INDEX TO VOL. XXVI. Alleged Abduction by Nuns, The-A Painful Sight Annual Meeting of the Protestant Association. Report of do. Sermon of do. Arundel and Oranmore Correspondence, The Bardsley, Rev. S., Speech of, at the Annual Meeting of the Protestant Annual Sermon Bateman, J., Esq., Speech of, at the Annual Meeting of the Protestant Quarterly Meeting 90 . 105 87 48, 127 Braithwaite, I., Esq., Speech of, at the Annual Meeting of the Protestant Association 11 90 Emperor of the French.-The Pope and the Congress 6, 12 1 8 117 Irvine Rev. D'Arcy, and Speech of, at the Annual Meeting of the Pro- testant Association Italian Church, the Italy, Suppression of Monastic Institutions in King Henry VIII. and Monasteries Knott, J. M., Esq., Speech of, at the Annual Meeting of the Protestant "Painful Sight, A," the Alleged Abduction by Nuns Pope, The, and his Visitors. Pope, The, the Emperor of the French, and the Congress Pope, Letter of, to the Polish Bishops Popery in Hobart Town 69, 148 129, 153 25 142 Spooner, Mr., M.P., Death of 118 69, 148 37 . 120 126 · 10 67 94 1 . 51 Statistical Summary, from the "Catholic Directory, 1864" Stevens, Rev. H., Speech of, at the Annual Meeting of the Protestant Association Stuart, Colonel, M.P., Speech of, at the Annual Meeting of the Pro testant Association Suppression of Monastic Institutions in Italy Sydenham, Roman Catholic Burial-ground at "Tablet," The, and Political Parties Thelwall, Memoir of the late Rev. A. S. Trinidad.—“The Archbishop of Port of Spain Will-making and the Confessional Wylie, Rev. Dr.-" Rome, and Civil and Religious Liberty" PROTESTANT MAGAZINE. JANUARY 1, 1864. ROMISH PRIESTS-WILL-MAKING AND THE CONFESSIONAL. We have a very painful and distressing case to bring under the notice of our readers. It is one which gives a practical illustration of the baneful influence and tendency of the Romish system of theology. And though it is only now and then such a case comes to light, it seems but natural to infer that the instances may be many in which the priest, by means of the Confessional, or by means of death-bed terrors, can mould his frail and dying penitent to his will, and compel him to accept the salvation of his soul upon any terms which he, the priest, may dictate. It is not to be supposed that the perpetrator of every crime is detected. Our police doubtlessly are very vigilant and very skilful, and very generally they are successful. Yet, from some cause or another, many a culprit escapes detection, or, if not that, too often escapes punishment. This is true not only as regards what by comparison may be termed small delinquencies, but also as regards some of the gravest offences against society. Nor are we to suppose that all the instances in which Popery violates or evades the law of the land are known; nor that all the instances in which cruelty and oppression are systematically and on principle brought to bear upon unfortunate Roman Catholics, in order to carry out the policy of the Church of Rome, come under public notice. Much, doubtless, lies hid. Still, from what appears occasionally upon the surface, we may judge something of the evil going on under the influence of Rome's pernicious teaching. Our readers will see in the following, which is given by the Dublin correspondent of the "Times," how a Roman Catholic priest persuaded, if not compelled, a dying man to make a will unknown to his wife, by which will the care and guardianship of his children was taken away from his wife, and given to that priest and two others, that they might be brought up as Roman Catholics, the mother being a Protestant; and how, when two trials took place to establish the will, the Rev. priest refused to say what took place between himself and the dying man, on the VOL. XXVI. New Series, No. 278. B ground that what had taken place was sacred, as having been under the seal of Confession: "Dublin, Dec. 1.—A very remarkable will case has occupied the Court of Exchequer for the last three days. The most eminent counsel have been engaged in it on both sides. Nominally, the plaintiff is a priest, and the defendant a widowed mother, but in reality it is a contest between the two Churches which have fought so many battles in this country. The priest is the Rev. Mr. Keon, who was called in to attend a man named Maguire, for the purpose of administering to him the last rites of the Church. Maguire was an iron-moulder, who was employed a good deal in England. Although a Roman Catholic, he was very inattentive to his religious duties, and was seldom known to go to Mass. About eleven years ago he married a Protestant, the ceremony having been performed by a Protestant clergyman in a Protestant church. Their children were baptized into the Roman Catholic Church, the mother herself presenting them at the chapel for that purpose. During the absence of the parents in England the eldest child was left in Dublin, in charge of Mrs. Maguire's father and mother, who brought her up as a Protestant. After their return she sent them all to a Protestant Sundayschool, with their father's full knowledge and consent. Early in April he was attacked with valvular disease of the heart, and his case being hopeless, the Rev. Mr. Keon was sent for, at the defendant's suggestion, to give him the last rites of his Church. He visited Maguire on the 24th of April, and having discovered in confession that his children were attending Protestant schools, he refused to give him absolution until he signed a will consigning them to his custody, to be educated as Roman Catholics. A document of that purport was drawn up by the plaintiff, and brought by him on the 27th of April to the dying man, who signed it in the presence of two witnesses provided by the priest, and strangers to him. His wife was absent at the time, and never heard of this will until soon after her husband's death, and while she was still nursing the youngest child she received an attorney's letter requiring her to surrender the children to the Rev. Mr. Keon and two others, who had been pro formâ joined with him in the trust. With this demand she refused to comply, and entrusted the children to a charitable association. The priest sought to get possession of the three children by means of a writ of habeas corpus, but the return made to the writ by the mother was deemed satisfactory, and the Court refused to enforce his claim till the validity of the will should be established. It was tried at the last assizes of the county of Kildare, but the jury could not agree to a verdict. It has now been tried again, with a similar result, in Dublin. Mr. Whiteside ably pleaded the cause of the mother, and Mr. Barry with no less power defended the rights of the priest. The charge of Baron Fitzgerald was so clear and impartial that it called forth loud applause in the Court. His summing up of the facts admitted on both sides presents a case of grave importance and of great public interest. The will did not originate with the testator; it was suggested to him by the priest, who got it prepared and made ready for his signature. At first he refused to sign, |