Allanson, Biography part 5 (853-885) Back to DOCUMENTS
F Augustine or John Birdsall was born in Liverpool on the 27th of June 1775. He was educated amongst the Dominicans in Belgium but before he completed his Humanities he went to Lamspring in 1795 [See the Council Book of Lamspring 326, 340] where he was professed by Abbot Maurus Heatley on the 6 of November 1796 and was promoted to the Priesthood on the 30th of May 1801.
This Father entertained a hearty antipathy to the arbitrary proceedings of Abbot Heatley which appears to have made a lasting impression on his mind, as he continued through life to be much opposed to the Arbitrary proceedings of others. On Dr Brewer making his Presidential Visit at the Abbey in 1801, he found him among the warmest of his supporters. As the President stood high on his prerogatives, he was much annoyed at the Abbot for not giving up his Abbatial stall to him in the Church, and it has been repeatedly asserted, that F Augustine, who was a powerful man, offered his services to take the Abbot out of his Stall by physical force, but the President would not listen to such an unseemly proceeding, or otherwise his champion would no doubt have been as good as his word. After the death of the Abbot, F Augustine was made Prefect in September 1802. This ultimately proved a misfortune to him in after life, as he could never apparently divest himself of the idea that Dr Baines had been originally among his disciples, so that in his epistolary correspondence he frequently forgot the respect which was due to his Episcopal character. On the suppression of his Abbey in January 1803, he was one of those who received a Pension from the Prussian Government, but on being ordered to the Mission in 1805 [Mr Birdsall writes to Mr Brown Septr 9th 1834 `When Dr Brewer called me to Woolton from my Convent I never received any pay from him'] he sold his annuity for a fixed sum of money and on his coming over to England he was stationed at Bath in 1806 where he continued till 1809 and then he was sent to begin a new Mission at Cheltenham {no note here} Here he erected a new Chapel and house at a time when materials for building were very high, owing to the continued wars, and though he expended the proceeds of his Lamspring pension on the Establishment, yet the debt incurred was enormous for those times and he continued to receive an allowance of £30 a year from the South Province till 1817, and then it was gradually lessened till 1826 when the Mission was left to its own resources. This new Chapel was opened on the 3d of June 1810.
F Augustine was of a strong and robust constitution, so that he was capable of undergoing great labour without feeling much hardship, and he devoted himself sedulously to the duties of his profession. He was naturally gifted with good talents and he was blessed with studious habits, devoting much of the time which he could spare from his professional duties to close application to various pursuits of literature, mixing little in society and keeping aloof from the concerns of the Body for nearly a dozen years. Though he never attempted to preach extempore but contented himself in reading his own sermons or those of others, yet as a catechist he ranked the first in England.
In 1814 F Augustine was elected a Definitor of the Province, but that gave him no concern nor did he even attend the General Chapter at the termination of the quadriennium. At the Provincial Chapter in 1818, he was elected Secretary and soon after the General Chapter in 1822, he succeeded to the Provincialship of Canterbury in virtue of being the 2d Elect Provincial. Being now called to Official life he laboured assiduously in examining the Accounts and into the state of the various Missions and at the termination of the quadriennium he was again reelected by the votes of the Missioners; but at the General Chapter which followed higher promotion awaited him. He was elected President and continued to be reelected during the rest of his life.
F Augustine was a stern and imperious Superior, overawing most of his subjects who came in contact with him by his commanding aspect and the known severity of his character. And whilst he was determined not to allow any other Superior under him to act arbitrarily under him, he forgot that he was more arbitrary himself and overbearing than all of them put together. He was a man of strong passions, headstrong, overbearing and inheriting the proverbial obstinacy of his Family. Proud in the conceit of his own boldness and courage, he was probably so far a stranger to himself, as not to know what is apparent in his conduct, that after all, he was wanting in moral courage, when he came to deal with those who were independent of him, as most men of his stamina generally prove themselves to be. To shrink from him or to make any advances was only to make him more firm and desperate; but if you took your ground firmly and coolly you were sure to find him a coward at the heart. Neither was he an opponent to be dreaded when you contended with him on equal ground, his want of the self subduing principle soon led him to commit himself in the hasty and passionate ebullitions of his temper, and then there was either room for repentance or to persist in his obstinacy in attempting to maintain the untenable ground which he had taken. The few who gained his confidence could easily lead him at their will. He had a warm heart and was warm in his attachments; but he was the victim of strong and bitter prejudices, and if you once incurred his displeasure, you could never regain his favour and you could do nothing right in his estimation. In his epistolary correspondence as President, his style is very diffuse, spinning out his thoughts to a great length, but not infrequently expressing himself beautifully. He was a man who thought for himself and he appears to have written his letters without much consideration; but as he wrote what he really thought on the spur of the moment, there is a pleasure in reading what are the real thoughts of a man who thinks aloud, although your pleasure is often taxed at too high a rate and you are not repaid for your trouble in making out his letters which are frequently written on the backs of old letters as he appears to have been particularly parsimonious in the use of paper.
The character of F Augustine precluded him from being over popular with his Brethren. He was too much feared over to be beloved and he owed his election to the Presidentship to his being a member of the house of Lamspring, to his known opposition to Dr Baines and to the proceedings of Prior Burgess and his abettors of the house of Ampleforth. The period of his administration was cast on troubled waters. Few of his predecessors had been placed under more trying circumstances and few would have committed more serious or more fatal errors.
Dr Baines his former pupil, who had been chosen by Bishop Collingridge the Vicar Apostolic of the Western District to be his Coadjutor, was his principal antagonist. As this eminent Prelate was in a bad state of health, he had proceeded to Rome towards the close of the year 1826 and had continued there till after the death of Bishop Collingridge on the 4th of March 1829. The venerable Prelate on finding himself deprived of the services of his Coadjutor had obtained permission from the Sacred Congregation to appoint a Pro-Vicar to take the management of the District in spiritual and temporals in case of his sickness or death and as his health was declining he had admitted President Birdsall into his confidence handing over to him the management of the temporalities of his District and appointing him his Pro-Vicar at his death. But no sooner had Dr Baines intelligence of his having become the Vicar Apostolic of the Western District, than he superseded him in his Office and appointed F Jerom Brindle, one of his subjects, to take the administration of the District into his hands [See Cardinal Cappellari's letter to Mr Birdsall May 26 1829 Records III 86 In this he tells him, that Dr Baines had appointed Mr Brindle his administrator of the District inscium omnino designationis factae per Episcopum Thespiensem. See the President's letter to the Cardinal Page 57 which makes it difficult to believe in the truth of this statement] and gladly availed himself of this opportunity to prove to the world how little respect he was disposed to pay either to the years or to the high office which the President filled.
Although the President was unacquainted with the clandestine correspondence which had been going on between Prior Burgess and Dr Baines during his stay at Rome, yet sufficient evidence had come to his knowledge to satisfy any reasonable person, that the Prior was at the head of a cabal against the Presidential and constituted Government of the Congregation and many Superiors would have considered it to have been their duty to have broken it up and to have compelled him to submission.
[As long back as 1823 Prior Burgess and his Council, according to the written evidence of Dr Baines, had agreed to exchange their House for that of Downside for the purpose of making it the Episcopal Seminary of the District and had agreed to give him both Provincial and Presidential Authority over the members of it See Records III 39-42. The President complained of the incivility of the Prior's letters to him and he knew that the Missionary Members of Ampleforth had expressed their fears of Dr Baines getting hold of Ampleforth as much of the property stood in the names of the Prior and his two Associates. With these facts before him, he would have been justified in calling either Mr Rooker or Mr Metcalfe to the Mission, which would have compelled the Prior to admit others into his Council, who would not have been a party to his cabal, or would have induced him to resign, which would have broken it up altogether and if this last had occurred nearly the whole of those who had been educated under him would have considered his removal beneficial to the Establishment. The President writes to Dr Marsh July 17th 1829 `I have for the last two or three months fancied Mr Burgess's letters have been penned with some little more of courtesy than usual but I {draw no inference at all from that. Lacuna, supplied from Downside MS} ]
The President had himself written the Life of Abbot Heatley and he had bestowed high praise on President Brewer for breaking up the cabal which existed in the Abbey at the time, by calling out F Dionysius Allerton on the Mission, and if he had resorted to the measure of calling out either F Cuthbert Rooker, the Subprior at Ampleforth, or F Placid Metcalfe, the Cellerarius, and if he found it necessary to have ordered both of them to the Mission, he would probably have prevented all the fatal evils which beset that Establishment afterwards, on account of his apathy and his leaving things to take their own course.
On the President making his Visit at Ampleforth in September 1829, he found all the Junior part of the Community warmly attached to the Constitutional Government of the English Congregation and disposed to uphold it against Dr Baines's projects. But though he found that they were alarmed lest he might be getting hold of the property, as much of it was invested in the names of Prior Burgess and his Associates, yet he took no measures to prevent it and contented himself with merely ordering his Secretary to read the Oath and de non alienando [See the President Birdsall's letter to Mr Molyneux giving him an account of what had passed at the Visit and of what Dr Baines was doing at Ampleforth Jany 15th 1830 Records III 216] As nearly the whole of the Community had presented a Petition to the Prior requesting him to resign his Office, the President made no secret in telling them, that after what he had heard and seen, he thought that it would be impossible for the Prior to be continued in his Office at the Chapter in the ensuing summer. This indiscreet avowal sunk deep into the wounded mind of the exasperated Prior, who now took his final resolution of separating himself from the authorities of the Body, and on the close of the Visit he proceeded directly to Dr Baines who after two months accompanied him back to the Convent.
The prolonged visit of Dr Baines at Ampleforth excited the alarm of a large body of the Missioners, who feared for the stability of the Conventual Members of that Establishment and several of them urged the President to go over to Ampleforth to see what was going forward and if necessary to take up his residence amongst them during that critical period. But though he knew that all the Junior part of it was favourably disposed towards him up to the period of Dr Baines's arrival [See Mr Hampson's letter to the President Octr 27th 1829 Records V 272] yet he had not the prudence even to keep up a correspondence with any of them, so as to be in possession of what was transpiring there, and he allowed them to be won over by Dr Baines without making an effort to preserve their stability or moving a finger to keep them true to their allegiance to the Body. He quietly looked on without having the moral courage to meet his Episcopal opponent even within the precincts of a Convent subject to his own jurisdiction.
[President Birdsall writes to Prior Barber Feby 27 1830 Upon my return home today I heard Mr Brindle was in the Town and had a bed at The Plow Inn. I seldom have felt so much excitement and I may say uncertainty of my own resolution at meeting any person as I did when I walked into the parlour to see him. Had it been Dr Baines himself, that would not have been about me; but here is one in heart and attachment as well as public avowal a Defectionist, and as so much has been said of nullity of Vows, I thought it right and was prepared to notice, whether he met me as the Constitutions prescribe, and if not to insist upon him doing so. Whether this uncertainty or an involuntary preindisposition led to it I know not, but it struck me that he did not quite meet me as a President of our Body has a right to expect, and with some sternness I put the question, whether or not he was not my subject. He seemed surprised and hurt and replied that he was coming up to me to ask my Blessing and owned himself my subject. There was an end of the matter.' What the President says here of his being more unhinged in meeting Mr Brindle than he would have been in meeting Dr Baines himself, I can only say Credat Judaeus! How it came that he invariably declined to meet Dr Baines on important occasions which will be noticed hereafter? President Birdsall writes to Prior Barber March 1830 Assigning his reasons for remaining inactive `Again my going to Ampleforth must be followed up by my staying there, if Dr Baines remain there; otherwise to leave him in possession of the House would be to leave the sheep obnoxious to the teeth of the wolf. Again I question not, but that the least authoritative act of mine just now would be represented at Rome as to be there considered as a violent assumption of judgment on my part, while we pretend to await their judgment and indeed declared to be contrary to the canons being an unsettling of the status acti pendente appellatione, much of the same reasoning, I the other day alleged to Mr Duck, in answer to a letter he wrote to me on this subject, urging me as I valued the existence of our Congregation to go over to Ampleforth, an advice in which concurred as he said Molyneux, Talbot, Cooper, Kenyon &c.' I cannot understand this reasoning of the President, nor can I look it in any other light than a pitiful excuse to cloak his own want of moral courage to fulfil the stern duties which had devolved on him as President in this trying crisis. The question of the invalidity of the Vows had been raised by Dr Baines and was a question between him and Prior Burgess, and surely it would never have been construed as a violent assumption of judgment on his part in enforcing the Constitutions in a Conventual Priory belonging to the Congregation. If he had proceeded to Ampleforth at an early period after Dr Baines's arrival, he would have had all the Community in his favour and he could have easily preserved them from the contagion of Dr Baines. If he had found it necessary to make another Visit, and the Community would easily have invited him to do so, and it turned out that the Prior was refractory, and appealed to Rome, he would then have had to advise with the Definitors of the Regimen and met the difficulty. At any rate he would have saved the Community and prevented the plot from being perfected. The President in the letter above proceeds, `Fear! Fear! Fear! seems almost to have possessed almost every quarter. Provincials, Regimen, Bishops, All! All! No! not all. Not Dr Gradwell. He never will budge for Siga. He has measured arms with him on an equal plain and once inflicted a mortification on his aspiring and plotting schemery which will ever be felt. Dr Marsh has a fear of him but it is such a fear as may fall upon constantem virum. Fortunately for myself and my own feelings, whether for the good of the Body, I really don't know, I do not fear him! Let him come out in public and let the Press be made his armoury, then we shall have fair play and if I don't beat let me never be matched again. The battle then wont be won by flourishes and well turned periods and which if they be worth any thing, I need not flinch from him.']
On the President receiving notice from Dr Marsh who was then at Rome, that the question of the validity of the Vows was settled in a manner which would be acceptable to the Benedictines, and that the Petition of the Prior and three others to be placed under the jurisdiction of Dr Baines was granted, he had time to deliberate until the Decrees arrived as to his best mode of proceeding in the affairs at Ampleforth. The matter was of the gravest moment. The Constitutions lay down that if a vacancy occurs in a Priorship more than three months before Chapter a new election is to take place. But if within that period a vacancy occurs, the Counsellors of the house are to elect a temporary Superior till Chapter. As the term of the quadriennium was drawing to a close the loss of a few days would have brought it within three months of Chapter when no election could take place. However desirable it might be under ordinary circumstances to constitute a new Prior as soon as a vacancy occurs, yet considering that the election would be entirely vested in the present case in the hands of the Community who were in the interest of Dr Baines, there were strong grounds for not proceeding to a new election and to allow the time to expire without one; and then the President would have had it in his power to send into the House one or more Seniors from the Mission, upon whom he could have depended and then to have left it to the Council of the House to elect a temporary Superior till Chapter. Moreover the time for carrying the Decrees into execution was most unpropitious. If a new Prior had to be elected it was necessary that the election should take place close upon the Easter Indulgence when it would be hardly probable that the person elected would be able to proceed to Ampleforth to assume Office immediately, or that a Missioner would be found at liberty to be sent to the Convent to assume a temporary superiority till his arrival. Again it was highly desirable that the Prior should not be released from his Oath of Office until he was prepared to give an account of the finances of the Convent, so as to enable the President to authorize Bishop Smith, who was appointed by Rome to see that he delivered up all the property of the Benedictines, to carry out the Indult of Secularization.
The President, however, without apparently weighing the consequence of his proceedings, gave notice to F Bennet Glover, a member of the Regimen, to hold himself in readiness to proceed to Ampleforth forth as soon as the Decrees should arrive, and on the receipt of them they proceeded there with breathless haste to carry them into execution. The Prior and his two Associates were taken by surprise as they had not yet heard of the Indult of Secularization in their favour and they were allowed a day to consider whether they would accept of it. On their giving their assent, [April 3] the President then accepted of the resignation of the Priorship by F Laurence Burgess and proceeded to the election of a new Prior.
Never had a vacancy in a Priorship occurred under such unfavourable circumstance. The election depended on the Votes of such of the Community as were in Holy Orders and whoever obtained the majority of their Votes, provided he was eligible to the Office carried the election, without any controlling power as is the case in elections which take place at the General Chapter. All the electors, with one exception, were eager to place themselves under the jurisdiction of Dr Baines and were regardless at the time of the house of their Profession; so that they easily brought their consciences to believe that the person, whom they considered to be the most acceptable to Dr Baines, would be the most eligible person to be placed at the head of that devoted Establishment. On the scrutiny being made on the 3d of April, F Adrian Towers, a monk of the house of Lamspring and the known friend of Dr Baines, was declared to be canonically elected the Prior of St Laurence's, and on his election being notified to him he accepted Office.
The President, on inquiring of the Ex-Prior, whether he was prepared to give up the Title Deeds of the Property and every thing he held as the Agent of the Benedictines, had been answered in the affirmative, so that he fixed a time for receiving them in the course of the day, after the election had taken place. When however the Ex-Prior came with the keys at the appointed time, the President asked him if he would faithfully keep them till after the Easter Indulgence, when he would be returning again to receive the Accounts of the House as soon as they were ready and being informed that he would do so, the President desisted from making any further inquiries and left the keys in his possession [See Mr Golver's Statement Records III 243] As the Easter Indulgence had commenced, the President and F Bennet Glover repaired to their respective Missions, leaving F Jerom Hampson the temporary Superior of the House, who soon after their departure, requested the Ex-Prior to continue in authority as long as he remained at Ampleforth.
The consequence of these ill judged proceedings now became manifest, as the house was left for the next three weeks completely at the mercy of its enemies; and it was during this interval, that most of the evils which befell Ampleforth were accomplished. All the Community with one exception, petitioned Rome to be placed under the jurisdiction of Dr Baines and entrusted their Petition to the charge of Dr Smith the Bishop of the District to forward it to its destination. [Mr Glover in his Statement Records III 240 refers to a letter of Dr Baines in which it was said Tell them to persevere they are sure to succeed at last and to the advice given by Mr Burgess Don't give up they cannot keep you against your will.] The Parents of different Students were applied to by letter, petitioning to be allowed to accompany their Superiors and Masters to Prior Park. Even the domestic servants were tampered with. Some were engaged to leave and others were hired to go to Prior Park, so that the College at Ampleforth assumed the appearance at this period of becoming nearly deserted as soon as all these arrangements were carried into execution. And to add to this accumulation of evils, the President soon after he left Ampleforth, had informed Dr Smith that F Laurence Burgess had agreed to transfer the property which stood in his name and that he did not anticipate any difficulty about the transfer of the property [Dr Smith writes to Mr Burgess April 27 1830 `I received since your first letter a few lines from Mr Birdsall...In his answer he says The Transfer of the three Gentlemen mentioned in the Rescript, with the fourth now at Bath to your Lordship's and Dr Baines's jurisdiction, will not I apprehend be attended with any difficulty in its execution, either in what regards persons or property, Mr Burgess having engaged to surrender to our Superiors of the house whatever may stand in his name'] so that upon receiving this information, Bishop Smith carried the Indult of Secularization into execution and the Ex-Prior and his Associates had become independent of the Benedictines before they had submitted their Accounts to them.
The President had timely notice of what was going on within the walls of Ampleforth [See Mr Tyrer's letter to the President April 14 1830 Records III 321] and when the mischief was nearly completed, he directed F Glover to repair thither [Mr Glover writes to President Birdsall May 7th 1830 `They have told me since I wrote to you last, that they have got their Demissonals from Dr Smith and are responsible to no one but to Dr Baines. It is also said, but not to me, that they mean to present you their Accounts as soon as you come, and whether you are satisfied or not to take themselves away. How this can be I do not understand.'] Some days later he himself and others arrived at Ampleforth for the purpose of coming to a settlement of the Accounts with the three Ex-Monks. As they no longer owed any subjection to the Benedictines they assumed a high tone. The Ex-Prior presented his Statement of the Accounts which was strongly objected to. But he insisted on them being accepted with all the debts contracted by him for the College, and on no other terms would he and his two Associates convey the property of Byland to other names; and unless they were accepted, he threatened to have a sale and pay off the debts to which he was liable by law [Mr Glover in his Statement Records III 245 writes And now it appeared that they had procured Dr Smith's Exequatur to their Indult of Secularization. On the strength of this they bullied they threatened they would walk off whenever they pleased and if we did not come into their terms they would advertise a Sale of every thing pay the debts and go about their business. See also Mr Robinson's testimony Record III 229] This threat frightened the President and others, who agreed to accept these Accounts and signed a legal Instrument agreeing to pay all their liabilities and they on their part agreeing to take their names out of all the Title Deeds of Property belonging to the Benedictines [See the Agreement Records III 230] Two days later the President informed Bishop Smith that he had finally settled with the three Ex-Monks and that he had released them from all further demands on the part of the Benedictines [See the President's letter to Dr Smith Records III 251 `They have surrendered to us the property, Deeds, Accounts &c such as were in their possession and have engaged to surrender to us the remainder, such as can only later be transferred to us, and we on our parts have acquitted them of liability to all further demands on our part. This we have done mutually by a legal Instrument signed by both parties... You say in your letter to me that it will give you satisfaction to know that we are satisfied. But, my Lord, if I must say we are satisfied, it is the satisfaction of necessity, the satisfaction of helplessness. The Gentlemen concerned had had the confidence of their Confreres placed in them. The whole of this property had been invested in their names and having the legal power to withhold it from us, we have been compelled to yield to their terms and to suffer an adjustment of things, which no indulgence, nor allowance for opinion, can induce us to regard as equitable...Thus we have closed our dealings with those three.']
But if the President in the whole of his dealings with Ampleforth had lowered himself in the estimation of others by his pusillanimous conduct, he greatly redeemed his character by the manly and successful stand which he took against Dr Baines in his unjust attempt to wrest the Mission of Bath from the Benedictines. As the President had unwarily given Dr Smith to understand that he did not anticipate any difficulty attending the transfer of F Jerom Brindle, the Incumbent at Bath, to Dr Baines, the Venerable Bishop of the Northern District had carried the Indult of Secularization into execution. They had scarcely been carried into effect, when F Bennet Deday, the Provincial of the South called upon him to resign the Incumbency of Bath to F Maurus Cooper his Assistant and to give up the property of the Mission into his hands. But Mr Brindle referred him to Dr Baines, his new Superior, who would not allow him to give up the Incumbency, nor allow any person but himself to appoint the principal Missionary at Bath, professing at the same time, that he was ready to make over to the Benedictines whatever property at Bath could be fairly shown to belong to them.
This unjustifiable usurpation of the Mission of Bath induced the President to resort to strong measures to gain possession of the property belonging to the Benedictines. As the season drew near for the Tenants to pay their Rents at Bath, they received legal notice not to pay the rents to any persons, except to those who were appointed to receive them by the legal owners of the property. This bold and energetic stroke roused the anger of Dr Baines, who to make good the slippery ground on which he stood, had recourse to spiritual weapons to enforce his temporal pretensions. F Maurus Cooper received notice from him that he would incur the loss of his Faculties for the Western District, if he received any of the rents, as well as any members of the Benedictine Body, who should have commissioned him, or have been a party to such a step, would do the same. And as he had been informed that some public announcement either by word or writing would be made to the Bath Congregation before the first Sunday in Advent, declaring the rents of the Benches were not to be paid either to Mr Brindle or to himself, but to the Benedictine Incumbent, he further notified to him that the further loss of Missionary Faculties for the Western District and the penalty of suspension reserved to himself, would be incurred by every Priest, who should perform, abet or concur in making an announcement of the above nature [See Dr Baines's letter to Mr Cooper Records III 304]
The denunciation of these censures did not deter the President from doing what he deemed the faithful discharge of his duty required of him in order to preserve the Bath Mission to the Benedictines. To enable him to act an independent part and to steer clear of the threatened censures he voluntarily resigned his Missionary Faculties for the Western District [See Mr Birdsall's letter to Dr Baines resigning his Missionary Faculties Records III 319] but he continued to hold the temporalities of the Mission at Cheltenham in his own hands and retained Door-keepers at his Chapel as before to receive money from those who entered the Chapel, though the payment was no longer made compulsory, as Dr Baines had denounced his Censures in a late Pastoral against these compulsory payments. Feeling himself now at liberty, he had Handbills printed, which were signed by him and the Provincial of the South, desiring the Congregation of Bath not to pay their Bench rents for the present, as obstructions had been placed in the way of the rightful Incumbent receiving the money, and stating that Subscribers in the mean time would be admitted on producing their present tickets [See the Printed Address to the Congregation Records III 332] As the first Sunday of Advent drew near, which was the time when the Congregation at Bath took their Tickets for the year, these Handbills were distributed at the Door of the Chapel by a Protestant, who had been hired for the purpose and notwithstanding the threats which Mr Brindle, the Vicar General, held out to him, he manfully remained at his post and distributed the Handbills. This bold and decisive measure tended to bring about a speedy settlement of the Bath Mission.
Not long after this Dr Baines, finding the voice of public opinion against him and that it would be impossible for him to hold the temporalities of the Chapel much longer in his hands, summoned F Maurus Cooper to Prior Park to announce to him, that he was disposed to make him the Senior Chaplain, as he now required the services of Mr Brindle at his Establishment, but that he would send an Assistant from Prior Park to reside with him, and concluded by reminding him that this arrangement was a perfect voluntary act on his part as he had not been compelled by higher authority to make it. [See Mr Cooper's letter to the President Records III 330] For some months, the Bishop continued to send as Assistant to Bath from Prior Park, but in the course of the summer, he granted Faculties to F Jerom Jenkins as the Benedictine Assistant at the Bath Mission. This may be considered the practical settlement of the dissensions which had arisen out of Dr Baines's seizure of the temporalities of the place.
On the failure of Dr Baines's plans for the seizure of the Bath Mission he began to retrace his steps in his other acts of aggression on the Benedictines; but his offers to come to an accommodation were not met by a corresponding feeling on the part of his opponents, and the President's conduct tended to lower them in public estimation.
Dr Coombes, the Missioner at Shepton Mallet, in conjunction with Mr Edgeworth and Mr Burgess, having brought about a peaceful settlement between Dr Baines and the Superiors of Downside [1831 May 30] regarding their Missionary Faculties for the District, proceeded to invite the President to meet them at Downside, for the purpose of bringing about a settlement of all the other differences between the Benedictines and the Bishop. But before we proceed to mention the result of this application, it will be necessary to notice the subjects of dispute between the parties.
It has already been stated that the President and others had signed a legal Instrument agreeing to accept the Accounts of Mr Burgess and his two Associates and acquitting them of all further demands. But on the new Superiors of Ampleforth, finding a large amount of outstanding debts continually turning up, which had not been inserted among the liabilities which had been given in to them, they began to repudiate the Deed of Settlement as having been extorted under the threat which had been held out of having a sale and selling the property and paying their debts, so that they were not disposed to abide by it as a final settlement of the Accounts of Ampleforth. F Adrian Towers, the new Prior, denounced to Dr Baines the whole system which the Ex Monks had pursued in bringing their Accounts to close [See Mr Towers's letter to Dr Baines Records III 279] F Bennet Glover called upon Mr Burgess for explanations of certain portions of his Accounts [See Mr Glover's Statement Records III 247] and on the Meeting of the General Chapter which followed, the Fathers forwarded an Address to Cardinal Cappellari complaining of the injustice which had been done to Ampleforth by the three former Superiors of the Establishment [See the Address of the General Chapter to Cardinal Cappellari Records III 287] On the other hand, Dr Baines denied the charges of injustice and forbade Mr Burgess to answer the questions which had been put to him, but he expressed his willingness that his friends should be called upon to defend their proceedings before Dr Smith, the appointed Judge in the matter, or before the Public Tribunals of the County [See Dr Baines's letter to Prior Towers Records III 285] From this period the Deed of Settlement was gradually lost sight of. The proceedings of Mr Burgess and his two Associates on leaving Ampleforth were everywhere denounced as unjust, and the question of revising their Accounts was loudly called for and pressed upon the authorities at Rome for some years before Arbiters were appointed to adjudicate the matter.
The other subject in dispute did not affect the Benedictines as a Body, but only regarded the President in his capacity of Administrator of the Western District and Executor to the Will of Dr Collingridge. This exemplary Prelate, knowing it to be the intention of Dr Baines to attempt the election of a Seminary was much disconcerted, as he dreaded the expense of such an undertaking and used his influence to dissuade him. But finding him bent upon carrying out his favourite project, he ceased to repose any confidence in him in money matters. As he was frugal and careful he had contrived to save money to the amounts of £3,000. This sum he invested in the names of Dr Bramston and other Clerical Trustees to the exclusion of his Coadjutor, and placed it out on a mortgage on the ground Rents of certain houses belonging to Mr Manley at Taunton. To prevent this money passing ultimately into the hands of Dr Baines, he made a new Will about a year before his death appointing Dr Bramston and Mr Birdsall his Executors to the exclusion of his Coadjutor. He moreover left private instructions directing that this money should be expended by his Executors in concert with Dr Baines, in benefiting the Missionary department in the Western District. From these facts it appears evidently to have been the intention of Dr Collingridge to guard as much as possible against the money passing into the hands of Dr Baines after his death. But Dr Bramston and the other Clerical Trustees were afterwards prevailed by Dr Baines to take up the mortgage and to pay the £3,000 to him on their own responsibility. No sooner had this come to the knowledge of the President, who, though an Executor, had not been consulted upon the matter, than he not only insisted on it being invested again, but he required it to be invested in his name, as the guardian of the property, and finding he could not accomplish what he required, he determined in order to enable him to carry out the intentions of Dr Collingridge to avail himself of the loan of £1,000 which had been given for the maintenance of the Bishop of the Western District and which he had borrowed many years before of the late Bishop at 5 per cent interest, and to retain this as a set off against the £3,000 until it was either invested in his own name or expended according to the written instructions of the Testator. Dr Baines complained bitterly against this proceeding and insisted on the repayment of this £1,000 which belonged to him; but the President could neither be induced to repay it, nor submit the justice of retaining it to friendly arbitration. This subject in reality had no reference to the Benedictine Body in itself; but as the President could not obtain his Missionary Faculties for Cheltenham, because he would not pay this £1,000, it became the fruitful source of continued dissensions between the parties and was in reality the real cause which prevented Dr Baines from coming to a friendly composition of his differences with the Benedictines.
Having premised these matters, we must now return to the invitation, which Dr Coombes gave the President to meet him and his friends at Downside to attempt an adjustment of the disputes between Dr Baines and the Benedictines. It might have been expected that the President would have gladly availed himself of the proffered opportunity of effecting a reconciliation with an able and dangerous opponent. To have made an attempt, even should it have proved unsuccessful, would have enabled him to have retained the high ground which the Benedictines had hitherto held throughout the controversy by keeping on the defensive, and he would have had it in his power to decline agreeing to any terms, which would have left his Body in a worse condition than it was in before Dr Baines commenced his wanton aggression upon it. But the President injured the cause of the Benedictines by his proceedings. To the friendly invitation which he received, he declined he would not even consent to attempt to bring about an accommodation, unless Dr Baines first gave Faculties to a second Benedictine Priest at Bath, and he pointed out the impropriety of selecting Mr Burgess to bring about an adjustment of their differences, when he himself ought to be brought to an account for the property at Ampleforth which he had been bound under Oath not to alienate [See the President's letter to Dr Coombes Records III 355] On meeting with this unpropitious repulse Mr Edgeworth proceeded to Cheltenham with a letter from Dr Baines to the President, in which he expressed his earnest wish to come to an accommodation with the Benedictines and declared that he was prepared for the sake of peace to give up his just rights as far as he was authorized to do so in the judgment of his Clerical Advisers, and then he invited him to allow a formal Meeting to take place for the purpose of putting an end to their differences [See Dr Baines's letter to the President and the President's Answer Records III 356, 357] Nothing could be more honourable on the part of the Bishop, the President however continued inflexible in his determination of insisting on Faculties being given to a second Benedictine at Bath. He further intimated that he had in contemplation to make a public address in the Bath Chapel to prove the right of the Benedictines to that Mission and to show the injuries which they had sustained in the Bishop attempting to wrest it out of their hands. With respect to the Accounts at Ampleforth he was found to be agreeable to leave that dispute to be settled between Mr Burgess and Messrs Glover Robinson and Marsh, and he expressed his willingness to deliver up the Accounts of the Western District, if an Account was given to him of such property at Taunton as was left by Dr Collingridge to be disposed of by him conjointly with the Bishop [See Mr Edgeworth letter to the President Records III 358 in which he says `that Dr Baines consents to give Faculties to a second Monk for the Bath Mission and writes by this Post to Mr Deday on the subject. This was written on the 17 of June 1831. The President wrote a letter to his Holiness on the 15 of July following. See Records III 364 in which, after giving an Account of the state of the Mission at Bath, he writes of the Second Priest Reverendissimus Episcopus noluit e nostris secundarium illum admittere Facultatesque dare negavit vel potius Provinciali iterum ac tertium poscenti non dignatus est respondere. Was there either truth or honesty in this Statement?]
On these matters being communicated to Dr Baines, who was anxious to bring about a reconciliation, he immediately consented to give Faculties to a second Benedictine at Bath; but he repudiated the dispute about the Accounts of Ampleforth as far as he himself was concerned and requested the President to appoint a time at his earliest opportunity for settling the Accounts of the Western District, requesting him to specify what Accounts he required to be laid before him by the person appointed by the Bishop to meet him upon the subject.
As Dr Baines had yielded to the original demand stipulated by the President as preliminary to their meeting, he had now a right to call upon him to agree to a meeting between them for the purpose of composing their remaining differences. These were now confined within a narrow compass. As the differences between the Convent at Downside and those originating out of the Mission at Bath were happily terminated and as the Accounts at Ampleforth appertained to Mr Burgess rather than to Dr Baines, the only subjects of complaint to be brought under discussion were the restoration of the Missionary Faculties of the President and the settlement of the Accounts of the Western District. But the President, instead of honourably fulfilling his engagement, proceeded to apply to Dr Baines for fresh concessions [Cardinal Weld writes to the President July 28 1831 Records III 363 `I am very sorry you refused this (Dr Coombes's) mediation and hardly know how to defend you even with your letters just received. But I will do what I can though you have hampered me sadly.' See also the President's letter to Cardinal Weld explanatory of his conduct Records III 368] As he had resigned his Missionary Faculties in consequence of the Bishop's letter to F Maurus Cooper on the 5th of October 1830, which now appeared to be no longer in force, he asked permission to exercise them in Cheltenham. To this untimely application, the Bishop reminded him that he had never withdrawn his Missionary Faculties, and that he should not object to him receiving them again, as soon as an amicable settlement of the affairs of the District afforded a fair prospect, that he would not need again to resign them, nor the Bishop regret that he had given them. Upon this the President informed the Bishop in a very uncourteous manner that he would insist on the property belonging to Dr Collingridge being invested in his name until they had mutually agreed how it had to be expended according to the directions of the late Bishop [See the correspondence Records III 362]
Dr Baines had just grounds to complain on the breach of faith on the part of the President. But as he had been strongly urged or required by the authorities at Rome to restore the President's Faculties [Cardinal Weld wrote to the President as early as March 1831 `I thought the best thing I could do was to request a private audience which I obtained immediately, though his Holiness was quite overwhelmed with business of every kind. I urged him as strongly as I dared to grant you Faculties, exposing to him all the consequences as well as I was able of your present situation. He seemed fully sensible of the evils attending it but seemed so fearful of the consequences of such a measure independent of the Bishop, that he thought leaving things as they are the least evil of the two...At his audience last Sunday his Holiness directed him the Secretary of Propaganda to write to Dr Baines with directions I understand to restore your Faculties and those of Mr Polding'] it was necessary for him to proceed with great caution in his delicate position. The question of renewing the Faculties of the President was submitted to his Clerical Advisers, who were of opinion that he ought not to renew them, unless the President performed his engagement with Mr Edgeworth to settle Dr Collingridge's Executorship and to pay the £1,000 back which he had belonging to the Bishop. But as it would take some time to arrange this business, Dr Baines informed F Bennet Deday, the Provincial that he authorized him to grant the President Faculties in his District for three months, hoping in the interval that this business would be settled and then he would be happy to renew them [See Dr Baines's letter to Mr Deday Records III 372. See also Dr Baines's Appeal to the Definitors of the Regimen against the President Records III 381] But the President, instead of making any approach to settle the Executorship remained perversely obstinate and would listen to no measures which were calculated to bring this dispute to a conclusion.
As the three months were drawing to a close without any result, Dr Baines again submitted to his Clerical Advisers, whether he ought to prolong the President's Missionary Faculties. But as they were of opinion that he ought not to renew them, because the President would neither repay the £1,000 nor submit the justice of retaining it to the decision of their mutual friends, he determined to act upon their advice and began to take steps for providing the Catholics of Cheltenham with another Pastor by offering to give Faculties to any Benedictine who was properly qualified as soon as his Missionary Faculties expired. The President however was for assuming high ground and was not for allowing any Benedictine to exercise his Faculties in his Chapel at Cheltenham, until higher authority interfered in the matter, and it was not until the Bishop positively declared that he would not suffer the Catholics at Cheltenham to be left without a Priest and that if the Benedictines refused to furnish on he would send a Priest of his own and would take measures for erecting a new Chapel in the Town [Dr Baines writes to Provincial Deday Novr 9th 1831 Records III 382 `I would willingly overlook all that is past and receive him as a Missioner, if he would enable me to do so, by putting an end to the grievous injuries he is inflicting on the District and fulfilling the engagement which honour and justice require of him...It appears by Mr Birdsall's letter to you that he will not allow you to supply the Mission at Cheltenham but asserts that the people must remain without a Shepherd till proper authority interfere. In this he is mistaken. I cannot and will not suffer the Catholic Flock at Cheltenham to be left long without a Pastor, and therefore I beg you to inform Mr Birdsall that a Missionary will be sent there by me, probably before Sunday week, if the Benedictine Body refuse to send one and that measures will be immediately taken for erecting a new Chapel. With his Chapel I shall not interfere.' Mr Cooper writes to the President July 29th 1831 Records III 373 `On Monday last Dr Baines came down from Prior Park to have a little conversation regarding the unsettled state of the Bath Mission...He then reverted to the recent correspondence he had had with you and said that he thought he had been severely dealt with - that no Bishop since the period of St Peter had received such bitter animadversions in letters as he had; that the last letter or last but one I think which he wrote to you he had tried to render as full of kindness to you and the Benedictines as possible - that even this kindness had been thrown back upon him in a most malicious way and that the treatment he had received was even termed (by the Reverend of mild language) ferocious...He could see that the storm would still endure - that there was no likelihood of peace but of protracted war between him and the Benedictines - that scandal would become still more extended and more evil done than time would ever be able to repair unless either he or the Benedictine Superiors should surrender - he had therefore come to this determination - to yield for the sake of Religion and the peace of the Church. He repeated very firmly - which I could perceive was no small effort, I am disposed to yield up every point but trusted and hoped my good Superiors would at last treat him with the civility due to a Bishop as their Superior in the Church'] that the President relented and agreed that F Ambrose Duck should receive Faculties for Cheltenham. Thus the olive branch of peace, which Dr Baines had held out in the spirit of charity was scornfully rejected by the President, who in his Epistolary correspondence adopted a savageness of tone towards his Episcopal opponent, which displayed an utter want of self control over his feelings which was unworthy of a Religious monk.
The President, on finding his Missionary Faculties were not to be renewed [1831 Novr 2] addressed an able letter to his Holiness, laying before him the injuries he was sustaining in not having his Missionary Faculties renewed for Cheltenham, where he had erected a Chapel which was encumbered with a heavy debt, for which he was legally responsible; and this because he insisted, according to his own view of the case, on seeing the Will of the late Dr Collingridge carried out as he was his Executor [See the President's letter to his Holiness Records III 379] The authorities at Rome were favourably disposed towards him and felt the hardship of his situation, but they could not be induced to interfere authoritatively in these pecuniary transactions [Cardinal Weld writes to the President Novr 19 1831 `I see the very unpleasant situation in which you are placed with respect to your dispute with Bishop Baines relative to good Dr Collingridge's Will, but I do not see how you can receive any relief from hence, unless his Holiness thought proper to do the very thing for which Dr Baines was so much blamed viz using spiritual means for temporal purposes. I know it to be the opinion of a very eminent Catholic Lawyer that a person who should apply to his Holiness in temporal matters would incur praemunire - And would he not violate his Oath of Allegiance?'] so the Prefect of Propaganda sent a Commission to Bishop Bramston to inquire into these unhappy differences between the parties and to report what measures he advised to put an end to them [Cardinal Weld writes to the President Decr 1st 1831 `I have only just been able to ascertain that your Petition was received and also a letter from Dr Baines in which he is reported to have said that he had offered you Faculties which you had refused, that in consequence a letter with instructions have been sent to Dr Bramston to constitute him Umpire between you.']
The appointment of Dr Bramston to take cognizance of this business was unfortunate, as he had been a party concerned with the other Trustees in taking up the Mortgage of £3,000 on the grounds Rents of certain houses at Taunton belonging to the late Dr Collingridge and of handing it over to Dr Baines without the consent of the President, who was the other Executor and this was the real cause of the grievances complained of by the President, who insisted on this money being placed out on security, and until that was done, he refused to pay back the £1,000 which he had belonging to the Bishop, as he retained this as security for the money.
