POPISH ATTEMPT TO KIDNAP EIGHT PROTESTANT CHILDREN.

Otago Witness, Issue 380, 12 March 1859, Page 1

POPISH ATTEMPT TO KIDNAP EIGHT PROTESTANT CHILDREN.

i An interesting case has just been heard bej fore the Irish Court ofChancery. Some years I ago, John O'Malley, a Roman Catholic con1 stable, resident in Tuam, married Ellen I Jameson, a Protestant. They had eight chili dren, and as John O'Malley was not a very rigid Roman Catholic, the mother brought up the children in the Protestant faith. They j were baptised at the Roman Catholic chapel, I the mother remarking that the Protestants recognise Roman Catholic baptism : but they never entered the chapel again. They were ' taught the Catechism, they heard the Bible read, they were classed as Protestants by the i Roman Catholic nutter of a national school. John O'Malley fell ill, and his eighth child was christened at his bedside, according to the j Church of England rites. The father died. j The mother struggled on, btit eventually died 'in a workhouse. William O1O 1 .Ma Hey, the uncle of the children, came, and, by the directions | of a Father Coyne, carried off the children. | At his death, John O'Malley protested against 1 priestly interference, and distinctly approved ' of Mrs. O'Malley's declaration in his presence, 1 that '* no priest or nuns should ever get a ; child of hers." On the petition of Jane Robinj son, Mrs. O'Malley's sister, the restitution of I the children to her was ordered by the Lord | Chancellor in September last. O'Malley then ; applied to have his order set aside, and the , case was heard at great length last week. On Saturday the Lord Chancellor dismissed i the application, and ordered O'Malley to doli1 ver to Jane Robinson the eight minors, she , undertaking to provide for the nurture, cloth- ' ing, and support of the said minors until further orders, and to abide by such further order as the court may lie pleaded to make, and | referring it, to Edward Litton, l^q., the mas- \ tcr in the matter, to inquire and report the ages of the s;ii<l minors respectively, and to state in what manner it is proposed tluy should be supported and educated, and with whom 1 they should reside; the master to inquire and report the nature and amount of any provision made or to be made for their maintenance and education, and the funds applicable thereto. " Mary Hunih has in her affidavit," said the , Lord Chancellor in concluding his judgment, "given a very remarkable account of what ' took place immediately after Mr Coyne had 1 left the house. Jf the' proposal was to give up the children, nothing can be more natural, or • more probable in its substance than the a-c-

count given by Mary Burin of what she saw and heard. The husband was at the point of death; the wife, with one little infant, the new-borne babe, baptised in her own faith, and all her children of tender years. None as yet had been withdrawn by her confiding husband from the influence of the mother's teaching and the mother's love — that now when she would be left a widow she should give up her children, each and ali, to ecclesiastical custody. Whatever may have bjen said or done in the presence of the priest or of the Sisters of Mercy, when nature resumed her rights, and at once appealed to the heart of the husband and the father, I cannot disbelieve, the pithy account, condensed in one sentence of the affecting letter to her sister, written soon after her sad bereavement, where she speaks of ' how a priest and two of the nuns thought to come round me in presence of my poor dying husband ; but I balked them completely. John did not blame me for what I told them, for after they went away, he desired me to bring up the children in the way I always brought them up.' The Rev. Mr. Seymour states, in his affidavit — ' That at the last interview with the said Mrs. O'Malley, a few days previous to her death, she indignantly denied the truth of the report that she intended to have them brought up in the Roman Catholic faith; and alleged as one of her reasons, that her husband's dying wish was, that they should be brought up in her own persuasion as Protestants ; and that her husband frequently, on previous occasions, expressed the same desire.' Here, then, we have the dying mother's account of what were the last wishes of the dying father — a double testimony, given in the presence of death, and sealed with all the solciuu sanctions of eternity. But in the case of orphans so situated, there must at least be the power of having them publicly maintained as destitute poor, entitled to be secured in their constitutional rights, as infant subjects of the Queen, if no relative can be found able and willing to support and educate them under the Court, and subject to its control, or, if no stranger can be allowed to extend the hand of chanty without being subjected to harsh and ungenerous imputations, lv ca*»cs where the religious issue is open, it is a rule which I shall always adopt, to put the case, with the religion of the parties altered, and consider then the decision I should pronounce. Had John O'Malley been a facile Protestant, and his wife a devoted member of the Roman Catholic Church ; had he allowed his children from their earliest years to learn the language of its ancient ritual and its impressive invocations ; had he left his widow to tight the hard battle of life with a numerous and helpless offspring ; if she had kept them together to the last until she had nothing to share, but her prayers and her tears ; and if she had left them in the Church which hal- | lowed the earliest lessons of their infancy ; and if a board of guardians could be found who would consign them to a custody where Protestantism should bs let loose upon them, and the interference of this Court should he sought for their deliveranco, on the application of some humble but honest Roman Catholic relative, aided by any generous stranger, could I, then, shrink from a duty so sacred and so palpable ? God forbid. It is a satisfaction to me to know that if I have erred in the view which I have taken, my decision can be reviewed by the Court of Appeal, both here and in England. I must refuse this application, with costs. William O'Malley has | availed himself of the assistance of the poor law guardians to deprive these children of their lawful rights. He asks of me to believe j that his deceased brother was a hollow hypocrite, who bartered away the faith of his children for some unworthy but undefined motive. I have no authority here without and against evidence, to impeach the motives or conduct of either the living or the dead. The children have a property in their father's good name, and so far as it may be in my power to secure, [ will see that they be taught to respect the memory of both their parents, and not to learn that either has been a castaway. John O'Malley in his life, was, as it appears, an affectionate husband and a tender father ; on his death he received reverently from the priest of his own church her last sacramental rite ; with the minister of his wile's church he joined in fervent prayer, and confessed a faith which Mr. Lynch insists to be Roman Catholic, Mr. Fowler asserts to be Protestant, and of which [ will only add, it was the simple faith of a Christian. In this responsible jurisdiction I feel how solemnly 1. am bound to act without fear, favour, or affection. The duty, on the present occasion, invidious as it is, has been made the more painful to me from the contention of the parties having been too much leavened with the bitterness of controversy, and too little with the kind and gentle spirit of charity, so congenial to the case of poor destitute orphans The religion of the Redeemer is a religion of love, and not of strife or hatred. Like his seamless garment, the trembling touch of faith may, from the very hem, extract a healing virtue. In the true spirit of this religion, T trust these children mi»y be educated so that the law of this 1-md may be honoured, and the last wishes expressed by both the parents righteously fulfil- ! Ltd.

Sabbith-Bkeakiirs in thi; Stocivs. — 'This ancient custom of punishment has been again revived in Padiham. On Saturday last a man was placed in the stocks for Sabbath -breaking, and compelled to endure six hours of exposure. The week previous a man underwent the same punishment — Blackburn Standard. . '