by Rev. Aeneas McDonnell Dawson

BENEFIT OF RELIEF—BISHOP HAY AT EDINBURGH—SICK SOLDIERS DESIRING TO BE CATHOLICS—THE DUKE OF GORDON AT SCALAN—A BRITISH FLEET DEFENDS THE ROMAN COURT—DESIRE FOR A NATIONAL RECTOR—MR. MACPHERSON SPECIALLY RECOMMENDED TO THE CARDINAL, DUKE OF YORK—PAOLI—BRITISH EXPECTED ON ROMAN COAST—THE STUDENTS FROM DOUAI—THE SCOTCH CATHOLICS FAVOURED IN ENGLAND—THE “LAND OF CAKES”—GEORGE CHALMERS—MR. ALEX. PATERSON ACCOUNTS FOR DISCON­TENT IN SCOTLAND—MR. JAMES PATERSON—FIFTEEN THOUSAND EMIGRANTS—FRENCH CLERGY IN LONDON—GREATEST RESPECT SHOWN THEM—THE CONTRARY AT BRUGES—THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT GIVES FREE PASSAGE TO EXILED CLERGY TO ENGLAND—SAILORS EXPRESS THEIR SYMPATHY—REVOLUTIONARY EMISSARIES PROMOTE HATRED OF THE BRITISH—BISHOP HAY ON THE DIFFICULTY AT SCALAN—EXTRAORDINARY IGNORANCE AT THE TWO SCOTCH MONASTERIES IN BAVARIA—DESIRE TO HAVE THEM CONVERTED INTO COLLEGES.

The Bishops now issued a pastoral letter acknowledging the eminent services of our public men and the better feeling of the people in passing the Relief Bill. Referring to the repealed laws as they once stood against Catholics, it observed: “Those times, blessed be God! are now no more. Our humane and generous legislators, after being fully satisfied as to the innocence of our tenets, the purity of our moral doctrine, our attachment to the Government, and our love to the happy constitution of our country, have, with the greatest unanimity and approbation of both houses of Parliament, repealed the penal laws that stood against us and extended to us, the Cath­olics of this country, the favour lately granted to those of England and Ireland, by which we may now enjoy the free and undisturbed exercise of our holy religion.” The faithful were then called upon to return thanks to Almighty God for His recent goodness to them. To Him they owed the humane disposition of their rulers; to Him the acquiescence of the whole nation in what their rulers had done for them. To gratitude they were bound to join a sincere repentance for their own sins and the sins of their forefathers which had provoked the Divine anger against them. As to their earthly rulers Catholics were bound to pray for them, and to show, on all occasions, a high respect for, and a strict obedience to the laws, as faithful subjects of His Majesty, as good citizens and worthy members of society. The Bishops, in conclusion, besought the Catholic body to use their recovered liberty with prudence and moderation, so as by their quiet and peace­able demeanour, to convince the world that they were not unworthy of the favour lately bestowed on them. The pastoral letter presented an admirable model of temperate and chastened expression. It was dated July 12th, 1793.

Bishop Hay now resumed the duty of the principal charge of the congregation at Edinburgh, with Mr. James Sharp for his assistant. He went to reside in the house underneath St. Margaret’s chapel, where his name, Mr. Hay, in faded paint, might have been seen, not long ago, and may still, perhaps, be seen, on the strong outer door of the house, opening on the third floor of the common stair. Mr. James Sharp, when on his way to Scotland, found Mr. Oliver at Ostend, on a mission of charity to some sick soldiers of the 27th Regiment. Some of them desired to become Catholics. “Spiritus ubi vult spirat.

Bishop Geddes on arriving at Scalan found the community there in good health, and under the temporary charge of Mr. Andrew Carruthers. The Duke of Gordon had paid a visit to the Semi­nary the week before, and had expressed himself satisfied with the condition of the place. Bishop Geddes availed himself of the Duke’s visit to say that he hoped His Grace would give them a long lease, as a good deal of money had been laid out on the establishment. The Duke replied that they should not differ. The Douai students, recently placed in the Seminary were discontented, and gave trouble. They complained of the beds, of the food, of the untidiness of their companions, etc.

As has been seen, the Court of Rome had expressed a desire for the protection of the British Government against the French. The request was now renewed through Bishop Douglas, as the states of the Church were seriously threatened by France. In compliance with the application presented by Bishop Douglas, Lord Hood’s fleet was sent to defend the Roman Court. It appeared to be a favourable opportunity for insisting on having national superiors in charge of the British Colleges. Bishop Douglas, if necessary, would induce Lord Grenville to support the measure.

