UNIVERSITY D'OTTAWA - ECOLE UES GRADUES EFFORTS IN THE FIELD OF RELIGIOUS TOLERATION IN THE EARLY POLITICAL CAREER OF EDMUND BURKE, I765-I782 by John Edmund O'Brien Thesis presented to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ottawa through the Department of History as partial fulfill­ ment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. -sit>tee d'd'o0( ^ <^ "*YJ ^ \ s* m Ottawa v y t , L.ttKAKicS » Ottawa, Canada, 1955 UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA - SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UMI Number: DC53435 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform DC53435 Copyright 2011 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 _ UN1VERSITE D'OTTAWA - ECOLE PES GRADUES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis was prepared under the guidance of Doctor George Buxton of the department of History of the University of Ottawa. ; ; The writer wishes to express his gratitude to the ; I j I following people or institutions that helped in the work of i ithe thesis: to Doctor Ross Hoffman and Doctor Paul Levack of i the Graduate School of Fordham University for introducing the! writer to the field of Burke studies; to Earl Fitzwilliam and; i his trustees for permission to quote from Burke letters in ! i the Wentworth Manuscripts and to J. P. Lamb of the Sheffield j Library, England who made the materials available in micro- I film; to the directors of the National Library in Dublin, of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York and of the Henry Huntington Library in San Marino, California for permission i to quote from microfilm copies of unpublished Burke letters; j to Richard Pennington of the McGill University Library who made the Redpath collection of pamphlets available; to Edward Murray of the British Museum for microfilm copies of pam- i phlets and drawings; to the directors of the New York Public,' j the Congressional, the New York Historical Society, Union Theological, the Princeton and Seton Hall University Librar­ ies, for access to their specialized collections and serv­ ices. UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA - SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA - ECOLE DES GRADUES . _____ __ CURRICULUM STUDIORUM Rev. John Edmund O'Brien, son of John J. and Eliza­ beth Shanahan O'Brien was born September 27, 1921, in New York City. He attended Seton Hall Preparatory School, and jI Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey between 193^ and 1942 and in 1942 received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In June of 1940 he entered the Seminary of the Im­ maculate Conception, Darlington, New Jersey to study for the priesthood. He was ordained for the Archdiocese of Newark in June, 1946 and was assigned to the faculty of Seton Hall University in July of 1946, where he is currently an assist­ ant professor of history. In September of 1946 he was accepted as a student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Fordham Univer­ sity, New York City, where he majored in History. In June of 1950 he received the degree of Master of Arts. The title of his thesis was, Edmund Burke and the Beginning of Catholic Emancipation in England, 1778-1780* In June of 1952 he was accepted as a student in the Graduate School of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ottawa. He majored in History under the mentorship of Doctor George Buxton. UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA -- ECOLE DES GRADUES TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I.-INTRODUCTION: ELEMENTS OF PROBLEM OF BURKE AND RELIGION 1. Renascence of Burke and Burke studies 1 2. Burke Correspondence, published and unpublished 5 3. Purpose and importance of study 9 II.-EIGHTEENTH CENTURY RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND 1. England 12 2. Ireland 23 III.-FOUNDATIONS OF BURKE'S RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES TO 1765 1. Early Irish influences 43 2. England, marriage and earliest writings 51 3. Early efforts for Irish Catholics .... 60 IV.-EFFORTS FOR RELIGIOUS GROUPS AT HOME AND AE^OAD, 1765-1774 1. Acts of Uniformity, 1772 75 2. Relief of Dissenters, 1773 79 3. Quebec Act, 1774 84 4. Bristol Election, 1774 89 V.-BIRTH OF CATHOLIC TOLERATION IN BRITISH ISLES, 1778 1. Imperial, political and religious background 95 2. Development of movement for Catholic Relief 99 3. Burke's aid in Savile and Gardiner Relief Acts 105 VI.-CRISIS OF CATHOLIC TOLERATION, 1779-1780 1. Reaction in Scotland 133 2. Growth of English opposition 144 3. Gordon Riots and Burke's defense of Catholics 149 4- Burke and conservative Protestant compromise 159 UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA - SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA - ECOLE DES GRADUES TABLE OF CONTENTS (Cont'd.) vi Chapter Page VII.