After some delay Dr Bramston notified to the President the Commission which he had received from Rome, which was confined to the investigation of matters between him and his Bishop and his acceptance of the charge which had been imposed upon him, and proceeded to fix the investigation to take place at Prior Park on the 7th of February 1832, two days after the consecration of Dr Morris, which was arranged to take place at the Chapel at Downside, where he would be attended on the occasion by Dr Baines and Dr Gradwell, the Assistant Prelates, and at which he had no doubt he would be present [See Dr Bramston's letter to the President Jany 12 1832 Records III 387] This announcement drew forth from the President one of his severe and powerful philippics pointing out the impropriety of Dr Bramston sitting in judgment on a case which he was a party and insinuating that the appointment at Prior Park to be the place where the investigation was to take place was a proof that he was not impartial. But notwithstanding these objections which he had a right to raise, he promised to be prepared on the day appointed to bring his accusations against Dr Baines, not only as the Administrator of the Western District and as the Executor of Dr Collingridge and Trustee of his property, but also as the President of the English Congregation and Missionary Apostolic in the Western District. He moreover signified that he should come prepared to prove that Dr Baines had made the injuries, which had been done to Ampleforth, his own, by a letter which he wrote to the Present Prior, and that he should consequently bring with him some of his Brethren connected with Ampleforth to substantiate the charges against the Ex Monks on leaving that Establishment. He then claimed the right of being admitted before him with his Missionary Faculties restored and called upon him to order the money in dispute to be paid into court as is usual in such cases. Finally he declined to take part in any ceremony in which Dr Baines was a party except where duty or necessity compelled him, until this present business was settled, and stated that his first meeting with Dr Baines would be in confronting him in a Court of Justice [See the President's letter to Dr Bramston and his answer Records III 388, 394 the consecration of Dr Morris took place at Old Hall Green and the friends of Dr Bramston prevailed on Messrs Polding and Brown who attended to induce the President to withdraw his letter but without effect. Mr Brown wrote to Dr Marsh, who showed his letter on the subject to Messrs Robinson and Glover of Crosby. Upon this Mr Glover wrote to the President Feby 12 1832 `Mr Robinson and myself laughed at the good mans fears. In fine we unanimously agreed that there was nothing in your famous letter to Bramston that could either be changed or retracted; that it remained for them to act and you to be silent till you first heard from them. We also observed that all the uproar made about that letter was all about the manner, not one word said about the matter. That their loud cries only demonstrated the smart of the scourge.' Cardinal Weld took a different view in his letter to the President Septr 29th 1832 `I cannot help deploring that you should have written a letter in such a style to such a man as Dr Bramston - Your former letter to me showed that your patience was nearly exhausted, but I had flattered myself that it would have endured a little longer. I had so strongly recommended recourse being had to arbitration in my last letter to you, that I thought it unnecessary to say more, and when the feelings which existed when you answered it had subsided, you would not have thrown such an obstacle in the way of an accommodation proposed by the Propaganda, who were not aware how Dr Bramston was implicated in the business - I am not at all surprised that he should refuse to interfere after receiving such a letter from you...You may say you did not refuse the arbitration; but you accepted of it in such a manner that it was not to be supposed that the result should be different from what it was. I trust you will pardon the liberty I now take in making my observations so freely, in hopes that you may be induced to accept of another proposal for accommodation which I suppose will be shortly offered to you through Dr Wiseman, and I flatter myself it will be such as to enable you to settle Dr Collingridge's affairs and relieve you from the sad state in which you have been so long suffering. God grant that such may be the result.' From Mr Birdsall's letter to Mr Fisher June 8th 1832 we learn that `his Holiness had blamed his refusing to meet Dr B.' This sentence may mean my refusal to meet Dr Baines at the consecrating of Dr Morris - and this I did refuse - And it is not unlikely that the Holy Father may have meant his Non laudo to affect not my objections to Dr Bramston's conducting the investigation on the score of partiality but to affect my charity or the want of charity in bearing ill will to Dr Baines so as not to be willing to offer him the hand of fellowship.'] The tone of this communication induced Dr Bramston to decline taking any further steps in this business, as he was satisfied that no good result could possibly attend it.
On the failure of this second attempt to bring about an accommodation much blame was cast on the President for his intemperate language and for his refusal to hold out the hand of christian fellowship to Dr Baines, so that some months transpired before any steps were taken by the authorities at Rome to bring these contentions to a close. But on Dr Wiseman, the Rector of the English College at Rome, having to proceed to England on business connected with his Establishment in the course of the ensuing autumn, he was commissioned by his Holiness to use every means in his power to bring about a settlement of the unhappy differences existing between Dr Baines and the Benedictine Body.
Dr Wiseman, having visited Dr Baines at Prior Park, proceeded to Cheltenham to see the President, in company with Dr Baines and Mr Burgess. But on finding that the President absolutely refused to see either of his friends [The President writes to Dr Brown at Rome Novr 26 1832 Records III 417 `See Dr Baines and Mr Burgess I would not. Dr Wiseman asked me if I would, to which I answered I would, if the Pope ordered it see Dr Baines...Dr Wiseman throughout the whole acted more like the Advocate of Dr Baines than an Umpire.' Having enumerated his proofs of this he writes, `I wish to get my case put in as I drew it up that it might reach Rome and therefore I put up with much - otherwise his partiality was so offensive I would have bundled him out of the house in double time.'
I will here notice that when Mr Birdsall first went to Cheltenham there was not a Catholic boy in the place so he hired a Protestant lad to serve at Mass for threepence each time. The Mother soon fancied that her Boy was so necessary that she would not let him go for less than sixpence. Mr Birdsall then managed without him] he proposed in the course of the interview with him [1832 Novr 19] as the basis of an accommodation, that Dr Baines should reinvest the sum belonging to the Executorship in the names of those in which it formerly stood, and as one thousand of this had already been expended, the thousand pounds in the President's hands should be invested in its place - that the President and an Agent appointed by Dr Baines should proceed to liquidate all mutual claims and wind up all Dr Collingridge's affairs and that a Referee should be chosen by each party and in case of a difference of opinion the decision of Dr Bramston should be definitive. He further proposed that the Ampleforth claims should be discussed before persons agreed upon by both parties in concert with the Congregation of Propaganda. In the mean while Dr Baines and the accused parties would give any security required that all money which should be proved to have been carried off unlawfully or to have been wrongly invested in Prior Park should be restored.
The President at first insisted on a judicial trial, but on Dr Wiseman expressing his conviction that it never would be granted at Rome, he was contented to waive the point, and having placed two accusatory Memorials against Dr Baines in his hands to be submitted to Propaganda, he parted with him, taking time to weigh attentively his propositions before he committed himself to them. Although he had strong grounds to take exception to Dr Wiseman's partial conduct, he considered it to be advantageous to his cause not to avow his sentiments, but to write to him in the course of the evening, expressing his wish that these differences should be terminated and inquiring whom Dr Baines intended to choose as his Referee in the investigation of the Ampleforth Accounts and submitting that Dr Baines should invest the £3,000 belonging to the late Dr Collingridge not only in the names in which it stood before, but that his own should be added to them, as he considered Dr Collingridge had constituted him the guardian of it - he finally stated that the Benedictines would willingly place the merits of their cause before him and abide by his decision [See Mr Birdsall's Statement of what passed between him and Dr Wiseman and his two accusatory Memorials against Dr Baines Records III 394, 412] Although Dr Wiseman's avocations would not allow him to remain in England long enough to unravel the difficulties attending the Ampleforth Accounts, yet he confessed his willingness to undertake this business if the Holy See gave him a Commission to act and declared he would conscientiously discharge the duties connected with it and he looked upon the avowed disposition of the President to enter into negotiations to terminate these differences as a favourable symptom which might ultimately lead to the restoration of peace between the parties.
In the autumn of this year F Joseph Brown had proceeded to the Continent, as Tutor to the eldest son of Sir Edward Smythe. During his sojourn at Rome, he presented several Memorials to the Congregation, containing the grievances which the Benedictines had met with from Dr Baines and excusatory of the President in declining to meet his Bishop [See Mr Brown's Memorial explaining the President's conduct to Dr Wiseman and a second Memorial in extenuation of his conduct in declining to meet Dr Baines when Dr Wiseman was at Cheltenham Records III 412, 429] In the February following [1833] he was appointed the Procurator of the Benedictines at Rome for the purpose of presenting to the Sacred Congregation the Accusation Memorials which the President had placed in the hands of Dr Wiseman at Cheltenham and which he feared would not otherwise be brought under its notice. But on taking the advice of his friends, F Joseph Brown, instead of presenting them, drew up a Memorial of his own, in which he inserted the leading grievances contained in the President's Statement with certain additions of his own, and presented copies of it to the Pope and some of the leading Cardinals. In the conclusion of it, he expressed his earnest wish on the part of the Benedictines that these unhappy differences should be terminated, and in order to attain this object, he proposed to the Sacred Congregation to direct that an investigation of all matters in dispute should take place in England and suggested that Dr Baines and the President should each select one person who possessed their confidence, that those two should have the power of electing a third and then those three should be empowered to examine all matters connected with these dissensions, to propose remedies and to send their Report to the Sacred Congregation, which should finally interpose its authority and restore peace between the parties. This proposition was favourably entertained, but a year elapsed before it was finally determined to act upon the principle which was here recommended.
In the early part of the following year [1834] Dr Baines, after issuing his Lenten Pastoral, in which he stated he was going to Rome on business connected with the affairs of his District, left England for the Eternal City. As the President did not appear disposed to go to Rome himself, nor to send his representative to meet him, Dr Baines took advantage of this and affected to be astonished that the President should not venture to meet him. He wrote to Dr Walsh signifying that he had written to the Prefect of Propaganda before he had reached Rome, expressing his earnest wish that the President should be prevailed on to meet him, and that since his arrival, he had applied to Monsignor Mau, the Secretary of the Sacred Congregation, to have him summoned or invited to Rome; but as this was not approved of, he hoped the President would come as he wished their differences to be fairly settled [See an Extract of Dr Walsh's letter to the President and the President's reply Records IV 89] But the President, instead of accepting the challenge, contented himself with addressing the Prefect of Propaganda and expressing his readiness to proceed to Rome in case the Holy Father should deem it advisable to summon him [See the President's letter to the Prefect of Propaganda Records IV 11 If Dr Baines had really wished the President to meet him in Rome, why did he not write to him before he left England and let him know he was going there on his differences with him and invite him to meet him there. But he did nothing of the kind, he simply noticed in his Pastoral that he was going to Rome on business connected with his District, leaving every one to conjecture what that business was and he was even on his journey for some days before his mysterious pastoral was published]
The subject of the differences between Dr Baines and the Benedictines was brought before the Congregation of Cardinals, which was held in the ensuing May and a plan of a similar nature to the one which had been recommended before by F Joseph Brown was adopted which it was hoped would lead to a general pacification. Dr Baines and the President were each to choose two Arbiters of equal dignity in the Church; but on Dr Baines petitioning afterwards to know whether Bishops were allowed to be chosen Arbiters, it was decided that one of the Arbiters on each side should be a Bishop, and then these four were to choose a fifth. These five Arbiters were empowered to examine the complaints of both parties and to report their decision upon them which was to be referred to the Sacred Congregation for its final approval [At first the decision of Propaganda on the 17 of May was that each party should choose duos Ecclesiasticos viros ejusdem gradus. Records IV 12 but this was amended on the 17 of August 1834 See Records IV 13]
Dr Baines, having left Rome soon after the mode of electing the Arbiters had been finally arranged, arrived in England in the beginning of September. As the Sacred Congregation had arranged that he and the President should alternatively choose their Arbiters, and that Dr Baines should first make choice of the Episcopal Arbiter on his side, it remained with him to initiate this business and yet he observed an unbroken silence during the two following months. During this interval the President had complained to the Prefect of Propaganda of the hardship he was undergoing in being deprived of his Missionary Faculties for Cheltenham, not for any fault which was laid to his charge as a Missioner, but on account of other matters which would have to be brought before the Arbiters, and he prayed that his Missionary Faculties might be restored to him before the investigation took place and that he might not continue to be punished for causes which would have to come regularly before the Arbiters, whose judgment upon them would have to be submitted to by both parties [See the President's letter to Propaganda Records IV 14] But although he received no answer to this communication yet Dr Baines had notice that it was highly desirable that he should restore them to him.
At length Dr Baines notified to the President that he had applied to Dr Briggs, the Coadjutor of the Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District to be his Arbiter and wished to be informed whom he intended to appoint on his side. At the same time he intimated that if he could suggest a more expeditious way of carrying the Decree of the Sacred Congregation into effect, he should be happy to avail himself of it. But the President demurred as he was not disposed to make his appointment unless received notice from the Sacred Congregation that he would have to come into Court before the Arbiters without his Missionary Faculties for the Western District. On receiving this information, Dr Baines proceeded in obedience to the avowed wishes which he had received from the Holy See on the subject, to notify to him that he had authorized Provincial Barber to grant him his Missionary Faculties `as soon as the five Arbiters had been appointed and had fixed the time for holding their Meeting. The President, having now partially gained his object, proceeded to urge the subject of his faculties upon Dr Baines, upon which he was always very sensitive, and took up the proposition which had been originally suggested by the Bishop of settling their differences amicably provided he would unconditionally restore them [See the correspondence between Dr Baines and the President Records IV 14, 20] Upon this application for fresh concessions Dr Baines broke off all further correspondence with him.
As Dr Baines considered the President was pursuing his former plan of making fresh demands as soon as he found him disposed to make any concession, he was determined not to be trifled with, so that having waited near a month to see whether the President was taking any measures to appoint his Episcopal Arbiter and not hearing from him on the subject, he withdrew from the Provincial the authority which he had before given him of granting Missionary Faculties to the President under certain circumstances, alleging his refusal to nominate an Arbiter [See Provincial Barber's letter to Dr Baines Records IV 20] But though it was afterwards proved to the Bishop, that the President had previously applied to Dr Walsh to take upon him the onerous duty of being the Episcopal Arbiter on the side of the Benedictines, yet the Bishop, having taken his final resolution not to restore again his Missionary Faculties, remained inflexible and persisted in refusing them, as the delay, which had occurred on the part of the President in appointing his Episcopal Arbiter, afforded him a plausible pretext for eluding the directions which he had received from Rome; and the proposition which he had made enabled him to represent both at Rome and in England that the President shrunk from the decision of an impartial Tribunal.
Before the end of January four Arbiters had been appointed [Mr Birdsall had already appointed his Arbiters when Cardinal Weld wrote to him Feby 10th 1835 `In an interview with which I was honoured by his Holiness, he expressed his regret that you should have appeared to put an obstacle to the termination of your differences with the Right Revd Dr Baines by refusing to name your Arbitrators till you had received your Faculties. At the same time he requested me to write to you waive that objection.' Records IV 23] Dr Briggs and Dr Youens the Incumbent of Copperas Hill Chapel in Liverpool were chosen on the part of Dr Baines and Dr Walsh and Mr Brooke, the Ex-Provincial of the Jesuits, on the part of the Benedictines. These four afterwards elected Dr Scott, the Vicar Apostolic of the Western District in Scotland as the other Arbiter and after some discussion Clifton was appointed to be the place of Meeting to which both parties were summoned to be present there on the 8th of July.
On the various parties meeting the Arbiters at the appointed time all the various grievances underwent investigation. The business connected with the Ampleforth affairs, the case of the Bath Mission, the contentions arising out of the Executorship of Dr Collingridge, the question of the President's Faculties and those of Dr Brown, the Prior of St Gregory's, the charge against the President of his having incurred censures denounced by Dr Baines against those who interfered in the temporalities of the Bath Mission, the complaints of Dr Baines against the Benedictines for making many calumnious charges against him at Rome and against the President for his injurious and contumelious letters to him [Cardinal Weld writes to Dr Brown May 23d 1834 `I propose writing to Mr Birdsall shortly. I wish it were possible for him to express his sentiments in more courteous and temperate language. I perceived with mortification the impression his manner of expressing himself made against him in the Congregation.'] Of these subjects which came under discussion that which concerned the Executorship of Dr Collingridge most materially affected the honour and credit of the President. As long back as September 1831 Dr Baines had expressed his willingness to give him Missionary Faculties from the Western District, if he would render to him an account of the pecuniary matters of the District and repay the £1,000 which he had borrowed of Dr Collingridge and which was given for the support of the Bishop of the District. But the President had all along insisted on Dr Baines replacing the £3,000 left by Dr Collingridge which Dr Bramston and the other Trustees had handed over to him, not only in their names, but in his own also, until both of them should mutually agree to expend it on some Mission in the Western District, and until this was complied with, he not only refused to give up the £1,000 but he pertinaciously declined to submit even the propriety and justice of the view he was taking to the decision of mutual friends, notwithstanding the serious sacrifice he was making in foregoing his Missionary Faculties for Cheltenham and the many evils which attended the prolongation of their differences.
On the questions arising out of the Executorship being submitted to the Arbiters, they were of opinion that the President had not been justified on insisting on the replacing of the investment of £3,000 in his own name, because he was erroneously considered himself to be a Trustee as well as Executor, and they were of opinion that he had not acted justly in refusing to give an account of the pecuniary matters of the Western District and in not paying the £1,000 belonging to the Bishop of the District, on the ground that Dr Baines refused to reinvest the £3,000 as he proposed or on any other ground which he had alleged [See the Report of the Arbiters Records IV 69] Thus the responsibility of the prolongation of these differences between Dr Baines and the Benedictines which had been kept alive during the four last years in consequence of this private contention about Dr Collingridge's Executorship rests on the head of the President.
In the investigation of the business connected with the affairs at Ampleforth the President acted a pusillanimous part. On two different occasions he had been called upon to examine officially the Accounts at Ampleforth. When he made his Visit of that Convent in September 1829 it was his duty to have examined them and made himself master of the state of the finances at that time. Again on the settlement of Mr Burgess's Accounts on his leaving in May 1830 it was doubly his duty to have thoroughly examined them before he finally accepted of them. But on neither of these occasions had he made himself fully acquainted with the real state of the past money transactions which came under his cognizance and he had the less excuse as he affected to be an Accountant. Having signed a legal agreement exonerating the three Ex Monks from all future demands upon them, he notified to Bishop Smith soon after, that he had closed his dealings with them and he appeared bound in honour and consistency to stand by his own acts. But he allowed the subject of these Accounts to revive, and though Mr Burgess's Account Books, with the exception of the Pension Book, were open to his inspection at his pleasure, yet without taking the trouble to examine them, he made no difficulty in charging the Ex Monks with the crime of injustice and he induced others by the weight of his authority to believe that thousands had been purloined [In the President's Account of his interview with Dr Wiseman he writes to Mr Brown in Rome Novr 26 1832 `that as for Ampleforth Dr Baines would give security on Bond or Bill or many other way that he would pay back any moneys which could be shown to have been abstracted from Ampleforth. In the mean time he, Dr Baines, was prepared to take his solemn Oath that he had not one shilling belonging to Ampleforth at Prior Park and poor Dr Wiseman believed it I suppose. Now Molyneux is convinced, and so believe I, that the Trio, from the time they gave themselves to the Seducer ie in the three or four latter years before 1829 collected at various times from the means of their offices gave them not less than £10,000 for there was a large College of Boys at good Pensions and both Mr Calderbank's and Mr Brewer's moneys.' No one has seen the Pension Book but from the Account Books it is certain that all Mr Calderbank's and Dr Brewer's moneys which came into Mr Burgess's hands are accounted for as his Account Books clearly prove.] As the period of investigation approached the opinion gained ground, that it would be advisable to withdraw the subject of the claims of Ampleforth, but he overruled this so that it might have been expected that he was fully master of the grounds of the attack which was to be made. But on proceeding in the investigation before the Arbiters and on hearing Mr Burgess's explanations, he advised his friends to desist and to go and ask Dr Baines's pardon as their case was hopeless [This Statement rests on the authority of Dr Brown who was present on the occasion] But his wishes were not agreed to and the whole business was discussed, and occupied nearly a fortnight.
One subject in the Ampleforth business which was submitted to the Arbiters regarded the Pension Book of the College, which Mr Burgess had taken away with him and which was now claimed as the property of that Establishment. In the Account Book of Receipts, the Pensions of the Students during the last year and a half had been entered in globo, so that is was morally impossible to make out whether all the moneys received for pensions had been credited to the College account [I will give a few examples here from the Account Book to show how the Pensions are entered. I will take the month of November 1829 Pensions £20. Pensions £95.19. Pensions £16.5s.3d. Pensions £30. Pensions £35. Pensions £15.] It is evident that every College must necessarily have some Book in which all the Pensions of the Students are entered in detail, with an account of the extras of each, or otherwise there would be no means of testing the honesty of the Officers who have the management of the temporalities. From time immemorial the Priors of the different Convents of the Congregation had been in the habit on going out of Office of leaving these details of pensions as a matter of course to their successors, and although the laws laid down in the Constitutions are confined to the Regulations regarding the Community and take no cognizance of pensioners, yet they provide that the retiring Superior shall explain the Accounts in general to the satisfaction of his Successor. But Mr Burgess now claimed the Pension Book as a private Book of his own and maintained he had copied out of it into another Book all that was necessary to be known. And because the Benedictines could not produce any Documents to prove that it was necessary for a Superior to leave the Pension Book to his Successor, the Arbiters sanctioned his withholding it, and by so doing they defeated the ends of justice, by depriving the Establishment of the only means left of ascertaining whether its late Agents had handed over all the moneys which they had received for Pensions, under the suspicious circumstances which attended many of their proceedings on their leaving Ampleforth.
But though the President had no proof that all the money which had been received for pensions had been paid over to the College, and though, for any proof which was given to the contrary, money to a large amount might have been purloined, yet before the investigation closed both he and Dr Brown, in the name of the Benedictines acquitted the three Ex-Monks and as far as Dr Baines might be considered to be concerned, acquitted him also, of all intentional injustice in respect of property belonging to the Convent at Ampleforth.
The President moreover offered a written apology to Dr Baines for any offensive language which he might have used in his correspondence with him and recalled it. And before the Arbiters separated Dr Baines gave him his Missionary Faculties for the Western District.
Throughout the whole of this controversy, the President had shown himself to be a stern and bitter opponent in his Epistolary correspondence, but with the exception of his conduct with reference to the Bath Mission, he had proved in almost all his other acts, that he was wanting in judgment and undeserving of the confidence which the Benedictines had reposed in him.
We must now revert to the other public acts of his life. Having had the sum of £1350 left to him by Mr George Taylor for the purpose of establishing a new Mission as far back as the year 1813, he had put this sum out to Interest until 1828, when he expended nearly the whole of the Principal and Interest in erecting a new house and Chapel at Broadway in Worcestershire which is about sixteen miles from Cheltenham [See Mr Birdsall's letter to Miss Taylor Records III 514 The want of judgment in expending the whole of his capital in the Establishment at Broadway and leaving no endowment for the Priest where there were but few Catholics was manifest and a succeeding Provincial has given up the Mission. F Augustine Birdsall translated from the French a Work entitled Christian Reflections for every day in the year.] Here he continued to do duty on Sunday afternoons until the autumn of 1830, when he resigned his Faculties for the Western District and then he began to officiate regularly on Sundays and Holidays at this new Chapel, which is situated in the Midland District, where he continued to enjoy his Missionary Faculties from Dr Walsh the Vicar Apostolic of that District.
In the midst of the controversy which had been going on between him and Dr Baines, his thoughts had been turning upon the feasibility of reestablishing the Convent of St Adrian and Dionysius, of which he was a professed member when it was located in the noble Abbey at Lamspring. He had long viewed with regret the various members of his house passing off the stage of life without attempting to revive their Convent, and as those who were yet surviving were fast advancing in years, he plainly saw that unless he embarked in this work himself all hopes would be lost of ever seeing it restored. He had witnessed Dr Marsh successfully attempting the revival of St Edmund's at Doway with no greater resources than he had at his command and he had seen the happy effects attending its revival, so that with this example before him, he determined to use his Presidential influence in attempting to reestablish his own Convent.
As a commencement of this laudable undertaking, the President proceeded to pension some Students at each of the other Convents with the intention of professing them as members of the Convent of SS Adrian and Dionysius, and then of calling them to the house which he had erected at Broadway which he designed to be the new Convent and residence. Four Choir Monks having been professed in this manner, he called them over to Broadway, previous to the meeting of the General Chapter in 1834 to assist in carrying on a School which was opened there for Lay and Ecclesiastical Students. The new understanding became the subject of discussion at the Chapter which soon followed and the President obtained the sanction of the Capitular Fathers to reestablish the Convent of SS Adrian and Dionysius at Broadway, and under the peculiar circumstances of the case, he was constituted the immediate Superior over it during the succeeding quadriennium [See Acts of Chapter July 23d 1834]
The President, having succeeded in obtaining a Conventual existence for his new Convent which he now publicly designated as the German College, was determined to spare no personal exertions in advancing its interests. In order to devote as much of his time as he could spare from the onerous avocations of his Office, he gave up the temporalities of the Mission at Cheltenham in 1836 and withdrew into Conventual life. Here he had the satisfaction in admitting six other Choir Monks, who were trained under him, to their Religious Profession in the course of the three following years.
In the course of his Presidentship he made two Visits to his former Abbey at Lamspring. The first was in 1828 a quarter of a century after it had been suppressed. He has recorded himself an account of the Church which is here related in his own words `The Church is very little changed indeed, indeed not at all changed. The odds and ends that lie about the Sacristy would lead you to fancy that it was but yesterday that the Monks had left it, or that we yet served it. The Vestments, the Chalice and the cruets in the Church, the pictures, the statues, nay the stalls and the seats in the Choir are all the same as we left them, with the exception of the four great Pulpits or desks for the Choir Books at which the Juniors used to stand - these are removed their removal however only was I understand a few weeks before I arrived there. I said Mass in the Church at the High Altar on the Sunday morning early, when a great many of the poorer sort and they also the elder ones who had known other times attended, and by their countenances showed that those other times were present to their recollections. As I went out of the Church, they stood in silence with uplifted eyes and folded hands many of them and not without tears forming a kind of avenue for me to pass. I knelt during the High Mass in the Abbots seat, and as Mr Towers I find had kept up amongst some of them the vain and groundless notion that some day or other we should reenter into possession, some of them asked me if it were really true that we were going to return.'
His second visit was in 1836 when he suffered much in his eyesight and returned a mere wreck of himself. He had already given notice to Prior Appleton, that he should make a Visit of his Convent of St Edmund at Doway as he returned home. The time was not definitely fixed so the Prior proceeded on business to England, thinking he should be able to accomplish it before the Visit would take place. But as he was unexpectedly delayed, he was in England when he had notice of the time when the President would be at his Convent. He was taken by surprise and finding that he would have to make another journey to England in case he returned to his Convent, he consulted with some of the Senior members of the Congregation, who advised him under the circumstances of the case to remain in England and not to repair to Doway. The President took great offence in his absenting himself from the Visit, which he proceeded to make without him and then returned to Broadway. Some time later the Prior, on hearing of the declining health of the President and wishing to see him once more, took the opportunity as he passed through Cheltenham on his way home to put himself to some inconvenience to go over to Broadway to see him. On arriving there on Sunday morning he was told that the President was lying down and could not see him. After Mass, the following note was put into his hands `Mr Birdsall declines to see Mr Appleton and Mr Appleton knows very well that a visit from him to his once President cannot under present circumstances be welcome. Mr Appleton having ceased to be Mr Birdsall's subject cannot complain if the latter refuses to hold intercourse with him.' The Prior, on his return to Doway, finding that his authority had been much curtailed by what the President had done at his Visit tendered the resignation of his Office. But the President, though he did not accept of his resignation, reminded him that the punishment due to a fault such as his, which he termed one of malice prepense, was deposition which he had deserved, and that if it had not been inflicted, he must not suppose that he had escaped quod defertur non auferatur. This proceeding was characteristic of the President and shows that he kept up his ill timed sternness to the last. From this period he gradually declined in health [Mr Barber writes to Dr Brown Octr 2d 1836 `Poor Mr Birdsall is broken down that he has no energy left. I may be a croaker, but I seriously apprehend that his health is in a most critical state. I thought his worst eye had somewhat improved since he came home, but neither his spirits are better nor his strength greater. {A whole sentence lost at the bottom of this page} and had a long warning of his approaching dissolution. He expired at Broadway on the 2d of August 1837 in his 63d year having been honoured with the Cathedral Priorship of Winchester at the Chapter in 1826 and having been constituted the Abbot of Westminster at the Chapter in 1830.
F Bede or James Burgess was born in Lancashire on the 23d of May 1768. He took the Habit at St Laurence's in 1786 {note lost, cut by binder} but as he could not be professed by the Laws of France until he had attained the age of twenty one, he did not take the Solemn Vows before 1789 during the Priorship of F Jerom Coupe and was ordained Priest in 1792. Having obtained his passport, he left his Convent on the 4th of October 1793, a few days previous to is seizure by the French Authorities, and reached Treves in safety where he remained some little time until he was joined by F Richard Marsh his Prior who effected his escape. He then proceeded with his other Brethren to Acton Burnall where his Convent was located until 1795, and then passed to Birkenhead and Scholes where temporary residences had been provided until a permanent Convent could be established. He passed to the Mission in 1797 and was stationed at Middleton Lodge where he continued the rest of his life.
This amiable and religious Father became the Praepositus of Yorkshire, on F Augustine Lawson leaving for the Priorship of St Gregory's some little time before the Chapter in 1814, and he was continued in the Office till he became a Definitor of his Province in 1822, which Office he filled till the Chapter in 1830, having been honoured with the Cathedral Priorship of Peterborough at the Chapter in 1822. This Father cooperated with his nephew, F Laurence Burgess, the Prior of Ampleforth, in his plan of making over his Convent to Dr Baines in case the consent of the Missionary Members of the Convent could be obtained, as the Conventual Members had already agreed to it. Being a quiet and harmless man of little talent, he was easily induced at the instigation of Dr Baines to write to F Alexius Pope, the Missioner at Brindle and his early friend at Dieuleward, to invite him and others to petition Rome to place themselves under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of the Western District. This notable Letter came into the hands of Provincial Robinson, who forwarded it to President Birdsall [See Mr Burgess's Letter to Mr Pope Records III 131] and was a source of trouble to the writer as long as he lived. At the Chapter which followed in 1830, as F Bede was in a declining state of health he was unable to attend himself on that occasion, but he forwarded a Petition exculpating his late proceeding which was not deemed satisfactory, so he was deprived of his Cathedral Priorship which gave him some concern as he always wished to stand well with his Brethren [See Mr Burgess's Letter to Chapter. See also another Letter to Mr Birdsall and another to Dr Marsh Records III 298, 214, 295. On the examination of Prior Towers's Accounts after the Chapter in 1834, he was invited to attend the election of the new Prior, but he was not admitted to take part in the examination of the Accounts, on the plea that it would not be pleasant for him to hear what would be said of his nephew, F Laurence Burgess. On the 18 of September 1834 he writes to Prior Day `I believe I put my name down for £50. I now mend the figure to £60.12s. I must confess at the same time I sensibly felt the censure intended or not which seemed to be put upon me, in not being admitted though the oldest Dieuleward monk as was observed at the Meeting, to have any share in the deliberations or suffered to examine any of the Accounts, I consider it only as a confirmation of the censure passed upon one at the Chapter in 1830.'] This Father closed his religious life on the 22d of August 1837 in his 72d year.
F Ignatius or James Greenough was born in Lancashire and was professed at the Convent of St Edmund's at Doway on the 14th of November 1827 during the Priorship of F Bernard Collier. He was ordained Priest in Advent 1829 and passed to the Mission at Standish in 1831 where he died on the 26th of May 1840.
Joseph or Vincent Glover was born at Prescot in Lancashire on the 11th of February 1791 and proceeded to Lamspring for his education in 1798. On the suppression of the Abbey in 1803 he repaired to the new Convent of St Laurence's at Ampleforth where he was professed on the 13th of October 1807 during the Priorship of F Richard Marsh. He was ordained Priest on the 16th of December in the year 1814 and passed to the Mission at Knaresborough in the following year; but here he only remained a few months and was then removed to St Peter's Chapel in Seel Street to be the Assistant to F Gregory Robinson, whose confidence he always possessed and with whom he continued as long as F Gregory lived.
F Joseph was an industrious and laborious Missioner, and though not possessing shining abilities, yet he compiled from other Authors a number of Sermons which he committed to memory and delivered in a manner satisfactory to the people. He was rough and uncouth in his manners, and often gave offence to others by his unmannerly conduct, but F Gregory Robinson was blind to all his defects, although he himself was so gentlemanly in all his acts. Two characters could not well be conceived more dissimilar, yet these two Fathers lived together in the strictest bonds of unity and friendship. When Provincial Robinson was affected with a long continued illness in 1828, F Joseph gave up every amusement and devoted every hour which he could spare from the duties of his profession in attending on him and endeavouring to soothe him and amuse him and he was never weary with his confinement and no son could be more devoted to the wishes of a Father than he was to his friend and Provincial. From this period he continued during his declining health over the space of several years to be devoted in his attention to him, studying his comfort on every occasion and never considering it to be any hardship to make every personal sacrifice in order to add to his comfort and happiness. He was his Fidus Achates and few men have ever been blessed with a more sincere and devoted friend. In 1835 F Gregory resigned the Incumbency to him but he continued to reside at the Chapel House as long as he lived.
F Joseph was elected Secretary to the Provincial Chapter in 1826 and was continued in the Office until the Chapter in 1838. He was elected the Scrutator of Lancashire in 1830 for that quadriennium. In 1834 he was chosen a Definitor of his Province and was continued in the Office at the ensuing Chapter. As his health was giving way, he was removed from his Incumbency in 1838 and proceeded to reside with Provincial Brewer at his Mission at Brown Edge, where he continued till his death on the 6th of August 1840 in his 50th year. F Joseph when he was the Assistant Priest at St Peters erected the Poor Schools contiguous to the Chapel which cost about £1,000 which was raised by public subscription.
F Alexius or Robert Pope was born at Wigan [1795 March 27] at Wigan and was professed at Acton Burnall on the 21st of April 1814 by F Joseph Leveaux, the Subprior, during a vacancy in the Priorship of St Gregory's. He was ordained Priest in the Ember Week in Advent in 1820.
This Father was noted for his great musical talents which he cultivated with unsparing attention and devotion and his Society was much courted at Coughton where he proceeded on the Mission in 1823, being of a lively and jovial disposition. He was elected a Scrutator at the Provincial Chapter in 1830. Shortly before the next Chapter in 1834 he left Coughton to commence the new Mission at Redditch and then at the Provincial Chapter he was elected the Praepositus of Cambridgeshire and Worcestershire and was continued in the Office at the Chapter in 1838 when he was again elected a Scrutator. In 1840 he was removed to Coventry. His health was now declining and as it was thought advisable to try a change of air, he went to reside with F Bennet Hoole his Brother at Scarisbrick, where he closed his life on the 3d of July 1841 in his 47th year.
F Bernard or Andrew Ryding was born at Wigan in 1752 and having passed through his Humanities at St Gregory's at Doway as a member of St Edmund's at Paris, he passed to his own Convent and was professed there on the 12th of March 1769 during the Priorship of F Thomas Welch. This Father possessed considerable talents, which he cultivated during a number of years which he spent in Conventual life. He was a good Classical Scholar and well versed in the various branches of polite literature. He passed to the Mission at Capheaton in 1783 to be Chaplain to Sir Edward Swinburne. But on his death, the Chapel was broken up as his son Sir John had apostatized from the Catholic Religion, so he proceeded to assist F Anselm Bolas at Warwick Bridge during his illness in 1787. In the following year he was stationed at Holme Hall which he left in 1792 for Hindley where he continued till 1797 and was then stationed at Warwick Bridge. Here he continued for many years. In 1802 he invested £627 of the Funds of the Mission in the purchase of some land which ultimately proved a valuable acquisition [Mr Ryding writes to Provincial Marsh Novr 26th 1807 The land which I bought cost £627.]
F Bernard was honoured with the Cathedral Priorship of Rochester at the Chapter in 1818 and he became a Definitor of the Province at the Chapter in 1822 for the ensuing quadriennium. After this he continued to discharge the duties of his Mission till age and its infirmities forced his Superiors to remove him to the Convent at Ampleforth where he continued till he was gathered to his Fathers on the 26th of September 1841 in his 89th year.
F Ralph Ratcliffe was descended from a branch of the noble Family of the Ratcliffes and was born at Brandsby in Yorkshire. Having received part of his education at St Gregory's at Doway, where he was a Student on the breaking up of the Convent, he contrived to effect his escape and afterwards proceeded to the Convent at Acton Burnall where he was professed on the 13th of July 1797 during the Priorship of F Jerom Sharrock. This religious Father succeeded F Peter Kendal on his promotion to the Priorship in 1808 as the Missioner at Acton Burnall, but he still continued to reside in the Convent and acted as Novice Master from 1809 to 1814 when the Convent was removed to Downside. From this period F Ralph devoted his life to his Missionary duties at Acton Burnall. In 1818 he was elected the Praepositus of Worcestershire and was continued in the Office till he became a Definitor of his Province at the Chapter in 1834 in which Office he was continued till his death on the 4th of January 1842.
F Anselm or Thomas Appleton was born in Lancashire on the 2d of September 1766 and was professed at the Convent of St Laurence's at Dieuleward on the 12th of January 1788 and was ordained Priest in the Ember Week in Advent 1790. Having obtained his passport, he left his Convent with several others on the 4th of October 1793, a few days before it was seized on by the French Authorities and reached Treves in safety where he remained till he was joined by F Richard Marsh his Prior with whom he proceeded to England accompanied by some of his Conventual Brethren and then he passed to the Mission a few months later and was stationed at Lawkland in 1794 from which place he was removed to Follifoot in 1795. Two years later the Establishment at Follifoot was broken up and sold and the money was invested in purchasing a cotton manufactory in Briggate Street in Knaresborough and in making the necessary changes to adapt it for a house and Chapel. On being elected the Prior of St Laurence's he accepted Office and left Knaresborough for Parbold where he was installed Prior and repaired soon after to commence his new Conventual residence at Ampleforth.
F Anselm was a strict religious man but his rough ways combined with a sour temper were not suited to give satisfaction to others and his Community gladly embraced the opportunity of superseding him at the next Chapter in 1806. After a delay of a few months, he proceeded then to the Mission at Hindley where he remained for the next thirty years.
He was a great advocate of liberty and espoused the cause of the Radicals and as he introduced his politics into his sermons the Bishop complained of him to his Religious Superiors who remonstrated with him and probably succeeded in keeping him within the bounds of moderation. On becoming incapacitated for Missionary duty he was remanded to his Convent in 1836. But his sturdy and unbending character compelled Prior Cockshoot to have him removed; so that he was then allowed to reside with his friends in Liverpool in 1840 where he closed his life on the 1st of June 1842 in his 76 year.
F Richard Marsh was born at Hindley in Lancashire on the 9th of March 1762 and proceeded to the Convent at Dieuleward to receive his education. Being a person of great promise and possessing no ordinary talents, he passed through the Humanities with credit to himself and then proceeded to the Convent of St Gregory's at Doway to take the Religious Habit, as it was then the common Novitiate for the three Convents in France and to pursue his Philosophy and Divinity. As the laws in France annulled Professions which were made under the age of twenty one, he had to wait until he attained that age and then he was professed there on the 22d of April 1783 for the house of St Laurence during the Priorship of F Jerom Marsh. Having completed his course of Divinity, he returned to his own Convent at Dieuleward and was appointed the Prefect of the Students till he was ordained Priest in 1786. At the Chapter in the preceding year, the attempt to establish a Common Noviciate and one house for the higher Studies was broken up, so that F Richard was appointed the Professor of Philosophy and Divinity in his own Convent. At the next Chapter in 1789 he was elected the Prior of St Laurence's. And he presented a Petition to Chapter proposing to print certain select works of the Greek Fathers for the purpose of promoting the study of Greek in the Convents, but although it was highly approved of by the Fathers, yet he probably never carried his design into execution in consequence of the troublesome times which followed soon after [See Acts of Chapter Vol II 310]
F Richard, the new Prior possessed great shrewdness and cunning and these qualities proved of great service to him in the difficulties which he had to contend with during the stormy period which preceded the breaking up of his Convent. As Decree after Decree passed the Convention for the seizure of Ecclesiastical Property in France, he was constantly in alarm lest the property of English subjects might be affected [Prior Marsh writes to Mr James Pope October 14th 1790 `When all those Decrees for the seizure of Ecclesiastical lands came out, we thought it was the best to send a Memoir to the National Assembly, but when we consulted our Brethren, they dissuaded us from it, and particularly Mr Walker, who perhaps all along had shown more pusillanimity than might have done good. Things still going on however worse and worse, we resolved to send a Memoir for Dieuleward alone, let the others do what they would: but that we might show the submission that was due to our President, we had a mind that it should go through his hands. When he received it, he took umbrage at some trifling expressions and refused positively to send it to its address: and Mr Kellet having had a sight of it, was much out of humour with us. But still they would not move one step for themselves. At last about a month ago, we drew up another Memoir and presented one Copy to the Department of Nancy, another to the Bishop of the same place, and sent a third to a Deputy at the National Assembly directly. The Department and the Bishop promised to second us, but they were so taken up soon after with the Disturbances of Nancy, that nothing was done for some time, but in the mean while the third was given to the Ecclesiastical Comité in the National Assembly; which contrary to what all our other Brethren had always prophesied, was immediately taken into consideration and we were written to, in order to send them an accurate account of our revenues and resources, an answer to which I am sending off by this same Post. The Department is sending their Appuyé of our Memoir and the next week we expect that all will be decided in full Assembly about all the English Establishments in general; and we are afraid that they will treat them avec tout le management possible. Four our parts we are pretty well assured that they will leave us the lands we have acquired with our own money and give us a temporary pension for the others, which I am pretty well persuaded would not have been the case, if we had not pushed on our Memoir resolutely in spite of all the discouragement we met with. I believe however we shall be obliged to change our dress. Some French Monks strut about in their tied hair and habit de gentilhomme.'
Prior Marsh writes to Mr Bolton Novr 9th 1791 `I found it (Convent) two years ago charged with a heavy debt. The winter following, the Brew House was obliged to be wholly at a stand and wine was scarce. Last winter the brewhouse I believe was rather of the two a detriment than an advantage. We were perpetually threatened by the populace with fire, we were attacked in different Courts to oblige us to desist the commerce of Beer; but what was worse, the Beer proved continually bad, so that we had upwards of sixty Barrels sent back totally spoilt. These two last years we have had no vintage. We have been taxed by the Municipalities sometimes to the amount of two thirds of our Revenue, which is not surprising, as it turns to the profit of the Assessors by diminishing their share of the Tax. No relief can be obtained in the present state of Anarchy in which Ecclesiastics in particular lie under the most unfavourable prejudices. Our house is numerous, yet we think it impolite to dismiss any young men that are already far advanced in their Studies.'] But the evil day was postponed for a time. On the 8th of March 1793 the Convention passed another Decree, ordering the sale of the goods belonging to the Order of Malta and in general whatever had belonged to any Corporation whether Secular or Regular as all Colleges and Seminaries. To this general confiscation was however attached two Articles, the first excepted the English from the Decree, and the second declared that the Convention intended to issue another in a short time to decide what was to be done with the English Establishments. As it was evident to Prior Marsh, that the doom of his Convent was approaching, he endeavoured to sell some of the land belonging to it. But as soon as this came to the knowledge of the Apartment, orders were issued forbidding any person to purchase it, and if any such sale should take place, the bargain was declared to be null. Each particular member of the Department, it was alleged, might be made personally responsible for whatever was wanting in case the Convention passed a Decree for the sale of the property belonging to the English.