The Rev. Paul McPherson was now taking leave of his friends and preparing for his journey to Rome. Bishop Hay provided him with letters of introduction to numerous influential parties in the Holy City. He addressed, in his favour, with special recommendations, Cardinals Antonelli, Albani, Caraffa, Trajetto and Borgia, who was recently created a cardinal. The Bishop, still more particularly, solicited for the agent the good will of the Cardinal, Duke of York. In his letter of introduction, he reminded the Cardinal of their friendly relations in 1782, when His Eminence expressed the desire that the Bishop should write to him when the affairs of the mission required it, tanquam Episcopus ad Episcopum. It was this expression of the Cardinal’s goodness which encouraged him to recommend Mr. McPherson, in a special manner, to his protection. The Bishop, moreover, prayed His Eminence to obtain for him from the Dataria, the pension enjoyed by the last two agents.

In July the Romans were anxiously looking for the arrival on their coast of the British Fleet. Spanish ships of war were cruising in considerable force, between Genoa and Corsica, in order to prevent the landing of French troops on the Island, General Paoli was in the field at the head of a considerable force. He had declared his independence, and was only waiting, it was under­stood, for the arrival of the British fleet to make himself master of the whole Island.

The students who had come from Douai were now an occasion of some difficulty. They could not remain at Scalan. After some discussion it was decided that they should be sent to prosecute their studies at Valladolid with the exception of two, Alexander Badenoch, who retired to his family until his health should be confirmed, and Andrew Scott, for whom, as he was truly pious and could be depended on, it was appointed that he should stay with Bishop Hay at Edinburgh. It would appear that the boy, Andrew Scott, was in delicate health, it being mentioned that his stay at Edinburgh would prove beneficial, as it gave him the opportunity of drinking the water of St. Bernard’s well.

The Catholics of Scotland appear to have been in high favour with their brethren in England. Mr. McPherson when in London on his way to Rome, dined one day together with Bishop Douglas, with two hundred members and benefactors of a charitable institution, who drank to the health of Bishops Hay and Geddes, not forgetting to honour the national toast “the land of cakes.” Mr. McPherson met with much civility and kindness on the part of Bishop Douglas, whose goodness and piety he admired more than his abilities. Some among the clergy and the Catholic laity caused the good Bishop a great deal of trouble. “In comparison with these,” writes Mr. McPherson, “the most refractory subjects in Scotland were as lambs.”

Mr. George Chalmers, also, having received Bishop Geddes’ letter of introduction, gave a cordial welcome to Mr. McPherson, who wrote about him afterwards, as an accomplished scholar and, in the full sense of the word, a gentleman. Mr. Chalmers was a true friend to the Scotch Catholics, and as, from his acquaintance with many leading statesmen, he professed great influence, he proposed recommending the matter of placing national superiors over the colleges at Rome, to Mr. Dundas, and through him to Lord Grenville. The distinguished author of “Caledonia” could not have more effectually shown his good will. Bishop Douglas, on the contrary, when consulted, showed himself jealous of Bishop Hay or any one else but himself, interfering with the question of national superiors. The Bishop of Rhodez being in London, on his way to Scotland, honoured Mr. McPherson with several letters of introduction; among the rest, one to Cardinal Bernis.

Mr. Alexander Paterson, the priest of Glenlivat, in giving a full account to Bishop Hay of the discontent of the Douai students at Scalan, makes allowance for the great change in their food and studies, but thinks that if the Bishop had remained there would have been no complaint. He lays all the blame on the youth in whose charge they were left. “A young man.” he writes, “in entering on a new charge, ought to be extremely cautious and circumspect in showing his authority. This precaution, I believe, Mr. Carruthers was not careful enough to take. He had to deal with his former companions, his own school-fellows, his most intimate friends. Too over­bearing a disposition with regard to some; gained him the disaffection of all. One thing brought on another, and Scalan became disgustful. To be sure, they ought to have behaved otherwise than they did. But methods must be sometimes contrived to make them do from inclination what they are obliged to do from duty. I know Mr. Carruthers to be a lad of solid piety, much good sense, and not ordinary abilities; but, whilst in other things I commend him, in this (the college matter) I do not commend him.” The worthy farmer at Scalan was resolved to leave it. On Mr. Paterson asking him his reason, he replied that Mr. Carruthers found fault with his work, and did not seem to care that he should go back after being ill some time, but engaged another man, whom he shortly dismissed without paying his wages, because he had been absent for a day or two on his own farm. If And. Carruthers went on in that way not a lad in the country would come near Scalan. Mr. Paterson, who knew the worth of the good servant, advised him to consider Bishop Hay’s interest. He acknowledged the Bishop’s kindness and said there was not one in the world whom he would like better to serve; but he could not and would not be “bullyragged” while he was able to earn his bread more peaceably and advantageously elsewhere. The good housekeeper, whose services the venerable Bishop highly appreciated, was thinking of leaving on account of Mr. Carruthers’ treatment of her. Mr. Alexander Paterson’s conclusion was that Mr. Carruthers should be immediately superseded, and Mr. James Paterson put in his place. This young man, indeed, was only a student, but happily he understood the art of teaching others; and he was feared and loved, at the same time, by the younger boys under his charge. All this Mr. Paterson could bear witness to from his former knowledge of him.

