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THE

PROTESTANT MAGAZINE.

JULY, 1847.

THE READING PROTESTANT DECLARATION AND ITS

RESULTS.

CORRESPONDENCE WITH C. RUSSELL, ESQ., M.P., AND VISCOUNT
CHELSEA, M.P.

THOUGH We have nothing to do with electioneering matters, merely as such; though we venture not in this periodical to treat of the peculiarities of party politics, as they affect ordinary topics, still, whatever bears directly upon the Protestant interests of the country, seems to demand a notice at our hands.

It is imbued with these feelings we refer to the Reading Protestant Declaration and its results.

The two sitting Members for that borough, Lord Viscount Chelsea, M.P., and Charles Russell, Esq., M.P., voted with Sir Robert Peel and Lord John Russell on Friday, the 18th of April, 1845, in favour of the second reading of the Maynooth Endowment Bill.

Now the people of Reading are by no means blind to the evils of Popery, any more than they are indifferent to the advantages of railways. Whatever may be the claims of Lord Chelsea or Mr. Russell for work done and performed as to railway benefits, the electors of Reading feel that these, after all, are local benefits, or but little more so, whilst the evils of endowing, fostering, and encouraging Popery, are not only local, but co-extensive with the limits of this empire.

They have a Gospel ministry amongst them, and have learned to know that there are other interests than those of time to be provided for, even those of eternity, and that Popery does not provide for these.

They know, too, something of Popery historically, scripturally, politically, theologically, and believe that no merely temporal advantages can in any degree compensate for the evils to be brought about by the introduction of Popery again amongst us.

In publishing the subjoined correspondence, all that is necessary to make the matter clearly understood, is to add that a copy of the letter of May the 6th was sent to each of the Members, and it is therefore unnecessary to repeat it.

VOL. IX.-July, 1847.

P

New Series, No. 19.

"Reading, 6th May, 1847. "Sir,-We, the undersigned, on behalf of those electors of the Borough of Reading, who are parties to the accompanying Declaration which is now in progress of signature, and to which 250 names have already been attached, beg leave respectfully to lay the same before you, and to request that you will kindly inform us at the earliest convenient period, whether you will at the expected election give the assurance to which that declaration refers. We beg leave also to add that, with the exception of the clause relating to the Church, a similar document is now being signed amongst the Protestant Dissenters. We are, Sir,

"Your obedient servants,

"J. CECIL GRAINGER, Vicar of St. Giles, Reading.
"C. J. GOODHART, Minister of St. Mary's Chapel, Reading.
"W. W. PHELPS, Minister of Trinity Church, Reading.
"JOHN BALL, Vicar of St. Lawrence, Reading.

"FRANCIS TRENCH, Incumbent of St. John's, Reading.
"CHARLES COWAN, M.D., Reading.

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"We, the undersigned electors of the borough of Reading, alarmed at the countenance lately given in Parliament to the Church of Rome, especially at the endowment, with public money, of places of education calculated to promote the growth of Popery; and deeply impressed with a sense of the danger to which the Protestant Church of England and Ireland is thus exposed, feel compelled to declare, that we can give no support to any candidate at the ensuing election, until we shall receive the assurance that he will oppose any attempt to establish or endow the Church of Rome within these realms, or to grant any portion of the public funds to any institution for educational or other purposes unfavourable to the maintenance of the Protestant faith; and that he will use his utmost efforts to preserve the United Church of England and Ireland in its integrity and efficiency."

To this the following is Mr. Russell's reply:

"27, Charles-street, St. James's, May 14th, 1847. "Gentlemen,-I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of a letter, dated the 6th of May, and signed by twelve gentlemen, towards whom, after an acquaintance of many years, I may be permitted to express sentiments of the most unfeigned respect.

"If, by that letter, it is intended to elicit my opinions on the important questions to which the declarations contained in it refers, I can have no hesitation to express them to you now, as freely as I could do on the hustings.

"I lament, as much as any man can lament, the lapses which have occurred from our own Church. I can understand that the Roman Catholic Church, encouraged and stimulated by these lapses, may

be

making the most strenuous exertions to promote its own views and interests. But I believe that our Protestant faith and Protestant institutions are so deeply rooted in the hearts and understandings of the people, that this very circumstance will have the effect of strengthening instead of impairing them.

"While, however, such is my own deliberate conviction and firm assurance, I can see and understand the alarm which pervades the public mind, and I think the Legislature is bound to defer to the conscientious fears and scruples of so large a portion of the community.*

"The purpose of placing the Roman Catholic people of Ireland under the influence of an educated, rather than of an ignorant priesthood, is widely different from establishing that priesthood as the paid and recognised organs of religious instruction. The Protestant Church is the Church established by law in these realms, on the grounds both of religious truth and civil liberty. Its revenues cannot be alienated -its efficiency must not be impaired; and, whilst we most sincerely desire to concede the largest amount of religious liberty, and to circumscribe, within the narrowest limits, civil disabilities, as far as may be consistent with our own security, we cannot constitutionally permit that any other form of religion should be established and endowed by the State.

"On the same principle, any system of education to be national must be Protestant. The Bible, with sufficient education to read and understand it, is the only sure foundation of religious instruction, and the only legitimate weapon of Christian warfare. No system of education can be national in these Protestant realms of which the Bible is not made the basis.