Being baffled in this attempt, the Prior quietly removed the Silver, Linen and some of the Books from the Library. He then began to sell some other things but when he attempted to sell some of the best Horses belonging to the Convent, the Municipality, who kept a close watch on all his movements, immediately hastened to the District to obtain power to prevent him from selling them. As the District had already been accused of being too favourable to the Convent they now determined not to expose themselves any longer to this reproach and they passed an Order to the Municipality to set a guard of twenty five men round the Convent, with strict orders that nothing was to be removed. It was in vain the Prior proceeded to the District to remonstrate against this proceeding. Though it was admitted the Order was not in conformity with any Law, yet he was told, that many measures were necessary for the Public Safety, which were not positively authorized by any Law. However after the men had kept watch for about ten days, they began to find it a troublesome duty, and as the vintage was at hand, they gradually ceased of their own accord to do so. Yet notwithstanding their vigilance, the Prior contrived during that very period to take down two of the Church Bells, to break them in pieces and to send them to Toul with some other Articles to be sold.
The aspect of the times growing daily worse the Prior considered it necessary to provide for the safety of the various members of the Community. A Decree had passed in September 1793, allowing all children of Foreigners who were in France for the express purpose of education, and not otherwise, to be sent back to their Parents. Upon the strength of this Decree the Prior solicited passports for them, but he was told that Decree had not been sent officially. A few days later, on the District acquainting him that the Decree had been officially received, in which there was an article which entitled young Students to passports, he applied and obtained them for all the Community but himself, although it was evidently not the intention that the grown up members of the House should derive advantage from the Decree. But the Municipality threw no opposition to their leaving, as they were all longing to get them all away, in order that they might get the Convent, or at least the administration of it, into their own hands.
The Community at that time consisted of the Prior, eleven Religious, three Novices and three Laybrothers. On the 4 of October all the Community left in two parties, except the Prior, F Maurus Barrat an old infirm Priest, F Oswald Talbot, F John Dawber and the Laybrothers who were for remaining a little longer. Those that remained proceeded without delay to solicit for Certificates of Hospitality according to a Decree of the 23d of September, intending in case they were refused to make use of their passports, which were available for a fortnight. With much difficulty at last they succeeded in obtaining them, so that considering themselves now secure, they were for remaining, but within two or three days they discovered their error when it was too late.
On Saturday, the 12 of October, the drums of the Town began to beat at about half-past nine at night. This was to give notice that every man capable of bearing arms was to be in attendance before the house of the Commandant. The Prior had withdrawn to his Cell to go to bed and was not much alarmed at what was going forward, because he considered the people were assembling for the purpose of apprehending all suspected persons; yet he withdrew to another room and placed himself at a window from which he could see into the Town. Some time before this, he had prevailed on the Mayor, who was a very honest man, to promise to let him know if he possibly could, if ever orders came for arresting the members of the Convent. The Mayor, intending to keep his word, had sent his Sister to communicate the fatal information, but on meeting so many persons about the Convent, she returned without effecting her purpose, and contented herself with telling the Wife of one of the Labourers to give notice to the Convent of what was going to take place, if she found an opportunity. This woman, on seeing the Prior at the window, earnestly called him down to the door and communicated to him from the Mayor's Sister, that orders had been received to arrest all of them. The Prior, however, was partly incredulous, as he had obtained letters of Hospitality so lately, and he hesitated what to do for the best. He considered the notice, which he had received might prove untrue, or if true, might be the cause why no body escaped if he alarmed the house; moreover as he thought, he might be the only person aimed at, or at least the only person who had really to fear, as all the others had their passports, he quietly passed out of the Convent without giving any alarm, telling the Porter that he was going to a certain place at a woodside, where in an hour or two's time, he was to come and let him know what had been the meaning of all this assembling of the people.
The Prior concealed himself for a time in a ravine not far from the Convent, and soon satisfied himself, on hearing the rabble make towards his House and then on hearing the Convent Bell ring, that the information which he had received was too true; so he determined, in case Patrols were sent after him, to cross the Moselle that night. He reached the river side as the great clocks were striking twelve and on passing through the water, which was very low, he repaired to a Village where the Carter of the Convent resided. Here he learnt that upon the rabble breaking into the Convent, they ran directly to his room, but finding he was not there, they broke down every door which was not open, under the pretence of seeking after him, and that one of the first places they then went to, was the Church Steeple, where finding two of the Bells missing, they broke out into the most violent acclamations against him.
A little above Dieuleward the Moselle divides, and running some distance in separate channels, it forms an island near two miles in circumference. The Prior proceeded to pass the second part of the river in a Boat and reached a small Village about three o'clock on Sunday morning, where he took up his quarters at the House of a person upon whom he could depend. At day break the man proceeded to the Convent to see his Brother who was there, and on his return he brought word to the Prior that F Oswald Talbot and William Sharrock a Laybrother had escaped, that F Maurus Barret, F John Dawber and the Laybrothers had been conducted to Pont-a-Mousson to be imprisoned in the former College there with all suspected persons, that the Convent had been put into the keeping of the Municipality and that Guards had been placed at various places about it. On hearing this sad news, the Prior deliberated with himself whether to resign himself a prisoner or to attempt to effect his escape. In either case the most imminent dangers beset him. To resign himself a Prisoner would be almost certain death, as he was assured he would be brought to a Capital Trial on account of the Bells, Church Plate and Furniture which had been missing. To attempt his escape without a Passport, owing to his ignorance of the country, the disposition of the Troops about the Frontiers and at the distance he was from Germany, appeared almost impracticable. If he should happen to be taken by the Military immediate death would probably follow, or if a Trial were allowed, there was a plain Decree which condemned all Foreigners to the Guillotine who were taken within two leagues of the Frontiers. There was a third plan which was to remain and attempt to conceal himself in the country. In this case he would probably perish from famine or from the Revolutionary Army or from the rage of the People. Besides a Decree had lately been passed which condemned all who should conceal a Foreigner or any of his property to twenty years confinement in chains, so that he considered it would be impossible for him to conceal himself for any length of time, as no one would be willing to give him hospitality. After weighing the matter well in all its bearings, he came to the determination to attempt to effect his escape, so he left the house where he had concealed himself at ten o'clock on Sunday night and embarked on his perilous enterprise. His great presence of mind, his prudence and shrewdness, enabled him to escape from the most imminent perils which beset him on all sides and after a journey of {six Ed.} days he reached Treves in safety where he met his Brethren who had before left the Convent with their Passports and F Oswald Talbot and William Sharrock the Laybrother who had joined them two days before. After remaining with them three days, he proceeded leaving most of them behind, till they received further directions, and sailed from Ostend to Deal which he reached after an absence of eighteen years from England [See F Richard Marsh's own Account of his escape from France]
The object of the Prior was now to procure a place where he could locate his Community. As Bishop Sharrock and F Gregory Cowley had prevailed on Sir Edward Smythe to allow them to settle at Acton Burnall in Shropshire, he met them there on the 21st of November 1793 and he began to prepare the house for the reception of those who had escaped either from Dieuleward who were waiting at Treves, or from Doway who were at Tournay. Notice was then sent to both parties to leave those places and repair to Acton Burnall to continue their Studies and to live conventually. As the Prior of St Gregory's was detained a Prisoner in France, Prior Marsh assumed the Superiority over the united Communities as soon as the parties arrived who began to live conventually about Christmas. At the General Chapter which was held in July 1794 F Richard was reelected Prior of St Laurence's and his Convent was declared to be constituted at Acton Burnall [See the 23d Definition of the General Chapter in 1794] But on Prior Sharrock and his other Brethren of St Gregory's obtaining their liberty in February 1795 and returning to England, it was found necessary as the two Communities of St Gregory's and St Laurence's could not unite and live together in harmony, that they should separate; and as Sir Edward Smythe had a partiality for the Community of St Gregory's with whom he had been educated, it was agreed at a Meeting held by President Cowley and others at Vernon Hall, that the Community of St Gregory's should remain at Acton Burnall and that the Community of St Laurence's should be translated by an order of the Regimen to Brindle in Lancashire [See an account of the Meeting at Vernon Hall Records II 287] But Fr Laurence Hadley a professed member of St Gregory's, who had been the Incumbent of that Mission for near thirty years, was not disposed to leave. On Prior Marsh and F Bede Burgess proceeding to take possession of the House, a large body of people had collected about it who were disposed to offer violence and F Laurence Hadley had taken the precaution to abscond and to have the House locked up, so that as they could not get admittance they were forced to withdraw and the idea of planting the Family of St Laurence there was soon after dropped. A few months later, the Community proceeded to a house which the Prior had taken at Birkenhead in Cheshire. But as they experienced some inconvenience in this place, they left it in May 1796 and removed to Scoles near Prescot. Here they remained little more than a twelvemonth and then proceeded to Vernon Hall on President Cowley resigning his school up to them in July 1797. The Community was stationed here until May 1802 and then they removed to Parbold.
On peace being concluded between England and France, it was thought advisable that Prior Marsh should proceed to the Continent to look after the property of the Convents. He travelled to Dieuleward and then repaired to Paris, where in conjunction with F Henry Parker, the Prior of St Edmund's, he met several of the Superiors of the Secular College at Doway and took what steps he thought most conducive to recover the property of the Benedictines and then returned to England to be present at the meeting of the General Chapter. For some time previous the Office of Prior, which he held, had proved irksome to him, chiefly because he found the few Conventual Brethren who were with him were anxious to go to the Mission, and because there was little or nor prospect of seeing them relieved by others, as they neither had the convenience nor the means of taking Novices. Being therefore weary of his Priorship, he wrote to his Conventual Brethren at Parbold, requesting them to elect another in his place. Accordingly at the Meeting of Chapter he was released from the burthen of his Office after having filled it during thirteen years in which time he professed six Choir Monks at Dieuleward and three at Acton Burnell. But his merit was duly appreciated by the Capitular Fathers, who elected him a Definitor of the Regimen and honoured him with the Cathedral Priorship of Rochester.
As F Anselm Appleton, the new Prior of St Laurence's, proceeded to Ampleforth to begin a new Establishment with F Alexius Chew, he left F Richard to continue on the School at Parbold on his own private account, having the assistance of F Francis Cooper to enable him to teach the Scholars.
[Bishop Sharrock writes to Dr Brewer Novr 15th 1803 `It gives me pain to see two men of Abilities detained at Parbold on a service which every body seems to think not worth such a sacrifice. Would it not be better to break up the School or to put it upon the footing you conceive would render it valuable. Mr Marsh will by degrees perhaps acquire a disgust for Missionary duty.' Previous to this Mr Marsh had written to Provincial Lacon Feby 7th 1803 `I very much suspect I shall not be allowed for much longer that Assistance in the management of the School at Parbold. I have here yet with me Mr Cooper and Mr Mitchell... I find I could at least double the income of the place at Hindley if I was situated there.']
F Richard soon after this began to give Lessons in French in some Boarding Schools in the neighbourhood which proved a very profitable resource. As however this School did not seem to answer the primary object of engaging youths to embrace the Benedictine Institute it was not allowed to continue long and, notice was given to the Parents at Christmas in 1803, that the School would cease at Parbold and that if they wished, their sons would be taken at Ampleforth. In 1805 F Richard repaired to the Mission of Hindley, but he never had any great taste for the labours of any laborious Mission, nor had he ever any pretensions to be a Preacher.
At the next Chapter in 1806 F Richard was elected the Provincial of York and was continued in that Office until he succeeded to the Presidentship. And as the Prior elect of the Convent of St Laurence declined Office, the Conventuals soon after close of Chapter, elected him to be their Prior, which Office he reluctantly accepted, on account of the exigences of the case, and the Regimen dispensed with the Constitution which declare the two Offices to be incompatible; so that he was enabled to hold both of them during the ensuing quadriennium. He has recorded his own opinion on this subject in the following terms `I always thought that every Member of our Body, should, after having gone through their Studies, be ready and willing to serve the Body, in teaching and any other Office for a reasonable while. I had been Prefect of the Students. I had taught Philosophy and Divinity for four years before I was elected Prior in 1789 till I resigned that very unpleasant Office (to me) in 1802. I did not therefore think I could be reproached with not having contributed my share to the support of the Body. I foresaw that though the young men at Ampleforth wished me there to be their Superior, they would soon be discovering grounds of complaints, the more so as they had been in the habit of complaining on the most frivolous grounds. These apprehensions I soon found realized and feel the effects to this day.' On accepting the Priorship, he proceeded to reside in the Convent for a time; but in 1807 he undertook the Mission at Aberford, and from that period he divided his time between the two places. In the course of the quadriennium, he built the west wing to the original House and professed 6 Choir Monks two of whom soon turned Apostates. At the Chapter in 1810 he exchanged his Cathedral Priorship for that of Winchester.
F Richard was a man of great abilities. He was a good classical Scholar - a Philosopher and a Divine. His clear understanding enabled him to cull out the pith of any intricate question and to clothe it in his own simple language in a manner which satisfied you of his superior talents in such matters. His memory was particularly retentive and as he advanced in years he became a living Library himself of all that had passed during his time. But few Public Officers have been more careless in preserving important letters and Documents and few of those which ever came into his hands have escaped his Vandal propensities - vanity did not enter his composition - unostentatious in the exercise of his power, moderate in all his views, easy in his correction of others and as he advanced in life, his prudence, or his fears, seemed to have left him no other principle to act upon than to choose the least of evils. A Nestor in giving advice to others and yet in acting for himself, he had left many specimens of the errors of his own judgment - Throughout life he was careless of his own appearance, penurious in all his habits and parsimonious in his dealings with others - there was a want of openness of character about him in his transactions in money matters with others, there was often a low cunning and a latitude in his ethics which an ordinary person would be puzzled to reconcile with a straightforward honesty. In the Public Accounts of the Province, he was culpably blameable for not having a Regular Book to enter his receipts and disbursements, yet he managed to have his own way and many years passed before any blame was attached to him. Throughout his long life he continued to be much esteemed and respected for his irreproachable life, his sincere and unobtrusive piety and his many virtues.
There was another trait in his character which it will be necessary to notice, the incessant itching he had for speculations of every kind and yet it was not that he wanted to realize money for himself - for he had but few wants and those were easily satisfied. During the long period of his official life though he had repeated opportunities of placing himself at a wealthy Mission, yet such was his personal disinterestedness that he continued to be stationed always at some poor one. As long as he indulged his natural propensities on his own private account, no one had a right to complain, provided he restrained them within reasonable bounds.
[From a letter dated May 10th 1799 we find F Richard was trading in Jamaica in all kinds of Linen and merchandise. A little before this his friend Bromley writes `I doubt not Divinity and Merchandise may be united with advantage.' See an Agreement entered between him and Mr Duhamel on the 5 of April 1800 on his advancing £300 to have half the profits of his business in Liverpool until the Capital was repaid at the end of three years, among the Ampleforth Papers. President Cowley in his Visit of St Laurence's on the 7th of June 1798 enacted, singulosque serio hortamur ut, cum mundo jam renunciaverint, mundanis negotiis saeculariumque commercio quantum fieri potest abstineant. This was renewed at the next Visit in 1801 and after that it was laid aside as Mr Marsh had ceased to be Prior]
But the temptation to speculate with the public money of the Province was too great for him to resist. The rapid rise in the value of land and the great prices realized for all descriptions of agricultural produce, during the long Wars on the Continent, had tempted many to embark their money in reclaiming land in various parts of the country. In Lancashire Mr Trafford had a large parcel of waste land of this description called Pilling Moss in the Fylde, which was parcelled out to various applicants on long leases. F Bede Slater, who was stationed at Croston in the neighbourhood, urged the Provincial to embark in this speculation and he was induced to do so in the hope of increasing the public money under his control. Having obtained the consent of his two Definitors in 1813, he took four hundred and twenty eight statute acres at Pilling Moss on a lease of forty years for the purpose of reclaiming it. Draining on a large scale was commenced, new roads were formed, various farm Buildings were erected and an outlay of £3,500 was in time embarked in the speculation. But before the ground was brought into real cultivation a general peace was concluded on the fall of Napoleon and all the airy calculations of imaginary profits were found to be erroneous. The great Capitalists had then recourse to foreign loans for the investment of their money. Land was no longer purchased at those exorbitant prices which had been anticipated and the produce of Agriculture fetched only a reasonable remuneration. In addition to this, the Farmer, who had superintended the management of the property at Pilling Moss which was in the hands of the Provincial, became Bankrupt and Mr Trafford sold the land to a Society of Lawyers who proved to be litigious landlords, so that he {Marsh} found himself entangled in difficulties and exposed to great pecuniary embarrassments in order to meet the interest due to many Missions whose funds had been taken up to invest in the speculation, as the loss attending this land was gradually becoming more. President Brewer finally considered it as the least of evils to give up the lease of Pilling Moss and to make a sacrifice of all the outlay upon it. [Dr Marsh writes to Mr Fisher Augt 20th 1824 `You know that Mr Brewer since I left England has judged it proper to give up Pilling with all that had been laid out upon it without any compensation whatever, a case which I never contemplated in the number of possibilities. For some time I had feared some loss might be sustained, but I never imagined it possible that it should be worth nothing at all, after the different Farms that were built, and roads that were at considerable expenses made. That then is all gone with a good deal more.']
Soon after the peace had been concluded in 1814, the Provincial, accompanied by President Brewer, went over to France to see if any of the property which had been seized in the French Revolution could be recovered. About the year 1804 all the remains of British property, whether English, Irish or Scotch, had been put into one common mass by the French Government and a College at Paris had been founded with the Funds, which were administered by a Proviseur or Chief and inferior Officers like other Lycées as the Colleges were then called. The Minister of the Interior named the Officers and also the Bursars by a Committee of twelve persons, who inspected all accounts and exercised great power. A Mr Walsh, an Irish Priest, was named the first Proviseur and F Henry Parker the titular Prior of St Edmund's was Econome.
After a certain time, however, one Ferris a renegade Priest, who after the peace of Amiens took to the profession of a Lawyer aimed at getting himself placed at the head of this Establishment and turning it to his own profit. To accomplish this, he charged Walsh with many instances of mismanagement, got him displaced and succeeded to the Office himself, and then F Henry Parker returned to his Office of Econome. Having secured a Committee of his own choice, he was all powerful, and besides obtaining a magnificent establishment for himself at the English Seminary, while the other officers carried on the College at the Irish Establishment at the Cheval Vert, he was supposed to be clearing annually for himself about a thousand a year.
According to the Law, the Administrator could not incur expenses without the consent of the Committee of twelve persons. It was found no easy matter to get them all to meet together, and when they happened to meet the inspection of Accounts was generally put off. When the urgency of making the required repairs in various large buildings and old Colleges at Paris, St Omers, Doway and other places was represented to the Bureau, it was generally said get them done and you may be sure they will be approved. By this means F Henry Parker had incurred great responsibilities and Ferris took care to prevent his accounts being settled in order that he might have a hold of him, and accordingly when he wished to come to the Chapter in 1814 he could not get a Passport owing to Ferris's opposition on the ground that his accounts were not settled.
As Ferris found he was not likely to hold the British Ecclesiastical property after the peace, he seemed disposed to yield it up to its ancient possessors without much reluctance and F Richard and Dr Brewer waited on him and found him civil. An ordinance of the King was at last obtained for restoring the property to the different former possessors in the Kings nomination and under the control of a Committee to be appointed. Upon this F Richard got himself nominated for Dieuleward and on proceeding there and producing his nomination, he was put in possession of what property remained unsold by the Prefect. This consisted principally of Woods, extending over seventy or eighty acres of ground, which produced an annual revenue of three or four hundred Francs clear of all expense of administration. Having then left a Commission with a Monsieur Lallement to administer for him, he repaired again to Paris and thence he returned to England which he reached after a perilous voyage across the channel.
On the return of Napoleon to Paris in 1815, all that had been obtained in the course of three months' solicitation from Louis XVIII had been undone in three days after his arrival and very severe measures were threatened against F Henry Parker and others, which no doubt would have been acted upon, had not the new system been reversed after the Battle of Waterloo. On the return of the old Regime new nominations were obtained for the Secular Colleges; but the Benedictines were left out, which was attributed to the want of good will towards them on the part of those who had obtained those nominations, and it was not until the following year that F Henry Parker succeeded in obtaining a nomination for himself for Paris and one for F Augustine Lawson for Doway and that of F Richard was found still to be valid as he had never been put out by any one after taking possession.
In the autumn of 1816 F Richard repaired again to Paris and found F Henry Parker's health declining fast. He had got possession of the house of St Edmund's and though a cotton manufactory was carried on in it, he had apartments reserved for himself. He was of opinion that the Convent of St Edmund's could never be restored at Paris and he thought it more desirable to establish it at Doway if the members of St Gregory's would give up their former residence for that purpose. At that time it was found that no progress could be made in taking any measures for the recovery of their property as the Clerks in the different offices were Jacobinically inclined and no ways favourable to their cause, so that F Richard's labours proved abortive and he returned to London.
At this period Dr Collingridge, the Vicar Apostolic of the Western District was desirous of obtaining a Coadjutor from the Benedictine Body, and in a conversation which occurred between him and F Anselm Lorymer he named F Richard Marsh as a person possessing the necessary qualities. But he wished to have certain explanations and certain questions answered by him relating to the controversy on the Blue Books, in which F Cuthbert Wilks had been involved in the year 1791. At the period in which these disputes had occurred, F Richard had been the Prior at Dieuleward, and then again when the controversy was renewed, he was Prior of his Convent in Lancashire and took no active part in what was going forward. But he was known to be of opinion that F Cuthbert Wilks was treated with great severity. If it had not been for his opinions upon this subject, there are grounds to believe that Bishop Sharrock would have considered him as a fit person to have been his Coadjutor, and now upon Bishop Collingridge resuming the subject, F Richard felt hurt that such questions should be put to him as if his faith was suspected; but still he avowed that he thought that F Cuthbert Wilks ought to have conformed with the wishes of the Vicars Apostolic, and he expressed his readiness to answer any particular charge which might be made on that heard against him. Dr Collingridge who was always full of scruples took umbrage at his answer. However on passing through London on his return from France he was advised to go to Cannington to see the Bishop. He thought he found him reserved, constrained and suspicious as if there was something on his mind which he did not like to express. On parting the Bishop notified to him that he intended to ask for a Benedictine Coadjutor. Some time later on Dr Collingridge proceeding to Durham to attend a Meeting of the Vicars Apostolic, he called on him at his house in Aberford on his return. But not finding him in the House, although he was not likely to be long absent, he would not stay, but left his card and expressed a good deal of disappointment in not meeting him. From this period there is no notice recorded of Dr Collingridge thinking of appointing F Richard his Coadjutor.
On F Henry Parker dying in July 1817 and leaving F Richard his sole Heir and Executor, circumstances prevented him from going over to Paris that year to look after his affairs, but in the following year, he repaired there. After some delay he got a government nomination for St Edmund's and having a Deputation from F Augustine Lawson for St Gregory's, he was told there was no need of a particular nomination for it and he was admitted by the Bureau as Administrator for the Benedictine property in general.
With regard to the settlement of F Henry Parker's affairs, they were attended with a great deal of trouble. As he could never obtain a settlement of his accounts, his personal effects were made liable for the debts incurred as Econome. All his Papers and effects were under the Seals of Government and Br Nicholas, a French Laybrother of Dieuleward, but who had afterwards lived with him at the Irish College, had been appointed Guardian till F Richard's arrival. The Juge de Paix of the Section, in which F Henry Parker resided, had placed the Seals in the name of the Government. He was now for taking them off to take an Inventory of all his Papers and effects. F Richard also had a Notary to take an Inventory for himself, in order not to make himself liable to all F Henry Parker's debts, as it was whispered that claims might be brought against him almost to an indefinite extent. Whilst they were busy in making the Inventory, he contrived to get the papers relating to his property in the Funds into his possession without any one perceiving it and this alone saved the property. Still as he feared there might exist somewhere other Documents, which might prove that F Henry had this property at his death to the satisfaction of the Bureau, which pretended to have heavy claims against him, he hastened to have all sold out of the French Funds at no little personal risk to himself, and to have it transferred to other hands unknown to those who had all along had the management of it.
Having got through this troublesome business, he returned to England to attend the meeting of the General Chapter in 1818, when he was elected President, but he declined the Office out of deference to Dr Brewer, so he was continued in his Office of Provincial. Soon after Chapter he repaired to Doway to begin to establish School which he fully calculated would terminate in the resuscitation of the Convent of St Edmund's. Br Charles Fairclough who had finished his Noviceship at the Convent of St Laurence at Ampleforth was, with some reluctance of the Prior, admitted to his profession, in order that he might repair to Doway to assist him in his laudable undertaking. A few Students were at first collected and these continued to prosecute their Studies under F Charles as he was soon after his arrival promoted to the Priesthood, whilst F Richard was under the necessity of repairing to England for the winter and did not return to Doway till May in the following year. From this period he continued till after the Chapter in 1826 to reside altogether at Doway attending as closely as he could to the education of the Students under his charge.
In the April preceding the meeting of the General Chapter in 1822 F Richard succeeded to the Presidentship on the death of Dr Brewer and at the Chapter which followed soon after, he was continued in the Office. But as the finances of the North Province had been under his charge during the quadriennium, he had to present the Accounts of the Province to Chapter. This was a trying crisis for him. The heavy loss of the property of the Province in the Pilling speculation was well known to many of the Chaptermen and ought to have appeared in the Accounts and to have attempted to dissemble under these circumstances would have appeared almost fruitless. Had the new President come forward and openly avowed the loss which the Province had sustained and rested the justification of his conduct on the consent of the two Definitors which he had obtained and who shared with him in the responsibility of this transaction, his course would have been manly, and the Province would have been bound to the loss, as the constitutional permission to invest money in this speculation had been obtained. But he shrunk from this painful avowal and he preferred to present to Chapter an unfaithful statement, and so to expose himself to the moral dereliction of falsifying his Accounts in order to make them tally and to defray a portion of the loss out of his own peculium [See Dr Marsh's Reminiscences Records III 555] These Accounts however incorrect were allowed to pass at Chapter and he escaped on this occasion at the expense of his character. Yet these pecuniary losses exposed him to great embarrassment and forced him during the succeeding quadriennium to have recourse to many unworthy shifts, in order to cover the heavy loss which he had sustained and which he contrived to a great extent to make good to the Province.
Towards the close of the deliberations at Chapter, he brought the Establishment which he was forming at Doway under the notice of the Capitular Fathers. There were strong grounds to suppose that under ordinary circumstances this infant settlement would have found favour and support. But the Fathers were not disposed, as the spirit of party was on the ascendancy, to weigh the question on its real merits. The members of St Gregory's had indeed given up the Building at Doway to the new Establishment and when they had done that they contented themselves with looking on with apparent indifference without affording any real assistance to the undertaking. The Convent of St Laurence's had all along sent one or more of its subjects to assist its Founder in working out his plans. But of late several of its leading Members, both on the Mission and in the Convent, had determined to withdraw their support, on the ground that the property which was to be appropriated to it was so much money taken from their own Convent. The French Government had been in the habit latterly of paying a small annual sum of money in lieu of the proceeds arising from Dieuleward Woods which had been recovered. But though this money was accompanied with the condition that it should be spent in France, yet the leading Members of the House at Ampleforth were not disposed to hand this over to the new house at Doway, as they thought they could educate their own members on it in France. They moreover claimed other property, which will be noticed a little later; so that influenced by these pecuniary considerations they were opposed to the revival of St Edmund's at Doway.
On the President proposing to pass some mark of approbation in favour of his new Establishment, he found great opposition was raised, and after much discussion his proposition was negatived by the majority of a single vote. [See Dr Marsh's Reminiscences Records III 568] Flushed with this success, the party in opposition, headed by F Augustine Baines, determined to pursue its victory and was preparing to submit a motion that the Establishment at Doway should not be a Conventual residence. But after some modifications, the proposition, which was finally carried, was to the effect, that the thanks of Chapter were given to the President for the labours he had undergone in establishing a school at Doway, and he was earnestly entreated to devise the best means he could to prepare his subjects for Holy Orders according to the Powers granted him by Chapter [See Acts of Chapter Vol II 400] The real object of this motion was to prevent Doway becoming a Conventual residence; but as it was worded, it was almost unintelligible, so that the President seeing all opposition would be unavailable allowed it to pass without bringing it to the Vote.
These proceedings were disheartening to the President, who on repairing to Doway after Chapter, was fully alive to the difficulties which encompassed him in accomplishing the great work he had in hand and which he was bent upon bringing to a successful issue. To have promoted his young men to Holy Orders without taking the Religious Vows, as intimated in the Decision of Chapter, was impracticable and showed its Authors to be utterly ignorant of Canon Law, as any Bishop in France would have incurred suspension by ordaining them without dimissorials from the Vicar Apostolic in England in whose Districts they were born, and the Bishops, who granted these dimissorials would have immediately claimed them as their subjects [See President Marsh's Letter to Mr Fisher March 29th 1833 Records II 37] To have applied to the Definitors of the Regimen would have been to no purpose as two of them, F Augustine Baines and F Bennet Glover, had been amongst his most strenuous opponents at Chapter and the sentiments of the Benedictines generally were those of indifference, if not of opposition to his new Establishment. Under these circumstances the whole reliance of the President for success depended on the See of Rome, and here he looked forward for that support, which would shortly enable him to triumph over all his opponents. In the mean while as some of his young men, who were studying for the Church, were advanced enough in their Studies to pursue their Philosophy, he prevailed on the Bishop of Cambray to admit two of them to pursue their course in his Seminary; the others he undertook to teach himself.
Soon after Easter in the following year, he proceeded to Rome, as he had been commissioned by Chapter to proceed there to obtain a modification of the late Prescript relating to retreats, and he succeeded in obtaining a more satisfactory Grant upon the subject. But this was of little moment compared with the Canonical Establishment of the existing Convents in England, which he brought under the cognizance of the authorities at Rome. According to the received Law of the Church, no Religious House could be canonically Established without the sanction of the Holy See, and as no formal application had been made to Rome to translate the Convents abroad on the breaking out of the French Revolution, he brought the subject of the Canonical Institution of the existing Convents in England before the Court of Propaganda, and obtained a Precept, by which the former Convents abroad were translated to other places, namely, the Convent of St Gregory, formerly at Doway, was translated to Downside; that of St Laurence's at Dieuleward to Ampleforth; that of St Edmund's at Paris to Doway; that of the Nuns at Cambray to Salford and that of the Abbey of Lamspring was allowed to be reestablished at some other place, provided the Ordinary of those places sanctioned the Establishment of these Convents [See the Rescript Records III 14] By this important Decree, the President not only succeeded in obtaining the establishment of the Convent of St Edmund's at Doway which he had so much at heart, but in placing the other Convents in England on a Canonical footing and so providing for the permanence of the Congregation. Before he left Rome, his Holiness Pius VII, wishing to bestow some favour on the Benedictines, conferred on him the Degree of Doctor and gave him the power of conferring the same honour on three of his subjects who had taught a course of Divinity [See the Rescript Records II 514]
On his return to Doway, he applied to the Regimen for permission to admit his subjects to the Habit and to their Religious Profession. Fortunately for the real interests of the Congregation in this respect, F Augustine Baines, the first Definitor had vacated his Office on his promotion to the Episcopacy in the spring of the year and F Anselm Lorymer had succeeded to the vacant Definitorship; so that two out of the three Definitors were at first found favourable to the proposition but they finally refused their permission [See the Decision of the Regimen Records III 15]. But notwithstanding this, six of the young men at Doway were admitted to the Habit and from that time the duty of keeping Choir and other Claustral observances were enforced. At the end of their year of probation five were all professed of the House of St Edmund's.
These proceedings at Doway, so contrary to the avowed wishes of the late Chapter, were much opposed by several of the most influential members of the House at Ampleforth, who looked upon much of the property which the President claimed a right to appropriate to Doway, as belonging to their own Convent. This property in dispute was derived from two sources. First that of F Henry Parker's, who was the last Prior of the Convent of St Edmund's at Paris and who, on seeing no prospect of his Convent being restored, left F Richard Marsh his sole Executor and Heir, with instructions to apply his money both in the English and French Funds in educating Students at the House at Ampleforth. The second was Mr Occleshaw's who had been Steward to Lord Stourton and who left two houses in York to F Richard Marsh, who was the Prior of Ampleforth at the time, and in his private written instructions, he directed that the rents amounting to about £35 a year should be applied for the education of a youth at Ampleforth. As F Laurence Burgess, the Prior of Ampleforth, had found among Dr Brewer's papers, letters which seemed to convince him that F Henry Parker's property ought to be given up to his Convent, and as he had other evidence to show that Mr Occleshaw's property was left to it, he applied to the President to give up the properties or to appropriate the interest arising from them to his Convent, but receiving no redress he appealed to the Judges of Causes against the President. This led to painful disclosures. It was admitted by Dr Marsh that the Capital, which F Henry Parker had invested in the English Funds, had been taken up and spent in paying, as far as it would go, the money belonging to the Province which had been lost in the Pilling Moss speculation. His other property in the French Funds had been lent on speculation for he had advanced twenty thousand Francs to a Family in Doway, in the hope of getting high interest for the money, and held the Deeds of the House in which they lived as security; but it turned out after the death of the Parents, that they had no power to charge the property with any debt so he lost it. The decision of the Regimen was that the consideration of F Henry Parker's property should be postponed till next Chapter; but they determined that the rents derived from Mr Occleshaw's Houses should be paid to Ampleforth. The President however maintained that as Mr Occleshaw was a Layman they had no right to interfere, that he was acting according to the dictates of his own conscience in the disposal of this money, that he appealed to the General Chapter against their decision and as this was not a criminal case but a civil one, he maintained he was not bound in the interval to submit to their decision.
On the meeting of the next Chapter the strongest party feelings prevailed. The President by his proceedings connected with Doway had brought many of the leading members of his Convent of St Laurence's to unite against him, so that if he had not met with support from the members of St Gregory's, he would have been severely handled. But the state of parties at the time enabled him to escape and to triumph over all the machinations of his opponents.
In the spring of 1823 F Augustine Baines had been appointed Coadjutor to Bishop Collingridge. This Father was known to be much opposed to the system pursued at Downside and to have applied to make it his Seminary and to have Presidential and Provincial authority over those who were educated there, so that the Capitular Fathers of that house had taken the alarm and were determined to oppose his having a seat in Chapter after the example of his Predecessors in the Western District {cf CCCCLV Ellis}. On the other hand many of the leading members of St Laurence's looked up to the new Bishop, as the star of their own house and were resolved to give him the same privileges as his Predecessors enjoyed. Previous to Chapter, both parties had been intriguing to gain their purpose and as the President was disposed to join the Gregorians and to throw the weight of his influence on their side, they in their turn were prepared to support him and all his proceedings against the attack of the Laurentians. The party in favour of admitting Bishop Baines into Chapter was found to be in the minority and so it was in every other party question.
On proceeding to the elections, Dr Marsh expressed his wish under existing circumstances, not to be again reelected President, so that F Augustine Birdsall was elected and F Richard was declared the 2d Elect President, but he was continued in the Cathedral Priorship of Canterbury to which he had been elected at the preceding Chapter. On proceeding to business, a letter was read which had been forwarded by the Sacred Congregation to Bishop Poynter in the spring of the year, highly approving of the reestablishment of the Convent of St Edmund's at Doway, and expressing the determination of his Holiness to declare null and void any attempt of the Benedictines in England to disturb that Establishment. This was calculated in itself to settle the question of its reestablishment in the minds of the more prudent part of the Capitular Fathers and to stifle all real opposition against it. After the subject was discussed, the professions of the Novices which had taken place at Doway were admitted to be valid and the Convent at Doway was declared to be a continuation of the Convent of St Edmund's at Paris. The disputed property left by F Henry Parker was adjudged to belong to St Edmund's, on the ground that if he had contemplated the revival of his own Convent, he would have wished so to have applied it.
The Houses at York left by Mr Occleshaw were to be under Dr Marsh's control who was to apply the rents for the education of Students at any of the Monasteries according to his conscience, and he continued to place Students on them for some years.
[Dr Marsh writes to Mr Fisher `I am told Mr Occleshaw says in some loose paper that he wishes a Boy to be educated at Ampleforth.' He writes again August 28th 1824 `A Paper bearing no marks of authenticity was shown me respecting Mr Occleshaw's intentions.' This paper was found among Dr Marsh's papers after his death and I have had it in my possession. The first part of this Paper is written in one hand and the latter part is apparently written in another hand, or if the whole be written in Mr Occleshaw's hand, which I do not think is the case, it must have been written at two distinct periods in his life and the paper bears no signature to it, so that I agree with Dr Marsh that it bears no marks of authenticity about it]
[The Deputati for Justice at this Chapter were Mr Talbot and Mr Molyneux from whose Report I extract the following Quaestio autem illa Occleshaw a Constitutionibus nostris extraenea est, et RD Marsh sententiae illi, si lata Fuisset, non teneretur obedire; quoniam in illa sappositione subditus cum esset non liceret ipsi contra conscientiam suam agere et sic peccatum committere, quamquam Superiores sui id mandassent. It seems difficult to understand how Dr Marsh could plead that his conscience would not allow him to apply the rents of these Houses to Ampleforth, when they were left to him when he was the Prior of that house and when the instructions, if they be authentic, expressly say that they were for that purpose. But be that as it may. The Deputati advanced a most dangerous doctrine, when they tell us that Dr Marsh would not have been bound to obey a sentence of the Regimen, on the ground that he would not have been allowed to act contrary to his conscience, as he would be committing sin by so doing, although his Superiors ordered it. A Religious Man is undoubtedly bound to obey the orders of his Superiors, unless they be manifestly against the Laws of God, or the Canons of the Church, or contrary to the express letter of the Constitutions and Laws which are the guide of his Superiors. To allow the consciences of Individuals to interfere in other cases would be to place conscience above Law and would be destructive of all authority]
The former Accounts of the North Province not proving satisfactory to F Gregory Robinson the Provincial called upon the Capitular Fathers to investigate the state in which its finances had been left by Provincial Marsh. The subject was perplexing, the whole of the Accounts of the Province during the sixteen years of his Provincialship, had never been regularly kept and had never been properly investigated at any of the previous Chapters; so that the Commissaries who were appointed to examine them found it no difficult matter to evade weighing the question on its merits, and to lay the blame, in a mass of complicated Accounts, on the delinguency of former Chapters in not thoroughly investigating them at the time and to acquit Dr Marsh of all real errors in his Accounts and to free him from all censure.
[Dr Marsh in his Reminiscences Records III 555 writes `I think it proper here to notice one thing. It was well known that the concern (at Pilling) did not pay interest of the Capital laid out though it was expected that in time it would and clear off arrears too. Not wishing that this deficit of interest should figure in the Chapter Accounts which would be submitted to the inspection of many who knew little about and on that account might cry out some other items were charged with a part of that deficit and I bore the rest. This was dwelt upon with particular asperity and that by those who knew well the reason of it and knew well they had no right to arraign Accounts in 1826 which had been passed and approved in Chapter 1822' Though Dr Marsh's conscience would not allow him to apply the rents of Mr Occleshaw's Houses for the education of a Youth at Ampleforth yet his conscience did allow him to invest £400 left to that Convent in Pilling Moss without any authority from its acting Superiors. The case was this. On the 11th of Novr 1808 F Richard Marsh the Prior of Ampleforth received £400 from Mrs Mathews of Bath to assist in bringing up people for the Church after her death as the interest had to be paid to her during her life. See the Accounts of Ampleforth. This money Mr Marsh afterwards invested in Pilling Moss where it was lost. The last time the interest of it was paid to Ampleforth is in 1818. Prior Burgess writes to President Marsh March 1st 1824, `I was not before aware that Mrs Mathews £400 was embarked in that unfortunate concern.' See Records III 578]
On the breaking up of Chapter, Dr Marsh proceeded to Doway for the purpose of winding up his affairs, and on delivering up every thing into the hands of F Bernard Collier, who had been elected the new Prior, he proceeded to take upon himself the charge of the Mission at Woolston near Warrington, which had been left without a Priest during the two last years, and which, on account of its poverty, was not intended to be filled up with a resident Priest any more. Here he was residing in the autumn of 1829, when President Birdsall requested him to proceed to Rome with F Joseph Brown the Professor of Divinity at Downside, to lay before the Holy See the propositions which Dr Baines had made to the Prior of St Gregory's, which were subversive of the rights of the English Congregation, and which, if admitted, would probably have broken up the Body. These Propositions also involved the validity of the Vows of all those who had been professed in the Convents in England, which Dr Baines declared to be invalid. At first Dr Marsh was received coolly by Cardinal Cappellari, the Prefect of Propaganda, but after he and his able assistant had presented several luminous Memorials, refuting the objections raised against the validity of the Vows taken in England, they succeeded in obtaining a Decree from his Holiness, granting a sanatory and making good any deficiencies, if any such existed respecting such Vows and establishing their Convents canonically in future.
Having succeeded in this important business Dr Marsh returned to his Mission at Woolston where new troubles awaited him. As the Mission at Rixton contiguous to that of Woolston had been long vacant and the Jesuits to whom it belonged had no thoughts of keeping it up, it was deemed advisable to unite them as both of them would make but a small Congregation. It had been arranged that a Chapel should be built in some intermediate situation between the two places. But Dr Marsh prevailed on Provincial Robinson to allow him to avail himself of what he considered a cheap purchase of some land at Rixton, which he clandestinely agreed for and which was contrary to the original understanding as the new Chapel had to be built between the two places. As soon as the Catholics at Woolston heard of what had been done they were all in a ferment. The subject was laid before the Bishop a new Chapel was threatened to be raised at Woolston and nearly three years passed before Dr Marsh ventured to commence his new Establishment at Rixton which in spite of all opposition he persevered in erecting. Here he removed in 1831 and spent the remainder of his life in that isolated situation and soon after he had built his Chapel he saw a new one erected at Woolston and himself cut off from that old Benedictine Mission in consequence of the great error he had committed.
On the death of President Birdsall on the 2d of August 1837 Dr Marsh as 2d Elect succeeded again to the Presidentship and at the Chapter in 1838 he was continued in the Office and elected the Abbot of Westminster. At this period he was bending under the weight of years and he was no longer capable of fulfilling the duties of his Office, either with credit to himself or with any advantage to the Body. He confined himself merely to do what he could not avoid and he left the other Officers of the Body to act as they thought proper. He was a mere wreck of himself, seldom intruding upon others and as his parsimonious habits increased upon him with age he was no ways wishful to be at the expense of entertaining others at his house. In the early period of his life, he had been frequently unfortunate in his Speculations, but during his latter years, he had been more fortunate and he had contrived to save money to a considerable amount. At the Chapter in 1842 he expressed his wish that he might not be again reelected President as he appeared then to be nearly on the verge of the grave. His wishes were attended to, but as a mark of esteem and regard for his past services, the Capitular Fathers enacted that he should be prayed for when he died, as if he had been really President. A few months later this jubilarian was gathered to his Fathers on the 23d of February 1843 in his 81st year and lies buried in the Chapel at Warrington.
