question anomalous. One thing was certain, that their Catholic convictions were too deep to be shaken. W hether they would take the course suggested by Keble, and contemplated by another (afterwards eminent) member of the party, and live in temporary isolation from all existing religious bodies, or would join the great communion to whose Catholic character they owned, appeared to be not quite certain ; but Newman's attitude already indicated the latter course as more probable. Prominent Tractarians began openly to associate with English Catholics. Bloxam, Ward and Oakeley visited Bishop Wiseman at Oscott. Bloxam and Ward visited Grace Dieu a little later, and met such representative English Catholics as Lord Shrewsbury and Pugin. Ralph Waldo Sibthorpe, Fellow of Magdalen, went to Oscott in October and unex- pectedlyjoined the communion of the Roman Church.' The impression produced was great ; and for the ' In the latter part of 1841. THE ROMEWARD MOVEMENT 409 moment the intercourse between Bloxam and Mr. Phillipps came to an end. Other threads of communication, however, had been found, and the march of the logic of facts, emphasised in 1842 by the coalition between the Archbishopof Canterbury and the Prussian Lutherans in founding a bishopric at Jerusalem, was too strong to be arrested by minute events. The suspended communications were resumed a little later. In the meantime a ' secession ' notable from its circumstances and its consequences was pending — that of Mr. Bernard Smith, who figures in the ' Apologia ' as * B. S.' Mr. Smith, whose recollections of Wise- man at Oscott have been given in an earlier chapter, had been Fellow of Magdalen in the palmy days of Dr. Routh. He was very intimate with J. R. Bloxam, at whose rooms he made acquaintance with Pugin. Pugin was delighted with his views on architecture (and religion), and reported of him as a most glorious man. Mr. Smith's father was a man of position and property in Lincolnshire, and in 1837 he was pre- sented to the family living at Leadenham. Pugin at his invitation consented, in 1 841, to stay with him at the Leadenham Rectory and to design the painting of the roof of the parish church. In the course of this work the two men naturally became intimate, and conversation turned on the great subject. Mr. Smith showed a curious combination of Catholic sympathies with some of the traditionary prejudices of English- men as to the ' astuteness ' and ' Jesuitism ' of the genuine Papist. Pugin's sceva indignatio at an exhibi- tion of this kind bore important results. The con- 4IO CARDINAL WISEMAN versation turned ui)on the general revival of Catholic doctrines outside the Roman pale in England. ' I have heard Catholic doctrine,' said Mr. Smith, ' even in a Wesleyan church.' ' Perhaps,' he added, ' some Roman priest may have assumed the role of a Wesleyan minister without the Wesleyans being aware of it.' Pugin's storm of anger and abuse at this remark took Mr. Smith aback. ' How dare you say such things ? ' Pugin said ; ' if you knew English Catholics personally, you could not say them.' The Rector of Leadenham took the words to heart, sought in 1842 an introduction to Oscott and Bishop Wise- man, and took every opportunity of becoming better acquainted with English ' Romanists ' in flesh and blood. He made acquaintance in Birmingham with Dr. Moore, afterwards President of Oscott, and accom- panied him on many a visit to the poor. But it was the visits to the dying made in Dr. Moore's company which affected Mr. Smith most. ' The evident delight of the dying man or woman at seeing the priest, their faith in the definite help given by the last Sacraments, contrasted strangely with my own experiences. . . . There was a sense of reality, and a definiteness of aid and support, which I had never before seen at death-beds,' Mr. Smith testifies. In less critical matters his newly acquired know- ledge of the ' Romish priest ' had a great effect. The expected Jesuitical slyness was conspicuous by its absence. He found, as Newman found later on,^ that straightforwardness was not only not wanting in his new associates, but was even at times too abrupt. On ' See Apologia^ p. 271. THE ROME WARD MOVEMENT 411 one occasion Mr. Smith paid a visit to a priest in Birmingham, a member of a well-known old Catholic family in the North, and found him buried in a folio volume of S. Augustine. Mr. Smith could not divest himself of the idea that the scene was got up for his benefit. He consequently, on one pretext or another, returned three times within an hour after paying his call, and, to his surprise and relief, still found the priest at his folio. The study was evidently genuine, and not histrionic. Mr. Smith owned to his former suspicions after his conversion, and the Northerner replied in good-natured indignation, ' If I had thought such a thing possible, I would have thrown the book at your head.' The Bishop of Lincoln paid a visit to Leadenham, surveyed the church, including Pugin's roof, attended the service, and pronounced the whole thing * unmistakably Roman.' The unleavened bread, the altar lights, and the rest, were inhibited. Mr. Smith felt that the Anglican authorities were rejecting him, while Rome was inviting him. Milner's ' End of Con- troversy ' brought things to a final issue, so far as to convince Mr. Smith that the Roman position was logical, and his own filled with difficulties. In this state of mind St. Alfonso de Liguori's argument that, in matters of vital moment no wise man can act on an opinion the truth of which is doubtful, where a course which is of undoubted safety is open to him, decided his action. He was certain of the validity of Roman orders, and of the Catholic character of the Roman Church ; he was uncertain, at best, in regard to the Ansflican. 413 CARDINAL WISEMAN Bishop Wiseman was to preach at St. Barnabas', Nottingham, in December 1842, and Mr. Smith went to hear him. After Mass the Bishop received a Jew and a Socinian into the CathoHc Church publicly. Mr. Smith sought an interview with Wiseman and returned with him to Oscott. The first face which greeted him there was that of kindly and holy Father Spencer. He forthwith went into ' Retreat,' and was received into the Church. So high did feeling run at that time — for the conversion of a clergyman to ' Rome ' had been hitherto a rare event — that the Bishop of Lincoln endeavoured to find grounds of imprisonment against the Rector, who had, without warning, left Leadenham without a pastor. The Archbishop of Canterbury, however, took a more lenient view, and no further steps were taken.' The secession had a direct effect on Newman. He had written to Mr. Smith to dissuade him from joining the Roman Church, and had asked him to come and talk the matter over at Littlemore. Mr. Smith declined the invitation. Newman's letters only confirmed him in his resolve. Newman said no word against Rome, but urged simply the duty of remaining where he was placed by Providence, and ' ' My conversion appeared to be a leap in the dark,' says Mr. Smith, ' so far as this, that I did not feel absolutely certain before I took the step that my position as an Anglican was indefensible. But I was guided by St. Alfonso's saying, that in matters vital to salvation one cannot act on an opinion which is uncertain ; and I was thoroughly uncertain of the tenableness of Anglicanism. After I took the step, the change was so great that the Anglican Church seemed to me, as a Chzcrch, simply not to exist, and so I have felt ever since, for the space of fifty-two years.' Such, too, was Newman's feeling. ' It seemed to me,' he writes, 'the veriest of nonentities.' (See Apologia, p. 339.) THE ROME WARD MOVEMENT 413 avoiding the perplexity of argument. After Mr. Smith's reception the Bishop of Lincoln charged Newman with being ' in close correspondence ' with Mr. Smith, and with having advised him to retain his living after he had 'turned Romanist.' This Newman emphatically denied ; but in the correspondence with the Bishop which ensued he came to a very signifi- cant conclusion. ' Lest any misconception should arise,' he writes, . . . ' I here take the liberty of adding that I see nothing wrong in [a person holding Roman Catholic opinions] continuing to communicate with us, provided he holds no preferment or office, abstains from the management of ecclesiastical matters, and is bound by no subscription or oath to our doctrines.' ' This,' he adds in the 'Apologia,' ' was written in anticipation of my own retirement into lay communion.' Meantime Bishop Wiseman and Mr. Phillipps were still at work endeavouring to secure kindliness towards the Tractarians on the part of English and Irish Catholics. The tone of the ' Orthodox Journal ' — a weekly Catholic paper — was unsatisfactory in this respect, and the ' Tablet' ' left a good deal to be desired. Mr. Phillipps proposed some scheme for the re- modelling of the former. The particulars of the scheme do not appear in the letters which survive, but Wiseman's reply gives a sufficiently clear indica- tion of the situation. ' Wiseman did not succeed in converting Mr. Lucas's Tablet to his own views. He writes on March il, 1848, ' At present the Tablet is calculated to ruin any cause, and I trust that Catholics will shake oft" its tyranny and disconnect themselves from it.' 414 CARDINAL WTSEMAN St. Mary's College : In Fcst. S. Anton. Ah. 1842, My dear Friend, — I was sorry to find on my return from London, that you had been here fruitlessly during my absence. Your plan about the ' Orthodox ' would answer very well, if we could secure two things : first, the exclusion of almost all the present writers, including Verax, Gil de Texada, Vesper, &c. «&;c. ; second, the securing a sufficient number of writers to carry it on. As to the first, it would be very difficult, and very odious — these writers having a prescriptive right to the Journal, and not being to be put aside without some positive step to that effect. More- over, I believe that the class that supports the ' Orthodox ' likes this sort of slashing and rough-edged cutting of the controversy and witticism, in its pages, and would not favour a change into a more refined and milder spirit. ... In the meantime, I will not despair of the ' Tablet.' You will be glad to hear that Repeal is steadily going down in Ireland. Clergy and gentry are all against it. I have this on good authority ; in the same propor- tion interest in English Church affairs is rising. I have this day sent off to Dr. Murray a list of all pamphlets on the Oxford matters ; and he has recommended his clergy to pray for Eng- land, &c. One of our professors (an Irish priest), just returned, says no subject was talked of among the clergy but the Move- ment, and they are getting quite warm on it. It was I who wrote to Lucas and informed him that after his first attack on Wacker- barth [a member of the Oxford School] I had written to him and begged him to take no notice of it, and not to carry on the con- test. I have had a letter from the author of ' The Doctrine of the Catholic Church in England on the Eucharist.' I had invited him to spend Christmas with us, but he was gone to Guernsey, whither Dalgairns forwarded my letter. This is an extract from his answer : ' I have no doubt that my religious feelings would have been gratified, had I spent the festival of our Lord's Nativity at Oscott. I am more painfully sensible than ever of this, in con- sequence of a fortnight's sojourn in France, a few days back, and attending daily at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Everything seems flat after this. Day after day, I feel that the thread which binds me to the English Church is becoming weaker and weaker, and if I may credit my Oxonian friends, my visit to Oscott threatens to be more than temporary. I am purposed, THE ROME WARD MOVEMENT 415 however (D.V.), to follow the truth whithersoever it may lead me, irrespectively of all consequences.' Have you seen any late pamphlets, particularly Hope's and Palmer's on the Jerusalem question ? I picked up everything I could when in London. I have subscribed to the ' Oxford Chronicle,' a bitter enemy, but that gives all the news, and [is] useful for learning the ideas of the other side. . . . Another letter of the same year gives fuller infor- mation as to Wiseman's views and policy, and deals with the question of the Jerusalem bishopric. New- man, whose doubts of the Anglican position were known, had felt reassured of late in his belief in Anglican orders and sacraments, by some remarkable spiritual experiences on the part of himself and his friends. This phase is also alluded to in the letter : St. Mary'b College : Decembers, 1842. My dear Friend, — I received your letter on my return from Stourbridge, where I preached on Sunday last. I think that decidedly we must keep very quiet, at the same time that we may back and help our friends, but not attack. Mr. A. B. is engaged in replying to Palmer and Dodsworth's flimsy pam- phlets, which are really miserable — particularly the former. . . . I hope you have been able to have B. Smith with you. A letter from him the other day to Mr. Hardman was most promising : his mind seems now made up, and he will, I think, be soon with us. . . . You will be delighted to hear from D. O'Connell the state of feeling in Ireland ; the bishops are all with us, and decided against Repeal — which is a losing game ; however, we must steer clear of Irish politics. What is more important is, that prayers for England are recommended by the Bishop to the clergy. Bloxam and others seem in a very unsatisfied state of mind, and anything but happy. I trust that Divine grace will not cease to work, till the good object in view has been attained. What Ward says about Newman's supposed spiritual illumination I own rather alarms me. I can conceive the Divine Wisdom permitting them to remain in schism for the working out of good, but positive admonition or inspiration to persevere 4i6 CARDINAL WISEMAN in such a state is of course inconceivable. . . . The great clanger at present seems to me to lie in the ease with which they flatter themselves into belief of Providential declarations in their favour. . . . They hope against hope, in a way which makes me tremble, lest a human attachment to the Anglican Church may not be overcoming the impulses of grace and resisting, success- fully, the views of Providence. For example, at first, they seemed resolved (as Ward spoke in his ' Few Words ') to consider de- clarations of separate bishops sufficient ; when these came out [and were against the Tracts], they pronounced them of no account. Then they seemed ready to leave if any schismatical act were done by the Church — and I can hardly conceive any more marked than the two which have just taken place : first, the union with Prussia for the Anglo-Evangelical bishopric of Jews, which was concocted (I was assured by the Austrian Minister in London) by correspondence directly between the King of Prussia and Dr. Howley ; second, the sponsorship of the King in violation of the canons of their own Church, which requires the sponsor to be confirmed or ready to be so, and to be in communion with the Anglican Church. It will be said that these are private acts of the Church. I answer No. The King could not be received to comniunicatio in divinis by every member of the Church, but the organ of communion in the name of the Church is its Patri- arch or Metropolitan. His communion involves that of the Church, if it be given tacente aiit consentienie Ecdesia. The other bishops have not protested nor remonstrated. Lord Hatherton told me the other day that a protest signed by sixty Oxford clergymen was presented to the Bishop of Oxon against the sponsorship, and forwarded by him to the Archbishop, and no notice taken of it. If so, the act was so much more deliberate and formal than otherwise. Now these open acts of the Church of England (for so in all law and right they are, as being the acts of its metropolitan un- protested against by the bishops) have produced no effect ; and we are now told to wait till the bishops meet and speak synodi- cally, and then— well, what then ? Have you seen that a correspondent in the ' Times ' has already prepared the loop- hole lor escape ? viz. that a declaration of the bishops in council is worth nothing, since they have no authority in such matters without a Convocation, which cannot be without summoning the THE ROMEWARD MOVEMENT 417 Lower House, a thing not likely to be permitted. So that 1 fear lest even this last resource may fail. As for ourselves, our course is clear. Happily, through the Divine blessing, in part, we have nothing to fear for ourselves. At the same time, we cannot say with the poet Suave, mari magno turbantibus a;quora ventis, E terra magnum alterius spectare laljorem ; Non quia vexari quemquam est jucunda voluptas, Sed quibus ipse malis careas quia cernere suave est. We cannot thus feel about others. Our duty, therefore, is to pray and entreat Heaven for them, and to beckon and encourage them forward, and help to draw them into haven. ... I still hope that new light will be granted ; and that the coming Lent, by its joint and mortified supplications, may bringdown greater blessings upon the cause than we have yet deserved. I have been drawn forward into a much longer letter than I purposed writing. 1 have no news of any sort from Oxford — indeed, I have no longer any correspondence there. My kindest regards to Mrs. Phillipps and Dr. Gentili, and my blessing to my little god-child and all the little ones, and believe me. Ever affectionately yours in Christ, N. Wiseman. In October 1 843 Sibthorpe returned to the Angli- can Church. Wiseman, characteristic in his despond- ency as in his sanguineness, spent a day in bed. The old English Catholics, as might be expected, pointed the moral of hasty conversions. Newman saw in it a confirmation of his warnings against a premature mov^e. Ward shared in this opinion, and wrote strongly in this sense to Mr. Phillipps, who forwarded the letter to Wiseman. Meantime Mr. Seagerj the distinguished Orientalist, and one of the Oxford School, was received, and Wiseman's spirits revived. He writes as follows to Mr. Phillipps : VOL. L E E 4i8 CARDINAL WISEMAN St. Mary's College : St. Jolni of Beverley, 1843. My dear Mr. Phillipps, — I began a letter to you at Derby on Saturday last, but was unable to finish it. I have since been at Manchester, and preached twice on Sunday. I have not been disposed to take as discouraging a view as you have done of Ward's letter. It is not certainly the kind of letter one likes to receive ; but it is only expressing what we know to be their actual views, viz. that Providence has indicated a certain extra- ordinary and irregular, or perhaps rather abnormal, mode of acting, which they must follow in preference to the ordinary ways and rules. Seager went into all details of the view before he joined us, and showed how plausibly and coherently it is built up. Though he and others put no faith in the Anglican ordination, &c., they believed that God would supply grace through peculiar and extraordinary channels — e.g. directly or through seeming, though not real, Sacraments. Feeling that they advance in grace (as they hope) and that their efforts for unity are crowned, as far as they go, with success, they see in all this an intimation from Divine Providence not to move. Now while one may respect their feelings, and hope that God will overrule them to His own good purpose, no Catholic can for a moment allow himself to act upon them ; and I cannot conceive how anyone so clear-sighted as your correspondent can expect us to do so, or to admit them as motives for our conduct. The Catholic has the laws and commands of God and His Church for his rule, and none other. Were a Catholic who had the opportunity of bringing anyone into unity, to neglect it, on the ground that Providence seemed to work by exceptions in the present state of things here, he would certainly sin ; for he would be violating a clear and positive duty, m favour of his private judgment and views regarding which he had no authority from revelation or tradition. This, of course, would be most un- catholic and sinful. Our duty is clearly to bring everyone, singly or with others, as his case comes before us, into the bosom of the Church, and when God does not bless our efforts, adore His counsels, and beg of Him to continue the work as most to His glory and the salvation of souls. But we must go on according to His appointed courses, and woe to us if any speculative views lead to our departing from them. Mr. Ward's THE ROME WARD MOVEMENT 419 letter seems to me nothing more than a strong- expression of the known views of his party, which were, indeed, Hkely to receive a momentary confirmation from Mr. Sibthorpe's unfortunate fall, liut to us this is and ought to be no more a weakening of our views and proceedings, than the fall of an apostle or a first deacon is of our convictions respecting the authority of the Church. But while you were receiving this melancholy impression from Mr. Ward's letter, I own I saw and heard much to cheer me ; the very next letter that I opened after yours was one exciting in me better hopes than ever, and urging me on to more exertion. And just then Seager's accession gave us some compensation for our late loss, and somewhat counterbalanced it. Now as to Ireland. Are you aware that O'Connell has de- nounced your statement about James II. as illiberal, &c., and has attacked all English Catholics as not liberal to sectarians, &c. ? This was in the Repeal Association ; and you have of course seen how he has fraternised with the Chartist Quaker. I can see no Catholicity in the Repeal movement ; I fear it is thoroughly of this world. I do not therefore feel the least alarm about the state of things in Ireland, further than deeply deploring the distress and misgovernment, and the present unhappy position of things. I fear the meetings on Sundays led to great profanation of the day, or at any rate to a neglect of its sanctification ; and that the Repeal feeling was fast absorbing the religious. All this, of course, I say in friendly confidence, for we live in times when almost any statement of views which does not go to extremes, is sure to be misrepre- sented. Bishop Walsh wrote to you no doubt about the proposed arrangement for Grace Dieu ; and I expect to see his Lordship in a day or two here. Mr. Frederick Smith, a most charming young man, a convert of very good family, has joined our theo- logical class, so that we have at present a most choice body of divines. God grant us an increase, and we may truly hope to see something great done. I am going to try to get the Duke of Bordeaux to honour us with a visit. I shall meet him at Alton after All Saints. Mr. (iandolfi, whom I met yesterday, is going to visit, among other places. Mount St. Bernard's, &c. I have told him that I was sure you would be glad to let him see Grace Dieu chapel, and E E 2 420 CARDINAL WISEMAN to make his acquaintance, if you were at home. I beg to he most kindly remembered to Mrs. Phillipps, and am ever, My dear Mr. Phillipps, Your sincere and affectionate friend in Christ, N. Wiseman. The Due de Bordeaux, remembered better by the present generation as the Comte de Chambord, ac- cepted Wiseman's invitation referred to in this letter. He spent some days at Oscott, and Wiseman wrote a greeting to his distinguished guest on the occasion, which was recited by one of the boys — the present Canon Bagshawe. The episode of the white flag thirty years later, when the Comte de Chambord had to choose between being true to what were in his eyes sacred principles, and gaining the crown of France by their abandonment, gives a curious interest to the lines, which ran as follows : Prince, it is well that in thine exile hours Thou seekest knowledge, solace of the good. And addest to the grace of kingly blood That which all earthly royalty o'ertowers. Welcome to good St. Mary's holy bowers. Where learning lo\es her company who stood A faithful scholar underneath the Rood, And let thy heart be high in hope, as ours. Let thy ' white banner ' be a spotless life, And let the ' lily' flourish in thy heart ; Religion be thy watchword when at rest, Become thine 'Oriflamme' in time of strife, And I, although unskilled in prophet's art. Foretell thee a crown— where Heaven shall know it best. In the following }'ear Wiseman revisited the land of his birth, Spain, and greatly enjoyed the society of the Spanish Bishops, notably of the Bishop of Cadiz, Domingo Silos de Moreno. While at Cadiz THE ROME WARD MOVEMENT 421 he stayed with a connexion of his, Mrs. Stanley, and said Mass daily at the Church of St. Francis. The following letter, written from Seville to Dr. Russell, gives his general impressions of Spain at this time : Seville: In V. S. Joann. A. 1844. My dear Dr. Russell,— I am here in my native city, after upwards of forty years' absence, and yet all that lapse of time (although I was too young when I left to remember anything of it) does not seem to have made me a stranger here. On all sides I meet persons, clergy and laity, who welcome me as a fellow-townsman, and who perfectly remember my family, and who overwhelm me with kindness, and do all to make my brief stay here enjoyable and interesting to me. It was the same at Cadiz, where I met many old friends, who vied with one another in showing their kindness. But I must first say a few words about myself, as I know you, and my other kind friends near you, will be desirous of hearing something about me. I spent a delightful week, and took a great deal of exercise — in fact, was in movement all day. ... I cannot pretend in a letter to give you any account of what I have seen, but I can only say in general terms that I have been greatly delighted with everything except the abominable treatment of the Church by the secular power in every succeeding government of Spain since '21.' Besides attending to objects of interest, as works of art, &c., I have principally, as was natural, turned my attention to ecclesiastical and religious institutions and matters, and I am getting together materials for what I trust will be an inte- resting article or two in the ' Dublin Review,' such as I hope too may tend to alter the ideas of many people — Catholics, I mean — • respecting the character of the present Spanish Church and the dealings of a liberal government with religion. I cannot find that the clergy here are one whit behind those of our own or any other country in piety, zeal, or learning. On the con- trary, I think we have very much to learn from them (at least I see that I have) in many ecclesiastical virtues, and particularly in patient bearing with the heavy crosses wherewith Pi'ovidence has afflicted them. In the nuns, too, this is most peculiarly ' The year of the Revolution. 422 CARDINAL WISEMAN edifying and consoling. Tlic catlicdral licrc is magnificent beyond all my expectations, and what is wonderful is that, thanks to the firmness of its clergy, its gorgeous treasures have escaped unhurt from the rapacity of the French and the cupidity of successive revolutionary governments. The pro- fusion of gold and jewels almost surpasses belief; and as for silver, it seems of no more account than brass amongst us. The same is to be said of the vestments, &c., which are sur- passingly rich, scd de hoc alias. From this I go to Ecija, where a near relation of mine lives, whom I have not seen for many years, and this puts me on the road to Cordova, Granada, and Malaga, at each of which I shall stay a few days, and so return to Cadiz to embark for England. I need not say that I am enjoying a delicious climate, more like spring or autumn than winter, surrounded by orange groves in full bloom. Re- member me most kindly to Dr. Murra)' -and all other friends, and believe me ever Your most sincere friend in Christ, N. Wiseman. 423 CHAPTER XIV THE GOING OUT OF '45 In the winter of 1843 Wiseman received the first in- telligence of the event which finally brought to a crisis the Romeward tendency of the Oxford Movement — ■ the coming publication of W. G. Ward's ' Ideal of a Christian Church.' ' We have heard from Ward,' he writes to Mr. Phillipps, 'on the subject of his letter or book. Its object will be to show that Rome is the great exemplar to which they must study to approach, and he will not admit the existence of a single prac- tical corruption.' The book appeared in June 1844. Its story has so often been told that it need not be repeated here. The storm which followed the appearance of the book, the utter disruption of the Tractarian party, the open declarations — no longer mere insinuations — that the only fitting place for Mr. Ward and his friends was the Church of Rome, the positive declara- tions, due to private information from Newman's friends, that the leader had made up his mind to take the great step ; all these things fed Bishop Wiseman's hopes. A memorable scene was enacted in the Sheldonian Theatre on February 13, 1845 — 424 CARDINAL WISEMAN the closing scene, according to Dean Stanley, of the Oxford Movement. Mr. Ward's degree was taken away by the vote of Convocation. Tract 90 was only saved from formal condemnation by an act of private friendship — the veto of the Proctors. Mr. Oakeley publicly accepted the censure on Mr. Ward as apply- ing to himself. Pusey and the moderate party openly dissociated themselves from the martyrs of the hour, in their account of Tractarian doctrine, without venturing any longer to claim Newman as on their side. Wiseman appears to have been almost daily expecting to hear of Newman's reception into the Catholic and Roman Church. But February passed and no sign came. March went by, and April, and May, and June. Still no direct intimation of any movement on the part of the ' recluse ' of Littlemore. The impatience at Oscott grew past endurance. Some of the old Catholics were maliciously suggest- ing that, after all, the great conversion was not to come. Wiseman, as we have seen, was fully conscious that any direct action on his own part would be only a source of embarrassment to Newman. But, with his temperament, inaction was impossible. Accord- ingly, Mr. Bernard Smith — Pugin's ' most glorious man ' — was deputed to go and see Newman at Littlemore. This, as an old friend, he could well do, and he was to try his best to ascertain the prospect before them. Mr. Smith accordingly went ; and the story of his visit adds a characteristic touch to what is already known of Newman's attitude from the ' Apologia.' Newman had been for years hinting, in his own THE GOING OUT OF '45 425 almost imperceptible way, in which direction he was moving. The services at St. Mary's had been con- ducted, from 1840 onwards, more and more often by a curate, to prepare close observers of his attitude for his resigning his post there ; the editorship of the 'British Critic' was given up in the same year — an- other sign to the initiated. His retreat to Littlemore in 1842 was meant to show that he did not feel sure enough of his position to remain at Oxford as a leader. The retractation, in the following year, of his sayings against Rome was made in the ' Conservative Journal,' which hardly anyone ever read. Each sign was hardly perceptible to the public ; each was full of meaning to the few whom it most concerned. ' Newman,' says Dean Stanley, ' had recourse to whispering, like the slave of Midas, his secret to the reeds.' And it was on occasion of Mr. Smith's visit to Littlemore that the last of these whispers — so significant to those who knew the man — was given. Let us for a moment recall the scene of Mr. Smith's visit. A group of cottages at Littlemore had been made a habitable dwelling for Newman and a small group of friends — J. B. Dalgairns, Ambrose St. John, E. S. Bowles, and Edward Stanton. Frequent visitors, but not actual residents, were Albany Christie, afterwards Father Christie, and John Walker, Fellow of Brasenose, afterwards Canon Walker. The inmates of the house were leading a life of the utmost self-denial and simplicity. Divine office was recited daily. There were two meals in the day ; break- fast — consisting of tea and bread and butter, taken standing up at a board — and dinner. In Lent no 426 CARDINAL WISEMAN meat was eaten from beginning to end. The rule of silence for half the day was as strict as that of the Carthusians. Reading, writing, and praying were the occupations of the morning ; and later Newman would often take his disciples for a walk. During the walk he was his old fascinating self While walking so fast that his companions could hardly keep pace with him, he conversed on all subjects — except the one which was most anxiously pressing on him. He talked of current politics, of literature, and still more of early Oxford memories, of Keble, Hawkins, Blanco White. Whately was a favourite theme. He and other old friends, whose intimacy necessarily belonged to the past, were held in the affectionate grasp of that clinging memory. After dinner, again, Newman was with the others for a short time, talking. The rest of the day he was working in the library or in his room. We know the agony of mind he had been in throughout- -the agony which he has compared to that of a death-bed. He was now, in the year 1845, working his way through the last painful struggle of which he foresaw the end. The theory of Develop- ment was to reconcile his mind to the Roman modifications of primitive doctrine, which had so long kept him back from a change of communion. The crowded thoughts and vivid imagination displayed in the ' Essay on Development ' witness to the extreme mental tension in its composition which was evident to his companions. Those who still survive describe him as standing upright at a high desk, writing for hours tocrether — towards the end for fourteen hours THE GOING OUT OF '45 427 in the day — at his book. The younger men looked in awe at their inscrutable Rector, who never spoke (unless in private to Ambrose St. John) of what was in his thoughts, and never gave them an indication that he expected them to take the great step. Day by day he seemed to grow paler, and taller, and thinner — at last almost transparent — as he 'stood in the light of the sun and worked at his task. They noted that he no longer read the Communion Service as of old. The whole world knew that he had resigned St. Mary's. One of the inmates, but recently come, had had it intimated to him that he ought not to join the Littlemore community unless he were prepared to join the Church of Rome. But so secretly was this done that another of the little band tells me that, up to the very hour in which Newman announced the arrival of the Italian Passionist, Father Dominic, who was to effect the reconciliation with the Apostolic See, he did not know what was to come either for Newman himself or for his companions.' Such was the ascetic antl inscrutable aspect of the Littlemore to which Mr. Smith was bending his steps. He arrived, and was received by Newman with marked coldness. Newman said little and soon left the room. The others crowded round him, full of curiosity about Oscott and the English ' Roman Catholics.' Then came an indication of the touch of mutual contempt which was so curious a feature in the later years of fusion between the converts and the old Catholics. While old Catholic squires ' I am indebted to Father Stanton of the Oratory and the Rev. E. S. Bowles for most of these particulars. 428 CARDINAL WISEMAN were refusing to be deeply interested in the pro- ceedings of a set of Oxford scholars — 'bookworms,' perhaps they would have said — the Oxford men, on their side, had their misgivings as to the future. After difficulties of doctrine and practice had been discussed, the Littlemore group put the question — were not the English Catholics ' impossible ' people as companions ? Were they not uneducated ? Mr. Smith's own experience had been of the best, and he could tell them of the kindliness, courtesy and brilliant acquirements of Wiseman, of the sterling qualities of Dr. Errington ; of the charm and sanctity of Father Spencer, of the piety and winning gentleness of Mr. Phillipps. These and other topics were discussed, and the net result was at least to show to the Little- more community that Mr. Smith, whose habits and antecedents were identical with their own, was well satisfied with his new position and surroundings. Then Newman reappeared for a moment and asked Mr. Smith to remain for dinner. Then came the ' last whisper.' At dinner-time Newman appeared : and as he stood for a moment in the middle of the room, Smith saw that he was dressed in grey trousers. To Mr. Smith, who had known Newman for nearly ten years, having often acted as his curate at Little- more, the significance of this was absolutely final. Newman's excessive strictness as to clerical costume was well known to his intimates. This was an avowal to Smith himself, and through him to Oscott, that he regarded himself as being in lay communion, and had abandoned the externals of a clergyman. THE GOING OUT OF '^s A^9 Newman perfectly knew that Smith's arrival was a query from Wiseman, ' Are we to expect you ? ' and this was his answer. The move to Rome must be near. Mr. Smith's absolute satisfaction with his visit to Littlemore was apparent to Dr. Wiseman on his return. ' What did he say to make you so confident ? ' Wiseman asked. ' He hardly spoke,' was the reply. Wiseman persisted in asking for the reason of Smith's conviction and brought it forth at last. He was utterly disappointed. ' I knew,' was Mr. Smith's reply, ' that you would think nothing of it. But I know the man, and I know what it means. He will come, and come soon.' Within the month came the announcement (in a letter from Lord Shrewsbury to Mr. Phillipps) of the ' glorious ' news that W. G. Ward was coming for certain. ' Newman cannot lag long behind,' added Lord Shrewsbury. August passed and September. The younger men at Littlemore would not wait ; Dalgairns and Ambrose St. John left Newman for a holiday, and were received into the Church, the one at Aston, the other at Prior Park. Stanton went away and wrote to Newman early in October that he should be received at Stonyhurst. Then at last Newman definitely broke silence. ' Why should we not be received together ? ' he wrote. ' Father Dominic, the Passionist, comes here on the 8th to receive me. Come back on that day.' On the pouring wet evening of October 8th Stanton and Father Dominic arrived almost together. The next day Newman, Bowles and Stanton received 430 CARDINAL WISEMAN at his hands conditional baptism, and a few minutes saw the accomplishment of what had for years been the hope and fear of thousands. Then Newman, still entirely reserved, silent, and apparently passionless in talking to his companions, wrote as an Appendix to the manuscript on Develop- ment, which lay unfinished on his table, those words of which a great critic ^ has said that they ' will be remembered as long as the English language endures ' : Such [he wrote] were the tliotights concerning the ' blessed vision of peace,' of one whose long-continued petition had been that the Most Merciful would not despise the work of His own hands nor leave him to himself, while yet his eyes were dim and his breast laden, and he could but employ Reason in the Things of Faith. And now, dear reader, time is short and Eternity long. Put not from you what you have here found ; reject it not as mere matter of present controversy. Set not out resolved to reject it and looking about for the best way of doing so ; seduce not yourself with the imagination that it comes of disgust or disappointment or restlessness or wounded feeling or undue sensibility or other weakness. Wrap not yourself round in the associations of years past, nor determine that to be the truth which you wish to be so, nor make an idol of cherished anticipations. Time is short, eternity is long. ' Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace. Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum.' The routine at Littlemore continued almost as before, and Newman seldom alluded to the great change he had made. A greater gentleness and an unwonted touch of geniality were noticed in his manner, but that was all. It was soon arranged that he was to go to Oscott to be confirmed by Dr. Wiseman. On October 31 he arrived, and the meeting > Mr. Ilulton. THE GOING OUT OF '45 431 between the two men was characteristic. The great Oxford leader, who had at last owned that Rome had conquered, had come, as it were, to surrender his sword to the man who had so strenuously urged surrender as his only course. Orders disowned, pre- ferments resigned, he came in poverty and simplicity to ask for confirmation at the hands of the Bishop. His faith and conviction brought him to Oscott, but they could not untie his tongue or rid him of the embarrassment which belonged to the situation. In company with John Walker and Ambrose St. John, he was ushered into the Oscott guest-room, and in a few minutes Bishop Wiseman with Mr. Bernard Smith and Father Spencer entered the room. The em- barrassment was mutual, and Wiseman could scarcely find words for more than formal inquiries about the journey. Any touch of exultation, or any expres- sions of commonplace and conventional congratula- tion, would, as all felt instinctively, outrage a situation in which the leading mind was so highly wrought that silence seemed the only possible course. The two principal figures sat almost silent, while their companions talked more readily to each other. A message which shortly announced that a boy was waiting to go to confession to the Bishop, gave Wise- man an excuse for retiring, which he accepted with significant alacrity.' The confirmation was given on November i, the feast of All Saints, and the ice was soon broken (as we learn from Wiseman's own account to be cited shortly), and much conversation on the past and ' I am indebted to Canon Bernard .Smith for these particulars. 432 CARDINAL WISEMAN future ensued. The Old College near Oscott, Bishop Milner's favourite retreat in the early years of the century, was ultimately handed over free of rent to Newman and his friends, and was to be, for the time at least, their Littlcmore. They called it Mary- vale, A Roman Missal was given to Newman by St. John and Dalgairns to mark the day of confirmation. The gift was a joint one, though Dalgairns at the time was in France. Newman wrote in it the inscription of the ' Neophytes,' giving one of those glimpses of his sense of the situation which his reserve made so rare. All three had taken in confirmation the name of ' Mary,' as one of the additional names which it is customary to assume on the occasion. The inscription ran as follows : J. H. M. NEWMAN NEOPHYTO A. M. ST. JOHN ET J. D. M. B. DALGAIRNS NEOPHYTI FRATRES FRATRI CONTIJBERNALES CONTUBERNALI HIC PEREGRINANS, ILLE DOMI DONO DEDERUNT IN FESTO OMN. SS. 1 84 5 That the ice was soon thoroughly broken between Newman and Wiseman, and that before the end of the visit they talked long and confidentially, appears from the following letter of Wiseman to Dr. Russell : Private except for Dr. IMurray. St. Mary's College, Oscott. My dear Friend, — Many thanks for your kind letter. You have probably learnt from the papers (but how the ' Morning THE GOING OUT OF '45 433 Post ' got the intelligence I cannot conceive) that since I wrote to you, Mr. Newman has been here. In fact, he came on the Eve of All Saints with Messrs. St. John and Walker, and was followed by Mr. Oakeley. Those from Littlemore had been confirmed here the Sunday before. On All Saints, Newman, Oakeley, and the other two were confirmed, and we had ten quondam Anglican clergymen in the chapel. Has this ever happened before since the Reformation ? Newman took the name of Mary ; Oakeley, Bernard and Mary. Newman stayed with us Sunday and half of Monday, and he and all his party then expressed themselves, and have done so since, highly gratified by all they saw and felt. Oakeley stays with us alto- gether. Newman's plans are not finally determined, nor will they be till his book is finished. But he opened his mind com- pletely to me — and I assure you the Church has not received, at any time, a convert who has joined her in more docility and simplicity of faith than Newman. I have good hopes that he will transfer his establishment to our Old College, which seems made for such a community. We went over it very minutely, to see what arrangements could be made. The difficulty is the abandoning so important a post as Oxford ; while, on the other hand, he feels the importance of giving his young friends a good Catholic training and education, which cannot be done at Littlemore. This matter must, however, not be spoken of Now as to his work, &c. I have thought it would interest you to see Newman's letter to me about it and other matters, for several reasons : (i) you will see by it how sudden, after all, his conversion was, and how accidental (as he repeated to me) the mode of his being received ; (2) you will see something of his work, of which I wish to say more ; (3) you will be able, after consulting Dr. Murray, to give me your opinion about the question how far he is allowed to continue the sale of the ' Tracts for the Times.' They are exclusively his property, and are the only work that is so. The sale at present is not great ; but the question is one of principle. They have been, and still are, the means of bringing many forward towards truth ; but they contain error, and this is not a mere passive permission, but a direct supplying of the work, and deriving of profit from it. Now as to the book, of which his friends speak as a VOL. L F F 434 CARDINAL WISEMAN wonderful work : you will see by his account that it is not one written lately, but the work of a long time ; he told me that no one would believe how much thought and labour it had cost him. The plan is something of this sort. There is a long introductory portion, upon the mode of ascertaining which Church corresponds with the ancient. He shows the prima facie evidences or striking features which anyone comparing the primitive Church with modern forms of religion would dis- cover only in that and in the modern Catholic : e.g. the im- portance attached to dogma and accuracy of belief, &c. He then examines different tests, principally Vincent Lirinensis' ' Quod semper &c.,' and shows how in application it would not answer, though true. For this purpose he takes three doctrines admitted by the Anglican Church and shows how difficult it would be to prove the semper., ab omnibus and itbique in the first three centuries. Incidentally he shows that in Pusey's celebrated sermon on the Eucharist, out of 140 texts of Fathers only four are from the first three centuries. He concludes by drawing the consequence that doctrines are developed by time, and do not reach their full manifestation in the Church in the beginning. The main portion of the work is taken up in showing the difference between a development and a corruption, and in giving and applying tests for distinguishing one from the other. I forgot to mention that all his first part is illustrated by analogies from philosophy, politics, &c. He gives, I think, as many as [seven] tests : e.g. that the substance of the doctrine must remain unchanged, (ic. He applies these to purgatory, the Pope's supremacy (he observed his work would be considered decidedly Ultamontane) and the B. Virgin, showing how, so far from her worship, as now prac- tised, superseding, overlaying or obscuring the doctrines of the Incarnation, &c., it seems to bring them out and give them importance. The work was all written while an Anglican, when he did not contemplate joining us, at least immediately, and gives the history only of the mode in which he was led to his own convictions ; but at the end he will state that now he is a Catholic and holds his faith on the authority of the Church, and believes in all things as she teaches, &c. THE GOING our OF '45 435 I had some hesitation about delaying the publication of the work, which is most anxiously looked for by many, by revising it : on the ground that it was the history of his past mind, the narrative of a fact, not a theoretical or dogmatical work, the more so as he assured me he had been most studious not to allow any inaccuracy to escape him. But now, on receipt of your letter, although 100 pages are already printed, I have written to say that I will undertake to look it over.' It will be a great addition to my present occupations, but I have no one else whom I can trust with the task, and I must not shrink from it. I enclose letters from two other clergymen, whose names must not be mentioned, that you may see how the mo\ement is going forward. Recommending myself more warmly than e\"er to your prayers, I am, ever, your sincere friend in Christ, N. Wiseman. P.S. — Mr. (Rev.) and Mrs. Wingfield - are here to be con- firmed to-morrow. I shall also receive into the Church to- morrow a Miss Munro, whose mother is re-married to Sir A. B., who ought to be a Catholic. I have found it necessary to take a house in Birmingham : fortunately the widow of the founder of our convent, Mrs. Hardman, has retired into it, and had her house next door to let. I have taken it trusting to Providence, and have now three ladies. Miss Munro under in- struction, and two young ladies from Littlemore, sent by Mr. Newman to be disciplined in the Catholic life (Miss Wood- masons, Irish), and he is going to send us two more, single ladies well provided, so that it has been a useful establishment already. Mr. Stokes, editor of the 'Ecclesiastical Almanack,' and secretary to the Camden Society, is soon to be received. A Mr. Rowe from Cambridge was received at Birmingham on Sunday last, and a most interesting case of readiness to sacri- fice all for the truth he presented. ' In the event Dr. Wiseman did not revise it. Vide Preface tu the Essay on Developtncnt. - Mr. William Wingfield was a son of Dr. Wingfield, Canon of York and Prebendary of Worcester, and brother-in-law to W. G. Ward. Mrs. Wingfield was a daughter of Sir George Nicholls. F !■' 2 436 CARDINAL WISEMAN I am sure it will interest you to hear that the College is particularly blessed at present ; our numbers are large, and our boys most select and excellent. In fact, at present I feel as if I were only too free from crosses, for, excepting my health, I have no source of suffering, for as to anxiety, even that does not give me any. I have often said 1 should be ready to sing my Nunc diini//is when Mr. Newman should have joined us ; and I must not draw back from my word. I hope I have not worn out your patience. 437 CHAPTER XV THE NEOPHYTES 1845-1847 The time succeeding Newman's reception was most eventful. The hopes and fears aroused on either side have not in the event been accurately fulfilled. The movement inaugurated by Newman and Keble has not been defeated within the Church of England. The increase in influence of the Catholic and Roman Church has not proved proportional to the spread of Catholic sympathies among Englishmen. It has con- sequently become the fashion to disparage the signifi- cance of the events of 1845. A more careful study will be likely to result in a renewed conviction of the lasting importance of a crisis, of which no one questions the contemporary interest. If the results have differed in kind from those anticipated, they have not been less in degree. For the moment we have simply to describe the state of things, leaving an estimate of its consequences to a later chapter. Newman's reception proved, as was expected, the signal for large numbers to follow. Day by day came the news of fresh ' secessions.' Wiseman and the younger English Catholics, who had caught his spirit, were filled with a sense of the triumph of 438 CARDINAL WISEMAN the Church, a feeling which, considering Newman's unique position, and the attitude of defeat accepted by the Tractarians who remained within the AngHcan communion, did not appear unreasonable. ' We sat glumly at our breakfasts every morning,' writes Dean Church, ' and then someone came in with news of something disagreeable — -someone gone, someone sure to go. The good heads ate and drank and only cared in an obscure way for these things. When an impudent and troublesome imposture is at last blown up, the impostors — and it was not they who went, but we who stayed, who were voted impostors— keep coy and say little.' The Puseyites were defeated. The man who had promised to renew the life of the English Church had left its pale. It ' reeled,' in Lord Beaconsfield's phrase, from the blow it had sustained. The secession of Newman and his followers has been described by Mr. Lecky as ' quite unparalleled in magnitude since that which had taken place under the Stuarts.' ' It was not wonderful that the more enterprising English Catholics accepted the verdict of public opinion that they had won a great victory. Still, for the converts themselves, the situation was not entirely an easy one. Wiseman, indeed, welcomed the neophytes with enthusiasm. He looked for great things at their hands ; and his influence secured for them a degree of sympathy which they would not have received ten years earlier. Nevertheless, a very considerable number of the old Catholics of England — perhaps a majority — as they had laughed at the idea of ' Oxford Protestants ' being sincere in their ' History of KalionalisDi, i. 159. THE NEOPHYTES 439 Catholic sympathies or joining the communion of the Roman Church, now looked at the converts askance as only half Catholics. ' The cruel suspicions of those who think there is heresy at the bott®m of us,' ' formed Newman's chief trial at this time, as we see in more than one of his letters. The deep here- ditary differences between members of the Estab- lished Church and English Catholics, which had grown up through the years of persecution and social proscription, had issued in something like a caste prejudice on either side. Due, as their estrangement really was, to many causes other than difference of religion, it did not cease with the removal of only one of its sources. Catholics and Protestants had become like different races, separated for centuries in their education and traditions, with no personal knowledge of each other. Historical memories on either side had helped to transform individuals into types — just as the most winning of Christians is to the Turk in time of war an ' infidel dog.' Thus the men born within and without the Catholic pale continued, in many cases, to stand apart, suspicious of each other. While many of the converts, in the devotion of their new life, were eager to renounce their own prejudices, the attitude of the average old Catholic, who was not an exceptional man or embarked on an exceptional movement, was perhaps harder to change. Wiseman's remedy for the difficulties of the situa- tion lay in Roman influence. For years he had been ' See letter from Newman quoted in /T'. G. Ward and the Catholic Revival . p. 16. 440 CARDINAL WISEMAN striving with increasing success to win the old Catholics to a deeper devotion to the Holy See. And he felt sure that Rome would be all sympathy and encouragement to the converts. Rome was to be the bridge which should unite the two bodies in England. It would be difficult for the old Catholics to throw suspicion on the orthodoxy of men whose work had received direct Roman sanction. And though the caste feeling might die hard where it was strongest, it could do little harm if this suspicion were put out of court. Wiseman was, as we have seen, deeply dissatisfied with the existing state of the Catholic body in England ; and his great wish was to utilise the converts in giving broader culture and sympathies to the rising generation. Once their alliance with the Roman authorities became an accomplished fact, such a design might be feasible. Two alternative schemes presented themselves to him as to the means whereby Newman and his friends might influence the Catholic body — that they should do their work informally, founding in England (as St. Philip Neri did in Rome) an ' Oratory ' which should be a centre of Catholic life, or that they .should establish a theological college under New- man's presidency. In either case, residence in Rome on the part of Newman and his companions, was a desirable preliminary. One who took an active part in the events of that time' recalls the deep hopefulness of Wiseman's own ' The late Dr. Whitty, S.J., in whose lifetime this chapter was written. The account given in the text of the state of feeling at this time is derived almost entirely from Dr. Whitty's recollections. THE NEOPHYTES 441 immediate friends that, once a genuine amalgamation was attained between converts and old Catholics, a movement would be set on foot which would undo the work of the Reformation. ' The conversion of Eng- land ' became now a hope seriously entertained, and Wiseman wrote to many Continental bishops to join in prayer for this end. Newman, Ward and Oakeley entered fully into the wish for hearty fellowship with the old Catholics ; Faber less so. Newman visited the chief of the Catholic seats of education-r— Old Hall, Prior Park, Ushaw and Stonyhurst. He con- ceived a great admiration for Dr. Newsham, President of Ushaw, and later on threw out the suggestion that he should be invited to act as superior to the new Oratory. The result of Newman's tour of visits was, apparently, a very accurate view of the situation. He saw promise among the younger and the more far- sighted of the amalgamation between neophytes and old Catholics, which a later time has witnessed. Never- theless, he detected a suspiciousness of ' newfangled ' men with newfangled notions among the old-fashioned priests which led him to look for Roman support as imperative. Wiseman's immediate endeavour, then, was in the first place to foster, m the most promising quarters, an ejiteiite cordiale between converts and old Catholics. He kept the converts as far as possible In his own neighbourhood, where his influence could promote this endeavour ; and urged such friends as Dr. Russell of Maynooth and Dr. Whitty to second his efforts. The next point was to secure for the leading converts a sojourn in Rome, whence they might return armed 443 CARDINAL WISEMAN with the highest ecclesiastical sanction for their future work. Faber and his community of Wilfridians settled at Cotton Hall, Cheadle ; Newman and the Littlemore group came, in February 1846, to Old Oscott, which (as I have said) they christened Maryvale ; and Oscott itself received many of the converts, and gave them for the time both home and occupation. Ward and Oakeley went to Old Hall, where Dr. Whitty formed a link between the old Catholics and the new- comers. And within a year a considerable number had found their way to the Eternal City. The following letters, written before and imme- diately after Newman's migration from Littlemore to Maryvale, indicate the state of Wiseman's plans and feelings at the time : St. Mary's College : 1845. My dear Mr. Phillipps, — You will be glad to hear that on Wednesday last we received into the Church, here, the Rev. Messrs. Marshall, Glennie, and Coop, and young Mr. Wood- mason, whom Mr. Newman kindly brought to us on Monday, when he enjoyed our St. Cecilia's feast and its music, which went off extremely well. There was another clergyman with them, the Rev. Mr. Birks ; but he had not come prepared for the decisive step, and shrank from so suddenly making his pro- fession of faith. He returned to a friend's house (at Birming- ham), but felt so miserable that he came back next day, and was received yesterday. On these occasions (probably for the first time since the Reformation) we used the service of the Pontifical instead of that of the Ritual. It is far more impressive, and the form of abjuration or rather of adhesion to the Holy See is ver- batim what St. Gregory prescribed for Firminus. To-morrow I believe the Rev. J. Watts Russell, son of the M.P., his wife, three children, and two other ladies make their profession at Northampton. Mr. F. Wells, son of Lady E. Wells, was received at Birmingham on Sunday last. Several others have been received in different places. THE NKOr/IVTES 443 On the same da}' he wrote to Dr. Russell as follows : You cannot think how cheerful Newman now is, and how at home he makes himself amongst us. This is his second visit. He was going from this to Ushaw with Faber, but the latter was prevented, so Newman is gone to Prior Park, and he has been to Old Hall. He will thus be soon known to all the clergy, and become popular among them. By this time you will have seen his work (the ' Essay on Development ') and have devoured it as I did. The first edition, 1,500, was bespoken before printed off, and there is not a copy to be got. Many more are coming on, and there is one first-rate man at Oxford, who has written for prayers — being quite upset and shaken. Get as many masses and prayers as possible for him. Newman himself wrote of this time in later years : I found myself welcomed and housed at Oscott, the whole house, I may say, boys as well as the authorities of the place, receiving me with open arms. . . . How many kind and eager faces, young and old, come before me now, as they passed along the corridors, or took part in the festivities of St. Cecilia's day, or assisted at more directly sacred commemorations during the first month that I was a Catholic. The incoming tide of converts had ad\'anced some way by Advent 1845, as we see from the following letter to Mr. Phillipps : St. Mary's College : Friday, Advent 1845. My dear Mr. Phillipps, — I am anxious to learn whether you have come to any arrangement with or about Mr. Coffin, who, of course, you know, has been received into the Church. I have not said or written to Mr. Marshall on the subject, but I know that he is reduced to great straits, and is suffering cruel persecu- tion from friends and family. He has, however, brought over seventeen of his parishioners, including the district Surgeon, and he has several others under instruction. As Mr. Coffin is unmarried, and staying at Prior Park, he possibly may intend to remain there, and study for orders. Mr. Marshall will be in Birmingham to-morrow. Mr. Glennie, and Mr. Watts Russell, 444 CARDINAL WISEMAN and probably Mr. Woodmason are coming to settle in Birming- ham, where Mr. Faber has also formed a society of young men, his converts, who live in community. So that we shall have quite a colony of converts near us. On Sunday last Mr. Stokes, late secretary of the Camden Society, was received at St. Chad's, and next Sunday Mr. Hutchinson of Trinity, Caml:)ridge, will be received. He talks of seven more coming. The bishops of France are all answering to our appeal ; in the Diocese of Cam- brai every second Mass on Christmas night is to be offered up for England, and the faithful are requested to give their Christ- mas Communion for the same object. With best wishes of this holy season to yourself, Mrs. Phillipps and family, I am, ever yours very sincerely and affectionately in Christ, N. Wiseman. The difficulty touched on in this letter — of finding- means of Hvehhood for many of the neophytes — soon became urgent. Numbers had, in taking the great step, sacrificed their means of subsistence. Several of Wiseman's letters deal with this difficulty in indi- vidual cases. How general it was we gather from the following letter written by him to Mr. Walker of Scarborough near the end of 1845 : I am now engaged with anxious thoughts. Scarcely a day passes that I do not hear of someone who is on the point or in the thought of joining us and losing often their all. In their number are several married clergymen who are unfit for secular employment, and yet with their livings lose everything. This is a serious matter weighing heavily upon us. 1 have taken some preliminary steps towards meeting the most pressing exigencies of this state [of things], but it is really only a beginning and a trifle. If there be any hope of your being at Derby for the Institute meeting, I will go over, for I should be glad to talk this matter over with you. The question is not of providing an asylum for the celibates and Littlemorians, but of assisting, at least temporarily, those who, in coming over, give up all, and are from circumstances unable to do anything for themselves. THE NEOPHYTES 445 There are one or two very able men in that painful position. The same is to be said of ladies who lose their situations by becoming Catholics. . . . Mr. turned my attention to [the matter] and told me we should soon have to act. The spirit of inquiry and dissatisfaction among clergymen and educated persons in the Anglican Church is spreading in every direction, and we cannot know how it will end. Early next year a letter to Dr. Russell shows incidentally Wiseman's views of the necessity of co-operation between converts and old Catholics in the conduct of the ' Dublin Review ' ; St, Mary's College: S. Anton. A.C., 1846. My dear Dr. Russell, — A report has reached me that you are thinking of retiring from the editorship of the ' Review ' ; and I lose not a post in writing to entreat you not to think of such a step, especially at the present moment. We are soon to have an accession of new writers from among the converts — Ward and Mr. Marshall are writing, and probably Oakeley will do the same. It is of great importance that the Catholic ele- ment of the ' Review ' should be kept as much together as possible, and as strong an infusion of old Catholicism as pos- sible be kept in it. This I mean for the sake of keeping up confidence from the Catholic body, which will be jealoiis of seeing the ' Review ' pass too much into neophyte hands. The movement goes on. To-morrow Mr. Morris (author of the essay, which gained the prize, on the best method of proving Christianity to the Hindoos) will be received at Birmingham. He is Dr. Pusey's intimate friend, and a great scholar, and a Syrian scholar, which I much value. He will join us here. You have probably seen the report that Mr. Newman and his Littlemore community come to occupy the old College here. Workmen are now getting it ready. There will be eight or nine with Mr. Newman, including most of the authors of the ' Saints' Lives.' I cannot enter into details, but I think you would be pleased with the purposes and prospects of the establish- ment. Mr. Newman, of course, brings his library of 3,000 vols., chiefly ecclesiastical literature. I hope thus to see accomplished a long-cherished wish ; for I have for some years looked for- 446 CARDINAL WISEMAN ward to seeing that house take the place of Littlemore. Mr. Newman is at present in the North ; he has visited Dr. Briggs at York, Drs. Mostyn and Riddell,' Ushaw College, Stonyhurst, and perhaps the Lancashire bishops. He has been twice also at Old Hall and twice at Prior Park. P2verywhere everybody is delighted with him, and he clearly wishes to throw himself entirely into the Catholic body, and become one of ourselves. Mr. Faber is living at Birmingham with a most edifying little community of young converts from his own former flock. They work at their trades and live in common, but he will soon start for Italy, where he will stay some months. I hope that when all are settled down you will come over and see us. I beg to be most kindly remembered to Dr. Murray, to whom I will write in a few days, and to all friends, and am ever Your sincere and affectionate friend in Christ, N. Wiseman. A little later he writes to the same correspondent : To-day Newman has offered to write a short article. I did not write to ask or press him, and I am glad he has come for- ward himself. His name is [in] itself a host. When may I expect the pleasure of seeing you over here ? You will be delighted with Maryvale. We have begun our theology in earnest there. The course will be full and deep. All- Mr. Newman's friends are delighted with his cheerfulness and amiability, which seem to increase every day. In spite of the extraordinary results of the movement, we find traces, at this time, in Wiseman's correspondence and private notes, of the gloom and despondency which came of constant ill health and an almost morbid sensitiveness. His sympathy with the converts was misunderstood and misrepre- sented ; and he found that the opposition he had incurred, by believing in their sincerity in the earlier ' Dr. Briggs was Vicar Apostolic of the Yorkshire district, Bisho Mostyn of the Northern district. Dr. Riddell was Bishop Mostyn Coadjutor. THE NEOPHYTES 447 years of the movement, did not cease with their con- version. He had from his first coming to Oscott marked the place out, in spite of the smiles of his critics, as the site of important accessions to com- munion with the Holy See ; but the fulfilment of his dreams had not materially changed the attitude of the English Catholics who opposed the movement. The old fashion was to be very slow in accepting converts and even to discourage them.' Wiseman, on the other hand, had habitually smoothed all diffi- culties, sanguine that what seemed from without to be an obstacle would cease to offend, after the great step had been taken. This course was severely censured by those to whose traditions it was uncongenial, and Wiseman's sympathetic nature suffered under reproof A uieinoranduni written about this time records both his occasional despondency, and the signs which his hopeful faith discovered of providential guidance and appro\al of his course : I hardly know why I should wish to make a record of my feelings at this particular time, though I have often wished to do so before. But perhaps seldom before have I felt more com- pletely the peculiarity of my position in my total isolation as regards support and counsel, as well as sympathy and concur- rence in views and plans. I came to England and into this district and college without a claim upon anyone's kindness or indulgence, with overrated abilities, exaggerated reputation for learning, over-estimated character in every respect. I was placed in a position of heavy responsibility and arduous labour. No one on earth knows what I went through in head and heart during my years of ' Mr. Beste's account (in his Priestly Absolution at Oxford) of his welcome by Bishop Douglas on occasion of his conversion towards the end of the last century, is worth reading in this connexion. 448 CARDINAL WISEMAN silent and solitary sorrow. In the house I have reason now to know that not one w as working with me, thought with me or felt with me. Many an hour of the lonely night have I passed in prayer and tears by the lamp of the Sanctuary ; many a long night has passed over, sleepless and [sorrowful]. . . . How seldom has a word been spoken which intimated that those who entered the College considered it as more than a mere place of boys' education, or [saw in it] a great engine employed in England's conversion and regeneration. What a different place it would be if all had laboured with this view, and for this pur- pose ! But thank God it has done its work in spite of us ; in spite of our miserable strifes and petty jealousies, and narrow views, and cold, almost sarcastic valuation of what a higherand better Power was working through it. How few sympathised (Mr. Spencer did, certainly) with the tone of soothing and inviting kindness which from the begin- ning Roman education had taught me to adopt, the voice of com- passion and charity. . . . Newspaper assaults, remonstrances by letter (and from some of our most gifted Catholics), sharp rebukes by word of mouth . . . were indeed my portion, as though I compromised the truth and palliated error ; as though I narrowed the distance between the two by trying to throw a bridge over the hideous chasm, that men might pass from one to the other. Hence, when one (and thank God ! the only one) of our good converts fell back after receiving orders, I was publicly taunted with it in newspapers, and privately in every way, and when struck down and almost heart-broken by it, I was told by a friend that he was glad of it, because it would open my eyes to the false plan on which I had gone. And yet I had been careful to consult the Holy See through Propaganda before acting in this case. It was no small reason to me to go to Rome for the purpose of reassuring myself on this and other points connected with moral practical theology, in which I saw that my practice was at variance with that of others. I had almost become shaken in regard to them by seeing myself so completely alone, and blamed accordingly. I consulted there those on whom I could rely, and was encouraged by their answers. I must own the following trifling incident startled me much. There was among the chronic sick of the hospital of S. Spirito a man who had THE NEOPHYTES 449 been paralysed for many years, and whom I had directed and attended up to the time that I left Rome. He was a poor, ignorant, uneducated man of the lowest class, and could not know or hear much, where he was, of what was going on in England. When I visited Rome I went to see him in the hospital. Me addressed me in a most unexpected way, as far as I remember (for the impression made on me by his words was very strong), telling me not to change my mode of acting, but to go on as I had done till then, without minding what people said ; this was uttered in a very marked, decided tone, as if the man knew all about it, and I left quite amazed as to what could have led him to address me in such a manner, for I had not said a word that could have suggested his speech . . . yet the impression made on my mind was that he clearly alluded to my dealings with converts (and I think his words must have pointed to this subject), and that it thus pleased God to console and encourage me through the mouth of one of His poor to whom I had shown some little charity. I have great reason to thank God for having brought many round to the more merciful way of dealing with converts, first adopted here. They are now, [when] educated and fairly instructed, received much more readily and speedil)' into the communion of the Church, nor has there been reason to repent it. This state of things, however, naturally led the converts to regard Wiseman as (to use Newman's words) ' the chief or rather the only promoter ' among English Catholics of the ' great Catholic objects * on which they had set their heart. The following undated letter to Dr. Russell, belong- ing apparently to the year 1846, gives an indication of this phase of the situation : St. Mary's College : Friday. My dear Dr. Russell, — I know it will give you pain to hear that for some time back my health (which I begin to think is not worth so much trouble) has been very uncomfortable to my friends — i.e. symptoms of an unpleasant nature have again shown themselves that they think threaten something serious. VOL. 1. G G 450 CARDINAL WISEMAN Upon myself the worst effect is, that they partly consist of a total prostration for the time of all mental as well as physical energy. I cannot take up business, and things stagnate about me. I get but little sleep : last night, for instance, I did not get to sleep till five this morning. This wears me out. I have no business to trouble you with such matters, only this state of things must account for my not having written to you sooner, especially about the convert whom you alluded to. I own that ' while I see the folly of even thinking on such a subject, I some- times am tempted to consider what would be the consequence of my being disabled by death or illness from carrying on the various matters which have been thrown almost exclusively into my hands (while I am writing this Mr. Newman is under ex- amination for Minor Orders). I can hardly explain to you what they are — but I fear that many among the converts as yet feel that they have only one person to look to in many respects. The Church, of course, is their guide to which they pay un- limited obedience, but for much that requires personal assis- tance — you would be surprised how few can even understand their wants. This throws a weight upon me and a most serious responsibility. Yet I must trust that Providence will take care of its own work better than I can. Yours ever affectionately in Christ, N. Wiseman. Wiseman's cherished wish, that Newman should spend some time under the shadow of the Apostolic See, was carried out in the autumn of 1846. Accom- panied by Ambrose St. John, Newman reached Rome on the 28th of October. John Bernard Dalgairns went to Langres at the same time to finish his theological studies ; and Robert Aston Coffin, afterwards Bishop of Southwark, and another, followed Newman later on to the Collegio di Propaganda, where he had taken up his residence. Rome was at the moment a great centre of in- terest. Pius IX. had just ascended the Papal throne, THE NEOPHYTES 451 and by a veiy mixed band of enthusiasts he was hailed as the leader of the National Movement in Italy. Of this phase of his pontificate, in which Wiseman was actively concerned, I shall shortly speak. For the present our interest is in the aspira- tions and plans of the little band of English converts. These are given in a series of letters written from Propaganda by Newman himself, and by his com- panion Ambrose St. John, to Wiseman, as their official chief in England. It may be noted that Wiseman, ever more suc- cessful in initiating a project than in its detailed performance, was apparently the less regular corre- spondent of the two. Busy, too, over various projects — the proposed Hierarchy, diplomatic negotiations with Rome, and the care of his diocese— the details of Newman's plans for the future formed but a small pro- portion of the many subjects