"These are briefly and frankly my opinions on the subject to which your Declaration refers. During the long period that I have sat in Parliament I am not conscious of having, in a single instance, departed from the principles of which I offered myself as the representative, and I feel confident you will not now mistrust the sincerity of those opinions. I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, "Your obedient Servant, "To the Rev. J. C. Grainger, &c." "C. RUSSELL. [Here follow the names of the other gentlemen who signed the letter to Mr. Russell.]

This was not deemed satisfactory, and the following was therefore written :

"Reading, May 18th, 1847.

"Sir, We beg to express our united thanks for your kind and prompt attention to our communication of the 6th instant, and are much gratified to find that the whole tenour of your letter implies your desire to satisfy our minds on the important subject on which we have written; but we feel bound to state, in justice to ourselves, and the

*This is making it a question of expediency, rather than a matter of principle.

† Is not this a misapprehension? There is no provision in the late Maynooth Endowment Act to secure a more liberal-minded priesthood.

The authorized version.

large and daily increasing numbers for whom we act, that such satisfaction is not yet given.

"We therefore request the favour of an early and distinct reply to the question,-Will you assure us that if returned to Parliament as our representative, your votes shall be given in accordance with the letter and spirit of the Declaration, a copy of which we had the honour of transmitting to you? We have the honour to remain, Sir, "Your obedient humble Servants. [Here follow the signatures.]

"To Charles Russell, Esq., M.P.”

"Gentlemen,-It was my sincere and earnest desire to give you a full and explicit explanation of my opinions on the important questions to which your Declaration refers, in my letter of the 14th instant.

"It seems to me that letter does, as was intended, distinctly express my determination to oppose any attempt to establish or endow the Church of Rome within these realms, or to grant any portion of the public funds to any institution for educational or other purposes unfavourable to the Protestant faith.

"On these principles it is my intention to act in Parliament, if I should again be sent there; on these principles I shall offer myself to the suffrages of the electors of Reading, and I do not believe they will feel any want of confidence in one who has never deceived them; and who, above all things, would most anxiously desire to preserve the United Church of England and Ireland in its integrity and efficiency. "I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,

"Your obedient Servant,

"C. RUSSELL.

"27, Charles-street, St. James's, May 21, 1847.
"To the Rev. Messrs. Grainger, Ball, Trench, Goodhart, &c."

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Reading, May 24th, 1847. "Sir, We have received your second letter, in which you adopt the words of our own Declaration. This being the case, we have no desire to protract the correspondence, and we rest assured that your Parliamentary conduct, in the event of your becoming again our representative, will be in full accordance with your letter, in other words, with that Declaration. It only remains that we ask your consent to the publication of this correspondence, and we have the honour to remain, "Sir, your obedient humble Servants. [Here follow the signatures.]

"Charles Russell, Esq., M.P."

[The desired assent was then given to the publication as above.]

A similar letter with the Declaration was sent likewise to Lord Chelsea, M.P. The following is Lord Chelsea's reply:

"Putney Heath, 17th May, 1847. "Gentlemen, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of a letter, dated the 6th instant, and signed by you on behalf of a considerable number of the electors of the borough of Reading, in

which you request me to declare what my views and intentions are with respect to certain questions involving important religious and moral considerations, and which now greatly pre-occupy the public mind.

"In the event of my having the honour a second time to represent you in Parliament, I shall be prepared to resist any measure which in my judgment might prove unfavourable to the maintenance of the Established Church, and of the principles which constitute the basis of the Protestant religion.

"With particular reference to the State endowment of the Roman Catholic priesthood, I do not contemplate that any attempt to establish or endow the Church of Rome in Ireland, whatever may be the politics of the Administration, will be made during the ensuing Parliament, but should any measure of that nature be brought forward, it will have my unqualified opposition.

"The latter clause of your letter appears to refer to an avowed intention on the part of the Committee of Council on Education to frame some new Minutes, by virtue of which the managers of schools established for educating the children of Roman Catholic parents, will be admitted, to share in the annual Parliamentary grant.

"On this point I would observe, that if it be the intention of Her Majesty's Government, either now or at any future time, to entitle a Roman Catholic minister of religion, in the capacity of school teacher, to share in such grant of public money, I shall give my vote against such a proposition; and my objection would extend to granting any portion of such funds to schools connected with monastic institutions, or conducted by persons as schoolmasters belonging to any organized fraternity of the Church of Rome. At the same time I am bound in justice to my own views and feelings to declare that I consider it a sacred duty of the Legislature, if possible, to devise some measures in the present state of our social economy, for imparting instruction to every class of our fellow-subjects; and perhaps there is no class more helpless and destitute in this respect than the children of Roman Catholic parents, chiefly Irish, residing in some of our manufacturing towns and districts.

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"You will not, I am confident, expect me to pledge myself as your representative, to oppose every measure that may be devised to remedy the evils which are acknowledged on all hands to flow from the want of national education; but I shall always endeavour to make my votes on this subject consistent with the maintenance, in all their integrity and efficiency, of those great principles which were restored to us at the Reformation, and which in the present times, I consider it should be the special care of the Legislature to uphold.

"I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
"Your faithful Servant,

"CHELSEA.

"To the Rev. J. Cecil Grainger, and the other Gentlemen who signed the letter."

"Reading, May 19, 1847.

"My Lord, We beg to offer you our best thanks for your letter of the 17th instant. We are glad to be assured from that communica

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