F Augustine or Edward Clifford the fifth son of Charles the 7th Lord Clifford of Chudleigh in Devonshire was born on the 5th of February 1803 and was sent to Ampleforth to receive his education and after nearly finishing his course of Humanities, he left and returned into the world. But on feeling a disposition to embrace a Religious life, he wished to return, but his noble Father thwarted him in his views for a time, as he wished him to see a little more of life and then if he persisted in his resolutions, he advised him to become a Secular Clergyman. After remaining at home two or three years and his resolution still continuing to join the Benedictines his Father was prevailed on, chiefly by the persuasion of F Augustine Baines to allow him; so that he returned to Ampleforth, where he took the Habit and after his year of probation, he was professed on the 9th of October 1823. Though an amiable young man, there was a fickleness in his character which soon began to display itself. The Religious ardour, which he showed throughout his Noviciate, soon began to evaporate and then from being lax in the observance of his Rules, he again regained his primitive fervour which was not lasting [August] In the year 1825 he was allowed to repair to President Marsh, who was residing in his new Establishment at Doway, but here he did not remain long before he was again allowed to return to his own Convent where he was ordained Priest on the 20th of January 1827.
F Augustine proceeded to the Mission at Bungay in 1827 but here he did not remain long before he was removed to Netherton in 1828. Being of a generous disposition and extravagant in his habits, he soon involved himself in debt although he had an annuity of his own. In January 1830 he received an invitation from Dr Baines to go over to Ampleforth where he was staying and as he was not in a good state of health at the time he had the permission of Provincial Robinson to absent himself from his Mission for two months for the purpose of trying a change of air. As Dr Baines always had great influence over him, he had not been long in his society before he was satisfied that his vows were invalid, and he was easily worked upon to believe the Bishop to be an injured and calumniated man. Having now become his strenuous supporter he proceeded to Ugbrook, his Father's Mansion, where he persisted in remaining, under the directions of Dr Baines, though repeatedly urged by his Provincial to return to his Mission at Netherton. After the Easter Indulgence had passed without his making his appearance, his Provincial as a last resource gave him an order of obedience to return to his Mission and this succeeded in bringing him back [Dr Baines writes to Mr Clifford April 21st 1830 `Should Mr Robinson send you an Order sub Praecepto Obedientiae to return to Netherton and you are able to go - you ought to do it. If he does not give you such an order, I think you are justified considering the peculiar circumstances in which you are placed in eluding the command.] Previous to his return, he had placed a Petition to Rome in the hands of Dr Baines, in which he called for a decision on the validity of his Vows, and if it was decided that they were invalid, he then asked to be allowed to follow the example of the Superiors of Ampleforth and to transfer his obedience to the Bishop of the Western District [Dr Baines writes to Mr Clifford April 6th 1830, `Your conduct is clear and straight. It is merely to request (which agreeably to your expressed wishes I will do for you and with you) that no new obligation, which you do not wish, may be imposed upon you, but that if you are not already engaged that you may not be so, and if you are, that you may do what the Superiors of Ampleforth and Mr Brindle have so laudably done, transfer not abjure obedience. Do write to Mr Burgess of Ampleforth or some of the Religious, it will be a charity to your friends there - I am convinced that the Vows made by you and myself and all of us who professed in England are invalid and we will bring it to a fair trial. Your name shall not go alone, mine for one shall accompany it and I am much deceived, if we have not other good company.' Dr Baines wrote to Lord Clifford April 11 1830 `Your Lordship's Son, Edward, who has requested me as the Bishop to whom he belongs on the supposition that his Vows are invalid to procure a legal decision for him on this head or a transfer of his obedience - in leading him to this decision I have no hand.' See Cardinal Weld's letter to Provincial Robinson and his answer Records III 256-258.] As Dr Baines has a great desire to see him placed under his own jurisdiction, he forwarded this Petition directly to Cardinal Weld in order to avoid the inconvenience and delay, which would take place if it passed through the regular Courts in Rome, requesting him to obtain an audience of the Pope and to solicit the grant of it as a special favour. But the Cardinal remained passive, hoping that F Augustine might be induced to withdraw his Petition.
F Augustine had not been a fortnight at his Mission before a complete change was wrought in his sentiments by his intercourse with his Brethren around him. His irritation at the order of obedience which had been given to him was so completely removed, that he now thanked his Provincial for it, and stated that without that order he should never have been returned - that the delusion, which misrepresentations had procured in his mind, had disappeared, and that he desired nothing so much as to return to Ampleforth and labour to repair the injuries that Establishment had sustained. He then wrote to Cardinal Weld and to Dr Baines to recall his Petition for Secularization, declaring it to be his intentions not to accept it if it should be already granted. As his Superiors considered that his name and standing in Society might be of service to his Convent at Ampleforth, he returned to Conventual life in the beginning of June and after the meeting of Chapter Prior Towers appointed him his Subprior. But there was an instability in his conduct, which rendered him unfit for the Office, especially as his Prior left the whole establishment under his control during his lengthened absence of more than four months. Shortly after the return of the Prior, disagreements began to take place between him and his Subprior, and as it was found from the experience of a twelvemonth, that they could not coalesce in their opinions of government, it was found desirable that they should separate, and as the Prior pressed for his removal President Birdsall withdrew him from the Convent.
F Augustine, on leaving Ampleforth, repaired to the South of England and remained for a time among his relatives and then he was sent to the Convent of St Gregory's at Downside. At one time the idea was entertained of sending him to Rome where he would have been near his relative Cardinal Weld; but that plan was laid aside as it was found that it would be necessary for him to reside in a Convent to which he had objections. [Cardinal Weld to President Birdsall June 28th 1831 `Lord Clifford is disposed to do every thing in his power to second the wishes of his Brother's Superiors, provided it be fully understood between him and them, that the object of Mr E Clifford's going to Rome be, that he should reside here in a Convent of his order and conform to the Rules thereof; but that without such understanding previous to his leaving England, Lord Clifford will not be in any manner a party to the measure... By the style of the last letters I received from Mr E Clifford, I trust he would come hither with a view of having the satisfaction of wearing not the hope of shaking off the Benedictine habit, and it would be well that he should know how strict the Rules are which are laid down by the Council of Trent forbidding Prelates taking Religious {men into their service.' Downside MS}]
He had long had a desire to proceed to a foreign Mission and he embraced the opportunity which presented itself on the consecration of Dr Morris in 1832 of accomplishing it, and President Birdsall who strongly patronized these foreign Missions, readily acceded to his request, so that he accompanied the Bishop to the Mauritius.
F Augustine did not long give satisfaction to his new Episcopal Superior. On leaving this country Dr Morris had agreed that he should reside with him in his Episcopal residence. But disagreements soon arose between them and F Augustine's extravagant habits entailed heavy debts which Dr Morris cleared off. After this he went to reside at Mahebourg station in a different part of the Island, where heavy charges were laid against his character, but probably they were exaggerated. Here he had a timely warning of his approaching end for which he prepared himself with great care and calmly met his death in the most edifying sentiments on the 22d of October 1843 in his 41st year [{Downside MS Mr Cockshoot writes to Mr Greenough February 21st 1844 `I have had} the happiness of learning that my sincere fellow Novice made a very edifying end. For more than a week he was conscious of his approaching end, was rational, calm and resigned and prepared himself with great care under the direction of the Clergyman in whose house he was lying. The consoling intelligence had been forwarded by Dr Collier I believe.']
F Adrian or Richard Towers was born at Preston on the 21st of January 1781 and was professed at Lamspring on the 1st of January 1802 by Abbot Maurus Heatley. He was the last professed at that Abbey and on its suppression in the following year, he continued to reside with the others in the House and was supported by the pension he received from the Prussian Government. As soon as he had arrived at the Canonical age, he was promoted to the Priesthood by F Placid Harsnep, his Superior. What was his condition from the time the French took possession of the Principality till 1813, he shall relate in his own words taken from a letter which he wrote to Mr Birdsall in 1820, `I should be extremely glad to be able to profit of your friendly invitation and talk over old times again and give you some description of what we have gone through in the last fourteen years when robbed entirely of our pension and forced to live on the charity even of the poor. We are regarded as strangers and treated with indignity even by such as owed their all to us. The poor kilner (meaning F Augustine Hatton) was obliged to lay aside both breakfast and supper entirely, till relieved by one almost as poor as himself. My own fate was peculiarly hard as I fell sick just at the moment we lost our pensions in the beginning of the year 1807 and languished from a Bilious Fever, that reduced me to the brink of the grave; and when I recovered a little the following spring, you may easily suppose what my reflections must have been on taking a view of the debts contracted by so tedious a sickness and myself still weak. I entered on this sickness with only one Prussian Sechser and had it not been for Christina of the poor house who served me for nothing and shared her poor earnings with me, I should have perished, as on one occasion not being able to speak from weakness and scarce able to swallow, I desired the Widow Küster who owed everything to us to allow me {blank} grant mouth of sugar candy on trust {sic}, which was refused till Christina gave her word for payment, it having been reported I should never recover. After this finding my debts increasing and no prospect of our pension being restored I retired to Hildesheim where a Taylor took me in and procured me some scholars in English. I was up at five o'clock, though still weak in the midst of winter, running up and down the Streets and at ten o'clock at night was often at the extremity of the Town in snow and rain. In this manner I acquired a scanty livelihood and a trifle for my creditors who were continually dunning me. I could not even say Mass for want of six pennies for the serving boy much less purchase a glass of Beer. Thus I laboured through till 1813 when better times appeared.' At that period he began to correspond with President Brewer, who began to treat with him about coming to the Mission, but owing to his state of health and other causes, he did not repair to England till 1817. In the spring of the following year, he was commissioned by the President to repair again to Germany for the purpose of attempting to recover certain funds which had been left by different families to the Abbey of Lamspring as perpetual foundations for the education of students. These funds the Prussian government on the dissolution of the Abbey had promised to repay to the different families, provided they could make good their claim, and though Mr Heatley of Brindle recovered £500 which had been given by his father to Lamspring as a foundation for one student, yet none of the other money could be recovered.
On the government of the country passing into the hands of the house of Brunswick, a new opening appeared for the recovery of these Funds: but though F Adrian was unsuccessful and he returned to England without obtaining his object, he still held out hopes that he might be able ultimately to succeed after he had procured certain legal documents from the families who had originally given the foundations. For a time he proceeded to live conventually at Ampleforth and was appointed the Professor of Divinity, but as he had never given his mind much to the study of Theology and as his health at the time would not allow him to keep close to his studies, he was not found of much service so he left Ampleforth for the Mission at Workington in 1820. As his heart was still in Germany, he contrived to prevail on the President to send him again in 1821 for the purpose of recovering these funds. But if his labours were again unsuccessful in prosecuting this business to a successful issue, he had the effrontery to take upon himself to pack up the Library belonging to Lamspring and forward it to Hamburg where it was immediately stopped by the officers of Government and an arrest was then laid on his pension which cost him some trouble in recovering.
[Mr Lacabanne writes to President Marsh Jany 24th 1825 `I make no doubt that if the families of the founders were to lay in their claims, vouched by the necessary legal documents, they might be recovered; but, as this affair was committed to our great astonishment to Mr Towers, that all-sufficient Gentleman never thought proper to consult us, to communicate upon this matter with any of his confreres, by which means we have been left entirely in the dark and can therefore form no judgment on the subject. It would have been happy for us, if that busybody had never been here; for Government considers us as a set of cheats and thieves on his account. Before his last departure for England, he packed up a number of large chests, the whole remaining Library of Lamspring, which Government had kindly left for the use of the suppressed members and with unparalleled effrontery sent them off in open day to Hamburg. The consequence naturally was that Government reclaimed the books, ordered them back from Hamburg condemned Mr Towers in the expenses betwixt two and three hundred dollars and has looked upon us as thieves ever since. Part of these books to the number of 1100 volumes has been bestowed as a donation on the Lutheran Gymnasium at Hildesheim. His pension being at that time stopped has now summed up considerably, I believe of about two years and a half, and some one or other of Government are constantly pestering me with questions of where he is and whether he is alive. You may easily conceive how disagreeable it must be to me to be constantly exposed to such questions without being able to return any answer.']
F Adrian returned to England for the meeting of the General Chapter in 1822, at which he assisted as the Deputy of F Augustine Hatton the Cathedral Prior of Coventry, when he was elected the Secretary of Chapter and made a Praedicator Generalis. Towards the conclusion of Chapter, the Fathers gave him power to prosecute his former business with the Government of Hanover till he had brought it to a conclusion [See Acts of Chapter Vol II 400] but the disgrace which he had got into prevented him from ever returning. On the breaking up of Chapter he returned to his Mission at Workington, but he had not settled down long before he commenced to beg in various parts of England for money to defray the expenses of building a suitable house for the Missioners of the place. When in the South of England, he had the offer of serving Taunton, a Mission belonging to the Bishop of the Western District and as his services were no ways valued by Provincial Robinson, who was happy to be relieved from them, he was allowed by President Marsh to accept the Mission, so he repaired there towards the end of the year 1822. At the following Chapter in 1826 he was elected a Definitor of his Province.
F Adrian, who was a lover of notoriety, soon began to attract the notice of the public by his attacks on the Biblicals in his controversial discourses and by publishing a Pamphlet on their proceedings. For some years, he continued to glory in defying them to a public disputation, so that he gained high reputation for being a noted controversialist. Whilst he was indulging in these pursuits, an unexpected event occurred which caused him to remove from Taunton.
On a vacancy ocurring in the Priorship of Ampleforth by Prior Burgess accepting an Indult of Secularization at a time when all the Community, with one exception, were eager to place themselves under the jurisdiction of Dr Baines and were regardless of the real interests of their Mother house and were only anxious to choose a person who would be acceptable to Dr Baines, F Adrian was declared to be canonically elected the Prior of St Laurence's on the 3d of April 1830 and on his election being notified to him he accepted Office.
[Dr Baines writes to Mr Towers April 6th 1830 `Before you accept that Office I should like to see you. At all events I hope you will be quite sure that those who choose you mean you to accept. I hear strange stories from those quarters. You know what you told of Dick's always getting up to the neck in the mud and then people crying out O Dick - Be upon your guard or you will get over head and not have the consolation of having yourself laughed at verbum sat &c.' Dr Baines writes again to Prior Towers Octr 24th 1830 `What in the world makes you so eloquently threatening about your reputation at Taunton? Do you mean to insinuate that I have touched your reputation? I never said an unkind word of you in my life, nor even said anything behind your back that I would not as soon say before your face - I did tell a great friend of yours in the Convent that I thought you a great goose for leaving a place, for which you were qualified and where you were doing great good, to go to another, for which you were not qualified and where you could never do any - I thought so then and think so still and I will repeat it to you as often as you wish.']
As he was ambitious of the Post to which he had been called in an evil hour and was anxious to be continued in it at the Chapter which would be held in the following July he took care to make use of the interval which intervened by using the influence of his Office in making friends among the Community and by promising them indulgences to which they had not hitherto been entitled and succeeded in securing his reelection.
F Adrian possessed considerable talents, which he had cultivated by study and reading. He was a good Classical Scholar and was considered to be well versed in the knowledge of the Oriental languages. But as a counterpart to his learning, his judgment was sadly deficient, which disqualified him in general estimation as a fit person to assume the government of others. He was naturally of a kind and indulgent disposition to those whom he supposed favourable to his views and his puerile vanity led him to overlook every fault in those who flattered him. Being of a suspicious and jealous turn of mind, he stooped to any dishonourable act to thwart and crush those whom he believed to be his opponents and in addition to these qualities, there was a self-indulgence about him which laid him open to remark and made him forfeit the real esteem of those who knew his frailties. Nothing succeeded under his admiration. The studies of the Students were never at a lower ebb; the higher branches of Philosophy and Divinity were almost wholly neglected, and instead of looking to these important matters, the Prior for some time at least was indulging his zest for notoriety by his controversial exhibitions and lowering himself in the estimation of all thinking men by preaching in the villages, in the open air and on one occasion in the market place at Helmsley a neighbouring town. By his instable conduct he never could get any superiors under him to act with him except his Procurator. First one and then another was sent in to assist him in his government, and then they had to be removed and what was worse than all, he proved himself an enormous dilapidator of the goods of the Convent. On President Birdsall making his Visitation in the autumn of the year 1833, he was disposed, in consequence of the serious charges brought by the Community against him to have proceeded to depose him from his Office; but Dr Marsh, considering the noise which such a step would make in the world and the injury which the Prior might do at that particular juncture if he joined Dr Baines, advised him, as the least of evils, to allow matters to go on as they were till Chapter.
At the termination of the quadriennium drew near to a close, Prior Towers succeeded in inducing Bishop Briggs to hold an Ordination in his Convent on the 11th of July, contrary to the express directions of the President, for the purpose of obtaining the Votes of some of the Junior members of the Community, and he made no secret in avowing that he had secured most of the Votes in his favour at the ensuing election. On the meeting of Chapter, the Capitular Fathers came to the determination of examining the Accounts of St Laurence's before they proceeded to the election of the Prior. On these being found to be in an unsatisfactory state, his doom was sealed and a new Prior was elected. At a later period, as there were difficulties attending these Accounts which could not be unravelled, it was agreed, on the suggestion of Provincial Robinson, that a Commission should be appointed to proceed to Ampleforth after the close of Chapter, for the purpose of examining the Accounts of the late Prior, which accordingly took place, and on the close of the investigation it was found that the profusion of the expenditure during the four last years had been exorbitant, as funds had been taken up and debts had been incurred to the amount of above five thousand five hundred pounds.
Few Priors had ever closed their administration under greater disgrace, and from this period F Adrian took little part in the affairs of the Body and kept up little communication with his Brethren. He withdrew to the South and after a time was again stationed at Taunton [F Adrian Towers had addressed a letter in print to James Bunter Esqr On Religious Tracts and the supposed ignorance of English and Irish Roman Catholics. And another Letter to the Revd MW Place Rector of Hampreston proving the Bill.. {lacuna: Downside MS shortened}. As he had made some noise in the world by his opposition to the Biblicals and by his taste for controversy, he was proposed by Lord Clifford, who was staying at Rome to the Prefect of Propaganda as a suitable person to be sent as Vicar Apostolic to the Cape of Good Hope in 1836; but on the subject being named to F Bernard Collier, the Procurator of the Benedictines at Rome, who was well acquainted with his merits, he easily succeeded in stopping the appointment.
[Mr Collier writes from Rome to Dr Brown Septr 4th 1836 `Do you know that Lord Clifford wrote to one of the Nuns at Taunton (has he not a Sister in that Convent?), desiring her to ask F Towers, if he was willing to be appointed Vicar Apostolic of the Cape.' F Towers consented. The Nun informed Lord Clifford and Lord C went straightway to Propaganda and proposed him to the Cardinal Prefect... Fortunately the Cardinal had confidence enough in me to ask my opinion about F Towers and when I informed Lord Clifford of the result of my interview with his Eminence, he hung down his head and said he never intended to seek Mr Towers' appointment without our approbation.' Mr Collier had already written to President Birdsall June 24th 1836 to inform him `that Cardinal Franzoni had applied to him about Mr Towers' character and fitness for the Episcopacy. Now this was no difficult question to answer and I replied immediately that Mr Towers would not do.']
F Adrian was removed from Taunton to Poole in Dorsetshire another Mission belonging to the Bishop of the Western District where he closed his life on the 5th of March 1844 in his 64th year.
F John Turner was born at Woolston in Lancashire in 1764 and was professed at the Convent of St Gregory's at Doway, when it was the Noviciate for the Convent of St Edmund's at Paris, for which Convent he was professed on the 8th of September 1786 during the Priorship of F Gregory Cowley. He was ordained Priest on the 27th of May 1790. On the breaking up of his Convent on the 10th of October 1793, F John shared the fate of his other Conventual Brethren and he was imprisoned in his own House which was converted into a house of Arrest. Here he continued with others to live in daily fears and alarm during the `Reign of Terror' not knowing but the fatal warrant might arrive on any morning ordering him to execution. After an imprisonment of fourteen months he regained his liberty and during a long term of years he contrived to gain a subsistence by teaching English in the public College and giving Lessons in private Houses.
[Mr Turner writes to his Brother Decr 22d 1801 `What is become of William Platt - tell him I hope to see him once more before we die, though I can say I was very near it once, besides having my clothes stripped off my back and my Bed taken from under me. But it is here needless mentioning what you no doubt know too well for never since the beginning of the world was seen such bloodshed slaughter and destruction of the human species; and if I am still alive I must acknowledge it as a particular Providence of God. Hitherto I have been lucky enough to find employment to gain a mere livelihood though but a very precarious one.]
In 1805 President Brewer had thoughts of calling him over to England to teach Theology. What his sentiments were on hearing of this announcement he states in his answer to this application `But I ask your pardon Sir for entertaining you with my private affairs when I should speak of others of more importance. But not hearing from a single soul I find myself like a person disclaimed by all the world. I have been living for these eleven or twelve years after getting out of Prison as if I belonged to no Body. One of the first news I heard, after the storm of the Revolution was a little blown over, was that none of this House should ever be called over. At the same time I was left to look out for means of existence which has nearly taken up all my time for these nine years past with little or no other profit to myself. When Mr Parker communicated to me last year your intention of calling me over to teach Theology, I could not help expressing to him my extreme surprise at your being so little acquainted with my little aptitude for such an undertaking. And on that occasion I ran over with him that part of my education relative to that Study, which happened at the very beginning of the Revolution, when every one's mind was more or less in a ferment, and consequently little capable of serious application, and it was not during the succeeding years, when the fermentation continued to increase that such studies could well be resumed when once laid aside. I am very sensible I am reasoning here quite in a human sense, in seeking out causes for a neglect I own myself guilty of in a very great degree. I acknowledge at the same time my conduct was highly blameable in several other respects and expressed to Mr Parker my regret for not having found some charitable experienced hand to guide my unwary steps when all was tumult and confusion.' The idea of appointing him a Professor of Divinity was abandoned and he continued during the wars with France to eke out a precarious subsistence in Paris and to suffer much during that long period from bodily and mental infirmities.
[Mr Turner writes to Dr Brewer May 4th 1814 For these ten years past at least I have constantly suffered without ceasing from pains in the head more than what can easily be conceived, so far sometimes that life itself became extremely irksome. Such a dreadful situation must, I well conceive, have often rendered me disagreeable to those I had to deal with and every one did not know how to respect my sufferings which only made ill worse - Could I at the beginning have laid aside all occupations and solely attended to proper remedies, the evil might perhaps have been stopped at his source, but as the whole nervous system has been subject to such long irritation, I cannot flatter myself with the least hopes of much relief. Things are even come to such a point that I no longer confide in myself in the most trivial circumstances sometimes.']
In the spring of the year 1814 Dr Brewer invited him over to England for the benefit of his health [Dr Brewer writes to Mr Turner May 15th 1814 `From the indifferent state of health you seem to be in, I wish you to come over into England not to be on the Mission, but to pass a few weeks by way of relaxation, partly at my house and occasionally at your Sister's. You will be very welcome under my roof and after such a long absence and such confinement a jaunt of this sort will contribute to reestablish your health and to rid you of the nervous disorder you complain of'] and he attended the General Chapter in that year as the Deputy of F Henry Parker. After some time he was sent to supply at Croston and then at Holme Hall during the illness of F Alban Clarkson, on whose death in 1815 he was appointed his successor. Here he continued for many years and was honoured with the Cathedral Priorship of Worcester at the Chapter in 1822. After the lapse of years he was appointed the Praepositus of Yorkshire at the Chapter in 1834 for the ensuing quadriennium. This jubilarian on becoming unfit for Missionary duty in consequence of his age left Holme in October 1843 to retire to the Convent at Ampleforth where he closed his long life on the 13th of July 1844 in his 80th year.
F Bernard or James Gore was born in Liverpool and was professed at the Convent of St Edmund at Doway on the 11th of February 1838 during the Priorship of F Francis Appleton. This promising young man was ordained Priest in Advent 1842 and died in his Convent on the 18th of September 1844.
F Oswald or Joseph Orrell was born in Liverpool in 1799 and was professed at the Convent of St Laurence at Ampleforth on the 23d of December 1819. He was ordained Priest on the 1st of August 1823 and passed to the Mission at Kilvington in 1824 and was removed to Felton in 1827. He was elected a Scrutator of Northumberland at the Provincial Chapter of York in 1830 and on F George Turner leaving the Praepositura for the Priorship of St Gregory's he was chosen soon after the Praepositus of Northumberland, in both of which Offices he was continued at the Chapter in 1834 and then he continued to be reelected Praepositus during the remainder of his life.
F Oswald's personal appearance and gentlemanly habits recommended him to the notice of his Patron, but his irreproachable life and his well informed understanding, gained him his esteem and respect as well as of all others who knew him. This estimate Father was prematurely carried off by a short illness on the 29th of January 1845.
F Bennet or James Deday was born at Norwich in 1771 and was professed at Acton Burnall on the 24th of August 1794 during the Priorship of F Jerom Sharrock. He was ordained Priest at Pentecost in 1800 and passed to the Mission at Woollers Hill in Worcestershire in 1805 and removed in 1806 to Wootton in Warwickshire where he remained the rest of his life.
F Bennet acted as Scrutator of his Province at the Provincial Chapter in 1806 and was continued in the Office till 1814, when he was chosen the Praepositus of Worcestershire. At the next Chapter in 1818 he became a Definitor of the Province and was continued in this Office until he became the Provincial of Canterbury at the Chapter in 1826. This Father neither possessed the talents nor energy to meet the difficulties which arose towards the close of the quadriennium when Dr Baines seized on the Bath Mission. And though he acted in this business under the directions of President Birdsall, yet in other matters he was found untractable and jealous of the slightest interference of the President so that he would not do the right thing, if he was the least importuned, lest it might be considered that his authority was tampered with. But notwithstanding his incapacity for business he was continued in the Provincialship during that stormy period and was only superseded in the Office at the Chapter in 1834, when he was again elected a Definitor of the Province, which Office he was continued in as long as he lived. In 1840 he was found unequal to discharge the duties of his Mission, so that F Bernard Short was sent to be his Assistant. Two years later he was honoured with the Cathedral Priorship of Rochester at the Chapter in 1842. This jubilarian closed his life on the 7th of November 1845 in his 74 year.
F Augustine or John Harrison was born May 7th 1770 at Brough in Yorkshire and was professed at the Convent of St Gregory on the 21st of October 1792 during the Priorship of F Jerom Sharrock. On the breaking up of his Convent, he had the good fortune to effect his escape with several others and reached Tournay in safety where he continued to reside until he was sent for to join the Convent established at Acton Burnall. He was ordained Priest in London in the Ember week at Pentecost in 1800.
F Augustine proceeded to Wootton to be Tutor to Sir Edward Smythe's son in 1803 where he continued till 1807 and then returned to his Convent at Acton Burnall, where he filled the principal Offices, being appointed Subprior in 1814 till 1820 then Novice Master in 1816 and Procurator from {MS blank} till {blank}. He passed to the Mission in 1820 when he was sent to be Chaplain to Mr Raymund Arundel at Kenilworth in Warwickshire.
F Augustine was of a nervous or scrupulous turn of mind and from this period, his whole life was passed in a succession of changes, being always discontented and giving incessant trouble to his Superiors. He left Kenilworth for Shrewsbury in 1822 then in 1824 he went to Mr Grainger at Tywsog in Denbighshire, then to Sir Edward Mostyn at Talacre in Flintshire in 1827, then to Thomas More at Shottery near Stratford on Avon in 1831, then to Mr Wakeman at Beckford in Gloucestershire in 183? where he continued till 1835 and then returned to his Convent at Downside. Not contented here he went to live with the Nuns at Spettisbury in Dorsetshire in 1837, then to reside with F Bennet Wassel at Bonham in 1845 where he took ill and returned to Downside and closed his weary pilgrimage on the 6th of March 1846 in his 76 year.
Br Clement or Robert Gibson was sent to Ampleforth by Dr Brown of Wales, where he was professed on the 28th of August 1844 during the Priorship of F Anselm Cockshoot, on the understanding that he would either have to serve one of the Bishop's Missions in Wales, or another Benedictine would have to be substituted in his place, in case his services were otherwise required. He had been appointed the Prefect of the Students a few months before he closed his life after a short illness on the 23d of October 1846 in his 23d year.
F Ambrose or Charles Feraud was born at Wootton in Warwickshire [1786 May 1] and was professed at the Convent of St Gregory at Acton Burnall on the 21st of October 1802. He was ordained Priest on the 8th of October 1810. In 1812 he passed to the Mission at Coventry, where complaints upon complaints were made to his Superiors by the Bishop of the District for his inefficiency and unfitness to take charge of the Congregation during a series of years, so that at last he was removed in 1824 and went to Sawston Hall in Cambridgeshire and returned to his Convent at Downside in 1826.
F Ambrose was a visionary and nearly beside himself, and yet he contrived to obtain the consent of his Superiors to proceed to France and then on a pilgrimage to Rome, bringing the Congregation into disgrace by his wild and preposterous schemes. His head was filled with absurdities when he was remanded to his Convent in 1833 and his mind was buoyed up with the hope of succeeding in some of his mighty undertakings. In 1834 he petitioned President Birdsall to traverse England and Ireland and beg as an Agent for Father Matthew to enable him to build a church in Cork to be attached to his Franciscan Convent. Upon this President Birdsall wrote to Prior Turner in the following strain:
`How long is this fabrication of extravagant and impracticable scheming to go forward? When he was at Florence, aye and before he got to Florence, and after he left Florence, I was continually addressed by him on his harum scarum projects. He was to do this and to do that, and among the rest, besides beating up a crusade against the infidelity of the age and heading a procession from Capital to Capital, from London to Vienna &c with the Crucifix carried before him and hundreds of thousands following him, he was to spend a Retreat of a year and a half at Einsiedeln in Switzerland. His address to the English Nation on their reconversion to Catholicity were also in the mean time to go forward, and besides me, he memorialized also Cardinal Weld, who viewed his plans and his schemes in the light of Visions or absurdities so as to write to me to inquire who the man was, and by what methods or means his wild ideas were to be realized. Are we never to have an end of these nonsenses and are we, although even for ourselves the occupation is scarcely to be tolerated, to suffer one of our people to expose himself to the ridicule or the contempt of a hired vagabond under the name of begging for people beggars by profession? You will perhaps ask yourself if the President can entertain for a moment the idea, that the silly man's Superior would lend his connivance to such preposterous projects. But this is not the case: the question is, are we, for all the days of this poor creatures life, to go on contenting ourselves with smiling at his schemes and air built undertakings? Is it not time to use some authority in forbidding him to indulge in such unmeaning conceptions? and whether it be not encouraging foolery to content ourselves with laughing merely at the various capers and movement which every new produced maggot in his brain exhibits - At all events such as his letter is you have it and make the best of it.'
This poor weak and good natured fanatic died in his Convent on the 18th of February 1847 in his 61st year [President Barber writes to Mr Cockshoot `Poor Mr Feraud, one of your Predecessors at Coventry is gathered to his Fathers. I knew him from early youth and loved him dearly and admired him as a Saint. I have felt his death sensibly.' A few such Saints are calculated to bring the Benedictines Body into contempt and to ruin them in public estimation.]
F Wilfrid or Thomas Fisher was born at Cheadle in Staffordshire on April 29 1767. Having passed through his humanities at the Secular College at Doway, he proceeded to Lamspring where he was admitted to the Habit and after his year of probation he was professed by Abbot Maurus Heatley on the 11th of November 1787 and was ordained Priest in 1790. Two years later he was appointed Master of Juniors and then in 1797 he was appointed Prior [See the Council Book of Lamspring for these appointments 304, 322, 328, 333] which Office he filled until he passed to the Mission to be Assistant at St Mary's Chapel Edmund Street in Liverpool in 1800 and he became the Incumbent in 1802.
F Wilfrid possessed but small talents, but he was well adapted to the post which he filled, being exact in all his Religious duties. At the Chapter in 1810 he was elected the Secretary of the President and at the next Chapter in 1814 he was continued in the Office and was elected the Secretary to the General Chapter. In the following year he succeeded to be a Definitor of the Province of York. At the next Chapter in 1818 he was continued the Secretary of Chapter, was honoured with the Cathedral Priorship of Bath and was elected a Definitor of the Regimen, which Office he continued to fill as long as he lived. At the Chapter in 1834 he was honoured with the Cathedral Priorship of Durham. At the next Chapter in 1838 he was elected the Abbot of St Alban's as the 1st Definitor of the Regimen. At the Chapter in 1842 he became the Abbot of Glastonbury and at the Chapter in 1846 he became again the Abbot of St Alban's.
F Wilfrid, who was an industrious Missioner, obtained the consent of Bishop Smith to build a new Chapel in 18**, as that of St Mary's, being the oldest in the Town, was unworthy of the wealthy inhabitants of Liverpool and was gradually becoming too small for the increasing Congregation. But before the ground was finally purchased Dr Smith was prevailed on by Dr Penswick, his Coadjutor, to recall his permission, so that the collections which had been raised were returned to the Donors, who were indignant at the Anti-Regular spirit which had been displayed to the general detriment of the Catholics in that part of Liverpool. After F Wilfrid had been the Incumbent of St Mary's upwards of forty years, a new Church was projected, but at this period he was unequal to take the charge of superintending it, owing to his advanced years; so that F Augustine Wilkinson, his Assistant, had the management of the temporalities connected with this magnificent Church which was designed by Pugin, the great Catholic Architect. It was solemnly opened for Divine Service.
As F Wilfrid's infirmities increased, he was removed from the Incumbency of St Mary's, but he still continued to occupy his former apartments until after the Chapter in 1846, when Provincial Molyneux resigned him up to the President, as being no longer fit for the Mission. Upon this it was arranged that he should leave the Chapel house and the Incumbent agreed to allow him £30 a year owing to his past services [See Mr Fisher's letter to President Barber claiming from £80 to £100 a year from St Mary's and Mr Wilkinson's letter to Provincial Molyneux on this claim Records IV 365, 366] This with his Lamspring pension was deemed adequate to furnish him with all reasonable comforts in his old age and F Anselm Brewer the Incumbent at Edge Hill agreed that he should take up his residence with him. The aged Father felt this removal from his flock, which he had served for six and forty years very keenly, but he bowed with submission to the sacrifice which he was called upon to make and whilst he was making his arrangements for leaving, he took ill and after a lengthened sickness, he closed his life at the Chapel house on the 12th of April 1847 in his 80th year.
F Oswald or James Talbot was born in Lancashire on the 6th of August 1768 and was professed at St Laurence's at Dieuleward in 1789 during the Priorship of F Richard Marsh. He was ordained Priest in 1792. On the breaking up of his Convent on the 12th of October 1793 he contrived to effect his escape and reached Treves in safety where he continued with his Brethren until he was directed to repair to Acton Burnall, where his Convent was reestablished. He followed the fortunes of his Convent on the Community of St Laurence's leaving Acton Burnall and proceeded to Birkenhead where a house was hired for a Convent in 1795 and then to Scoles in which places he acted as Subprior, until his removal to the Mission at St Mary's Chapel in Liverpool in 1797, from which he passed to Ormskirk in 1800 where he continued forty five years. At the Provincial Chapter of York in 1818 he was elected the Praepositus of Lancashire, which Office he continued to fill till the Chapter in 1834 when he became a Definitor of the Province. During the ensuing quadriennium, he had a right to succeed to the Provincialship of York in virtue of being Provincial 2d Elect, on the death of Provincial Robinson in 1837, but as he was advancing in years he declined the Office. At the next Chapter in 1838 he was again chosen a Definitor of the Province and was continued in the Office until the Chapter in 1846 having been honoured with the Cathedral Priorship of Coventry at the Chapter in 1826.
F Oswald was frugal in his habits and a careful husbander of his resources and he contrived to amass a large sum of money during his long residence at one of the most lucrative places in the gift of the Benedictines. During his latter years his investments in Railways proved extremely fortunate. For some years he had been heard occasionally to say that he intended to give a portion of his property to the Province in which he had made it; but he had never attempted to take any steps to carry out his intentions. In the autumn of 1843 the venerable old man in his 76th year paid a Visit to Ampleforth, the Convent of his Profession and spoke to Prior Cockshoot of his intention of leaving his property to his Convent. Some months later he took seriously ill and in the early part of his sickness, he renewed his Will, by which all his property as a matter of course would fall to his Convent at his death. As he was then unable to do duty, F Ambrose Prest was sent to reside with him and to take charge of the Congregation. Some time later his case appeared hopeless and the Doctor, who attended him, thought he could not survive above a few days. But contrary to all expectation he rallied, and as F Ambrose Prest had not managed to give satisfaction, he requested Provincial Brewer to remove him. On his leaving the Provincial himself went over to Ormskirk and remained with him for several weeks. During this interval the old man was persuaded to make a Deed of Transfer of all his property to the Provincial on condition of receiving an Annuity of £200 a year.
[See the Deed of Transfer and the Declaration of Trust Records IV 367-8. If the Reader turn to the 2d Volume of Records 470 he will find a Rescript of Propaganda authorizing Regulars to make Wills and to act with regard to property in the same manner as Lay people in foro externo. Now to me it would appear, that as Provincial Brewer had the jurisdiction of an Abbot over F Oswald Talbot, he had a right to transfer his property over to him as his Superior, and as he had a right to give any portion of his property to the Province in which he resided, this Deed of Transfer was binding in foro externo and in foro conscientiae. If Mr Talbot in this Deed gave £200 to the Convent of St Edmund, the question arises, whether this was a debt of justice, if it was not, then this was invalid in foro conscientiae, but this would not invalidate his Gifts to the Province for the benefit of certain Missions in it.]
A fortnight later the Provincial made a Declaration of Trust admitting he held this property in Trust for certain purposes, which were specified. In the first place £4000 was to be paid to his Convent, then there were a few other Donations and the residue was given to certain poor Missions according to the discretion of the Provincial. On the 15 of the following May, the Declaration of Trust was read over to him and he approved of its contents in the presence of F Bennet Hoole the Missioner at Scarisbrick. Shortly after this, the Provincial informed F Ignatius Greenough his Definitor of the gift which had been made to the Province. On the Provincial leaving for Brown Edge, he sent F Alban Caldwell to assist him and afterwards appointed him the Incumbent and the aged Father at his own request was allowed to go and reside at Southport.
The validity of this Gift to the Province was questioned by the Prior of Ampleforth but as F Oswald Talbot was receiving the interest of his money, no effectual steps were taken to invalidate it and the question was allowed to remain in abeyance until the meeting of Chapter in 1846, when F Anselm Brewer read the Deed of Transfer and the Declaration of Trust to the Assembled Fathers, but little or no comment was made upon them. In the course of the following Autumn President Barber, in order to ascertain the real state of the case from F Oswald Talbot's own lips, proceeded to Southport in the company of Provincial Molyneux and on interrogating the old man about his property he admitted he had given a portion of it to the Province and £4000 to his Convent. This property afterwards became the subject of an Appeal from the Prior of Ampleforth to President Barber and from him to the Definitors of the Regimen, who finally adjudged his gift to the Province to be valid. But long before this question was finally settled F Oswald had been gathered to his Fathers on the 21st of April 1847 in his 79 year.
F Francis or James Appleton was born at Preston in Lancashire in 1806 and was professed at St Edmund's at Doway on the 14th of November 1827 during the Priorship of F Bernard Collier. He was ordained Priest during the Ember days in Advent in 1830.
On the resignation of Prior Collier at the Visit of President Birdsall in May 1833, F Francis was called to the Priorship of St Edmund's. The house at the time was in a disorganized state and encumbered with a debt of £1200. But the young Prior contrived during an administration of eight years not only to restore discipline but to renovate the house, to add considerably to the Library, to provide a splendid collection of instruments for natural Philosophy, to redeem its finances and to profess thirteen Choir Monks.
[Mr Appleton writes to Mr Allanson Novr 14th 1844 `I became Prior in May 1833. The house was then in a completely disorganized state with only about twenty five Students with a Community of six including myself and a debt of £1200. I was Prior eight years within a month or two. I left the debt nearly paid off, laid out a very considerable sum in renovating the house from top to bottom. I repaired the entire of the ground floor, the half of their beautiful Piazza, fitted up the Library adding considerably to the collection of Books and provided the College with a splendid collection of instruments for natural Philosophy worth a £1000. My last act was to lay the foundation of the new College Church, and in erecting this, they have again considerably involved themselves. I left a Community of eighteen Religious and three Laybrothers with about seventy Students. I got the French Government to sell some of our old property in France, and have from a revenue of £30 per annum obtained an income from it of £175. In toiling for all this I ruined my health and still suffer from the consequences.']
Few Priors have served their Convent with greater success, but as his health was giving way, he followed the advice of his friends and resigned Office in February 1841, in order to assume the Incumbency of St Peters, Seel Street. He had already been elected a Magister Theologiae at the Chapter in 1838, and soon after his arrival on the Mission, President Marsh conferred on him one of the Doctors Caps, which he had been empowered by his Holiness to grant in 1823.
F Francis was highly respectable in his appearance and of good capacity, though not possessing any shining abilities. He wrote his Sermons with great care, and after committing them to memory he delivered them with good effect. He stood high in public estimation and was generally respected both by the Clergy and Laity in Liverpool. In his attachment to his friends he was warm, but he was of a head-strong disposition and violent against those who thwarted him in his purposes. In 1845 he enlarged the Chapel by adding to it the Chapel house and greatly improved the Sanctuary at a cost of £1500, which he contrived to pay from public subscriptions. At the Chapter in 1842 he was honoured with the Cathedral Priorship of Norwich.
During the awful Visitation of Liverpool by the Typhus when so many of the Clergy were carried off by it, F Francis paid a visit to President Barber at the Convent at Stanbrook. Here he was taken ill and was gradually recovering when contrary to the Doctors orders he very injudiciously took some Whisky which acted like poison on his constitution and terminated his life on the 26th of May 1847 in his 41st year.
F Placid or Edward Metcalfe was born in Yorkshire in 1792 and was professed at the Convent of St Laurence at Ampleforth on the 25 of October 1811 during the Priorship of F Gregory Robinson. He was ordained Priest during the Ember days in Advent in 1816.
F Placid possessed extraordinary talents for learning various languages. He was a Master of the Hebrew language and was well versed in the Syro-Chaldaic. He was a good Latin scholar and was a first rate Grecian. He understood most of the modern languages in Europe, having made himself master of the French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and German languages. For many years he continued to apply himself closely to his studies and had he been able to persevere, he would have become one of the first Linguists of the day.
