their hierarchy? 4. Does the appointment of a Catholic
hierarchy trench on the prerogative of the Crown?
5. Has the mode of establishing the hierarchy been
insolent and insidious? 6. The title of Westminster.
In repelling the charge, in Lord John Russell's letter,
that the Pope's measure is "insolent and insidious,"
Dr. Wiseman quotes a letter which he had written to
Lord John from Vienna, on the 3rd instant, in which he
said—" I cannot but most deeply regret the erroneous
and even distorted view 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 stating, 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." And he proceeds to say that he could
have anticipated no objection to the establishment of the
hierarchy in England, after what had been sanctioned
and done in Ireland, and in many of our colonies and
dependencies. He thus defends his assumption of the
title of Archbishop of Westminster:—"The selection of
this title for the Metropolitan See of the new hierarchy
has, I understand, given great offence. I am sorry for
it. It was little less than necessity which led to its
adoption. I must observe that, according to the
discipline of the Catholic Church, a bishop's title must be
from a town or city. In re-establishing a Catholic
hierarchy in England, it was natural and decorous that
its metropolitan should have his see at the capital. The
very term metropolitan signifies the bishop of the metropolis.
This being the principal or basis of every
hierarchy, how was it to be acted on here? London
was a title inhibited by law; Southwark was to form a
separate see. To have taken the title of a subordinate
portion of what forms the great conglomerate of London,
as Finsbury or Islington, would have been to cast ridicule,
and open the doors for jeers, upon the new
episcopate. Besides, none of these are towns or cities.
Westminster naturally suggested itself, as a city unoccupied
by any Anglican see, and giving an honourable and
well-known metropolitan title. It was consequently
selected, and I can sincerely say that I had no part
whatever in the selection. But I rejoice that it was
chosen. The Chapter of Westminster has been the first
to protest against the new archiepiscopal title, as though
some practical attempt at jurisdiction within the Abbey
was intended. Then let me give assurance on that point,
and let us come to a fair decision and a good
understanding. The diocese, indeed, of Westminster embraces
a large district, 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?' Then let them fear
no greater aggression now. Like him, I may visit, as I
have said, the old abbey, and say my prayer by the
shrine of good Saint Edward; and meditate on the
olden times, when the church filled without a coronation,
and multitudes hourly worshipped without a
service. 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. 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
establishment of our hierarchy, bear fruits of order,
peacefulness, decency, religion, and virtue, it may be that the
Holy See shall not be thought to have acted unwisely
when it bound up the very soul and salvation of a chief
pastor with those of a city where 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."
He denounces the conduct of the Anglican clergy on
this occasion; thanks the "brave and noble-hearted
people of England, who would not be stirred up by
those whose duty it is to teach you gentleness, meekness,
and forbearance, to support what they call a
religious cause by irreligious means; and would not hunt
down, when bidden, your unoffending fellow-citizens,
to the hollow cry of 'No Popery,' and on the pretence
of a fabled aggression;" and concludes by advising his
fellow-religionists:—"Let your loyalty be unimpeachable,
and your faithfulness to social duties above
reproach. Shut then the mouths of adversaries, and gain
the higher good-will of your fellow-countrymen, who
will defend in you, as for themselves, your constitutional
rights, including full religious liberty."

The Roman Catholics have also had meetings. At
one of them, held at Birmingham on the I8th, a
temperate address to the inhabitants was moved by Dr.
J. H. Newman, the Oratorian, and unanimously adopted.
Dr. Wareing has also published a mild and temperate
address to his townsmen of Northampton, which
concludes thus:—"For the ten years and upwards that I
have resided at Northampton, I have found nothing
but civility and good feeling among you; and it will
be something surprising to me if this feeling is
disturbed by an accidental change which concerns no one
but myself and my flock. I leave you to enjoy your
own opinions, and follow out your own views in
religious and spiritual matters. Surely I may claim this
same liberty from you. In exercising this liberty, I
violate no law, I am guilty of no disloyalty to our
gracious Queen. Neither the law of the land, nor her
Majesty Queen Victoria, requires me to swear any belief
in the spiritual supremacy of the Crown. In all temporal
matters I cheerfully obey the laws of the land I live in,
and am loyally and devotedly attached to my lawful
Sovereign, Queen Victoria; whom may God preserve
to reign over us."

The proclamation of a Romish hierarchy in England
had an effect in reviving the celebration of the
gunpowder plot on the 5th inst., not only in the metropolis,
but in the provincial towns. It was no longer a mere
amusement for the street rabble; but many displays
evidently emanated from a class having larger means at
their disposal. Besides the usual parading of ridiculous
effigies by bands of boys, regular processions were
formed, in which men carried larger figures, or
conveyed them in vehicles drawn by horses. Pope and
Popery came in for plentiful denunciation and ridicule,
and much money was got by those who exhibited for
the purpose of getting it. A remarkable demonstration
of the popular feeling was spontaneously made by the
numerous congregation assembled in St. Saviour's
Church on that day. When the congregation arose to
leave the church at the close of the service, the organ
began to play the air of the national anthem; upon
which the whole congregation suddenly commenced the
words, and sang two verses with great enthusiasm.
Mr. Curling, one of the chaplains, then succeeded in
procuring a pause, and remarked, that as some
expressions in the remaining verses were not quite
befitting the sanctity of the edifice, they had better
substitute the doxology. The organ began to play the
"Old Hundredth," and the people sang "Praise God
from whom all blessings flow," with a fervour and
universality that evinced their cordial concurrence in
the suggestion of their pastor.