rusted
him as a recent recruit from Protestantism, a man brought up in ideas
unfamiliar to their conservative minds. The other was the aversion of
the ruling classes in England, and indeed of Englishmen generally, to
the pretensions of Rome an aversion which, among the Tories, sprang
from deep-seated historical associations, and among the Whigs drew
further strength from dislike to the reactionary tendencies of the
Popedom on the European continent, and especially its resistance to
the freedom and unity of Italy. In 1850 the creation by the Pope of a
Roman Catholic hierarchy in England, followed by Cardinal Wiseman's
letter dated from the Flaminian Gate, had evoked a burst of anti-papal
feeling which never quite subsided during Wiseman's lifetime. Both
these enmities Manning overcame. The old Catholic families rallied to
a prelate who supported with dignity and vigour the pretensions of
their church; while the suspicions of Protestants were largely, if not
universally, allayed when they noted the attitude of a patriotic
Englishman, zealous for the greatness of his country, which the
Archbishop assumed, as well as the heartiness with which he threw
himself into moral and philanthropic causes. Loyalty to Rome never
betrayed him into any apparent disloyalty to England. Too prudent to
avow sympathy with either political party, he seemed less opposed to
Liberalism than his predecessor had been or than most of the English
Catholics were. While, of course, at issue with the Liberal party upon
educational questions, he was believed to lean to Home Rule, and
maintained good relations with the Irish leaders. He joined those who
worked for the better protection of children and the repression of
vice, advocated total abstinence by precept and example, and did much
to promote it among the poorer Roman Catholic population. Discerning
the growing magnitude of what are called labour questions, he did not
recoil from proposals to limit by legislation the hours of toil, and
gladly exerted himself to settle differences between employers and
workmen, showing his own sympathy with the needs and hardships of the
latter. Thus he won a popularity with the London masses greater than
any prelate of the Established Church had enjoyed, while the middle
and upper classes noted with pleasure that, however Ultramontane in
his theology, he always spoke and wrote as an Englishman upon
non-theological subjects.

In this there was no playing of a part,