MORE FRIENDLY FEELING TOWARDS CATHOLICS—NEW ARRANGEMENT AT STOBHALL—HIGHLANDERS FLOCKING TO THE LOWLANDS—A BETTER CHURCH AND HOUSE AT EDINBURGH—BISHOP HAY’S THEOLOGICAL STUDIES—DISPENSATIONS—MR. CONSTABLE GIVES £100 TOWARDS THE NEW BUILDINGS—CONVERSIONS—POOR HEALTH OF BISHOP HAY—GENERAL DESIRE FOR PEACE—THE AGE IMPROVING—CRUEL INJUSTICE OF THE PENAL LAWS—THE MISSION SUFFERS—THE KIRK LESS HOSTILE—SOME BIGOTS PROPOSE TO RESIST THE PASSING OF A RELIEF BILL—PRINCIPAL ROBERTSON ADVOCATES AN OPPOSITE VIEW—MAJORITY OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN MISFAVOUR, 118 TO 24.

Everything seemed to show that the age was improving and a more friendly feeling towards Catholics arising throughout the country. The titular “Duchess of Perth” having died at Stobhall in Perthshire, it was feared that the mission there, so long one of the most important in the country, must necessarily be abandoned. There was only one Catholic tenant on the estate in whose house a priest could have a suitable lodging. This man, despairing of the continuance of the mission, hastily threw up his lease on the death of the duchess, in order that he might estab­lish his home near some Catholic station. Now came the advantage of living in the midst of the world, without being of the world, worldly. Such was the case as regarded our Bishop, who resembled in this respect the celebrated Bossuet, of whom it was truly said that he was a Bishop in the gay Court of France (un Eveque au milieu de la cour). Mingling in the higher world, while not neglecting the poorer and more humble, Bishop Hay had become acquainted with Lord Kames, who may surely here be mentioned, as one of the celebrities of the time. Lord Kames was one of the commissioners charged with the administration of the forfeited lands. Bishop Hay, therefore, applied to him for a renewal of the lease of the farm from which the tenant, John Cruikshanks, had retired, and that it should be renewed in the name of Cruikshanks. He acknowledged, at the same time, that his object was to secure the residence of a priest in the place. Both Lord and Lady Kames, particularly the latter, entered warmly into the scheme; and, through the friendly services of Mr. Colquohoun Grant, obtained the co-operation of Lord Gardenston, another commissioner. By the advice of these friendly parties the bishop drew up a petition in the name of the retired tenant, and presented it to the commission. The land steward, who had already granted a new lease, brought considerable county influence to bear against a Catholic being established in the place. This led to memorials and replies that were presented to the commissioners. At last, after a year’s delay, Lord and Lady Kames, knowing how friendly the Government now were towards the Catholics, pleaded the cause more zealously with several of the principal commissioners, and thus secured a decision in favour of the Bishop. Not only was the old lease renewed in the Bishop’s favour, in the name of the former tenant, but fifteen acres more, which had been under planting, were added to the farm in order to supply summer grass for the Bishop’s horse. He was also supplied with a quantity of timber for putting the farm buildings in a suitable condition. A rather odd scene occurred at the board of commissioners when its final decision was intimated. It will be best told in Bishop Hay’s own word’s: “After the order was given to let us have the place, one of our friends added, ‘they must also have plenty of wood to build a mass house,’ upon which some of the others expressed surprise. To which one replied: ‘They are better subjects than the Presbyterians;’ and another said, ‘as for the best religion, that will not. be known till the day of judgment.’ So orders were given to see what wood will be wanted, and let us have it. This, you will say, is a changed world. It is so, blessed be God for it, and may we be grateful for so great a mercy. It is true, indeed, it will cost me a great deal of money to get the place put into proper order, but I hope Providence will provide, and when all is to rights, it will be as comfortable a settlement as any we have.”* * *