On the promotion of F Laurence Burgess to the Priorship, soon after the Chapter in 1818, he was appointed the Subprior of the Convent; but before the close of the quadriennium his health gave way and he was reluctantly compelled to abandon his Literary pursuits. After the Chapter in 1822 he exchanged his former office for that of Cellerarius. From this period he devoted himself to farming with the same ardour as he had done before to his studies, so that he became an excellent judge of Cattle and was considered a first rate Farmer. He continued to be engaged in these pursuits when he agreed to apply to Rome with Prior Burgess and F Cuthbert Rooker to transfer their obedience from the Superiors of the English Congregation to Dr Baines, the Vicar Apostolic of the Western District, and he obtained with his two friends an Indult of Secularization on the 13th of March 1830 which they accepted and left Ampleforth for Prior Park.
F Placid had all along given the most unequivocal proofs of his attachment to his Alma Mater and of his disinterestedness in his services for its prosperity. And no sooner had he given his consent to abandon the House of his Profession than he began to repent of the step which he had taken. Even before he took his farewell of the place where he had religiously passed so many happy years, he began to waver and admitted he had gone too far. But he felt himself bound in honour to stand by his own acts and from this period he became a disappointed and an unhappy man.
[Mr Glover writes to President Birdsall May 20 1830 `Mr Brewer has had a serious talk with Mr Metcalfe who is still here. He clearly wishes he had not gone so far, but says it is now too late. He replied I will think of it. I have not myself any hopes of Metcalfe, still wonders may happen - He is now balancing between honour to Dr Baines, consistency in himself and justice to us. Which will prevail? What a distressing state of mind to be in !]
After he had resided at Prior Park as Procurator for a year and a half, disagreements arose between him and his two former associates on the one side and Dr Baines on the other, so that they all tendered their resignation of their Offices into the hands of the Bishop, who accepted of them and placed them on different Missions in his District. On this untoward event Mr Metcalfe made application to F Bennet Glover, his former friend, to return to Ampleforth. At first he was for stipulating that his former Office of Cellerarius should be restored to him; but he subsequently stated that Dr Baines was willing to give up all claim to his services, and that he would come absolutely, wholly and entirely to cooperate heart and hand in the common cause, and though he disclaimed all intention of making conditions, yet there was something of an understanding to be adopted that he was to be placed in his former Office [See Mr Glover's letter to President Birdsall Decr 21 1830 `I had another letter from him (Mr Metcalfe) saying he should wish me to consider that he and his Associates had acted conscientiously in everything.' See Records III 338.] The President was at first favourable to his return. But when he found he was not disposed to admit of any error in his past conduct, or that he had done wrong in leaving the Body, he changed his opinion on the propriety of allowing his readmission and expressed it to be the general wish of the Senior part of the Congregation, that none of the Secularized Seceders ought to be permitted to return amongst them unless they acknowledged their error in leaving the Body. The President referred the matter to F Adrian Towers, the Prior of Ampleforth, who was interested in opposing his return, as he would have found him a check upon his extravagances; so that to terminate this business, the Prior had the effrontery to inquire of him what he intended to pay for his support. Upon this Mr Metcalfe thought it prudent to relinquish the idea of returning to his Convent for the present.
[See Mr Metcalfe's letter to the President Records III 342. President Birdsall writes to Prior Towers June 11 1831 `In that same letter Mr Cooper says, `Mr Metcalfe is gone to reside at Usk, in consequence of Mr Towers delay and objections for his return to Ampleforth. I am the more sorry for this, because I am convinced there could not be found one who would sooner lay down his life for Alma Mater than this repentant Benedictine. Mr Towers could not have pleased Dr Baines better than by refusing to receive a would be un-Secularized Secular Benedictine' There is one little word in the above that nullifies, or as the going expression is, neutralize is the whole, which is, the word repentant. It is just because he denied that he considered himself to have acted wrong, that my view of the proposal of returning was altered, if his mind did not reprove him how could he be repentant.' See Records III 344.]
Mr Metcalfe then proceeded to the Mission in 1831 and was stationed at Talacre the seat of Sir Edward Mostyn. Here he soon made himself master of the Welsh language and published a catechism and a Garden of the Soul in Welsh. In 183* he passed to the Mission of Newport in Monmouthshire where he laboured strenuously in his vocation until he was removed by Bishop Brown of Wales. He then proceeded to Bristol in 18** from which he was dismissed by Dr Ullathorne the Bishop of the District in 1847. After these changes he again entertained the notion of returning to the jurisdiction of the Superiors of the English Congregation. The proposition was favourably entertained by Dr Molyneux the Provincial of the North, and whilst measures were taken to bring about this object, he offered his services to Dr Briggs to go to Leeds to assist his Clergy whilst the Typhus Fever was raging in its most deadly form and carrying out of life so many of the Priesthood. Here he soon fell a victim to this fatal disease and terminated his chequered life in this holy cause on the 28th of May 1847 in his 56 year.
F Augustine or John Gilbert was born at Wexford in 1820 and was professed at the Convent of St Edmund's at Doway on the 6th of December 1840 during the Priorship of F Francis Appleton. He was ordained Priest in 1844.
This promising young Father was sent to the Mission and was stationed at St Mary's Church in Edmund Street in 1846. Here his labours were soon terminated as he took the deadly Typhus which hurried him away prematurely to the great loss of his Brethren after a short illness dying a victim of charity on the 31st of May 1847 in his 27th year.
F Vincent or William Dale was born in Lancashire in 1800 and received his education at Stonyhurst. He afterwards proceeded to the Convent of St Edmund at Doway where he was professed in 1831. He was ordained Priest in 1834 and proceeded in the same year to the Mission at Warwick Bridge, where he remained till 1838 and then passed to St Mary's Chapel in Edmund Street. Here he laboured assiduously until he took the deadly Typhus Fever which terminated his life on the 26th of June 1847.
F Stephen or Samuel Barber was born in Macclesfield in Cheshire on Novr 22 1784 and was professed at the Convent of St Gregory at Acton Burnall on the 21st of October 1802 during the Priorship of F Jerom Sharrock. He was ordained Priest in 1809.
F Stephen was scrupulous to excess, so as to become a burthen to himself and useless for the service of the Mission. He left his Convent in 1813 to go and assist F Maurus Shaw at the Convent of Nuns at Salford. In the beginning of the following year, he was sent to the Mission at Workington till the Chapter in that year, when he was elected the Vicarius of the Nuns at Salford. Here he remained till 1817 when he was forced to withdraw on account of his distressed state of mind and repaired to the Convent at Ampleforth for a time to recruit himself. After spending about a year with his brethren there, he was sent to Aberford where he remained till 1824 and then passed to the Mission at Lawkland till 1832. He then appears to have gone to reside with F Bernard Barber, his brother, at Salford until he was remanded to his Convent at Downside in September 1834. Here he remained till July 1838 when he proceeded again to Salford to take charge of that small Mission. As the infirmities of his mind increased, he was removed in 1844 and then went to reside for a time with F Bennet Wassel at Bonham till 1845 [May] then with the Nuns at Spettisbury till August 1847 and closed his life in the Lunatic Asylum in Salisbury on the 2*th of September 1847 in his 63d year, and was buried in the cemetery at Downside.
F Dunstan or William Henry Webb was born in Birmingham in 1764 and was the last who was educated at Lamspring on the Huddleston Fund. He was professed at the Abbey on the 1st of November 1784 by Abbot Maurus Heatley and was ordained Priest during the Ember days at Pentecost in 1789. He passed to the Mission in 1793 and was stationed at Middleton Lodge till 1797, when he proceeded to Hindley and thence to Warrington in 1801.
This Father was extremely censorious of his Brethren and was a great gormandizer, but in no ways addicted to drinking. Two Sisters of the name of Fairbrother, who possessed some property, lodged with him in the Chapel House. In an evil hour this unfortunate man married one of them at Ellesmere Church and she continued to reside with him though unacknowledged for a length of time. At last the Clergyman who married them interfered, but owing to the loss of a good deal of property, F Dunstan did not resign his post until the beginning of the year 1808.
[Mr Cotton the Established Clergyman at Ellesmere writes to Mr Webb August 31 1807 `As the Marriage was solemnized by me, and as perhaps I am the only person fully acquainted with the circumstances of it, I esteem it my duty to interfere in order to bring about a public acknowledgment. When you made up your mind to marry, you must also have made up your mind to cease to officiate as a Romish Priest. You must have been aware that these two things are incompatible. Nothing but death can dissolve your Marriage and therefore you must give up the other. From inquiries which I have made I understand that you and Mrs Webb have together sufficient property to maintain you comfortably without your Stipend as a Priest. The losing of that therefore creates no impediment or obstacle to a disclosure of the marriage and further should you be inclined to read your recantation and forsake the idolatrous church of Rome our church will be ready to receive you. However with respect to this matter you are to judge for yourself, but the disclosure of the marriage must not be delayed much longer... If this is not done very speedily, I shall deem it a duty incumbent upon me to take such other steps as the urgency of the case upon mature consideration may seem to require.'
Mr Webb writes in answer `Hitherto it has been absolutely necessary to keep the marriage a secret, for a disclosure of it would inevitably have reduced us to misery. When I returned from Ellesmere I found I was about to sustain a great loss in my own small property, and the Miss Fairbrothers were obliged to sue in Chancery for theirs and the whole of their property has been kept out of their hands ever since. They by a late Decree of the Master of the Rolls have lost their Annuities and whether their Legacies will be paid them before November is uncertain. My loss is between £8 and £900. Theirs amounts to £120 a year, such a loss as rendered it impossible to live comfortable without an additional income from somewhere... Before I promised to marry Miss Ann Fairbrother, I put many questions to her and from her answers I did not doubt in the least but that she would entirely submit to my wishes and intentions, which were to live together like brother and sister or in the strictest bond of friendship without having any carnal commerce with one another or any the least familiarities tending that way for all such things are directly opposite to that state of life. I had before embraced, whether officiating as a piest or living in a private capacity. My obligations are permanent, nor should I have formed any engagement with her on any account had I imagined her designs to be different. It may be termed a strange connection, I grant it is so, but at the same time it is an innocent one and if we both did agree and do agree to it, I see no harm in keeping it a secret... The reason why we engaged was, because having been on terms of intimacy, and I having no near relations and they none to look up to, we agreed to throw our little properties together in order to live comfortably and to bind ourselves by the matrimonial tie to draw a closer friendship between us']
[Mr Webb writes to Provincial Marsh Jany 2d 1808 `Having been guilty of an imprudent (I will not call it wicked, for nothing wicked was or is intended by it) action, and as it is becoming public, I think it proper immediately to resign my situation here and retire to the farm which hitherto has proved a very losing concern to me. I need not tell you that so numerous a congregation will require immediate assistance.'] From this period he continued to live for a number of years at a farm which he had taken and then removed to Dover near Wigan.
As he advanced in years he memorialized [1834 July 28] the Hanoverian Government to be allowed a pension like the others who had been professed at Lamspring and who had continued to reside in Germany, and he styled himself William Henry Webb at the conclusion of it. This gave great concern to President Birdsall, as the Presidents of the Congregation had been receiving his pension under the name of Thomas Webb since 1816, without acquainting him upon the subject; so that he requested Dr Marsh to go over to see him and make up the matter by paying him all the arrears of his pension and induce him to write to the Hanoverian Government to say that he was satisfied [Novr 7] A few months later, the President received a letter from the Authorities at Hanover, inquiring who William Henry Webb was, as they knew of no such person who had been professed at Lamspring, and only knew Thomas Webb, who had been receiving a pension all along. The President stated in his answer, that the surname of the ex-conventuals of Lamspring were accurately given in the list of his predecessor, but that in the baptismal name there had been a mistake, which would appear excusable, when it was considered that religious persons are generally addressed by their name in religion and not by their baptismal name; that these pensions had been received by the Presidents of the Congregation and the distribution of them as necessity or prudence suggested had been left to their judgment, and that as soon as Mr Webb's necessities were made known to his Superior, every attention had been paid to him and he had already written to the authorities at Hanover to express himself satisfied [See the letter to and from the President among Mr Birdsall's papers. Mr Birdsall writes to Prior Brown Septr 9th 1831 `I am under much uneasiness and apprehensive of some serious contest and danger of appearing in very bad colours to the Hanoverian Government and poor Lacabanne too is participating. Webb has memorialized the Hanoverian Government under the name of William Henry Webb being old and infirm and asks to obtain a pension like the other members of the Monastery. A gentleman, a messenger from the Bureau of suppressed Monasteries, has waited on Mr Lacabanne and a serious evil is likely to come of it. I have written to Dr Marsh to go over to Webb immediately. We must bring him to peace and satisfaction cost what it may. I suppose all arrears and interest too will have to be paid and disgrace as far as Protestant and Lutheran views picture things will be our portion.']
For some years hopes had been entertained that if F Dunstan outlived his wife, he would return to his duty [Mr Birdsall writes to Mr Fisher June 9th 1832 `If poor Webb lose his partner, he surely will not demur to return among us, and the change that would be in that case occur would be no doubt so seriously affect him, that it would contribute not a little to inspire him with a desire to return to God - He surely has not lost his Faith - If anything happened by which so desirable a revolution in his regard may be hoped, be sure to give me speedy information that I may write to him or go to him'] and these proved to be well grounded; for on her death in July 1846 he made his peace with President Barber in the following month and he was directed to go and reside with F Placid Corlett at Hindley [Mr Corlett writes to me May 15th 1855 `Mrs Webb died some time in July 1846. They had no children and he told me he intended to live with Mrs Webb as a Brother and not as a Husband. He was involved in debt. Previous to his coming to me I took the opportunity of taking him to the opening of St Anne's Church and at that time he was reconciled to the President.'] Some time after this he was admitted to receive the Blessed Sacrament, and after outliving this happy event for nearly two years, he closed his chequered life at Hindley on the 8th of May 1848 in his 84th year.
Note: This Biography is by far the longest, about 28,000 words
F Anselm or Henry Brewer was born at Preston in Lancashire on the 10th of October 1792. At an early age he was sent by Dr Brewer, his Uncle, to the Abbey at Lamspring to receive his education in 1802, but on its suppression in the following year, he proceeded to the Convent lately established at Ampleforth, where he passed through his Humanities and was Professed on the 25th of October 1811 during the Priorship of F Gregory Robinson. He was ordained Priest in the Ember days in Advent in 1816. A year after this he was appointed the Prefect of the Students, which was the only Office he filled during the period of his Conventual life. In discharging the duties attached to the Prefectship, he soon began to display those traits in his character which were so conspicuous in him throughout life. He was kind and indulgent to excess to those under his charge, except on those occasions when he was thwarted in his purposes and then he was hasty and ungovernable in his temper. His love of showing his own importance was of continual occurrence, and he was noted for taking upon himself much more than any of the Prefects who had preceded him.
[Mr Bennet Glover writes to F Laurence Burgess 1816 `Anselm is here at present. He appears in splendoribus which has occasioned some remarks even in my hearing. I know of course his Mother is at the expense of his Clothing which is such as would not be expected from any Collegian - Nay which the world would condemn very loudly. I wish he had not been quite so splendid and I will add (though it must not be conveyed to him that the remark came through me) so fond of splendour. I should not think I did my duty or manifested my affection for him if I did not mention this that you may have an opportunity of hinting to him that external accomplishments are indeed of comparative small value that he has paid quite enough of attention to them that sterling intrinsic worth will always go furthest.']
But he had not filled this Office long before F Laurence Burgess was elected Prior and then his services were no longer required, so after remaining for some months without having any fixed Mission, he was appointed to be the Assistant to F Wilfrid Fisher at Edmund Street in Liverpool in 1819. After serving this place for three years with credit to himself, he was appointed the Incumbent of Brown Edge, one of the largest country Congregations in England and this became the field of his future exertions during the greater part of his life.
F Anselm could put in no pretensions to be considered any great Classical Scholar or be deeply read in Theological lore. But he was gifted with a natural fluency of speech, and after the lapse of a few years he began to Preach without committing his Sermons to writing. As a Preacher he was simple and effective, except on those occasions when he attempted to do great things, and then he dealt largely in the bombast and his attempts to soar above himself almost always proved a complete failure - As a Missioner he was active, zealous and laborious, and his Missionary exertions tended to raise the Benedictines in public estimation. Before he had been long stationed at his Mission, he had the credit of making a filiation from it, by prevailing on Provincial Robinson to begin a new Mission at Clayton Green, a Village about two miles from Brown Edge. This relieved him from the labour of attending this distant portion of his Flock but still left him a large Congregation to superintend. On the 21st of January 1827 he opened a new Chapel which he had commenced the year before and which added much to the respectability of the Brown Edge Mission. As it was built in the form of an old Parish Church with a Tower attached to it and was one of the first of the kind in England since the Reformation, it attracted a good deal of notice. Towards the expense of this undertaking the Province advanced £1000 on interest - another loan from Mr Procter of £200 was contracted and the remainder of the cost was collected from the Congregation or was given by other Catholics in the neighbourhood.
F Anselm was naturally fond of show and was extravagant in his habits. When on the Mission at Liverpool, although he was not at any cost for Housekeeping, he complained of his inability of keeping out of debt [Mr Brewer writes to his Uncle President Brewer Octr 19th 1821 `My income is £5 per annum and my perquisites, which at present, are not worth more than £40 given by shillings or less. Yet with this I must subscribe to all the charitable institutions, give some extra charity to the poor, appear respectable as a Clergyman. I cannot do it and therefore the sooner I leave the better. All this I say in confidence, and I shall still with God's help continue in Liverpool till Chapter - Hoping that some essential change will be found necessary, for necessary it is. I will do anything which virtue and honour require, but to be involved in debt by the caprice of others, I cannot, I will not submit to'] and on his appointment to Brown Edge two of his Sisters came to reside with him which greatly increased his expenses. After some years as his Mother was compelled to sell her property at Ribbleton Hall, which was mortgaged for more than its value, she came with her other two Daughters in 1833 to take up their residence with him.
[Mr Walker writes to Mr Cockshoot April 18th 1849 `The principal fact you desire to establish I suppose is whether or no Mrs Brewer and her daughters were possessed of property after the sale of Ribbleton Hall and when they came to reside at Brown Edge. They were not possessed of a shilling and Mr Holmes is prepared to swear if necessary that Mr Brewer himself told him so - Moreover than this, Mr Holmes had a Mortgage on Ribbleton Hall of £800, the said Ribbleton Hall being at the time previously mortgaged and pre-mortgaged. In due season the Property is brought to the Hammer but failed in realizing an amount sufficient to pay off all the Mortgagees. Accordingly poor Holmes was left minus some hundreds of Pounds. This deficit was however supplied to him... Further previous to Miss Brewer's Marriage with Dr Orrell, Mr Brewer had promised on his Mother's Account £1000 as her marriage portion. But when payment became due, to the money non est inventus, and Mr Brewer actually came to Mr Holmes and with tears in his eyes begged for the loan of £200 as a wherewith to satisfy instant demands and this money was spent in Liverpool purchasing furniture &c. At this interview with Mr Holmes Mr Brewer acknowledged that to his astonishment he found that his Mother was worth nothing at all']
This added greatly to his expenses as he lived in good style keeping his Phaeton and Man-servant. In the following year one of his Sisters married Dr Orrell of Preston and he was under the necessity of borrowing £200 to furnish her House which was only a portion of the money which had been promised. To assist him in bearing these heavy expenses his other Sisters opened a School for young Ladies [1834] but as it was found after a few years not to answer, it was given up [1839] and he was thrown back to maintain them upon his own Missionary resources, until two of his Sisters and his venerated Mother closed their earthly existence.
The gentlemanly appearance and demeanour of F Anselm, the high stand which he took and his generous hospitality rendered him greatly respected in his neighbourhood. But for a time he was only partially beloved by his own Brethren on account of his aspiring ways and his assuming too much upon himself. On the death however of F Bennet Glover in the spring of 1834, the eyes of many of his Brethren began to be turned to him as the future Provincial. His first promotion in the Body was to be the Praepositus of Lancashire and at the same time he was chosen Provincial 3rd Elect at the Chapter in 1834. In the course of the following quadriennium Provincial Robinson died, and as F Oswald Talbot the 2d Elect declined Office, F Anselm succeeded to the Provincialship in May 1837. At the Chapter in the following year there are strong grounds to suppose that he obtained the votes of every Missioner in the Province, a circumstance which seldom occurs and which shows the general confidence which at that time was reposed in him.
The quiet and unassuming mode of government adopted by his Predecessors was not in accordance with the taste of the new Provincial, whose love of show and importance ran through his whole character. In his early life he was passionate and impetuous, but now, as if his ambition had found a resting place, he became mild, subdued and collected. He was enamoured with his Office and with himself. He affected to make others believe that he was formed by nature to govern others, that he was the only person in the Province fit for the Office which he held and his own self-importance was glaring in all his acts. But he knew little of the nature or the spirit of the laws which he had to administer. He frequently forgot that he had two Definitors constituted to be his Counsellors, whose consent was necessary for him to have in all matters of importance and that he had the Praepositi as subordinate officers under him. In his own estimation the whole executive of the Province was vested in himself. He made no secret in avowing that he would not be bound by his Definitors, that there should not be three Provincials as long as he was in Office; and that the law was nothing, but that the administration was every thing. As he monopolised the whole power of the Province in himself and repudiated his Adjutants to strengthen him in the exercise of it, and as his vanity led him to court the popularity of his Brethren, the whole of his government practically terminated in allowing all his Missioners to act as they thought proper, without calling them to account for any transgressions of their Rules as long as they allowed him to be wrapped up in his own self importance and to administer the affairs of the Province without control.
The taste of the times was in character with his own ideas of grandeur. At this period, Pugin the great Catholic Architect, undertook to reform the style of Church building and to introduce the system of building churches after the models of antiquity. The spirit was taken up by the clergy and spread like wildfire. Provincial Brewer was now in his element and new Churches were erected at various Missions under his auspices. A beautiful new Church and Missionary House was erected at Warwick Bridge by F Wilfrid Ryan the Incumbent without incurring any debt upon the place. The miserable establishment at the old Benedictine Mission at Birtley was completely metamorphosed - A new site was purchased on advantageous terms and a neat Chapel and a new Missionary residence were erected by F Joseph Sheridan without any considerable burthen to the Province, as the Cottages on the ground paid the interest of the purchase money and the public subscriptions nearly paid for the new undertaking. An entire new Mission was commenced at Maryport and a new House and Chapel were erected at the cost of about £600 to the Province. The old Chapel of St Mary's in Edmund Street Liverpool, which had long been a disgrace to that wealthy Town, was pulled down and a magnificent Church was erected on its site and new schools were built for the benefit of the poor of the Congregation. Though the cost of this undertaking was great, yet as the Mission was able to pay the interest of the borrowed money, the Province was not burthened with any deadly expense. In addition to these successful efforts of the Provincial, he had the satisfaction of receiving a complete new Foundation at Cowpen consisting of a House and Chapel with an endowment of £80 a year for the Priest from Mr Sydney of Cowpen Hall, who made over this property to the Benedictines for the benefit of Religion. Besides these Churches, there was another at Edge Hill upon which he had fixed his heart and of which he took the management into his own hands. This will deserve to be more particularly mentioned as it was built in opposition to the avowed wishes of Bishop Briggs and entangled him in a labyrinth of difficulties which tended to bring him to an untimely grave.
After the receipts of the Decree from Rome in 1838 allowing Regulars to build Churches, the Provincial made up his mind to erect a magnificent Church at Edge {Hill}, where he considered one was wanting for the growing population of that part of the precincts of Liverpool. As he had received notice from F Bernard Collier, the Procurator of the Benedictines at Rome, that the Regulars were no longer under the necessity of asking permission from the Bishop to build their Churches, he presumed he would not meet with any obstructions from that quarter, as his Predecessor had on beginning the Mission at Aigburth. To carry out his design he purchased land at Edge Hill with the intention of commencing operations as soon as he had completed his arrangements. But Dr Briggs, on hearing of the purchase, soon gave him to understand, that he had not granted him any permission to build the intended Church, and that the Sacred Congregation had lately declared that it was undeniable that the consent of the Ordinary was necessary for the building of Churches. On forwarding this information to the Procurator at Rome it was found to be correct that the Sacred Congregation had privately come to this decision without giving any intimation of it to the Regulars, so that the Provincial found himself under the necessity of applying to Dr Briggs for the necessary permission [See Mr Collier's letter to Mr Brewer August 9th 1839 Records IV 312] But as the Bishop was not disposed to grant his leave and kept raising objections to the proposed building, the matter was submitted to the Sacred Congregation, which finally granted permission to the Benedictines to build a Church at Edge Hill subject to the condition of paying annually a twentieth part of the offerings received from the Church to the Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District [See Mr Collier's letter containing the conditions upon which Propaganda sanctioned the erection of the Church at Edge Hill. Records IV 317.] But though the right of the Benedictines to build the intended Church at Edge Hill was settled, yet as many new Churches were going forward in every part of the country, and as the calls upon the Faithful in Liverpool for their charities had become oppressive, the collections for Edge Hill came in slowly, so that more than two years passed before the Provincial ventured to commence operations, and it was not till August 1843 that F Maurus Margison left St Peter's Chapel in Seel Street to take up his quarters in the new House at Edge Hill which had become habitable. Here he set apart two rooms for Divine Service and continued to duplicate every Sunday and Holiday for the benefit of the people whilst the Church was in progress. Three years passed before this splendid Church was completed.
The erection of this noble structure at Edge Hill was a stupendous undertaking for a Provincial to accomplish, when he himself continued to take charge of the Mission at Brown Edge, which made it necessary for him to leave the work to others, who did not share in the responsibility. But even this did not satiate his desire for accomplishing great things: so that without waiting to see whether he could successfully carry it through, he embarked at the same time in another mighty enterprise which was foreign to the object of the Benedictine Institute, without obtaining the requisite constitutional permission to do so. After obtaining the consent of F Maurus Phillips, the Incumbent at Woolton, to allow him to have a piece of ground attached to the Mission, he published a Circular on his own responsibility in February 1843 [See the printed Circular Records IV 337] inviting the Faithful to contribute to the erection of a Magdalen Asylum and some time later he had a Bazaar which realized a thousand pound to enable him to carry out his object. Never had a Benedictine Superior entered on a more perilous enterprise or on one more pregnant with ominous consequences. There was not probably a single Missioner in the Province who cordially approved of it and though President Barber had the subject brought constitutionally under his notice, yet he did not venture to stop him in his career. But fortunately the Magdalen, after the first excitement had passed away, made but little progress. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Brown, materials were prepared to build the walls and there they were left till the term of the Provincial's Office expired. His successor repudiated the concern and the Benedictines had to bear the brunt of its failure by suffering for a time in public estimation.
The Provincial, in order to carry out the numerous projects which he had in contemplation and to relieve the wants of his Brethren on poor Missions in the Province, attempted as early as 1839 to establish a Missionary Benedictine Fund. Having printed a Circular on the subject [See Mr Brewer's Circular Records V 87] he forwarded it to all his Brethren in the Province and sent a copy of it to F Bernard Collier to be presented to the Prefect of Propaganda in order to obtain his sanction to it. But as the Cardinal considered it might interfere with the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, which he was wishful to see established in every Mission in England, as it had proved so advantageous to the service of Religion in Propagating the Faith in foreign parts, he neither approved nor disapproved of the new Missionary Fund and left it to stand on its own merits if it met with popular support. To carry out his object at home he made a tour of his Province preaching in most of the Chapels which were served by the Benedictines and succeeded in raising above £200. But however successful this first attempt proved, little more was heard of this project, and no satisfactory account was ever given of the manner in which this money was appropriated.
A few years later, when the whole of this government turned on increasing the members of Chapels and Missioners in his Province, he readily entered into the views of Dr Brown, the Vicar Apostolic of the Lancashire District and of Dr Sharples his Coadjutor, who had it in contemplation to remodel the District Fund, which had been first established by Dr Briggs, and to place it on a liberal footing so as to enable the Religious Bodies to derive advantage from it and by this means to induce them to unite and cordially cooperate in carrying it out successfully. The Provincial was seen to be in frequent communication with the Bishops, who, with a few of their leading Clergy, were long busily engaged in drawing up the Rules by which the new District Fund was to be administered. In an early stage of this business, he had forwarded a rough copy of the details of the plan to President Barber, who after drawing his attention to certain clauses regarding the Trustees and the Deposit of Deeds, tacitly gave his approval, subject to the final decision of the General Chapter [See Dr Barber's letter to Mr Brewer on the District Fund Feby 12th 1844 Records IV 338] But though the President reminded him that he had not had an opportunity of hearing the sentiments of his Brethren on the subject, yet this hint was lost upon the Provincial who kept a reserved distance from his Missioners and never appears so much as to have consulted with his Council on this weighty business. Neither were the recommendations of the President attended to, as his great object at the time was to avail himself of this opening to place the Chapel at Aigburth and the Churches of St Mary's in Edmund Street and of St Ann's at Edge Hill on the District Fund and so find relief from the pecuniary difficulties under which he was labouring.
At length, on Dr Brown publishing a printed Circular containing the Rules of the new District Mission Fund, the attention of the Benedictines was drawn to them and great exception was taken to some of them. The President was now called upon to interfere and he proceeded to Liverpool to meet the Provincial and other Capitulars of the Province on the subject of these regulations, when it was agreed that collections should be made in the Benedictine Chapels if the Bishop would make certain modifications in them. Fortunately Dr Brown was animated with the spirit of conciliation and he agreed to alter those Rules against which exception had been made after the Provincial had pledged himself to support them.
The Provincial then proceeded to place the Chapel at Aigburth on the District Fund and some time later he began a Chapel at Leyland which is near Brown Edge, which had to depend in great measure on the support it derived from the same Fund. He was also anxious to place the two noble churches of St Mary's in Edmund Street and of St Ann's at Edge Hill which were encumbered with heavy debts on the same Fund. But the Clergy of St Mary's, who were determined that their church should not be placed on it, undertook to pay off the debt or at least to see that the interest was paid, so that it was spared the ignominy of forfeiting its independence. The Church at Edge Hill was saved from the same disaster under the following circumstances: As Dr Molyneux was wishful to save the credit of St Ann's and of the Benedictines, he pledged himself at a public party of his Brethren to give £1000 to that Church if the Provincial would consent not to place it on the District Fund. The offer was gratefully accepted by his Brethren and F Maurus Margison, who was stationed at Edge Hill, proceeded to Brown Edge to the Provincial, who gave him a written testimony of his acceptance of the terms and of his promise not to place the Church on the District Fund. The matter was considered settled, but before a reasonable time had elapsed for the payment of the money, a disagreement had arisen between him and his Provincial which must here be traced to its source.
In the Autumn of 1843 F Oswald Talbot, the Incumbent of Ormskirk, who was then in his 76th year, paid a visit to his Convent at Ampleforth and spoke to F Anselm Cockshoot, the Prior, of his intention of leaving all his property to the House of his Profession. Some months later he took seriously ill, by which all his property as a matter of course would have fallen to his Convent at his death. As he was then unable to do duty, F Ambrose Prest had been sent to reside with him and to take charge of the Congregation. Some time later his case began to assume a hopeless appearance and the Doctor who attended him thought he could not survive a few days. But contrary to all expectation he rallied and as F Ambrose Prest had not managed to give satisfaction, he requested the Provincial to remove him and on his leaving, the Provincial himself went over to Ormskirk and remained with him several weeks. During this interval the old man was persuaded to make a Deed of Transfer of all his property to his Provincial on condition of receiving from him an Annuity of £200 a year, and the Provincial a fortnight later made a Declaration of Trust admitting he held this property in Trust for certain purposes specified [See the Deed of Transfer and the Declaration of Trust Records IV 367-8] In the first place £4,000 was to be paid to his Convent; then there were a few other donations and the residue was given to certain poor Missions according to the discretion of the Provincial. On the 15th of the following May, the Declaration of Trust was read over to F Oswald Talbot and he approved of its contents in the presence of F Bennet Hoole the Missioner at Scarisbrick and shortly after this the Provincial informed F Ignatius Greenough, one of his Definitors of the Gift which had been made to the Province.
The Provincial had already communicated to Dr Molyneux, who was acting as Missionary Procurator to the Convent at Ampleforth that F Oswald Talbot had given £4000 to his Convent and he would pay it over to him on receiving his promise and that of the Prior that the interest of this sum at 5 per cent would be paid to the aged Father during the rest of his life.
[Mr Brewer writes to Dr Molyneux April 26th 1844 `If it would be any advantage to you and the Prior in the arrangement of affairs at the College to have Mr Talbot's money at the same time that I pay you Dr Marsh's, I shall be happy to pay it to you - Mr Talbot will expect 5 per cent for his money during his life and I have bound myself to see it paid. If then the Prior and yourself agree to take Mr Talbot's money upon this condition, I will thank you to forward to me a distinct promise to this effect by both of you. The amount will be thus. Dr Marsh's Trust £2811, Mr Talbot's Trust £4000 in all £6811. I will thank you to say how soon you will require the last payment as I am not prepared in a moment to lay down the last amount. We have other Spanish Bonds to the amount of £1,500 but they are not yet disposed of. I have however £1500 in Trust money for my nieces which I can advance immediately if expedition be an object... I have now in the Commercial Bank, London, cash from Spanish Bonds £3,600. Already lent to College £800, making £4,400 which will leave to your order £2411, in all £6811.' This letter is involved in mystery. Mr Brewer writes to Mr Cockshoot May 10th 1844 `Mr Talbot has placed at your disposal £4,000 for Ampleforth, but he will want a living out of it. The residue £1,400 or £1,500 he has given to the Province.' This however was not the real sum given. Dr Molyneux writes to President Barber Octr 6th 1846, `I should not wonder if Mr Talbot's £3,500 with the interest, which the good Provincial told us at Chapter, he took so adroitly from the Desk, when our Venerable Confrere was supposed to be dying, is otherwise swallowed up in the same insatiable Vortex at Edge Hill.' This was the sum Mr Brewer received. How then could he have had any difficulty on the 26th of April to pay the Prior the £2,411? Had he then disposed of £3,500 which had come into his possession in March?]
But both Dr Molyneux and the Prior considered that he had imposed on the old man and they were by no means disposed to admit the validity of the Gift to the Province.
A Council was held at the Convent on the subject at which F Athanasius Allanson, who was acting as a Missionary Counsellor at the time, met Dr Molyneux and others to deliberate upon it. Dr Molyneux maintained that the donation to the Province had been extorted from F Oswald Talbot under the weight of his infirmities, and he was not disposed to compromise the matter by accepting this sum, as the whole of his property ought to come to the Convent. The Prior coincided in the same opinion and though F Athanasius advised them to accept it, as F Oswald Talbot had confirmed his Gift to the Province after he had recovered, he stood alone and the money was positively refused as they would not relinquish their claims to the whole property [Mr Cockshoot writes to Dr Molyneux May 20th 1844 `The amount of the thousands you will save from the grasp of the Provincial for your Convent can never be ascertained. I fancy that St Laurence's Procurator ad extra is more distasteful to the Very Revd Brewer than its Prior - Myself and the Counsellor think you have made a Capital point by refusing to take the £4,000 and to stop investigation. Had you better seek information from Mr Talbot - but all that we leave to you, I cannot forbear repeating, you have done cleverly by refusing to hush up the mysterious transactions.'] But as the aged Father continued to receive the interest of his money no effectual steps were taken to invalidate his Gift to the Province and the subject was allowed to remain in abeyance till after the close of the quadriennium.
As F Anselm Cockshoot, who was now bitterly opposed to the Provincial and his proceedings, was at this period making arrangements to pay off the mortgage on the property at Byland, which was held in Trust in the name of Mr Brewer and others, he, with the full concurrence of Dr Molyneux, came to the determination of having the name of Mr Brewer taken out of the property when it was reconveyed. The step was a bold one and savoured of great personal hostility to him. But by a Definition of Chapter, the Prior and his Council are allowed the power with the approbation of the Regimen of selecting those in whose names they wished the property of the Convent to be invested and of changing them as often as they and the Regimen deem it expedient; so that as the Regimen were not disposed to thwart the Prior in his purposes, they concurred in sanctioning certain names in which the property had to be invested with the omission of the Provincial's name.
The Provincial keenly felt the slur which was attempted to be thrown upon his character and took the matter greatly to heart. At first he plainly avowed that he would not take his name out of the property [see Mr Brewer's letter to Dr Molyneux on the subject Records IV 352] But on the Prior persisting in his determination, the President forwarded a letter to him through Dr Molyneux, requesting him to undertake the ungracious office of going over to Brown Edge with the Deeds of the Property, and of delivering the letter to the Provincial, in which he was earnestly requested to sign the Deed of Transfer. On perusing it, he lost his calm and dignified composure and declared that he would never sign the Deed unless ordered under Obedience which order had not yet been given to him. After this he gave vent to his passion, upbraiding Dr Molyneux for the part he had taken in this business, declaring that he was actuated by spite and malice and that he should repent of it.
[Dr Molyneux writes to President Barber June 27th 1845, `He added among other things that he had always considered me a sincere friend, indeed his best friend: but that my part in this transaction proved, and he rested his proof upon it alone, that I had all at once become his worst - his bitterest enemy, that in it I was actuated by pure spite - sheer malice and that I should be made to repent. Perceiving that he was excited I made no reply but bid him good morning and walked away.' See this and other letters Records IV 253, 256. Dr Molyneux wrote to the President July 13th 1845 `I shall not object to have an Assistant. Indeed had it been proposed another way and at another time I should have taken it as a great favour. My great failing is vanity not spite and malice to any individual living.']
Dr Molyneux immediately left the house and afterwards received a letter which had been written on that very day by him, requesting that the Deeds of the Chapel at Warrington should be forwarded to Brown Edge, telling him that he would have to have a second Priest to assist him at his Mission and that he had heard great complaints of the numbers of his Congregation who were out of the Church. But the Provincial soon recovered from his unusual state of excitement and on a remonstrance being made by Dr Molyneux, he signified that he did not intend to press the objects of his former letter. But though Dr Molyneux had been the first to offer a signal insult to his Provincial in advising the Prior to take his name out of the Deeds of the property at Byland, yet he was not of the same forgiving temperament as his Superior. The promise which he had publicly made of giving a thousand pounds to the new church at Edge Hill was given to the wind, and his cold and forbidding conduct to him during the next quadriennium may perhaps be traced to the fatal offence which had been offered to his wounded vanity.
If the merits or demerits of Provincial Brewer's administration had to be tested by the style or the number of churches which were erected under his auspices, or by the increase of the number of Missioners in his Province, he might upon the whole be considered to have rendered great service to the Congregation. But the reckless manner, in which he administered the finances of the Province, was the rock upon which he split and the state in which he left them more than counterbalanced all the good he had done and reflected not only disgrace on him, but on the Superiors of the Congregation, who allowed him to proceed, and on two General Chapters which passed his Accounts.
Provincial Brewer was admitted to be no Accountant and was known to be extravagant in his habits. In the quadriennium following his election to the Provincialship at the Chapter in 1838, the lavish manner in which he was known to be spending the public money of the Province had satisfied many of his Brethren that the Capitals of the Province would be fast disappearing, and they were anxious to supersede him in his Office at the next election; but they failed in their attempts as he carried his election by a small majority. The accounts which he then presented to the Provincial Chapter were anything but satisfactory and F Ignatius Abram presented a Petition to the ensuing General Chapter, stating it to be his opinion that the Constitutions regarding the management of the moneys of the Province had been disregarded during the last quadriennium - that at the late Provincial Chapter there had been no examination of the Accounts offered by the Provincial - that he had read what items he pleased out of them, but had not read one word about his own expenses and that he had told them he had employed a Schoolmaster and another person to assist him in drawing up his Accounts. F Ignatius then expressed a hope, that the Fathers in Chapter would avow what their opinion was on employing paid servants to arrange them, when they were Missioners in the Province who were both able and willing to assist him [See Mr Abram's Petition to the General Chapter]
But though his Accounts spoke for themselves and showed, that a Capital of £2000 under the title of Smythe's Mortgage had been repaid that the Provincial had called in the Bond of Sir Edward Vavasour for £1,882, and that he had not placed either of these sums out on public securities as he was bound by a Definition of Chapter to do, but had expended a large portion of this money without obtaining the consent of the Regimen, for which he had exposed himself to be punished at the pleasure of the Chapter for transgressing the Rule in such a weighty matter, and though these Accounts showed that he had debited the Province to the amount of £238 for the quadriennium for his own journeys and expenses, yet the high tone which he assumed and his plausible statements enabled him to gain an easy victory; so that his Accounts were not only regularly passed at Chapter and his high misdemeanours against the Rule passed over unnoticed, but he was even thanked for his industry in preparing his Accounts and for his liberality in providing money for his own expenses for the benefit of the Province.
[Acts of Chapter July 18th 1842 state Idem RD Anselmus Brewer veniam postulavit respondendi seriatim ad ea omnia contra se alligasset RD Ignatius Abram. Quod et fecit tam enucleate ut Patres summe satisfaceret, quique laudaverunt eum, non tantum quia multa industria usus fuisset in praeparandis Computibus, sed etiam quia liberalissime suis sumptibus pecunias providisset in usum Provinciae. Mr Brewer during the eight years of his Provincialship debited the Province Accounts annually to the amount of £59.14s.0d for his Provincial journeys and expenses as his accounts show.]
At this Chapter in 1842 F Hilary Dowding was appointed the Procurator of the North Province and he took the management of the Accounts into his hands, until he vacated the office in the following year, on his services being required at Cheltenham, and then Provincial Brewer took the whole management of them during the remainder of the quadriennium. The triumph which he had obtained at the late Chapter showed he had little to fear from that quarter, as long at least as he was continued in his office, and he proceeded in the same extravagant manner as before to administer the impoverished finances of the Province. Long before the termination of the quadriennium many of his Missioners were of opinion that the Province would necessarily prove to be insolvent, and that its fate depended on their votes at the next election, as the last General Chapter had proved itself wanting in the performance of the high duties which devolved on it in passing the Accounts of the North Provincial. It was evident that the popularity of Provincial Brewer was on the wane. But he either was wrapped up in his own self importance, or had not penetration enough to read the signs of the times, and long before the election had to take place, it was noised abroad that he would not have more than one vote out of all the Missioners in Liverpool. On the Meeting of the Provincial Chapter the Provincial spoke to the Fathers of what he intended to do during the next quadriennium, as if he was sure of being reelected. But on reading out the names of the future officers of the Province, F Alban Molyneux was declared to be the Provincial 1st Elect. On proceeding to the General Chapter his election was confirmed and the Accounts of the North Province may justly be said to have been again regularly passed as they were signed by the President and his Secretary.
