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    after encountering all the risks which it must meet ¦ with at sea , and having safely reached our shores , even if it' should accomplish this , the moment it lands , with the sea behind and no retreat , it would be compelled io fight for its existence with a powerful rifle force . I say that the the moment this is known , I believe that so hazardous an enterprise would never be attempted . " Lord Grey urged that a volunteer force was the legitimate arm of defence of the country ; and that being for the mere defence of home and hearth it could not give offence to foreigners , but it would of necessity teach them to respect us . . : _ the Lord Advocatat

    On Wednesday e , a public meeting in Edinburgh , said that the volunteer . movement was one in which no foreign nation could justly claim an interest , and at which no foreign state was enabled to take the slightest umbrage . It was a movement which never could be used for anything but defence . They were enrolled for service within their native country , and , therefore , they never could be an instrument of foreign aggression . They said of themselves : ' We arc volunteers enrolled for the defence of our native land in the event of an invasion—we are nothing else . We seek nothing that is our neighbours '—we want nothing of theirs ; but we wish to keep what we have got

    and we intend to do so . " But then it might be said , " What was the emergency that had spread this panic through the country ? " There was- no difficulty in showing what the emergency was . The wonder was they did not see it long ago . It was no jealousy of France , or of Russia , or of any one . It was the fact that stared us in the face that , excepting our wooden walls—in which , no doubt , we very justly trust—we stand , as a . nation , utterly defenseless against any f > rce that might by possibility be landed on these shores . - Were we to run . the risk of trusting to a chance such as that which scattered the Spanish Armada , centuries ago , among our rock-boimd coasts ? We

    might be again exposed to the attack of a naval force , we know not how soon , and were we to stand exposed to the attack of any foci that might think fit to invaJe us merely because the chances were that they might . never make out their intended aggression ? And what was an invasion ? It was all very well to read about it in ! books , and think that it did not concern us ; but just suppose that a force were landed upon the shores of the Firth of Forth . Think of tho misery which the march of a hostile foreign force from Edinburgh to Glasgow would necessarily entail . He would not stop to describe it . There were those that had seen the march of an armywhether in advance or retreat , through a

    , hostile country ; and he would only say that from such horrors they were not safe until this volunteer system was thoroughly organised . We were not looking to any particular State , but to this fact , that while wo all woke up suddenly from our dreaiiti of peace in the Russian war , we had learned a great deal since that time . We had learned how the arts of war had been improved , how the rapid transit of troops might be effected , and all these things told us that we should be looking out for our own safety . As to the assertion that volunteers were of no value of tknow

    in thq field , they , know enough history o that that was not the case . Washington fought the ¦ whole battle of American independence with Ins militia . He might go back to Cromwell ' s Ironsides , who were men of the same stamp , and did not fight with the same mi vantages as they should now have . In the beginning of the Russian war did they not see Onier Tasini keep the whole line of tho Danube with tho Turkish army , which was neither well disciplined , well accoutred , nor well-armed ? And so they did at Siliatria . A fbw courageous hnghshmeii and Scotchmen—and ho fancied no great amount ot to stem tie

    discipline behind thorn—wcro sufHciont tide of battle there agninst tho choicest of the Russian army . So General Williams did at lvars ; and such waa always the advantage which the invaded had over the invader . He was periecUy certain that if that day should , ever arrive when wo ehould have a foreign force upon those shores , givo us ton thousand riflemen , each man knowing the use of his weapon , with the uld of their knowledge ot thocountry . and tho assistance which engineers would bo ablo to render thorn , tlioy would be able , it not to resist , at least—which was most valuable in such a crleia—to delay and obstruct tho enemy , and gam time until greater nssistnnco could bo obtained .