claiming his attention. Rev. A. St. John to Bishop Wise) nan. CoUegio di Propaganda: January 17, 1847 My dear Lord, — Mr. Newman has commissioned me to transcribe a letter which he has sent to Mr. Dalgairns about our affairs. ' How would it suit us to be Oratorians ? First, we must give up your Dominican notion of being teachers of divinity 171 schools, or of classics or philosophy. The Oratorian rule does not admit of it, and besides you recollect Father Dominic warned us against attempting it, since it belonged, he said, only to Jesuits and Seculars. And I confess, though we are not Jesuits, (or rather because) I do not wish to set up against them. Secondly, we must be located in a town. These are two conditions which seem to me plainly unavoidable, if we are to be Oratorians at all. And now to see how we can adjust matters to them. G G 2 452 CARDINAL WiSliMAN ' First, the Oratorian duties take up only a portion of the Hfe of the members, and having much time to themselves, they can be learned men, as in the case of Baronius, &c. And Haronius, it seems, connected his learned pursuits with serving the hospitals — which work of mercy is not only compatible, but encouraged by the Congregation. So that there is nothing to prevent individuals amongst us taking little prominent part in the direct duties of the Oratory, and devoting themselves to study and writing. And if it be said that at first we should be certainly taken up with those duties, till the institute was more settled, and we had more hands at work, I confess that, as far as I am concerned, I should prefer much a season given to active duties before returning to my books. Next I conceive that the plan of the Oratory needs altering, in order to adapt it to the state of England, and this alteration would be in favour of study. St. Philip met with his brethren three hours a day, and all comers were admitted. A spiritual book gave rise first to some remarks, then to a dialogue, then to a sermon. Now I should prefer meeting in this way only on Sundays and other festivals, and giving the discussion somewhat more of an intel- lectual character. . . . ' St. John and I feel London has particular claims on us ; how is this reconcilable with our position at Maryvale? Thus, I would begin in Birmingham, but only by opening out a new Oratorio as I have described. You will observe I have said nothing about a church. The circumstances of Birmingham make a church unadvisable. We might then be a mere appendage to the cathedral, and might then make our experiment near home on a small scale. If it succeeded, or if from local circumstances it did not, we might propagate ourselves or migrate to London (keeping, of course, Maryvale), and there attempt to get both Church and Oratorio. Meanwhile, while we were at Birming- ham the Oratorio might be open from October to June, and during the summer the confraternity might march out on holy days to Maryvale, and we might have the " stations " in the garden. ' If we resolved on this, we have many opinions and agents to combine. It must be approved by Dr. Wiseman and by Propa- ganda, who I hope would give us money, and by the Oratory here if they are to send us out as brothers. Not the least diffi- THE NEOPHYTES 453 culty is the last ; unless, indeed, they would send someone with us only for our own personal direction and management, leaving us free in our Oratorio, which from his ignorance ot English, and English wants and ways, he would not under stand. Or perhaps we might be allowed to learn our trade here, remaining in Propaganda ; in which case, I suppose, the idea I have partly had of taking a D.D. degree would have to be given over (it would be no reason you should not take a D.D. degree, rather the contrary), nor would a degree be wanted if I was to have no work in the theological schools. The sooner you can send me an opinion on this, consistent with the importance of forming one, the better. And, if you can send us any facts about the French Oratory, so much the better.' This, my dear Lord, is the whole of Mr. Newman's letter, so far as it concerns our vocation. He will have told you himself how extremely happy we find it for ourselves that your Lordship sent us to Propaganda. We have everything we want. For myself I think it will be long before I forget the great attention and kindness of Mgr. Brunelli, the Father Rector, and Father Minister, neither are the youths themselves at all behindhand in their obliging behaviour and friendship. You will be glad to hear that Mr. Caswall, whose name you have doubtless heard, has made up his mind to be received to-morrow (St. Peter's Chair) after a fourfold reading of the ' Development.' Five or six other persons, ladies, have been received in Rome within the last three weeks. Mr. Macmullerfs conversion has been a great consolation to us both, and especially to Mr. Meyrick, who was one of his most intimate friends ; the others, of whom we have heard, we were personally unacquainted with, but are not the less glad for their sakes. Begging your Lordship's blessing for the commencement of the New Year, likely to be so important to us, I am, your Lordship's affectionate and faithful servant, Ambrose St. John. Rev. J. H. Neivman to Bishop Wiseman. Collegio di Propaganda : Jan. 17, 1847. My dear Lord,— It is curious and very pleasant that, after all the thought we can give the matter, we must come to your Lordship's original idea, and feel we cannot [do] better than be 454 CARDINAL WISJiMAN Oratorians. Some of our original difficulties in the matter, and the plan we propose by way of surmounting them, are contained in the inclosed letter which I have written to Dalgairns for his opinion. Also I should be obliged by your showing it to Penny, though to him only. Perhaps he will write to me on the sub- ject at once, i.e. as soon as he can make up his mind. Of course, we wish very much to hear your Lordship's opinion also, though we think we have it already. And I should be glad to know how we ought to act towards Cardinal Acton. If, when the letters from England and France reach us, they are favourable to the plan, and we in the meanwhile have not changed, I suppose I had better proceed to speak to Mgr. Rrunelli, who seems our real and warm friend, and I shall tell him (if it is not too bold) that we must in some [way] have the Pope's sanction (Oratories, it seems, were formally set up by Pope's brief), considering the number of parties there are among Catholics in England, and the coldness and suspicion with which many who do not know us personally regard us. Perhaps they would let us try awhile, and then give us a brief, and perhaps Propaganda from the first would make us a grant. What we should want would be to hire a large room at Birmingham, and, if it succeeded, then to build. The Superior of the Fran- ciscans, Father Benigno, in the Trastevere, wishes us out of his own head to engage in an English Authorised Translation of the Bible. He is a learned man, and on the Congregation of the Index. What he wished was that we should take the Protestant translation, correct it by the Vulgate . . . and get it sanctioned here. This might be our first work if your Lordship approved of it. If we undertook it, I should try to get a number of persons at work (not merely our own party). First, it should be overseen and corrected by ourselves, then it should go to a few select revisers, e.g. Dr. Tate of Ushaw, Dr. Whitty of St. Edmund's, Dr. Pagani, and one or two others ; of course Dr. Errington ; that is, they should be theological and exegetical judges, though I do not suppose we are likely to come into collision with such persons in point of English style. And then it should go to Rome. But enough of such distinct projects. With all good wishes of the new year to your Lordship and all at Oscott, THE NF.OrHYTES 455 I am your Lordship's affectionate friend, begging your Lord- ship's blessing, John H. Newman. P.S. — There is another subject I must mention to your Lordship. Dalgairns and some of his Langres friends are very desirous of publishing a translation of some of my University Sermons at once, while the essay is in course of translation. A Langres priest has translated those, and I suppose the six last will be fixed on, if your Lordship sees no reason against the plan. In that case a preface will be prefixed, apologising for any phrases which are un-Catholic, on the ground of their being preached at Oxford, and explaining what needs explanation. This preface shall be sent to your Lordship for revision, but your name shall not be known. The French priest is, I am told, very warm in defence of the plan, and thinks the sermons will do good. They are upon Faith and Reason. I have been much interested in Perrone's treatise on the subject, and think his book a valuable one in dogmatics, but my opinion of his polemics (as far as regards England) does not improve. He was rash to undertake England, knowing neither the English language nor English character. Rev. J. H. Newman to Bishop Wiseman. Collegio di Propaganda : February 4, 1847. My dear Lord, — Your very kind letter came about a week since, my mind has been full of the thoughts it suggested, and I could have wished to write at once, but thought it prudent to wait, thinking an answer might come to a letter I wrote to your Lordship about the middle of last month. Now I write lest I should forget what I want to say, though thmgs are not so fresh in my mind as they were. It is sad work corresponding at a distance of 1,400 miles, and that when one is in a place for but a few months, and that place Rome, and events and daily occurrences, and intro- ductions crowding upon one, and changing the whole view of things. I thought you felt this yourself, and for that reason did not write to me. This thought, and the circumstance that what I said in my letter of December (to which your Lordship's letter is an answer) was but thrown out, and consisted of in 45ft CARDINAL WISEMAN fact several plans, and mere suggestions when I had not a view, and the feeling I had increased by your delaying your answer, that I was but rash and ambitious in thinking of a theological college, all this kept me from dwelling at all upon what I had written to you, as from expecting that you were likely to make anything of it. You may fancy how much I was taken by surprise, and I may say overpowered, by the extreme kindness and confidence of your letter of last week. Gladly indeed would I do anything which would at all tend to diminish those heavy cares which your Lordship's position and multitude of occupations bring upon you, and I trust I may say you will never have cause to be sorry for having put confidence in me, or will ever find me other than most desirous to the best of my power to further the great Catholic objects, of which your Lord- ship is in England the chief, or rather the only promoter. We certainly have gained a great deal in our knowlege of the state of things, of what is possible and what is not, since my letter of the middle of December ; and with that knowledge we both distinctly are of opinion that the idea I then suggested [of a theological college] is too great for us — it is impracticable. I wish I could bring out all my reasons for thinking so, but it is very difficult to recall the causes of, and to realise an impression which has been forming for nearly two months past. Mean- while the plan of the Oratory (anxious as it is in some respects) has approved itself to us more and more since 1 wrote to your Lordship about it. The most obvious reason against a theological college is this, that I do not think it would be taken up here, or at least it would meet with many difiiculties. I have all along said myself (as you may suppose) I can do nothing without Rome on my side. There is so much discord, so much jealousy in England, that I cannot get on without this support to carry me on. It is this which carries your Lordship on. I see here that no one scarcely is thought to be doing anything in England but those who are connected with you . . . Now the conviction has now and then come on me that it is very inexpedient for a person like me, a convert, and a writer (and so pledged in a way to certain opinions), to be a theological professor or the like. Mr. Brownson, Father Passaglia, and Dr. Grant, all together are a great difficulty in the way of a person coming THE NEOPHYTES 457 forward as a theologian ; it is all in addition to the jealousy in England. I say ' I cannot work without support against England ' ; I come to Rome and find no support if I undertake theology. . . . Now, on the other hand, we find the Oratory plan very warmly taken up here (though it is to anticipate what I shall say presently) -.—here then I have the support I want. I will go on to what I am alluding to. The very day my last letter went to your Lordship, we heard that our great friend Mgr. Brunelli was going to Spain. This led us to think that the sooner we mentioned the plan of the Oratory to him the better. A new secretary would be afraid of a new plan, time would be lost, and as to Mgr. Brunelli it could not be expected that in the hurry of a departure he would have time to think much of us. Therefore we must get hnn to think of the plan at once, or he could not at all. I drew up a sketch of \\hat I proposed on the basis of the letter I sent to your Lordship ; we had a talk with him, and I gave it to him to read, saying that we had written to you and had not yet heard, and therefore could not decide on anything at once ; but, that we had no doubt of your concurrence, since the Oratory had been your own sug- gestion, and that we came to him at once to save time. He took two days to read it, and then returned it, taking up the plan in the warmest way, and expressing a readiness to do anything for us. The Cardinal saw the paper too, and was very much pleased, and now Monsignor is waiting for your letter to mention the subject to the Pope. Mgr. Brunelli advises us, or me, to pass some months in an Oratorian congregation in the north of Italy, where the institution flourishes, and he will send an Oratorian Father thence to England with us, if we find one to suit us. Mgr. Brunelli said he should feel consolation to have had a hand in carrying the plan through. This leads on to another point on which we feel strongly, as your Lordship knows ; that is, we want some kind of rule. Now this Oratorian plan just gives us a rule— the College plan does not. This made me throw out the notion of the Third Order of St. Dominic as bringing with it a rule. But I did not mean to suggest our belonging to a College, and being nothing besides. Now we found in time that the Dominicans would not do on any account : they are rigorists, &c. &c. Then the question returns. What rule is compatible with a college ? Then we found that the 458 CARDINAL WISEMAN Jesuits are Ihe people for lhcoloj,ncal colleges, if Seculars are to be put aside. Since, therefore, we will neither be Seculars nor Jesuits, we could not undertake a college. I am writing as fast as I can, and wishing to get a good deal into my letter, so your Lordship must excuse it if I write abruptly. Another difficulty is the want of hands to work a college. Dalgairns and I are the only two whose taste directly lies that way (though St. John would like very much the care of youths), and Dalgairns would not like occupation quite dis- joined from active necessary work. Then the difficulty, at least the task, of bringing other districts in harmony with the plan — which would be a most delicate affair, and a matter of time ; then the long preparation and education necessary. On the other hand, the Oratory plan we can begin at once, and we have no concern with what the Collegio Romano may hear or what other districts say at home. So that we have the Pope's countenance and your Lordship's approval, we depend solely on ourselves and no one can touch us. Then, again, it allows plenty of time for reading and writing, and it admits of giving Retreats. All these considerations grew upon us, and believing (as we did and do) that it was a plan that your Lordship had originally thought of for us, we have almost taken for granted that it would be our destination. Your letter of last week has for the moment suspended our operations, not that we think your opinion will be adverse to our plan when you hear of it, but because we have thought it likely you would write again, and it will be more pleasant to proceed with your written sanction than only with the belief that we have it. Neverthe- less, knowing your many engagements, perhaps it is too much to expect that you will write, when you may take it for granted that our knowing your original liking for the plan may be enough for us. Begging your Lordship's blessing, I am, your affectionate friend and servant, John H. Newman. Rev. J. H. Newman to Bishop Wiseman. Collegio di Propaganda : February 23, 1847. My dear Lord, — As five weeks have passed since my letter went giving your Lordship the particulars of our Oratorian THE NEOPHYTES 459 scheme, and Mgr. Brunelli was pressin^-^ to go to the Pope about it, we gave our consent, and he opened the matter to the Holy Father the day before yesterday. He (the Pope) took it up very warmly, and at present the upshot is (I hope to see Monsignor about it presently) that he wishes some more of us to come to Rome at once ; he will give us a house, put an experi- enced Oratorian Father with us, and send us back altogether by (I suppose) the autumn. He did not press the plan, but threw it out. St. John will give particulars, for he saw Monsignor about it yesterday. Meanwhile I will write what strikes me. First, no time is to be lost if any others are to come here ; but, of course, all will depend on your Lordship's view of the matter, it being merely a suggestion of the Pope's ; but he wished me to write home about it. Next, who are to come .'' I would propose Penny and Stanton (Dalgairns, too, from Langres). As to Christie, I have a difficulty in pressing- him, and will write to him what strikes me. Mgr. Brunelli (and the Pope) are very pressing that I should suggest at once what alterations I propose in St. Philip's rule. Yet this surely must be a work of time. I will put down what I can ; meanwhile I set before your Lordship what strikes me might be done as regards Maryvale. I would have it for a sort of mother-house, where novices might be trained, supposing the institution to spread into other towns besides Birmingham ; where Retreats might be held ; where the Oratorian brothers might live (say) four months out of the year, as a time of re- cruiting after the work of the town, of reading and writing, also a sort of summer-holiday place on St. Philip's plan ; whither the confraternity might come from Birmingham, or Walsall even, on feast-days for the ' stations,' &c. &c. As to the Oratory itself, its structure must be different from anything ecclesiastical hitherto built in England ; it is not a church or chapel. Ought it to be something like a chapter- house? Your Lordship recollects the Oratory here. It must be a building for preaching and music ; not an open roof cer- tainly, no screen. I am afraid I shall shock Pugin. As it will be used only in the evening it need not have many windows, and I should be much against spending money on outside decora- tion ; while inside I don't mind it being almost a barn, as it is a place for work. I suppose it ought to have a large sacristy, 46o CARDINAL WISEMAN but I will write more fully as time goes on. St. John throws out the idea of our undertaking to serve the new chapel at Handsworth till we get (if ever) a church of our own (for a church does not come into our plans) — but perhaps that would involve the spiritual care of the Sisters of Mercy or of a district, which would be impossible. I have been thinking whether there is a chance of our coming into collision with the establish- ment at the Cathedral. Our having a church would be one advantage in this way, but I fear we should run the risk of taking away some of their penitents among the young men. I suppose no time ought to be lost in looking about for money, and for a site, &c., for we ought, in some way or other, to begin operations in the winter of this year. It seems to me very im- portant, if possible, to buy a piece of ground before the news- papers get hold of the matter, else we may have a difficulty. We expect Knox perhaps here, which will make us six, and if Coffin joins us, seven. Also I have written to Formby, but I don't suppose he is likely to move. Perhaps your Lordship will kindly tell someone at Maryvale to write to Formby to say what your decision is about their coming here. Here Newman breaks off, and Mr. St. John con- tinues the letter : Mv DEAR Lord, — Whilst Mr. Newman has gone to Monsig- nor Brunelli, I will add to his letter the few words I have to say as to my interview with Monsignorlast night. Not to seem impatient I went first alone, that he might dispatch me without difficulty if nothing had transpired. However, the contrary of this turned out to be the case, for the Pope, upon Monsignor mentioning to him the project, had at once expressed his approbation of it, as a means likely to be effective in itself, and also as particularly adapted to ourselves. His Holiness wished Mr. Newman to specify such alterations as he wished in the rule in order that he might take them into consideration. Also, foreseeing the difficulty of transporting an Oratorian with us, he threw out an alternative, not, however, desiring more account should be taken of it than as of a suggestion which might remove our difficulties. He said we might unite here in Rome (as many of us as possible, z>.), and after going through the exer- cises together (I use the words reported to me) and passing a THE NEOPHYTES 461 short novitiate under an Oratorian Father, return to England together. A house in Rome would be found for us ; and the Holy Father said he knew an Oratorian at Recanati, who would be well adapted to superintend us. I understood Mgr. Brunelli to say that the Pope had desired him to write to the Bishops of Recanati and Fermo (the houses in those places being in a flourishing condition), to inquire whether they could offer us assistance in finding a superior. All that remains to be said is that, if Mr. Newman himself thought the suggestion feasible, it was suggested to me that it would be best that your Lordship and our friends should be written to immediately- Mgr. Brunelli had mentioned to the Pope your Lordship's wish that we should return as soon as possible. This is all I have to say. It is, of course, most gratifying that the Holy Father should take us by the hand so warmly and even vouchsafe to give us his advice. What will come of it I know not. As my Jesuit confessor here told me, ' It all depends upon your own internal union ' ; but it is at least a comfort to find that, from your Lordship first to the Holy Father at the present moment, all under whose authority we have been placed have given us all the aid in their power. But I must leave room for Mr. Newman. Ever your Lordship's affectionate and grateful servant, Ambrose St. John. I have returned from Mgr. Brunelli. I resume after St. John's parenthesis. Thinking it so great a thing to start under the Pope's sanction here, and also that your Lordship wished us back soon, I thought I might say to him that I fully believed you would let our friends come from Maryvale, and accordingly he will mention it to the Pope next Sunday. I will write word directly to know what the day is to be by which they must be here. Meanwhile time will not be lost, for anyhow some days are necessary for preparation before starting. He quite came into the notion of Maryvale being a central house, so that the various Oratorian houses (if they multiplied) would have a real connexion, though no common jurisdiction. He recommended, too, that the Pope's brief (or whatever it will be called) should impose the rule ' with such modifications as are necessary to adapt it to the state of England,' leaving their specification . . . to a future day, when we can from experience name them. 462 CARDINAL WISEMAN iJefore concluding I will add that there are some youths here who are not allowed to return to Russia by the Govern- ment. One is coming to your Lordship. . . . Might it not be well for your Lordship to secure all ? You would gradually be forming materials for a theological college, which I really think there is good chance of in a while. Moping you will not think me precipitate, and begging your Lordship's blessing, I am, your Lordship's faithful and affectionate servant, John H. Newman. P.S. — Will you kindly explain all I have done to Dr. Walsh, and beg his approval ? In July 1847 Wiseman paid a visit to Rome, in circumstances which will be described in the next chapter. The re-establishment of the Hierarchy had been mooted at the meeting of the English bishops in the spring, and Wiseman was deputed to ascertain the views of the Holy See. While in Rome he had the opportunity of conferring further with Newman on the proposed Oratory. He left again abruptly, on a diplomatic mission to England, in August. One result of his conferences with Newman was apparently in the direction of introducing an old Catholic element into the new Oratorian community. Dr. Whitty, Mr. Kyan and Dr. Newsham, all Catholics by birth, were thought of by Newman as suitable associates, and Dr. Whitty did in the event join the Oratory for a time. The correspondence between Wiseman and New- man was resumed in October — after Newman and his friends had left Propaganda for Santa Croce, the locale finally chosen by the Pope for their novitiate as Oratorians. THE NEOPHYTES 463 Rev. J, H. Nezvman to Bishop Wiseman. St. Croce: Oct. 9, 1847 (the day of my reception). My dear Lord, — ^I have been waiting to tell you that we were in possession of our brief, which we have been expecting daily ; but to no purpose, for now we hear that we shall not have it till after the Congregations meet again in November. Palma read it to us five weeks ago, immediately on our return from Naples. We saw a good deal of the Oratory there, and I think gained a number of hints which will be useful to us. I hope to see some others on returning. Knox is on his way here, having resolved to leave S. Sulpice. We have heard nothing of Dr. Whitty, to our surprise. I wrote to him on August 18. The Pope has given F. Rossi a commission, and he is gone away from us for this month. Family matters make it desirable for Dalgairns to return soon, and he hopes to get leave to set out at the beginning of November. St. John, Stanton, and Coffin have been ailing, but a day or two at Frascati now and then seems all they require. I went with Dr. Sharpies and Dr. Grant to Monte Porzio on Tuesday. On the way Dr. Sharpies gave me some particulars of the arrangement in contemplation with reference to the establishment of the Hierarchy. I was very glad to find there was a prospect of your Lordship continuing at Bir- mingham. Mr. Kyan,' some time ago, i.e. before we left England, spoke as if he should like to join our party. The sad affliction under which he now is labouring might incline him to do so, if your Lordship thought well. I say so, considering yoti have at present jurisdiction over him. We want, e.g. a confessor and director exceedingly, who, by the rule, must be one of our own body. Now his present blindness, or rather dimness of sight, would be no impediment. He is a sober, well-judging man, and very well affected to us ; also he would be very useful to us in our 'doubtings' at table. Another thought, very ambitious, which I have had is, whether it is at all possible for Dr. Newsham to join us. He, again, might be director, which is the most im- portant part in the body — or, if he would like it, it would be ' The priest whose recollections of Dr. Wiseman have been given earlier in this work. 464 CARDINAL WISEMAN the greatest relief to me possible if he would be superior. It is a place which 1 have only wished to hold till I could get someone else to take it. What I should rather like myself per- haps would be to be novice-masler, or to set up congregations when necessary ; but this is another matter. We had hoped Dr. Whitty would supply our want by becoming the Father Director, but we don't hear of him. It is extremely desirable, I feel it more and more, to have old Catholics among us, but we must not take at random any who kindly wish to come ; else the mixture will do more harm than good. I hope we shall get ofifby the end of November, but I should have liked, if possible, to have seen the Oratories of Verona and Brescia, and one or two others. If I did so I should be delayed till near Christmas. Can your Lordship tell me the state of the law about wearing a religious habit in the streets ? Does it affect the regulars merely as regulars ? i.e. as ained— the opposition of Austria, and of the other Italian States, which still saw in the protection of Metternich their only stable security against the Revolution. The unrest in Rome, the discovery of the reactionary plot against the Papal Government, the Austrian occupation of Ferrara, and the signs that these things were part of a systematic and most dangerous opposition to the Pope's liberal policy, are the reasons given by Wiseman for urging that England should afford her support to the Pope, whose isolation is due to his endeavour to meet those very wishes for reform, which England had expressed fifteen years earlier. If nothing more can be done, Wiseman suggests that England should afford the moral support which a diplomatic mission from England to Rome would supply. The Pope, he urges, has burnt his ships ; the breach with Austria is so complete that Italy can never return to the position of the servant of Metter- nich, except after a war, which would reduce her to the position of a conquered nation. Thus the only hope for her future as a nation lies in averting Austrian interference, and leaving the Pope free to carry out a policy which would eventually lead to Italian unity without revolution. The two principal grounds on which England is asked to afford ' diplomatic support and avowed encouragement ' to the Pope's policy are given by A NEW POPE AND A NEW HIERARCHY 481 Wiseman in the following passage : with which his memorandum concludes : In the first place, it will be fresh in your Lordship's recollec- tion that in 1831, after the insurrection of the Legations had been put down, energetic notes were addressed by all the Great Powers, England included, to the Roman Government calling for a variety of reforms in the public administi-ation of its States. Such a course seemed naturally to involve the support of the remonstrating Powers, if necessary, to enable the Government so addressed to carry out the measures urged upon it ; and even if afterwards some of those Powers chose to change their policy, and to obstruct, instead of favouring, the proposed impro\ements, the others, who remain true to their original principles, cannot be thereby relieved from the pledge virtually given. On the contrary, they would seem the more bound to strengthen the hands of the weaker Power (further weakened by the defection of others) whenever it feels it a duty to act on that original suggestion, and to break through the obstacles thrown in the way of doing so. Now this is precisely the case here. Of the notes presented in 1831, the strongest was that from the English Government. Its recommendations were not carried out, simply because, from circumstances sufficiently obvious, the Austrian Cabinet became the ruler of Italian policy, and the director particularly of Roman counsels : and instead of urging, or even continuing to recom- mend, the adoption of the proposed modifications, its tendency was rather in an opposite direction. But now at length that the incubus has been removed, and freedom of action has been restored to the Papal Cabinet, through the energetic but pacific measures of the present high- minded Pontiff, it becomes clearly the duty of the English Government to support it in carrying out measures, suggested by itself, and till now frustrated. Upon comparing all that the present Pope has undertaken and is effecting, it will be found in perfect agreement with the suggestions of the British Government at that period. And as these measures of the Papal Government have been the fruit of its own judgment, but chiefly that of the wise mind and generous heart of the Sove- reign Pontiff himself, this accordance between the principles VOL. \. I I 482 CARDINAL WISEMAN and views on which his administration is based, with the suggestions of our own Cabinet, seems to give even a stronger claim upon us for support than [would have existed] had they been only adopted, without conviction, from the dictation of others, and even of ourselves. And this view of the case seems to bear with it an answer to a difficulty sometimes made ; — as to how far it is in the power of the English Cabinet, in the present state of the law, to take steps that will effectually support and back the Papal Govern- ment in its course of improvement. For one of the most important of these is clearly the establishment of a friendly communication, and a sufficiently avowed relation between them, to be understood by other Powers. Now if the British Government considered itself justified to proceed so far as to communicate with the Roman for the purposes of remonstrating against abuses and urging their removal, it seems but reasonable that it should find the proper means of carrying out its own purposes, and not seek shelter under diffi- culties, which must have opposed that first step as well as this subsequent one, when it comes to the point of co-operating for giving efficiency to its own proposals. Whatever extent of communication with the Papal Government was then lawful, must be so still ; nor could merely the degree of secrecy then observed, and the more open avowal now required, make a differ- ence in the legality of the act. If an unaccredited agent could then be acknowledged not only by the Pontifical Government, but by the ambassadors of other Powers, who admitted him to act conjointly with themselves in the proposal of reforms, a similar agent (though the circumstances may require one of a more influential standing in diplomacy) could not be denied the same weight now, and can hardly, it would appear, be in fairness refused, if his presence be necessary to carry out the joint views of the two Governments. Or if, on the other hand, it was then thought justifiable, from the pressure of circumstances, to act beside the law, evading its inconvenient pressure, there seems to be much stronger ground for a similar course at present ; the more so, as the tide of popular feeling in this country in favour of the Papal measures, as well as of the personal character of Pius IX., would fully go along with the Government, in regard to any steps required, under such extraordinary circumstances. A NEW POPE AND A NEW HIERARCHY 483 But, secondly, it may fairly be considered that the general peace of the Italian Peninsula, and with it perhaps that of Europe, must be greatly affected by the issue of the present peaceful struggle for impro\ement, which its progress in the Papal dominions has awakened throughout the country. Facts too recent to require any comment show that the reforms effected by the Pope in his own States ha\'e awakened a spirit, long repressed by Austrian domination, through the whole country. The return of the Imperial ascendency is impossible except by force of arms, and Italy cannot again be Austrian except as a conquered country. The rousing of the Italian spirit even in Tuscany is the strongest evidence of this truth. The people will persist, in spite of a merely menacing attitude, to crave for reforms, and so long as there is one generous Sovereign, whose local position and whose moral character make him necessarih' looked up to, that goes before the demands of his own people, other rulers will be obliged to follow : and hence either a collision will be inevitable (if Austria is resolved to check this onward course) or else a result must be obtained which is the one now solicited from Her Majesty's Government, that of a wise forbearance on the part of foreign Powers, with such just and admitted countenance as will serve to check the violence of parties, and preserve a balance between possibly contendmg interests. The fruits of this fair and generous policy will soon be manifest. There is every reason to hope that the enlightened views adopted and courageously pursued by the present Pope, if supported, will tend not only to secure ga-eat happiness to his own subjects, but to free Italy from a grievous danger, and to procure for it solid and enduring advantages. By the gradual improvement of the different States, by the assimila- tion of institutions and systems of government, without the destruction of existing legitimate rights, and l^y the mutual adoption of general measures for internal commerce and internal defence (towards all which the present policy of Italy, if wisely favoured, is manifestly tending) there will be the most effectual check put to all the rash and wild theories on Italian ' unity,' and to partial revolutionary attempts to disturb esta- blished Governments. There will be established a natural 484 CARDINAL WISEMAN federalism among the difiierent States that occupy that country, the only sure protection for a multitude of small principalities, repelling danger to the natural frontiers of the country, and allowing the freer circulation within, of social and conmiercial advantages, which at present e\ery narrow boundary serves to cramp and confine. Whether Austria will ever adopt an Italian policy towards its Italian dominions it is difficult to say ; but there seems no reason why the just desires and generous efforts of others, growing as they are every day in strength, should be sacrificed to the jealousy and foreign views of one Power, though strong ; and it would be certainly worthy of the British name and character to throw their weight into the other scale, and aid the weaker to counteract and baffle the opposition of an oppressive influence, whether this be exercised through diplo- matic agency or through military aggression. Lord Palmerston acted promptly. On Septem- ber 16 Lord Minto was appointed on a special mission to various States as Minister Plenipotentiary, and in his instructions he was told to proceed to Rome, observ- ing, however, the following conditions as to his posi- tion while residing there : — ' In the present state of the Law of England, Her Majesty cannot properly be advised to accredit you in any official capacit}' to the Court of Rome. At Rome, therefore, you will not be as Minister Plenipotentiary, but as a member of Her Majesty's Government fully informed of the views and sentiments and opinions of that Government, and entirely possessing the confidence of your sovereign and of your colleagues. ' The nature of your position at Rome will there- fore guide you as to the character to be given to the communications which you will have with the members of the Roman Government. ' You will beat Rome not as a Minister accredited A NEW POPE AND A NEW HIERARCHY 485 to the Pope, but as an authentic organ of the British Government, enabled to declare its views and explain its sentiments upon events which are now passing in Italy, and which, both from their local importance and from their bearing on the general interests of Europe, Her Majesty's Government are watching with great attention and anxiety.' ' But the alliance between the Pontiff and the Liberals, which was at its highest point when Wiseman left Rome— for the conspiracy and the Austrian aggression were events which forced them to com- bined action — had begun to decline when Lord Minto arrived in October. Austria had yielded to the strong expression of national feeling, and signed a convention confining the occupation of Ferrara strictly to the limits laid down in the treaty of Vienna. Pontifical troops still guarded the gates, and no Austrian patrols were allowed in the streets. The Pontifical Government was satisfied. But the extreme Liberal party was not so easily quieted ; it was bent upon war with Austria. i\x\d the arrival of Lord Minto was regarded as giving support before all things to that party with which Lord Palmerston was known to sympathise. The English Envoy appeared at the opera in company with Ciceruacchio ; and among his frequent companions were such leading Liberals as Sterbini and the Prince of Canino. The hope that the alliance between Pope and Liberals would have a moderating effect soon gave place to the conviction that Pius was being carried away by a ' Sec ' Currespondence respecting ihc Affairs uf Ilal)-, 1846-47, p. 129. Presented to both Houses of Parliament July 1849.' 