[The Deputies appointed to examine the Accounts of the Provinces and Convents were F Dunstan Scott and F Peter Wilson and as these could not examine their own Accounts F Anselm Cockshoot was also added as the third in the usual way. As the two Deputies could examine Provincial Brewer's Accounts, it appears to me, that according to the real object of the constitutions in appointing a third person, F Anselm Cockshoot had little to do with them. But on bringing them up before Chapter as they were not satisfactory to him, he refused to sign them, although there is nothing in the Acts to show that he declined. The Acts state July 20th Tum RD Anselmus Cockshoot unus e Deputatis, qui ad examinandos status Provinciarum ac monasteriorum nominati erant coram Capitulo conquestus est, quod ob imperfectas saepe nec satis explicatas pecuniarum acceptarum et expensarum rationes quae Deputatis oblatae essent officium suum ex sententia exequi non possit, Patres, aegre ferentes investigationem tanti momenti quam plenissime non fieri, ordinarunt ut in posterum onmina quae de hisce statibus conficiendis constitutiones nostrae praescribant observarentur ad amussim itemque ut unus quisque Superior accuratam redderet rationem, quam omnis pecuniae acceptae atque aeris alicui contracti ex quo tempore officium iniret, tum etiam summarum omnium quae vel fenori publico datae fuerint vel alibi collocare. In this there is no particular allusion to Mr Brewer's Accounts, nor any insinuation thrown out about his Accounts not being regularly passed, nor of the appointment of any Commissaries to examine them after Chapter as is usual in such cases. Dr Barber writes to Dr Molyneux April 19th 1847 `Mr Cockshoot has given me a detail of what passed between the Deputati. They did not pass them, because they could not get the explanations required. The Accounts cannot be said to have regularly passed if not signed by the Deputati. It was an error that they were signed by me and the Secretary.' To me it would appear that the omission of the signatures of the Deputati, though there may be some little irregularity does not affect the validity of the act. Any Document signed by the President and Secretary is official and cannot be contested. See the Constitutions Cap II Sess 1 Parag 2 Num 3 and 4. The Accounts of F Anselm Cockshoot were not signed by the Deputati at this very Chapter.]
Towards the close of Chapter the Ex-Provincial in common with the other Capitular Fathers received the public declaration of the Congregation that as no Petitions or Appeal had been presented against him, he should be freed from all such in future both in civil and criminal cases, except on account of crimes which had not yet come to light.
Soon after the close of Chapter the noble Church of St Ann's Edge Hill was opened with great solemnity on the {blank} of August and the Ex-Provincial presided on the occasion. To all external appearance it appeared a proud day for the Benedictines; but those who knew any thing of the state of the finances of the Church had their serious misgivings whether it would ultimately prove a benefit to them. Soon after the festivities of the opening had subsided, F Anselm, as he had been superseded in Office, was anxious to hand over the heavy responsibilities, which he had taken upon himself in his official capacity with respect to this great undertaking to his successor in office. But Dr Molyneux was not disposed to release him from his legal obligations or to take them upon himself as Provincial. In this unprecedented dilemma, in which he found himself placed, he did not formally Appeal to the President and call upon him authoritatively to release him from the legal responsibilities which he had incurred as Provincial; but in a fit of zeal or despondency, he signified to him that he should be obliged to make the greatest sacrifice which he had made in life, as he saw there was no alternative for him, but to undertake the Mission of Edge Hill himself, since Dr Molyneux repudiated the responsibility attached to it; and at the same time he wished to have his advice on this important matter.
[Mr Brewer writes to Dr Barber Octr 6th 1846 `From the distressed state of mind of our worthy Provincial upon the affairs of Edge Hill I feel inclined to take it and to make to me the greatest sacrifice in this life the resignation of this my beautiful Mission, an offering to God for the good of Religion and St Ann's. I have many friends in Liverpool, I can rally them round the Altar of St Ann's. The outlay is certainly much more than I expected. Mr Margison will take no responsibility. Dr Molyneux declares he will not be answerable and of course if no one is answerable ruin and disgrace must fall upon us. What advice do you tender?' Records IV 437. Dr Molyneux writes to Dr Barber Novr 17th 1846 `Your letter says `Mr Brewer prepares me in a recent letter for some Appeal or elucidation of the Law on the point, `Whether a present Provincial is not bound to take charge of the public debts of his Predecessor.' An Appeal on, such a point, if not ridiculous, would be perfectly useless, for neither I, nor I think any one in his senses will contest it, always supposing those debts to have been constitutionally contracted and that there is wherewith to meet them. In the present case it is contended that they have not been so contracted that no proper account of them has yet been rendered though repeatedly asked for and promised. That there is nothing absolutely nothing in the Depositum Commune, and that before I borrow money or ask leave to take up Capitals funded, I must have the Accounts of the outgoing Provincial supplied.' &c See Records IV 445.
The building of St Ann's Church was settled with Rome with the full concurrence of President Marsh, and if the Definitors of the Province were not formally consulted as they ought to have been, they may justly be said to have give their tacit consent by their silence. The property at Edge Hill was invested in three names and it belonged to the Province and the debts contracted in its building were the bona fide debts of the Mission for which the Province was responsible. If the undertaking had proved successful, Mr Brewer would not have been personally benefited by it, and if it turned out ill common justice required that he should not have been made personally responsible. The debts constructed in the building of this church would necessarily fall upon the Mission itself; but if the Mission was incapable of paying them, the Provincial would have to take measures to provide money. This was the immemorial practice of both Provinces. In the case of Workington, Provincial Marsh had allowed F Clement Rishton to build a Chapel there on his agreeing to pay off the debt he contracted out of his own Peculium; yet on his removal to Bath and to the Priorship at Ampleforth all the Tribunals of the Body declared him released from his engagement and the Province lost £400. See this History Vol II 409. In the case of Aigburth the Province sustained a loss of £1,572. See Records III 267. The South Province sustained a loss of upwards of £3,000 at Cheltenham and as late as 1846 it paid £2100 which was the debt incurred in the erection of the new Church at Coventry. Mr Smith wrote to the President Octr 25th 1846 `May I beg your indulgence also on another subject and may I ask, Is the Church at Coventry to be thrown upon Mr Scott and considered his private speculation? If not, why is St Ann's to be considered a private speculation of Mr Brewer's and to be thrown upon his hands? We here trust you will protect him.' Mr Scott the Provincial had no more the consent of his Definitors to allow this debt to be incurred at Coventry than Mr Brewer had the consent of his to incur a debt at Edge Hill. But in both cases they were the bona fide debts of the Mission.]
The President instantly took up the question as if he had made an unreserved offer to undertake the new Mission and Dr Molyneux proceeded on the advice of the President to appoint him the Incumbent of Edge Hill on the 11th of October 1846.
But no sooner had this important step been taken than F Anselm repented of what he had done. He represented to the Provincial that the removal of F Maurus Margison from Edge Hill would be unpopular with the Congregation, that the establishment at present was conducted on an economical system, and that any alteration in this respect would be detrimental to the Mission.
[See Mr Brewer's letter to Dr Molyneux Novr 4th 1846 Records V 99. Dr Molyneux writes to Mr Brewer Novr 5th 1846 `The proposal of your removal there did not originate with me but with yourself. I refused to notice your offer and only acceded to it at the request of the President, to whom you applied, after I had been silent. No consideration will now induce me to be a party to any alteration.' Records IV 444. This statement is not strictly correct. Mr Brewer wrote to the President and to Dr Molyneux on the same day the 6th of October. On the 11th he received his appointment. Dr Molyneux was a shrewd Politician and by not answering Mr Brewer's letter immediately, he was enabled to remove the odium of removing him from his own shoulders and to throw the responsibility on the President. On the 9th of Decr Dr Molyneux writes to Mr Brewer `The only reason for your being stationed there is that as you asserted it was a fair speculation and insinuated that it would produce a thousand a year, you should have the opportunity of testing it, that the failure might not be charged to others. Of course when you fail to pay the interest of 4½ per cent for money belonging to the Province you have done. You will have to leave, but not return to Brown Edge whilst I am Provincial, and somebody else must be tried at St Ann's' See Records IV 448]
But as he maintained that the Church would make nearly a thousand a year and that the speculation would be attended with success, his Provincial determined that he should try it himself, in order that its failure might not be charged upon others. This motive served Dr Molyneux as a specious pretext to take his stand upon and he would not condescend to show any generosity towards his Predecessor, but remained inexorable to all his entreaties to be allowed to remain at Brown Edge. The severity of this act of authority towards an Ex-Provincial was much censured by his Brethren, who neither gave him credit for the purity of his motives, nor for the soundness of his judgment in removing him to an insolvent Mission.
[In the last named letter Dr Molyneux complains of Mr Brewer's conduct on leaving Brown Edge. The fact was Mr Brewer had originally purchased all the furniture of his Predecessor and on leaving the Mission, he disposed of all his effects by a public sale. There were no just grounds of complaint in this. On the contrary it was his duty considering that he was involved in personal debts to sell every thing that was his own to pay his Creditors]
On F Anselm taking possession of his new Incumbency he took his Sister from Brown Edge to reside with him contrary to the directions of his Provincial [Dr Molyneux writes to Mr Brewer Decr 9th 1846 `If you wish to succeed to carry your good purposes into effect at St Ann's, you must not take your Sister with you. Few Priests besides her Brother would willingly live in the same House with her. If Dr Moriarty should leave, I will not appoint a Successor whilst she remains - She is too well known in the Body.'] At first he affected to be sanguine of success in his new undertaking. But time soon revealed to him the painful secret that he had no prospect of meeting the demands of his Creditors. A timely bequest fortunately fell in to him and revived his spirits. Mr Dillon of Liverpool on his death left above a thousand pounds to build and complete the Church of St Ann's. But his pride was wounded a little later, on his Provincial deeming it necessary, in order to prevent the money from being wasted or misapplied, to give him an Order of Obedience in February 1847 not to use or pay any part of this money without his previous permission in writing [See the Provincials Order of Obedience Records IV 449. Dr Molyneux writes to the President Feby 24th 1847 `I never intended to touch the money or have it in my possession, but merely to see it was expended in liquidating old Accounts and not new ones' See Records IV 456]
Upon this F Anselm immediately appealed to the President, but he allowed his feelings so far to get the mastery over his judgment, as to insinuate that his Provincial was not for allowing him to apply the Legacy to the liquidation of the debts on St Ann's [Dr Barber writes to Dr Molyneux Feby 22d 1847 `Mr Brewer pretends to think it would seem that you wish him not to apply the late Legacy to St Ann's. I take it for granted that your order was directed to secure the application according to the Will of the Testator' Records IV 455] and to represent his Order of Obedience to be of a nature which would be placing the power of man over the command of God [See Mr Brewer's Appeal Records IV 450. In a Postscript to this letter Mr Brewer inquired, `Whether he would be allowed by his Rule to avail himself of the Laws of his country to bring certain parties into the Ecclesiastical Court of Chester for Defamation or before the Catholic Bishop of the District.' This drew from the President a printed Circular to his brethren, showing from Bull Plantata, that the English Benedictines were forbidden to appeal to any other Tribunals than those of the Body. See this Address Records IV 459] There was however no necessity of the President coming to any decision on the Appeal, as the money was soon disposed of with the approbation of the Provincial.
But this munificent donation did not relieve F Anselm from his pecuniary embarrassments. In the following May, on the meeting of the Commissioners of the President to investigate the Accounts of the Province, he undertook to discharge all the Bills which were due on St Ann's Church, provided he might be allowed to raise an additional sum of a thousand pounds on the security of the church and his Provincial agreed to sanction the loan for this purpose [see Appendix A]. But no one was disposed to advance money on the security and F Anselm was left to do as well as he could without it. Being at length overwhelmed with his pecuniary difficulties, he applied to his Provincial on the 10th of June 1848 for permission to place the Church of St Ann's on the District Fund and he was allowed to arrange the matter with the Bishop. But he failed in his attempt and he could meet with no relief from any quarter.
Dr Molyneux, from the commencement of his Provincialship, had forgotten all the former kindness, which he had received from F Anselm during a long term of years, and he treated him from the first with a forbidding coldness, neither showing him the courtesy, nor the respect due to his years and his high standing in the Body. As Provincial, he was bound in justice to the Province, to require a statement of the outlay and the receipts connected with the church at St Ann's. But in such a complicated concern, as F Anselm had not kept a regular account of the moneys which he had advanced during a period extending over six years, his statements were found to vary and his Provincial made no hesitation in charging him with shuffling, lying, deceit and fraud. In some cases he laid himself open to some of these charges, especially in his Statements of the Accounts of the Province, but in others a more charitable construction might have been put on them, by attributing them to his gross neglect of keeping regular Accounts.
[I will here notice Mr Brewer's underhand proceedings respecting Mr Cooper of Wrightington Gift to the Province of £1200. Various sums to that amount had been handed over to him between the years 1844 and 1845 for the Province upon agreeing to pay 2½ per cent interest for his life and £1100 of this sum had been invested in the church at Edge Hill. In his Accounts presented to Chapter in 1846 there appears the entry `Mr Cooper's gift to the Province £1200' but no allusion is made of Mr Cooper having given it to private Missions. But subsequently to Chapter, Mr Brewer notified to the President, in order to comply with a new Regulation, by which all Gifts to the Province were in future declared to be invalid, unless the President had notice of them from the Giver and Receiver, that Mr Cooper whilst he was Provincial had made over £600 of this sum to the Mission of Brown Edge and £600 to the Mission at Brindle on a life interest of 2½ per cent: see Records V 112. The President nullified the Gift on the ground that a Missioner could only give to the public Deposit of the Province and could not to individual Missions in the Province. Upon this Mr Brewer sent a letter to Mr Cooper, requesting him to copy it, which he did and put his own name to it, by which he gave £100 to each of the Missions of Brown Edge and Brindle for an anniversary Mass. See Records V 96. Some time later Dr Molyneux went over to see Mr Cooper, when he learnt that his Gift of £1200 to Brown Edge and Brindle had been made after Chapter and not during Mr Brewer's Provincialship as was stated by him to the President. See Dr Molyneux's letters Records IV 449 Vol V 103]
As his Provincial could not obtain a satisfactory statement of the Accounts of the Church, he determined to remain perfectly passive, and as if the interests of St Ann's Church were alien to the Province, he persisted in leaving him to struggle single handed with his pecuniary difficulties, without affording him any assistance, except when he was compelled to redeem the public property of the Province, which had been pledged for moneys borrowed on St Ann's, or considered it advantageous to the Province to pay the interest of other moneys invested in the Church.
Besides these Accounts of St Ann's Church, those of the North Province during the period of his Provincialship, were equally unsatisfactory. He had forwarded to Dr Molyneux, soon after his accession to Office, what was supposed to be a transcript from the Ledger and his Chapter abstracts. But as these were insufficient to make out the real state of the past finances of the Province, Dr Molyneux had applied to him on various occasions for all his other account Books, but without obtaining any satisfaction on the subject. As these Chapter Abstracts were in reality the only real Accounts which Dr Molyneux could extract from him for the purpose of enabling him to make out what moneys had been received and disbursed during his term of Office, he proceeded to make inquiries on all directions {sic} about the past property of the Province, and from the information which he acquired, he plainly discovered that a number of important sums, which had evidently come into the hands of his Predecessor, were wholly omitted in his Accounts presented to Chapter, and that his Statement was grossly incorrect. But though he could pronounce nothing certain on the extent of the loss which the Province had sustained during his administration, yet he clearly perceived that the Province was insolvent, and he made no secret in proclaiming its Insolvency to his Brethren. On the other hand F Anselm denied its Insolvency, and maintained that he had left the finances of the Provincial in a more flourishing condition than he had found them upon entering on Office - that he was calumniated and threatened to denounce his accusers for Defamation before the Tribunals of this country. But more prudent counsels prevailed, and with some reluctance, he consented that his Accounts should be examined by Commissioners appointed by the President.
This proposal had originated in Dr Molyneux, who finding himself entangled in a labyrinth of difficulties about the past Accounts which he could not unravel, had suggested the appointment of three Commissioners and promised that he would abide by their decision.
[Dr Molyneux writes to Mr Brewer Decr 9th 1846, `Nothing will ever be satisfactory to me, but the appointment of two of our Brethren to examine your Accounts from the beginning. Their Statement I have pledged myself to admit' See Records IV 448. Dr Barber writes to Dr Molyneux Feby 27th 1847 `I must adhere to this investigation of the Accounts for there will be no end to discussions on the subject without it. I am sure you will agree with me that Mr Brewer must have every latitude in the choice of his Examiners in order to stifle every ground of complaint. You of course must have equal liberty and latitude.' Dr Molyneux writes to Dr Barber Feby 26th 1847 `It is plain Mr Brewer knows his Accounts (if Accounts they can be called which only have been delivered to me) are fraudulent, or why raise such a commotion to prevent a searching examination. When a similar accusation was brought against Dr Marsh you may remember, he instantly threw down the gauntlet and demanded to have the matter thoroughly sifted and did not object to any one for the purpose.' This cannot be correct for Dr Marsh in his Reminiscences Rec V 5 bitterly complains of the treatment he met with at the Chapter in 1826, `declaring they had no right to arraign Accounts in 1826 which had been passed and approved in Chapter 1822.' The Commissaries cleared him of the charges made against him, though he had kept no regular Accounts; but notwithstanding this, Dr Marsh afterwards admitted that his Accounts were incorrect.]
After various delays, chiefly owing to the expedients resorted to by F Anselm to postpone a settlement of his Accounts [See Dr Barber's letter to Dr Molyneux April 19th 1847. Records IV 457] he appointed F Dunstan Scott to act as his Commissioner, the Provincial fixed upon F Anselm Cockshoot to act for him [Mr Brewer writes to Dr Barber April 28 1847 `I trust that in your paternal consideration you will not appoint Mr Cockshoot as one of the Judices for he has already avowed that I have defrauded the Province £10000 at the least' See Records IV 458] and F Peter Wilson, the Prior of St Gregory's, was appointed Umpire. These Fathers being duly sanctioned by the President proceeded to Liverpool to fulfil their commission on the 20th of May 1847, where they were joined by Dr Molyneux and F Anselm.
The investigation was conducted in an amicable manner. The Ex-Provincial pleaded guilty on the various heads on which the President had directed his Commissioners to interrogate him [Dr Molyneux writes to Mr Allanson July 5th 1847 `I believe the Report to the President begins by stating that Mr Brewer kept no Accounts, but some loose papers which were not produced. He over and over again admitted that in his Chapter Statements there were omissions of considerable sums received and that he pleaded guilty on every point, on which the President commissioned the Deputati to investigate and Report.'] These humbling admissions naturally inclined them to compassionate him, when they found he admitted his past errors in not acting according to the Rule. In some cases they did not deem it necessary to inspect the original slips of paper in his possession; in others they would have no original entries to guide them and would have to depend on his oral testimony; so that it will not excite astonishment if many errors appeared afterwards in their Statement when it came to be closely examined. Neither did they call upon the Ex-Provincial to state what had been the original cost of the Gas Shares, which he had purchased for the Province, according to the instructions which they had received from the President, nor did they ascertain whether all the moneys which he had received had been accounted for [The President had signified to the Commissioners that it would be their duty to ascertain certain points which he named; amongst these, `Whether all the moneys which the late Provincial had received had been accounted for and what was the original cost to the Province of the Gas and Railway Shares. See Records IV 463] Moreover, the term of three days, which they devoted to this investigation, would not allow them to enter into all the minutes of details, and they contented themselves without thoroughly sifting his accounts to come to an official decision.
The Commissioners in their Report to the President state, that the Accounts, which were prepared and presented to Chapter, were insufficient to enable them to form a correct judgment on the state of the finances of the Province, and that the late Provincial admits that he had not kept his Accounts consecutively in Books, but on various slips of paper. They then presented one Schedule containing a comparative view of the amount and investment of the Funds of the Province at the Chapter in 1838 with the amount and investment of the same Funds at the Chapter in 1846, another of the additional sums which he had received during that period and the manner in which they had been invested or expended, and a third containing the amount of moneys borrowed from Laymen and for what purposes. From these it appeared that the deficiency in the Funded department exceeded £3000: but they gave him credit for having expended £2000 of this sum in aid of maintenance of Missions, or for furniture, or for interest on loans and in repairs. They state they had not examined the current account of St Ann's Church at Edge Hill, because the late Provincial understood to discharge all the Bills against it, provided he might be allowed to raise an additional sum of a £1000 on the security of the Church, for which the Provincial granted him permission. They state that the late Provincial presented a claim in behalf of Miss Brewer for £400, which he had borrowed from her for the benefit of the Province, and that he had paid on account of the Railways shares of the Province a sum exceeding £400 out of his own peculium. With regards to the Mission of Brown Edge the late Provincial presented a claim for peculium to the amount of £1112 which had been invested by him in Cottages or other improvements at that Mission [Mr Brewer writes to Dr Barber May 22d 1847 `Fearing that you may misunderstand the sentence `Mr Brewer claims as peculium £1100 money expended in the erection of Cottages and other buildings at Brown Edge, I beg leave to say that I claim nothing from Brown Edge for myself, but my only claim is that the person who takes the Cottages and other Buildings should take with them the debt upon the Cottages and other Buildings. When that is done I have no claim.' Records IV 467. See the Report of the Commissioners Records IV 464] The Commissioners conclude their Report by adding that the present Provincial was fully justified in calling for an investigation and that the late Provincial had met it in the fullest and most satisfactory manner. A week later the President, on hearing of no remonstrance against the proceedings of the Commissioners, affixed his signature to the Report, expressing his adherence to it in every particular.
The Accounts of the Province had now passed through the ordeal of a legitimate Tribunal appointed to examine them and all parties were pledged to abide by the Decision. But, though Dr Molyneux did not at the time remonstrate against the proceedings of the Commissioners [Mr Cockshoot writes `the outgoing and incoming Superiors were present during the three days Investigation and Mr Brewer was allowed to take a copy of the Report.' I have no doubt that Dr Molyneux might have obtained a Copy also if he had wished, but it did not suit his purpose, as he could not with any decency have objected to the Report at the time since he was pledged to abide by it] yet he was not disposed to allow the question of these Accounts to be set at rest, and he determined to pursue the investigation of them, not solely for the laudable purpose of ascertaining the real state of the finances of the Province during the administration of his Predecessor, but also for the purpose of pursuing him and bringing him to punishment. After waiting four months, he at last obtained an Official Copy of the Report of the Commissioners, and then he complained to the President of their neglect in not complying with his instructions in obtaining answers to certain questions, which he had enjoined them to ascertain, and without this was done, he protested against the Report being considered a final settlement of the matter, and he could not himself look upon it in that light as many important items in their schedules would be found to be erroneous [See Dr Molyneux's letter to the President September 26th 1847 Records IV 468]
These complaints against the Report of the Commissioners must have been peculiarly unwelcome to the President whose authority was now a second time compromised about the perplexing Accounts of the Province. He had officially signed the late Provincial Accounts at Chapter, he had again adopted the Report of the Commissioners in every particular and he was now called upon to reopen the question about him. If this unfortunate business had been confined merely to the past state of the Province, he might have insisted on the question being allowed to rest so far at least as to decline to take official cognizance of it. But a practical question had arisen out of the Accounts, in consequence of the dilapidation of the Funds, as Dr Molyneux had already given him notice of the insolvency of the Province and he now sent him a Statement of the whole of its actual receipts and of its necessary disbursements, which showed that the Provincial could not in future pay the Missioners their just dues from their Funds as its insolvency amounted to above a hundred a year [See Dr Molyneux's letter to the President containing a statement of the Income and Expenditure of the Province Records Iv 469] The President could not close his eyes to this important fact and Dr Molyneux was bent on pursuing his course in his searching investigation of the past state of the Province. To aid him in his researches, he prevailed on F Athanasius Allanson to undertake to draw up a statement of the Accounts of the Province during the nine years of the late Provincial's administration: but his statement was afterwards overruled, because he would not subscribe to his party proceedings. F Anselm Cockshoot was also employed in investigating them and he spared no pains in his endeavours to unravel them.
I will here pursue this subject to its close. In 1848 F Anselm Cockshoot met the Provincial and the other leading Officials of the Province at Netherton where it was agreed to forward to the President certain Observations on the Commissioners Report, which showed a large dilapidation of the Funds of the Province, and at the same time these Fathers petitioned him to adopt such measures as might suggest themselves to his judgment to preclude F Anselm Brewer from succeeding to the Provincialship as 2d Elect, in case the Office by any means became vacant during the present quadriennium [See the Observations on the Report and the Petition Records IV 490]
As these Observations on the Report of the Commissioners proved, that there was a great difference of opinion as to the real extent of the dilapidation of the Funds during the late Provincial's administration F Anselm Cockshoot thought it advisable to have the Accounts again examined by a person wholly unconnected with the Congregation. Having sounded Mr Glover a Secular Clergyman stationed near him at Houghton on the Accounts of the Province and finding that he took a similar view to what he did himself, he prevailed on him to undertake to examine them, and both Dr Molyneux and the President agreed to abide by his decision [Dr Molyneux writes to Mr Glover March 8 1849 `Having perfect reliance on your known integrity independence and ability I bind myself not only to sanction whatever you may think proper to do in this matter, but to abide by your Decision. You may associate with you any one you think proper and Mr Cockshoot approves.' Dr Barber writes to Mr Cockshoot March 9th 1849 `Let Mr Glover have all the aid he requires. It is advisable and desirable that some of the Secular Clergy should know our side of the question and be in a position to defend us against the os loquentium iniqua. I am sure that Mr Glover has very properly branded the infamous Accounts you have laid before him. Reddish is evidently implicated with Mr Brewer, Davies and Co] as they considered his standing as an Accountant was calculated to render them service and to produce a favourable impression on the minds of many both of Regular and Secular Clergymen, who considered that F Anselm had been severely dealt with. On terminating his labours in April 1849, he drew up a Statement attempting to show a deficiency in the Funded department to the amount of £7900, stating, however, that a part of this deficiency might be accounted for by sums advanced to Missions and by other sundry expenses which the Ex-Provincial had incurred during his administration.
[{Long note} See Mr Glover's Statement to Dr Molyneux Records IV 653. Besides the £7900 Mr Glover states `The amount due by Mr Brewer and for which the Gas shares are pledged is not known. This however is certain that the amount is at least £2000, thus making Mr Brewer's deficiency at least £9900.19.1.' I can view this statement in no other light than a proof of the readiness with which Mr Glover adopted the exaggerated statements of others, and it ought to be a caution to others how they admit his figures. The actual sum which Dr Molyneux informs me he paid to Preston Bank including interest amounted to £940.3.7. On Mr Cockshoot expounding Mr Glover's statement to the Capitular Fathers at the Chapter in 1850, they directed his summary to be registered in the Acts of Chapter which is as follows, (1) Pecunias Capitales, de quibus in RD Anselmi Brewer computis nulla reddita est ratio non minus novem millia librarum Anglicarum explere (2) Neque Missionem nostram apud Brown Edge neque ullam Provinciae partem vel RD Anselmo Brewer, vel sorori, vel ulli ejus propinquo quidquam debere. It is much to be regretted that the Chapter should have registered such a statement, so injurious as it stands to the character of Mr Brewer, whose mismanagement of the Funds was great enough of itself without charging him with such unparalleled dishonesty. Mr Glover in his statement, even if it be accurate, makes no such sweeping charge against him. In the above letter he writes, `Perhaps some of the deficiency may be accounted for by sums advanced to your Missions which are charged with and will pay interest to your Funds and other sundry expenses, which, though not exactly coming in the routine of your disbursements may be some satisfaction, by showing, that though Mr Brewer acted without authority yet to his mind he acted for the good of Religion and not with any dishonest intention.' Now it is evident that Mr Glover admitted a portion of this deficiency in the Funds was accounted for by Mr Brewer and there is no doubt whatever that he has accounted for a large portion of this sum. To take a common sense view of the question, if Mr Brewer's deficiency in Capitals be not less than £9000, for which he has rendered no account, what has become of this large sum of money? Certainly Mr Brewer did not enrich himself by it. He was under the necessity of borrowing £2 of Mr Smith of Brindle to pay his journey from Cheltenham to Liverpool in Novr 1848 and Mr Newsham of St Anthony's finding him penniless collected £50 for him among his friends, and he died without any property, but what was pledged to pay his personal debts. Neither could his Sister have received any large sum from him as she now keeps a Lodging House to assist her in gaining a livelihood.
But then it is said that he paid off the debts of his family and the following testimony in a letter written by Mr Cooper to Mr Cockshoot on the 17th of April 1849 is adduced in proof of it. `Mr Holmes feels convinced Mr Brewer in many transactions has been carrying out his determination formed years ago and avowed to himself to this effect. That as Dr Brewer had made over to the Benedictines certain moneys which Mr Brewer believed to be the property of the Brewer Family, he (Mr Brewer) would obtain by any means in his power a like sum from the Benedictine Body. This he could easily do as he had the management of £20,000 worth of property belonging to the Benedictines.'
Whatever may have been Mr Brewer's speculative opinions on the subject, it so happens that he borrowed £550 of Ralph Pearson on the 4 of May 1837, which was before he became Provincial and any portion of this £9,000 was handled by him. Now the following is the evidence of his son on the 2d of March 1854, `I, James Pearson, hereby certify that I was the individual, from whom Mr Henry Brewer borrowed the sum of £550, which money was the property of my Father, Ralph Pearson. The money was lent in 1837. Mr Brewer did not solicit for the money. I offered to lend it, thinking that by placing it in the hands of Mr Brewer, I was putting it in a place of security... I may observe that so far from Mr Brewer borrowing this money for any particular purpose, my Father had (several months before I lent the money) offered it to Mr Brewer, who declined accepting it, saying he had no need of it.' Signed by me James Pearson in presence of me Thomas Walker.'
This evidence given to Mr Walker shows, that Mr Brewer was not in want of money before he became Provincial to pay the debts of his Family. If further proof were wanting to place his memory beyond suspicion for dishonesty to such a large amount, his transaction with Mr Talbot will suffice. In March 1844 Mr Brewer found in Mr Talbot's drawers £3500 for which he afterwards accounted. No one, not even Mr Talbot himself, knew anything of the amount, and if he had been disposed to be dishonest, he could have appropriated a large portion of this sum to his own private purposes without the possibility of detection. The question then arises what became of this £9000 which Mr Brewer is charged with not accounting for? In my opinion Mr Brewer's character has been seriously injured by false and exaggerated statements. I have closely examined his Accounts of the Province myself. See the Appendix to the History Vol III: and I have attempted to show that the sum which Mr Brewer has not accounted does not exceed {blank}. As he kept no regular accounts, he may easily have expended the whole or a great part of this without applying it to sinister purposes. He grossly mismanaged and squandered the property of the Province, but I do not believe that he applied any notable portion of it to purposes alien to the Congregation. End of note.]
On the meeting of the Commissioners of the President F Anselm had laid claim to a large sum of money from the Mission of Brown Edge for what he had expended in improvements. Soon after the close of the investigation of the Accounts, he agreed with his Provincial to leave his claims to the decision of F Anselm Cockshoot, who after examining them, gave his award, deciding that the Mission of Brown Edge owed him nothing. But F Anselm considering this decision to be unjust would not abide by it and the matter was allowed to remain in abeyance. [see Appendix B]
It has already been stated that F Anselm erected a new Chapel at Brown Edge in 1826 and had borrowed £200 of Mr Procter at the time, for which he had been paying interest all along till within the last twelvemonth. In May 1848 Mr Haydock, an Attorney, was employed by Mr Procter to demand the repayment of this loan. Upon this information being conveyed to Dr Molyneux, he offered to pay the sum, provided F Anselm would give up one of the three Houses which he had built on the Brown Edge property and for which he continued to receive the rents [See Dr Molyneux's letter to the President July 14th 1848 Records V 150] But as this offer was declined, Dr Molyneux repudiated the debt and F Anselm was left exposed to the danger of being arrested. In the following August F Anselm formally appealed to the President, complaining of the serious injury he was sustaining from his Provincial, who was unjustly withholding £200 from James Procter, which he had borrowed on building the new Chapel at Brown Edge and £200 from Alice Kenyon which was invested in the new School there, without offering any security to them. He further complained of his Provincial, who had been made acquainted with a writ issued by James Procter against him for the repayment of his money, for not taking any steps to protect him against arrest, and that his studied passive non interference was the most certain means of procuring his ruin. Finally, as he had no personal or pecuniary resources, from which he could repay the sums lent for the building of the Chapel and School at Brown Edge, he prayed that the sum of £400 be charged as a constitutional debt on that Mission. [See Mr Brewer's Appeal Records IV 475, 146]
But meeting with no redress, he took advantage in September of the Receipts of the Dividends on the Gas and North Union Railway Shares passing through his hands, and in order to save himself from the disgrace of being arrested, he paid over £111 to Mr Procter's Attorney to pay off a part of the debt [Mr Brewer paid the whole of the Dividends on the Gas Shares amounting to £111.12.11, but he retained the North Union Dividend £10.19.4 to pay the interest on Kenyon's £200 borrowed for the School at Brown Edge. Dr Molyneux writes to Mr Cockshoot June 30th 1850 `The three Cottages were erected on the estate at Brown Edge by Mr Brewer, who or his Sister received the rents up to the time that he intercepted the Dividends of the Gas Shares, on the plea of paying Mr Procter's demand. Then I gave notice to the Tenants and put in a Receiver. The net Rent is £10.17.0 per annum.' Though Dr Molyneux had offered Mr Brewer to pay Mr Procter's debt, if he would give up one of these Cottages. See Records V 150, yet he refused to pay it after he had got possession of the Rents of the whole of them.]
And then he signified to Dr Molyneux that he could not in justice give directions for the Dividends to be paid to him in future, until he had taken upon him as Provincial the legal responsibility of the public debts of the Province [Dr Molyneux writes to the President Septr 17th 1848 `After weeks of silence, he now writes, having got the money, `I cannot in justice to myself give instructions for the Dividends to be paid to you until you have taken the legal responsibility upon yourself of the public debts of the Province.' In answer I must say that I was always willing to take that responsibility as Provincial as soon as the Capitals were transferred to names over which I and the Definitors should have Constitutional control... In fact by taking Office, I conceive I did take that responsibility and have acted upon it by meeting every demand, some of which were to a very great amount, which I thought was just and constitutional.' Records IV 479. The whole tenor of Dr Molyneux's transactions with Mr Brewer shows, that he never did agree to take the public debts of the Province or this unfortunate business would never have gone to the extremes it did. Dr Molyneux persisted to the last in refusing to take the bona fide public debts of the late Provincial unless they were constitutionally contracted, as will appear in the sequel.]
Dr Molyneux notified to the President the retention of these Dividends and desired to be released from his Office, if there was not power in the Body to compel him to pay them over to him, as they were necessary to pay the salaries of the Missioners and to transfer the Capitals to other names [See Dr Molyneux's letter to the President Septr 17th 1848. Records IV 479] This brought this business to a crisis; but it will be here necessary to interrupt the sequel of events in order to trace these law proceedings to a close.
F Anselm was still pursued by Mr Haydock, who had obtained a judgment against him for Mr Procter's debt, and he naturally enough referred him to Dr Molyneux, the Provincial as the debt was incurred in building the Chapel at Brown Edge and was a bona fide debt belonging to that Mission. Dr Molyneux repudiated the claim on false and frivolous grounds and cruelly handed over the case to Mr Anderson his Attorney at York who was willing to join issue and try the case in the civil courts of the country sooner than pay it.
[Dr Molyneux writing to the President Records V 151, Asserts, that Mr Brewer certainly owed to Brown Edge more than will liquidate Mr Procter's debt. It seems to me that the point at issue does not depend upon the solution of that question at all, especially as Mr Brewer had no property of his own to pay it. The real question was, whether Mr Procter's debt was a bona fide debt on the Mission. Now Dr Molyneux states to the President [See Records IV 499] `With regard to this particular debt of Mr Procter's £200 I have very great doubts, to say the least, but Mr Brewer is taking the Law into his own hands and deciding in his own favour. I believe it is neither a public debt, nor a debt of Brown Edge. I believe it was borrowed by our Confrere for private purposes. At all events he has not shown that he had constitutional authority, which as your Reverence has stated must be in writing to take it up. I believe it was borrowed in the very year the Chapel was begun, and years after, he took up a £1000 from the Province to pay off the debts contracted in the building and of course this, if he had any authority to borrow was included amongst the rest.' Dr Molyneux again writes to the President Octr 29th 1848, `This morning I have notice from an Attorney at Preston that judgment has been obtained against Mr Brewer for a debt of £200, probably that of Procter's, which if borrowed for building the Chapel at Brown Edge, which I do not believe, as the note of hand is dated 1826, the very year the Chapel was begun, should have been paid with part of the £1000 subsequently borrowed off the Province, under the plea of paying all outstanding demands.' These statements in such a weighty matter are at variance with the facts of the case. The Chapel at Brown Edge was built in the year 1826 and was opened on the 21st of January 1827. From Prior Burgess's Chapter Accounts of 1826, it appears £600 was owing at that time to Ampleforth from Brown Edge. In the Ampleforth Accounts find the entry on the 4th of October 1826, `Money lent to the Revd H Brewer £400' so that Mr Brewer owed Ampleforth £1000 on the 4th of October 1826. On the 26th of October 1826 he borrowed £200 of James Procter. We learn again from the Ampleforth Accounts that Mr Robinson paid in for Mr Brewer £1000, which was owing to Ampleforth, on the 19th of October 1827. This was a year after Mr Procter's money had been borrowed. How then could Dr Molyneux in such a grave matter state, `that years after the Chapel was begun he took up a £1000 from the Province to pay off debts contracted in the building and of course this, if he had any authority to borrow was included amongst the rest' or, `that this £200 should have been repaid with part of the £1000 subsequently borrowed of the Province under the plea of paying all outstanding demands.' Surely Dr Molyneux as Provincial incurred a heavy responsibility in rejecting this debt on such false grounds and in forcing Mr Brewer to extremes in order to protect his bona fide Creditors]
But Roskell and Arrowsmith the Bankers at Preston taking alarm at what was passing employed Mr Bushell another Attorney to apply to F Anselm to settle his public account, amounting to a sum exceeding £900 which he had borrowed for St Ann's Church and for which he had pledged seven Gas shares belonging to the Province as security [See Mr Brewer's letter to Dr Molyneux Records Vol V 106. See Mr Bushell's letter to Messrs Anderson of York in the possession of Mr Cockshoot. Dr Barber writes to Mr Brewer Novr 28th 1848 `I have had the perusal of a letter from Mr Bushell in which he says, Mr Brewer has made over Gas shares liable to the debt against him individually.' Here is another flagrant violation of your Vow of Poverty. You have made the property of the Province liable for your private debts. I understand that the missing Gas shares were pledged for money advanced to St Ann's' Records V 111] F Anselm had two separate accounts with this Bank, one in his own name only and the other in the joint names of himself and the Revd James Dowding. A long time previous to this he had deposited securities for his sole account. The joint account was opened for the express purpose of the erection of St Ann's Church and the advances were understood by the Bankers to be applied to that purpose alone. As security for this account, he had assigned all his interest in certain Gas shares and he made his interest in these shares liable to the debt against himself individually in addition to the other securities deposited by him. As the demand was made to pay both these accounts, the latter of which he considered a bona fide debt on St Ann's Church, he referred the Attorney to Dr Molyneux who handed over the matter to Mr Anderson. Upon this F Anselm received notice, that Dr Molyneux was anxious to release him from any responsibility in which he was involved as a Co-Trustee for Chapels or otherwise upon his assigning over his Trust to others. But before this could be arranged it would be necessary for him to make a full and satisfactory disclosure of all claims upon the Trust, and he considered it necessary previous to his claims being admitted, that he should forward the Banking Book with all the particulars respecting that claim.
In this stage of the question, F Anselm had word communicated to the President, that Mr Anderson was threatening him with a Chancery suit, if he did not furnish him with such accounts as would enable him to advise Dr Molyneux what course he ought to pursue. The President was taken by surprise and felt hurt that he should have been kept in the dark by the Provincial; but as soon as he learnt that Dr Molyneux was only acting on the defence he was satisfied [Dr Molyneux writes to the President Novr 21st 1848 I am therefore merely on the defensive and even this is not optional or voluntary on my part. It is Mr Brewer that has gone to Law not I in reality, who am only dragged into it by his proceedings. Records V 7] As F Anselm was advised not to give up the separate Accounts entire to be scrutinized, this business began to wear a serious aspect, as a Chancery suit appeared likely to ensue [Mr Cockshoot writes to Dr Molyneux January 2d 1849 `Mr Anderson's perplexity like ours arises from his ignorance of the amount of Mr Brewer's debts, or in other words, of the amount of the charges which he may attempt to throw one after the other upon the Trust properties, and in this state of ignorance of the case, he confesses his inability to advise. One course open to him is, to file a Bill in Chancery to compel Mr Brewer to render an account of his administration, and the advantage of this course is, that as the proceedings would have been commenced by us, so they could be discontinued or stayed by him {Anderson} whenever we thought proper; another course is to remain strictly on the defensive and in point of fact to do nothing. The objections to this course are twofold 1st Proceedings in Chancery, which may be commenced by the opposing party cannot be suspended by us at our pleasure. And 2ly and principally, if they take forcible possession of St Ann's under a Writ (if that be the term) we should have to go to Chancery to dispossess them on all probability. We have resolved to adopt this second course, that is to do nothing, and remain on the Defensive in the hope that they will not go to Chancery, nor attempt to seize a Church. Should our opponents attempt to take possession of a church, it is my hope that such an attempt would be forcibly resisted by the Irish.']
But his long protracted illness would naturally occasion delay, and after his death Dr Molyneux settled the public Banking account in order to redeem the Gas shares belonging to the Province, and the other property of his own pledged for his private account was sold to pay his private one.
To turn back to F Anselm's Appeal. This had been for above a month in the hands of the President who was bound by the Constitutions to take cognizance of it; and it became doubly his duty to do so, when he saw the evil consequences attending his withholding his decision, which, if it had been against him, would still have afforded him an opportunity of appealing to a higher Tribunal for the redress of the injuries which he believed he was sustaining. But, though the question involved in this Appeal was the primary cause of all the evils which followed, yet the President allowed it to remain in abeyance and never came to a decision upon it. But instead of discharging this imperative duty, which would probably have brought him in collision with the Provincial, whom he wished to continue at his post, he so far went out of his way as officially to take cognizance of F Anselm's withholding the Dividends belonging to the Province, and by so doing, he was violating the Constitution, which forbade him to trespass upon the jurisdiction of the Provincial.
