CO882-(3-4) — Page 235

REC

OFFICE

Reference

11C.O. 882

3

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

37

No. 14.

fiovernor the Right Hon. Sir W. H. Gregory, K.C.M.G., to the Earl of Carnarvon.—

No. 167.) My Lord,

Received July 26.)

The Pavilion. Kandy, Ceylon, June 19, 1875.

I HAVE the honour to forward herewith to your Lordship a Memorial from the Roman Catholic Bishops of Ceylon on the subject of the present marriage laws In this Colony, and of their objections to them.

2. I desire to express my concurrence in the statements of the Bishops as to the loyalty and excellent conduct of the Roman Catholics in this island, and I bear most willing testimony to the beneficial results of the educational labours of the missionaries of that Church, and of their self-denying efforts to promote among their flocks Christian morality and civilization.

3. Their demands are two--the first, that the registration of their Churches involving a fee of 37. should no longer be enforced; the second, that the civil element should be eliminated from Catholic marriages and the religious ceremony be held to be a perfect marriage, as it is against their convictions to await the will and pleasure of lay authority to administer a sacrament.

4. As regards the first request there is no difficulty about it. The amount of the fee is small, but as it is considered to be a hardship by a very poor community it can be reduced to a trifling amount. The reduction must, however, be conceded in the case of all other Churches.

5. As regards the second and far more important point, looking at the course adopted elsewhere by Parliament, I see no argument based on principle, why the Catholics in Ceylon should not have every privilege which is conceded to their co-religionists in other parts of the British Dominions? I am of opinion that all religious communities as a rule should be allowed the fullest latitude of carrying out the injunctions of their Church, provided that they do not inconvenience their neighbours, or clash with the good government of the country.

6. Sir Richard Morgan, whose observations on the Memorial of the Bishops I herewith forward, thinks the concessions they ask for would clash with the good government of the country. But in Ireland the Catholic objection to the priority of the civil marriage, and to the intervention of the Registrar has been recognized, and the deference of Parliament to that objection has not been followed by any evil consequence. In the case of Irish marriages it was at first proposed that the solemnizing priest should keep a register, and should transmit to the Registrar's Office at fixed periods a return of all marriages. The Catholic hierarchy refused to sanction this arrangement. They declined to allow their priests to be thereby subordinated to the State, and the concession was allowed, if Í recollect aright, that persons marrying should themselves transmit to the Registrar a certificate from the priest. In Ceylon the Catholic Bishops profess to be willing that the solemnizing priest should forward the returns of all marriages to the Registrar-General, even (I believe) under penalty in case of neglect.

7. So far as principle is concerned I cannot object. I cannot concur in the apprehensions of Sir Richard Morgan, although no one in the island can speak with more authority and experience. One observation of his, however, invites serious attention, that in which he alludes to the fact that marriages between Roman Catholics and heathen are not recognized as valid by the Church, and thereby the danger might arise of a priest considering himself bound by his conscience to solemnize and even encourage a marriage which the civil authority would regard as bigamous, namely, a fresh marriage contracted on the plea of being or becoming a Roman Catholic by a person married to a heathen.

This objection, if a valid one, must have occasioned difficulties in India; but I have not heard that any have arisen. But the real question is, how can these con- cessions be carried out? It would be necessary to have recourse to legislation, where I should be met on the threshold by opposition on the ground that I was about to confer privileges to the Roman Catholics denied to other denominations. Some time ago, I thought there would be no great difficulty in the matter, but I have recently endeavoured to ascertain what would be the action of Members of the Legislative Council, official and unofficial, in respect of such an Ordinance, and 1 have come to the conclusion that unless your Lordship gave positive instructions to carry the Bill, there would not be one vote in Council in favour of it except my own, and the Law Officer of the Crown, who would have to draw and carry the

(131)

L