486 CARDINAL WISEMAN torrent which he could not stem ; and the presence of Lord Minto, instead of helpnii^ the Pontiff, proved only an embarrassment. The Pope, indeed, came quickly to see that he could no more satisfy the extreme party, than Lacor- daire could fraternise with the Extreme Left of the French Assembly a year later. In the first days of 1848 a democratic procession was organised to the Ouirinal. Similar demonstrations were repeated on the following day, and though the Pope was received with enthusiasm as he passed, the turbulence of the mob caused alarm. On one occasion Ciceruacchio sprang on to the step of the Pontifical carriage and flourished a tricoloured banner over the Pope's head, crying out, ' Coraggio, Santo Padre.' Rumours reached Rome of revolutionary distur- bances at Milan, and on January 12 came the insurrec- tion at Palermo. The people demanded the constitution of 18 1 2, and the cry of 'War against x^ustria ! ' and rumours of a coming Austrian invasion of the Papal States spread everywhere. From this time until the final catastrophe, Pius IX. was dragged onwards by the Liberal party, resisting to the best of his ability, but making concessions of which he had never dreamt at the outset. On February 10 he promised to re- organise the army and to increase the number of laymen in the Ministry, protesting at the same time at the warlike rumours circulated by the Liberals. Then came the news of the Revolution in France to add further fuel to the flame in Italy. On March 10 a new Ministry, under Cardinal Antonelli, granted to A NEW POPE AND A NEW HIERARCHY 487 the Papal States a complete system of representative government. In the same week the Emperor Ferdinand pro- claimed a constitution at Vienna, and Milan rose against the Austrians. The Austrian general Radetzky acted promptly, but news reached him that Charles Albert of Savoy was coming to help the Milanese, and Radetzky was forced to retreat. The revolutionary war with Austria followed. Pius IX. refused to join in the war, and continued to hope against hope. At the end of April Antonelli re- signed, and a Ministry predominantly of laymen succeeded, Mamiani being premier. In August the Pope made his last resolute attempt to secure a stable Government under a really strong man, Count de Rossi, formerly the Ambassador of Louis Philippe at Rome. Count de Rossi, in conjunction with the Abbate Rosmini (founder of the Order of Charity), who came to Rome as the envoy of the King of Sar- dinia, drafted a scheme for the federation of Italy under the presidency of the Pope. The scheme was defeated by a change of Ministry in Piedmont, but it remains as the expression of the most comprehensive en- deavour made by the Papal Government to fall in with the ideal of Gioberti.' The negotiations on the Hierarchy were continued in 1848 by a remarkable man, the late Bishop Ullathorne, the valued friend in later years of Cardinal Newman. Dr. Ullathorne, whose mental gifts of character, piety, and practical sagacity had found their opportunity in early life in an almost unique influence ' The text of this, scheme is yivcn in Appendix B. 488 CARDINAL WISEMAN on the hardened criminals of Norfolk Island, had been but recently made Vicar Apostolic, and had thus early won the confidence of his associates, who deputed him in the spring of 1848 to take the matter in hand.' ' I lost no time in departing,' he writes in ' A writer in the Speclator has given an appreciation of liishoii (afterwards Archbishop) Ullathorne, from which I make the following extracts: — ' "Did I wish," wrote Cardinal Newman, in the Apologia, " to point out a straightforward Englishman, I should instance the Bishop who has, to our great beneht, for so many years presided over this diocese." This Bishop was Dr. William Ullathorne, who bore successively the titles of Vicar Apostolic of the Western District, Bishop of Birmingham, and titular Archbishop of Cabasa. Not only in the quality of straightforwardness, but in the whole cast of his mind and character, William Ullathorne was a typical Englishman ; but his was also an original and striking personality, whose influence was marked and lasting in the Roman Catholic Church, both in Australia and England. The mass of his countrymen may not be interested in his having founded the Roman Catholic communion in Australia, or in his having been chiefly instrumental, together with Cardinal Wiseman, in bringing about the erection of the Roman Hierarchy in England ; but his extraordinary work among the convicts of Norfolk Island, and the picture of a very remarkable character, are sufficient to make this Autobiography, in spite of certain literary defects, a liook of unusual interest. The son of a Pocklington grocer, Dr. Ullathorne was yet of gentle blood on his mother's side, and a lineal descendant of Sir Thomas More. He speaks of himself as a heavy, clumsy urchin, with " large blobbing eyes," silent unless questioned as to his constant read- ing, falling in love with a statue in a deserted garden, overwhelmed by a sense of religion at the sight of York Minster, learning from Robinson Crusoe & passion for the sea, yet, though imaginative, very obstinate, and entirely defiant of the rod freely administered by the cynical old schoolmaster. After many vain attempts to interest William in the grocery business, he was allowed, when he was thirteen, to go to sea. He set out, obstinately refusing to go to Confession and Communion before starting. Young Ullathorne's life under a brutal captain, his smuggled visits to Covent Garden from the docks, the many hardships he suffered, and his dogged refusal to go home, are all vividly told, and brhig us at length to the crisis of his life, his last voyage to Memel. On the ship in which he sailed to Memel, still a cabin boy, there was a Catholic mate, who, on landing, persuaded him A NEW POPE AND A NEW HIERARCHY 489 his retrospect of the time, ' passed through the revo- lutionary scenes that agitated Paris and the rest of France, and arrived in Rome on May 25, 1848.' to goto Mass. A neglected " Garden of the Soul " was fished up from the bottom of his sea chest, and they walked across the little Lutheran town to the Catholic chapel. " I vividly remember the broad figure of the venerable priest and his large tonsure, which made me think him a Franciscan. The men knelt on the right side, the women on the left, all dressed very plainly and much alike. With their hands united and their eyes recollected, they were singing the Litany of Loreto to two or three simple notes, accompanied by an instrument like the sound of small bells. The moment I entered, I was struck by the simple fervour of the scene ; it threw me into a cold shiver, my heart was turned inward upon itself. I saw the claims of God upon me, and felt a deep reproach within my soul. When we came out, I was again struck by the affectionate way in which the people saluted each other, as if they were all one family. Whatever money I had with me went into the poor-box, and when we got on board I asked Craythorne what religious books he had with him. lie produced an English translation of Massillon's Life of St. Jane Chantal and Gobinet's ' Instruction of Youth,' which I read as leisure served." 'On these books he lived in a "rapture of imagination" until he reached London. He then gave up his sea life, and after a short time spent at his father's business he joined the Benedictines at Downside. He was nearly seventeen years old, but lie had not yet made his first Communion, nor had he been confirmed. He had never been present at the Benediction of the Sacrament nor heard the Litany sung, except at Memel. Entirely ignorant of Latin, utterly unaccustomed to prayer or religious exercises, so rapid was the progress of the ex- cabin-boy that he was allowed to receive the religious habit little more than a year after he had joined the school. Those who wish to under- stand the man's character, and the way in which it became possessed by the supernatural, should dwell upon his account of the years of preparation for the priesthood that followed ; and though this was not an eventful time, it will not be among the least interesting to the reader. Without understanding the aspirations which made him wish to Vjecome a Trappist, or the longing for spiritual wisdom which made him such a student of the Fathers, the extraordinary influence he soon afterwards developed would be absolutely puzzling.' After reviewing the different phases of the Bishop's career the writer concludes as follows : ' We feel as we read that, had we met him at a Colonial 490 CARDINAL WISEMAN Salutes of 'Viva Pio Nono!' in the streets greeted his ears, coupled with the ominous cry of ' Abbasso i preti ! ' There was something peculiarly striking to the English Bishop in the careful and detailed consider- ation given, at a time of revolution and disorder, to the scheme of the English Vicars Apostolic. Dr. Ullathorne thus describes his impressions : Assassinations were perpetrated with the intent of intimidat- ing the authorities and creating confusion. One of the Enghsh priests got a severe wound in defending an ItaHan priest against several assassins. The ]]ishop of Natchez, almost immediately after arrival, was attacked by a mob in the Corso in open day, and only saved himself by escaping into a shop. The war between Savoy and Austria was on foot ; and the young men of Rome, under false pretences that they were to fight for the Pope, were enrolled and marched off to the seat of war. Public demonstrations were frequent. The citizens turned themselves into National Guards, and paraded themselves in all directions. The very children were enrolled in a corps, official dinner in Australia, we should not have been attracted ; but see him in the condemned criminal's cell, or on tlie scaffold, or, again, preacliing to nuns or priests, or giving individual counsels as a confessor, and he was evidently almost irresistil^le. ' To the end of his life Dr. Ullathorne remained in one sense an uneducated man, and his peculiarities were often jested at ; but all those who came into contact with him knew that he could read the heart. His books are long and tedious reading, yet one is obliged to acknowledge that they have caught the secret of sweetness and light from the Fathers of the Church. Whether this is, on the whole, a winning character as portrayed by himself, or not, nobody could deny that it is a strong and powerful one. It seems to us to belong to a type that is, unfortunately for our country, getting rarer — the type of which Bright and Cobden were notable examples, uniting the matter of fact, practical British character with enthusiasm for ideals and principles ; only, whereas their ideals were ultimately practical, and held to the visible order of things. Archbishop Ullathorne's were con- centrated on the spiritual and unseen.' A NEW POPE AND A NEW HIERARCHY 491 clad in uniform, and exercised in military fashion. The revolutionary clubs kept the people in a constant state of excite- ment and commotion. In circumstances like these, it was impossible not to be deeply impressed with the calm and tranquillity of the Holy See, which, amid all this trouble and turmoil, found time to attend to the affairs of the Universal Church, and to devote itself even to such questions of an extraordinary character as that of our Hierarchy, as though the Papal city were in its usual state of repose. The two ecclesiastics more especially consulted were Monsignor Barnabo, Secretary of Propaganda, and Monsignor Palma, the special under-secretary for English-speaking nations. Through them it transpired that the arguments of Bishop Wiseman in favour of a Hierarchy had prevailed against the objections of Cardinal Acton, and all that remained was the details of the scheme. How the proposed territorial divisions \\ere made and altered has no interest for the general reader ; but the procedure of the Congregation, preserved unchanged in its methodi- cal detail amid the disturbances of the hour, has an interest of its own. it is thus described by Dr Ullathorne : After the materials of the question have been furnished in writing, and such inquiries have been made as will throw light on the documents, an abstract of the question is prepared by an under-secretary or clerk, with reference to the law and documents connected with it. This is called the PoneJtzd. Printed copies of it are distributed to the Cardinals some eight or ten days before the Congregation meets. If the question involves abstruse points in canon law or theology, the Congrega- tion has the assistance of a body of learned consultors, and one or perhaps two of them are requested to write a dissertation on the point, called a votian, which is printed with the abstract. Each Cardinal makes his own private study of the question, in which he is aided by his own consultors, to whom he furnishes 492 CARDINAL WISEMAN a copy of the documents. A clay or two before the Congrega- tion is held, he assembles his official advisers and holds what is called a Coui^resso, a private consultation on the subject in hand. Having obtained their lights to aid his own, each Cardinal is now prepared for the Congregation. The Congregation opens with a prayer to the Holy Ghost, and one of the Cardinals to whom the office has been assigned brings forward the subject as Relator or Ponente. He puts the case and leads the discus- sion ; and the result appears in the answer given to each of the points, which, after discussion is concluded, is expressed by open votes. But if it happens that facts essential to the case do not come clearly and satisfactorily out, there is a remand, and the secretary is requested to obtain further information. Thus, while the Congregation consists of not more than six or eight Cardinals, the subject before them has undergone the sifting of a much larger number of intelligent and well-informed minds, who are to the Cardinals what lawyers are to judges ; whilst the decision is left to a few of the wisest heads and most eminent judicial capacities which the Church possesses. After the case is concluded in the Congregation, its secretary submits the cause with its decision to the Pope. And if his Holiness confirms the decision with his approval, it takes the shape of a Decree, Brief, or whatever may be the suitable form of docu- ment. But if the judgment of the Pope is not satisfied, there may be a new treatment of the question, after the manner that his Holiness may direct. The possibility of offence to the British Govern- ment in the proposed measure was carefull)' con- sidered ; and here the words of the Premier, Lord John Russell, used but three years previously, seemed final. In July 1845 he had said in the House of Commons, with reference to the law forbidding Catholic Bishops from assuming the titles of Pro- testant sees, that ' he believed they might repeal those disabling clauses which prevented a Roman Catholic Bishop assuming a title held by a Bishop of the Established Church ' ; and a few months later he had A NEW POPE AND A NEW HIERARCHY 49: characterised the clauses as ' absurd and puerile.' A fortiori, it was argued, territorial titles which were not identical with those of Anglican sees could give no offence. After negotiations occupying nearly ten weeks, the new scheme was decided on, and Bishop Ulla- thorne left Rome. It was the very eve of the revo- lution, and the old friend of the English Bishops, Monsignor Palma, who had had so large a share in the scheme, was shot dead at one of the windows of the Ouirinal a few days later. The night I left Rome [writes Bishop Ullathorne] was that on which, after spreading false news of an Italian victory over the Austrians, at the very time when Radetzky had cut in two and routed the Italian army, the mob broke into the Roman churches, rang the bells, and began the revolution. Soon after, the Pope's minister. Count de Rossi, was assassinated, Mgr. Palma shot, and the Pope fled to Gaeta. These events delayed the promulgation of our Hierarchy for the space of two years. Yet, on my arrival in England, it was the general impression that it was actually established. It was so stated in public prints, yet it awakened no feeling of offence. I firmly believe that if it could have been cjuietly promulgated amongst ourselvjes at that period, we should have settled down in peace. What was going on was so well known that, on August 17 of that same year 1848, in a debate on the Diplomatic Relations with Rome Bill, Sir Robert Inglis, after declaring that he had no objection to call Dr. Wiseman a Bishop, though he objected to call him Archbishop of Westminster, put questions with regard to the appointing of Archbishops and Bishops in this country without the consent of the Sovereign ; to which the Prime Minister, Lord John Russell, replied in the following terms : ' I do not know that the Pope has authorised, in any way, by any authority that he may have, the creation of Archbishops and Bishops with dioceses in England ; but certainly I have not given my consent, nor should I give my consent if I were 494 CARDINAL WISEMAN asked to do so, to any such formation of dioceses. With regard to spiritual authority, the honourable gentleman must see, when he alludes to the States of Europe, that whatever control is to be obtained of the spiritual authority of the Pope can only be attained by agreement to that end. You must cither give certain advantages to the Roman Catholic religion, and obtain from the Pope certain other advantages in return, among which you must stipulate that the Pope shall not create any dioceses in England without the consent of the Queen ; or, on the other hand, you must say you will have nothing to do with arrange- ments of that kind — that you will not consent in any way to give authority to the Roman Catholic religion in England. But then you must leave the spiritual authority of the Pope entirely unfettered. You cannot bind the Pope's spiritual inliuence unless you have some agreement. . . . But though you may prevent any spiritual authority being exercised by the Pope by law, yet there is no provision, no law my honour- able friend could frame, that would deprive the Pope of that influence that is merely exercised over the mind. It is quite obvious that you cannot, by any means or authority, prevent the Pope from communication with the Catholics of this country. You may try to prevent such communication from being open ; but I think it would be very foolish if you took any means of great vigour or energy for that purpose. If it is not open, it will be secret.' After such a speech from the Prime Minister of this country, and when it was known, though not of course officially, that negotiations for our Hierarchy were pending at least, if not concluded, the Pope had just reason for concluding that the establishment of Catholic titular Archbishops and Bishops would not be interfered with. The scheme, then, was regarded as assured, though delayed. Pius IX. was for a time a prisoner in theOuirinal and then decided to quit Rome. For the fourth time within iifty years, the Roman Pontiff was driven from the city by his enemies. Forced to dis- miss his faithful Swiss Guard, and surrounded by the National Guard, whose sympathy with the revolution A NEW POPE AND A NEW HIERARCHY 495 was openly avowed, it seemed more than probable that he would be the next victim of the assassin's knife. It was to the plans formed by an English lady that he owed his deliverance. Countess de Spaur, wife of the Bavarian Minister and formerly a Mrs. Dodswell, planned his escape. A journey to Naples, on the part of Count de Spaur, was the opportunity utilised. The French Ambassador, Count Harcourt, drew up his state carriage, accompanied by torch-bearers, at the Quirinal, pleading an important interview with the Pope on matters of urgency. Two hours did the private conference last, and the voice of Count Har- court was heard speaking loud and long by the guards in attendance outside. When the Count left the pre- sence chamber, he said that the Holy Father was tired and had gone to sleep. The guards did not suspect, until many hours later, that the man who, dressed as a simple priest, had left the chamber soon after the French Ambassador's arrival, was Pius IX. He passed unnoticed through the corridors, accompanied by Filipani, the fourrier de la Cour, left the palace by a private door, and found his way to the Church of SS. Peter and Marcellinus, where Count de Spaur awaited him. They left Rome at once, and the Pontiff found an asylum at Gaeta, in the territory of the King of Naples. And here, for the moment, his fortitude, and the ingratitude of the subjects whom he had striven so hard to serve, aroused universal sympathy. His appeal to the Catholic Episcopate of the world met with a response testifying a unanimity of devo- tion which struck friend and foe alike. He excom- 496 CARDINAL WISEMAN municated those who liad usurped the Pontifical States and appealed to the Towers. Their response was prompt, and the plenipotentiaries met at Gaeta on March 30th, 1849. The French undertook the cause of the exiled Pontiff and eventually restored him to his sovereignty. And as he awaited at Gacta the result of their campaign, carrying on the business of the Church and addressing the Catholic world on the proposed dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception, he received the kind of homage which Pius VI. and Pius VII. had won from the world at large by their piety and endurance in adversity. ' It is a matter of history,' said the ' Times,' ' how- ever singular and unwelcome such an assertion may sound, that in the very hour of his flight and fall, Pius IX. was and is more entirely Pope and head of the Latin Church than many hundreds of his predecessors have been amidst all the splendours of the Lateran. Personally the deposed Pontiff has exhibited to the world no small share of evangelical virtues ; and though his political abilities proved inadequate to execute the moderate reforms he had entered on, from the unworthiness of his subjects and the infelicity of the times, yet the apparition of so benignant and conscientious a man on the Papal throne in the midst of the turmoil of Europe, has forcibly struck the imagination and won the affection of the whole Roman Catholic population of Europe.' Cardinal Manning, at that time still Archdeacon of Chichester, had been in Rome in the midst of the events which culminated in the Pope's flight to Gaeta, A NEW POPE AND A NEW HIERARCHY 497 and the situation struck his imagination with a deeper significance than that which the EngHsh journal contemplates. ' I know,' he wrote years later, ' no more majestic, more royal, more pontifical sight in the history of the Pontiffs, than the Holy Father on the Rock of Gaeta issuing in the moment of his weakness and exile his three great appeals to the Christian world : one, the excommunication of the spoilers of the patrimony of the Church ; another, a protest to all Christian princes against the wrong that had been done ; a third, to all his sons, the episcopate throughout the world. And these three decrees have all wrought their work with power. Supernatural virtue went out with them. The first wrought the downfall of the spoilers who had invaded the Church of God. The second called together the princes of Christendom to do homage to the Vicar of Jesus Christ. The third evoked such a response from the hearts of all the bishops of Catholic unity that in all the annals of the Church there is not to be found anything to compare with the acts of filial love and devotion which the episcopate of the Catholic world laid at his sacred feet' ' John Henry Newman had also been in Rome in 1 847, as we have already seen, and we trace in his writ- ings in these years the deep impression made by the crisis. Pius IX. had consistently throughout empha- sised his dissent from the programme of the men who attempted to claim his approval. He had refused to sanction the advance of the Papal troops against Aus- tria beyond their own frontier ; he had refused to bless ' See Manning's Sermons, quoted in Mr. White's Pius IX., p. 94. VOL. I. K K 498 CARDINAL WISEMAN the tricolour flai^ brought liim by tlie soldiers before their departure ; in vain had the leader of the popular party pressed him to launch the censures of the Church against the Austrians ; he had disowned the revo- lutionary measures promised in his name in 1848 by his minister Mamiani, As he had declined, at the outset, to make any compromise for the sake of Austrian support, so now he dissociated himself from those who claimed to be his defenders. True to himself and his office, he set at naught the maxims of political prudence and retreated in apparent isola- tion. ' The Protestant public,' wrote Newman, ' jeered and mocked at him as one whose career was over ; . . . yet he has supplied but a fresh instance of the heroic detachment of Popes and carried down the tradition of St. Peter into the age of railroads and newspapers.' In some remarkable passages, written soon after this time, Newman has given the summary of the events as they struck his imagination. It was a contrast between the secular power and the spiritual forces of the Church, and their respective standards and methods. ' A revolution breaks out in Europe,' Newman writes, ' and a deep scheme is laid to mix up the Pope in secular politics of a contrary character. He is to be the head of Italy, to range himself against the sovereigns of Europe, and to carry all things before him in the name of religion. He steadily refuses to accept the insidious proposal; and at length he is driven out of his do- minions, because, while he would ameliorate their condition, he would do so as a father and a prince, A NEW POPE AND A NEW HIERARCHY 499 and not as the tool of a conspiracy. However, not many months pass, and the party of disorder is defeated, and he goes back to Rome again. Rome is his place ; but it is little to him whether he is there or away, compared with the duty of fidelity to his trust.' And again — ' When Pius was at Gaeta and Portici, the world laughed on hearing that he was giving his attention to the theological bearings of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Little fancying what various subject-matters fall all at once under a Pope's contemplation, and are successively carried out into effect, as circumstances require ; little dreaming of the intimate connexion of these matters with each other, even when they seem most heterogeneous, or that a belief touching the Blessed Virgin might have any influence upon the fortunes of the Holy See, the wise men of the day concluded from the Pope's Encyclical about that doctrine, that he had, what they called, given up politics in disgust, and had become a harmless devotee or a trifling school-divine. But soon they heard of other acts of the Holy Father : they heard of his interposition in the East ; of his success in Spain ; of his vigilant eye directed towards Sardinia and Switzerland in his own neighbourhood, and towards North and South America in another hemisphere ; of his preachers spreading through Ger- many ; of his wonderful triumphs ... in Austria and France ; of his children rising as if out of the very earth in England ; and of their increasing moral strength in Ireland, in proportion to her past extra- ordinary sufferings ; of the hierarchies of England and 500 CARDINAL WISEMAN Holland, and of the struggle going forward on the Rhine ; and then they exchanged contempt for astonishment and indignation, saying that it was intolerable that a potentate who could not keep his own, and whose ease and comfort at home were not worth a month's purchase, should be so blind t(j his own interests as to busy himself with the fortunes of religion at the ends of the earth.' Elsewhere, in the very year of the Pope's return to Rome, Newman described with dramatic force the nature of the struggle, between the armed soldiers of Mazzini and the spiritual power represented b}- the Papacy — a power whose peculiar strength la\- in the intangible weapons by which it is enforced and defended. ' Punctual in its movements, precise in its opera- tions, imposing in its equipments, with its spirits high and its step firm, with its haughty clarion and its black artillery, behold, the mighty world is gone forth to war — with what ? With an unknown something, which It feels but cannot see ; which flits around it, which flaps against its cheek, with the air, with the wind. It charges and it slashes, and it fires its volleys, and it bayonets, and it is mocked by a foe who dwells in another sphere, and is far beyond the force of its analysis, or the capacities of its calculus. The air gives way, and it returns again ; it exerts a gentle but constant pressure on every side ; moreover, it is of vital necessity to the very power which is attacking it. Whom have you gone out against ? A few old men, with red hats and stockings, or a hundred pale students, with eyes on the ground, and beads in A NEW POPE AND A NEW HIERARCHY 501 their girdle ; they are as stubble : destroy them ; then there will be other old men, and other pale students, instead of them. But we will direct our rage against one ; he flees ; what is to be done with him ? Cast him out upon the wide world ; but nothing can go on without him. Then bring him back ! But he will give us no guarantee for the future. Then leave him alone : his power is gone, he is at an end, or he will take a new course of himself ; he will take part with the state or the people. Meanwhile, the multitude of interests in active operation all over the great Catholic body rise up, as it were, all around, and encircle the combat, and hide the fortune of the day from the eyes of the world ; and unreal judgments are hazarded, and rash predictions, till the mist clears away, and then the old man is found in his own place, as before, saying Mass over the tomb of the Apostles.' ^ ' See Diffi-culties of Anglicans^ vol. i. p. 156. 502 CARDINAL WISEMAN CHAPTER XVII CARDINAL ARCHBISHOr OF WESTMINSTER 1850 After his return from Rome to England in August 1847, Wiseman was, as we have said, appointed tem- porarily Vicar Apostolic of the London District ; and on the death of Dr. Walsh, in February 1849, the appointment became a permanent one. Wiseman was eleventh and last Vicar Apostolic of the London District, which was one of the four districts established by James II. in 1688.' He resided at the house in Golden Square, whither Dr Bramston had moved from the old house of the Vicars Apostolic, at 4 Castle Street, Holborn. He threw himself into his duties with characteristic and many-sided activity, and his letters show that he looked forward to a great work in reclaiming the criminal classes and in recalling multitudes of the poor from lives of sin or indifference. ' His predecessors had been Bishop Leyburn (1688- 1702), Bishop Giffard (1703-1734, the same who was intruded into Magdalen College, Oxford, liy James II. as its President), Bishop Petre (1734-1758), Bishop Challoncr( 1 758-1 780), Bishopjames Talliot(i 78 i-i 790), Bishop Douglass (1790-1812), Bishop Poynter (1812-1827), Bishop Bramston (1827-1836), Bishop Griffiths (1836-1S47), Bishop Walsh (1847-1849). CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 503 The principal means he seems to have trusted to were a more vivid faith and keener missionary zeal among the clergy, and the establishment in his dis- trict of religious communities of men and women — which had entirely ceased to exist in penal times. He himself often preached the annual clcrg)- ' Retreat.' He invited Newman and Faber to give a mission in London in 1848. He put into practice, in his own district and elsewhere, his long cherished scheme of itinerant missionaries, to arouse the religious zeal of the various towns they visited. In two years he had founded ten religious communities in the London District one of them being the London Oratory. • Wiseman eventually had the satisfaction of seeing converts join the various recognised religious orders, and work side by side with the hereditary Catholics. R. A. Coffin became a Redemptorist ; Tickell, Edward Purbrick, and Albany Christie joined the Jesuits ; Lockhart the Rosminians ; Oakeley, Macmullen, and George Talbot worked in friendly harmony with the secular priests of the district from the first. Frederick Oakeley and George Talbot were at St. George's Church, in 1849 ; and Macmullen was at Webb Street, Southwark. On July 4, 1848, Dr. Wiseman assisted at the solemn opening of St. George's Church, South- wark, now known as St. George's Cathedral, in St. George's Fields, the chief centre of the Gordon rioters of 1780. This event was a landmark in the history of the Catholics of London. St. George's was no ' See Wiseman's letter to Dr. New sham at p. 516. 504 CARDINAL WISEMAN ' Mass house ' on whose facade the architect was afraid even to trace a cross, but a Gothic church of ample proportions, designed by Pugin. Two hundred and forty priests were present at the opening. Fourteen bishops attended, among them several from France — the Bishops of Tournai, Liege, Luxembourg, and Treves. The Archbishop of Paris, Monsignor Affre, had been invited, but a week before the event he was shot on the barricades, in his courageous en- deavour to induce the Paris mob to lay down their arms. Great interest was excited in London by the open- ing of St. George's, and the interest was not unfriendly. 'The Illustrated London News' sent an artist to sketch the function, and large crowds of spectators were present in the church. ' Strange indeed,' said a writer in the journal just named, ' are the mutations of localities in this vast metropolis, and not the least remarkable of them is that \^\q: focus of the "No Popery " riots of 1780 should within a lifetime become the site of a Roman Catholic church — the largest erected in England since the Reformation.' In the procession, besides the secular clergy, were representatives of the Benedictines, the Cistercians, the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Passionists, and the Oratorians. Wiseman preached the sermon, and among those assisting at the function were the present Archbishop of Trebizond (Monsignor Stonor), as acolyte, and the present Lord Acton (then Sir John Acton) as incense-bearer. Something of Wiseman's feelings and interests in CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 505 these years may be learnt from the letters written from time to time to his old tutor, Dr. Newsham of Ushavv. And though some of them deal with matters of no public interest, they may be given more or less fully as indicating both the great and the small things which occupied his attention. He paid a visit to Ushaw in 1848 ; and Dr. Newsham's plans for his proposed additions to the College Chapel and for improvements in the College itself were helped forward by Wiseman, and claimed a share in the correspondence. London : October 24, 1848. My dear Dr. Newsham, — I have received the drawing for the Rood, and will make all the inquiries about it. I have got you the aneroid barometer. Its price when first brought over was il. \os. It is now 3/. \os.^ and Clark says it will soon be 4/. ; for they cannot keep up with the demand. The Emperor of Russia has ordered 500. Clark says they almost make them anew when they arrive in England, so that the work is quite accurate. Mr. Englefield is here, and I understand returns to Lartington, and we will ask him to take it as far, and thence no doubt you will be able to get it to Ushaw. I can hardly express the gratification which my late visit to Ushaw has given me, and the pleasing recollections which it has left upon my mind. I have been writing at length to Dr. Ullathorne about the plan of a house for training secular priests for giving missions. I think I have hit upon a capital head for such a house. Maryvale would be a delightful place for the purpose. In haste, I am now, my dear Dr. Newsham, Yours affectionately and gratefully in Christ, N. Wiseman. The following letter, written a month later, has a place in the literature of the remarkable cures so often described as ' faith-healing ' : 5o6 CARDINAL WISEMAN London : November 26, 184S. You will wonder perhaps that I should have been in the North again ; and the fact brings my mind to a subject on which your kindness will, I know, allow me to write to you. To introduce it I must tell you briefly the cause and results of my journey. You remember that Miss A. B. was too unwell to come to Ushaw. She grew worse and had received the last Sacraments ; when she had me written to, expressing great anxiety to see me, thinking she was dying. After some reflection and consultation I resolved to go. . . I went on All Saints' Eve, or at least saw her first that day, and found her, though not in actual danger, in a very painful and feeble state — her jaw locked so as not to allow her to speak, or to take solid food ; her hands clenched so as to resist violent efforts to open them, with tic in one and in her foot, causing intense agony. We conversed by means of a slate, on which she could scrawl her answers. I found I could say Mass at her house next day, and on going to the convent for the requisites, found that a Novena had been made there, to end next day, in honour of St. Philomena ; but that Miss A. B. was averse to any trial or hope of a supernatural cure. I found [her] so on my return ; but explained to her the true feelings on the subject, and expressed my intention to apply the relick of the Saint to her after Mass next morning. 