[Dr Molyneux writes to the President Septr 17 1848 `Under these circumstances I am quite fast and implore your authority as President. Is it necessary for me to make an Appeal in form to have the money retained refunded to me and the Capitals transferred to other names. I have the consent of my Definitors for both purposes if it be necessary.' Records IV 481. In the above passage there is certainly no formal Appeal to the President and the Constitutions never contemplate such an anomaly as a Provincial appealing to the President against his own subject in such a case, as he is himself invested with full constitutional power to take cognizance of the matter as he is the ordinary judge in the case and the President is strictly forbidden to trespass upon the jurisdiction of the Provincial. The Constitutions Cap V No 2 lay down the following law respecting the power of the President. Eidem propterea mandamus ne in ullo Monasterio aut Provincia ullam jurisdictionem ad officium Abbatis, Principalis, Prioris vel alterius cujuspiam Superioris pertinentem exerceat extra tempus Visitationis. By this Law a President is forbidden to exercise any immediate jurisdiction over any of his subjects, whether in the Convents or in the Provinces, who are not immediately subject to him and there is no higher act of jurisdiction than to give an Order of Obedience. It is true, every Benedictine at his Profession makes his vow of obedience to the President and all are bound to obey him when he exercises his power according to the Constitutions. But the General Chapter in its wisdom has circumscribed the authority of the President so far as to forbid him to exercise any jurisdiction either in the Provinces or in the Monasteries over those, who are immediately subject to the Provincials or Priors, except in case of his Visitation, or in cases of an Appeal, or in calling out Conventuals to the Mission, or in sending Missioners to their Monasteries; and if he transgresses this Rule his orders of Obedience in such cases are informal and invalid. By not observing this Rule a President would destroy the regular Courts of Appeal allowed of by the Constitutions and these are the inherent right of every member of the Congregation. See the Constitutions Chap V No 7 and Regulae Missionis Cap I Num 2.]
The President took up the question authoritively, as if F Anselm had been immediately subject to his jurisdiction, and after informing him that no Provincial could fulfil the duties of his Office, if individual Missioners could intercept the Dividends, because they happened to pass through their hands and apply them to other purposes without permission, he gave him an order of Obedience on the 21 of September 1848 to transfer all the property of the Province which was held in his name to certain other names specified within five days after the receipt of his letter and to pay the Dividends of the Gas and North Union Shares lately received to the Provincial or the Procurator within a month, unless the time should be extended by the authority of the Provincial [See the President's order Records V 147] At first F Anselm signified to the President that he could not in justice to his Creditors comply with his command, and then he forwarded a List of those public Creditors, who called for security for the sums which they had lent him [See Mr Brewer's letter refusing to comply with the President's order of obedience and a List of those who wanted security for borrowed money Records IV 483] But on consulting Dr Morris, he was prevailed on to retract his hasty production, and after tendering his obedience to transfer at any hour any securities in his name to others as ordered by his Superiors, he petitioned for a prolongation of the time for taking his name out of the public property, which was extended to the 1st of October [See the Correspondence Records IV 484, 490]
At this period his health had given way and his anxiety attending his complicated troubles had ruined what appeared to be a strong constitution. The pressing demands of his creditors had compelled him from necessity to resort on several occasions to disgraceful shifts, which his own sense of honour and propriety utterly condemned [See the Case of Frederick Gerard. Records V 14] The threats of Lawyers, the apprehensions under which he lived of being sooner or later arrested, the prospect of a chancery suit, and the responsibility attending his late refusal to obey the President's order of Obedience, worked on his mind by day and night; so that at last he was in imminent danger of a stroke of Paralysis. Being in this state, he was advised to try a change of air and he proceeded to the South of England soon after he made his submission to the President with the intention of paying him a Visit at Stanbrook. On stopping with Dr Orrell, his Brother in Law, who was a Surgeon in Cheltenham, he was informed it was absolutely necessary that he should not return to the cares and anxiety attending the Mission at Edge Hill in his present state of health; so he petitioned his Provincial to retire from the Church at St Ann's and to be allowed to offer his services to the South Provincial [Mr Brewer writes to Dr Molyneux from Cheltenham. No date, `When I came down from Stanbrook, I was so much afflicted in my legs with imminent danger of Paralysis, that I could scarcely mount the staircase. After remaining a week at Malvern with our good Confrere Mr Scott, I considerably improved in health and strength, but I feel at the present time that it is impossible for me to do the duty of St Ann's. I therefore with feelings of respect and obedience request your permission to retire from St Ann's and in the present state of my health hope you will permit me to offer my services to the Provincial of the South.' Records V 107]
Dr Molyneux at an early period of his Provincialship had strongly advocated his leaving the Province [Dr Molyneux writes to the President Febry 26th 1847 `Perhaps the best for Mr Brewer's peace of mind would be to petition to leave the Province... by consenting to it in time, you may stop what I know was in his head twenty years ago and which it appears he has now resumed, the project of getting Secularized. Would he not do for Cheltenham?' Dr Molyneux writes again to the President Jany 25th 1849 `I have narrowly watched Mr Brewer's manoeuvres for more than twenty years and have always been of opinion that his object was to get the Congregation broken up and to get us Secularized.' Records V 46.
Nothing shows Dr Molyneux's strong prejudices against Mr Brewer more than those unwarrantable imputations, which are repeated in several of his other letters and which were calculated to make such an unfavourable impression on the mind of the President. What were the real facts of the case? On the Secularization of Prior Burgess in 1830 all the Community, with one exception, petitioned Rome to be placed under the jurisdiction of Dr Baines. At this critical period no Father rendered such service to the Body as Mr Brewer, as he nearly prevailed on Mr Metcalfe to retrace his steps and he was the means of inducing some of the elder members of the Community at Ampleforth to retract and their example was soon followed by the others. Mr Bennet Glover, who was the acting Superior at the time, writes to President Birdsall May 20th 1830 `A letter purporting all this, (namely his application for withdrawing his Secularization &c) came to Hampson from Clifford last Wednesday exhorting him to retrace his steps. Mr Brewer the same day arrived here and seconded Clifford's motion so effectually that we have completely gained him over... He says the rest of the Religious are all ready to make their peace except Cockshoot and of him he does not quite despair. Mr Brewer has had a serious talk with Metcalfe who is still here. He clearly wishes he had not gone so far but says it is now too late. He replied I will think of it.' At this period also Mr Brewer accepted the Sanatory from Rome without hesitation. In answer to a question of mine Mr Smith writes to me May 21st 1855 `Mr Brewer did not try to transfer his obedience: it was advised by some Secular Clergy, but nothing was attempted'] but now his views on the subject had undergone a change and he was not inclined to give his consent whilst the Accounts of the Province were in such an unsatisfactory state and the President coincided in the same opinion. However on F Anselm renewing his request to him of offering his services to the South Provincial and on forwarding to him the certificate of his Medical Advisers, he consented and advised him to apply to the President for his permission to leave the Province [See Mr Brewer's letter to the President enclosing a copy of Dr Molyneux's answer October 26 1848. Mr Brewer proceeds, `My opinion, Dear Father President, is, that Dr Molyneux is grieved for my state of health and wishes to do all in his power to save me from the grave. At present I am in a very declining and sinking state, like Mr Robinson, Mr Glover and others: no disease, but certain tendency in the Constitution to a gradual decline, restless nights, hard cough, an uneasy mind. I do not think that Dr Molyneux wishes his letter of the 17th to be now carried out to the letter. I think his old feelings of friends would return, if he thought that I was going to die. Still I wish to do my duty living or dying.' Records V 107]
But the President insisted on his complying with his orders of taking his name out of the public property of the Province before he would sanction his transition [Dr Molyneux again changed his opinion and would not allow Mr Brewer to leave the Province. He writes to the President Octr 29 1848 `What to say of Mr Brewer I hardly know, but though I should be very glad to get shot of him. I am quite certain you have done right in not letting him go until he has settled his pecuniary affairs with us.' He writes again to the President Novr 8 1848, `What I want on this head and without which I shall never consent to his going from my jurisdiction, is, an inspection of the Deeds of those several Cottages at Bamber Bridge and Cockshuit Lane and the House inhabited by the Mawdesley's. I expect to show from such inspection, that the said property is his, which would indemnify us to a considerable extent.' See also Records IV 497] and the Provincial of the South was not willing to receive him until he could bring a clean Bill of health in pecuniary matters.
But though F Anselm could not obtain his request on this head, yet his resignation of St Ann's was accepted and on the 28th of October F Wilfrid Cooper was appointed the new Incumbent. As Miss Brewer, who had been residing at the Chapel House with her Brother contrary to the declared wishes of the Provincial, had now to leave, she insisted on removing all the furniture which had been brought from Brown Edge. Her attempt was resisted for a time [Dr Molyneux writes to the President Novr 6th 1846 `Miss Brewer is as hard to deal with as her Brother and is undoubtedly acting under his directions. I have just received a Note from Mr Wilkinson, from which is the following Extract. `Miss Brewer is acting a part that must become a great public scandal. Mr Cooper tells me she is perfectly frantic and is determined at every cost to remove what she calls her furniture'. He has given her orders to quit the house but she defies him. Mr Yates the Attorney employed by Mr Brewer has kindly interposed as a Mediator but she will listen to no compromise.' Now a third part of this furniture I have informed your Reverence Mr Brewer in his Bill of Poverty rendered to you gives to the Province for Brown Edge' Records V 2] But as it appeared that F Anselm, who always maintained that he owed her money, had made it over to her by a legal Instrument, although he had formerly stated that a third part belonged to him [The President writes to Mr Brewer Novr 25th 1848 `In your letter of the 8th instant you write, `I never possessed any furniture of my own.' This is first in direct contradiction to the Poverty Bill dated 9th of May 1846 delivered in to me by you during the last quadriennium and in which you declare that one third of everything in this House (at Brown Edge) including Pictures Glass &c is my property; secondly in direct opposition to the Poverty Bill delivered to your Predecessor the Revd G Robinson in 1834, which I have seen (it is with several others in the hands of your successor). Which of the two statements is the correct one?' See also Dr Molyneux letter to the President Records IV 497] she ultimately succeeded after a violent struggle in removing it, and she left without rendering any account of the receipts of the Church which were paid to her for her Brother [Dr Molyneux writes to the President Novr 19 1848 `From his letter to you it is pretty evident that when he left St Ann's he intended not to return to be Missioner there; yet though he had a Confrere associated with him he authorized his Sister to take the Receipts which she did and even took them with her when she left without giving any account of them. Can you find no fault with that? I think I can.' Records V 6]
Though F Anselm had paid a visit to the President at Stanbrook and had met him again at Malvern, yet nothing had been effected with regard to the transfer of property into other names, as difficulties had arisen, which threw obstacles in the way of his fulfilling the order of obedience which he had engaged to comply with. [The President wrote to Dr Molyneux Octr 8th 1848 `Mr Brewer has written to you today offering to sign any Deed of Transfer that you will send for his signature. Be sure to get Deeds drawn up in such a manner as that they may be legal Documents. He asserts to me that he has signed and given you a Transfer of the North Union Shares and that you have neglected to register the Transfer which causes the difficulty'] The property in question consisted of twenty three Gas Shares and certain North Union Shares. The scrips of sixteen Gas shares were in the hands of the Provincial which he knew he could get transferred at his pleasure; but he was waiting to save expense for the scrip of the other seven shares, which he knew were pledged at the Bank at Preston for money advanced upon them to a large amount, and which would not be delivered up without paying it [Mr Brewer had written to Dr Molyneux on the 25th of September 1848, `My interest in the Gas accompanies the scrips in the hand of Messrs Arrowsmith Roskell and Co in a Deed drawn up by Mr Bushell. You can have a copy by applying at the Bank with the amount advanced. If we could only act as Brethren, this sum might be raised and the scrips be placed clear in your hands which I am most anxious to do. Every other difficulty could be removed if you would condescend to act kindly.' Records IV 489]
To transfer these shares under existing circumstances was impossible and the certificates of the North Union Shares were not to be found. But Dr Molyneux considered there was some collusion about them, and he complained to the President of the delay which was occurring and again tendered the resignation of his Office [The President forwarded one half of Dr Molyneux's letter to Mr Brewer, which I have not been able to get a sight of. In the other half he writes, `I am discovering new claims on the Province and new liabilities on the part of Mr Brewer. I fear we are ruined without the power of redemption. I do not wonder at his health giving way under his unfortunate circumstances. Mine is no longer what it was and in mind I am distressed night and day. I should like very much to be freed from my Office and perhaps Mr Brewer would act more candidly with another Superior. If such should be you opinion, my resignation is herby now in your hands. Next to my own salvation, I have nothing so much at heart as the peace and good of our venerable little Body.' This roused the President to action and he again sent F Anselm another order of Obedience, whilst he was sojourning at Cheltenham, to deliver up to his Provincial within a fortnight from that day, October the 25th, a Transfer signed by his own hand of the North Union shares and the certificates of the Gas shares now wanting [See the President's order of Obedience Records IV 493]
F Anselm upon this requested Dr Molyneux to get the sixteen Gas shares transferred to his name and others; which he could easily do as he held the scrip in his own possession. [Mr Brewer wrote to Dr Molyneux Octr 28th 1848 `I trust when these matters are settled that I shall be able to have greater peace of mind, essential to restoration of health for in my declining state the three prescriptions are, Change of air, Regimen Mentis, bodily exercise Records V 109] But with regard to the Certificates of the seven other Gas shares, which he knew were deposited at Arrowsmith and Roskell's Bank at Preston for a lien to a large amount, it was impossible to transfer them as he had not the means of redeeming them. In order however to meet the difficulty, he proposed to sell St Ann's Church, if he would grant his permission and then he would be able to pay the money and get released from all his liabilities [Mr Brewer writes to Dr Molyneux Novr 1st 1848 `I have no means of taking out of the Bank the seven Gas shares deposited there during my Provincialship for money advanced to me for the public service of the Order. I see no immediate means of escaping from the difficulty except by your permission and that of the Definitors to dispose of the Church by private Treaty: I think the Secular Clergy will take it off our hands with all its liabilities. I am not the first that in zeal for the glory of God have spent too much in the building of Churches. I am sorry for the indiscretion and for the trouble I have given to you my successor and to my Brethren at large but it is done.' Records IV 496] With respect to the North Union shares, he professed his willingness to transfer them as soon as the certificates of these shares could be discovered. But he stated they were not in his possession: Mr Davies the Broker said he knew not where they were and Dr Molyneux proved that he had never had them. [See Dr Molyneux's letter to the President Novr 30th 1848 Records V 15]
Whilst matters were in this state, the President, on learning from Dr Molyneux, that if the certificates could not be found, F Anselm could get the business done by making an Affidavit that they were lost and then new ones would be granted, gave him notice to settle all that relates to these North Union Shares by Tuesday next inclusively, the 5 of December, to the satisfaction of his Provincial, or he should make the transgression of his orders and his neglect of compliance with them a reserved case to himself, from which no one could absolve him but himself. [See the President's letter to Mr Brewer on the reserved case Records V 110]. But before the time was expired, the President gave him an order of Obedience to repair to his Convent of St Laurence on the following Wednesday, the 6 of December, where he could take his papers; and he gave him a week after his arrival to draw his accounts up as he had previously agreed to do whilst he was at Malvern, and he affected to say, that he did not inflict this upon him as a punishment, although under all the circumstances of the case, it was one of the most severe measures which he could have resorted to against him [Dr Molyneux wrote to the President on the 12th of Novr 1848 `And after again tendering the resignation of his Office, he says, `Do you not think it would be better for Mr Brewer to return to his Convent. I suggest this first because I am apprehensive that as Mr Orrell has given me notice as Provincial, that Mr Brewer is living with him, he may send me a heavy Bill of expenses for Board lodging and Medical attendance. Secondly, because I think we should have better chance of managing him there and discovering his manoeuvres. He has hitherto jockeyed us. I fear he may do so again if left at liberty, for I believe the Attorneys are egged on by him, especially John Bushell to proceed against us.' This was the third time within two months that Dr Molyneux had tendered the resignation of his Office and had always accompanied it, either with some demands or advice calculated to induce the President to adopt some fresh measures of severity against Mr Brewer. On the first occasion of his offering to resign, he required that Mr Brewer should be compelled to hand over the Dividends of the Gas and North Union shares to him and to transfer the Capitals to other names. These demands were implicity complied with by the President, who gave Mr Brewer, an order of Obedience to that effect, although he knew that the Dividends of the Gas shares had been paid to Procter's Attorney and that Mr Brewer was involved in debt for St Ann's Church, so that it was morally impossible for him to comply with that part of his Order. On the second time Dr Molyneux tendered his resignation, it produced an order of Obedience from the President to Mr Brewer to deliver a Transfer of the North Union shares and of the seven missing Gas shares into the hands of his Provincial before the 8th of November. This again could not have been the result of his own judgment, because he knew that the seven missing Gas shares were pledged at the Bank at Preston for more than £900 advanced on St Ann's Church, and that as Mr Brewer had no money to redeem them, it was impossible that he could comply with that part of his command. On the President declining to accept the resignation of Dr Molyneux on this last occasion, he informed him, `Unless Mr Brewer gives me satisfaction tomorrow (his letter is dated the 15 of November) I will give him an order to repair to his Convent, and in every event take care to obviate that which the notification which you have received from Orrell in my opinion manifestly implies... I have given notice to Mr Prest that I may possibly find it necessary to send Mr Brewer to Ampleforth. We shall have him more under control there than as he is.' Records V 13. With these facts before me, I can consider these affected resignations in no other light than as so many political measures, which were quite contrary to the spirit of the Constitutions, and which were resorted to for the purpose of exercising an undue influence over the judgment of the President, who had the weakness to allow himself to be so glaringly practised upon by a shrewd subordinate officer in the Body. See the President's order of Obedience Records V 17]
Shortly before this, F Anselm had written to F Bede Smith, who had long been his friend and neighbour at Brown Edge to borrow two sovereigns to pay the expense of his journey from Cheltenham to Liverpool. As he had resigned the Incumbency of St Ann's he begged of Mr Fisher, the President of St Edmund's College with tears in his eyes to give him an Asylum for a few days, as he had neither money nor a home to afford him shelter. Here he was residing when the President's orders reached him.
F Anselm avowed, he had already written to the Prior of the Convent of St Laurence a week before to request him to receive him, as he considered his Convent was his only place of refuge and he had met with a sincere paternal invitation; but as his accountant told him, that it would take at least three weeks before his accounts could be completed and as his daily attendance upon him was necessary, he informed the President that he could not leave Liverpool, whatever might be the consequence before every account was settled and every Bill was paid; and as to the North Union shares, he declined to make an Affidavit, on the ground that his word as a Priest ought to be sufficient to him as a Priest and Superior. [See Mr Brewer's letter refusing to repair to Ampleforth Decr 2d 1848 Records V 18. Dr Molyneux writes to the President Decr 7th 1848 `He affects to think making an Affidavit a very horrible thing. What nauseous affectation of delicacy of conscience! What hypocritical contrast to his other conduct! Why in the course of his Office, he must have made several Affidavits in proving Wills of deceased Brethren and others. After all I am not sure that an Affidavit would be necessary. I believe a Declaration that the Certificates could not be found would be sufficient. By declining to go to the office and inquire whilst he was so near, it is plain he has made up his mind to keep the shares after he has succeeded in getting his obedience transferred.' Records V 25]
The President, on perceiving he had been too hasty in his last order of Obedience, wrote to him again before the time laid down for him to return to his Convent expired and postponed his time for repairing to his Convent until he received further directions [See the President's letter Decr 4th 1848 Records V 19. In this he says `you have received the interest on these North Union Shares and you cannot have any excuse for not complying with my order about them.' The President never pretended to know much about money matters and from this passage one would be tempted to believe that he did not understand the point in question.]
But on consulting with a competent person well versed in accounts and on learning that his accounts might be easily got ready by Wednesday the 13th of December, he considered he could now act prudently in the case; so that, after reproaching him for the signal of disobedience, which he had held out in case he was ordered to his Convent before it suited his convenience, he stated he was now compelled, after the threat of disobedience which he had so injudiciously, so insubordinately and so culpably defied him, to require him under the obedience to repair to his Convent at Ampleforth and to proceed there by the direct road on Thursday next, the 7 of December, and after expressing his total disapproval of his employing a public Accountant, and acquainting him that no other Documents would be satisfactory to him, but the originals, from which the Accountant was drawing up his Statement, he required him to give up his Accounts into the hands of the Provincial of York by Saturday the 16th of December. [See the President's order of Obedience Decr 5th 1848 Records V 22.]
[I will here notice four cases which have occurred of Missioners being ordered to their Convent when they have been encumbered with debt. They will show how the Superiors of the Body have acted in such cases:
1. F Bennet Hemsworth on being ordered from the Mission by President Sherburne repaired to him at the Convent of St Edmund's in Paris where he contrived to borrow a loan of 450 livres. At the Chapter which followed in 1685 the Fathers agreed to pay his debts out of the common Fund of the Congregation Acts of Chapter 1685 August 7. Council Book St Gregory's 21, 24.
2. F John Aspinwall was recalled from the Mission after he had contracted considerable debts. The Fathers at the Chapter in 1737 washed their hands of them, but to stop the mouths of Creditors and prevent scandal, they agreed to pay 100 livres annually during the next quadriennium. See my History Vol II 97.
3. F Cuthbert Wilks the Incumbent at Bath, on being ordered to his Convent by President Walker in 1792, the South Province paid his personal debts amounting to £67. See my History Vol II 242 Note 4.
4. F Joseph Collins, on being ordered to his Convent by President Cowley in 1797 for his drinking propensities, Provincial Lacon repudiated his personal debts, but undertook to see that the debts which he had incurred in the repairs of the Chapel in Edmund Street should be paid by his Successors. Records Vol II 517, 518]
As F Anselm had accepted the friendly invitation of Mr Newsham, the Incumbent of St Anthony's Church, to come and take up his residence at his Chapel House, this communication of the President did not reach him to repair to Ampleforth on the day specified even if he had been disposed to obey [The President wrote his letter ordering Mr Brewer to Ampleforth on the 5 of Decr. On the same day, he wrote to Dr Molyneux `I do not like his being at St Edmund's and I have addressed my letter to Grove Street,' so that it is not surprising that it should not have reached him by Thursday the 7th, the day he was to repair to Ampleforth, especially as Mr Brewer had also changed his residence. The letter came into his hands on Saturday.]
But after what he had already stated to the President, it could not be presumed that he would comply with his orders of repairing to his Convent, as he had evidently taken his ground upon which he intended to take his stand, and which no doubt he had been advised to take by the Clergy around him, who justified him in the course he was pursuing. In his reply to the President, he expressed himself alive to the delicacy of his position and apprehensive lest he might appear offensive. He further expressed his wish that it were in his power to repair to his Convent immediately; and if his withdrawing to his Convent would repair the scandal spread far and wide and told by his own Brethren to many silly girls in Liverpool, he should be happy to repair to Ampleforth.
But the affair had assumed a new Phase. It was not now merely a matter of religious constitutional discipline, but a matter of public honesty. As one of the Priests of the Town he was accused by a brother priest of having swindled the Order of £7000 and others had spread reports derogating to his honesty. The Catholic Clergy of the Town now called upon him to prove his innocence. The character of the Priesthood demanded this at his hands, and this cannot be done without his Accounts passing through the hands of a public Accountant. Until this matter be settled, he must submit to the stigma of being in a state of apparent religious disobedience, but virtually in a state of obedience to the Supreme Law-Giver who says, `Thou shalt not steal.' To prove himself not guilty was his first duty. [See Mr Brewer's letter to the President Decr 10th Records V 26]
[Mr Brewer is not the first Benedictine in our times, who has alleged that his conscience forbade him to comply with an order of obedience. President Marsh alleged the same plea under very different circumstances. Mr Occleshaw on his death in 1817 left two Houses in York to Mr Marsh who had been the Prior of St Laurence's, and in a paper said to be in his handwriting though it is without a signature, it is stated that the proceeds of these Houses were left to educate a Student at Ampleforth and a Student was educated there for a time. But on President Marsh appropriating the rents to maintain a Student at St Edmund's at Doway Prior Burgess appealed to the Regimen, who decided that the rents were to be appropriated to Ampleforth. But Dr Marsh appealed to Chapter and maintained that he was not bound to submit in the interval and referred to the G Chapter No 8 of the Constitutions which appears favourable to his view of the case. The Regimen however were not satisfied, and either gave him an Order of Obedience, or threatened to give one enforcing their decision. The matter was discussed at the following Chapter 1826 and Dr Marsh was not disposed to submit, even if the Chapter had ordered him to pay the Rents to Ampleforth as he maintained his conscience would not allow him and he is reported to have referred to the memorable saying of St Peter `We ought to obey God rather than man.' But he was saved the responsibility of such a step owing to the party divisions which prevailed. On this occasion F Alban Molyneux, one of the Deputati drew up the following Report which is recorded in the Acts and which must have received the sanction of that Chapter Quaestio autem illa Occleshaw a Constitutionibus nostris extranea est, et RD Marsh sententiae illi se lata fuisset non teneretur obedire, quoniam in illa suppositione subditus cum esset non licere ipsi contra conscientiam sua{m} agere et sic peccatum committere quamquam Superiores id mandassent. To this I have appended the following note in my History It seems difficult to understand how Dr Marsh could plead that his conscience would not allow him to apply the Rents of the Houses to Ampleforth, when Mr Occleshaw appears to have left them expressly for that purpose But be that as it may, The Deputati advanced a most dangerous doctrine when they tell us that Dr Marsh would not have been bound to obey a sentence of the Regimen and by so doing to have committed sin although his Superiors ordered it. A Religious man is undoubtedly bound to obey the orders of his Superiors, unless they be manifestly in opposition to the Laws of God, or the Canons of the Church, or contrary to the express letter of the Constitutions and Laws which he has promised to obey. To allow the conscience of individuals in other cases would be to place conscience above Law and would be destructive of all authority.]
This reasoning did not satisfy the President, who after admonishing him to return to his obedience and then waiting a week longer to see if any happy result would be the consequence [Mr Brewer wrote to the President Decr 16 1848 `I am ordered to Ampleforth. I should be happy to go; but I am not only a Benedictine subject to Conventual Rules, but I am also a Benedictine Missionary Priest involved in worldly business, in debts, credits &c. One Rule says `Go to your Monastery.' Another says `Do justice to all men.' I cannot comply with the first Rule, if I am to fulfil the second. We live in a state of contrarieties. I cannot do otherwise than take the less evil of the two. If you take my liabilities I am bound in all obedience, if you do not take my liabilities I must sell St Ann's. I have to pay for St Ann's bills to the amount of £160 and nothing to pay with. Wilfrid Cooper holds property from me merely to the amount of £100 but he will answer no letter, but every Bill that comes in is sent to me. Justice! Justice! Can you wonder that I consider your order of Obedience, not only void but furthermore grievously sinful in you as President. Am I bound in obedience to commit a personal sin. To give up all to you and to deprive my Creditors of their portion is a fraud, a sin committed personally by myself. Can my Religious Rule bind me to that' Records V 31. The other parts of this letter will be noticed in the President's answer Decr 24th 1848 `Your letter of 16 Inst is one tissue of false reasoning, assumption, misrepresentation and calumny and I might add flagrant contumely. These are not the fruits of a good Tree, A fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos. You say, `we take your Churches and repudiate your debts.' Both assertions are utterly false and you know them to be so. When have we repudiated your debts bona fide contracted in the affairs of the Order or indeed any other up to this moment? Again you say `You turn me shamefully out of St Ann's in my sickness and by famine and destitution you wish to induce me to defraud every Creditor except the Order.' Really can you utter such calumnies with a grave face? without a blush? It is notorious and to none more than yourself, that you quitted St Ann's of your own record, and the necessity for that step is supported by a certificate of your Medical Adviser. No proceeding to supplying your place at St Ann's was taken until your Doctor reported your state of health unequal to your duties there. It is known to me, for I have the fact from the Bishop himself, that while you were absent from St Ann's, you petitioned the Bishop of this District virtually for the Leamington Mission. You asked if that Mission were vacant. Point out to me any word or writing or act of mine, which warrants you in the hazardous and untrue assertion that I wish to induce you to cheat every Creditor except the Order, and I will no longer, as I do now, characterize your aspersion as a foul and wicked calumny. And as to reducing you to destitution and famine, that is contradicted by not only an offer of a house and an Asylum, but by positive orders under the most sacred sanction to repair to it. As to your nonsensical and absurd question, `Am I bound to commit a personal sin from obedience? No. Nor have you been commanded to do anything of the kind. You have been asked over and over again for a correct and fair account of all your Assets and liabilities and they are not give us. Who then is to blame? I shall take no other notice of your contumeliously condemning me of sin and preaching yourself up as a persecuted saint than to call your attention to the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. I am quite content to associate with the latter.' See Records V 36. Dr Molyneux writes to the President on Mr Brewer's letter above. `In return Mr Brewer's non describable letter. The logic is certainly that, either of a deranged mind or of a depraved heart. Pretend honesty forsooth! Why he has just now cheated the Province of another £100, and was actually doing it while he wrote the word. As Provincial he sent that sum to the School of St Mary's Liverpool. It does not appear in his Chapter Accounts, but he stated the fact to your Commissioners at the Investigation and they gave him credit for it in their statement. `Now this week he has been to the Treasurer of those Schools and obliged him to repay to him that £100, so that the Province is minus that sum as well as the interest.' Records V 29. This as it is stated would appear a damning fact; but before it ought to be admitted as such, it would be necessary to ascertain, whether Mr Brewer did not pay the legitimate debts of St Ann's Church with this money. His creditors were pressing him on all sides for money] he forwarded a letter, which was personally delivered to him by F Gregory Lane one of his Missioners stationed at St Mary's Church, in which he withdrew his Spiritual Faculties and interdicted him from saying Mass, unless he returned to his Monastery within twenty four hours of it [See the President's letter of suspension Records V 32 The President had given his last order of Obedience to him to repair to his Convent on the 5th of December. On the 12th of the month he wrote to Dr Molyneux `Had you not better as Provincial pronounce your judgment upon them, Then present your decision to him. He will appeal and then comes my turn. This process I do not deem essential, for if you decline judgment the definitive sentence comes to me. Do help me with your ideas... A flaw may do mischief.' There is no mention in this correspondence that the Provincial ever declined judgment. But how could the Provincial then interfere in this matter authoritatively when Dr Brewer had ceased to be his Subject?
Mr Newsham writes to me May 9 1855 `Mr Brewer never said Mass after he was suspended. He did frequent the Sacraments after taking the advice of Dr Errington. The Doctor told him that he must either obey or put in his Appeal to Rome. He put in his Appeal and frequented the Sacraments after. To the Appeal no answer was returned whilst Mr Brewer was alive.' Mr Brewer ought to have notified his Appeal to the President and then the matter would have been put in a regular Canonical form.]
At this stage of this unfortunate business, Mr Newsham, the Incumbent of St Anthony's Church, with whom F Anselm was still residing volunteered his friendly services to bring about an accommodation in between him and his Superiors. Taking advantage of Mr Brewer's absence, who had gone to spend a few days at Southport for the benefit of his health [1848 Decr 27] he employed F Augustine Wilkinson, the Incumbent of St Mary's, to inquire, whether his Superiors would take the responsibility of F Anselm's bona fide debts, for if they would, he would make his submission and repair to his Monastery [Mr Wilkinson writes to Dr Molyneux Decr 28th 1848 `Mr Newsham called upon me and Mr Bonney yesterday respecting Mr Brewer who is still at St Anthony's to inquire if the Benedictine Body would take or be responsible for all Mr Brewer's bona fide debts. Not personal debts; for if so, Mr Brewer will make his submission and repair to his Monastery. I told Mr Newsham that I thought you had long since engaged to do so. Am I right? Mr Newsham says, that if you engage to answer for Mr Brewer's bona fide debts, he will then consider him a bad man and will no longer harbour him if he do not make his submission to his Superiors Records V 38] Upon this Mr Newsham informed F Anselm of what he had done, and requested him if he approved of his proceeding to furnish him with a Document empowering him to act in this business, and he immediately received a communication from him agreeing to be bound by every condition he and his Superiors should agree on.
This proposal put a real and important point at issue to the test. The President shrunk from avowing his sentiments on this reasonable proposition, upon which the justice of his orders of obedience to F Anselm to take his name out of the public securities of the Body so much depended [The President writes to Dr Molyneux Jany 2d 1849 `In my last letter to Mr Brewer, I defied him to produce any word, writing or deed of mine that could warrant him in saying that I wished him to eschew every creditor than the order: I might, had I thought of it, said as much for you. I have studiously held aloof from saying what we are willing or unwilling to do on this point, until we had extracted from him the Account of Assets and Liabilities, which we have so repeatedly demanded in vain. I very much fear that if we make a premature Declaration on this point, he would set down more to the debit of the Province than was just. Certainly in my opinion we ought not to declare our opinion on this point, until he has fully and unreservedly returned to obedience. When this is done, we may decide on the question which has been asked' Records V 44] Dr Molyneux would not agree to the proposition as it stood, but was willing to take the Ex-Provincial bona fide debts constitutionally contracted for the Body [Dr Molyneux writes to the President Jany 5th 1849 `As I have uniformly done I answered simply, I was willing to pay bona fide debts constitutionally contracted for the Body' Records IV 545. The President writes to Dr Molyneux January 18th 1849 `I do not think it was amiss of you, as the Provincial and the main party concerned, to express your readiness to meet all bona fide obligations of the Province, though I could not do it, until I was sure of it. Mr Brewer will now see that he has been acting on groundless assumptions and putting himself completely in the wrong' Records V 50 The President evidently did not notice the important distinction between simple bona fide debts and those constitutionally contracted. The latter would require Mr Brewer to prove, that he had the permission of his Definitors to contract the bona fide debts, and as it was well known that he had not been in the habit of obtaining the consent of his Definitors in such matters during his Provincialship, Dr Molyneux would have been enabled to reject any bona fide debt he pleased and his creditors would have been defrauded of their just dues.]
The admission of this saving clause was rejected by Mr Newsham, who considered he would be acting an injust part in calling upon F Anselm to transfer the public property of the Body to other names, unless his bona fide Creditors were secured from loss. For however necessary it was for him to have complied with the Constitutions, as far as his responsibility to the Body was concerned, this did not appear to affect him in his public capacity with Laymen, who knew nothing of these private regulations, and who had lent him money, not in his private capacity, but as the Incumbent of Brown Edge for the public buildings of the Mission, and especially as the Provincial of the North Province, on the understanding that he had been authorized to borrow it.
[In the course of the History of the Benedictines two instances occur of the Priors of the Convents abroad contracting bona fide debts without the Constitutional permission. In the first case, F Jerom Hesketh, the Prior of St Gregory's, had contracted a loan of 3000 florins. His successor in the Priorship in a Council on the 25 of April 1686 admitted the loan to be a bona fide debt and agreed to pay Mr Fredville the interest of it until the loan was repaid from the Prior of St Laurence's without the Constitutional permission, yet the General Chapter in 1693 ordered the interest to be paid until the loan was repaid. See my History Vol I page 426]
The rejection of Mr Newsham's proposal told wonderfully in favour of F Anselm, who was now considered by many of the Secular Clergymen and by the great body of the Catholics in Liverpool, an injured man, and that he was acting justly in not transferring the Public Securities of the Province from his own name to the injury of his public creditors.
Though the President had been jealous of the interference of the Secular Clergy in this contest, yet he gladly availed himself of the voluntary offer of F Bede Smith, who interposed his friendly offices at this period, to induce F Anselm to submit to his Superiors. His first proposal to the President, however, to allow him to withdraw to Dr Orrell at Cheltenham instead of repairing to Ampleforth, as his return there might give rise to unpleasant remarks and might prove a source of scandal to the Junior members of the Convent, was not countenanced by him. The President insisted on his making his submission wholly and unreservedly, and he afterwards referred to his disobedience about the North Union Shares and his contumelious refusal to repair to his Monastery, for which he would have to make him full satisfaction, before any subsequent proceedings could be entertained [See the Correspondence Records V 39, 43]
F Bede Smith, flattering himself that he had influence enough with F Anselm, to induce him to submit to the orders of the President and that he would be able to bring about an arrangement on the subjects in dispute, requested the President to allow a fortnight to transpire before he should be bound to repair to Ampleforth [Mr Smith writes to the President Jany 6th 1849 `I shall go thither (to Liverpool) on Wednesday and as it may take a few days to put all right, would you allow me to ask you to fix Monday fortnight Jany 22d for the day which Mr Brewer shall go to Ampleforth. I can assure you, Revd Father President, there is not a malicious disobedience in Mr Brewer, but an unsurmountable desire to protect from ruin those from whom he has got money. He says I will go wherever they send me when this is secure' Records V 47]
During this interval, he drew up a Memorandum to the effect, that Dr Molyneux should agree to indemnify the Revd Henry Brewer for any debts, which he may have contracted as Provincial of the North Province, on condition that he gave up all the securities of the order, and in case any doubt should arise which were Provincial debts, then the matter was to be referred to two Benedictines with power to appoint a Referee, whose decision should be final [See the Memorandum Records V 77] This he submitted in the first place to F Anselm, who immediately agreed to the terms proposed and to submit to the decision which the parties should come to. He then paid a visit to Dr Molyneux at Warrington and submitted this Memorandum to him for his approval. But the Provincial would not agree to the terms and refused to sign it, so that his hopes of bringing about a friendly accommodation of these were frustrated. He however succeeded so far with F Anselm as to induce him to be willing to give up the North Union shares, which had lately been discovered amongst his papers; but as Mr Davies the Broker threw opposition in the way, they were never in reality got possession of during his life time [Mr Smith writes to the President Jany 15 1849 `Mr Brewer is willing to give up the North Union Shares. The Transfer was amongst Mr Brewer's papers, but he did not know it. It is signed by all the parties and therefore there has been a little mistake amongst them all.' Records V 49. Dr Molyneux writes to the President January 19th 1849 `When he says `There has been a little mistake amongst them all', `all the parties', he is in error and shows his partisanship.' I told you that I had paid for a Transfer near two years ago and ordered it to be made out in certain names, but to this you know Mr Brewer replied `That he had signed and given it to me, but I had neglected to have it registered.' Secondly that I had never paid for a Transfer. Thirdly that he had not the Certificates, scrip or stock &c and now it appears he had them all the time, but that his Cousins quite as big rogues as himself influence him not to give them up!!! Surely you must see the collusion and lies.' If the Reader wishes to ascertain whether Mr Brewer was acting a deceitful part in his Statements on the North Union Shares, he must consult his Letters among the Records IV 489 Vol V 106, 109 110, 116. The best of my judgment they contain internal evidence that Mr Brewer was acting a bona fide part during his sojourn at Cheltenham and in his absence from Liverpool.]
F Anselm had at this period left the Chapel House at St Anthony's to take up his residence with Mr Davies his Cousin, who was an Unitarian, and he was now confined to his bed labouring under a disease of the heart and under a Dropsy which threatened him with speedy dissolution. Whilst he was in this state, the President felt himself compelled to enforce the authority of the Constitutions and delivered his judgment [1849 Jany 222] in this case in the following terms. `Whereas I have distinct and irrefragable proofs, that Dom Anselm Brewer late Provincial of the North, has notwithstanding our remonstrances and admonitions retained the Accounts of his Provincialship; has refused to reconvey public property held in his name; has intercepted and misapplied the proceeds of such properties without the consent and knowledge even of his immediate Superior; has pledged the securities of the Congregation for personal claims; has made assertions to me in recent letters respecting his peculium which are in direct contradiction to his Bills of Poverty formerly given; has according to the statement drawn up by Commissioners appointed by me to investigate the accounts caused considerable dilapidation to the property of the North Province, over which he presided and has refused, cost him what it would, to return to his Convent when constitutionally ordered, and by so doing broken his solemn Vow of Poverty and Obedience as well as his Oath of the Mission; has had the effrontery to charge in writing his Provincial as well as myself with wickedness in giving orders, which were issued after mature deliberation with great pain and under imperative sense of duty; and whereas he has been duly admonished and has had opportunity of disproving him contumelious and guilty of the fault known to our Constitutions as most grievous (his disobedience having given great scandal, to which fault is assigned amongst others the penalty of deprivation of active and passive voice), I therefore declare him deprived of his dignity of Cathedral Prior of Chester and of his active and passive voice and these penalties to be in force until our next General Chapter.
[See the President's letter and judgment, a draught of which had been drawn up by Dr Molyneux for him Records V 55. This measure had been pressed upon the President by the Provincial, who wrote to him on the 5th of January 1849 `I doubt not your firmness will compensate in some degree for slowness, but you should not delay pronouncing the deprivation of active and passive voice and the Cathedral Priorship. Mr Brewer will feel this, I am led to believe from knowing his character, more than any severer punishment you can inflict and there can be less cavil against it. By the former you will open the eyes of certain of our Brethren, who have rather encouraged than discouraged his conduct. By the second you will effect that the case must be considered at the beginning of the Chapter, before any other business is gone into. By both you will greatly strengthen my hands and the authority of any future Provincial' Records V 46. I must remark that there was great informality in the President's proceedings in this matter. On the 18th of Decr he had withdrawn Mr Brewer's Faculties and interdicted him from saying Mass without giving him three admonitions as required by the Canons of the Church. On the 22d of January he delivered his judgment, in which he makes no mention of suspension. It was certainly an anomaly to resort to the greater punishment before he passed his Sentence and then on delivering it to return to merely Constitutional Penalties.]
A letter conveying this sentence was forwarded to F Bede Smith to be delivered or forwarded to F Anselm, but he detained it until further instructions, on account of a letter which he had written to the President and which had crossed it on the road. In this, he acquainted him that F Anselm was desirous to obey his orders, if the creditors of the Body were protected, and he requested him to give him the necessary guarantee, as his conscience would then no longer withhold him from doing what obedience ordered him and all would then be amicably arranged [Mr Smith writes to the President January 31 1849 `As our letters would pass one another on the road, and as you may see from my letter there is a desire to obey, if the Creditors are protected, I shall detain your letter to Mr Brewer until Friday. All he asks for is a security to the Creditors of the Order. His conscience withholds him from doing what obedience orders him to do. Would it not be well to give him a guarantee, and then all is done? All would be over. Records V 57]
But on learning from the President, that he insisted on his formal submission as a preliminary to all negotiation with him, and that the letter was to be forwarded, he immediately complied with these directions and posted the letter, which however never came into the hands of F Anselm, as his Medical Attendant had forbidden him to see any body or open a single letter as his life depended upon being kept perfectly quiet, and to this all other matters had to give way [The President writes to Mr Smith Feby 2d 1849 `I have distinctly and unequivocally told you, that until Mr Brewer does what I have required as a preliminary to all negotiation, I 30cannot move a step, and I beg that the letter, I have addressed to him and delivered to your care, be delivered to him. It seems that you are more intent on getting Dr Molyneux and myself to submit to him than in bringing him to a sense of his duty' Records V 56. To this Mr Smith replied, `I can make no further remark than that I am sorry that you give me credit for so little. Mr Brewer will now probably sink under his anxiety and God knows who is to be justified' Records V 59.
