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Lord Ripon's Resumption of Political Activity 1878–1880

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2017

John P. Rossi
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Extract

Anti-Catholicism and its most popular expression, anti-Popery, was a common phenomenon in an otherwise tolerant Victorian age. To the average Englishman this distrust of Catholicism merged into broader feelings of xenophobia — Catholicism was considered un-English, the faith of the immoral French, the corrupt Italians and the indolent Spanish. The fact that the Irish, who were currently flooding into England, were Catholic made it easier for normally tolerant and liberal Englishmen to maintain their religious prejudice. This anti-Catholicism was not confined to the lower classes, but rather was a truly popular phenomenon shared by individuals as diverse as Lord John Russell, Lord Palmerston and Lord Derby. Indeed the Queen herself was not above expressing anti-Catholic views. Twice during her long reign there were outbreaks of violence against the Catholics: in 1850 following the restoration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England, and a generation later over William E. Gladstone's pamphlets attacking the Vatican decrees.

Type
Research Article
Information
British Catholic History , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , April 1971 , pp. 61 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © Catholic Record Society 1971

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References

Footnotes

1. For the latest study of this problem see Norman, E. R., Anti-Catholicism in Victorian England (London, 1968)Google Scholar.

2. Hardie, Frank, The Political Influence of Queen Victoria, 1861-1901 (London. 1938), p. 136.Google Scholar

3. Wolf, Lucien. The Life of the First Marquess of Ripon (London, 1921), 1, p. 150.Google Scholar

4. Ibid., p. 323.

5. Inglis, K. S., Churches and Working Classes in Victorian England (London, 1962), p. 119 Google Scholar; Mathew, David, ‘Old Catholics and Converts’, The English Catholics, 1850-1950 (London, 1950), p. 234 Google Scholar.

6. It was clear to many of his close associates that Ripon was undergoing some kind of spiritual crisis at the time. Following his resignation from the Cabinet in 1873 Lord Granville told Queen Victoria that Ripon's views on doctrinal matters had lately been tending to very High Church — Granville had no idea just how high. Buckle, George E. (editor), The Letters of Queen Victoria (London, 1910), second series, 11, p. 273–274 Google Scholar, Granville to Queen Victoria, August 7, 1873.

7. One can trace the answers to questions raised by Ripon in the letters of Lady Cowper and Father F. Dalgairns in Wolf, op. cit., p. 325-345. For discussion of Ripon's conversion see Denholm, Anthony, ‘The Conversion of Lord Ripon’, Recusant History, Vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 111–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

8. Marquis of Zetland (editor), The Letters of Disraeli to Lady Bradford and Lady Chesterfield (London, 1929), 1, p. 147–148.Google Scholar

9. Blake, Robert, Disraeli (London, 1967), p. 606.Google Scholar

10. No Catholic had yet served in any British Cabinet, and only one, William Monsell, Lord Emly, had been a member of a Ministry — Gladstone's first. Another example of the political isolation of the Catholics may be derived from the fact that in the general election of 1880 there was only one Catholic, the brother of the Duke of Norfolk, standing for Parliament in all of England.

11. The Times, September 5, 1874.

12. Gladstone, William E., “Ritualism and Ritual”, Contemporary Review, 24 (October, 1874), p. 674 Google Scholar.

13. There is no doubt that Gladstone's distress at hearing of Ripon's conversion was genuine. Obviously distraught, he wrote to Ripon's wife, Hat, who remained an Anglican: “How is it possible that such news can be true?” Hugh A MacDcugall, OMI, The Acton-Newman Relations (New York, 1962), p. 130-131.

14. These letters can be found in Wolf, 1, op. cit., p. 297-310. Ripon was successful in getting Gladstone to admit that the remarks about converts and civil authority had no reference to him. Four years later when Gladstone published his collected essays, Gleanings of Past Years (London, 1878), he added a footnote to the passage in dispute stating in typical tortured prose ihat “some at least who have joined the Latin Church since the great change effected by the Vatican Council would, upon occasion given, whether with logical warrant or not, adhere under all circumstances to their civil loyalty and duty” Ripon obviously had made his point.