    At Edinburgh , also , Sir John M'Neill addrossed tho citizens upon , tho samo question . Ho remarked , " Wo must bo prepared to defend our accumulated wealth—tho richest booty tho world . presents to lawless cupidity—tp defend our free institutions , which acme have regarded nt an offence and reproach to absolute governionts—to defend our homos , vriuou had been handed down to us by the valour of the sons reared on their inviolate hearths . Ho hcia him to bo no man who would shrink from tho cost and labour of the hazard of performing , like a man ,

    the noblest , the highest , the holiest of our worldly duties , not in a spirit of bravado , still less in . a spirit of levity , not for the purpose of aggression , but with a calm , stern , but enduring resolution and fortitude of our race , to defend our country and everything it contains . It had been said that this volunteer movement might give offence to foreign nations . What ! Give offence to a nation which had a standing army of 600 , 000 men , who had , during several generations , been employed chiefly in aggressive wars upon others ? He did not want to say one word to provoke or to offend , but he was not to be deterred when he was told that we might give offence in that way , from telling the truth , ' and bringing

    home to those who complained the injustice of their own actions . Much had already been done in this country , 'but much yet remained to be done . Much had been done , for hostile words had been spoken against us , arrogant pretensions had been raised ; we had been threatened . They little knew the temper of this country who supposed that it could be intimidated . They little kne ^ y the spirit they were evoking when they hoped to intimidate us . JToman had a higher respect than he had for the French nation . They were at the head of civilisation on the continent of Europe . They were our equals in many things , and our superiors in some ; but this

    lie must say , that for many generations , whenever that nation had been united and strong , the very feeling that it was at the head of civilisation ha lied it to assert pretensions to political supremacy and predominance which this country could never submi c to . Let no man , therefore , pretend to say that he looked forward with confidence to a time of unbroken peace . . If we desired that our social progress should not bo arrested we must provide for the security of the nation , so that that progress might advance undisturbed . If we desired the happiness , the prosperity , and the advancement of the people in this country , we must provide for their defence as we had not hitliert-o provided . " ¦

    Numerous ¦ meetings have been held here and in Ireland to express the sympathy of the Catholics with their Holy Father the Pope . The Earl of Fin-gall being asked to attend one on Thursday , replied . by letter to Dr . Cullen : " While yielding to none in the deep-felt sympathy with -which every Catholic must regard the unmerited sufferings of the illustrious head of our holy religion , and fully impressed with the importance of securing the political independence of the Holy Sac-, it is wit ! i deep rerjret that I feel compelled to express my dissent from any portion of the resolutions which have received the sanction of your Lordship ' s approval . As one of those who signed the requisition on the assurance that the ' sole ' object of the meeting was to express sympathy with the Pope in his present affliction , I of the

    cannot but disapprove the severity language of the earlier resolutions , which appears to me to go beyond the legitimate object for which the meeting was originally convened . It is , however , to the line o f policy laid down in the 4 th and 5 th resolutions that I feel obliged , however reluctantly , to offer an unqualified . dissent . The object , as I conceive , of these resolutions is to pledge the meeting , and more especially the county members , to oppose every Administration which may consent to recognise the separate independence of any portion of the Roman Stages . Deeply as I should regret such a solution of the present difficulty , I find it impossible to concur in a course of action which I consider would be fraught with evil to the boat interests of tho Catholics of tho United Kingdom . Throughout my miblic life , I have always boon

    opnosed , on principle , to the imposition of pledges on Members of-Pnrliament , and being myself a member of the Legislature , I must decline to bu bound by a resolution which would fetter my own judgment , and have tho effect of imposing on others tho necessity of doing what I myself should not be prepared to do . Under these circumstances , your Lordship will perceive that I cannot approve tho courso proposed to bo taken , and must therefore , however painful to me , decline attending a meeting with tho na'in obiect of which I cordially concur . " vk

    At tho Limerick mooting , the Earl ot IJunua . > , a recent convert to Romanism , having exalted tho Papal Government to the skios aa tho model ot human institutions , proceeded to touch upon the line taken by tho English press with regard to tlio present movement . He said , — " Tho direct ati < l systematic attacks which have been made on our bishops and clergy , tho indirect attacks which have boon made on tho Catholic laity and on our religion ,. aro not the moans best oalculatod to produce that mirmony and good fooling between tho two countries which aro eo important in the present crisis . 11 ever there was a time when sound policy and gooa feeling dictated that everything should bo done to soften religious dlfferencoa , nnd unite tho people of tho two oquntrios cordia ly together , Ft 18 now , when tho alarm of foreign invasion is ringing throughout tho length and breadth of the fanS . But In saying this H would not bo just