1 said Mass, gave her Holy Communion, and exhorted her to complete resignation, said a few prayers, and then proceeded to apply the relick to her lips, hands, and foot, with the words ' Per intercessionem B. Philomena; liberet te Dominus ab omni malo anim;t et corporis,' or some to that effect, when she was instantly restored to the possession of speech, the use of her limbs, and freedom from pain. She resumed the appearance of health, so as to surprise all who saw her, and her medical man, Professor Miller, had nothing to say but that this is a case just like one of Prince Hohenlohe's, and to say that I had worked upon her nervous system ; which I had carefully avoided. The Presby- terian landlady pronounced it ' an awfu' mystery,' and several High Church people, as well as all Catholics, who have seen her and have heard these circumstances, have not hesitated to pronounce the cure miraculous. Nearly a month has elapsed. CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 507 and Miss A. B. continues free from her complaint, and in fact cured. Now, what this suggests to me is what I have long thought ought more to be attended to in our i-eligious education— y?/// reverence to the Saints, and interest concerning them. When we read in the ancient Fathers — St. Ambrose, for instance, St. Gaudentius of Brescia, and several or all Oriental Fathers, not forgetting good St. Paulinus in the West — how they valued relicks, and how they considered them the very treasure of the churches which they built ; when we see how the lo\'e of relicks in the middle ages led to that abuse and credulity perhaps which has both caused a Protestant reaction in our minds and makes our excuse for not caring about them ; and when we see abroad the rich collections of shrines and reliquaries, and in fact the ' treasury ' or reliquary churches, which are valued more for what they contain than for the rich caskets and jewelled reliquaries which enclose them, we must see that there was and is a different feeling on this subject in other places and times from what we entertain. And the question is simply. Were and are they right ? If so, we are not. Allow me to say that I shall not think Ushaw Chapel tvw/plete till it is ?rplete with holy authentic relicks. A large triptych in the antechapel, where on certain days they could be exposed with veneration, lights, &c , would perhaps be the best way of keeping them. It may be furnished gradually, at no great expense. I have myself, as you know, got together many a beautiful one of the true Cross (and I could get you a very large and very in- teresting one), which I have had put in a very rich . . . reliquary — St. Thomas's, St. Edmund's relicks, and many letters, &c., of saints, now framed and hung in my chapel here. But once set the feeling going, and I will answer for your getting considerable and well-authenticated relicks of ancient and modern Saints. Independent of the good effect on devo- tion, by softening some of our rigidness of mind on such subjects, this would be truly promoting a adttts, which forms part of the Catholic system, towards the servants of God. At Oscott, we always had on the two festivals of the Holy Cross a little procession before Mass, with the relicks, which after the prayers, &c., all the boys kissed at the rails. This was Dr. Milner's institution. And on all Apostles' days a procession 5o8 CARDINAL WISEMAN was made with their rehcks, which remained in a shrine during Mass. I am sure this had a good efifcct, as well as the carrying of relicks on priests' shoulders, ma. feretnaii, on Rogation days. I could send you the ceremonial of this. I find among the clergy so cold an appreciation of the sacredness of these things, and so little encouragement from them . . . that things are said and done that are almost blasphemous or sacrilegious, on this subject. Our Colleges ought to set the example, and train our youth up to better feelings. You will, I know, pardon my writing so fully upon this subject. I hope the fruits of the Retreat continue, and that all is happy and promising with you. I rejoice to hear about the Exhibition room and Library. As to the latter, it strikes me that there should be in it, first, a librarian's room, where the MSS. and valuable books would be kept . . . and, second, a private library for superiors, in which they could read and have their papers, &c. . . . I am ever yours very sincerely and affectionately in Christ, N. Wiseman. In the spring of 1849, after his definite appoint- ment as Vicar ApostoHc of the London District, Wiseman paid a visit to Belgium, and discussed with his friends there the prospects of the Church in Eng- land. He took occasion to make further inquiries in the matter of the rood screen for Ushaw Chapel. He writes as follows to Dr. Newsham on his return : London : May 30, 1849. My dear Dr. Newsham, — I have been long waiting to write to you on various matters kindly entrusted to me by you ; but really I have had no time. I will, however, do so briefly now. I. The Rood. I unfortunately mislaid the drawing, and cannot find it. But at Bruxelles I saw the artist Malfait and gave him a full description : viz., a large cross crocketted, . floriated with emblems of Evangelists at the extremities ; two carved pedestals for Mary and John ; these two figures and our CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 509 Saviour all in oak, models made in clay first, 60/. ; say 80/. if the size be larger than I said. Please send me a measurement of the space above the screen thus [a sketch follows] and he v^'ill be able to judge better. 1 made him add to his prices to be sure. The Old Hall rood is contracted for 230/. or thereabouts, with Pugin. If you decide, it shall be set about forthwith. 2. The Stations. I have only a few days received M tiller's letter. It is in German, and very long. If you have no Ger- man scholar, send it back and 1 will have it translated. He says it would take him five years, with assistance, to do the stations four feet square : nine years alone. But the figure of Our Saviour and the principal figures he would do himself, and all the coloured cartoons. His expenses to other artists, models, &c., would be above 150/. a year, say 750/ in all, and he asks 1,500/. in all, payable in notes. You would have first-rate pictures, an)' one equal to what fetch 700/. in our exhibition, liaron v. Schadow's letter will give you encouragement, or make you very melancholy, as it does me. Miiller is a saintly artist, and in future times his works will be prizes. 3. Card. Allen. I will try to get the colours of his arms. There is a portrait at Douai, but 1 do not know whether the arms are on it. Ciaconius, I should think, will have them ; have you his book? His arms were nowhere in the College at Rome. 4. Patrons. Of law, St. Ivo is certainly the patron : ' O vir mirabilis^ qui fuit advocatus et non latro^ is either a real or jocose antiphon of him. Of languages, St. Jerome, I think. In the Vatican Library he is painted among the inventors of languages, as having (it is said) invented the Slavonian or Illyric alphabet. And ... he was the most learned linguist of the ancient Church, and its oracle in philological lore. As for mathematics, what say you to Ven. Bede, unless you have him for ecclesiastical history. If so, St. Isidore, I think, might be chosen, since, if I remember right, he has left treatises on scientific subjects or arithmetic as Ven. Bede has. If you have forestalled St. Jerome for Scripture, I should be puzzled about languages, unless you took one of the Apostles, or Moses. My excursion to Belgium was most delightful. The interest for England is immense. I wish I could explain a little to you 5IO CARDINAL WISEMAN how we arc going on here. I think C.od is blessing us. To- morrow I open the Oratory ; ' it will be an immense means of grace. I have also plans in view for the organisation of the District, on which I should be glad to see you. All I want is time and rest, but I cannot get either. Pray for me. Yours ever very affectionately in Christ, N. Wiseman. Two months later he writes from Eastbourne — then a ' seaside village ' — during a short respite from his multifarious duties. Dr. Newsham had asked him to give the annual ' Retreat ' for the Ushaw boys and had sought his advice concerning young Mr. Vavasour of Hazlevvood, who was desirous of residing in Paris to learn French. Eastbourne : July 4, 1 849. aIy dear Dr. Newsham, — I am quite ashamed of having allowed your kind letter to remain so long unanswered. But during the last six weeks (what is called the London season) I have not been allowed one moment's leisure. If at home, there are calls from morning till night ; and if I am out, it is to attend public dinners, meetings, sermons, openings, &c., so that at last I was quite wearied in body and mind. I had made my arrangements so as to have a spare week here (a quiet seaside village, near which there is some District property to look after) between two confirmations in the neighbourhood ; so to rest, if rest it can be called. For I brought with me an immense packet of letters in arrears, yours being one. And though in three days or so, Mr. Searle and myself have sent off above one hundred letters, some of them very long, I am not near up to the level. I send you all this long preamble to show you that it has not been from neglect that your letter has remained so long without a reply. I. I regret very much that I cannot possibly undertake to direct the Retreat at St. Cuthbert's, though nothing would give ' The branch house of Newman's Oratory in Birmingham was opened at this time in King William Street. It was removed later on to South Kensington. CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 511 me greater pleasure. I shall have two to give here — one to the clergy, and one to the College. I fear that, besides, my going so far from home so soon again, for a College Retreat, would cause some murmurs. Perhaps next year, if God gives me life, I might manage it. 2. I do not think that a rood is essential in a chapel like yours ; because there is hardly space for it to meet the eye naturally. Coming up a long church, it is a proper and natural and impressive object to strike the eye. With you, and, I think, in every chapel of that collegiate form, it would require an express look, a going to a point to see it. Its purpose, to catch the eye and fix the thoughts, is lost. Still, I think, a rood or a calvary somewhere there ought to be. It is astonishing how the people of themselves go to pray at, and kiss the feet of, a large splendid bronze crucifix at the bottom of St. George's, and still more how they flock round a crucifix of Malfait's (my proposed artist) at the Oratory. I wish this vacation you could get as far as Erdington, between Birmingham and Oscott, where Mr. Haigh is building a beautiful church. You would there see a crucifix by Petz (the best Munich carver) with Our Lord, St. John and Magdalen beautifully done, less than natural size, for about 50/. 3. As to Mr. Vavasour, I think my best manner of meeting your wishes is to send you the enclosed for my friend the Abbe de Maligny, quite an Englishman, and a most excellent priest, who knows everybody. I believe the Abbe Noirtier, one of the most respectable cures in Paris, has (or had, I know) an establishment for young men of good families boarding, and yet being their own masters for attending to their studies. Again, he might find means of boarding at the Abbe Dupanloup's ' near Paris, at Vaugirard. I enclose also a letter to the Abbe Legrand, one of the Grands Vicaires of Paris, who will, I am sure, be kind to Mr. Vavasour and, if he wish it, introduce him to the Archbishop. With kindest regards to all at St. Cuthbert's, I am ever, my dear Dr. Newsham, Yours most affectionately in Christ, N. Wiseman. ' Afterwards Bishop of Orleans. 512 CARDINAL WISEMAN One of the principal difficulties in the wa}' of Wiseman's work was the existence, among the London clergy, of a school resolutely opposed to what they looked upon as the ' Romanising' and 'innovating' spirit of the new Vicar Apostolic, They resented active interference on the part of any Vicar Apostolic, anci they objected in particular to Wiseman's intro- duction of new devotions and institutions. The re- storation of the long-expelled images to the chiu'ches, the introduction of Jesuits and other religious orders, the multiplication of practices of devotion to the Blessed Virgin and Blessed Sacrament, were all novelties. And they met with opposition. The London District had been the centre of a very signifi- cant agitation on the part of English Galileans half a century earlier ; and although the Gallican doctrine itself was now held by only a few, the national, conservative and independent spirit of the clergy survived in many quarters. When the London District had been vacant in 1790, owing to the death of Bishop Talbot, Sir John Throckmorton had written the series of letters to the clergy referred to in a former chapter, urging them to decline any longer to be governed by a Vicar Apostolic of the Pope, and to elect their own ordinary without any reference to Rome. Sir John Throckmorton's first letter ' had been a passionate appeal to Catholics to separate them- selves in matters of discipline from Rome, and by this means to counteract the national prejudice which ' A Letter addressed to the Catholic Clergy of England on the appointment of their Bishops. London : J. P. Coghlan, 37 Duke Street. Second edition, 1792. CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 513 ruined their worldly careers ; to merge themselves in the nation, and to minimise all foreign connexions and foreign customs. ' We are brought up in a strange land,' he had written, ' ignorant of the laws, manners and customs (I had almost said of the language) of our native country, and strangers to those with whom we are to live. We pass our lives in struggling with the disadvantages of our education.' As a first step towards changing this. Sir John advocated the election to the episcopate of m^u wlio wished to change it. ' [Your bishops] are now aliens,' he wrote, ' you will make them English ; they are dependent, you will make them free ; they are foreign emissaries, you will transform them into English Bishops.' He had laid stress on the fact that ever since the day of Pius V.'s excommunication of Elizabeth, ' the English Catholics have been divided into two parties. The ' papistic ' party, on the one hand, upheld and maintained all the pretensions of the Court of Rome and were supported by all the influence of that Court, sometimes by briefs from the Popes themselves. . . . The other party consisted and still consists of the descendants of the old Catholic families and a respect- able portion of the clergy who, true to the religion of their ancestors, have uniformly . . . protested against the usurped authority of the Court of Rome.' He denied that the original cause of the difference — the question whether or no the Pope had the power to depose sovereigns — represented adequately the distinction between the two parties. The deposing power was no longer maintained by anyone, but the vol.. I L L 514 CARDINAL WISEMAN ' papistic ' party still remained, and taught the infallibility of the Pope and urged all his claims. He called on English Catholics to dissociate themselves from this party and its teaching. They should, he urged, not only have a Bishop of their own choice, but limit very carefully his powers. For centuries the Catholic priests had been for the most part chaplains of the squires, and had welcomed powerful lay patronage and protection from the priest-hunters. A lull in the persecution had now led the Vicars Apostolic to exercise ecclesiastical control, and priest and squire alike resented it. It is significant of the march of events that whereas, shortly after the appearance of Sir John's letter, the London Vicar Apostolic complained that he had not been consulted by a certain Catholic peer as to the priest whom he selected for his chaplain, one hundred years later the great-grandson of that peer remarked that his Bishop had given him a chaplain without asking first whether he would be acceptable. Sir John Throckmorton's letter was probably the most extreme expression of the desire of a group of English Catholics, in the last century, to emancipate themselves from Roman control, and to reduce to a miniimini such ecclesiastical authority as they were willing to retain. Few among the clergy can have sympathised with it to the full, even at the time of its appearance, though the writer named the Reverend Dr. Pritchard as concurring with his views. The London clergy did indeed choose a Galilean Bishop in 1790, but when Rome refused to nominate him they submitted. Still, their action, though falling short of actual rebellion against the Holy See, showed a CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 515 tendency, which was very widespread, among laity and clergy, to resent undue interference from Pope and Vicars Apostolic, and to claim a large measure of independence and self-government. And something of this tendency survived among the older priests in 1847, in spite of the rapid diminution of actual Gallicanism in the preceding years. When Wiseman was nominated to the London district some of the most influential of the clergy were distinctly Galilean in views, and nearly all were sufficiently imbued by the conservative and national spirit to be opposed to his energetic schemes of reform^ They still wished, as did the clerg)- of Sir John Throckmorton's day, for a Bishop of the less Roman school ; and they still wished for a large measure of independence of episcopal control. In the ordinary course Dr. Cox (of St. Edmund's) would probably have succeeded Dr. Griffiths as Vicar Apostolic ; and he, though no Galilean, belonged to the conserva- tive school of Wiseman's predecessor. Dr. Griffiths. Wiseman's appointment was resented as an intrusion ; and his reforms were regarded with suspicion. It is noteworthy that within three years he had won over not only the bulk of his more passive opponents, but three of the leaders of the opposition against him. These were Dr. Maguire — whom he afterwards made Vicar-General — Mr. Wilds of Warwick Street, and Mr. Sisk of Chelsea. The back of the opposition was broken, though his chief opponent, Mr. Tierney ^ ' Mr. Tierney was chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk and well known as a writer on Antiquities and Editor of Dodd's History of Eitglish Catholics. L L2 5i6 CARDINAL WISEMAN — a man of distinctly GalHcan sympathies — still re- mained. The prcvailint^ feeling in London was henceforth in Wiseman's fiivour, though the ' national ' party existed as a force to be reckoned with, as we shall see later on. Some of the results of Wiseman's work, both in disarming opposition and in developing the work and organisation of the Church in his district, are given in the following letter to Dr. Newsham : London : Jan. 25, 1850. My DEAR Dr. Newsham, — Your truly friendly letter gratifies me ; for it is pleasant to think that old friends do not forget me. If you thought that I had some little work when you were here, I assure you it is anything but diminished. But, thank God, it is not ungrateful toil. Were it not that it pleases the Divine Wisdom to temper my consolations with heavy trials, 1 should fear I was having too much reward here. It is hard perhaps to describe in a letter what is going on. Externally something can be seen : e.g. in less than two years we have established — and, I hope, solidly — seven new communities of women and three of men, in this District ; have opened two orphan-houses ; have set up an excellent middle-school, or grammar-school, containing 70 boys already ; and have opened four new missions in the heart of the poor population, and at least seven others in different parts. This year I have a good prospect of four great establishments springing up in London. Yet all this I consider as nothing compared with what 1 hope is latently and spiritually being done. The vast increase of communions, the numbers of admirable conversions, the spread of devotional and charitable associations, the increased piety of the faithful in every class, are less known, though still manifest to all. I think I can safely say that in a year or little more, 15,000 persons have been reclaimed by the Retreats given in courts and alleys, (ic. In one place, the very worst sti-eet of London, we boldly planted a mission among thieves and prostitutes, and, though the devil interrupted the work by CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 517 causing the stairs to break, &c., the change was so visible, that a Protestant policeman asked if it would not go on again, and observed that the Government ' ought to support it.' But it is in the clergy that I have found my greatest consolation. You may suppose my views and thoughts were not at first well understood. Indeed, I felt almost alone. But, thank God, I believe I have now a hearty co-operation almost everywhere. All seem anxious to feed the piety of their flocks by constant devotional exercises, and the chapels are served with admirable zeal. At last I ha\e \'entured on the work of remodelling and reorganising them. Two or three [missions] have been done with perfect success, and [to the] satisfaction of the clergy, who are working out my plans. At length I have got into a fair contest, the issue of which must be felt all through Catholic England. There is here a clique of underground but determined opposition. The head, an ex-Jesuit, has got into my hands, and I am applying the screw gently and peaceably, till to-day I have got him fixed in this dilemma, that he must either retract all his assertions and make a complete submission, or leave the District. Either will be a total discomfiture of the party here. I will not weary you with these and such matters, especially as there is so much of self mixed up with what I am writing. ' Libenter gloriabor in infirmitatibus meis ' ; for I assure you that at times I am inclined to feel low and dejected, at thinking and seeing how much there is to be done which is neglected. In one district alone we have 5,000 children to educate, and accommodation for only 400, We want a thousand things, which our wretched poverty prevents us from having. Pray for me, as your old pupil, my dear Dr. Newsham, and beg for much grace for me. For at times I feel ready to sink beneath the burthen. ' Homines et jumenta salvabis, Domine I ' Have you taken the trouble of reading two articles in the ' Dublin Review,' on the Parables and Miracles of the N.T. .'' They were written under most unfavourable circumstances. Do you think it would be worth while publishing them sepa- rately, as I am asked to do ? Tell me candidly. Please tell Mr. Thompson that Don Liborio Coluzzi died Jan. 1 1, aged 96. Yours ever affectionately in Christ, N. Wiseman 5r8 CARDINAL WISEMAN On March 8, 1850, came the celebrated decision of the Privy Council in the case of Mr. Gorham, which resulted in a Romevvard movement among Anglicans and clergymen, second only in importance to that of 1845. The Bishop of Exeter had refused to institute the Reverend G. C. Gorham to the vicarage of Brampford Speke, because he denied the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. The Court of Arches had, when appealed to, upheld the Bishop's decision. ]?ut now the Privy Council overruled Bishop and Ecclesi- astical Court alike, and decided that Mr. Gorham's views were tenable by an English clergyman. The Tractarians were in a state of extreme agitation. Here was an unmistakable reminder that the civil power, and not the spiritual, was the ultimate court of appeal as to the doctrines which should be held and taught by clergymen of the Established Church. The State was simply imposing its own creed in direct opposition to the decision of the Church — as it had done, from time to time, ever since Elizabeth passed the Act of Uniformity in the teeth of the Convocation of 1559. On March 12, about fourteen leading Tractarians assembled at Mr. Hope's (afterwards Mr. Hope Scott of Abbotsford) house in Curzon Street, to consider what action they should take in the matter. Among those present were, besides Mr. Hope himself. Archdeacon Manning, Mr. Badeley and Archdeacon Robert Wilberforce. They passed a series of resolutions amounting to a protest against the action of the Privy Council, and ultimately the four already named joined the Catholic Church, and were followed by others. CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 519 On March 17, Wiseman preached a sermon at St. George's Cathedral, with obvious reference to the agitation which the decision had created, reminding his hearers of the protests made in the past by saints and holy men against the encroachments of the civil power in matters of doctrine. He traced the connex- ion between the spiritual and civil powers under the Roman Empire of the West, under the Greek Empire of Constantinople, in medieval England, and down to Elizabeth's reign, and maintained that those who had given the Church its life and preserved its strength had ' suffered exile and even death when necessary, rather than submit to the usurpation and claims of the State in regard to the Church.' In our own country he instanced Lanfranc, St. Anselm, St. Thomas of Canterbury, St. Edmund. Going into the particulars of the Gorham case itself, he pointed out that it was not merely a case of the Privy Council reversing the decision of the Court of Arches, but that that decision itself was not the decision of the spiritual rulers, the bishops, but of lawyers and laymen. Both the appeals from the Bishops' decision had been appeals to the secular power, to determine matters of faith. What, then, is the remedy for a state of things thus at variance with all the best traditions of Church history } he asked. Once more he insisted that it was absolutely impossible to settle contemporary controversy on the most essential points of faith, without appealing to the decision of the Universal Church — not the Church of the past, which can no longer answer a question, but that of the present. 520 CARDINAL WISEMAN But is there, then, no appeal ? Has there never been any appeal beyond this [appeal to Ecclesiastical Courts and the Privy Council]? I have shown you, my brethren, that there were, in ancient times, appeals to another power, to a spiritual and superior power, acknowledged by the whole Church. To that they [the Anglicans] cannot appeal ; and there has been the great error, that they have cut themseh-es so completely ofif from that authority, and that tribunal, to which alone an appeal in matters of faith would lie, that it is necessary for them to treat this appeal as final, because it leaves them no other direction in which to escape. Yes, my brethren, in former times, if a matter like this had arisen in one Church, it would not have been left to her, with her own limited resources, to fight the battle. . . But how is it that England, or rather, we will say, that which calls itself her Church, should be now so cut off from the sympathies of the rest of the world ? Will she dare to appeal to the Universal Church in which, so many of her writers declare, lies the ultimate appeal in matters of faith ? Yes, I admit their words. It is to the Universal Church that the only final appeal can come ; whether that Universal Church be represented by her head, or whether she be represented by a General Council, or whether she be represented by all the Churches of the Catholic unity, separated, indeed, in place, but yet speaking with one assent. To that autho- rity, however represented, I own that the appeal must lie. Then, let this Church, let this powerful Church, as no doubt in many ways she is, raise her voice and call upon the Catholic Church throughout the world, to come and bear part with her, and sustain her, in this her intended struggle. Or let her ask all others to join their suffrages to the truth of the doctrine which it is said has been now, for the first time, im- pugned. Why does she not do so ? Or if she does, will they respond? Is there, then, no longer any internal union, any bond of love and of charity, that binds her to the rest of the Christian world, so that, upon her cry of distress, it will rise to succour her, and, if it may not help, at least to console her and encourage her ? Will Gaul send a Saint Germanus or a Saint Lupus once more, as she did when the Pelagian heresy was threatening the faith of this island, to come and in- CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 521 struct men in the truth, and to confute the propagators of that heresy ? About six weeks later, in the very midst of the tension and expectation caused by the influential opposition to the decision of the Privy Council, when Wiseman's hopes of a successful work for Catholicism, both among the poor and among the zealous men who were turning towards Rome, were at their highest, came a letter from Cardinal Antonelli announcing the Pope's gracious intention to confer the Cardinal's hat on him. This meant, as a matter of course, that he must reside in Rome at the Pontifical Court, and leave England for ever. Seldom, perhaps, has so great an honour been received with such mixed feelings. Wiseman's senti- ments will be best given in his own words. On July 4 he wrote as follows to Dr Russell: A painful secret had been confided to me since early in May by the Cardinal Secretary of State, and it is only to-day that I hear the matter has reached London as a report, and a letter from Rome received a few days ago shows me that it has oozed out, and so will soon be public. I feel, therefore, authorised to write confidentially about it, till it is publicly known as a certainty. The truth, then, is that I leave England (for ever) next month. In September the Consistory is to be held which binds me in golden fetters for life, and cuts off all my hopes, all my aspirations, all my life's wish to labour for England's con- version in England, in the midst of the strife with heresy, and the triumphs of the Church. I have written as plainly and as strongly as one can about oneself ; but a peremptory answer has come that I am wanted at Rome, and that a successor will be provided. In this order I must hear the voice of God, and I at least have one consolation, that in accepting, in obedience, the 522 CARDINAL WISEMAN unwelcome dignity, I am sacrificing everything that is dear to me, and, perhaps, destroying my own work, in which too much of selfish or earthly complacency may have mingled. It was only in February '49 that, by the death of good Dr. Walsh, I first became properly a free agent, acting on my own responsi- bility, and in May 1850 I am again thrown back into a vague and indefinite position. This is even Jiumiliati7Ji^ ; for I own that, consulting one's human feelings, to stand at the helm in the capital of this Empire, in such a crisis, while the Church is bearing all before it, is a nobler position than to be one of a Congregation in which one may have the power of giving one vote in favour of the right. This, however, consoles me : the event depresses me, crushes me, nay, buries me for ever in this life ; and so it must be good for me. But is it not to one like a farmer [seeing] the fields, in which he has taken pride, and on which he has expended all his labour, swept over by a flood, which will efface all his work ? And if so, is it not a judgment and a chastise- ment, and to be submitted to as such ? While, therefore, I bow to the mandate, and in it to the Divine Will, I cannot but feel in it a reproof that my work has been badly done, and must be taken from me and given to others. Still more interesting is the account of his feel- ings in a letter to Father Faber a week later : Bexhill : July 13, 1850. My dear F. Faber, — I never felt so much in need of good prayers as now. I have had a severe trial to go through ; and though the most painful part is over, there is yet much to go through. I have found it hard to resign myself to separation from the glorious work going on around us, and the bright prospects that are opening before us. My only consolation has been, and is, that, according to S. Filippo's maxims, one can- not go wrong by obedience ; and that in whatever befalls one there has been nothing but thorough opposition to self and re- nouncing of everything" dear. But, though I resign myself to what comes with authority from above, I cannot but feel that either this is a judicial visitation well deserved, that having done God's great work here so poorly and negligently I am removed from it (with CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 523 honour, indeed, to prevent scandal), and so it will be given to a better husbandman : or else this accumulation of position and distinction is a reward here below for services too ill rendered, and too much spoilt by pride, to deserve any better. This last thought, which for years has terrified me, has become most distressing of late, and at times the words ' Accepisti merce- dem tuam ' seem to sound in my ears. Should this be the case, I hope God will give me more time here to make up for the past. Pray for this and San Filippo will take care of you. I suppose you have heard that 1 received (the Rev.) Mr. Cavendish and Captain Packenham, as it is no longer a secret ? I am ever, Dear F. Faber, Yours affectionately in Xt., N. WiSEM.AN. Dr. Whitty, who, as Vicar-General, was frequently in Wiseman's company, thus describes his attitude in regard to the approaching change in his life : His feelings on the elevation were very mixed. He often spoke of them to me in the country house at Walthamstow. As the highest honour from the Sovereign Pontiff and as a mark of the Pope's confidence, the promotion gave him intense joy. But a residence in Rome as Cardinal, with all its restrictions on his liberty, was by no means attractive. Moreover, it separated him from England and so cut short the career of usefulness to which he had been looking forward since his coming to London. On one occasion I remember he said : ' I really don't well know how to look on the future. I assure you that which I look forward to at present with the greatest pleasure is our journey to Rome in the little open carriage Searle has bought, when we can see and enjoy the country at our leisure and in which I can have a store of books, &c.' All the time it struck me as veiy like a boy's anticipation of his journey home in vacation. I think I said so to him plainly at the time, and we laughed to- gether over this puzzle of his mind and heart. In many respects he remained a child all his life. As the thought of being sent back to England as Cardinal Archbishop at that 524 CARDINAL WISEMAN time never entered his mind, he told me he had a project of building or buying a villa for himself near Monte Porzio, to which he could retire occasionally from Rome and thus enjoy his British liberty of moving about freely. In the course of July the news became pretty generally known, and great was the dismay on the part of the leading Catholics at the prospect of losing his services from the Church in England. He was not to start for Rome until the middle of August, and many representations preceded him to the Vatican, as to the disastrous results of severing his connexion with England. Already in 1847, when the Hierarchy was first planned, the leading laymen had signed a petition for the appointment of Wiseman to Westminster. ' Bishop Wiseman is the only man for the situation, ' Lord Shrewsbury had written to one of the signataries.' And now fresh efforts were made in the same direction. The effect of these repre- sentations was manifest to Wiseman when he reached Rome ; but up to the time of his departure he looked on it as a final leave-taking. 