-BRISTOL, BURKE AND THE CATHOLIC QUESTION 1. Bristol and Burke's religious position 163 2. Burke's analysis of relief bill and toleration I69 3. The Catholic question and defeat at Bristol l8l VIII.-BURKE AND THE END OF THE IRISH PENAL CODE, I782 1. Movement for Irish independence, 1778-1781 194 2. Burke and the Gardiner Act of 1782 199 3. Pioneer of Catholic Emancipation 213 CONCLUSIONS 215 BIBLIOGRAPHY 218 Appendix 1. BURKE AND THE LUCAS PAMPHLET CONTROVERSY 242 2. 1778 PETITION OF IRISH CATHOLICS TO KING 246 3. 1778 PETITION OF ENGLISH CATHOLICS TO KING 255 4. BURKE'S RESOLUTIONS ON GORDON RIOTS 258 5. BURKE'S "CATHOLICISM" IN CONTEMPORARY DRAWINGS. 261 6. ABSTRACT OF Efforts in the Field of Religious toleration "in the Early Political Career cf Edmund Burke,' 17"6"5-1782.~ . ." W ." . ~. .263 UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA - SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA - ECOLE DES GRADUES LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Illustration Page 1. Typical political lampoon picturing Burke as a Catholic priest 92 2. Original Petition to Crown written by Burke in 1778 106 3. Burke pictured as a priest in 1782 after the loss of Bristol and the death of Rockingham. 213 UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA - SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA - ECOLE DES GRADUES CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: ELEMENTS OF PROBLEM OF BURKE AND RELIGION 1. Renascence of Burke and Burke Studies For about the first half of the nineteenth century Edmund Burke held a great deal of interest for students and statesmen. Then the influence of his person, his writings and speeches began to wane. Few if any books or essays were written about his thought or his life during the Victorian age, save for a few historical surveys that placed him in the category of a political pragmatist. A few articles ap­ peared in I897 on the centenary of his death; an odd thinker or historian like Acton was influenced by him, but generally speaking he had been "summed up, canonized and neglected." The reason for this neglect as analyzed by the editors of Burke's Politics was, "because so much that he had said seemed to have lost its relevance for a generation that had no experience of world war and world revolution."2 But with the advent of the First World War, the Russian revolution and finally the new continental system 1. Burke's Politics (edd. Ross Hoffmann and Paul Levack), New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1949, p. xii. This book is an anthology of Burke's writing collected around the great questions upon which his mind operated. It is pre­ ceded by an excellent introduction that is perhaps the best summary of all recent Burke research and an excellent analy­ sis of his principles. 2. Ibid. UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA -- SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA ~ ECOLE DES GRADUES INTRODUCTION: ELEMENTS OF PROBLEM OF BURKE AND RELIGION 2 of Hitler, the voice of Burke was listened to once again with interest and attention. His message became meaningful for, "men experienced anew the kind of universal tumult in which Burke lived and he has become relevant again." His relevancy to our age can best be judged by the great renas­ cence of interest in Burke that our age has witnessed and the extensive literature that has followed in the wake of h that revival. The parallel between the world of Burke and the world of the last thirty years is striking. Following the First World War there was the same political blundering on the part of the victors that Burke had witnessed after the Seven Years War; a new Jacobinism arose in Marxian Communism; and the same philosophical and political climate that Burke predicted would breed a Napoleon returned in Europe to breed a Hitler. In 1929 on the occasion of the bi-centenary of Burke's birth and throughout the fateful thirties many dis­ cerning minds turned to Burke for analysis and advice.-" Many too saw in the darkest hours of 1942 in Hitler's new 3« Burke's Politics, p. xii. 4. Some idea of the extent of this literature may be gained from Francesco Cardasco, Edmund Burke: A Handlist of Critical Notices and Studies, New York, Long Island Uni­ versity Press, 1950, 12 p. 5. See, "The Bicentenary of Burke" in the London Times Literary Supplement, issue of January 10, 1929, p. 17- 18; Padraic Colum, Burke and the Present Order," in Satur­ day Review of Literature, Vol.