ccording to the rights of
liberty of conscience. The Holy Father kindly listened to the petition,
and referred it for further consideration to the congregation of
Propaganda. When every point was carefully examined, and objections
satisfactorily replied to, the favor petitioned for was granted.
Difficulties having been started in regard to some matter of detail, the
publication of the new code of church administration was delayed. These
difficulties were removed the following year by Bishop Ullathorne. But the
measure was again retarded by the revolution which broke out at Rome in
1848. The delay was not without its uses. It gave time to the statesmen of
England to become acquainted with and consider the measure of reform which
was proposed for adoption in the internal organization of the Catholic
church in England. It was officially communicated to them when printed, in
1848. They made no objection. And yet, when it was promulgated in 1850,
their chief spoke of it, in his ill-timed letter to the Bishop of Durham,
as "insolent and insidious." For many an age to come, Catholics will read
with astonishment that so inoffensive an act of the Holy See, done at the
request of the Catholic bishops of England, and in the interest of the
Catholic people, at the time some seven millions in number, should have
excited the anger of so great a portion of the English nation. The isle
was literally frighted from its propriety. From the Queen on her throne to
the humblest villager, all were seized with sudden and unaccountable fear,
as if the monarchy had been threatened with immediate overthrow. The
Queen, in terror, called her Council of State around her. But her chief
adviser, a weak-minded old man, had very little comfort to bestow. He
could only help her Majesty's bishops to inflame the public mind. In all
conscience, they had done quite enough in this direction without his
assistance. The spirit of bigotry was enkindled, and the clergy, with
their chiefs, gave proof of their bitter hostility through every newspaper
of the land. This acrimonious opposition was, however, chiefly confined to
the ministers of the church by law established. They believed, or
pretended to believe, that the titles and legal rights of their bishops
were aimed at, whilst, in reality, care had been taken to avoid offending
them, or violating the law, by conferring on the new bishops the titles of
the ancient Sees which were held by the established church. It