    if I did not admit that in some cases—though not in many—there has been blame also on the other side . Surely , my lord , it is not by denouncing everything that we hold most dear and sacred as Catholics and as Irishmen on the one hand , nor on the other hand by violent attacks against English institutions , by expressions of questionable , loyalty to the Queen , that the bond of union is to be cemented between the people of the two countries , and that when the hour of danger arrives we shall be best able to cope with the difficulties by -which we may be surrounded . We meet here to express our deep and unalterable attachment to our religion , and our most devoted

    sympathy with and' loyalty to . its sovereign head ; and what is there , in God ' s name , to prevent us feeling this in combination with a hearty recognition of the liberties which as Catholics we enjoy in these countries , and of the most devoted loyalty to the person of our Sovereign—one who , uniting as she does all the virtues that can adorn her sex , and which have caused her to be justly beloved by her people , possesses all these higher qualities , so important in a ruler , which in troubled times will enable her to unite all her subjects in her defence , and arCj therefore , the best security for the safety of her throne , and the greatest prosperity and happiness of her people ?"

    Mr . W . -SIossell , M . P ., thus dealt with the question of the Pope ' s temporal . power : — - " Now with regard to the point put forward in the resolution which I have read , that in the present state of the world we look upon the temporal dominion of the Pope as necessary to the good administration of the Catholic Church , there can be , I think , no difference ¦ of ¦ opinion . Statesmen and senators of different countries , and at different periods of history , have maintained its necessity , and those persons must be entirely and absolutely ignorant of what the office of the Sovereign Pontiff is who denythat proposition . How could he keep his watchful e \ e over air Christendom ; how could he arrange ¦ ¦ the

    with regardto" fhe appointment ' , of- bishops ., sending forth of missionaries , and the decision of questions respecting religion and morals ; how could he do all these things , and do them impartially and well , if he were the subject of any sovereign ? And . also , gentlemen , let me ask you this question , If you take the Pope ' s territories from him where would you put him ? Would you put him , for instance , in France , where , only a few months ago , the Emperor of tfie French—the champion of liberty in Italy—forbad the pastorals of the dishops to appear in the public journals ? Would you place him in Austria , the benumbing influence of which upon the intelligence of the age has been referred to by my noble friend , with whose observations I

    entirely agree ? Would you place him in Russia—m the territories of the persecutor of the Polish nuns ? Would you place him in this new Italian kingdom which some people wish to establish ? Why , the first act of the Provisional Governments in Florence and Bolognu was to suppress a number of religious orders , to throw insult on religion , and to control the clergy in the exercise of their spiritual functions . Would we , living in Ireland , be satisfied that our intercourse with his Holiness should be rendered liable to interruption by placing him under the control and influence of persons animated by such principles a 9 those which the acts of this provisional government have indicated up to tho present moment , when , be it remembered , they aro on

    their good behaviour p " There have been this week two other demonstrations in favour of tho Pope in Ireland one in Boyle , and the other in Tmlccs described as " monster Gatherings . " At Tralee , Capt . Dam lit O'Con" bm ? was in the chair . He feelingly made reference to his father , who was cut short by tho hand ot death on his way to Rome , and for whoso remains tho Popo ordered obsequies of the most splendid description . The other speakers strongly repudiof that extreme

    ate . ! tho charge disloyalty some Protestants have made against tho Catholics of Ireland . The pamphlet of M . do la Gucrronniore was referred to as an evidence of treachery o * the part of tho Emperor of tho French . It was also called a proof of shameless hypocrisy . If the arrangement thus suggested was como to , said one of tho orators , it would be a nefarious robbery of tho Pope ' s dominions that would raise a shout of execration from two hundred millions of people . iSS , tho Emperor of tho French "'as threatened at Tra eo with the invasion of his country and tho loss of his power , if not with vengeance executed upon his own person .

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    St . Paci / s Cat « bd « al ; -TIio special £ orme s will commonco to-morrow , at seven o ' clock . A no erLn w " ll be preached by' the , Right Roy . the . Lord Bishop of London . On Sunday , January 8 , tho Sermon will be preached by tho Rev . Daniel Moore , M A " noumbont of Camoeu Church , Oamborwcll , and Golden Lecturer at St . Margaret ' s , Lothbury .

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    No . 510 . Dec . 31 , 1859- ] THE LEADER , 1409

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 31, 1859, page 1409, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2327/page/5/