Appendix II. Cardinal Newman’s Letter.

During the sitting of the Vatican Council the late Cardinal Newman wrote a confidential letter to his bishop, then Dr. Ullathorne. This letter was soon public property. It is well known that some of the best and most learned bishops of the Roman Catholic Church were strongly opposed to the proclamation of the new doctrine. But of what avail, when the Jesuits wished to take a step towards the accomplishment of their great object of establishing a universal monarchy with the White Pope nominally at the head and the Black Pope holding the reins.

This important letter was published in the London Standard, on the 7th of April. We give some brief extracts below: —

“Rome ought to be a name to lighten the heart at all times, and a council’s proper office is, when some great heresy or other evil impends, to inspire hope and confidence in the faithful, but now we have the greatest meeting which ever has been, and that at Rome, infusing into us by the accredited organs of Rome and of its partisans, such as the Civilta, the Armonia, the Universe and the Tablet, little else than fear and dismay.

Cardinal Newman’s Protest against Infallibil.

“Why should an aggressive, insolent faction be allowed to ‘Make the heart of the just sad, whom the Lord hath not made sorrowful.’ Why cannot we be alone when we have pursued peace and thought no evil?

“I assure you, my Lord, some of the truest minds are driven one way and another, and do not know where to rest their feet. One day, determining to give up all theology as a bad job and recklessly to believe, henceforth, almost that the Pope is impeccable, at another tempted to believe all the worst which a book like Janus says, others doubting about the capacity possessed by bishops drawn from all corners of the earth to judge what is fitting for European society, and then, again angry with the Holy See for listening to the flattery of a clique of Jesuits, Redemptorists, and converts.”

It proved a bolt from the blue. Newman had not yet learned not to put his trust in bishops, later he knew better. No wonder that Manning, the great promoter of papal infallibility, declared that his — “spirit must be crushed.” It need scarcely be said that the Jesuit organ in Rome, the Civilta, denounced Newman, and that M. Veuillot, the famous French ultramontane journalist, denounced him and all his works, in no measured language. Indeed, Newman had aggravated him past forgiveness for he had compared him to Murphy, who, later was made the victim of Romanist rage and hatred for the crime of telling the truth.

At first Newman stoutly denied the authorship of the letter. Then, when absolute denial became impossible, he prevaricated, but finally neither prevarication nor denial were of the least avail and he was obliged to admit the authorship. It need scarcely be said that the publication of this letter did not advance his ecclesiastical prospects in Rome.

Note to page 258, —Cardinal Manning’s biographer tells us that he tried to have himself called to the Upper House as a Spiritual peer, and nearly succeeded through his influence with the Royal Family. The suggestion of the Jesuit Parsons that all parliamentary representatives should be approved by the Romanist bishops is already carried out in Ireland, Where, with rare exceptions, none other need apply.

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