Mr. McPherson on reaching Bruges, wrote to Bishop Geddes, informing him of some additional incidents of his journey. He expressed great surprise at the attention shown to the French emigrant clergy in London. There were about 1,500 of them there. The same was the case at Dover. So many of them were met in the streets there that one might conclude the town was half filled with French priests. Every one paid them great respect; whilst, on the other hand, at Bruges, where he was writing, they could hardly appear in the streets without being hissed. “Generous Britain!” exclaimed the agent, “Heaven must reward such eminent charity.” Not a farthing was exacted from the French priests passing between Dover and Ostend. The British Government provided for their fare and, English passengers, when there were any, paid for their food. If there were none, the brave tars would say:—and, what they said is best given in their own language—“D——n their eyes, would they allow a poor French priest to pay for a meal or two?” This homely utterance shows how widespread, wherever there were Englishmen, on land or at sea, was the sympathy of the British people with the victims of a revolution unparalleled in its atrocity. The agent then gives an account of the escape of the Principal and some students from the Scotch College at Douai. He concludes his letter by remarking that the majority of the French people were friendly to the English; but that revolutionary emissaries with the malignity of demons were doing everything in their power to exasperate them against British subjects.

Bishop Hay found it to be necessary to write to Mr. Andrew Carruthers, plainly telling him his mind as regarded the trouble at Scalan. But it was not an easy matter to make the young man sensible of his errors. The Bishop had ascribed to his “harshness and severity” the misconduct of some of the seminary and the discontent of all the rest. Mr. Carruthers defended himself ingeniously, but in that forbiddingly affected and pompous style which was then habitual to him. The Bishop, moreover, had condemned him for giving his opinion so freely about the serv­ants. In regard to this matter he wisely promised to do better for the future. But his tone is full of consequence, as if he were waiving a right for the public good. This affair and others he discussed with the Bishop, with the air of a man who was debating with an equal, and who was, in fact, the aggrieved and nobly forgiving opponent of the Bishop and of every one at Scalan. All this is written with the utmost reluctance. It would please the writer more to dwell, and dwell only, on Mr. Carruthers’ devoted and unremitting attention to the invalid Bishop; but inexorable history requires, above all things, that the truth be told.

It was desirable, considering the alienation of the colleges in France, that subjects for the mission should be obtained from the Scotch Monastery at Ratisbon. But such was the state of that House that anything of the kind was out of the question. Mr. Macpherson, on arriving at Ratisbon, found that the two Scotch convents in Bavaria maintained very dangerous principles. Ignorance, he stated, was the cause. One of the Scotch monks seriously assured him that St. Augustine wrote all his works in Greek. Another, a few minutes afterwards, said that throughout all the saint’s writings, the Manichean heresy was clear, and that certainly he never knew a word of Greek. They conversed only about gambling, hunting, and a kind of politics. He would be sorry to hear of one of them being in the mission. Notwithstanding, he was kindly entertained in both the monasteries. It was quite different at the English academy of Liege. There, the good old maxims prevailed. There, also, he was hospitably entertained. The remedy, Bishop Hay conceived, for the bad state of matters at Ratisbon was to have the monastery converted into a college; and an excellent ground for proceeding on was the impossibility of finding subjects for the monastery. The monks must all be natives of Scotland; and how could Scotland supply such persons now that it was so generally Protestantized? Now that the national colleges in France were lost, it would be an irreparable loss to religion in Scotland, if Ratisbon and Wirtzburgh were nullified for want of subjects.

    


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