'When 3'ou have done governing the various quarters of the world,' he said to his cousin. Sir Charles McCarthy, ' come and visit me in my Roman palazzo.' The question of diplomatic relations between the British Government and the Holy See was at this moment on the tapis, and Wiseman had an interview with Lord John Russell before leaving England. The news that the new Hierarchy was ere long to be proclaimed was public property ; and, whether or no he directly consulted the Premier on the subject, he • In a letter dated Nov. 2, 1S47. CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 525 seems at all events to have gathered from his inter- view that the Government would make no opposition to such a step. ' He always spoke of this interview,' says the late Lord Houghton, ' as affording a vindica- tion of his future proceedings.' It is certain, however, that he gave Lord John Russell to understand that he himself was leaving England for good, to reside for the future in Rome itself Wiseman left England on August 16. He tra- velled by Arras, Paris, Dole, Martigny, and Brieg. He wrote from Brieg on August 24 to Mr. Bag- shawe, who was acting as joint-editor of the ' Dublin Review : ' Brieg : Saturday, August 24, 1850. My dear Bagshawe,— I write from this little town at the foot of the Siniplon, where I have been detained by arriving too late to cross the mountain with comfort. At Paris, where I only stayed two short days, I could do no more than finish the cor- rection of one (Manchester) sermon. Since then I have been travelling hard all day, from 5 A.M. to 10 P.M., and .... unable to work. I do not therefore know how to manage about the two sermons and the Review. As to the first, I wish I had at once acceded to your offer ot printing these, with such corrections as you could make. Is it too late ? If not, make a few introductory remarks to say that I had not time before departure to correct the shorthand writer's notes, and that probably there may be errors. &c. There is one passage which I should wish to have modified a little. . . . Then as to the Review. My only hope is a delay of the Consistory and my getting a few days' rest on my journey, when I could knock up the article. But do not rely on me, and I will give you double next number. But for heaven's sake get the number out in time. I sent you a short article from Paris ; get the ' Dublin ' over this bar, and we will do much. I promise you the best article yet on the Gorham case, if I can get the 526 CARDINAL WISEMAN time ; but I fear it must be in December. I am pretty well, but cannot go now into details. Love to all friends. Yours affectionately in Christ, N. Wiseman. Wiseman's onward route was over the Simplon to Domo d'Ossola and on to Milan, where he halted for two nights ; thence to Reggio and Bologna. He stayed two days at Fano with his sister, Countess Gabrielli and travelled thence by Foligno and Civita Castellana to Rome, which he reached on September 5. He had a private audience with the Pope on the day of his arrival, and one with Cardinal Antonelli on the 6th. On the 13th came his formal audience with the Pope. On that day he wrote to Mr. Bagshawe, and the great news of the immediate restoration of the Hierarchy and his own return is foreshadowed in his letter : Rome (Collegio Inglese) : September 13, 1850. My dear Bagshawe, — I am. sure you will be glad to hear that it is more than probable that before the Consistory the Hierarchy will be proclaimed, and that in the spring I shall return to London, where we shall hold the first Synod (Provin- cial) since the Reformation. You will easily understand how important it is to keep this secret till the Pope has spoken publicly about it, and most especially to keep it out of news- papers. On my arrival I found the Pope, all the Cardinals, and Propaganda of the same mind, that if possible, and if com- patible with the Cardinalitial dignity, I ought to return. The addresses and letters received here have done much, good Mr. Talbot ' still more, and the Pope had expressed himself as con- sidering it a matter of conscience. If I return, which I consider almost certain (though not to be said), many expenses are pre- ' Afterwards Monsignor George Talbot, who was now resident in Rome. Monsignor Talbot had, as we know, a considerable share also in the appointment of the second Archbishop of Westminster, Dr. Manning, in 1865. CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 527 vented here, e.g. : I shall only hire carriages, &c., and will live in the College,' saving rent, furniture, &c. Still the outfit is heavy. The fees amount to good 500/. ; and there are four days of public reception, robes, servants, &c. . . You may among friends hint that it is not impossible that I shall re- turn, &c. The Consistory will probably be on the 30th. Again I recommend secrecy, or all may be spoilt. Yours affectionately in Christ, N. Wiseman. Wiseman found time to visit some of the haunts of his youth. On the i6th he spent a day at his favourite retreat in bygone years — Monte Porzio — and the next day was passed at Albano. On the 21st Propaganda met in general congregation to discuss the new Hierarchy, and on the 24th Wiseman had another audience of the Pope — the last before the Con- sistory. At the Consistory of the 30th, Wiseman was duly nominated Cardinal Priest of the Holy Roman Church, with the title of St. Pudentiana, a church on the site of the house in which, according to the ancient tradition, St. Peter was entertained by the Senator Pudens. The English public appeared to take an unusual and friendly interest in the Consistory, and in the elevation of Dr. Wiseman to the rank of Cardinal. The Roman correspondent of the ' Times ' sent, on the morning of the 30th, a long account of the ceremonial for the occasion, which may even now be of interest to English readers. It ran as follows : As soon as Dr. Wiseman received the notice of his elevation, he placed himself, according to the usage, upon the threshold of one of the state rooms at the palace of the Consulta, where his reception took place, to receive the congratulations of the ' The CuUegio Inglese at Rome. 528 CARDINAL WISEMAN Cardinals and Ambassadors, who sent their attendants for the purpose. The visit, styled from its hurry the visita di calore, occupied two or three hours. This afternoon each of the new Cardinals will proceed with the blinds drawn to the Vatican, where his Holiness will give them the red berretta or cap, after which Cardinal Wiseman in the name of the others will return thanks standing, for the honour bestowed upon his colleagues and himself As they leave the Pope's apartments they will receive from an attendant the red zucchetto or skull-cap. They will afterwards go home with the carriages darkened as before, and during the next three days they must remain always at home. This evening the Cardinals, Ambassadors, and nobility, Roman and foreign, present their congratulations in person to each of the new Cardinals. M. Martinez de la Rosa, Ambas- sador of Spain, was to hold a grand reception at the palace of the Spanish Embassy. The bishops of Andria and Gubbio reside in the house of the Theatines, at St. Andrea della Valle, and ladies will not be able to attend their reception, but the Cardinals who reside in the city, usually request one of their own family or some lady of rank to receive the Princesses and other ladies who may wish to be presented on the occasion. Our countrywoman the Princess Doria will do the honours for Cardinal Wiseman, and the Princess Massimo will receive for Cardinal Roberti. On these occasions there is generally a grand display of the diamonds of the noble Roman families, and curiosity is attracted by the brilliant jewels of the Torlonias and the splendid heirlooms of the Doria, Borghese, Rospigliosi and others. On the mornings of Tuesday and Wednesday the Roman Princes will visit the new Cardinals in state, the rule being that no two princes be present at the same time, in order that the rank and precedence which etiquette obliges them to respect, may be duly preserved. The Generals of the Religious Orders will likewise attend to offer their respects. The great ceremonies, however, are reserved for Thursday morning. At an early hour the new Cardinals take the oaths in the Sistine Chapel, whilst the other Cardinals assemble in the Sala Ducale, or hall of the Consistories, near the chapel. The new Cardinals are intro- duced, and kneeling receive the red hat from the Pope, with an admonition that its colour is to remind them that they are to CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 529 be ready if necessary to shed their blood for the Church. They are then embraced by their colleagues and take their places among them. The Te Deum is afterwards sung whilst the new Cardinals are prostrate on the floor. At this public Con- sistory all may be present, but a secret Consistory is afterwards held, in which the Pope declares the mouths of the new Cardinals closed, so that they are incapable of voting upon matters apper- taining to the judgment of their colleagues, until, by another act at the end of the Consistory, their mouths are declared to be opened. Between the closing and opening a considerable time may elapse, during which the candidates can vote for the election of a new Pope in Conclave only. At this secret Con- sistory each Cardinal receives a sapphire ring, for which he pays 500 crowns for the benefit of the missions to Asia, China, and other countries, and a title or church is assigned to him. I believe that Cardinal Wiseman will receive the title of St. Pudentiana, who is stated by ancient authors to have been a grand-daughter of the celebrated British chieftain Caractacus, and whose church is said to contain memorials of the earliest days of the preaching of Christianity in Rome. In the afternoon of the same day the new Cardinals will visit St. Peter's in state, followed by the carriages of their colleagues and other personages. In the evening a curious ceremony will close the solemnities of their promotion. .The keeper of his Holiness's wardrobe will bring the red hat, which was placed on his head in the morning, to each of the Cardinals, who will receive it in full costume, standing near the throne erected for the Pope in every Cardinal's residence. Compli- mentary addresses are made by the keeper and the Cardinal, who then retires, puts on a simple dress and returns to attend his visitors. Refreshments are handed round, and at a suitable hour they retire, and all is over. The Pope's Brief re-establishing the Hierarchy was dated September 29th ; and Wiseman formally announced the event to English Catholics on Octo- ber 7 in the celebrated Pastoral ' from out of the Plaminian Gate of Rome ' — of which more will shortly be said. He started on his return journey VOL. I. MM 530 CARDINAL WISEMAN to England on October 12. He reached Florence on the 15th. Here he remained for a few days as the guest of an old College friend, Mr. Joseph Sloane. The customary honours paid to Cardinals on Italian territory appear to have been duly accorded to him at each stage of his journey. On the 16th, accom- panied by Monsignor Massoni, the Pope's internuncio he proceeded by railway to Siena, where the Arch- duke of Tuscany and his Court were residing. He was received at the Palace in state by the Arch- duke, and then successively (as a contemporary account states) by other members of the family, and after visiting the Cathedral joined the royal party at dinner. On the following evening a soiree was given by Mr. Sloane, which was attended by most of the Ministers of State — viz. the President of the Council of Ministers (Count Baldasseroni), the Ministers of the Interior, of Foreign Affairs, of Justice, of Public Worship, of Public Instruction ; by the Austrian, French, and Neapolitan Ministers; Prince Lichtenstein, General Commander of the Austrian Forces, and many English visitors. On the following evening most of the English residents came to pay their respects to the Cardinal. On the 22nd, he left for Bologna, and re- mained there the followingday. Inthecourse of the day he received formal deputations from the Chapters of the Cathedral and of S. Petronio,from the University, the Academy of Fine Arts, the different tribunals, as also the staffs of the Austrian and Papal troops. The President of the Acadepiy of Fine Arts, Cardinal Baruzzi, presented Cardinal Wiseman with two artistic CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 531 memorials of the Pontiff, a large medallion in marble, taken from life, and a bust. On the following day the Cardinal left early for Venice ; but owing to the bad- ness of the weather he only reached Padua, arriving at Venice early next day by railway. On Sunday, the 27th, he dined with the Patriarch of Venice ; and late that night he embarked for Trieste. So little does he appear to have contemplated all this time the possibility of a hostile demonstration on his return, that his chief thoughts seem to have been of the great pecuniary difficulties of the situation — for Rome was known to be very exacting as to the full state of a Cardinal's position being kept up. The Pope offered 400/c a year for some years ; but this was quite insufficient. In a letter of October 17, written from Florence to Mr. Bagshawe, which touches on this subject, we see incidentally his simple satis- faction in the state and position attendant on his new dignity : Here I am with an old kind friend, my tutor at Ushaw, now a very rich man, Hving in great splendour, Mr. Sloane. Yesterday I went to Siena to dine with the Archduke and family, who received me with highest honours, with full Court, and placed me in the centre of the table, the Duke and Duchess on either side. This is considered a matter of some importance, as no Cardinal has ever been permitted in Tuscany (and none is remembered to have dined at Court) because of the dispute of precedence between a reigning Duke and a Cardinal. The point has now been decided, as the precedence was fully accorded to me ; and to-day the Grand Duke has himself written to his ministers to give them a full account of what was done. (This I know confidentially, and I beg that nothing of this letter get to the papers.) This evening all the diplomatic body, the members of the Government and the principal 532 CARDINAL WISEMAN nobility, native and foreign, are coming to a soiree or reception, as it is called. . . . Now as to my future plans. The great and urgent expense in London is repairing the house. ... As to living, the Pope's allowance will, for the present, keep my carriage and a servant, and so provide for external appearance. Within, I can live on less than I have done, by never entertaining and giving up my soirees. And as to administration, we must work as we have done, only organising our office better. There are expenses to be incurred for general purposes, especially the Synod next year, which must be joined in by all the bishops. There are some that belong to the District : e.g. an archiepiscopal cross, to stand always in the house, and be borne in procession. It ought to be worthy of the re-establishment of the Hierarchy, and to record its history (but I must be content with something plain from Belgium, though Pugin has made a splendid design). Again a throne with the Pope's portrait, &c. But I have made up my mind now, to look for nothing more from man, but to set to my work generously, and look forward to something better hereafter. . . . On Tuesday next I start for Venice, and so by railway to Cologne, via Vienna. A letter will meet me at Li^ge, No. i6 Place St.-Jean, chez M. Burke. I hope to be in England about the middle of November, and will go first to St. Leonard's, while Mr. Searle arranges things for my taking possession of the church, &c. Cardinal Wiseman reached Vienna on October 30. He had two interviews with the Emperor of Aus- tria, and dined with him on November i. It was two days later that he first got an intimation of the storm which awaited him on his return to Eng- land. ' I was driving through the town, leaning back in my carriage, full of satisfaction at the events of the past month,' he said to a friend, ' and reading my " Times," when I received a rude shock as I saw my name in the leading article.' And this is what he read : We are not surprised that Dr. Wiseman, who has long been CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 533 distinguished as one of the most learned and able members of the Roman Catholic priesthood in this country, should have been raised to the purple. . . . It is no concern of ours whether Dr. Wiseman chooses in Rome to be ranked with the Monsignori of the capital. He is simply at Rome in the posi- tion of an English subject, who has thought fit to enter the service of a foreign Power and accept its spurious dignities. But this nomination has been accompanied by one other circumstance which has a very different and very peculiar character. We are informed by the ' Official Gazette ' of Rome that the Pope having recently been pleased to erect the city of Westminster into an archbishopric and to appoint Dr. Wiseman to that see, it is on this newfangled Archbishop of Westminster, so appointed, that the rank of Cardinal is so con- ferred. . . It may be that the elevation of Dr. Wiseman . . . signifies no more than if the Pope had been pleased to confer on the editor of the ' Tablet ' the rank and title of the Duke of Smithfield. But if this appointment be not intended as a clumsy joke, we confess that we can only regard it as one of the grossest acts of folly and impertinence which the Court of Rome has ventured to commit since the Crown and people of England threw off its yoke It has been suggested that the Pope has determined on taking this ridiculous and offensive step for the purpose of retaliating on the English Government the hostility which has been imputed to it, and especially of counteracting the intrigues of a consular agent at Rome whom Lord Palmerston declines to remove. But we can hardly imagine that the Papal Court was actuated by so pitiful a motive for one of the most daring assumptions of power it has put forward in this country for three centuries. The Pope and his advisers have mistaken our complete tolerance for indifference to their designs ; they have mistaken the renovated zeal of the Church in this country for a return towards Romish bondage ; but we are not sorry that their indiscretion has led them to show the power which Rome would exercise if she could, by an act which the laws of this country will never recognise, and which the public opinion of his country will deride and disavow, whenever His Grace the titular Archbishop of Westminster thinks fit to enter his diocese. 534 CARDINAL WISEMAN This article — written before the arrival of Wise- man's Pastoral from the Flaminian Gate had fanned the flame and made it spread like wildfire — was the first indication of the hostility which he had to encounter. With his intensely sensitive temperament it seemed possible to some that the public outcry would be more than he could cope with. In the event, however, he rose to the occasion beyond the most sanguine expectations. ' He is made for the world,' Newman wrote to Sir George Bowyer two months later, ' and he rises with the occasion. Highly as 1 put his gifts, I was not prepared for such a display of vigour, power, judg- ment, sustained energy as the last two months have brought. I heard a dear friend of his say before he had got to England, that the news of the opposition would kill him. How has he been out. It is the event of the time. In my own remembrance there has been nothing like it.' Cardinal Wiseman's first act was to write, then and there, a letter to Lord John Russell deprecating the popular misconception of what had occurred. His excuse for writing was the informal mission with which the Premier had entrusted him, respecting dip- lomatic relations between England and the Vatican. Vienna, Nov. 3, 1850. My dear Lord, — It was my intention before leaving Rome to write to your Lordship as I had promised, respecting the feelings of the Holy See on the subject of a minister from England to be sent on a special mission. I was prevented from doing so principally by the circumstance that my last interview with Cardinal Antonelli on this subject took place only the day before my departure. He assured me, as he had CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 535 done before, that while the Pope would be happy to receive any minister from England for the special purpose alluded to by your Lordship, it would be impossible for the Court of Rome to accept a resident envoy while the law regulating diplomatic intercourse between it and England remained in its present con- dition. I take this opportunity of further alluding to my interview with your Lordship in August last, as I feel it due to myself to guard myself against a possible imputation, a suspicion that might arise in consequence of what passed at it. I spoke to your Lordship as about to leave England without intention of returning, and it may possibly be insinuated now that such was not the case. I beg, therefore, to assure your Lordship that I was most sincere when I spoke of my departure as final, with no idea that I should return. I am anxious that no impression should remain on your Lordship's mind that I had the slightest intention to deceive you. I cannot but deeply regret the erroneous and even distorted views which the English papers have presented of what the Holy See has done in regard to the spiritual government of the Catholics of England ; but I take the liberty of saying that the measure now promulgated was not only prepared but printed three years ago, and a copy of it was shown to Lord Minto by the Pope on occasion of an audience given to his Lordship by his Holiness. I have no right to intrude on your Lordship further in this matter beyond offering to give any explanation that your Lordship may desire, in full confidence that it will be in my power to remove particularly the offensive interpretation put upon the late act of the Holy See — that it was suggested by political views or by any hostile feelings. With regard to myself I beg to add that I am invested with a purely ecclesiastical dignity ; that I have no secular or temporal delegation whatever ; that my duties will be what they have ever been, to promote the morality of those committed to my charge, especially the masses of our poor ; and to keep up those feelings of good-will and friendly intercommunion between Catholics and their fellow-countrymen which I flatter myself I have been the means of somewhat improving. I am confident that time will soon show what a temporary excitement may conceal — that social and public advantages 536 CARDINAL WISEMAN must result from taking the Catholics of England out of that singular and necessarily temporary state of government in which they have been placed, and extending to them the ordinary and more definite form which is normal to their Church, and which has already so beneficially been bestowed upon almost every colony of the British Empire. I beg to apologise for intruding at such length upon your Lordship's attention ; but I have been encouraged to do so by the uniform kindness and courtesy which I have always met with from every member of Her Majesty's Government with whom I have had occasion to treat, and from your Lordship in particular, and from a sincere desire that such friendly communi- cation should not be interrupted. I have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's obedient servant, N. Cardinal Wiseman. The Cardinal proceeded from Vienna to Cologne,' which he reached on November 7. His visit was brief, but he spent some time in the company of Cardinal Geissel, Archbishop of Cologne. An inhabitant of the town thus described their meeting in the pages of the * Deutsche Volkshalle : ' His Eminence Cardinal Archbishop Wiseman, notwith- standing his wish to proceed at once to London, would not leave Cologne without visiting the two greatest ornaments of that city — our Archbishop and our Cathedral. This illustrious Prince of the Church in England, so distinguished for his splendid learning, and in particular for his profound acquaint- ance with the German language and literature, betook himself at an early hour of the morning from his hotel to our lordly Cathedral, which he had not seen for many years. What especially delighted him was the progress of the building, and above all the advancement in the roofing, for which we have to thank the wise foresight of our chief pastor. Without his care ' I have the diary in which the events of each day are noted down. The entries are constant up to the day on which he read the Times article. They thenceforth cease. CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 537 that could never have been accomplished which we have lived to see — viz. that Christian inhabitants of Cologne to the number of 25,000 could assemble in a church to hear the Word of God from the lips of saintly missioners. The distinguished English guest heard with great gratification a sermon, in which Father Klinkowstrom developed the nature of the Christian warfare. After the sermon his Eminence returned to his hotel, made preparations for his departure, and then, about ten o'clock, visited his Eminence Archbishop Geissel. It was an act of mutual congratulation on the lofty dignity by which these two Northern archbishops (already personal friends) have been called to attend in brotherly concord the Apostolic Chair in the Eternal City. Until the departure of the train for Aix, at eleven o'clock, the two illustrious ecclesiastics were engaged in a con- versation, as we may easily suppose, on the high interests of the Church, with a glance at Rome and Vienna, from whence the distinguished guest had come, and London, whither he was going. We understand that the news from Rome was of as cheering a kind as the hopes regarding England. The Holy Father is hale and well, although his many cares have had some external effect on him, his hair having become quite grey, but his heart is full of holy joy and confidence. His Holiness sees in the increased progress of Catholic life in all countries, but especially in the North, a sure sign of the returning animation of the Churches.' Cardinal Wiseman's next halt was at Bruges, where letters awaited him from England. But their purport cannot be properly understood until we have first given some account of what had been passing in that country. ' Deutsche Volkshalk, Nov. 9, 1850. 538 CARDINAL WISEMAN CHAPTER XVIII THE PAPAL AGGRESSION It is to be observed that the new respect for the Papacy which had been visible in England during the early years of Pius IX.'s Pontificate, did not at once pass away with his disasters. A less friendly tone had no doubt been manifested in some quarters, but the Pope, in whose behalf the Powers had interfered and the French had taken up arms, was still watched with expectation. The Consistory of September 1850 arrested attention in England, not only from Wiseman's elevation to the Cardinalate, but from the number of prelates of other than Italian birth who received the hat. An inter- national interference on behalf of the Papacy had been acknowledged at the Vatican by a recognition of the claims of the various European nations for honour at the hands of the Pontiff. Of this aspect of the Consistory the ' Times ' wrote as follows : The Consistory of this day is one of the most remarkable in modern times, from the circumstance of ten out of the four- teen Cardinals having been chosen from foreign States and only four of them being Italians. The principle on which the selection of the new Cardinals has been made is the same that has guided the Pope in other instances, especially in the nomination of his foreign camerieri segreti partecipafiti. It has THE PAPAL AGGRESSION 539 long been admitted in theory that the Papacy is not merely an Italian but a European, or, to speak more properly, a uni- versal, power. Its Italian character, however, has generally so far preponderated as to make the superficial observer overlook its more extended relations. A petty Italian State, governed by Italians with little or no influence on countries at a distance, while they in their turn felt littlq interest in it — such is the idea of the Papacy which has been most familiar to men's minds. Individual Catholics from one pole to the other, bowed down in submissive respect before its authority, but nations and Govern- ments collectively seemed to regard it with indifference. Its recent disasters have produced for it one advantage — they have shown that its importance is not to be measured by the few square miles of its territory or by the small numbers of its population. All the Powers of the Old and New World have felt, spoken and acted towards it in a way which would be ridiculous if they regarded only its size or its physical re- sources, and for the first time in history the combined action of some of the principal nations in Europe has replaced the Pope on the oldest throne in the World. Thus has been effected what in some sense may be called the ' rehabilitation of the Papacy, as more than an Italian State,' and Pius IX., following out the idea, has looked beyond Italy for counsellors and called to the honour of the purple a greater proportion of foreign Cardinals than former precedents in the last three hundred years would have authorised. An abrupt transition was made from this attitude of imaginative interest and respect, when the news came that Rome had been — as it seemed — distribut- ing English titles as well as Cardinals' hats. The dispassionate philosopher of history gave place to the spokesman of a nation which regarded history from one standpoint, round which clustered a crowd of historical associations and prepossessions. The general tenor of the Brief which created a Catholic Hierarchy in England was communicated by Wiseman to the ' Times ' in a letter, despatched before the official §40 CARDINAL WISEMAN documents themselves, in which its details were dis- closed. The ' Times ' did not at once publish this letter, but when it did so it struck the keynote with which the country soon resounded. In its issue of October 14, it characterised the measure, in the words already quoted, as ' one of the grossest acts of folly and impertinence which the Court of Rome has ventured to com- mit since the Crown and people of England threw off its yoke.' And this view of the case was endorsed in a series of articles. Is it, then, here in Westminster [we read in its issue of October 19], among ourselves and by the EngHsh throne, that an ItaHan priest is to parcel out the spiritual dominion of this country — to employ the renegades of our National Church to restore a foreign usurpation over the consciences of men and to sow divisions in our political society by an undisguised and sys- tematic hostility to the institutions most nearly identified with our national freedom and our national faith ? Such an intention must either be ludicrous or intolerable — either a delusion of some fanatical brain or treason to the constitution. Meanwhile Cardinal Wiseman's Pastoral and the Pope's Brief had reached Dr. Whitty, the Vicar- General of the London District, on the i6th or 17th. The Brief gave a careful resuvie of the history of English Catholics and of the mode of their spiritual government since the Reformation, commented on the ' very large and everywhere increasing number of Catholics ' in England ; and finally defined precisely the territorial divisions involved in the new scheme. Cardinal Wiseman's Pastoral assumed the jubilant tone congenial to him at such a crisis. The new Hierarchy set the seal as it were to the events of 1 845, and to his own labours since 1835. His tone of THE PAPAL AGGRESSION 541 triumph was undisguised. The Pastoral was written for the English Catholics, as such a document naturally would be ; and Wiseman appears to have forgotten that on so special an occasion it would find many readers whose sentiments were very different from those of his fellow-Catholics. Dr. Whitty writes of it as follows : The Flaminian Gate Letter or Pastoral announcing the restoration of the Hierarchy to the Faithful of Westminster and South\vark,'"and his own appointment as Archbishop of West- minster, was dated October 7, 1850. The post was not nearly so frequent or expeditious in those days as it is now. It was printed and read in all the churches and chapels by Sunday, October 27, and in the London churches perhaps on the previous Sunday, October 20. I remember it reached me in Golden Square on Wednesday or Thursday, when there was barely time to have it printed and circulated for the following- Sunday. A mere glance through it created a most perplexing question whether it should be published then or not. It was evidently written by the Cardinal in the exulting joy of his Catholic heart, without a thought of Protestant readers, and without the faintest suspicion of the terrific storm of Protestant feeling which the news of the Hierarchy would create. Every day symptoms of the coming storm were speedily becoming more unmistakable. It was then impossible to communicate with the Cardinal himself By the time the letter had reached London he had already left Rome for England. He was travelling in the same manner as he had gone, by easy post stages through Austria and so on to Belgium. The first and only address I had received for letters or messages to be for- warded was",Bruges. Thus the publication of the Pastoral or its postponement till the arrival of the Cardinal himself, became an enormous difficulty. On the one hand the Pastoral had reached me in the legitimate way, and Catholics throughout England were daily expecting some word from the Cardinal, especially in face of the hostility which the news of the Pope's action had aroused. I felt I could not withhold it without a clear obligation of duty. Still less could I dare suppress or 542 CARDINAL WISEMAN tamper with any of its expressions at my own discretion. On the other hand, not a few were beginning to apprehend a repe- tition of the Gordon riots, and no one could say what occasion might be seized upon. I was alone and had no one whom I could consult, and the decision had to be come to at once. After a short prayer for light, I decided on publishing the Pastoral just as it was. The following extracts may suffice to indicate the tone and drift of the Pastoral, which was read in the Catholic churches and rapidly found its way into the newspapers. After a general account of the scope of the measure and of his own elevation to the Cardinal- ate, Wiseman thus proceeds : The great work, then, is complete ; what you have long desired and prayed for is granted. Your beloved country has received a place among the fair Churches which, normally con- stituted, form the splendid aggregate of Catholic Communion ; Catholic England has been restored to its orbit in the ecclesias- tical firmament, from which its light had long vanished, and begins now anew its course of regularly adjusted action round the centre of unity, the source of jurisdiction, of light and of vigour. How wonderfully all this has been brought about, how clearly the hand of God has been shown in every step, we have not now leisure to relate ; but we may hope soon to recount to you by word of mouth. . . . Then truly is this day to us a day of joy and exaltation of spirit, the crowning day of long hopes, and the opening day of bright prospects. How must the saints of our country, whether Roman or British, Saxon or Norman, look down from their seats of bliss with beaming glance upon this new evidence of the Faith and Church which led them to glory, sympathising with those who have faithfully adhered to them through cen- turies of ill repute, for the truth's sake, and now reap the fruit of their patience and long-suffering ! And all those blessed martyrs of these later ages, who have fought the battles of the faith under such discouragement, who mourned, more than over their own fetters or their own pain, over the desolate ways of their own Sion and the departure of England's religious THE PAPAL AGGRPZSSION 543 glory ; oh ! how must they bless God, who hath again visited His people. . . . The Pastoral throughout assumed, as documents written for Catholics invariably assume, the absolute spiritual authority of the Pope over the Catholic Church in England, and ignored all spiritual authority outside the Church. This was an additional cause of irritation. Such a passage, for example, as the fol- lowing, although barely stating the fact of Wiseman's position in the new Hierarchy, probably had a share, from its phraseology, in arousing popular feeling : By a Brief dated the same day [he wrote], his Holiness was further pleased to appoint us, though most unworthy, to the Archiepiscopal See of Westminster, established by the above- mentioned Letters Apostolic, giving us at the same time the administration of the Episcopal See of Southwark. So that at present, and till such time as the Holy See shall think fit otherwise to provide, we govern and shall continue to govern, the counties of Middlesex, Hertford and Essex, as Ordinary thereof, and those of Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Berkshire, and Hampshire, with the islands annexed, as Administrator with Ordinary jurisdiction. The effect of such language was immediate. Press, Anglican clergy, and leading statesmen forth- with raised an indignant protest in terms of ever increasing violence : Pio Nono is no longer the quiet laisser-aller Pontiff, such as existed in the first half of the century [wrote one journal]. He quite apes the pretensions of a Hildebrand. He and his clergy have awakened in Piedmont our own old quarrel of A' Becket and Heniy 11. ; and instead of urging their Catholic fellow-Christians to advance by such ways as a free consti- tutional Government opens to other religious denominations, they send a legate to Ireland to denounce and root out education and despatch a Cardinal Archbishop to Westminster to catch 544 CARDINAL WISEMAN fools with his title and enslave kindred bigots by his assumption of authority and state. But in Piedmont Azeglio is firm, and a statesman-Hke spirit of resistance is steadily showing itself; nor in Westminster have we any call to take alarm at the advent of Cardinal Wiseman. The wicked folly of the Popedom, in short, is fast bringing all modei'ate men who joined in the reaction to a standstill. The liberal and benevolent Pope has become a cruel and a bigoted one. The 'Times ' waxed more indignant, going through the items of the Papal Brief, as if each fresh diocese whose hmits were explained was a fresh insult to the English people. Regardless of the fact that a step precisely similar had been recently taken by the Holy See in the British Colonies without any opposi- tion on the part of the Government, it treated the measure as unexampled and monstrous. Until we saw the whole scheme in black and white before us [it wrote], we confess that we were still incredulous of the extent of its impudence and absurdity, and we believe that it may be some time before the people of England realise to their own minds the full purport of these surprising pretensions. An Archbishop of Westminster, a Bishop of Southwark, for the two divisions of the metropolis and the adjacent counties ; a Bishop of Beverley, to hold spiritual sway in Yorkshire ; Lancashire to be shared between the sees of Liverpool and Salford ; Wales between Salop and [Menevia]-cum-Newport ; the bishoprics of Clifton and Plymouth in the west of Eng- land, each comprising three counties; in the Midland district the two episcopal sees of Nottingham and Birmingham, flanked by that of Northampton in the east : and all this laid down with the authority and minuteness of an Act of Parliament by a Papal Bull, certainly constitutes one of the strangest pieces of mummery we ever remember to have witnessed ; and if it were not accompanied with an evident determination to convert these pompous names and titles into facts, we should regard such a document emanating from a foreign government as positively unworthy of credit. As it is, we can only receive it as an THE PAPAL AGGRESSION 545 audacious and conspicuous display of pretensions to resume the absolute spiritual dominion of this island which Rome has never abandoned, but which, by the blessing of Providence and the will of the English people, she shall never accomplish. On no occasion since the Reformation has the Court of Rome so peremptorily denied the validity of Anglican orders, by partitioning the whole island into new sees, as if the old episco- pal dioceses of England, many of which are coeval with the introduction of Christianity itself, were absolutely vacant or extinct ; at the same time the letter of the law which prohibits Roman Catholic prelates from assuming the titles of Anglican bishops has been obeyed whilst its spirit is set at defiance. To the existence of the dignitaries of the Roman Church, having a certain authority over their flocks in this country, no objection was or could be raised, but the creation of a Hierarchy assuming the names of cities and provinces and distributing counties amongst their sees is a step which the Pope could not have taken in any other civilised country in Europe, and it is hardly less preposterous than the Bullof one ofhis predecessors in the fifteenth century which assigned to the crown of Portugal the undiscovered limits of the New World.