The war with the American colonies put an end to emigration; and hence the Highland propri­etors were encouraged to renew their oppression of their poor tenants. This led to a change in the distribution of the Catholic population all over the country. There being no field for the distressed people in America; they (Canada with its boundless resources, was, at that time, a terra incognita) flocked in great numbers to the towns of the Lowlands, where they found employment as day labourers and street porters. The Catholic population of those towns was thus considerably increased. In Edinburgh alone, there was an increase of four hundred, as shown by a census of his congregation taken by Bishop Hay in February, 1777. Almost all the newly arrived strangers were ignorant of any language except their native Gaelic. They were, at once, however, provided with a pastor who was thoroughly acquainted with their language. This was the Rev. Robert Menzies, already mentioned as having recently returned from Douai College. This zealous young; priest continued for a long time to exercise, with the greatest good will, his pastoral duties among the Gaelic speaking people. The increase of population required an increase of church accommodation. There was need, besides, of a change to more salubrious as well as more commodious premises. This the chief Bishop well understood; and he was only too glad to find that there was a prospect of being able to remove from the confined and unwholesome residence, which the coadjutor Bishop and clergy had been obliged so long to put up with. It was proposed, therefore, to sell the ancient dwelling, and so far meet the expense of purchasing or erecting a better building in a more healthy locality, A site near Leith Wynd was selected. It consisted of half an acre of ground which was enclosed by a solid wall. There was a ruinous house upon it which was not overlooked by any other houses. It was a free and airy place, and had access to the neighbouring street by three ‘closes,’ or lanes. It had been. the resi­dence of a Lord Edgefield, a judge of the highest court. The purchase money was £320, all charges included. It was estimated that the expense. For demolishing the old building and erecting a new church and dwelling house would amount to £1,100. Considering the state of the mission funds, this was a heavy sum. The Bishops, however, were not discouraged. With the new building at Edinburgh and the arrangements at Stobhall, both at the same time, on their hands, they were obliged to have recourse to their friends at a distance. The English Catholics always so generous, could not with propriety be applied to, as they had recently been so liberal in relieving the persecuted Uist people. Bishop Hay, therefore, addressed only, on behalf of his brethren, his and their friends at Valladolid, Rome, France, etc., and not without success, it would appear; for the works in hand were proceeded with. The Abbot of the Scotch Monastery at Ratisbon, alone, declined to interest his friends in favour of the mission work, and contented himself with sending to the Bishops a personal subscription of £10.

In the midst of his overwhelming missionary labours as well as other occupations and corre­spondence forced upon him by the necessity he felt himself under of ministering to the comfort and encouragement of many parties who looked to him for advice and support in their difficul­ties and mental distress, Bishop Hay was not unmindful of the studies proper to his state. We find him, at this time, applying to Abbate Grant for several theological works, the Functions of a Bishop, a book on Canon Law, etc. He had just finished reading Benedict XIV.’s Treatise on Diocesan Synods (de Synodo Diocesana). The works for which he now applied are recom­mended in that treatise. He enquired also for some standard work on Episcopal Visitations, especially on their practical part. “Alas! my dear sir,” he says with great modesty; writing to the agent, “I always felt myself lame and unfit for the weighty charge laid upon me: but, never did I see that more than when perusing the Diocesan Synod. Much need have I of a store of standard books for study on these subjects and of a little more time to peruse them.”

Meanwhile the good agent was not idle as regarded the Mission for which he acted. Dispensa­tion from hearing Mass and abstaining from servile work on certain holidays, had been granted to the Catholics of England. Abbate Grant obtained from the Holy See a like indulgence for Scotland. The twofold obligation was declared binding only on all Sundays in the year, on Easter Monday and Pentecost Monday; on the festivals of Christmas, Circumcision,. Epiphany, Ascension and Corpus Christi; on the Annunciation and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin; On the festivals of St. Peter and St. Paul, of All Saints and of the patron of the place where that festival was observed. The fast enjoined on the vigils of certain festivals was transferred to the Wednesdays and Fridays in Advent. Power was also granted to dispense further with the obli­gation on the festival of St. Peter and St. Paul if it fall in the hay harvest, and of the Assumption in the corn harvest.

A master builder had undertaken to complete the house and church at Edinburgh. By the month of May, 1778, the work was well advanced. The weather was favourable for such operations, and everything promised well; even the funds, although they arrived but slowly. Mr. Constable, on occasion of a visit to Edinburgh, contributed £100, and such was his interest in the work that while finding the proportions of the church too limited he expressed complete satisfaction with the rest of the building. The church was to be only 34 feet long, 29 broad and 14 feet high. This work, together with the operations at Stobhall and the increase of the number of Catholics in the Lowlands, aroused the attention and, in some degree, the jealousy of Protestants. There even arose some opposition to the building at Edinburgh. The Bishop, however, anticipating hostility, had taken care to secure the approbation of two leading members of Government, who were, indeed, powerful friends. Notwithstanding, he was not without anxiety, and, as he declared, placed his hope “in Him whose work it was.” There was abundance of consolation,. meanwhile, in the number of converts he was instructing and receiving into the Church.

Bishop Hay was in poor health, suffering much from indigestion. Nevertheless, in addition to his episcopal labours, he attended assiduously to parochial duties and the no less arduous cares of the Procuratorship. Bishop Grant advised him strongly against his early rising and constant application, but did not manage, no doubt owing to the scarcity of clergy, to send an experienced priest to assist him.