The President wrote to Dr Molyneux Feby 2d 1849 `I had the enclosed from Mr Smith yesterday... Instead of obtaining Mr Brewer's submission he is asking concessions from us and threatening law: I shall write today. Mr Brewer refused his obedience before he asked if you were willing to take the official bona fide debts of the Province and even accused us of repudiation. I cannot hesitate: he exhibits no sign of submission, but asks us to submit' Records V 59. I must offer a few remarks on this passage. It is unaccountable how the President could state that Mr Brewer was threatening law. The following passage in Mr Smith's letter drew from him this groundless assertion. `Messrs Arrowsmith and Roskell seem determined immediately to put the case into Chancery: the order would then be the sufferer.' The Gas shares of the Province were pledged at the Bank by Mr Brewer for above £900 advanced on St Ann's church and the Bankers determined to sell them unless the money was repaid. What could Mr Brewer now do in the case, or how could he prevent them from going to law when he had not the means of redeeming them. Secondly it cannot justly be said that Mr Brewer refused his obedience before he asked Dr Molyneux whether he would take the bona fide debts of the Province. If the Reader turn to Dr Molyneux's letter to Dr Barber Novr 17th 1847 page 212 of this Biography he will find that the subject was mooted at that early period. On Dr Molyneux's refusal to pay Procter's £200 Mr Brewer appealed to the President on the 7 of April 1848, and as that Appeal was not attended to, he would reasonably conclude that his official bona fide debts would not be paid. The President gave him his first order of Obedience on the 21st of September 1848. On the 23d of the month Mr Brewer sent him a List of the public creditors of the Body and amongst these appeared the name of Roskell and Arrowsmith the Bankers at Preston for money advanced on St Ann's Records IV 483]
A few days later F Anselm lost the use of his side entirely and the use of his speech and he received the Rites of the Church from Mr Crook the Vicar General of the District. On these melancholy tidings being communicated to the President, he was overwhelmed with grief. He expressed the happiness he felt on learning that he had received the rites of the Church, as there was no reservation in Articulo Mortis and he was bound in charity to consider him contrite. He then committed to F Bede Smith his jurisdiction over him in case he should survive until his perfect recovery [See the President's letter to Mr Smith Feby 19th 1849 Records V 60] But these sentiments were soon laid aside in his regard on learning that he had made an unconstitutional Will, and he immediately revoked the spiritual powers which he had imparted to F Bede Smith to exercise over him [The President writes to Mr Smith Feby 23d 1849 `Our unhappy Confrere has made a Will quite contrary to our Rules. If Mr Brewer be able to speak and to manifest signs of repentance for his disobedient conduct and has not done so, I hereby revoke the spiritual powers I granted you in his regard in my last letter' Records V 62]
The news of this Will gave great concern to the Benedictines, for though the nature of it had not transpired, yet it was whispered that it was in favour of Mr Davies, his Cousin, who was known to be disposed to revenge the injuries, which he considered F Anselm had received, and who wanted an opportunity to redress them. Neither were the Secular Clergy without alarm, as they feared that a Chancery suit would ensure which would probably attract the notice of the public to the manner, in which the Trust money of Catholics was administered, and might prove detrimental to the interests of Religion. As F Anselm rallied a little for a time, Mr Newsham took the opportunity of again proffering his friendly services of getting the Will cancelled and another made in favour of any one appointed by the Superiors of the Body, provided they would agree to accept the debts presented by F Anselm as Benedictine debts and restore his Ecclesiastical Functions [Mr Newsham writes to Mr Smith Feby 26th 1849 `You will see that my offer is of a more one-sided one that the last I made; my reason for it is this, we could not at present speak to him about meum and tuum. We might as well kill him at once as do so' Records V 64]
This proposition, though not so favourable to Benedictine interests as the first which Mr Newsham offered to see carried into effect, was under present circumstances partially entertained. The President appeared more averse to it than Dr Molyneux, who at first was inclined to a compromise [Dr Molyneux writes to the President March 4 1849 `For my own part, I should have no objection to a compromise, for I think we are ruined whatever course we take. We are ruined if we accede to the proposals and we are equally ruined if we are dragged into Chancery. You have now done your duty further severity can effect no good upon the mind or heart of Mr Brewer' Records V 66] But as the President was a principal party concerned, he was disposed to abide by the decision of others and the matter was referred to F Anselm Cockshoot, who on consulting with Mr Glover of Houghton, came to the conclusion that as F Anselm was represented to be in a deplorable condition so as to be physically and morally incapable of making or changing a Will, a new Will would be invalid in Law, and the only way now was to be prepared for Law, if that should be found necessary [See Mr Cockshoot's letter to President Barber March 7 1849 Records V 70. In his letter to Mr Newsham March 8 1849 he writes, `You say, `If you accept of all the debts now presented I can get the Will changed.' I can repeat the assurances which have been given by our Superiors to all persons and at all times that they will accept of any debts which have been contracted by Mr Brewer on behalf of the Trust' Records V 69. The whole tenor of Dr Molyneux's proceedings proves that he never would agree to take the bona fide debts of the late Provincial unless constitutionally contracted.] But Mr Newsham persisted to the last in his endeavours to bring about an accommodation. In the first week of May he was still proposing to Superiors to take the debts presented as Benedictine ones and flattering himself he could get the assets made over to him and the Will changed. But Dr Molyneux was now no longer willing to come to a compromise and he would agree to take no debts of the late Provincial unless constitutionally contracted [Mr Newsham writes to Mr Smith May 9th 1849 `I have seen the Document named in your letter, namely the one bearing the signature of your Revd Provincial. It would not have satisfied Mr Brewer or any of his friends at any stage of the proceedings, much less now, when he is incapable of contesting any single point that may be disputed. The words constitutionally contracted make it mere soiled paper and no more... Would to heaven that my first proposition had been accepted, if it had, how smoothly and justly all things would have run. And again how satisfactory it would have been to all parties concerned. The basis I advise you to trial upon now, I know is not just. I simply recommend it as it seems to me to be the only one that will succeed, and consequently circumstances considered, the best.' Records V 74]
For more than the last two months Mr Crook had been the only Clergyman who was permitted to see F Anselm and Mr Davies was supposed to have gained great influence over him by his kindness. During the last week of his life, he had become quite incapacitated for all worldly business and he closed his chequered career on the 15 of May 1849. The news of his death was announced by F Bede Smith to the President who decided that he was neither a Conventual nor a Missioner and that he was not entitled to the constitutional prayers of the Congregation [See the President's letter to Mr Smith May 18th 1849 Records V 79]
The nature of F Anselm's Will became an object of interest and concern and in due time it was placed in the hands of the Superiors of the Benedictines. By his Will, he left all his property to three of the Davieses, his Sister and Dr Brown the Bishop of the District in Trust {1st} to hand over to his sister Mary several Deeds of property deposited by him in the hands of Messrs Arrowsmith and Roskell Bankers in Preston in security for a Banking Account. He declares he held this property as Trustee for her and he further directs his Trustees to pay her £550 which he considered was the amount he owed her. He declared he held the rest of the property in his name in Trust for the Roman Catholic Body to which he belonged and that he had no beneficial interest in it further than as a Trustee and subject to the liabilities which he had been engaged in for that holy Body.
[See a copy of Mr Brewer's Will Records V 83 which was afterwards proved by Miss Brewer. By the 12th Definition of the Chapter in 1846 Mr Brewer was bound to make his Will according to the constitutional form, but there was no express law to require him to appoint Benedictine Executors. In persecuting times it was found necessary to appoint lay trustees, but this had long since gone out of use and the practice of appointing Benedictine Executors had for a length of time been universally adopted.
On the death of Mr Brewer Dr Molyneux would not acknowledge any of his bona fide debts either on St Ann's church or at Brown Edge on the ground that he had received more money for each place that he had accounted for and that he had no just claims on either of the Missions. At length a Bill was filed in Chancery in 1852 to recover £400 which Charles Kenyon of Houghton Lane who died on the 4th of November 1836 had left to Mr Brewer in Trust for his daughter Alice Kenyon an idiot which sum was said to have been invested by Mr Brewer in the Brown Edge Mission. After this suit had continued for a time a compromise was proposed by the Plaintiffs and the terms accepted by Mr Anderson on the part of the Body were, That they should deliver up their papers and have the Bill removed from the file without further cost to the Benedictines and that they should receive £220 towards their expenses'. This suit cost the Body £600 and it was agreed at the Chapter in 1854 that the North Province and the Mission of Brown Edge should each contribute £150; the two House of St Laurence and St Gregory should each contribute £100; the Province of Canterbury had to give £50 and the House of St Edmund and the Community of St Adrian had to give the other £50.]
F Ambrose or James Duck was born in Yorkshire and was professed at the Convent of St Gregory at Downside on the 2d of December 1816 during the Priorship of F Augustine Lawson and was ordained Priest in 1824. F Ambrose proceeded to the Mission at Standish in 1822 where he continued till 1831, when he passed to the South Province and was stationed at Cheltenham [President Birdsall writes to Prior Brown Septr 9th 1834 informing him that Mr Duck would have to return to his Convent by the 28th but it turned out that he continued on at Cheltenham for a time. He writes `At this time he was called hither, he had no situation, as both Provincials had declined to receive him. I used the privilege the Constitutions allow me to call a Religious to assist me'] to take charge of the Congregation whilst President Birdsall was deprived of his Faculties by Dr Baines. Here he was not contented with the President, who finally remanded him to his Convent in 1835 [President Birdsall writes to Dr Marsh Novr 20 1834 `You are not aware that Mr Duck, after having offered himself to Dr Polding, then to Dr O'Connor to go to Calcutta, then asked to be placed by his Provincial at Beckford, has at length, being well aware I mean to remove him from Cheltenham been to Prior Park, just before Dr Baines's return, to importune Mr Brindle to interfere in his favour and try to prevent his removal from Cheltenham and that Mr Brindle has written to Mr Barber to deprecate to the said removal.' On the 27th of June 1835 F Ambrose Duck was appointed Subprior.] But in the following year he proceeded to the Mission of Weobly in Herefordshire, where he erected a Chapel House at this place which had been lately accepted by the Benedictines as a new Foundation. He left Weobly in 1840 for Bungay where he continued till 1846 and then proceeded to Chipping Sodbury which he left the same year and returned to his Convent and finally closed his life in the asylum at Brislington, Bristol on Sept 18 1848.
F Francis or Lewis Cooper was born in Walton in Lancashire 1771 and was professed at the Convent of St Laurence at Dieuleward in 1792 during the Priorship of F Richard Marsh. In the following year he left his Convent on the 4th of October in company with several others, a few days previous to its seizure by the French Authorities and reached Treves in safety, where he was joined some time later by Prior Marsh who had effected his escape. Here several of the Community were directed to remain for a few weeks, and Br Francis amongst the rest, until they received directions to repair to Acton Burnall where they commenced again to live conventually.
On the Conventuals of St Laurence's leaving Acton Burnall in 1795, Br Francis accompanied them in their various wanderings from Birkenhead, to Scholes, to Vernon Hall and Parbold, in which places they established a temporary Conventual residence until a permanent one was provided at Ampleforth in 1802. Br Francis during this interval had been ordained Priest in September 1795 and he remained for a short time at Parbold to continue the School after the Convent was broken up and then proceeded in 1803 to assist Mr Giradot a French Priest, who had built a Chapel in Liverpool. Here he remained till 1806 when he proceeded to Wrightington where he continued the remainder of his long life.
F Francis was of a mild and amiable character and noted for his exactitude in performing all his Religious and Missionary duties. At the Chapter in 1814 he was elected the Procurator of the Province and was continued in the Office until he voluntarily resigned it at the Chapter in 1842 having been elected the Cathedral Prior of Bath at the Chapter in 1834. This unassuming Father was economical in his habits, and as his Mission was well endowed he contrived to save a large sum of money which he divided between the Province and the House of his Profession. This jubilarian consummated his course at his Mission on the 9th of May 1850 in his 79 year.
F Anselm or Thomas Kenyon was born at Warrington in Lancashire on July 18th 1770 and was professed at Lamspring on the 11th of November 1787 by Abbot Maurus Heatley and was ordained Priest in 1794. This Father possessed great talents and was appointed Professor of Philosophy and Mathematics. By assiduously applying himself to his studies he was enabled to make himself master of the more abstruse questions in Mathematics and gradually earned for himself a reputation which reflected honour on the place of his education. His abstraction of mind became proverbial as he generally had to be sought for to his conventual meals.
On this Father proceeding to the Mission in the North Province in 1801, he does not appear to have had a fixed residence and his showy abilities were not accompanied with the other requisite qualities to enable him to become of service to his Body. Some time after the breaking up of his Abbey in the beginning of the year 1803 he returned again to Lamspring. For many years he was employed as a Professor of Mathematics in the Universities either at Brunswick or Gottingen.
This Father returned to England in 1826 and resided with Mr Straken his cousin, either in Liverpool or in the neighbourhood of Warrington till the following year, when he repaired to the Benedictine Nuns at Orrell Mount. Here he continued to say Mass regularly every day for the Nuns for which he received his maintenance. He was much esteemed by this Community for his learning and piety and was particularly zealous for the dignity and solemnity of the Divine Service to which his fine voice and thorough knowledge of music enabled him efficaciously to contribute. On his health beginning to fail him he left the Nuns in 1834 and proceeded to take up his abode at Cheltenham whence he proceeded to Beckford in Gloucestershire to say Mass on Sundays for the Eyston family. He withdrew to the Convent at Stanbrook in 1840 and here he continued to receive every attention from the Nuns until his death which took place on the 28th of July 1850 in his 81st year.
F Leo or Henry Spain was born in London and was professed at the Convent of St Gregory at Acton Burnall on the 5th of May 1808 during the Priorship of F Jerom Sharrock. Soon after he was ordained Priest, he left his Convent to assist the Nuns at Salford for a short time and then proceeded on the Mission to St Peter's Chapel Seel Street in 1814. But as he was seriously afflicted with the malady of scrupulosity, he was remanded to his Convent in the following year. He was allowed to make a second trial and he was sent to Birtley in Northumberland in the same year and then passed in 1816 to the Asylum at Lommelet near Lisle in France where he continued till his death on the 22d of November 1850.
F Bernard or Luke Barber was born at Macclesfield in Cheshire on the 16th of October 1790 and was professed at the Convent of St Gregory at Acton Burnall on the 5th of May 1808 during the Priorship of F Jerom Sharrock. He was ordained Priest. This estimable Father having taught both Philosophy and Divinity was called to the Priorship of St Gregory's at the Chapter in 1818 attained the age of 28 having filled the Office of Subprior for some time before. Though he was not blessed with any extraordinary talents, yet he was gifted with a retentive memory and possessed a sound judgment. As a public speaker he was sadly deficient, but he made up for this deficiency by his ready pen in his Epistolary correspondence in which he excelled. As long as he had able men at his command, he knew how to avail himself of the learning of others and of making use of it in such a manner as to lead you to suppose that it was of his own growth. But when in after life, he was under the necessity of acting for himself without having recourse to his able Counsellors, he showed he had the credit for learning which he did not possess and for which he had no right to put in his title, as in no part of his life was he assiduous in his application to study. He was of a fatherly disposition and always continued to be beloved by all his Brethren, whether as a Prior, a Provincial or a President.
During the first four years of his Priorship a new Monastery in the form of a Church was erected under his auspices. This building, though of imposing appearance, is now generally admitted to be inconvenient for the purpose it was intended as internal convenience has been sacrificed for outward show. As the Superior of the Convent, he was careful to retain the general superintendence of the Establishment and he stood firm for all the prerogatives of his Office; but he left to F Bede Polding and F Joseph Brown, his two able adjutants, the working of the College and he took no part in teaching himself. Being of an ascetical turn of mind, he was much sought after by the Nuns at several Convents and his services were required by them as their extraordinary Confessor. This took him frequently from his Convent and as he visited a good deal in the neighbourhood he was much from home. But however just any complaints might have been against him at the time his own Monastery suffered no detriment from his absence and the studies there were much improved during his administration.
Prior Barber was much beloved by his Community and he continued to be reelected during the two succeeding quadrienniums. In the course of the last year of his Priorship he raised himself in the general estimation of his brethren by the noble stand, which he took in defending the rights and privileges of his Convent against the attack of Dr Baines, and he had the satisfaction to feel throughout life, that the maintenance of its independence was to be attributed to his own firmness and to the happy tact which he possessed of keeping all his Community united in their opposition to all Episcopal encroachments. At the Chapter which followed, it was considered advisable that he should resign his Priorship owing to Dr Baines's personal objections to him and he was sacrificed for the general good of the Body [Cardinal Weld writes to President Birdsall June 19th 1830 Dr Baines complains `that he has not been written to or spoken to by any of the Body on the subject (of Faculties) since the last communication from Propaganda. This seemed to be wished or enjoined but does not seem to have been complied with... I understand Mr B wished to ask for the restoration of his Faculties, but it was prevented by his Superior. This I lament. Would not the removal of the said Prior to another District tend to soften the Bishop.' For a detailed account of Prior Barber's contention with Dr Baines regarding the Convent of St Gregory's See the Life of Dr Baines {never composed}]
During the twelve years of his administration he professed 11 Choir Monks. As a small mark of regard for his inestimable services he was elected the Cathedral Prior of Chester, and was then chosen the Vicar of the Nuns at Salford. F Bernard now withdrew from official life during the next quadriennium and he continued to be reelected Vicar and to reside with the Nuns at Salford until their removal to Stanbrook in May 1838 and then he accompanied them and remained with them during the remainder of his life.
At the next Chapter in 1834 F Bernard was elected the Provincial of Canterbury. Two years later, he again came in collision with Dr Baines, on his applying to him to remove F Jerom Jenkins from Bath, on account of his declining to assign any other reason for urging this step than that of F Jerom not being at present suited to the exigencies of the Bath Mission. The Provincial demurred [Provincial Barber writes to Bishop Walsh March 15 1837 `The first letter which I wrote to Dr Baines in reply to his demand was penned by Mr Birdsall and copied by me. This letter was the text and groundwork of all the subsequent ones.' Records IV 195. For a more detailed account of this transaction see the Life of Dr Baines {not written}] in removing him unless the Bishop would condescend to assign a sufficient cause but Dr Baines, availing himself of the Constitution of Benedict XIV, which did not require a Vicar Apostolic to assign his reasons to a Regular Superior, was determined to stand upon his prerogative and the Provincial was equally determined in that case to take no active part in removing him so that the Bishop was obliged to withdraw the Faculties of F Jerom for Bath and that compelled the Provincial to appoint another person to the Bath Mission. The matter afterwards was referred to Rome but was ultimately settled quietly.
F Bernard was continued Provincial until the Chapter in 1842 when he was elected President, the Abbot of St Albans and the Cathedral Prior of Winchester. In the year 1845 the title of a Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by the Regimen, in virtue of a grant which had lately been obtained from Rome to confer that dignity on four Benedictines who should have taught Theology, and he was selected as the most deserving for the services which he had rendered to the Congregation. At the next Chapter in the following year he was chosen the Abbot of Westminster, the Cathedral Prior of Canterbury and continued to be reelected President as long as he lived.
Dr Barber was lethargic in his habits and proved himself to be no man of business.
[Provincial Molyneux writes to Mr Cockshoot January 24th 1849 `The President has not been so ill as you have been given to understand. He is no man of business and gets nothing out of his hands. He may be firm, as he often seems to insinuate, but it is the firmness of the rock that moves not, even when the train is loud to blow it up in atoms and scatter destruction all around. It is not true, that he has been too often left to his own counsel. Every letter to me has been answered by return of Post with one solitary exception and the delay then was only till the post following: but he delays till he has actually forgotten the correspondence and the advice given. An instance has just occurred in the case of our friend Mr Glassbrook. His conduct had been so strange, more especially of late, that I made up my mind not to employ him at all and about six weeks or two months ago I reported inutilis Missioni, quoting the constitution, which requires the President in such a case to remove him to his Convent. Upon a second application, which for a wonder is effectual; though many of our Brethren in the neighbourhood had in the mean time written to him recommending the step. He seems as if he never had known anything of the first. At the very beginning when I saw that Mr Brewer instigated by bad advisers, Seculars and some Secular Priests too, to say nothing of his Unitarian Cousins, at whose house he lies ill or pretending to be ill of dropsy, thinking I knew from his disposition what punishment or kind of punishment was likely to have most effect upon him, I strongly urged the President to declare him deprived of active and passive voice and also his Cathedral Priorship; but though I have reported the advice in almost every letter and the decree is drawn up, signed and sealed, it is not delivered, but kept in the Bureau. What can be done under such circumstances?']
Being left now to depend more upon his own resources, he showed he was still little versed in the History of the Congregation beyond his own time, and that he had yet to learn the real meaning of several important Constitutions. In the case arising out of F Oswald Talbot's gift to the North Province, he showed he entertained the most incorrect notions regarding religious Poverty as practised in the English Congregation from its commencement. Afterwards when he was called upon to deliver his judgment in the case, he took months to consider of it, and then came to a decision, which tarnished his precious reputation, for it was unworthy of any Judge to deliver such a Judgment. He decided that the Deed of Transfer which F Oswald Talbot had made to Provincial Brewer was invalid and contrary to Canon Law and the Constitutions of the Congregation and declared that the whole property of F Oswald Talbot belonged to the House of his Profession. In this he did not even condescend to specify any particular Canon or any particular constitution, to which the Deed of Transfer was opposed, and on which the merit of his judgment would have depended; but he left the whole to be believed on the mere word of the Judge who was delivering his Judgment.
In his contention with F Anselm Brewer he showed he did not entertain clear notions of the duty which devolved on him as President, and his conduct to his unfortunate subject furnishes a memorable but solitary instance in which he forgot that he was the common Father of the Congregation, whose imperative duty it was to see that justice was administered impartially to all parties.
Dr Barber was much beloved by the Nuns with whom he had been residing during the last twenty years of his life. He always had the character of being an enlightened Director and of having the happy gift of guiding souls to perfection. In the beginning of the year 1850 his decline became visible and the Nuns watched over his health with affectionate solicitude. In the Advent he gradually became more languid and experienced great difficulty in breathing in ascending the stairs to his room. On Christmas Day he was in excellent spirits and he said Mass for the last time on St John the Evangelist. Towards the close of the following day he complained of a pain in his chest and consented to the application of simple remedies which had relieved him before under similar attacks. On falling into a tranquil sleep he was left and on the following morning he was found dead in his bed December 29th 1850. On a post mortem examination the cause of his death was pronounced to be the ossification of the coronary artery. A solemn Dirge was performed according to Episcopal rite as he was a Mitred Abbot.
F Bede or Edward Slater was born in Liverpool on the 11th of March 1774 and proceeded to the Convent of St Laurence at Dieuleward to pursue his studies where he took the Habit in July 1791, but being then only seventeen years old, he could not be admitted to his profession by the Laws of France until he attained the age of twenty one. During this interval his Convent was seized by the French Authorities and he then proceeded to Acton Burnall, and having passed his year of Noviceship he was professed a member of the House of St Laurence on the 17th of August 1794 during the Priorship of F Richard Marsh. Having followed the destiny of his Convent in its transition from place to place, he was ordained Priest in 1798 and soon after the establishment of his House at Ampleforth he repaired there to act as Novice Master over those who were on the point of being admitted to the Habit. But his views on the duties of religious men did not correspond with those of Prior Appleton, so that after his Novices had been admitted to their Profession, President Brewer was under the necessity of removing him to the Mission and he was stationed at Croston in Lancashire in 1804 [Mr Slater presented a Memorial to the General Chapter of 1806, complaining of the injuries, which he had received from President Brewer in his decision against him in his contention with Prior Appleton and requesting that the jurisdiction of some Superiors in certain cases be accurately and strictly defined. But he met with no redress, as the Capitular Fathers were of opinion that they were already sufficiently defined in the Constitutions and that he had alleged no sufficient reasons to suppose that he had received any injury from the President. See Acts of Chapter Vol II 352, 359]
F Bede possessed considerable talents and was well versed in various branches of Literature. Bishop Sharrock proposed to Dr Brewer to engage him in writing a History of the English Congregation, but he shrunk from the drudgery of such an undertaking, as he preferred to devote his time to pursuits more congenial to his own taste.
[Mr Slater was employed by Dr Brewer to furnish him with all the information he could make out regarding Lamspring. In a letter to him without date he writes `I have not time to give you the particular's of Corker's resignation. I will do it in a letter to you at Lamspring. I send his original letter to President Gregson (it ought to have been Shirburne which he cut out of Weldon and is now lost). Some pretend his successor was elected by German authority on which account I have thought it necessary to add the note below the letter. I never in my life waded through so much drudgery.' Bishop Sharrock writes to Dr Brewer Feby 22d 1803 `I wish you could engage Mr E Slater or any other member to collect what appears most interesting in the concerns of the Body, at least from the period when DB Weldon finishes the materials are scanty, but will be daily more and more.']
He was a pretty Preacher and was a ready hand with his pen which he loved to use incessantly; but no one can have read much of his Epistolary correspondence without coming to the conclusion, that few educated men could have contrived to have written so much and said so little to the purpose, vox, praeterea nihil. His habits were most extravagant and he appears to have been reckless of all responsibility in money matters. Though he was stationed at a Mission, where he was adequately provided for; yet he contrived to get considerably involved in debt.
F Bede was employed by President Brewer in the early part of the year 1814 to obtain the restoration of the Abbey of Lamspring from the new government, on the cession of the Principality of Hildesheim, in which it was situated, to the house of Brunswick. He proceeded to Germany to treat with the Authorities there on this business and obtained promises of a grant either of the Abbey of Lamspring or of some other House in Hildesheim for the purpose of establishing a Convent and Seminary for the education of youth. Flushed with the success, he appeared to have met with, he returned to England and sat as a Deputy in the Chapter, which was held in the course of the summer when he was elected a Praedicator Generalis; and not only received the thanks of the Fathers for the talents which he had displayed and the industry with which he had prosecuted this business, but was authorized by Capitular authority to continue his exertions and endeavour to bring his labours to a successful termination [See Acts of Chapter Vol II 374, 377]
On the breaking up of Chapter F Bede returned again to Germany and treated with the Hanoverian Government on the subject. But notwithstanding the hopes which had been raised and the glowing advantages which he held out to the public authorities, as likely to be derived from the establishment of a public Seminary, and the large promises which he held out of an extensive course of studies to be taught and the improved course of agriculture to be introduced into the country, he neither could obtain the lands of the Abbey, nor a long lease of them [See Records Vol II 479] but only the promise of the site of the Abbey or of some other suitable building, in case he was disposed to commence an Establishment [See the answer of the Government, Records Vol II 483]
But if F Bede was unsuccessful in this part of his Commission, he persevered in pressing upon the Government the justice of allowing a pension to all the professed members of the Abbey residing in England, who would have been entitled to claim support from their mother House in case they were unprovided for or became disabled from sickness or age; and on the 18th of January 1816, he succeeded in obtaining a pension of £50 a year for each of them during their lives in those cases which they would have been provided for by the Abbey, if it had not been suspended [See Mr Slater's petition and the answer of the Government Records Vol II 486. Mr Slater wrote to Dr Brewer October 13th 1816 `The estimate of the pensions including our Brethren in England exceeds 9000 Thalers, a larger sum than I believe was ever made of Lamspring when it was in our possession.' He writes again to Dr Brewer in 1817 `I beg leave to suggest to your Reverence that the moment it is known at Hanover that any one of the applicants holds a Mission he loses his pension.'] But though it was the intention of the Government only to give a pension in those cases; yet practically all the members of the Abbey in England continued to receive a pension during the remainder of their lives.
[These pensions were regularly paid by the Government upon the President of the Congregation transmitting the names of the claimants and testifying they were still alive at the time their names were forwarded. Mr Slater on applying for the payment of the pensions, forwarded an address to the Council of Regency, to which his name was attached, and as he had been in the habit of styling himself an ex-Conventual and as his name was so written as to render it impossible for the Government to make out, whether his name was inserted as a pensioner or only as the signature to his address, a pension was forwarded to him with the rest as the President testified at the end that the names above were members of the late Abbey. See how this was in a copy of the address Records Vol II 486. As Mr Slater was professed of the house of St Laurence's and as he had never been a Conventual at Lamspring, there was a duplicity and a want of honesty attending this transaction, which drew from Dr Brewer the following to him on the 27 of July 1817 `I will not and cannot dissemble to you, how very uneasy I am in my mind for having signed the two papers or letters sent to Mr Lacabanne and declaring you to be a pensioner to the Hanoverian Government. I am with very great reason afraid that before God I should have indirectly concurred in confirming a fact, which you know to be false and in my opinion a gross imposition on that Government, by representing yourself to it as a member of House, of which you never were one, in the meaning of that Government, which in consequence of such misrepresentation granted you a pension. But as you have not I presume received any part of that pension, I must earnestly require you not to draw for it and as far as my power extends I positively forbid you to do it. I was never struck so sensibly as I am now with the idea that I had even indirectly concurred in the business, and as far as I did, I am in great concern about it. This is the only measure I can take to stop if possible any injustice committed by the misrepresentation. In the very precarious state you are in, ponder well, whether you can answer before the Almighty the charge that may be soon brought against you. The word pensioners deceived me, for though you have contrived to be considered as a pensioner, it was by misrepresentation, and in my situation, I think it should have been my duty to have corrected it, and seemed by signing the notification sent to Lacabanne to countenance it.' Dr Brewer wrote again to him at Rome Feby 22d 1818 `If the Government of Hanover has allowed you, as Mr Marsh observes to me, is your plea for the claim the pension as a remuneration for your labours, I shall have no objection to join your name as a Pensioner, but if obtained on the score of a member of the Abbey, I shall continue in the same mind as before.' To suppose that the Hanoverian Government had granted him a pension as a remuneration for his services in getting them to pay money for those who had been professed at the Abbey is perfectly absurd. However Mr Slater continued to receive the pension after he was Bishop and he formally made it over to Dr Brewer on the 19 of July 1819 to be applied to such purposes as had been agreed on between them.]
At the next Chapter is was decided that the money derived from pensions should be invested in the public Funds and only given to those individuals who were considered to require it according to the judgment of the President and Provincial and the interest derived from the accumulation of Capital was to be applied for the education of youth [Mr Slater is charged with having got possession of all the papers and Documents which throw light on the History of the Abbey, and it is a singular fact that somehow or other most of these Documents have disappeared, although the Government did not interfere with them. Mr Towers writes to Dr Brewer Decr 3d 1818 `I hope Your Reverence will not forget to see that all the Books and Archives &c concerning Lamspring which Mr Slater took with him be deposited in a safe place that recourse may be had to them - He had amongst the rest two Histories of the House.' Dr Slater writes to Dr Brewer April 18th 1819 `I will send you what papers I have relating to Lamspring but Mr Towers is mistaken in supposing I brought many away with me.' President Birdsall writes to Mr Molyneux Feby 28th 1829 after his return from Germany `There are still some few things and particularly a Box left there (either at Hamburg or Hildesheim) by Dr Slater filled it is supposed by Maps and prints of value, which it seems no one can obtain without a formal and legal authorization from Dr Slater. This I have told Dr Slater in a letter which I sent to him very lately, in answer to one the first since he went from England, which I received in December.']
In the autumn of the year 1817 F Bede, who was still on the Mission at Croston, was seriously ill from an inflammation of the Liver accompanied by an adhesion of it to his side and he was also afflicted with Rheumatic pains, so that his Medical Advisers saw no hopes of his recovery unless by trying a warmer climate. Fortunately Mr Fairfax of Gilling Castle happened to be travelling to Rome at the time and he generously invited him to join his Family and offered to bear his expenses, so that the President was too happy to give him permission to repair to the Continent to recruit his health [Mr Slater wrote from Paris to Dr Brewer Septr 3d 1817 `My general health is better; but the Rheumatic pains are still very acute. I have not laid aside my crutches.']
This visit to the Eternal City was not only conducive to the gradual restoration of his health, but was attended with circumstances which altered his destiny in life. As the Hanoverian Government were attempting to form a Concordat with the Holy See, F Bede, who had been authorized by the General Chapter in 1814 to manage the affairs of Lamspring received the credentials from the President to act in that business in the name of the Body; but he could not obtain although he earnestly pressed the point, any powers to act as Procurator in the general concerns of the Body.
[Dr Brewer writes to Mr Slater Septr 5 1817 `In my private letter to you, I observed that it was not in my power to give you a general commission to act in the name of the Body at Rome. Such a Deed would be appointing you Procurator at Rome and one in a vacancy must be made by the Regimen... Mr Wilkes is at too great a distance to be consulted in time for you. Mr Calderbank strongly objects to give such powers. Mr Lorymer I suspect would be of his opinion, and for my part I am afraid you would in consequence of such a power be involving yourself and us in matters we have no right to be concerned about.' Mr Slater had already run Lamspring to great expense as there appears in Dr Brewer's Accounts for Lamspring £270 for Mr Slater's expenses in 1814 and £90 more for the years 1815 and 1816.]
To give him some weight and importance he applied to the President to appoint him to a vacant Cathedral Priorship but though he was refused, yet this proved of little consequence to him as he assumed the title of Abbot and wore the Abbatial ring. His address won upon the authorities at Rome. His Holiness Pius VII received him kindly and promised to do all he could to obtain the restoration of the Abbey of Lamspring [Mr Slater writes to Dr Brewer Novr 27th 1817 `I have this morning had the honour of being introduced to his Holiness and am happy to tell you was most graciously received. He read the Petition I presented to him was pleased to acknowledge in flattering terms the services our Congregation had rendered to religion and promised to do all that lay in his power to obtain the restoration of Lamspring.' Dr Brewer writes to Mr Slater Decr 29th 1817 `It would give me very great pleasure indeed to hear that you have recovered the loss of the decayed leg. I am afraid you made but an awkward figure in being presented to his Holiness leaning on a crutch. That circumstance probably more than any other would occasion some talk of you in the higher circles.']
But though F Bede finally gained nothing from the Hanoverian Government, he obtained, chiefly through the instrumentality of Dr Gradwell, a mitre for himself and proceeded to be consecrated Bishop of Ruspa and Vicar Apostolic of the Mauritius and other Colonies in the Southern Hemisphere. As it is usual on these occasions for the new Prelate to ask some favour of his Holiness, Dr Slater, wishing to render a service to the Benedictines petitioned that they might not be bound to make any other Retreats than those prescribed by the Constitutions of their Order and also to give the General Chapter power to confer on four of their most deserving members the title and ensigns of Abbot of St Alban's, of St Edmund's at Bury of St Mary's at Glastonbury and of St Peter's at Westminster [See the two Decrees Records Vol II 487] These requests were granted.
On the meeting of the General Chapter soon after, a letter from Cardinal Litta, the Prefect of Propaganda, was read, inviting the Benedictines to afford assistance to the Catholics serving at the Cape and other places and asking them to send two or three of their members to begin a Monastery there. This application was most untimely. Never since the Congregation had begun had its members been so few in number, nor its Convents more poorly manned. Besides, the Benedictines had been no party to the promotion of the Bishop of Ruspa, for the President had intimated to him his objection to his consecration until the British Government had provided for his support [Dr Brewer writes to Mr Slater May 12th 1818 `To be candid with you, though the Propaganda and you may be actuated by the purest motives, I think your state of health is sick as not to enable you to embark in such an undertaking, and our Congregation is so reduced in numbers that we cannot furnish you with any auxiliaries to support you. We are not able to supply some places already vacant on the Mission, and some others must be given up as soon as the old Incumbents of them fall off. Nor do I think any one from Ampleforth or Downside would enlist under your Banners on so hazardous an enterprise, not to mention it would not be in the power of the President to compel any one to join you. In your letter of the 1st Instant, you say an ample provision will be made for your support by the British Government. I think that ought in your infirm state of health to be agreed on before a consecration takes place'] so that the Fathers informed the Cardinal, they had no subjects to send owing to the losses which they had sustained in their number in consequence of the breaking up of their Convents at the French Revolution.
In the course of the autumn Dr Slater arrived in England [Dr Brewer writes to Dr Slater July 4th 1818 when he was at Paris `It gives me great concern to inform you that on your arrival in Lancashire you will be arrested for debt, or in London as soon as it is known you are there.'
In speaking of Mr Slater wearing the Abbatial ring, I ought to have mentioned the following. On the 27th of November 1817 Mr Slater petitioned Dr Brewer to allow him pro tempore to take the name of the vacant Prioratus Cathedralis. He says `Mr McPherson in the first instance without my privity introduced me as such and had persuaded me to put on the ring.' Dr Brewer on the 29th of Decr wrote to him and `Gave his leave as far as he could grant it to use the ring'] and spent above a twelvemonth in looking after recruits, and in coming to a definitive arrangement with the British Government, from which he succeeded in obtaining a handsome allowance for himself and six others to assist him in his labours [Dr Slater writes to Dr Brewer June 3d 1819 `There are at our disposal now six places of nominally £200, but actually £300 per annum. £1200 per annum for myself with a handsome town house and country residence having fifty acres of valuable land attached to it. This I shall immediately convert into a Seminary or Convent and Lord Bathurst has promised me any additional quantity of land that may be deemed necessary for its support.'] During this interval the Bishop obtained two other Grants from Rome; one, to extend the Faculties of the Benedictines from two to four years and the other to allow any Benedictine, who is promoted to the Episcopacy to act as a Regular Superior, if elected to any office in the Congregation [See the Decrees April 4th 1819 Records Vol II 488, 489] Dr Slater sailed from Gravesend on the 27th of September 1819 being accompanied by two Benedictines F Cuthbert Spain and Br Bernard Collyer, who had volunteered their services and obtained the leave of their Superiors to aid him in his arduous undertaking. The party reached the Mauritius on the 22d of February 1820.
Dr Slater forwarded a Petition to be presented to the following Chapter in 1822, expressing his warm attachment to the Benedictines and humbly requesting to continue to be considered as a member of the Order of St Bennet in the English Congregation, and at the same time making them an offer of a good House situated in a cool part of the Island with 400 acres of good land attached to it for a Convent, and requesting them to send two or three of their subjects to assist in commencing it. Whilst the Fathers directed their warmest thanks to be forwarded to him for his good will towards the Body, they signified at the same time they could not understand, how his Lordship could continue an efficient member of a Body to whose head he had ceased to be subject. But if his object was merely to be considered an honorary member of the Congregation, the Chapter saw less difficulty in meeting his wishes. Still as his Lordship was now so far removed from the Body, a compliance with his request would only be a mere empty mark of honour unaccompanied with any practical effect, and therefore they conceived they would better discharge their duty of respect to him, by expressing the high sense they entertained of his merits and the great satisfaction they had felt from those merits being so highly appreciated by the Holy See, as to induce his Holiness to raise him to the Episcopacy without any solicitation or presentation on the part of the Congregation. They further expressed their inability to spare any more subjects owing to their want of numbers and the increasing demands of the English Mission [See the Bishop's letter and the answer Records Vol II 510, 512]
From this period little communication was kept up between him and the Benedictines. After the lapse of four years, Bishop Poynter forwarded a letter which he had received from Propaganda to the General Chapter, and endeavoured to induce the Capitular Fathers to send some of their subjects to assist the Bishop in the Mauritius; but it was not attended with success, as they were unable to spare any one for the present, and he was left to seek for assistance from other sources or depend upon the Clergy whom he might have educated in his own Seminary, as the means at his command were ample enough if he had possessed the spirit of a primitive Bishop. But the style in which he lived and the extravagant habits in which he indulged, not only prevented him from rendering any service to religion in this respect, but left him continually involved in pecuniary matters. Nor were these the only causes of complaint against him. Complaints and accusations were long forwarded to Rome of his great irregularities of conduct quite unbecoming a Bishop before any decided steps were taken against him. At length in the autumn of 1830 F Bernard Barber was offered the honour of the Mitre with the appointment of Apostolical Visitor to the Mauritius; but though President Birdsall pressed him to accept the Office, yet he positively declined it, so that Dr Slater's recall was postponed for a time. This crisis in his destiny was productive of no beneficial effect as he made no alteration in his conduct so that as complaints continued still to be forwarded to Rome against him, the Sacred Congregation at last sent him his final dimittimus and appointed Dr Morris an Apostolical Visitor of the Mauritius in his place.
Dr Slater now prepared to return to Europe but as he was very unpopular in the Island and as his debts amounted to £8,000, he had to observe secrecy about his departure for fear of being arrested and he was obliged finally to swim clandestinely to the ship, which was intended to convey him to England. But on the fourth morning after the ship had been at sea, he was seized with a violent attack of spasms in the stomach to which he appears to have been subject, and from which he generally found relief in taking hot coffee. On this occasion however it afforded him no relief and the Bishop closed his chequered life amidst his excruciating pains in July 1832 [June 15th]
[Mr Spain writes to me June 10th 1853 `Scripta manent &c, is a dictum of old standing and as I am informed that you are busy in writing the Annals of the English Benedictine Congregation I should be sorry that any document of mine in writing could be adduced to support such facts as being more to the disgrace of our Congregation than to its honour are better buried in oblivion than recorded in print. However to satisfy your inquiries for the present, I will briefly state... With one thousand per annum to keep himself in clothes &c he was owing to the amount of £8,000 in the Mauritius, obliged him to swim clandestinely on board the ship, which did not carry him to England, to Europe or to any coast, but from which the Captain was forced on the fourth morning after their departure from the Mauritius to commit him to the bosom of the ocean.']
From Allanson's Preface:
`This Work has been to me an Herculean labour and is at last completed. When I reflect that some of the most valuable years of life have escaped from me during its progress and consider the untold hours which I have consumed in clearing up some difficulty or other about almost every name up to the French Revolution, and then turn to these pages to look over, what is the result of all my application and of all my confinement, I cannot but record my deep and heartfelt regret that it has ever been my misfortune to attempt to compile the dull and uninteresting Biography of the English Benedictines.'