15. Marquis of Ripon Papers, British Museum, Add. MSS. 43642-43643, Diary, February 28, 1879; January 22, 1880.

16. In August 1879 Ripon granted his Yorkshire tenants a 10% refund on their rents for the past 2\ years because of the crop failures and depression. Later in the year he extended a similar refund to his Lincolnshire tenants. Ripon Papers, Add. MSS. 43642, Diary, August 19, 1879; December 12, 1879.

17. Ripon was a great hunter. His diary is filled with references to shooting parties at Nocton Hall and Studley Royal. He also made it a point to go to Scotland frequently to hunt stag and deer in the rugged highlands. Though an excellent shot with a deep interest in weapons it is doubtful if he could approach his son's reputation. Frederick Oliver Robinson, later second Marquis of Ripon, was not only regarded as the best shot in England by no less an authority than King Edward VII; but he died the hunter's perfect death: he took a heart attack while stalking the moors of Yorkshire, q.v. The Times, September 24, 1923.

18. Ripon Papers, Add. MSS. 43626, Ripon to Fisher, March 22, 1880.

19. Altholz, Josef, The Liberal Catholic Movement in England: The Rambler and Its Contributors (Montreal, 1960), p. 244 Google Scholar, footnote 25; McClelland, Vincent, Cardinal Manning: His Public Life and Influence 1865-1892 (London, 1962), 216.Google Scholar

20. Ripon Papers, Add. MSS. 43641, Diary, December 21, 1878.

21. The Times, August 16, 1879.

22. Early in 1876 Ripon and his wife visited Rome and were given an audience by the Pope, Pius IX. Shortly thereafter an article by Monsignor Nardi appeared in the ultramontane Roman journal. Voce della Verita, dealing with Ripon's conversion and its implications for English society, hinting that Catholic influence was growing daily throughout England. In an editorial dripping with sarcasm, The Times of January 22, 1876 stated that Rome looked on Ripon as a valuable prize who could serve to lure others to the Catholic Church. They further said that it was widely believed that Ripon had already contributed £10,000 to the Holy Father, with more forthcoming. This was precisely the kind of thing that disturbed Ripon's sense of propriety: casting doubt both on his sincerity in becoming a Catholic and on his intelligence in allowing himself to be used. He was acutely concerned that no harm come to his faith by what he knew to be a transparent falsehood and thus he went to the unusual length of personally writing to The Times and denying their report. The Times, February 8, 1876.

23. We are able to follow Ripon's return to political activity because he began to keep a diary starting in November, 1878 and continuing until his appointment as Viceroy of India in April, 1880. The diary affords us a superb opportunity to trace the thoughts and actions of a man who was reclaiming what he came to believe was his rightful place among the Liberal leadership. The diary also is an excellent document for revealing how business was transacted by the opposition party in the last years of Disraeli's ministry. Though questions of religion, comments on the worsening agricultural depression, and denunciations of Disraeli's conduct of foreign policy predominate, the diary is filled with material that reveal Ripen the man — who his guests were at Nocton and Studley Royal, what books he read and what he thought of them, what his views were as Gladstone began to overshadow both Hartington and Granville within the Liberal party. The diary is in three small pocket-sized volumes in the British Museum, Add. MSS. 43641-43643.

24. Ramm, Agatha (editor), The Correspondence of Lord Granville and Mr. Gladstone, 1868-1876 (London, 1952), 11, p. 307–308.Google Scholar

25. Ripon did not address the House of Lords during the entire 1875 session. In 1876 he spoke on just three separate occasions, his longest effort concerning a bill for elementary education which affected Catholic interests. In 1877 he spoke only four times and then only briefly. Then his pace began to pick up as his interest in politics returned. In 1878 he took part in debates on sixteen different occasions and in 1879, twenty-six separate times. These later speeches were often major interventions, with foreign policy replacing education as his main topic. Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, Vols. 231-249, 1875-1879.

26. Ripon Papers, Add. MSS. 43641. Diary, December 5, 1878.

27. Ibid., November 28, 1878.

28. Ibid., January 2, 1879. Disraeli obviously did not share Ripon's pessimism. To the Queen and to Lady Bradford he wrote in early January that British policy had won a signal triumph in Afghanistan and that Liberal criticism had been dispatched with ease. Buckle, George E., Life of Benjamin Disraeli. Earl of Beaconsfield (London, 1919), Vol. 6, pp. 398–401.Google Scholar

29. Buckle, Life of Disraeli, 6, p. 478.

30. Ripon Papers, Add. MSS. 43642, Diary, September 7, 1879.

31. Ibid.

32. Buckle, Life of Disraeli, 6. pp. 480-481, Disraeli to Lord Salisbury, September 9, 1879.

33. Ripon Papers, Add. MSS. 43641-43643, Diary, entries for December 2, 1878; May 13, 1879; June 23, 1879; February 3, February 13 and March 10. 1880.