Since the unfortunate affair of 1745, time had wrought a wonderful change in the sentiments of the Scotch people. The Jacobite insurrection and its sad results had generated the most rancorous feelings in the minds of the victorious party. It appeared at one time impossible that they could ever be sufficiently revenged for the defeats and humiliation inflicted on them by those whom they finally overcame. As the hopes of the vanquished side became daily less and less, and were finally extinguished, the supporters of the lost cause, who were never unpatriotic, began to show that they could devote their services to their country’s welfare, although not under such auspices as would have been most pleasing to them. Many even who had been zealous adherents of the exiled house, became loyal to the existing government, and by their able services in the common cause of the country commanded the esteem and good will of their fellow-countrymen as well as of the rulers of the land. Meanwhile, through the various relations of private life, friendships came to be established, and good feeling generally to prevail. Add to this the progress of the age which began to look with horror on the barbarities of by-gone times, and to feel ashamed of the cruelties which were not yet so remote as not to belong to their own. Hence it may be said that now, and it was time after a lapse of nearly forty years, that the general desire was for peace and reconciliation. The odious penal laws, however, still existed, and although seldom enforced, could be so at any moment; and it must be admitted that whether acted on or not, they were as degrading to those against whom they were aimed, as disgraceful to those by whom they were enacted. These laws were of such a nature as that sometimes the temptation to use them was almost irresistible. Thus, not longer ago than 1777, a Catholic gentleman of Scotland died. His son, who was married and had two children, thought to obtain possession of the paternal estate on performing the usual legal formalities. He, was resisted by a distant relative, who claimed as the nearest Protestant heir, carried his case into the Court of Session, and insisted that the other party should renounce Popery in order to acquire a legal qualification to succeed his father. It was pleaded on the other side, that the statute gave such succession only to the nearest Protestant heir. This plea was overruled, and the unfortunate young man was, as Bishop Hay relates, “reduced to the dreadful necessity of openly perjuring himself in the face of the world, or of losing an estate of £1,000 a year, as well as of seeing his wife and two infant children reduced to beggary, as he had not a single farthing to depend upon besides the estate, nor any means of’ acquiring a subsistence.”

In 1768, a case occurred in which the mission was the losing party. A gentleman of landed prop­erty had borrowed from the capital fund of the Scotch mission a considerable sum of money, for which the administrators of that fund held a mortgage, or heritable security over his estate. The gentleman failed; and when the managers advanced their claim, it was. Opposed by the other creditors on the ground that such a security could not be legally vested in a Catholic clergyman. The opinion of four eminent lawyers was taken; and it was in favour of the Catholic claim. Nevertheless, it was thought better, in order to avoid publicity and the dangers arising from it, to waive legal proceedings and settle the matter in private. This was done at a sacrifice of nearly £300, a heavy loss to the mission at that time of day.

It must be admitted that the ministers of the Kirk had become less hostile than in the earlier days. Only in remote districts did extreme bigotry still prevail. A respectable tenant of Lord Fortrose, at whose house the missionary priest had his lodging when he went to visit his scattered flock in Ross-shire, became an object of their virulent attacks. Marriage with Protestants and conver­sions to the Catholic faith had excited the ill-will of the Presbytery against this good farmer. They not only made vigorous efforts to turn him out of his farm, but frequently, also, lodged complaints against him with the law officers of the Crown in Edinburgh. This would have resulted in a criminal prosecution, which was averted only by the timely interposition of Bishop Hay.

A little later, when the partial repeal of the penal laws was in progress, there arose a serious debate in the general assembly, the result of which shows the ministers in a more favourable light. An over zealous member requested the Lord Advocate to give the assembly some account of the bill that was then passing through Parliament in favour of the Roman Catholics. His Lord­ship complied with the request, but, at the same time, maintained that the object of the bill was only to repeal a penal law which, from the beginning, had been considered so cruel as to have been seldom executed. The bill did not extend to Scotland; but he had no doubt that in some future session of Parliament a similar bill would be passed for that country. This information roused the bigoted part; in the assembly; and, next day, Dr. Gillies, a minister at Glasgow, moved that, as such a bill for the relief of the Catholics of England had lately passed the House of Commons, the commission (the permanent committee of the assembly) be instructed to watch its future progress; and especially if it should be extended to Scotland; and even, if neces­sary, to call an extraordinary meeting of the commission to consider the subject. The motion was seconded by the same minister’s son, who was minister of Greenock. There was now a very long debate. Principal Robertson, so celebrated as a man of letters and a historian, who led the moderate party in the assembly, denied that the bill in question threatened the Protestant religion with any danger; he could see no signs of alarm in the country on the subject. He then entered at length into the history of the penal law, now the subject of repeal, showing that it was a cruel and sanguinary law which nothing but the critical circumstances of the period when it was first enacted, could ever justify. He proposed to reject the motion. Other eminent speakers followed on the side of the principal, Mr. Solicitor-General Murray, especially, who spoke for two hours in favour of the bill in an able and masterly manner. On a division, the motion of Dr. Gillies was rejected by a. majority of 118 to 24.