^ ' The article thus proceeded : — ' It seems, however, that on the publication of this Bull the English Roman Catholics now in Rome obtained an audience of the Pope and were presented by Cardinal Wiseman to thank his Holiness for these measures. ' Pius IX spoke on this occasion, as we are informed by a French Catholic priest, to the following effect : ' " I had not intended to send the new Cardinal [Wiseman] back to England, but to keep him near the Papal Court, and employ hi.-, talents here. But 1 am persuaded," added the Pope, " that the time is come to set about the great enterprise for which you have just thanked me. I think he has nothing to fear in England. I spoke of it some time ago to Lord Minto and I understood that the English Govern- ment would offer no opposition to the execution of my plans. I therefore send this most eminent Cardinal back to England, and I entreat you all to pray without ceasing that all difficulties may be removed, and that a million, nay, three millions, of your countrymen still separated from us, may enter into this new Church even to the last of them. " ' We translate this extraordinary declaration literally from the " Ami de la Religion," and it is certainly calculated to complete the astonish- VOL. I. N N 546 CARDINAL WISEMAN On November 4 Lord John Russell wrote his famous letter to the Bishop of Durham, who had forwarded a strenuous protest to the Premier, in which he characterised the Pope's action as ' insolent and insidious.' Lord John's letter not only gave the signal for the popular violence which ensued, but marked out its objects. And it is interesting to note that his strongest language is directed not against the Roman Catholics, but against those English Churchmen who were advocates of Catholic worship within the An- glican pale. Their action was styled by him as an ' insidious course ' pursued by ' unworthy sons of the Church of England,' who were striving to in- troduce the ' mummeries of superstition,' to * confine the intellect and enslave the soul.' The Bishop of London and other bishops adopted a similar tone ; and the National fury was thus directed by the authorities of the Church of England itself against the pioneers of that very system of belief which in our own time is widely and even indignantly main- tained to be the essential teaching of the National Church. ment with which this whole transaction fills us. The plan, it seems, was communicated by the Pope himself to Lord Minto on his mission, which took place three years ago, yet the English Government has seen no reason to offer any adverse expression of opinion to it ; so that while one of the effects of Lord Minto's unfortunate journey was to promote the revolution in Italy, the other is to promote the re-establishment of the Roman Hierarchy in England. For a Scotch nobleman who is neither a Jacobin nor a bigot, it must be confessed that these results are strange instances of diplomatic ability ; and Lord Minto will be consigned to the judgment of posterity between Ciceruacchio and the Archbishop of Westminster.' THE PAPAL AGGRESSION 547 The full text of the Premier's letter is as follows : My dear Lord, — I agree with you in considering ' the late aggression of the Pope upon our Protestantism ' as 'insolent and insidious,' and I therefore feel as indignant as you can do upon the subject. I not only promoted to the utmost of my power the claim of the Roman Catholics to all civil rights, but I thought it right, and even desirable, that the ecclesiastical system of the Roman Catholics should be the means of giving instruction to the numerous Irish immigrants in London and elsewhere, who without such help would have been left in heathen ignorance. This might have been done, however, without any such innovation as that which we thus have now seen. It is impossible to confound the recent measures of the Pope with the division of Scotland into dioceses by the Episcopal Church, or the arrangement of districts in England by the Wesleyan Conference. There is an assumption of power in all the documents which have come from Rome — a pretension to supremacy over the realm of England, and a claim to sole and undivided sway, which is inconsistent with the Queen's supremacy, with the rights of our bishops and clergy, and with the spiritual indepen- dence of the nation, as asserted even in Roman Catholic times. I confess, however, that my alarm is not equal to my indig- nation. Even if it shall appear that the ministers and servants of the Pope in this country have not transgressed the law, I feel persuaded that we are strong enough to repel any outward attacks. The liberty of Protestantism has been enjoyed too long in England to allow of any successful attempt to impose a foreign yoke upon our minds and consciences. No foreign prince or potentate will be permitted to fasten his fetters upon a nation which has so long and so nobly vindicated its right to freedom of opinion, civil, political, and religious. Upon this subject, then, I will only say that the present state of the law shall oe carefully examined, and the propriety of adopting any proceedings with reference to the recent assumptions of power deliberately considered There is a danger, however, which alarms me much more than any aggression of a foreign Sovereig'n. NN 2 548 CARDINAL WISEMAN Clergymen of our own Church, who have subscribed the Thirty-nine Articles, and acknowledged in explicit terms the Queen's supremacy, have been the most forward in leading their flocks, step by step, to the very verge of the precijjicc. The honour paid to saints, the claim of infallilDility for the Church, the superstitious use of the sign of the Cross, the mutter- ing of the Liturgy so as to disguise the language in which it is written, the recommendation of auricular confession, and the administration of penance and absolution — all these things are pointed out by clergymen of the Church of England as worthy of adoption, and are now openly reprehended by the Bishop of London in his Charge to the clergy of his diocese. What, then, is the danger to be apprehended from a foreign prince of no great power, compared to the danger within the gates from the unworthy sons of the Church of England herself? I have little hope that the propounders and framers of these innovations will desist from their insidious course. But I rely with confidence on the people of England, and I will not bate a jot of heart or hope so long as the glorious principles and the immortal martyrs of the Reformation shall be held in reverence by the great mass of a nation which looks with contempt on the mummeries of superstition, and with scorn at the laborious endeavours which are now making to confine the intellect and enslave the soul. I remain, with great respect, &c. J. Russell. The Prime Minister followed up this epistle, later on in the month, with a speech at the Guildhall to the same tune. The Lord Chancellor, speaking at the Mansion House dinner on November 9, quoted, amid thunders of applause, the lines : Under our feet we'll stamp thy Cardinal's hat, In spite of Pope or dignities of Church. The utterances of these distinguished Ministers added fuel to the fire, and the Anglican Bishops began a series of utterances which may serve to THE PAPAL AGGRESSION 549 remind us of the depth of ill-will which still remained among educated and religious men with respect to the faith of Catholics. It will not be to our purpose to quote them at length, but some of the phrases used are interesting to the historian of hereditary feeling and prepossession. We trace in some of the phrases the surviving conception of the plotting Jesuit which had existed in full force since the days of Elizabeth. The Archbishop of Canterbury describes the Catholic priesthood as ' subtle, skilful, and insinuating.' ' ' We are not so degenerate,' wrote the Archbishop of York, ' as to be beguiled by the snare which [Rome's] ever-wakeful ambition is plot- ting for our captivity and ruin.' ^ The Bishop of London characterised the Roman Catholic priesthood as ' emissaries of darkness.' '^ Sentiments never extin- guished since the days of the Armada reappear in such expressions as ' foreign bondage,' •* used by the Bishop of Salisbury, or * foreign intruders ' -^ by the Bishop of Oxford ; ' a foreign prince insolent in his degradation,' ^ by the Bishop of Bangor. One is reminded rather of Archbishop Grindal's attitude towards the faith of Roman Catholics than of Bishop Creighton's, in such phrases as ' Rome clings to her abominations,' ^ ' the slough of Romanism,' ^ the ' sorcerer's cup,' ' crafts of Satan,' ^ ' subtle and un- clean,' "^ ' her claims [are] profane, blasphemous, ' Times, November 25. - November 19. ^ November 8. ^ November 20. * November 23. •* November 26. ^ Bishop of Ripon, November 11, " Bishop of Manchester, November 18. '•' Bishop of Hereford, December 16. '" Bishop of Oxford, November 23. 5 so CARDINAL WISEMAN and antichristian,' ' ' England [is] defiled by her pollutions.' ^ The measure itself of establishing a Hierarchy — a step, be it always remembered, accepted already in the British Colonies without the smallest show of resentment — was characterised by the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol as a ' revolting and frightful assumption' ; by the Archbishop of York as an 'un- paralleled aggression ' ; by the Bishop of London as a * subtle aggression,' by the Bishop of Oxford as an ' indecent aggression,' by the Bishop of Chichester as an ' audacious aggression.' The Pope's Brief was ' a frivolous and contemptible document ' to the Bishop of Hereford, a ' shameless demonstration ' and ' daring display of Roman ambition ' to the Bishop of Exeter. The Anglican Bishops in the end united (with two exceptions) in an address to the Queen, in which the Pope's act was described as an * unwarrantable insult' ' We consider it our duty,' they said, ' to record our united protest against this attempt to subject our people to a spiritual tyranny from which they were freed at the Reformation ; and we make our humble petition to your Majesty to discountenance by all con- stitutional means the claims and usurpations of the Church of Rome, by which religious divisions are fostered and the labours of our clergy impeded in their endeavours to diffuse the light of true religion.' ' I heartily concur with you,' wrote Her Majesty in the course of her reply, '. . . in your attachment to the Protestant faith and to the great principles of civil and religious liberty. . . . You may be assured of my ' Bishop of Carlisle, December 29. " November 23. THE PAPAL AGGRESSION 551 earnest desire and firm determination under God's blessing to maintain unimpaired the [principles of] religious liberty . . . and to uphold, as its surest safe- guard, the pure and Scriptural worship of the Pro- testant faith. . . . You may rely on my determination to uphold alike the rights of my crown and the in- dependence of my people against all aggressions and encroachments of any foreign Power.' Lord John Russell's letter had appeared oppor- tunely on the eve of Guy Fawkes, and that festival inaugurated a series of popular disturbances, which kept the country in a state of agitation for five or six weeks. A few of them may be given as specimens from contemporary reports : Bradninch. — The Haynauand anti-Xractarian demonstration came off in good style. A very large procession formed adjoining the Guildhall about eight o'clock in the evening, in which figured the effigies of Haynau and Cardinal Wiseman, excellently got up. The Church bells rang, the band played the ' Rogue's March,' and the procession, lighted by numerous torches, paraded the town. Placards were carried, inscribed ' The brutal Haynau,' ' Down with tyranny ! ' ' Down with Popery I' ' No Puseyites !' ' NoTractarians ! ' &c. There were several masked characters, and all made up such a sight as was never witnessed in this ancient borough before. After perambulating the town, &c. t&c. Salisbury. — On Wednesday the effigies of his Holiness the Pope, Cardinal Wiseman, and the twelve Bishops were com- pleted. Friday evening, about 5 P.M., Castle Street was so densely crowded that no one could pass to the upper part of it. Shortly after, some hundreds of torches were lighted, which then exhibited a forest of heads. About half-past six his Holiness was brought out amid the cheering of the populace. The pro- cession, being formed, proceeded in the following order : torch- bearers, brass band, torch-bearers, his Holiness in full pontificals, seated in a huge chair ; torch-bearers, bishops, three abreast ; 552 CARDINAL WISEMAN torch-bearers, Cardinal Wiseman, &c. &c. Within the precincts of the Close the National Anthem was played amid deafening cheers. At this time the scene was very imposing. The pro- cession having paraded the city, the effigies were taken to the Green Croft, where, over a large number of fagots and barrels of tar, a huge platform was erected of timber ; the effigies were placed thereon, and a volley of rockets sent up. The band played the Doxology, and deafening cheers followed. A light being applied to the combustibles below, the flames rose to the platform ; hundreds of fireworks were then hurled at the effigies. Then followed the Morning Hymn and the National Anthem, in which thousands joined. Ware. — His Holiness Pio Nono was burnt in effigy on an eminence overlooking the town. The figure was dressed in full pontificals, with the triple crown on its head, and the addition of a large pair of ram's horns. In the waggon was a donkey, to represent his Excellency the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. After solemnly parading the streets, the effigy was escorted by a large concourse of people to Musley Hill, where it was solemnly suspended by the neck on a gallows erected over a huge pile of faggot-wood and tar-barrels, and then burnt amid the roars and execrations of the multitude. PeckJiavi. — The Pope was burnt in effigy on Peckham Common. A van drawn by four horses drew up fronting" a house on the Green, from which emerged some dozen men, armed with various weapons, each leading a man attired in the surplice of a Romish clergyman, the latter being tumbled into the vehicle amid the shouts of several thousand persons. The next brought out were two athletic fellows, one attired as a Cardinal and the other as his chaplain. A few yards in advance stood an Herculean fellow bearing a burlesque effigy of the Pope, and having in his hand what purported to be the late memorable Bull, &c. &c. The procession proceeded towards Camberwell, followed by at least 10,000 persons. It was hailed m its progress through the various streets with the loudest acclamations, and cries of ' No Popery I ' ' Hurrah for the Queen !' ' No foreign priesthood ! ' &c. &c.' ' These specimens of the demonstrations so common between Michaelmas and Christmas 1850 were collected by Cardinal Newman as illustrations of the circumstances in which his sermon on the ' Second Spring ' was preached. THE PAPAL AGGRESSION 553 Such demonstrations were coupled with unpleasant manifestations of the popular feeling towards Catholics in general. The hooting and pelting of a Catholic priest were by no means uncommon. Mobs collected outside Catholic churches and broke their windows, and the precedent of the Gordon riots had shown what serious results a No-Popery agitation might have. It appeared for a time uncertain whether a real and bitter persecution were not impending, in which the lives and property of Catholics would be in serious danger. Father Whitty writes as follows on the feeling among Catholics themselves during these days : There was great uncertainty and indeed great timidity in the minds of CathoHcs at the time. No one could foresee what was coming and no one could say, therefore, what was the best course to take. One Bishop proposed that all the Bishops should present an address to the Queen in a body, assuring her of their unswerving loyalty to the Throne. But Bishop Briggs, the senior Bishop, was strongly opposed to this, and so it dropped. I wrote to consult Newman, and he recommended that no step should be taken publicly till Cardinal Wiseman's arrival. It became necessary to forewarn Cardinal Wiseman himself on his arrival in Bruges of the state of popular feeling in Eng- land, and for this purpose Sir G. Bowyer (then Mr. Bowyer) offered me his rooms in the Temple, to convoke a small meeting of the Cardinal's friends, that I might take their opinion on whether it was desirable he should come on to London at once or remain on the Continent and await the course of events in England. I cannot now recollect all the names, but, besides Bowyer himself, such men as Chevalier de Zulueta, Bagshawe (and probably both father and son). Lord Petre, Mr. Fullerton, were certainly amongst them. There were, I think, ten or twelve in all. The question was discussed very fully. So far as my memory serves, not more than two, if even two, were in favour of his coming on to London iimncdiately. Some thought he had better return to Rome and consult the Pope ; others, that he had better remain for the time in Belgium or France ; others 554 CARDINAL WISEMAN that the question should be left wholly to himself to decide. I gave a full report of all to the Cardinal, together with all their reasons and fears and other circumstances, so that he might have the fullest materials for forming a judgment. In after years he often spoke to me of his decision at that time with great satisfaction. He felt that it was a turning point in his life and that Providence had guided hmi. He never blamed me for publishing the Flaminian Gate Pastoral, as others did. Accordingly, he came on to London, and arrived on Monday morning, November ii. As his own house was in the hands of painters and decorators, he went to Mr. Bagshawe's, in Fitzroy Square, where he remained for a few days, and then took up his abode for the time in St. George's, Southwark. 1 was then lodging in Queen Square, Bloomsbury, and he sent for me at once. So rapid was his resolve, that this was the first intima- tion I had received of the decision he had come to on the receipt of my letter in Bruges. On my speaking of the Protestant excitement, one of the first things he showed me was a foolscap sheet of paper lying on the desk before him. I stooped down to look at it, and saw the words ' An Appeal to the English People,' together with two or three lines. ' Yes, I know the excitement,' he said, ' is great. But I am writing something here which I think will calm it.' ' Well,' said I to myself, * you are indeed a sanguine man to expect that yours or atiy writing can calm this storm.' The Cardinal saw, however, the necessity of deahng promptly with the Government as well as addressing the nation. He sent for Sir George Bowyer, who has thus described his interview : Cardinal Wiseman arrived in England at a very early hour in the morning, and I was sent for. After much conversation, in the course of which the Cardinal lamented the misunderstand- ing and misrepresentation which had misled public opinion, he requested me to make the necessary explanations to Her Majesty's Government on his part. By the advice of Mr. Charles Greville I went to Lord Lansdowne, then Lord President of the Council. I found the noble lord deeply distressed at the state THE PAPAL AGGRESSION 555 of things in the country. Reassured me that Lord John Russell had pubhshed the Durham Letter without communication with his colleagues, and that he (Lord Lansdowne) deeply regretted it. ... I had three or four long interviews with Lord Lansdowne and I believe the explanations I offered were so far satisfactory that the noble lord was convinced that the conduct of Cardinal Wiseman had been perfectly fair and honest, and that there was not the slightest idea of aggression or of doing anything offensive to public opinion in this country. The noble lord repeatedly lamented the direction which public opinion had taken. He felt there was an eftor/nous inisunderstandi?tg. He saw that the utmost anxiety had been manifested at Rome to comply with and respect the existing law of England. But the torrent of popular feeling could not be kept within limits, nor calmed sufficiently for reflection, except by some measure like the Ecclesiastical Titles Act. Meanwhile (as Father Whitty recalls) the Cardinal was the observed of all observers whenever he left his house. On Tuesday, November 12, when he paid a visit to St. George's Cathedral, Southwark, news of his arrival had already spread, and a crowd, more curious than hostile in its manifestations, assembled. The announcement in Tuesday's paper of the sudden and unexpected arrival of Cardinal Wiseman in the metropolis [we read in the ' Times ' of Wednesday], occasioned considerable interest among Catholics and Protestants, and at an early hour a large number of respectably attired persons of both persua- sions, assembled round St. George's Chapel in the expectation of catching a glimpse of the newly created Archbishop, and many, anticipating that he would officiate during the early morning service, entered the edifice, but they were doomed to disappointment, as the Cardinal not only did not attend the service, but had not arrived at his temporary residence up to the departure of those who were induced by curiosity to attend. Exactly at eleven o'clock, however, a private carriage drawn by a pair of greys was driven to the entrance of the clergyman's residence attached to St. George's Chapel, from which the Cardinal alighted, attended by his chaplain, who 5S6 CARDINAL WISEMAN carried a small leather portmanteau and a large packet of letters. His Eminence, who appeared in excellent health, was enveloped in a large blue cloak and had a superlsly bound Roman missal in his hand. Elsewhere, however, the crowds were less respect- ful. The Cardinal was often hooted, and stones were thrown at the windows of his carriage. His friends were alarmed for his safety ; but it soon appeared that such exhibitions of turbulence and rudeness were the limit of popular demonstrations. The result of Sir George Bowyer's efforts gave little hope of enlisting the aid of the influential few in calming the storm ; and the Cardinal pressed on with his ' Appeal ' to the English people, in hopes of bringing the multitude itself to a more reasonable frame of mind. He wrote it with great rapidity, amid the constant interruptions of the crisis — people coming at every moment for instructions and advice as to the best way of meeting local manifestations of hostile feeling. Dr. VVhitty speaks of its composition as follows : The Cardinal began to write it on the morning of his arrival, Monday, November ii, and with the exception of the last two or three pages, I took the whole MS. direct to Cox, the printers in Queen Street, on the Thursday or Friday follow- ing. In the cab on my way, I glanced through it, and I was astonished not to see a single ei'asure or correction in it of any kind. Somehow the still greater marvel did not strike me at the time, how the Cardinal amid the incessant interruptions and visits of those few days, could possibly have found the time to write so well-reasoned and complete a pamphlet. It was an instance of his ability for which he has never had sufficient credit. The very first knowledge he had of the excitement in England about the Hierarchy was in Vienna, where he came across a copy of the 'Times' newspaper. It had become THE PAPAL AGGRESSION 557 a daily topic with the newspapers. For myself, I can believe the thought of writing' the 'Appeal ' occurred to him very soon ; and he had time to think it all well out during the rest of his journey. Then, he had a most faithful memory for thoughts which he had fully worked out for himself, .whether for sermons, lectures or essays, without the need of putting them at once on paper. I mention this just as it occurs to me, as some sort of explanation of the wonderful ability which even the ' Times ' (his leading opponent) was obliged to acknowledge in the ' Appeal.' The circulation of the pamphlet was enormous. It was published by Richardson on November 19, and it appeared in extenso in five London morning daily papers on November 20. It occupied six columns and a half of small close type of the ' Times.' The circulation of the ' Times ' then was 50,000 a day. I remember well I could not procure about 4 o'clock P M. a single copy either of it or of any paper in which it was printed, to send by post to a friend in the North. Calling at Richard- son's on the following Monday, I think, they told us that 30,000 copies of the pamphlet had then been sold.' A few days convinced me that the 'Appeal' had far more power in it than I expected. Its effect reminded me at the time of the French ship (?) in the battle of Trafalgar. It did not indeed put an end to the battle, but it created a pause for a full week at least — a silence of attention. The ' Appeal ' was a pamphlet of thirty-one pages, prefaced by a brief explanation (already given in these pages) of the true scope of the measure which had aroused so great a storm. It opened with a graphic account of the agitation itself — an account which those who remember the time declare to be quite free from exaggeration. ' ' I understood at the time that young Bagshawe, as he was then called [now Judge Bagshawe], procured the insertion of the zvhole pamphlet in the Times by a little ruse. He obtained first a promise from the four other daihes, and did not take it to the Times till 9 or 10 o'clock P.M. At first they said they would only give extracts. But when told that it would appear entire in other papers, they were com- pelled to yield.' 558 CARDINAL WISEMAN An agitation perhaps unparalleled in our times[he wrote] has been raised by the constitution of a Catholic Hierarchy in this island. Its violence has been that of a whirlwind, during which it would have been almost folly to claim a hearing. After the news reached England of the measure being completed, a pause of a few days ensued, as if the elements were brewing for the storm. Then it burst out with absolute fury ; every newspaper (with a few honourable exceptions) seemed to vie with its neigh- bour, of most opposite politics and principles, in the acrimony, virulence, and perseverance of its attacks ; Liberal and Con- servative, Anglican or Dissenting, grave or light as their usual tone and character might previously have been, the energies of all seemed concentrated upon one single point, that of crushing if possible, or denouncing at least to public execration, the new- form of ecclesiastical government which Catholics regarded as a blessing and an honour. For this purpose nothing was refused, however unfounded, however personal, even by papers whose ordinary tone is courteous, or at least well-bred. Anec- dotes without a particle of truth, or, what is worse, with some particles of distorted truth in them, have been copied from one into another, and most widely circulated. Sarcasm, ridicule, satire of the broadest character, theological and legal reasonings of the most refined nature, bold and reckless declamation, earnest and artful argument — nothing seemed to come amiss ; and every invocable agency, from the Attorney-General to Guy Fawkes, from prcEimmire to a hustling, was summoned forth to aid the cry, and administer to the vengeance of those who raised it. Cardinal Wiseman proceeded to make capital out of Lord John Russell's share in pressing on the agitation, which a word from him might have tended to allay. He contrasted it with Sir Robert Peel's action in connexion with the agitation against the Maynooth Grant : A few years ago, an excitement somewhat similar was caused by the proposed augmentation of the grant to Maynooth College. Political and religious feelings brought parties, other- wise generally discordant, into harmonious opposition to the THE PAPAL AGGRESSION 559 increase. But the great statesman who then presided over Her Majesty's councils, and whose loss the country has lately so sin- cerely deplored, nobly stemmed the tide, carried his measure with calm dignity through the legislature, and yielded nought to public outcry. At the present crisis, the Catholics of England had no right to expect any co-operation from the Government of the country — they asked for none ; but they had the right of every citizen to impartiality. They naturally might have ex- pected that he to whom was entrusted the helm of the State would keep himself above those influences of party feeling which disqualify the mind for grave and generous counsels ; would preserve himself uncommitted by any hasty or unofficial expression of opinion ; would remain on the neutral ground of his public responsibility, to check excess on every side, and moderate dangerous tendencies in any party. Instead of this, the head of Her Majesty's Government has astonished, not this country alone, but all Europe, by a letter which leaves us but little hope that any appeal to the high authority which rules over the empire would be received, to say the least, with favour. The Lord Chancellor's sally at the Mansion House was next recalled as another example of agitation in high places. While, then, the rulers who should have embodied the judicial reason of the nation had turned agitators ; while the press was likewise lashing the people into further frenzy, the one hope left was to appeal to the justice and the generosity of the people themselves, against the misrepresentations of those in power. While thus the avenues to public justice seemed closed against us ; while the press has condemned us and raised our death-whoop, in spite of proftered explanations, deaf to every call for a fair hearing ; while we may consider that the door of the Treasury may be barred against us, if we knock to ask, not for pensions or funds, but for a reasonable hearing ; when the very highest judicial authority has prejudged and cut off all appeal from us ; what resource have we yet left ? what hope 01 56o CARnrNAL WISEMAN justice ? One in which, after God's unfaiHng providence, we place unbounded confidence. There still remain the manly sense and honest heart of a tjenerous people ; that love of honourable dealing and fair play which, in joke or in earnest, is equally the instinct of an Englishman ; that hatred of all mean advantage taken, of all base tricks and paltry claptrap and party cries employed to hunt down even a rival or a foe. To this open-fronted, and warm-hearted tribunal I make my appeal, and claim, on behalf of myself and my fellow- Catholics, a fair, free, and impartial hearing. Fellow-subjects, Englishmen, be you at least just and equitable. You have been deceived — you have been misled, both as to facts and as to intentions. He then proceeds to deal, in the first place, with the supposed infringement of the Royal Supremacy by the Pope's appointment of the Catholic Bishops. Doubtless the Pope's act does deny the Royal Supremacy — in things purely spiritual. But so does the religious attitude of all Dissenters : and so has the religious attitude of Catholics ever since the Reforma- tion. To identify this denial with disloyalty would lead to the entire destruction of religious liberty. The Royal Supremacy is no more admitted by the Scotch Kirk, by Baptists, Methodists, Quakers, Independents, Pres- byterians, Unitarians, and other Dissenters, than by the Catholics. When a Dissenter denies the Royal Supremacy (always meaning by this term the spiritual or ecclesiastical jurisdiction attributed to the Crown), he substitutes, perhaps, for it some other authority, in some synod, or conference ; or he admits of none other to take its place. But when the Catholic denies it, it is because he believes another and a true ecclesiastical and spiritual supremacy to reside in the Pope, or Bishop of Rome, over the entire Catholic Church. With hint the two acts resolve themselves into one : denial of the Royal Supremacy and asser- tion of the Papal Supremacy. And as it is perfectly lawful for him to deny the one, so is it equally lawful for him to assert the THE PAPAL AGGRESSION 561 other. Hence, Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst, in the House of Lords, May 1 1, 1846, spoke to the following effect : ' He said that it was no crime in the Roman Catholic to maintain and defend the supremacy of the Pope ; but that if he did it for mischievous purposes, and circulating immoral doctrines and opinions, he was liable to punishment by the common law ; but if he merely maintained and defended, as he was bowtd to do^ the spiritual authority of his superior, then he said that he was guilty of no offence against the laws of the country. The Right Reverend Prelate (the Bishop of Exeter) had asked his opinion and that of the learned judges as to the right of the Roman Catholics to maintain and defend the supremacy of the Pope in spiritual matters. He said that // was no offence at common law for them to do so.' The Bishops and clergy are, of course, turning the crisis to their own best advantage, and associating their pretensions with the rights of the Sovereign. They are endeavouring, and will endeavour, to regain that influence which they have lost over the hearts of the people, and think to replace, by one burst of fanaticism, the religious ascendency which years have worn away. But this will not be permitted them by a people too much enlightened on the subject of religious toleration, as enjoyed in England, to be easily fooled out of the privileges which it possesses. The nation will watch with jealousy any attempt to curtail or to narrow them, even though Catholics be the victims. Believe me, at this moment the danger to the religious and civil liberties of Englishmen is not from any infringement on them by the Pope, in granting to English Catholics what I hope to show you they had full right to obtain from him, but from those who are taking advantage of the occurrence to go back a step, if they can, in the legislation of toleration, and take away from a large body of Englishmen what at present is lawful to them in regard to the free exercise of their religion. Cardinal Wiseman next proceeded to argue that toleration of the Catholic religion must logically in- clude permission to establish a Catholic Hierarchy. 'If the law,' observed Lord Lyndhurst, 'allowed the doctrines and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church, VOL. L O O 562 CARDINAL WISEMAN it should be allowed to be carried on perfectly and properly.' ' Hence to have told Catholics, ' You have perfect religious liberty, but you shall not teach that the Church cannot err ; or, you have complete toleration, but you must not presume to believe holy orders to be a sacrament,' would have been nugatory and tyrannical. Now, holy orders require Bishops to administer them, consequently a succession of Bishops to keep up a succession of persons in orders. Hence the Catholic Church is essentially episcopal ; and to say, 'You Catholics shall have complete religious toleration, but you shall not have Bishops among you to govern you,' would have been a complete contradiction in terms; it would have amounted to a total denial of religious toleration. Cardinal Wiseman comes near the root of the fallacy which had got so deep a hold on the people when he shows that no new kind of ' tangible possession ' of the country by the Roman Catholics was involved in the measure. In point of fact, Wiseman had tangible possession of Westminster just as much or as little as he previously had of the London district. It really appears to be a wish on the part of the clerical agitators to make people believe that some tangible possession of something solid in their respective sees has been bestowed upon the new Bishops ; ' something territorial,' as it has been called. Time will unmask the deceit, and show that not an inch of land, or a shilling of money, has been taken from Protestants and given to Catholics. The new Bishops will not have occasion to cross the path of the prelates of the Anglican Establishment in their sphere of duty ; they will find plenty to do, besides their ofificial duties, in attending to the wants of their poor spiritual children, especially the multitudes of poor Irish, whose peaceful and truly Catholic conduct, under the whirlwind of contumely which ' Speech in the Lords, April 20, 1846, Hansard, vol. Ixxxviii.- p. 1261. THE PAPAL AGGRESSION 563 has just assailed them, proves that they have not forgotten the teaching of their Church — not to revile when reviled, and when they suffer, not to threaten. As to the outcry against a Papal letter being published in England, both Lord John Russell and Lord Lyndhurst had expressly recognised the publi- cation of Papal Bulls as inevitable. ' It does not appear to me,' the Prime Minister had said, ' that we can possibly attempt to prevent the introduction of the Pope's Bulls into this country. Tlierc are certain Bulls of the Pope which arc absolutely necessary for the appointment of Bishops and pastors belonging to the Roman Catholic Church. It would be quite impossible to prevent the introduction of such Bulls.' ' Take again the words of Lord Chancellor Lynd- hurst : They tolerated the Catholic prelates, and they knew that these prelates could not carry on their Church establishments, or conduct its discipline, without holding communication with the Pope of Rome. No Roma7i Catholic Bishop could be created without the authority of a Bull. In point of fact, the only way to reconcile the necessary toleration of communication between thfe Pope and English Catholics with the denial of Papal authority in England by law, was to treat Papal instructions to English Catholics as non-existent in the eyes of the law. This course had hitherto been adopted, and had been expressly recognised by Lord John Russell himself And its abandonment at the present moment of irritation placed the Prime Minister in a hopelessly illogical position. What was addressed by the Pope to the Catholics of ' Hansard, vol. Ixxxviii. p. 362. S64 CARDINAL WISEMAN England, ignoring, according to official custom, all other Englishmen, whom it did not concern, and the English Government, to whom such documents were nullities, was suddenly criticised as though it had been addressed to the whole people of England. Wiseman writes as follows on this aspect of the question : In many documents, including the Premiei-'s letter, the Pope's acts are spoken of as real, and taking effect. The Pope has ' assumed a right,' he ' has parcelled out the land ' ; he ' has named Archbishops and Bishops.' If, according to the oath taken by non-Catholics, the Pope, not only ought not to have, but really ' has ' not power or jurisdiction ' spiritual or ecclesi- astical ' in these realms, it follows that, according to them, the Pope's ecclesiastical acts with regard to England are mere nullities, and are reputed to have no existence. It is as though the Pope had not spoken, and had not issued any document. To act otherwise is to recognise an efficient act of power on his part. I am confirmed in this view by Lord John Russell's explana- tion of the Protestant oath. 