34. Wolf, Life of Ripon, 1, p. 314.

35. Ripon Papers, Add. MSS. 43522, Lord Kimberley to Ripon, n.d. but probably the fall of 1876. This refusal to back Disraeli's policy toward the Ottoman Empire distinguished Ripon from his fellow Roman Catholics. As a rule, most of them, clergy and laymen alike, were staunch supporters of the Turks. The Dublin Review summed up Catholic feelings rather succinctly on this issue: “It is simply obvious that the dominion of the Turk, bad as it is, is more advantageous to Catholic interests both in Europe and Asia than is the dominion of the Czar… . Under the rule of the Sultan the Catholic Church enjoys a certain and an increasing degree of liberty, rather more than it enjoyed in Ireland a century ago… . ”. ‘The Impending Crisis’, Dublin Review, 1876, p. 500.

36. Lloyd, Trevor, The General Election of 1880 (London, 1968)Google Scholar, provides a careful weighing of the various reasons for the Liberal victory.

37. Granville Papers, Public Record Office, 30/29/27a and 30/29/26a, part 2. Lord Northbrook to Granville, February 8, 1879, Lord Hartington to Granville, September 25 and October 5, 1878.

38. Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, Vol. 250, February 20, 1880, columns 1076-1078.

39. Ripon Papers, Add. MSS. 43641, Diary, December 7, 1878.

40. Ripon Papers, Add. MSS. 43643, Diary, January 15, 1880.

41. Ripon Papers, Add. MSS. 43643, Diary, ibid. Brett's record of this conversation can be found in Brett, Maurice (editor), The Journal and Letters of Reginald Viscount Esher (London, 1934), 1, 67–68 Google Scholar. It appears that Brett had shown Ripon a list of candidates aspiring to office in a future Liberal government drawn up by himself and William E. Forster. Ripon's name was not among them because as Brett told Lady Ripon, “I never for a moment supposed he had office in view; having, when he became a Catholic, abandoned the idea of it”.

42. Ripon Papers, Add. MSS. 43532, Goschen to Ripon, November 27, 1878 and Add. MSS. 43582, Diary, July 9, 1879.

43. Ramm, Agatha (editor), The Correspondence of Lord Granville and Mr. Gladstone, 1876-1886 (Oxford, 1962), 1, p. 118–119.Google Scholar

44. Ripon Papers, Add. MSS. 43626, Ripon to Fisher, March 22, 1880.

45. Ibid., Fisher to Ripon, March 23, 1880, Ripon to Lord Granville, March 23, 1880, Granville Papers, Public Record Office, PRO 30/29/27a.

46. Ibid., Add. MSS. 43535, Francis Stonor to Ripon, March 23, 1880.

47. Ibid., Add. MSS. 43535, Aberdare to Ripon, March 23, 1880 and March 23, 1880.

48. Ibid., Add. MSS. 43643, Diary, April 11, 1880. Unfortunately Thompson was unseated early in the first session of the new Parliament.

49. Ripon was convinced that Gladstone's insistence on the Prime-Ministership was less than fair to Hartington, whom Ripon felt had behaved very well while under enormous pressure from the Queen. Of Gladstone's actions during these crucial days Ripon write: “It is a strange state of things, that so great an opportunity of the advance of the Liberal Party should be endangered by one man”. Ibid., Diary, April 19, 1880.

50. Ibid., Diary, April 22, 1880.

51. Ibid., Diary, April 24, 1880

52. Chapman, J. K., The Career of Arthur Hamilton Gordon, First Lord Stanmore (Toronto, 1964), p. 348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

53. Buckle (editor), Letters of Queen Victoria, second series, 3, p. 87.

54. ‘The New Ministry’, Saturday Review, 49, p. 551-552.

55. The Times, May 14, 1880.