'The oaths now taken are not altered. We shall continue to take the oath, that " the Pope has not," &c. ; though at the same time there is no doubt, in point of fact, that he exercises a spiritual authority in these realms. I have always interpreted the oath to be, that, in the opinion of the person taking it, the Pope has not any jurisdictio7i which can be enforc&ci by law or ought twt to Jiave.^ ^ It will be said that no limitation of jurisdiction is made in the Papal document, no restriction of its exercise to Catholics ; and hence Lord John Russell and others conclude that there is in this Brief 'a pretension to supremacy over the realm of England, and a claim to sole and undivided sway.' Every official document has its proper forms ; and had those who blame the tenor of this taken any pains to examine those of Papal documents, they would have found nothing new or un- usual in this. Whether the Pope appoints a person Vicar Apostolic or Bishop in ordinary, in either case he assigns him ' Hansard, vol. Ixxxviii. p. 363. THE PAPAL AGGRESSION 565 a territorial ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and gives him no personal limitations. This is the practice of every Church which believes in its own truth. Wiseman passes to precedents, and points out the fact that in our colonies a parallel measure has been taken as a matter of course, and, further, that in the cases of Jerusalem and Malta the Anglicans have done precisely what the Pope has done in England — established bishoprics outside the Queen's temporal domain. How, then, is Lord John Russell justified in characterising as * insolent and insidious ' a measure, the exact counterpart of which has been both initiated and accepted by the Queen's Government ? ' ' ' It was notorious,' the Cardinal wrote, 'not only that in Ireland the Catholic Hierarchy had been recognised and even royally honoured, but that the same form of ecclesiastical government had been gradually extended to the greater part of our colonies. Australia was the first which obtained this advantage, by the erection of the Archiepiscopal See of Sydney, with suffragans at Maitland, Hobart- town, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, and Port Victoria. This was done openly, and was known publicly, and no remonstrance was ever made. Those prelates in every document take their titles, and they are acknowledged, and salaried, as Archbishop and Bishops respec- tively, and this not by one, but by successive Governments. Our North American possessions next received the same boon. Kingston, Toronto, Bytown, Halifax, have been erected into dioceses by the Holy See. Those titles are acknowledged hy the local Governments. In an Act 'enacted by the Queen's excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada' (12 Vict. c. 136), the Right Rev. J. E. Guignes is called " Roman Catholic Bishop of Bytown," and is incorporated by the title of " the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Bytown."* In an Act passed March 21, 1849 (12 Vict. c. 31), the Right Rev. Dr. Walsh is styled " Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Halifax, Nova Scotia " ; and through the Act he is called " the R.C. Bishop of the said diocese, "f In 1842, Her Majesty was advised to erect, and * Roman Catholic Church {India, iSr'c ) ; ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, August 15, 1850, p. 10. t fUd. p. 15. 566 CARDINAL WISEMAN The Appeal was addressed to a people with its sympathies and prejudices rather than to the educated few. In Wiseman's opinion the people had been misled, greatly by the false view placed before them by educated men as to the whole meaning of the Pope's action. A measure relating solely to the handful of English Catholics, without means or position, whose numerical strength was to be found mainly among the poorest Irish immigrants, had been treated as an did erect (5 Vict. c. 6), a bishopric of Jerusalem, assigning to it a diocese in which the three great Patriarchates of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria were merged into one see, having episcopal jurisdic- tion over Syria, Chaldea, Egypt, and Abyssinia, subject to further limitations or alterations at the royal will. No one supposes that, for instance, the consent of the King of Abyssinia, in which there is not a single Protestant congregation, was asked. Mr. Bowyer also shows that Bishop Alexander was not sent merely to British subjects, but to others owing no allegiance to the Crown of England. Suppose His Majesty of Abyssinia, or the Emir Beshir, had pronounced this to be an intrusion "inconsistent with the rights of bishops and clergy, and with the spiritual independence of the nation," how much would this country have cared ? ' Under the same statute, a Bishop of Gibraltar was named. His see was in a British territory ; but its jurisdiction extended over Malta — where there was a Catholic archbishop, formally recognised by our Government as the Bishop of Malta — and over Italy. Under this commission. Dr. Tomlinson officiated in Rome, and, I understand, had borne before him a cross, the emblem of archiepiscopal jurisdic- tion, as if to ignore, in his very diocese, the acknowledged "Bishop of Rome." He confirmed and preached there, without leave of the lawful Bishop ; and yet the newspapers took no notice of it, and the pulpits did not denounce him. But, in fact, the statute under which these things were done is so comprehensive, that it empowers the Archbishops of Canterbury or York to consecrate, not only British subjects, but subjects and citizens of any foreign State, to be bishops of any foreign country. No consent of the respective Governments is required ; and they are sent, not only to British subjects, but to "such other Protestant congregations as may be desirous of placing themselves under his or their authority. " ' THE PAPAL AGGRESSION 567 attempt, on the part of Catholic Prelates, at grasping the power and position belonging by law to the Anglican Church. Wiseman could forget neither the injustice of such a representation, nor the fact that it was largely due to the virulence of the language used by the Anglican Bishops themselves — some of which I have already cited. In his final paragraph he brings into relief the contrast between the dominion over Westminster which he had been taunted with claiming-, and the duties in its regard which he was in reality assuming ; between the supposed claim to the riches and power associated with its ancient Abbey, and the acceptance of the spiritual charge of the poor and destitute Irish Catholics who inhabited its streets. The Chapter of Westminster has been the first [he wrote] to protest against the new Archiepiscopal title, as though some practical attempt at jurisdiction within the Abbey was intended. Then let me give them assurance on that point, and let us come to a fair division and a good understanding. The diocese, indeed, of Westminster embraces a large dis- trict ; but Westminster proper consists of two very different parts. One comprises the stately Abbey, with its adjacent palaces and its royal parks. To this portion the duties and occupation of the Dean and Chapter are mainly confined ; and they shall range there undisturbed. To the venerable old church I may repair, as I have been wont to do. But perhaps the Dean and Chapter are not aware that, were I disposed to claim more than the right to tread the Catholic pavement of that noble building, and breathe its air of ancient consecration, another might step in with a prior claim. For successive generations there has existed ever, in the Benedictine order, an Abbot of Westminster, the representative, in religious dignity, of those who erected, and beautified, and governed that church and cloister. Have they ever been disturbed by this 'titular'? Have they heard of any claim or protest on his part, touching their temporalities ? Then, let them fear no greater aggression, 568 CARDINAL WISEMAN now. Like hini, I may visit, as I liavc said, the old Abbey, and say my prayer by the shrine of good St. Edward, and meditate on the olden times, when the church filled without a coronation, and multitudes hourly worshipped without a sen'ice. But in their temporal rights, or their quiet possession of any dignity and title, they will not suffer. Whenever I go in, I will pay my entrance-fee like other liege subjects, and resign myself meekly to the guidance of the beadle, and listen, without rebuke, when he points out to my admiration detestable monuments, or shows me a hole in the wall for a confessional. Yet this splendid monument, its treasures of art, and its fitting endowments, form not the part of Westminster which will concern me. For there is another part which stands in frightful contrast, though in immediate contact, with this magnificence. In ancient times, the existence of an abbey on any spot, with a large staff of clergy and ample revenues, would have sufficed to create around it a little paradise of comfort, cheerfulness, and ease. This, however, is not now the case. Close under the Abbey of Westminster there lie concealed labyrinths of lanes and courts, and alleys and slums, nests of ignorance, vice, depravity, and crime, as well as of squalor, wretchedness, and disease ; whose atmosphere is typhus, whose ventilation is cholera ; in which swarms a huge and almost countless population, in great measure, nominally at least. Catholic ; haunts of filth, which no sewage committee can reach — dark corners, which no lighting- board can brighten. This is the part of Westminster which alone I covet, and which I shall be glad to claim and to visit, as a blessed pasture in which sheep of holy Church are to be tended, in which a bishop's godly work has to be done, of consoling, converting, and preserving. And if, as I humbly trust in God, it shall be seen that this special culture, arising from the estab- lishment of our Hierarchy, bears fruit of order, peacefulness, decency, religion, and virtue, it may be that the Holy See shall not be thought to have acted unv/isely, when it bound up the very soul and salvation of a chief pastor with those of a city, whereof the name indeed is glorious, but the purlieus infamous — in which the very grandeur of its public edifices is as a shadow to screen from the public eye sin and misery the most appalling. If the wealth of the Abbey be stagnant and not diffusive, if it in no way rescues the neighbouring population from the depths in THE PAPAL AGGRESSION 569 which it is sunk, let there be no jealousy of anyone who, by whatever name, is ready to make the latter his care, without interfering with the former. I cannot conclude without one word on the part which the clergy of the Anglican Church haveactedin the late excitement. Catholics have been their principal theological opponents, and we have carried on our controversies with them temperately, and with every personal consideration. We have had no recourse to popular arts to debase them ; we have never attempted, even when the current of public feeling has set against them, to turn it to advantage, by joining in any outcry. They are not our members who yearly call for returns of sinecures, or episcopal incomes ; they are not our people who form anti-Church-and- State Associations ; it is not our press which sends forth carica- tures of ecclesiastical dignitaries, or throws ridicule on clerical avocations. With us the cause of truth and of faith has been held too sacred to be advocated in any but honourable and religious modes. We have avoided the tumult of public assem- blies, and farthing appeals to the ignorance of the multitude. But no sooner has an opportunity been given for awakening every lurking passion against us than it has been eagerly seized by the ministers of that establishment. The pulpit and the plat- form, the church and the town-hall have been equally their field of labour ; and speeches have been made, and untruths uttered, and calumnies repeated, and flashing words of disdain, and anger, and hate, and contempt, and of every unpriestly, and unchristian and unholy sentiment have been spoken . . . against those who almost alone treated them with respect. APPENDICES APPENDIX A The following letter and memorandum were sent by Bishop Wiseman to Lord Palmerston at the time of the Italian crisis of 1847-8, in the circumstances described on p. 479. Confidential. London: 35 Fitzroy Square, Sept. 13, 1847, My Lord, — Upon arriving from Rome on Saturday last, the nth inst., not finding your Lordship in town, I did myself the honour of waiting upon Mr. Addington at the Foreign Office. The resuh of my interview with that gentleman has been my drawing up, for your Lordship's perusal, the annexed paper on the affairs of Italy, particularly the Papal States. I take this means of stating to your Lordship, that during my stay in Rome (whither I had proceeded on business of a purely ecclesiastical nature) I was honoured with several long and most gracious audiences of His Holiness, and that it is with his full knowledge and sanction that I make the present com- munication, a copy of which I forward to Rome. I will also add, that I feel sure His Holiness will receive with perfect con- fidence any communication which it may please your Lordship to transmit through my means. I have the honour to be, my Lord, Your Lordship's obedient servant, N. Wiseman. The Rt. Honble. Viscount Palmerston, Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Confidential. London: Sept. 13, 1847. My Lord, — Having resided in Rome from the 9th of July till the 24th of August last, and having enjoyed the most favourable opportunities for observing there the state of public feeling, and 572 CARDINAL WISEMAN of learning correctly the views of the Papal Government on the important and critical occurrences of that period, as well as its intentions on matters of domestic policy, I take the liberty of communicating with your Lordship on these subjects, in the earnest desire of enabling- Her Majesty's Government to possess an accurate knowledge of what has occurred and is actually taking place in that State and in Italy in general. And I trust that your Lordship will allow me to make freely any suggestions which may occur to my mind, as arising from the consideration of the matter on which I venture to address your Lordship. I must premise, however, that, having left Rome on the 24th of August, as above stated, whatever I may write can only have reference to the state of affairs up to that period ; nor have I any means of knowing how far the complication of affairs which then existed, may have since been modified, and thus any further interference in them may have become unnecessary. It has been too notorious a fact to require repetition, that from the very beginning of his pontificate His Holiness Pius IX. commenced a series of important reforms, extending to almost every department of internal government, and tending essentially to modify the system of his immediate predecessor. But though this fact is sufficiently known to all, it may be of use to enumerate, more accurately than has been yet done, the more essential matters, which have been already attended to, and have either been brought to maturity or are under proper con- sideration. They are the following : 1. The act of general amnesty, which must be considered not merely as an act of grace, but as the complete destruction of the system of political police which has prevailed through Italy for many years. Its influence upon future policy must be as fully and extensively beneficial, as its immediate action has been upon the happiness of many families and individuals. 2. The complete revision of the penal code, as well as of the forms of legal proceedings, by means of a Commission appointed for that purpose. 3. The formation of a Council of Ministers, regularly con- voked to deliberate and advise on all matters of importance. 4. The putting of the Treasury into Commission, by joining two laymen with the ecclesiastical prelate holding the office of Treasurer, who before acted alone and irresponsibly. 5. The appointing of deputies from each province, to meet in Rome on the 5th of November next, to suggest measures for the improvement of the administration, and to advise the Government on the wants of the State. 6. The concession of a municipal government to the city of Rome, with extensive powers, for the administration of its revenues and the improvement of the city and its territory. APPENDIX A 573 7. The j^runt of much greater Hberty of the press in all that regards political matters, permitting the establishment of other journals and papers beyond the official organs of Government, and the discussion by them of public measures. 8. The appointment of a Commission, which is actively en- gaged, to incjuire into the state of prison discipline, and suggest all necessary reforms in the gaols and other houses of detention and correction in the Papal States. 9. The nomination of a Commission, likewise in operation, to incjuire into the state of education of the poor, and propose plans for its extension and improvement. 10. The reduction of duty on salt, a measui'e of relief for the poor, which has been immensely felt and valued. 11. The organisation of the National Guard, which, besides the internal security that it has given to the State, will prove a measure of great economy, by enabling the Government to dispense with many (particularly foreig"n) troops, and has a necessary tendency to blend amicably together the higher and the middle classes, and give them a common interest and joint responsibility in regard to the public tranquillity. 12. The designing and granting (as has been done) of the great trunk railways from the Modenese frontier, through Bologna to Ancona, and thence to Rome ; and from Rome to Ceprano, on the Neapolitan frontier. From this enumeration are of course excluded not merely all purely ecclesiastical or religious measures, but all of a mixed character, such as regard the administration of charities, hos- pitals, &c. Nor is it necessary to observe that for the effecting of such great organic changes as are in progress, many con- siderable modifications and alterations must have taken place in the subordinate departments of Go\ernment, as well as in the persons employed to carry out the new views. It is clear, however, that while such changes and impro\'e- ments Mere being effected, there must have been serious difficulties to contend with. On the one hand the more ardent Liberal party, impatient of every, even necessary, delay, and perhaps not easily satisfied in their demands ; on the other, the agents and partisans of the late order of thing's, who had with it lost all power and influence, required a watchful eye and steady hand to rule and control. The personal virtues of the Pontiff, and the confidence which his bold and straight- forward policy inspired, as well as the clemency and kindness which have distinguished every act of his reign, have had a powerful effect in checking the eagerness and even unreason- ableness of the former ; to such an extent that it may be doubted whether the party, which would a few years ago have willingly overthrown all civil order for the chance of gaining, 574 CARDINAL WISEMAN through rcvohilion and even bloodshed, a national Italian independence, has any longer an existence in the Papal States. This confidence of the people in the Sovereign Pontiff is now fully shared by his active, energetic, and at the same time most affable and warm-hearted Secretary of State, Cardinal Ferretti. But the second party has clearly relied on the avowed dis- approbation by Austria of the Papal reforms, and the supposed negative bearing regarding them of other Cabinets, as well as the marked hostility of most of the smaller States of Italy, so as not only to thwart, by many indirect means, the effectual carrying out of His Holiness's benevolent designs, but to show themselves ready to resort even to violence or tumult to effect this purpose. It may be well here to observe that there is no foundation whatever for the report that any high functionaries of the late Government have been involved in any such attempts, or in any plot against the present Government ; but probably the persons who ha\e made them may have reckoned, however groundlessly, on their subsequent co-operation ; and some persons in office, as the late Governor Grasselini, by supineness and neglect of precaution, favoured materially their designs. But the knowledge that there does exist such a party, and that there are many others, some distinguished for rank, who do not second, or even favour, the generous policy of the present Pontiff, has been enough to cause, and still does keep up, a ferment and irritation in the public mind, which renders almost impossible the execution of plans that require public peace and confidence. A party which is inconsiderable in numbers, and not strong in ability, wealth, or other means of influence, and yet has shown itself so bold and ready for action, must naturally lean on some extraneous support. The public voice points out Austria as the source of their confidence, and the encourager of its results. And not only is this the popular belief, but it is evidently the conviction of the Government, which has no reason to doubt, from its official intercourse, not to speak of overt acts, that Austria views with dislike and jealousy the system of improve- ment pursued by the Papal Government. The natural effect of having a party, thus active and thus supported, in the very heart of a State placed in the critical circumstances that accompany transitions, is a general irritation and disquiet on the part of the people, followed often by a tendency to insult, or otherwise vent its feelings against, the real or supposed enemies of reform ; and a want of security on the part of the Government, which cannot be sure what extent of interference and annoyance any new step may bring on. The reality of a plot, in the middle of July last, cannot be APPENDIX A 575 doubted ; a plot the consequences of which might and were intended to have been terrible : and the advance of Austrian and Neapolitan troops on both frontiers at the same time, and in accordance with the movements of the party within, as well as other proofs, seem clearly to connect the two in the same design, not only of thwarting" effectually the intentions of the Pontifical Government, but of either subverting it, or throwing" it into a confusion that would have warranted foreign armed interference. It might be supposed that France could not look with in- difference on such a course, after having always manifested so much sympathy with e\ery liberal movement on the Continent, and having apparently affected a particular interest in the affairs of central Italy. But without entering into the motives of the change (if there has been any real change), the fact is certain that France no longer possesses the confidence of the Papal Government, nor has taken any pains to gain or preserve it. The remarks of M. Guizot on the subject of Austria, in the French Chamber, seem to give ground for suspicion that there is a secret understanding between the two Governments, perhaps assigning to each its sphere of unchecked interference, or at any rate precluding" France from manifesting such sympathy and offering such diplomatic support as might counterbalance the decided opposition of the Austrian Cabinet. Beyond this the Papal Government could hardly have desired aid ; as even in the very last extremity there would have been no wish to see the history of the seizure of Ancona repeated at Civitavecchia. The last movement of the Austrian troops at Ferrara has, however, put an end to all conjectures, and manifested to all the world the views and intentions of the Imperial Cabinet : and the effect of that measure has been to aggravate and render more than e\"er palpable the inconveniences before enumerated, to fret to the highest possible degree of irritation the public feeling", and to divide the attention, and so weaken the power and energy of the Government, for internal improvements. It has to build with one hand, and to hold the sword with the other. Not that the Sovereign Pontiff has ever, for one moment, contemplated armed resistance or actual war ; on the contrary, he is determined to avoid it. But it requires the greatest effort to keep the excited population in check, and it is as much with that view, as for the purpose of showing that he does not acquiesce in the hostile movements of Austria, that His Holiness has sent a General Officer with a suitable staff" to Forli, as a central point of observation, but not to form a camp, as has been generally stated. Such was the position of things at the end of the last 576 CARDINAL WTSKMAN month ; and your Lordship cannot be surprised to ha\ e con- firmed, what no doubt has been amply communicated through other channels, that both the impulse of popular instincts and the more mature and calm deliberation of the Roman Government, have led all interested in the contemplated improvements to look to England and its Government as the chief, if not the only, source from which external aid and coun- tenance can be hoped to come. Perhaps the first and more popular notion on this subject may be traceable to motives more flattering to national feelings than based upon reasons of State. For it arises from the high character borne by the country for a generous and disinterested support of weaker Powers, without seeking selfish advantages or establishing undue influence. There is a feeling that England is sincerely, and on principle, attached to all that promotes sound and national freedom, and can have no private interests to induce it to betray its cause ; especially in States politically weaker, which look to it with confidence. In addi- tion to this, the maritime strength of Great Britain makes it the only Great Power which could well be called on to take part in the affairs of Italy, without a claim from local proximity. But, independently of such more vague and general im- pressions, there are grounds of a much higher and sounder character, on which the Papal Government seems to have a just claim upon the active co-operation of the English, to remove the obstacles at present thrown in the way of its internal improvements, and its enlightened policy, by the hostile movements and marked opposition of Austria ; and also, by diplomatic support and avowed encouragement, to counter- balance and frustrate the embarrassment which the Austrian policy causes in the interior of the State. In the first place, it will be fresh in your Lordship's recollec- tion that in 1831, after the insurrection of the Legations had been put down, energetic notes were addressed by all the Great Powers, England included, to the Roman Government calling for a variety of reforms in the public administration of its States. Such a course seemed naturally to involve the support of the remonstrating Powers, if necessar}', to enable the Government so addressed to carry out the measures urged upon it ; and even if afterwards some of those Powers chose to change their policy, and to obstruct, instead of favouring, the proposed improvements, the others, who remain true to their original principle, cannot be thereby relieved from the pledge virtually given. On the contrary, they would seem the more bound to strengthen the hands of the weaker Power (further weakened by the defection of others) whenever it feels it a duty to act on that original suggestion, and to break through the APPENDIX A 577 obstacles thrown in the way of doing so. Now this is precisely the case here. Of the notes presented in 1831, the strongest was that from the English Government. Its recommendations were not carried out, simply because, from circumstances sufficiently obvious, the Austrian Cabinet became the ruler of Italian policy, and the director particularly of Roman counsels : and instead of urging, or even continuing to recom- mend, the adoption of the proposed modifications, its tendency was rather in an opposite direction. But now at length that the incubus has been removed, nacl freedom of action has been restored to the Papal Cabinet, through the energetic but pacific measures of the present high- minded Pontiff, it becomes clearly the duty of the English Government to support it in carrying out measures suggested by itself and till now frustrated. Upon comparing all that the present Pope has undertaken and is effecting, it will be found in perfect agreement with the suggestions of the British Government at that period. And as these measures of the Papal Government have been the fruit of its own judgment, but chiefly that of the wise mind and generous heart of the Sove- reign Pontiff himself, this accordance between the principles and views on which his administration is based, with the suggestions of our own Cabinet, seems to give even a stronger claim upon us for support than [would ha\e existed] had they been only adopted, without conviction, from the dictation of others, and even of ourselves. The rest of this memorandum has already been given, pp. 482-4. APPENDIX B The following is the draft treaty drawn up during the mission of Rosmini in 1848 (see Chapter XVI.) for the establishment of an Italian Federal Constitution under the presidency of the Pope : In the name of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Ever since the three Courts of Rome, Turin, and Florence concluded the Customs' League, their idea has been to enter into a Political League, which might become the active nucleus of Italian nationality, and give to Italy that unity offeree which i's needed for internal and external defence, and for the regular and progressive development of national prosperity. As this intention could not be realised in a complete and permanent form unless the aforesaid League assumed the shape of a VOL. L P P 578 CARDINAL WISEMAN Confederation of States, the three above-named Governments, fixed in the resolution to bring their plan to effect, and in order to make it known before Italy and Europe that the said Con- federation exists between them, as well as to establish its primary conditions, have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, his Holiness the Sovereign Pontiff, the King of Sardinia, &c., H.I. and R.H. the (]rand Duke of Tuscany, &c., who, having exchanged their full powers, tic, have agreed among them- selves on the following articles, which will accjuire the validity of a formal Treaty after Ratification by the High Con- tracting Parties. Article l. — A perpetual Confederation is established between the States of the Church, of the King of Sardinia, and of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, which, by the union of their strength and action, is to guarantee the dominions of the said States^ and to protect the progressive and peaceful develop- ment of the liberties granted in them, and of the national prosperity. Article 2. — The august and immortal Pontiff, Pius IX., mediator and initiator of the League and the Confederation, and his successors, shall be their Perpetual Presidents. Article 3. — Within one month from the ratification of the present Convention, a deleg^ation from the three Confederated States shall assemble in Rome, each State sending three Deputies, who shall be elected by the Legislative Power, and authorised to discuss and enact the Federal Constitution. Article 4. — The Federal Constitution shall have for its aim the organisation of a Central Power, to be exercised by a permanent Diet in Rome, whose principal functions shall be the following : {a) To declare war and peace, and, as well in case of war as in time of peace, to fix the contingents required of the several States, both for external independence and internal tranquillity. {b) To regulate the system of Customs-duties for the Con- federation, and to make a just partition of the respective charges and proceeds among the States. (t) To manage and negotiate Treaties of Commerce and Navigation with foreign nations. {d) To watch over the concord and good understanding of the Confederated States, and to maintain their political equality, with a perpetual power of mediation in the Diet for all disputes which may arise among them. ie) To make provision for unity in their monetary s'ystem, weights and measures, military discipline, and laws of trade ; and to concert with each State the means of gradual arrival at the greatest practicable uniformity in respect also to other APPENDIX B 579 branches of political, civil, and penal legislation, and of procedure. (_/) To order and manage, with the approval and co- operation of the several States, enterprises of general advantage to the nation. Article 5. — It shall be free to all the other Italian States to accede to the present Confederation. Article 6. — The present treaty shall be ratified by the High Contracting Parties, within one month, or sooner if pos- sible. END OF THE FIRST VOLUME PRINTED liV EPOTTIBWOODE AND CO., NEW-STKEET SQUARE LONDON A SELECT LIST OF WORKS PUBLISHED BY LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY. MESSRS. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. Issue the tmdcrmentioned Catalogues and Lists of their Publications, any of which may be had post free on application : — 1. Monthly List of New Books AND New Editions. 2. Quarterly List of Announce- ments AND New Books. 3. Notes on Books : being an Ana- lysis of the Works tuklished BY Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co. during each Quarter. 4. Scientific and Technical Books. 5. Medical and Surgical Books. 6. Educational and School Books. 7. Educational Books recently Published. 8. Books for Elementary Schools AND Pupil Teachers. 9. Books for School Prizes. 10. Books for Christmas and New Year Presents. 11. Theological Books (Church of England). 12. Theological Books (Roman Catholic). 13. Books in General Literature and General Theology. CAEDINAL NEWMAN'S WORKS. ParocMal and Plain Sermons. Edited by Rev. W. J. Copeland, E.d., late Rector of Farnham, Essex. 8 vols. Sold separately. Crown 8vo. Cabinet Edition, 5s. each ; Popular Edition, 3s. 6d. each. Contents of Vol. I.; — Holiness necessary for Future Blessedness — The Immortality of the Soul— Knowledge of God's Will without Obedience— Secret Faults—Self-Denial the Test of Religious Earnestness— The Spiritual Mind — Sins of Ignorance and Weakness- God's Comniandments not Grievous — The Religious Use of Excited Feelings — Hrofessior without Practice — Profession without Hypocrisy — Profession without ^stentation — Promising without Doing — Keligious Emotion — Religious Faith Rational — 1 he Christian Mysteries— The Self-Wise Inquirer— Obedience the Remedy for Religious Perplexity— Tia.es of Private Prayer— Forms of Private Prayer— The Resurrection of the Body— Witnesses oi the Resurrection — Christian Reverence — The Religion of the Day— Scripture a Record ol Human Sorrow— Christian Manhood. Contents of Vol. II.:— The World's Benefactors— Faith without Sight— The Incar nation — Martyrdom— Love of Relations and Friends— The Mind of Little Children — Ceremonies of the Church— The Glory of the Christian Church— St. Paul's Conversion viewed in Reference to his Office — Secrecy and Suddenness of Divine Visitations — Divine Decrees— The Reverence Due to the Ijlessed \'irgin Mary — Christ, a Quickening Spirit- Saving Knowledge— Self-Contemplation— Religious Cowardice— The Gospel Witnesses- Mysteries in Religion- The Indwelling Spirit— The Kingdom of the Saints— The Gospel, a Trust Committed to us— Tolerance of Religious Error- Rebuking Sin— The Christian Ministry — Hurran Responsibility -Guilelessness — The Danger of Riches — The Powers of Nature — The Danger of Accomplishments— Christian 2eal— Use of Saints' Days. A SELECT LIST OF WORKS CARDINAL NEWMAN'S WORKS. Parochial and Plain Sermons.~CL>H^«H«/. Contents of Vol. III.: — Abraham and Lot — Wilfulness of Israel in Rejecting Samuel —Saul — Early Years of David — Jeroboam — Faith and Obedience— Christian Repentance — Contracted Views in Religion — A Particular Providence as revealed in the Clospel — Tears of Christ at the Grave of Lazarus — Hodily Suffering — The Humiliation of the Eternal Son — Jewish Zeal a Pattern to Christians — Submission to Church Authority — Contest between Truth and Falsehood in the Church — The Church Visible and Invisible— The Visible Church and Encouragement to Faith — The Gift of the Spirit — Regenerating Baptism — Infant Baptism — The Daily Service — The Good Part of Mary — Religious Worship a Remedy for Excitements — Intercession — The Intermediate State. 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Contents of Vol. V. ; — Worship, a Preparation for Christ's Coming — Reverence, a Belief in God's Presence — Unreal Words — Shrinking from Christ's Coming — Equanimity — Remembrance of Past Mercies — The Mystery of Godliness — The State of Innocence — Christian Sympathy — Righteousness not of us, but in us — The Law of the Spirit — The New Works of the Gospel — The State of Salvation — Transgressions and Infirmities — Sins of Infirmity — Sincerity and Hypocrisy — The Testimony of Conscience — Many called. Few chosen — Present Blessings — Endurance, the Christian's Portion — Affliction, a School of Comfort — The Thought of God, the Stay of the Soul — Love, the One Thing Needful — The Power of the Will. Contents of Vol. VI. : — Fasting, a Source of Trial — Life, the Season of Repentance — Apostolic Abstinence, a Pattern for Christians — Christ's Privations, a Meditation for Chris- tians — Christ the Son of God made Man — The Incarnate Son, a Sufferer and Sacrifice — The Cross of Christ the Measure of the World — Difficulty of realising Sacred Privileges — The Gospel Sign Addressed to Faith — The Spiritual Presence of Christ in the Church — The Eucharistic Presence — Faith the Title for Justification — Judaism of the Present Day ^The Fellowship of the Apostles — Rising with Christ — Warfare the Condition of X'ictory — Waiting for Christ — Subjection of the Reason and Feelings to the Revealed Word — The Gospel Palaces — The Visible Temple — Offerings for the Sanctuary — The Weapons of Saints — Faith Without Demonstration — The Mystery of the Holy Trinity — Peace in Believing. 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